The Planters' banner. [volume] (Franklin, Attakapas Co., Lou.) 1849-1872, 1851-04-26

OF protection where there was no Other
Without having made any promises
she went so far as to start up in bed tn,
next time she saw the face. The eve
winked horribly at her; the head nod
ded--and was gone. The beating o
her heart prevented her hearing am
thing that time; but once or twice
during the autumn she fancied she
heard slight and swift footstep in the
passage. She always left her room
door open, for the sake of the same sor
OF feeling Of security that most people
crave when they shut and bolt theirs
If this was a ghost, bolts would moi
keep it out; and she could fly the mere
easily through the open door if her
terror should become too great to be
endured alone. For the first time, she
now burned nj night-light in her cham
Der, as the nights heightened, and not
dim Pickering rush candle, but a
steady wax-light. She knew that her
daughter wondered at the strange ex-
travagance but she could not bear
darkness, or very feeble light, when
the thing might be behind the curtain.
Throughout October the visits were
almost nightly. In the first week in
November they suddenly ceased; and
so many weeks passed away without a
return, that Mrs. Wharton began to be
a little alarmed about her own wits.
and to ask herself whether, after all
il was not possible that this was a trick
OF the nerves. One night in January,
that doubt, at least, was settled for
there, at the same bedpost, was the
same face. Mrs. Wharton was now.
after this interval, subdued at once
She had borne, for half-a-year, her pas
tors suspicious of her digestion and of
her wisdom, and now she really wanted
sympathy. She let him tell her daugh-
ter (let him, rather than tell il herself.
because he could make light of it, and
she could not;) and she gladly agreed
to let her daughter sleep with her. For
long, She gained nothing by it. During
the whole fortnight that the visits now
continued, Miss Wharton never once
saw the face. She tried to wake the
moment her mother touched her: she
tried to keep awake but she never saw
the face; and after that fortnight, it did
not come again till April.
One bright May dawn she saw it.
Her mother pulled her wrist, and she
woke up 10 sight which burned itself
upon her brain. She suppressed
shrek at the moment; but she could
not tell Mr.. Gurney OF it afterwards
---:sL-. .---.s. cfTU wdHI6u Inat day 10 |
leave the house Immediately; but the
thought of her mothers long suffering
with this horror, the consideration of
the serious consequences of declaring
themselves ghoSt-seers in the town, and |
Of the disastrous effect upon their pro-
perty, and of the harmlessness of the |
ghost, induced her to summon up her
courage, and bear on. She did more |
When a little Injured, she one night |
sprang out of bed, rushed round the foot |
Of 1t, aud out upon the landing. The |
stairs were still dim in the dawn; but |
she was confident that she saw some |
thing moving there-passing down to |
The hall. AS soon as she could make |
the servants attend her, she told them
she believed that somebody was in the
house; and all the four women-two |
ladies' and two maids-went, armed |
with pokers and shovels, and examined |
the whole house. They found nothing,
neither in the chimneys, nor under the
beds, nor in any closet-nothing from
cellar to attic. And when the maids
lad recovered little, they agreed |
what tiresome and wearying thing il
was when ladies took fancies This
was only their first night of disturbance.
Miss Wharton called them up three
lines, and then she gave the matter
Up. The servants thought her strangely
Uttered, and wished she might not be
going to be ILL.,
Thus the matter went on for some !
7ears. The oldest thing was the peri
,dicity of the visits In winter they
we're rare; but there was generally a
hort series in or about January, after
which they ceased till the end of
March, or the beginning Of April
They went on through nearly the whole
with one or two intervals of
lbout fortnight. The servants never
even the existence of the
mystery Their ladies never men,
ioned it; and no article was ever dis
placed at night. The ladies became
n time so accustomed to the appear
lnce as TO bear it almost without unea-
iness. 1t occurred to them sometimes,
low odd it was to be living under
he weight of such a mystery; and
hey were silent when ghosts were
alked about, and felt and looked very
erious when they were laughed at
,ut their alarm had subsidized The
hing never did them any harm; and
hey had now got merely TO open drow-
y eyes, to see if it was there and TO
lrop asleep the moment it was there
10 longer. This may seem strange to
hose who have not land also to those
Who have) ever seen ghosts; but none
f us know what we may come to
nd these two ladies reached the point
f turning their heads on their pillows,
without much beating of the heart,
Inder the gibbering of hideous ghost
One circumstance worth noting is,
hat the thing once spoke. After one
f the mocking mods. it said, al come
0 see you whenever / pleasen When