Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-01-10

[ asked for wiring materials. A bottle
OF ink, stump pen and a couple of sheets
Of soiled paper were brought ont Of little
cupboard in the chimney. and ! returned
to my room to write to ray wife.
ILy Darling Berenice."
paused and laid down my pen as con-
Guided the words, half smiling to think
what she would say could she know of my
strange quarters she, my fair italian flow
er, now regaining the lost roses under the
blue, balmy sky of her native land. Sweet
the perils of this stormy midnight
Not until both sheets were covered did [
lay aside my pen and prepare for slumber
AS folded the paper I happened to glance
toward my couch.
Was it the CLEAN of human eye obsery-
ing me through the cracks of the board
partition, or was it but my own fancy p
Whatever it was, it sent a cold chill through
the very marrow of my bones. took my
light to recornoitre. There was crack
there, but only blank darkness beyond !;
yet I could have sworn that something had
sparEled balefully at me.
/ took out my wat1h--it was one o'clock.
It was scarcely worth while for me to un-
dress for three hours sleep would lie
down in my clothes and snatch what slum-
Der could. So placing my valise close to
the head of my bed, and barricading the
lockless door with the two chairs, { ex-
tinguished the light and laid down
At first [ was very wakeful but gradually
a soft drowsiness seemed to steal over me
like misty mantle, until, all Of a sudden,
some startling electric thrill coursed
through all my veins, and [ sat up excited
and trembling.
A luminous softness seemed to glow and
quiver through the room-no light of moon
or star was ever so soft or penetrating-an
by the little window I saw Berenice, 1ny
wife, dressedln floating garment of white,
with her long golden hair knotted back by
blue ribbon. Apparently she was beck
oning to me with outstretched hands and
eyes full of wild, anxious tenderness.
[ sprang to my feet and rushed towards
her, but as l reached the window, the fair
apparition seemed to vanish into the stor-
my darkness, and was left alone. At the
self-same instant the sharp report of pis-
tol sounded-I could see the Jagged
stream of fire above the pillow-stralght,
straight through the very spot where, ten
seconds since, my head had lain.
With an instantaneous realization of my
danger, [ swung myself over the edge of
the window jumping some eight or ten
feet into the tangled rosebushes below. and
as [ crouched there, recovering my breath,
heard the tramp of footsteps into my room.
els he dead % cried voice up the lad
der-the smooth, deceitful voice of the wo-
man with the half-closed eyes,
'Of course he is, growled voice back;
" that charge would have killed ten men
A light there, quick and tell Tom to be
ready to dispose of it,
"It p A cold, agonized shudder ran
through me as [ recalled what cit" meant.
What den of midnight murderers had [
fallen into ? And how fearfuIly narrow
had been my escape. With speed that
only mortal terror and deadly peril can
give, / rushed through the woods, now
illumined by faint glinmer Of starlight.
[ knew not what impulse guided my foot
steps-I never shall know how many times
| crossed my own track, or how close [
stood to the brink of the deadly ravine :;
but some merciful Providence compassed
me with gniding and protecting care, for,
when the morning dawned, with faint red
bars of orient light against the eastern sky,
I was close to the high road, some seven
miles from b.
Once at the town, I told my story to the
local police and detachment was sent to
the spot After much searching, and many
false alarms, we succeeded in finding the
ruinous old shanty but it WIS empty and
deserted. Our birds had flown nor did
I ever recover my valise and watch and
chain, which latter I had left under my
pillow.
cts Drew's gang" said the leader of
two years l don't think, though, they'll
come back here just at present ="
Nor did they.
But the strangest part of my story is to
come yet. Some three weeks subsequently
| received letter from my sister, who was
with Berenice in her Italian home-a letter
whose intelligence filled me with surprise.
q must tell you something very, very
strange" wrote my sister, So that happened
to us on the night of the 18th of October.
BerCnice had not been SO well for some
time in fact, she had been confined to her
bed for nearly q week, and I was sitting
beside her reading. 1t was late the clock
had just struck one, when all of sudden
she seemed to faint away, growing cold
and rigid as a corpse. l FASTENED to call
assistance, but all cur efforts seemed vain
to restore life or animation. [ was just
about sending Antonio for the doctor when
her senses returned as suddenly as they
had left her, and she sat up in bed, push
| ing back her hair and looking wildly around
| her.
"Berenice," I exclaimed, chow you have
terrified as all Are you i'll ?"
| "'Not i'll, she answered but I feel SC
strange. Oracle, [ have been with my hus
band !"
"And all our reasoning failed to con
vince her of the impossibility of her asser'
/ ton. She persists to this moment that she
saw you and was with you on the night OF
! the seventeenth of October, OF rather en-
the morning of the eighteenth. Where
and how she cannot tell; but we think i
must have been some dream. She is bet
ter now, and wish you could see how fas
she is improving.
This is my plain, unvarnlshed tale.
do not pretend to explain or account for it:
mysteries. I simply relate facts. LIE
psychologists unravel the labyrinthica
skein. [ am not superstitious, neither dc
[ believe in ghosts, wraiths and apparitions
but this thing do know-that although
my Italian wife was at Naples, in the body
the morning of the eighteenth of October
her spirit surely stood beside me in th,
moment of the deadly peril that menacee
me. 1t may that, to the subtle lnstlnc
and strength of wife's holy love, all thing
are possible but Berenice surely saved
my life.
There ia said to be a great deal of spur1