Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1872-04-04

II am IeLnpteu, l uutoclco, ~
go for Atwick and Fleet and Jones, and
have a rubber at whist, for it seems /
am determined to be at cross purposes
with time this evening" ! sprang out
of nv chair as / concluded, for a heavy
"thud," like the falling of a human
body, struck distinctly on my BAR /
glanced hastily around the ROOM, and,
as nothing was disturbed, listened for a
repetition of the sound from without
but the silence WAS profound, and [
heard some one walking rapidly down
the street. at is some visitor to me,
| hope" But no the footsteps passed
on. Then there came the sound of
running feet, and some n came up.
I turned quickly around as the door was
pushed open.
"Ah, Fleet, it is you' | am glad to
see YOU. Come in." He did come in
and there was a CHASTITY look upon him,
frightened to behold.
"Come. Jerry" be sid, while his
teeth chartered. 81 have been sent to
fetch Won. 4 fearful accident has just
happened. DR.. Atwick~-"
"What / asked, while a shudder
| Thought to be mortal ran through and
through me.
is already dead, and as | have told
you, by an accident as horrible as 1t
was unforeseen. Jones was with him in
his office, and they had risen to comeup
here, when Atwick extlDguished his
lamp, and turning suddenly, stepped
ont Of the window instead OF the door,
and fell upon the rocks below. He was
! - / -, --I., Ilnn, ,,at lnvp, 70
him"
MY God, how horrible"
:" was at the scene of the catastro
phe in a few moments. And there,
laid out already with the grim formali-
ties of death | gazed upon the dead
body of my friend Atwick, whom | had
beheld but a few hours before in the
perfection of health-a mangled bloody
corpse lying still upon the pavement,
with n crowd of people gathered, like
ghostly statues, IN the twilight about
it. Some of the men had already con
structed Il litter. | was requested as |
knew Mrs. Atwick, perhaps better tn n
any one in the village, to hasten on be
her as gently as | could. | shrank
back appalled,. Demurred and fearful,
/ | should positively have declined this
painful duty of friendship but for the
temporary absence of our rector, and
the necessity Of speedy action in some
one. The statement of It great writer
that there is something not altogether
unpleasant to us in the ml5fortunes OF
our dearest friends, is a rank libel upon
even medium human nature. | should
not have been more distressed If Mary
Atwick, the woman to whom | was go.
ing on such an errand, had been my
own sister. And yet my acquaintance
with her was very slight. She was
anything but a popular she
had mingled but little with the people
of the village, and had thus
remained without friends, while
Atwick himself had been n
universal favorite. | had visited his
house on more social terms thanany n
else, / believe, and though | had never
found her varying from a cold and
naughty reserve, | had every reason to
believe that Atwick was deyotedly at.
tached to her and his children. 1T,
however, | had known 1t to be other
wlse-if, they had been to each other
objects OF mutual indifference, or ONE
times even OF aversion, should [ not
still have hesitated to break the quiet
of n household with tidings of such a
death to one Of it's members Yet, |
was stricken with a dumb sort of amaze
ment that | had realized nothing of my
position, and hod not a thought of
what ! was to say-even when | found
my hand upon the gate of the yard in
closure, All at once, however, a sense
of what | had come to do struck terror
to my soul, and the same shudder | had
experienced in my Office thrilled me
from head to foot. There was no lights
about the house IS / went up thegravel
walk. But | thought some n had
como ON the same GRAND, as | saw the
figure OF Il I'M going up before me. |
paused an instant ON tho threshold of
the portico, waiting for the figure, with
its back turned toward me. to lift the
knocker to strike for admission, when
the door flew open with IA sound, and
the person entering revealed to me, my
God-the hlood-staiued features of
Feuton Atwick himself
How, how I" | cried, "have You
recovered sufficiently to get here before
me, and alone ~
1t moved toward the door OF an inner
room, ~beckonlng tome with his mutll-
ated, bloody hand. And Il voice that
| should have known, without the
words, belonging to nothing mortal,
said slowly am here in the spirit,
before YOU, jerry my body follows
OF apace, Over it | have no further
control. But, that thou docth, do quick
~, or poor Mary's heart will be bro
ken"