The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1868-04-22
Miss MaSOn'S Love Affairs.

for two or three weeks, and fnallV
came down with typhoid fever The
fever ran high aud long. aud, of
course, we all took our share 10 caring
for her. Miss Mason offered several
times to sit up with her at night, but
we did not find it necessary to accept
her services Tor some weeks. | would
rather not have done so at all, she
was so miserable herself; but one
night, when Jenny was at the worst,
she seemed so anxious to do her part
that it was arranged for her to watch.
When bed time came, however, she
was looking so wan and haggard that
| urged her to let me remain IN her
place. 1t struck me that there was
something like a feverish excitement
IN the way she insisted upon watch
ing with the sick girl.
| went to bed with an uneasiness
and weight upon my mind. That /
should do so was natural enough,
with such extreme sickness under my
roof; but, In addition, / seemed to
perceive the shadow of coming fate
1t was a sultry August night;aI lay
on my bed, and tossed and turned,
and could not rest, and as | asked
my extreme nervousness, my mental
reply shaped itself over and over
again, and always the same u DIS
trusted Mss Mason. [ would have
given anything not to have done so;
could assign no sufficient reason for
so doing, but j could not force the
fact of my suspicion from my mind;
/ distrusted her; and in a vain effort
to quiet my distrust | finally fell
asleep.
I was awakened by the clock
striking three, and started up
with the consciousness that some
thing was happening. [ listened.
There was not a sound through the
house. 1t was | who had received
the doctors instruction for the night,
and / knew that Jenny was to have
her medicine at this hour Could
Miss Mason have fallen asleep? I
strained my ears; the door Of my
room was open, but | could not hear
the faintest stir, and, with every mo-
ment, the oppression with which [
woke gained upon me horribly. l got
up, at last, stole across the entry,
pushed the door of Jenny's room open
very softly, and looked in. The night
lamp burned rather dimly, but / still
saw everythingwith distinctness. Miss
Mason was standing by the bedside;
she was in her night-dress; a gay.
striped shawl, which she seemed to
have had about her, had fallen 10 her
waist, and trailed along the floor
Her cold blue eyes were blazing; there
was a small scarlet spot Ia each Of her
wan cheeks. She held a phial, from
which she was dropping red liquid
into a tablespoon, and both her hands
trembled. | took all this In at
glance. and | felt theinability to move
which is common in nightmare But,
notwithstanding the spell, if / may
call it so, which was on me, I took in
all the surroundings of the room.
Miss Mason had evidently been
writing; her table stood covered
with papers, not far from the bed; [
glanced mechanically past that to the
bureau, where | had laid a letter
which had come for Jenny from Jack
that evening. This letter was gone
At the moment | noticed this fact,
Miss Mason finished dropping the
liquid she setthe phial on the stand,
and bent over Jenny, who was In a
II
potion. At this motion the blood
rushed to my brain, | recalled that
the medicine to be given was in
powders, not liquid my eyes fastened
upon the phial, which was of curious
shape, with glass stopple; | recog-
nized having seen it on Miss MasOn's |
toilet stand A sitting, horrible con
vIetiOn came over me. l struggled to
stir. She had put her arm under /
Jenny's head; the spoon touched her |
lips. 1t seemed to me that | Shrek |
ed, but l suppose l really /
uttered only feeble sound, /
as | staggered into the room. Miss I
Mason started back; the spoon fell; |
its contents dabbed the bed-spread, I
like blood; she pressed her hand to /
her side, and glared at me with the /
expression of a somnam bulist
Thank Godr [ gasped, that [ +
have spared you the commission of +
such a deedI"
She seemed to crouch away from
me Her features were distorted and +
rigid: her right hand clutched the +
fringe of the shawl about her. spasm-
odically.
Miss DENLY, save metz she STAN
mered out.
What does this meau?' I asked
.. Yes. it was mean actl' she re-
piled. still as if she were not awake,
though I believed she was affecting
the manner.
" What was it?' I asked
She continued to stare Yacantly at I
me What l have been doing?' she /
said.
Hel expression appeared to me as