Mansion of Mystery
I
n a of a which must nameless, one may the main and travel up a road around and under trees, into country.
Upon a night—the date of which must vague—there came a man who and was not by a series of along this road which it more than a wall. These barriers, which had out a hundred years of curiosity-seekers until that night, were by the scientific magic of a on a the sun....
The man who his up the road was of middle age with calm, and a mouth in his name would be kept. He pushed on, the of the powers against him but he them.
He left his car presently and his hand to touch the hard of a small book he in his pocket and with the his hardened. He set his firmly, on the he had taken from the of his and moved on up the road.
His firm, steps soon him to its end, a great iron gate, its lock and tight under the patient hand of Time. It was high and and too for climbing. But someone had the lock with a and had until the gave and the gate open. From the look of the metal, this have been done recently—even in the past minutes.
The man entered and a pathway. He this for a time with the of his flashlight. Then he stopped and the beam.
It the of a great mansion, its like black, eyes, its telling of long solitude, its voice whispering: Go away, stranger. Only and you here.
But I am not a stranger, the man told himself, the door and to the locked.
But it was not locked. The under his hand. The moved silently. The man his and inside.
The knowledge that he was no longer alone came as a shock. It was to him by the of and he the light about trying to the of the sound. Then the circle out a on the nearby. The man moved and to his knees.
He was looking into an face. The skin was so as to in around the eyes. The mouth was but a and the so as to of to life. The voice was a whisper.
"Thank God you have come. I am dying. The opening of the gate took all my strength."
"You have been waiting for me?"
"I have been waiting out the years—striving to keep life in my until the moment of destiny. I wanted to see him. I wanted to be there when the door to his place opens and he comes to right the terrible that have been done our people."
The of the one was fast. The he spoke had been an effort. The man said, "I don't all this."
"That not. It is only that you keep the long ago with your sire, and that you are here. Someone must be with him at the awakening."
The again touched the book in his pocket. "I came our word had been given—"
The man at his sleeve. "Please! You must go below! The great clock has the years. Soon it the moment. Soon a on the Plains of Ofrid will the new age—the Fighting Age—and a new day will dawn."
While the visitor his shoulders, the man and said, "Hasten! Hurry to the below! Would that I go with you, but that is not to be."
And then the visitor he was a in his arms. He it and did as he had been to do.
