The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1874-02-19
4 STR1NGE STORY,

llC lhllON liS iNS~N
tain London house, For obvious
reasons suppress the names of the
persons and exact localities, and I
further desire 1t to be understood
that | do not hold myself response
BILE for the accurate truth of all the
details of the story; | need only to.
add that the events are to bo taken
as having occurred some years ago.
Some years ago, then, a gentle,
man whom We will call Colonel
Somewille, was desirous of buying
a house in the west end ofthe town,
and passing one day, through a
well-known square, he observed a
house to be sold, which seemed to
him, us far as outside appearances
and situation were concerned, to be
the very thing he wanted. The
printed bill referred him to a firm
of real estate agents in the city, and
to them he at once went, though he
could not help entertaining a mis-
giving that the price would be ex-
brilliantly high and beyond his
means. No harm, however, could
be done by a simple inquiry. He
was agreeably astORished to lind
that the sum demanded was only
$4,000. Not being . commercial
man, he could not help expressing
his astonishment at the small sum
demanded, and naiyely inquired if
the house was very much out Of re-
pair. The representative of the
firm unhcsitatingly replied that the
house was in very good repair, and
would not require more than the
usual outlay upon decoration. The
Colonel pressed lis inquiries, and,
as he seemed to be q likely and de,
sirablc purchaser, he was soon in
formed of the circumstances uhder
which the house in question was to
be sold. Ithad belonged toa queer
old gentleman who lived in Clerk
cnwell, ard who had died intestatc,
and the sale was ordered by his next
of kin, who had been found with
some difficulty. Thisold gentleman
had died, strangely cnougha8n, the
hyerx act of drawing ups hiss'tl
1 'ffe had Just P6nhet tite iStcltis "
i'sAnd I desir6ithatmy house in-
Square should beAp when some
Ekind of q ft,seized Ainlyapd he was
'Ediscovered thenext morning by his
housckecpcf, dead in his chair
Now the.next of kin was found in
| Australia, or some remote colony,
and was anxious toTealize theprop-
erty as quickly asEPossible. The
house in Square had been un-
inhabited for years, There was not
a,scrap Of furniture in it; but it had
been scrupulousIy cared for and
kept clean by an elderly deaf wo-
man, WHO did not live in it, but
used to 90 to it every morning and
spend almost all day there, and put
it in such condition, that the owner
might have furnished itat any time
aud cone to live there without ex-
pcricncing any sense of discomfort
which would ordinarily arise from
residing in a house Which had not
been Inhabited for a long time. 1t
was well known, | may add, that
the elderly care taker never lived
or slept there. The Colonel went
ts giiqw the house. lie found that
he had not been deceived by exter-
NAL appearances, or by the descip,,
ton Of the accommodations detailed
| by the agent; it was, in short, just
such a house as he and his wife
wanted for a townrcsidence, and i'll
due course the purchase was com
plcted. !. AS he was in no particular
hurry to enter, and as Mrs. Somer-
vile happened to be unwell at this
particular time, and unable to come
to London to superintend the fitting
up and furnishing, hs contented
himself with preparing a bed room
for his own use on the first floor,
and another for his valet on the
floor above. He retained the serv-
ices ofthe elderly deaf woman, who
appeared to be grateful for his
consideration, as she alleged that
the pay she received for her trouble
was almost all she had to live on.
The house became the property OF
the Colonel at midsummer 1S5-.
Towards the end of July the rooms
mentioned were furnished in a
temporary manner for the accom-
mediation of the Colonel, who at