The Hickman courier., 1871-05-06

eyes. L MAS tall aud white, and oh, how
CHASTITY"
She shuddefed as she spoke. Mrs.
Moreton soothed, explained, coaxed, but
in vain. Marian would not even 60
back to her own room alone, so complete
had been the shock.
II will 20 with you, my dear" said
the old lady, at. length.
She arose, threw on light flannel
dressing gown, and opened the door of
her apartment. As they stepped out into
the wide hall, Marian uttered piercing
cry. There, full before them, stood the
ghostl
Mrs. Moreton drew Marian back into
her room. shut and locked the door, and
sank trembling on the sofa, clasping both
her hands before her eyes.
"Did / not tell you 2" faltered Marian.
"How can you explain this p
Mrs. Moreton had no word of answer;
she could only rock herself backward
and forward, moaning like one in mortal
pain.
"You must not 60 from this room to.
night, child, Z" she said. Lie down upon
my bed, aud try to rest"
Toward morning, Marian awoke FROM
brief feyered slumber, and found her
self alone, and when she met Mrs.
Moreton, il was at the breakfast table.
Aidebert entered the room later. He
was pale aud strangely agitated, and his
mother looked wistfully up in his face as
he entered. He nodded slightly.
WAt last - ha aaid
"Thank Godr" Mrs. Moreton ex-
claimed.
And Marian noticed that neither moth
er nor son ate morsel of the breakfast
SO temptiDgly laid out.
Marian went to Mrs. Moreton, as Al
debert had withdrawn, and falteringly
impaired to her, her resolve to leave
Moreton Grange. Their kindness had
made it very pleasant to her; she had
been treated more as an equal than as
saIaried dependent; but the shock her
nervous system had last night received
rendered it impossible for her to remain
longer.
Mrs. Moreton listened in silence.
aAldebert," she said to her son, who
had just entered, "Miss Ashley is going
to leave as.
ITO leave US And why?"
Involuntary Marian's heart leaped up.
as she saw the sudden flush upon his
pale forehead.
sShe saw-the ghost, last night" said
Mrs. MOreton, speaking the words with
an effort.
"She will never see it gaiA, said
Aldbert Moreton, sadly. Marian he
had never called her Marian before, and
the words sounded strangely sweet in
her ears-"will you come with me2"
He led her to a darkened apartment
in the disused portion of the old Grange,
where, upon canopied couch, corps
lay, robed in the garments OF the grave.
There is the ghost you saw. Mari
an" he said; sit will never haunt these
glades again
.%Vho is it?' she faltered, clinging to
his arm with awe-stricken face.
"My brother Hugh, who has long dwell
concealed within these walls, that wit
messed his crime and his daily atonemen,
of remorse, who is at length set free BY
the great pardoner, Death. Immur-
ed in necessary retirement through the
day, he used 20 seek for air and exercise
at night; and the common people who
had fancied him dead ia France Ions
ago, and who delighted in aught SAVIOR
ing OF superstition, believed, from al
occasional glimpse of him, that the
Grange was haunted. We iet the story
gain credence; better anything than di
vulgence of the truth. The long decep
l.. 81
thank heaven, is set free. Last night he
roamed out, half delirionus, in the tenn
poary absence of his nurse, returning
only to die"
he led Marian from the room. she
breathed moor freely in the fresh air OF
the protico without.
Marian" pursued Aldebert, in low,
earnest vioce, '.you will not leave the
Grange nowl With you all its sunshine
would depart
IL will stay" she answered.
"But not as my mothers compan-
ion, Marian; that must be all over
now. You must stay here as my wife.
Aud from the wedding day of the heir
of Moreton Grange, a newer, brighter
life drawned on the old place. As the
years crept on, and the sound of the little
children's voices made music around the
gray walls, the shadows fed away, and
no one save AIdebert and his wife ever
knew where the murderer was laid to rest
after bis long penance of solitude and
rsporse.
MoretOn Grange ives haunted no Ion
ger.