The Allen House | Page 8

to that, I can't say. Few people in this town I apprehend, can speak
with certainty as to the going and coming of Captain Allen."
"Is he often away?"
"No, sir; but oftener of late than formerly."
"Is his absence usually of a prolonged character?"
"It is much longer than it used to be--never less than a month, and often
extended to three times that period."
Colonel Willoughby sat without further remark for some time, his eyes
bent down, his brows contracted by thought, and his lips firmly drawn
together.
"Thank you, my friend," he said, at length, looking up, "for your
patience in answering my idle questions. I will not detain you any
longer."
The landlord arose, and, bowing to his guest, retired from the
apartment.
CHAPTER III.

On the next morning Colonel Willoughby plied the landlord with a few
more questions about Captain Allen, and then, inquiring the direction
of his house, started out, as he said, to take a ramble through the town.
He did not come back until near dinner time, and then he showed no
disposition to encourage familiarity on the part of Mr. Adams. But that
individual was not in the dark touching the morning whereabouts of his
friend. A familiar of his, stimulated by certain good things which the
landlord knew when and how to dispense, had tracked the stranger
from the "White Swan" to Captain Allen's house. After walking around
it, on the outside of the enclosure once or twice, and viewing it on all
sides, he had ventured, at last, through the gate, and up to the front door
of the stately mansion. A servant admitted him, and the landlord's
familiar loitered around for nearly three hours before he came out. Mrs.
Allen accompanied him to the door, and stood and talked with him
earnestly for some time in the portico. They shook hands in parting,
and Colonel Willoughby retired with a firm, slow step, and his eyes
bent downwards as if his thoughts were sober, if not oppressive.
All this Mr. Adams knew; and of course, his curiosity was pitched to a
high key. But, it was all in vain that he threw himself in the way of his
guest, made leading remarks, and even asked if he had seen the
splendid dwelling of Captain Allen. The handsome stranger held him
firmly at a distance. And not only on that day and evening, but on the
next day and the next. He was polite even to blandness, but suffered no
approach beyond the simplest formal intercourse. Every morning he
was seen going to Captain Allen's house, where he always stayed
several hours. The afternoons he spent, for the most part, in his own
room.
All this soon became noised throughout the town of S----, and there
was a little world of excitement, and all manner of conjectures, as to
who this Colonel Willoughby might be. The old nurse, of whom
mention has been made, presuming upon her professional acquaintance
with Mrs. Allen, took the liberty of calling in one afternoon, when, to
her certain knowledge, the stranger was in the house. She was, however,
disappointed in seeing him. The servant who admitted her showed her

into a small reception-room, on the opposite side of the hall from the
main parlor, and here Mrs. Allen met her. She was "very sweet to
her"--to use her own words--sweet, and kind, and gentle as ever. But
she looked paler than usual, and did not seem to be at ease.
The nurse reported that something was going wrong; but, as to its exact
nature, she was in the dark. It certainly didn't look right for Mrs. Allen
to be receiving daily the visits of an elegant looking stranger, and her
husband away. There was only one opinion on this head.
And so it went on from day to day for nearly a week--Colonel
Willoughby, as he had called himself, spending the greater part of
every morning with Mrs. Allen, and hiding himself from curious eyes,
during the afternoons, in his room at the "White Swan." Then came the
denouement to this exciting little drama.
One day the stranger, after dining, asked Mr. Adams for his bill, which
he paid in British gold. He then gave directions to have a small trunk,
the only baggage he had with him, sent to the house of Captain Allen.
The landlord raised his eyebrows, of course; looked very much
surprised, and even ventured a curious question. But the stranger
repelled all inquisition touching his movements. And so he left the
"White Swan," after sojourning there for nearly a week, and the
landlord never saw him again.
The news which came on the following day, created no little sensation
in S----. Jacob Perkins, who lived near Captain Allen's, and often
worked