Wilmington daily commercial., 1874-07-18

gown, and opened the door Of her apartment.
AS they stepped out in the wide hall, Marian ut
tered a piercing cry. There, full before them
stood the ghost
Mrs. Moreton drew Marian back into her
room, shut and locked the door, and sank trem-
bling on the sofa, claspng both her hands be-
fore her eyes.
"Did not tell you?" faltered Marian. "How
can you explain away this n
Mrs. Moreton had no word of answer she
could only rock herself backward and forward,
moaning like one in mortal pain.
'You must not go from this room tonight,
child" she said. "Lie down upon my bed and
| try to rest"
| Towards morning, Marian awoke from brief,
| fevered slumber and found herself alone and
when she next met Mrs. Moreton it was at the
| breakfast table,
Adelbert entered the room later He was
| pale and strangely agitated, and his mother
looked wistfully up in his face as he entered
| He nodded slightly.
| "At last, he added.
'Thank God !" Mrs. Moreton mnrmured.
| And Marian noticed that neither mother nor
son ate mouthful OF breakfast 80 temptingly
| laid out.
Marian went to Mrs. Moreton as Adelbert had
withdrawn, and fateringly impaired to her resolve
| tofleaye Moreton Grange. Their kindness had
made ityery pl lnasant to her she had been treated
more as an equal than salared dependant but
| the shock her nervous system had last night re-
ceived rendered it impossible for her to remain
| longer.
Mrs. Moreton listened in silence.
| s'Adelbert," she said to her son, who had just
entered "Miss Ashley is going to leave us."
''To leave us And why 7"
Involuntarily Marian's heart leaped up, as che
saw the sudden flush upon his pale forehead
''She saw-the ghost, last night !" said Mrs
Moreton, speaking the words with an effort.
''She will never see it again." said Adelber
Moreton, sadly. .Marian"-he had never callec
her Marian before, and the word sounded strange
ly sweet in her ears twill you come with me 2
He led her to darkened apartment in th'
disuaed portion of the old Grange, where, upoi
a canopied couch, a corpse lay, robed in the gar
ments of the grave
'There is the ghost you saw, Marian, he said
''Who is it2" she faltered.
"My brother Hugh, who has long dwelt con
| cealed within these walls, that witnessed hi
crime and his daily atonement OF remorse, AM
who is at length set free by the great pardone
death. Immured in necessary retlremen
through the day, he was in the habit of seeking
air and exercise at night and the common pee
pie, who had fancied him dead in France lon
ago, and who delight in aught savoring of super
stition, believed, from an occasional glimpse o
, him, that the Grange was haunted.
4 We let the story gain credence better any
/ thing than divugence Of the truth. The Ion
deception is over at last, and the poor prisoner
thank Heaven, is set free. Last night he roame
out, half delirious, in the temporary absence c
his nurse, returning only to die.
. He led Marian from the room she Dreatne
+ more freely in the fresh air of the pertico Will
' out.
6 "Marian," pursued Adelbert in a low earnei
1 voice, ''you will not leave the Grange now
With you all its sunshine would depart "
81 will stay" she answered.
"But not as my mothers companion, Marian
:, that must be all over now. You must stay hel
as my wife !"
And from the wedding day of the heir {
Moreton Grange newer, brighter life dawnt
upon the old place. As the years crept ON al
Is tile sound of little children's voices made mus
" around the gray walls, the shadows fled ava
" and no one save Adelbert and his wife ey
knew where the murderer WAS laid to rest, aft
{ his long penance of solitude and remorse
Moreton Grange was haunted no longer.