Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-10-15

ner lace and stood under the chandelier.
"As told yeu, nurse" said Mrs. Bran
don, Jane must carry Master Edward out
!. ior half an hour early every morning."
But Catherine no longer gave her mis-
tress her attention /; she was looking at Miss
Margaret: She took hold ofthe girls hands
and carefully scanned her face. sits over
now, after abs said and DONE said Cathe-
rine. ~ always said it was no use; no
more it isn't, = 81 s,e. aIJ %
Indeed, Catherine, there is no occasion
for you to argue the doctor says the early
morning air viii help Master Edward"
"Oh, Master Edward that's easy cured;
he is of small account any wise. We didn't
leave England for him." said nurse, and
walked off.
Mrs. Brandon gazed after nurse sorely
puzzled, but Mr.. Brandon fixed his eyes on
Margaret, over whose round young face a
shadow came as she looked through the bay
window as ifin search ofsemething. ''What
troubles you, Margaret? y l1r, i 81
Nothing" said the girl, uneasily. =
"Where did you go just now, child9" g.
A. .rNoWhere, tather.'i{ - - 81
\ Speak ntairly, my girl something has
come over ysu.9i, - q, .lasAl -.lis7 =
i Il 81 only saw some one, fatherp
I w Ito W Us lbF / B.. .tf
81 don't know,n answered Margaret, re-
| luctantly. - aa5e-s
"Where 2n demanded her father, husk
''Out of doors, in the hall, by the.win-
dow ,.f os.4 y ee~'s - ~ -
''That is nothing; some of the servants,
likely" .vlY "a > -
/ fF0h no, father. 1t was some one that
| UaUta1 ma -.
Chauncey and his wife trembled. =
Describe this person, my child" said the
father. .- ~. ~ - a-ef-,
Marganet was still looking out at the
window, and spoke slowly; as ifseeing what
she described: "a woman, father, with a
motherly face, and such big, sad, dark eyes.
1t is her eyes that ask.m to- come to her,
but when go she is lost"
"What sort of a person is she, child ?"
asked Mrs, Brandon. .,5.H 4. ....L.1 1
Not a lady, mother--a common sort of
person maybe, and, yet j go to. her. She
has black dress-a queer one-and white
'kerchief on her head She wants me TO
comfort her, mother" and Margaret
stepped quickly toward the window.
Her, father caught her in his arms
s"Don't fancy such things, Margaret. Go to
nurse and tell her of it, and go to bed.
Nurse will tell youth is nonsense" 4
No sooner had. Margaret left the room
than Mr.. Brandon, turning to his wife, said,
sit is the Brandon ghOstw 20. a..
"Yes, and your sister Annie is dead"
said his wife. - 1, :. 600 = .,a. ran
''She Is done with her trouble, and our
poor girl has come to her inheritance" Mr..
Brandon said, sadly. .....,e ID. 49,. Il
81 always told you that it would do no
good to come here, said Mrs. Brandon.
"PoOr, darling Margaret Well, it is bless
ing the servants are not afraid Of the ghost"
The matter was kept very quiet for some
weeks; nothing was saidto Margaret. Grad /
ual1y the girl changed; the ruddiness Of
buxom health died out of her cheeks; her
robust form grew slender. the face that had
been thoughtless as that of little child
wore dreamy expression. Margaret with
drew from other playmates, and grew ad-
dicted to silent musings. She seemed 1
neither i'll nor unhappy, but she was
changed, and parents and nurse knew how
the change had come. -, NJ.
Meanwhile, the slow-saiIing packet had
brought news across the sea that Annie
Brandon, spinster, had died at Brandon
Grange on the very evening when young
Margaret had been beckoned from her rat
Ting music and had gone through the open
bay-window to meet the Brandon ghost.
/ Cbauncey drew his daughter to his side
one evening, as he sat on Che balustrade of
the many yerandahs of the house He en-
circled his child's waist with his arm, and
said softly, %Haye you any more wild fan
cies, my child ?''-, b Ia, 20 go ''-.'i Z
az have no faneies, father, !" said Madge,
seriously. --,--s-S..-s- i
"But do You seethe- stranger, the woman
that seemed to call you?r
''She is no fancy, father. Yes, / see
her. ..1,.r-ss iss1-+ ~ o., iG.'
''Where2 how often ?' a. .a
Ia:g'' L cannot tell how often, and she comes
to me everywhere. Sometimes she sits by
my bed atInight; sometimes she follows
nae. when walk, or she calls me away to
some room- or to some corner of the gar
Is "Does she speak toJyou, teuch'you?n
"Oh, no. She is satisfied when come,
and fades away"
''Are you afraid of her, Margaret ?'' !
"No, father. But each time that she
looks so at me feel as if she drew part
of my life, my soul, something that is
strongest in me, out TO herself Father,
am not the only one that has seen her: | 4
hiOn rs L i1ICl iIs DO YOU hilOhs tdu NOu
tell me, is she not some being that has lived
years and years by drawing the strength of
those like me with her ewes ?" -. !
/ Z" Margaret" said Chauncey, holding his
! child fast and shireping as he spoke, "she
is m0tAer seen by the women of our
race.n 4
"And do they die. young, father ?" asked
the girl, bending closer to him. -.s3i
/ have kUoUn tboSo. hot ixraI to I.a
gray and your aunt Annie was nearly as
old as / ann INK. -..-,f. sss .r-
Though Mrs. Brandon could talk glibly
to other people about the supernatural, pre-
dicating many things concerning spirits, she
never spoke to her daughter of the Brandon
ghost. Nurse preserved the same discreet
silence, and Margaret never mentioned her
strange inheritance unless her father ques-
toned her, which he did only at long inter-
walls, with sickenilg desire each time to /
hear that the being came no more.
One person may possibly keep secret, i
but when knowledge that should be hidden /
is@possessed by several, it is apt in some
way to be revealed. 1t may be that some /
thing little singular in Margaret's ap-
pearanee or actions called attention to her, /
and led to- the discovery; at all events,
whisperings of the Brandon ghost got
abroad. - o s-- f' i7
b. Now, ghosts are not so popular and re-
spectacle in America as in England; an
heirloom of this kind, instead of being
treated diferentially and accepted as a fact, 1
like the family name and the family silver,
lis scoffed at as a dream of ltlnacy, aad
causes remarks concerning the beneficial eff I
feets of insane asylun1s, and the general !
danger of having mad people around.
" Moreover, in England family servants, !
/ being well instructed and familiar with the |
prerogatives of high birth, have no fear tina
the ariStocratic ghost VIII 'intrude upon |
their humble'li lives; they pursue the quiet |
tenor of their domestic duties, and leave |
their employers to the undisturbed posses |
sion of the hereditary spectre! o.
; American servants ,on the contrary, believe |
that they are part and parcel of all that oc-
ours under the roof which shelters them. |
They decidedly object to the mysterious; |
for they take frights not intended for them; I
they gossip most numerically, and politely |
inform the heads of the family that either |
the ghost or their own valuable service |
unjust be dispensed with. Now family |
ghost real estate, entsiled and untransfer- |
able, but American doTnestics are rolling !
stock, and forever 'sIIffer change ."-'f
e.. Nor were the WAYS of the servants the |