American Republican and Baltimore daily clipper. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1844-1846, 1845-09-24
From the Saturday Evening Post.l
A NIGHT IN A HAUNTED HOUSE
BY MARC EVERGREEN.

BY MARC EVERGREEN.
[COncuded.J
'Oh! no-not much " said he, with faint
slckly smile; "but you're not in earnest, are
you, Sam Now, was there liver anything seen
here barrin' sch as ourselves;n felt strong
inclination to laugh outright but composing my
face, | assured him was not testing.
"There can be very little doubt on the sub
ect," said |. "You see, in the time of the
grandfather of the present Marquis, the castle
was under the care of a steward of very doubt
full reputation. He was a stranger in this place,
having been sent from England to superintend
the erection Of the northern wing of the build
ing. He brought with him very beautiful
woman as his wife; whether she was so or not
was rendered very doubtful by his subsequent
behaviour to her. At first she appeared fIe-
quently in the neighborhood, but this practice
was soon discontinued. When they had been
on the place about year, the intelligence was
conveyed to the villagers of her having given
I birth to a son. Neither her nor the child,
however, were ever seen afterwards, aud COM
mon report carried about whispers Of foul deal
ing towards them by her husband if such he
was. BE this as it may, her death was openly
proclaimed about month after together with
that of her child; there was splendid funeral,
and directly after the steward took his depar-
ture for England. He never rcturned but
tales were soon current through the country
respecting unnatural noises and sights having
been heard and seen by the old domcstics. s.
One man, in particular, asserted, and offered TO
swear to its truth, that he had seen there, sevo-
raj times, woman with wan and wasted looks.
walking at the hour of midnight, with a child
in her arms, from the stewards room to this,
end yonder,'' said |, stretching out my arm,
''yonder is the very door through which she is
said to have disappeared"
Here laid my hand suddenly on Joe's shoul.
der, and with such effect, that with single
convulsive kick he upset at once the table with
its contents, extinguishing the light, and break
ipr, with a crash that made the house ring a
gain, the pitcher and tumblers.
"a single "Lord have mercy" from Joe, and
some words that sounded very like curses, from
the other two, was all that was said until the
candle was again lighted. Joe was then dis
covered lying on his side amid the broken
glasses and trembling like a leaf. loud
roar of laughter burst from us at this denoue-
nent, in which he seemed to have no desire to
Join. We then set to work to quiet his fears,
but this was no easy task Indeed, | 5000 found
that had raised a spirit which it was not in
my power to lay. From frightening him had
= proceeded in some degree to frighten myself,
and could see from the quick, uneasy gidnces
of Stanly and Parker, that they were not per-
fectly at case. The fact was, that the story
which | had told, had been, in my childhood,
received as true but of late years had fallen ln-
TO oblivion. We had all heard it before, but
50 long ago that it had passed from their me-
mories, and had only by chance required TO
mine, while revolving some scheme whereby TO
Tighten Joe. 1t was with somewhat subdned
feeling, therefore, and with sandry occasional
gances toward the particular door, that we a.
gain drew our chairs around the fire. The
punch was gone, our hiarity was gone, we
had caught, too, something OF tile terror OF
Joe,-ior fear is inectious-and we began to
entertain serious thoughts of retiring to bed
To do this, it vas, of course, necessary, as our
chamber was on the third floor, to ascend the
back stairway. Now, this same stairway was
the one down which the spectre lady and her
child had been seen to pass, and as We looked
into each others faces, we could see at least
thought so, certain signs indicating that our
thoughts ran upon the possibility of u meeting
with the phantom. While we we've thus wrap.
, ped in wondering thought, sound as of a llah,
foot falling gently on The stairs sent thrill Of
horror into every bosom. Softly, step by step
came the being, whatever it might be, dowr