American citizen., 1872-08-03

| tne lookup chamber where he distilled
the poison. Perhaps land this terrible
thought made. me shudder in spite
! of mysglf) this was the very room
where the sick man had died in agony,
oh this terrible house. l should never
feel happy in it again. NY mind reiapsed
into its old train of associations One
special scene occurred to me it was that
where the two doctors, sent for by the
murderer, came to make an examination
of the body. He received them in the
hall with candle il his hand and in
| Obiiging. Sir William Wheeler, he said.
had wished for an examination. For
what purpose they asked. Merely to
satisfy the family, be said, and showed
them letter from Sir William, express
| ing such a wish, merely that those who
had been intimate with the dead might be
| beyond suspicion" Had Sir William
written no other letter asked the more
suspicious ofthe doctors. Yes, there had
been another equally friendly. This sec
ond letter had been by no means friend
ly it had, indeed, words that expressed a
suspicion of poison. The guilty man
pretended to feel for this letter in his
waistcoat pocket, and in doing so pulled
out an envelope. The doctor had only
| time for one glance, but that glance was
sufficient to show it was directed in Sir
Williams handwriting, still he said moth
ing. The examination did not take place
and the detection OF the crime was for a
time deferred, till a keener and less trust
full medical man threw himselfw with untir-
ing energy into the pursuit of the subtle
criminal
l looked up; it was half-past one I
went at once to the bedside and tried to
rouse my husband to give him his medi-
cine, but he only stirred once, reluctant
\ Ix- t.rh s..N.
sleep; so, undressing and putting on my
dressing-go l pressed together the
wood, now burnt to white ash, and
threw myself on the bed beside nv hus-
band was Just sinking into a dozc,
when a slight sound disturbed me. was
highly sensitive Just then from want of
sleep, and in a moment l recovered my
senses. 1t was faint sound like some
one irving the handle of the bedroom
door. listened again-all was still II
might have been a rat scratching behind
the wainscot; at night the faintest sound
becomes magnified by the imagination
sat up and listened; it was nothing. The
burning wood lust then gave way and so
broke into a slight blaze. l Law down
again. and I think fell asleep. I was
awakened. not by any sound. but by n
creeping, indescribable sense of some
thing supernatural and terrible. looked
finite horror that paralyzed every limb
the door softly noiselesslv open, and from
the outer darkness the figure of an old
man, dressed in an old yellow silk dressing
gown glide in He turned as he silently
closed the door. and I saw that hi, thin
emaciated face was as male as the dead
that his head was bandaped and law
bound I'D as that of n corpse is bound.
The vacant ewes that seemed entirely
colorless'were bent on the fireplace, and
the figure seemed not to notice the bed,
or those who were on it. Slowly gliding
over the floor. the spirit of the murdered
man-for such il seemed to me to be
moved toward the fire, and there stood
for a moment as if wrapt in thought. 1t
then took a bottle from the row on the
mantelpiece, examined it carefully and
went through the action of filling "a glass
with it. The figure then sat down in the
old chair by the fire, and sat there NOV
ing its thin, white hands, that seemed al
most transparent, before and over the
flame. My courage recovering itself
slowly, l began now to question myself
seriously as to whether l was delirious or
dreaming. To be sure was awake-softly
| stretched out my hand and pressed nv
husbands arm. He slightly moved and
uttered faint groan. l looked up and
counted the green and red flowers in
the cornice of the bed. Irecalled the po-
sition of the bell. which was out of nv
reach. pulled off nv rings and nut
them on again | even took out nv watch
and saw the time. 1t was a quarter past
two.
As lay there reasoning with myself
that the hall-door and the pale figure in
the faded yellow silk dressing gown were
only illusions of the senses. arising from
an imapination rendered sensitive Inv ex
citement I AGAIN nressed NV husbands