The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1872-03-07
Mrs. Holland shuddered. Sha a
evidently getting too much Of the mar
vellous.

h1isshleVcus living more than L Go the
quiet dead. Ghosts do not cut throats
or lire pistols, but knaves- do. Now,
g'riS' let us forget all the nonsense sad
90 to bed. When the sun rises in the
morning we can afford to laugh at all
this The most serious thing We have
to do with no~ is how wc shAll dispose
OF ourselves f5r the night. I must
certainly have some one to shar, nv
room With me, ard then there will bs
five lett for three beds. How shall ne
manage it :"
~ don't know, but 1 should lik. to
have Hattie Brown sleep with NO."
Gerty Haws said. "She would be jol-
iy it anything should happen"
Il shouldn't be SO nice with a bullet
lodged in my head"
"Threo will have to sleep in one bed,
or one OF you will have to sleep aloss"
Mrs. Holland said, thoughtfully.
"1'll take room to myself" 1 aaid
possessed by a sudden spirit of cou1oe,.
II shall soon be asleep, and then moth
ing will trouble me but my dreamD."
"That fixes US then," was tho re-
lieved answer of cur hostess, as she led
the way into the ball and up the stairs.
l was shown to perfect nest of room
at the end Of the upper hall, its win
iows opening upon the balcony. To
reassure myself, when left alone, I
turned aside the shutters Git was sun-
mer time), pushed back the 6lmy lace
curtains aud looked out long into the
night.
A breath of roses came up from the
garden below. l could hear no sound
but the russlipgs Of the trees near my
window. It seemed such = sweet
Christian warld to me then, the stars
watching In the skies above! In all
that purity Of leaves, flowers snd scent
ed breezes, how could one plan deeds
of darkness or raise hand against .
brother?
From the window I turned to b vol
ume of Robert Buchanan's posms,
which was lying upon little table BY
the bed. Leaning back in "a arm
chair, was soon lost in that sveetest
of poems, Hugh Sutherland's Pausies.
l was sitting opposite the viadew,
though not very near to it, the thought
occurring to me as settled down u
my book, that IN front Of me vas lls.-
tY Of room ter Caroline McDoweHt
shadow with the hat and Handkerchief,
to wave bis hands and bob his Aea4.
As l read, everything grew silent IL
the house. Hattie Browns laugh.
pretty and musical, dwindled down 10
to just a gurgle aud then ceased alto.
gcther. Belle Sloan called out her
merry goodnight to ghosts and fob-
bers, and was then heard no more. Il
seemed to me that was alone in tho
waking world-everybody else had en-
tered that misty land that knows 40
realities.
How l read I do not know. The
page grew blurred and dim, and I
found myself whispering over and ovef
softly:
I felt the sh hsdow there and hid my face;
But when looked again the flower was pIucke1,
The shadow gone the sunshine through tho blt>d
Cleaned family, and the widowed woman vsD4."
A soft, light step broke in upoa -
words. 1 thought that Mrs. Holland
was coming to my room to see ho,: I
was getting along alone, but turned
and went back again. I did not get -
to see what it was or who it was. Ivs3
not in the least frightened, and %
sleepy and dreamy that l had little q.
'riosity. It occurred to me that tho
, Mcdowell girls might get fright if
they heard it, for they were exceeding
ly nervous. A queer conceit got into
my head, that all the ghosts of which
We had talked of that night might
gather together there and punish u
for our lightness of speech.
Still l was afraid. I auttered the
leaves of the book and read the titles
of the poems until grew dimly con-
sclous that I was not alone in The room.
I turned around quickly and saw tho
figure Of man at the back Of my chair.
He was large, tall man, wearing hat,
and about his neck there was a bright
handkerchief of mixed colors loosely
tied.
"How did he ever get here 2" I
thought, looking at him with cool eyes
What can he want?"
As I looked him over, l saw that the
handkerchief Was serving . double yur-
pose. That having the ends tied At
the back of his neck, he had easily con.
verted the part under the chin into
bag to coutain-what ? My gold watch
aud chain we're lying on the dressing
table, but on my third finger my so-
gagement ring, costly solitaire, vss
sparkling and shining. That, At least,
was safe. I thought T would sooner
lose dozen watches than that. 1t Vas
a terrible omen to lose 40 engagement
ring.
1 hadn't the courage to speak to ny
visitor. could only look At him, al6
strange to say, he never took the Vlight-
est notice Of me or my inquiring glauo.
es, but stood several minutes quite ALL