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Mysterious business, this passing on. Her eyelids were closed, a symbol of drawn blinds of the crumbling old house in which she had lived for so long. It was almost a tenantless house now. And yet she was somewhere down there behind those drawn blinds. Reluctant perhaps to leave, still she lingered, with the fires going out so that it must be cold … cold and silent where she huddled. Or was she hearing now the great organ of the Beyond with its sweep of harmonies summoning her to come–welcoming her….

A shiver ran through young Lee Anthony as he saw that the pallid bloodless lips of the white wrinkled face had stirred into a smile. Down there somewhere her spirit–awed and a little frightened doubtless–had opened some door to let the sound of the organ in–and to let in the great riot of color which must have been outside…. And then she had not been frightened, but eager….

He realized suddenly that he was staring at an empty shell and that old Anna Green had gone….

* * * * *

A sound abruptly brought Lee out of his awed thoughts. It was outside the house–the crunching of wheels in the gravel of the driveway–the squeal of grinding brakes. A car had stopped. He sat erect in his chair, stiffened, listening, with his heart pounding so that the beat of it seemed to shake his tense body. His grandfather–returning?

An automobile horn honked. Footsteps sounded on the verandah. The front doorbell rang.

There were voices outside as he crossed the living room–a man’s voice, and then a girl’s laugh. He flung open the door. It was a young man in dinner clothes and a tall blonde girl. Tom Franklin, and a vivid, theatrical-looking girl, whom Lee had never seen before. She was inches taller than her companion. She stood clinging to his arm; her beautiful face, with beaded lashes and heavily rouged lips, was laughing. She was swaying; her companion steadied her, but he was swaying himself.

“Easy, Viv,” he warned. “We made it–tol’ you we would…. Hello there, Lee ol’ man–your birthday–think I’d forget a thing like that, not on your life. So we come t’celebrate–meet Vivian Lamotte–frien’ o’ mine. Nice kid, Viv–you’ll like her.”

“Hello,” the girl said. She stared up at Lee. He towered above her, and beside him the undersized and stoop-shouldered Franklin was swaying happily. Admiration leaped into the girl’s eyes.

“Say,” she murmured, “you sure are a swell looker for a fact. He said you were–but my Gawd–“

“And his birthday too,” Frank agreed, “so we’re gonna celebrate–” His slack-jawed, weak-chinned face radiated happiness and triumph. “Came fas’ to get here in time. I tol’ Viv I could make it–we never hit a thing–“

“Why, yes–come in,” Lee agreed awkwardly. He had only met young Tom Franklin once or twice, a year ago now, and Lee had completely forgotten it. The son of a rich man, with more money than was good for him…. With old Anna lying there upstairs–surely he did not want these happy inebriated guests here now….

He stood with them just inside the threshold. “I–I’m awfully sorry,” he began. “My birthday–yes, but you see–old Mrs. Green–my guardian–just all the family I’ve got–she died, just a few minutes ago–upstairs here–I’ve been here alone with her–“

It sobered them. They stared blankly. “Say, my Gawd, that’s tough,” the girl murmured. “Your birthday too. Tommy listen, we gotta get goin’–can’t celebrate–“

It seemed that there was just a shadow out on the dark verandah. A tall figure in a dark cloak.

“Why–what the hell,” Franklin muttered.

A group of gliding soundless figures were out there in the darkness. And across the living room the window sash went up with a thump. A black shape was there, huddled in a great loose cloak which was over the head so that the thing inside was shapeless.