The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1871-11-17

| H0du sadly.
"No, 1 cannot bear the thought OF
strangers tending them, she said
" they are so gentle, so ino1fensive
and so tenderly attached to each 9TH
| er! They are twins and they have
been so lovingly cared for that rough
ness or severity would kill them. In
warm weather | cannot keep them
clothed-it is their only wayward-
| ness. How they have eluded ouI
watchfulness of late Heaven only
knows! Matte says she is losing
control of them. L suppose they
! were attracted by the laughter and
voices of your little ones !" And
| the poor WOman's tears flowed
afresh.
"This is not all, Mrs. Marston.
There is another inmate of your
house that you have never mention
ed to me-yOur mother!"
have no mother!" she replied,
and l saw quick look pass between
her and the ScOtchwoman.
"Who, then, is this old lady that
my children tell me of? No more
mystery, if you please" said l,
| quickly. "WhO is this old woman ?''
"Mrs. Westray," replied, slowly
"you know as much with regard to
her as we do, where she comes from,
or why she walks, we cannot tell. y
" "Walks!" said 1. "What do you
mean by walks.
ooh! don't question her any
more" said Matte, imploringly.
THE innOcents are all her trouble.
She thinks of nothing else.
I was determined to have an expIa-
nation; soon l went.
is there any correction between
the strange VapOr, which so annoyed
me in my bedroom when l first
came, and the appearance Of this
woman ?"
"God only knows!" she replied
| dreamily; "we cannot tell. We
heard strange stories ofthe house be-
fore we took it. Our greatest in
ducement to do so was It's isolated
situation. l need not tell you qlOU
why we shUn society, and why we
pay so little heed to the strange
scenes which you have witnessed
! here, and which are driving you
from us. can offer you no apology
! for our deception. Indeed, we seem
| to have lost ourselves, and all con-
| sideration for others, in our sad and
engrossing realities.
Ny heart failed me. I had inten-
| to demand an explanation, give vent
/ to my just Indignation: and then
ieave the house and its incompFe-
hensible inmates forever. l now
| found myself held back by two mo-
tives First, felt that the weeping,
hopeless woman before me had re-
ceived almost as severe a mental
shock, in the exposure of her hid
! den mystery, as l had in witnessing
| it. Something was due from moth
er to mother, and my heart whisper
ed how much / could afford to offer
consolation and comfort to one so
surely afflicted. Secondly, I felt an
irresistible curiosity concerning Mel
lies midnight visitor. Had the child
not seen it, the natural solution OF
/ the mystery would have that those
morbid people, acquainted as they
were with the antecedants OF the
house, might have imagined they re-
ally saw what they had heard so
much of, and no doubt had frequent
| Iy conversed about. Morbid people
are more or less the victims of bodily
| ailment, and it is we'll known that
there are conditions of the human
system when spectral illusions, such
as often torture US in troubled
dreams, become apparent to our wax
ng senses as realities. | talked and
soOthed Mrs. Marston into a state OF
comparative compOsure, said no
more about leaving, and made up
my mind to be Nellie's bedfellow f0I
the remainder of my stay.
! More than a week had passed, and
as there was no recurrence Ofthe Wis
itatin, l began to give up lying
awake and watching for the strange
and Las the household considered
herr unearthly visitor, when one
night | was awakened by the rest.
| lessness of the child. She was sit.
ting up in bed, not startled, but evi.
IDENTIFY deeply absorbed in something
he saw. moved to question her.
Mamma, she said, softly, "are
you awake "
Yes, darling! Why do you ask ,
because, mamma, she is there
There close to the table"
1 raised myself gently, determin-
ing to spring oD the intruder at once
but a glimpse of the face which peer.
ed upon me from beneath the gro
tesque hood my child had so accu-
rately described, paralyZed every
nerve. Not from its hideousness
on the contrary, it was a face thai
had been beautiful, but it was dark
aud foreign in its expression. And
oh! that dreadful look of stiffness and
rigidity, which | felt in my inmost
heart had no sympathy with the liY-
ing things so near her. With my
chiId's hand cIasped in mine, 1 OBJ
served zer move towards the door
The blood rushed back to my heart
AMI sprang from the bed to inter-
cept her. / reached the door, but
the ghostly thing had disappeared,
God knows where for the room
was locked on the inside. With my
sleeping child folded close to my bO-
som, watched till morning.
The next day 1 left the Marston
house, for more cheerful quarters.
My new friends informed me that my
soiourn wiCh these ill-fated people
had been unusually long. Strange
mysterious stories had been connect
ed with the place for years. The
original proprietor was French
physician, who lived for quarter c1
a century in the strictest retirement
He had only one son, who, strange
to say, was an idiot. lis left tho
neighborhood suddenly, and, it wa;
said, died in France. There was
wild stories concerning him; but
what / did not hear or see myself,
will not speak of.
Among more genial and pleasant
associations, the memory of the un
i. accountable scenes l had passed
through gradually faded away.
never solved the mystery to nay owl
satisfaction. l only know thes'
things did occur in the strange hOm'
to which the pestiIence had driver