.

"I'm sure, Doctor, if you saw him you might suggest something. Or, may
be, he would open his mind to you."

"I'll think it over," said I. "Mrs. Jones has sent for me to see her
baby to-night. I was just about starting when you called. On my way
back, if, on reflection, it seems to me advisable, I will drop in at
your house."

"Call at any rate, Doctor," urged Mrs. Wallingford. "Even if you don't
see Henry, you may be able to advise me as to what I had better do."

I gave my promise, and the troubled mother went back through storm and
darkness to her home. By this time my overcoat was thoroughly dried. As
Constance brought it forth warm from the fire, she looked into my face
with an expression of inquiry. But I was not ready to speak in regard to
Mrs. Wallingford, and, perceiving this at a glance, she kept silence on
that subject.

As I opened the front door, the storm swept into my face; but I passed
out quickly into the night, and shielding myself with an umbrella, as
best I could, bent to the rushing wind, and took my solitary way in
the direction of Mrs. Jones's humble dwelling, which lay quite upon the
outskirts of our town. To reach my destination, I had to pass the Old
Allen House, which stood within a high stone enclosure, surrounded by
stately elms a century old, which spread their great arms above and
around the decaying mansion, as if to ward off the encroachments of
time. As I came opposite the gate opening upon the carriage way, I
stopped suddenly in surprise, for light streamed out from both windows
of the north-west chamber, which I knew had been closed ever since the
death of Captain Allen, who passed to his account several years before.

This Allen House was one of the notable places in our town; and the
stories in circulation touching the Allen family, now almost extinct,
were so strongly tinctured with romance, that sober-minded people
generally received them with a large measure of incredulity.

The spacious old two-story mansion, with its high-pitched roof and rows
of dormer windows, was built by the father of Captain Allen, who had
also followed the sea, and, it was said, obtained his large wealth
through means not sanctioned by laws human or divine. Men and women of
the past generation, and therefore contemporaries, did not hesitate to
designate him an "old pirate," though always the opprobrious words
were spoken in an undertone, for people were half afraid of the dark,
reserved, evil-lo