



Produced by Charles Bowen from page scans provided by
Google Books (The New York Public Library)











Transcriber's Notes:
     1. Page scan source: Google Books
        https://books.google.com.sb/books?id=7QYdAAAAMAAJ
        (the New York Public Library)






The Red House on Rowan Street






[Illustration: "'_Mr. Underwood has enemies,'--he said calmly_."
FRONTISPIECE. _See p_. 179]






THE RED HOUSE
ON ROWAN STREET


By
ROMAN DOUBLEDAY
Author of "The Hemlock Avenue Mystery," etc.



With Illustrations by
William Kirkpatrick




BOSTON
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY
1910






_Copyright, 1909, 1910_,
BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.

-----------

_All rights reserved_



Published March, 1910

Second Printing



Printers
S. J. Parkhill & Co., Boston, U.S.A.






Contents

CHAPTER
         I. Burton Becomes an Ambassador.
        II. At the Red House.
       III. The Highwayman's Mask Is Found.
        IV. The Curious Experiences of the Underwood Family.
         V. The Investigating Committee.
        VI. A Midnight Watch.
       VII. The Work of the Incendiary.
      VIII. The Baby That Was Tied in.
        IX. A Pointed Warning.
         X. Mr. Hadley Proves a True Prophet.
        XI. Henry Underwood Is Arrested.
       XII. An Unstable Sweetheart.
      XIII. Henry Is Hard to Handle.
       XIV. Burton's Turn.
        XV. An Odd Knot.
       XVI. The Trail to Yesteryear.
      XVII. A Temporary Aberration.
     XVIII. Burton Thinks He Is Mending Matters.
       XIX. Burton Goes To The Reservation.
        XX. Ground Bait.
       XXI. Rachel Appears on the Scene.
      XXII. Henry Takes to His Heels.
     XXIII. The Trap Is Sprung.
      XXIV. Burton's Last Appearance as an Ambassador.






Illustrations

"'Mr. Underwood has enemies,' he said calmly."          _Frontispiece_
                                                        _See p_. 176.

"'Well, perhaps this can be explained away, too!'"      _Page_  71

"He found Ben Bussey in a wheeled
     chair near a window."                              _Page_ 200

"He stopped for a moment at the gate to enjoy the
     picture she made."                                 _Page_ 250






The
Red House on Rowan Street




CHAPTER I
BURTON BECOMES AN AMBASSADOR


When Hugh Burton stepped from the train at High Ridge, he wondered (in
his ignorance of the events that were about to engage him) whether he
would be able to catch a return train that evening. He had no desire
to linger in this half-grown town on the western edge of civilization
one minute longer than his fool errand demanded. He called it a "fool
errand" every time he thought of his mission. That he, who had
secretly prided himself on the "disengaged" attitude which he had
always maintained toward life, should have consented to come halfway
across the continent to hunt up a Miss Leslie Underwood whom he had
never met, and ask her if she would not be so kind as to reconsider
her refusal to marry Philip Overman, because Philip was really taking
it very hard, don't you know, and particularly because Philip's mother
would be quite distracted if the boy should carry out his threat to
enlist and go to the Philippines,--oh, Lord! he must have had some
unsuspected idiot among his ancestors. Did Rachel Overman know how
heavily she was drawing on his friendship?

An Indian woman sitting on the stone steps of the railway station made
him realize how near the edge of civilization, in very truth, he had
come. There was, he remembered, a Reservation for Indians on the
northern border of the State. It could not be very far from High
Ridge.

With her bright shawl about her shoulders and her beadwork and baskets
spread about her, the woman made a picturesque spot in the sunshine.
At another time Burton would have stopped to examine her wares, for
among his other dilettante pursuits was an interest in Indian
basketry; but in his present impatient mood he would have pushed past
with a mere glance but for one of those queer little incidents that we
call accidental. A man who was coming down the steps that Burton was
about