The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Oakdale Affair, by Edgar Rice Burroughs

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Title: The Oakdale Affair

Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs

Release Date: July 8, 2008 [EBook #363]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OAKDALE AFFAIR ***

Produced by Judith Boss

THE OAKDALE AFFAIR

By Edgar Rice Burroughs

Chapter One [And only chapter ED.]

The house on the hill showed lights only upon the first floor--in
the spacious reception hall, the dining room, and those more or less
mysterious purlieus thereof from which emanate disagreeable odors and
agreeable foods.

From behind a low bush across the wide lawn a pair of eyes transferred
to an alert brain these simple perceptions from which the brain deduced
with Sherlockian accuracy and Raffleian purpose that the family of the
president of The First National Bank of--Oh, let's call it Oakdale--was
at dinner, that the servants were below stairs and the second floor
deserted.

The owner of the eyes had but recently descended from the quarters of
the chauffeur above the garage which he had entered as a thief in
the night and quitted apparelled in a perfectly good suit of clothes
belonging to the gentlemanly chauffeur and a soft, checked cap which was
now pulled well down over a pair of large brown eyes in which a rather
strained expression might have suggested to an alienist a certain
neophytism which even the stern set of well shaped lips could not
effectually belie.

Apparently this was a youth steeling himself against a natural
repugnance to the dangerous profession he had espoused; and when, a
moment later, he stepped out into the moonlight and crossed the lawn
toward the house, the slender, graceful lines which the ill-fitting
clothes could not entirely conceal carried the conviction of youth if
not of innocence.

The brazen assurance with which the lad crossed the lawn and mounted
the steps to the verandah suggested a familiarity with the habits and
customs of the inmates of the house upon the hill which bespoke long and
careful study of the contemplated job. An old timer could not have moved
with greater confidence. No detail s