The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1871-11-30

t her as though she were rare, wild
animal.
= "Niy BdlO cGsd," she Indignantly
d heard, and the speaker had her eyes
g directed to her home on Russian Hill.
Mr.. Adds had caught up enough Cal
[ ifornia Spanish to know that it meant
: Every bad house"
e 4 small, bright-eyed sonora" with
), two children at her side, leaned
= against her little gate, and approach
e ing BSF, Mrs. Adds asked, in q mix
e ture'ef tongues that might have made
e any one laugh TO hear her, why they
E all stared at her so, and what was
?, amiss with her or her house.
1 The sonora took a little time TO
e gather in the meaning, and then she
= said she was mistaken about herself,
r for they all thought well and kindly
= of her; but as for the house Here
she shook her head and gesticuIated
) with her hands, and became quite un-
I intelligible. Mrs Adds begged her to
} repeat what she had said, which she
did in precisely the same manner: but
/ beyond the words, bad man and bad
: house, she could gather nothing.
: 1t made her feel uncomfortable, and
z as she went up the hill again she re-
! garded her neat little abode with puZ-
Zled wonder. Having an erEand to do
at the nearest store, which was kept
: by an italian in a tent on Pacific St,
in those days, she sent Nancy on 90
CIie younger Children. When she re-
turned, carrying her few parcels, twi-
light had set in, and the great misty
columns of fog, that sometimes swept
in from the sea, were making the
|. landscape very dreary. Still, as she
climbed the hill from the city side,
she could see her own door quite plain
ly,and in it the three children at play.
Not only they, there was a fourth
figure standing with them-a Spanish
girl of slender form. She had a scrapa
thrown over her shoulders, and was
watching them with n slightly drOOp-
ing head
"That must be the ladyr' exclaim-
ed Mrs. Adds to herself, with sudden
conviction. "How young she looks
quite girl"
In her excitement, Mrs. Adds
stumbled over stone and dropped
her paper of sugar. Stopping to pick
it up, her eyes were withdrawn from
the lady for an instant, and when size
looked up she could not see her any
where. The children were playing on
the porch, as before. In her haste to
gain the house, she lost her breath.
where's the lady ?" she inquired
Of the children. 'In the parlor ?"
The little ones looked round, as If
searching for the lady so as to answer
/ the question.
,'The lady is not here, mamma"
said Nancy.
''But she was with you a minute
ago."
They seemed surprised. One and all
declared the lady had not been there |
that evening. Minnie, the second |
child, said she had not played as much |
as the others, and must have seen her |
had she come. But Mrs. Adds had |
the evidence of her own eyesight, and |
went to look; a vague feeling of some |
thing strange was beginning to dawn /
upon ner.
The lady was not in the garden,
back or front, as might be seen at a /
glance. Mrs. Adds wentintO the diff |
ferent rooms indoors, and she was not /
there. Where lay the mystery? In
what did it consist?
From that night a conviction of
something to be avoided and feared,
sat upon her. Day by day it deepen
ed, like a darkened cloud.
1t was extremely painful to ac-
knowledge to herself that this cur
ious and inexplicable thing had great
er power over her, in depressing her
heart and paralyZing her spirits, than
the severe sorrow that had passed Ov-
er her, in depressing her life, leaving
her alone in the world with its trOu-
ble
A vague fear of some ill to come
haunted her, and yet she had not the
courage to confess the weakness, and
beg Mr.. Evans to find her another
home. When the children named /
"the lady," she shuddered, and yet
could not reason clearly on the SUBJ
ject; or decide sensibly what founda-
ton she had for misgiving. She be-
came daily more oppressed by brood
ing over this very uncertainty, and
the shadOwy dread that haunted her.
One thing she observed that the
the lady but in the little red play
room. Whenever she appeared to
them (if appear she did and it was not
all delusiOn on their part it was al
ways there. The singular circum-
and whether they really believed that
they saw the lady, one of real flesh
and blood, Mrs. Adds did not know.
She would not talk to them about
this.
Thus the time went on and October
came in. One day she had been down
in st. Annis' Valley and was toiling
back upward after her long Journey
ffne. nd Ia Il,
house when she came in view of it,
she found one. .Oftheir good friends, Mr..
Brown, in the porch with the chill
dren. He had Willie in his arms, and
the two girls were jumping and talk
ing by his side.
"There's :mammaw they cried.
Mammals come back ~
In that moment the strange and
painful doubts were lost sight of by
Mrs Adds, she laughed and nodded !
in her turn, and quickened her weary
steps.
Suddenly her heart stood still as
though it were turned to stone. Pass
ing lightly out at the door behind the !
group already there, the figure of the }
Spanish girl, and stood among them 5
so close that their garments seemed !
to touch; but no one noticed her, or =,
appeared to mark her presence. She
leaned forward anXiOusly, and shaded {
her face with her hand, as she watch |
ed looking earnestly down toward and
beyond the hill. For an instant Mrs. |
Adds seemed to lose sight and sense,
and when she looked again the figure
was gone.
"Was any one with you here a !
minute ago." she asked of AIr.
Brown.
There's no one here but me, Mrs. q
Adds; me and the children. How i'll !
you look! Your long walk has fatigued &
you" q
She said no more. 1t was on the {
tip of her tongue to tell him all, but !
she did not. Perhaps dread of being l
secretly laughed at prevented it
How she dreaded the staying on in
that house on Russian Hill, only her {
self knew.
The rainy season commenced early; ,
there was a great deal of it-qdite a :
fiOOd-sO that the children played in
doors. Mrs. Adds never heard them .
talk of the lady now, and felt convinc-
ed that she was not appearing to
them. Only twice had Mrs. Adds :
Deilelu HeII yet Sne seemed 10 re- =
member her face as clearly, every fea-
ture of it, as though she had known }
her for years. And, before attempt
ing to relate what followed, a hope !
must be expressed-as Mrs. Adds ex-
pressed it-that she should be charged /;
with insanity.
1t was the 9th of October, almost i
midnight, and about fortnight after /
the walk to st. Annis' Valley. Mrs.
Adds, very busy over some sewing,
and feeling sadly desolate, was at her
work in her bedroom by the light of y
the lamp, the three children abed and I
asleep beside her. She sat there for
company. The wind sighed drearily L
without, and the dull tOlling of the '
fog bell on the beach sounded eachA
rising gust. Almost imperceptibIy at [
first, q soft, low moan began to min
gle with the bell; and it caught by d
slow degrees Mrs. Adds ear. She v
looked off her work to listen, her very {
blood seemed suddenly chilled. 1t a
came from the little room the chill n
dren played in. She was convinced o
Of that as she listened with hushed 5