Page:Weird Tales Volume 14 Issue 2 (1929-08).djvu/21

the woman with the goiter was dragged into the vault was the day in which Madame Weisbach scratched the little brunette's eyes out with the pitchfork. She would teach the other to have more beautiful eyes than her own!'

"'"Squint now, squint now!" is what she shrieked,' Madame Scheffer completed, loading herself with a pile of dishes from a large chest.

"'Enough,' I said firmly, 'we've had enough of an appetizer; let's eat!'

"'Do you know what the Italian woman said to me?' Maria-Luce whispered. 'She doesn't want us to leave them. Let's eat down here.'

"'Oh no!' I protested; 'I'm sick of these stories and I want you all to myself.'

"We took leave of the other two and I led my wife upstairs. We had a little trouble in finding our room in that strange hallway. The stairs were so steep that we came near to toppling down them, and it made me think of the Weisbachs. The traveler would go up the stairs while the servant waited for him in the dark at the top and pushed him down to the innkeepers, who were waiting at the bottom. And that was the end of him.

"We, however, were a bit luckier, and, as there was only one room in the inn, we finally found it. But before locating it I opened doors into several other rooms filled with packing-cases and all sorts of debris. I wondered why, in an inn, they did not make use of so much precious space, and while Scheffer was serving us our supper, in front of a good fire and under a tame enough lamp, I could not help asking him for an explanation of this. He answered that it would be a great expense, useless perhaps . . . and finally after hesitating a moment he added:

"'Besides it seems to me that the Weisbaehs did not care to have too many travelers at one time!'

"And he left, after putting a bottle of champagne on the table and wishing us good-night.

"'Did you hear?' Maria-Luee whispered to me as soon as he was gone; 'but why does he want to leave things in the same condition?'

"'He hasn't been here long. Give him a chance. You're not going to begin imagining things, are you?'

"By the time supper was over, I had cheered her up again. We had emptied our bottle of champagne gayly and forgotten all about the horrors. We were just about to go to bed when a light knock came at the door. . . . There was no bolt in this door, but there was a key and a sort of hook that fastened to a ring in the casing.

"'Who is there?' I asked.

"'Don't open!' Maria-Luce whispered. She was already terror-stricken, for we had made quite an evening of it and might well be supposed asleep. . . .

"'Open, open quickly,' came a heavy voice which I recognized as the Italian's.

"At that I opened the door and the man threw himself into the room, shutting the door behind him. He was very pale and seemed in the throes of the wildest emotion. . . .

"'I've come to warn you,' he exclaimed, his voice trembling with emotion. 'First of all, we can hear everything they say in the kitchen. These people are murderers. I heard his wife say to Scheffer: "We have nothing to fear. If they find the bones, they'll think they belonged to that other affair!" We're not going to stay another second in this den. I've found a rope in the attic and I've fastened it to the window-ledge that overlooks the outside of the house, not the courtyard. Get dressed and follow us!'

"Maria-Luce was already half undressed and I had thrown my coat on the chair.

"'This is a fine tale!' I exclaimed, dumfounded.