The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1874-01-09
4 STRANGE 81 DRY.

1t is possible that some readers may be
fond of ghost stories, and therefore I re-
late for their benefit the following legend
about certain London house. For obvi-
Gus reasons suppress the names of per-
sons, and exact localities, and l further
desire it to be understood that l do not
hold myself responsible for the accurate
truth of all the details of the story need
only aC1 that the events are TO be taken
as having occurred some years ago.
Some years ago, then, gentleman whom
we will call Colonel Somerville, was desi-
rous of buying house in The west end of
the town, and passing. one day, through q
well known square, he observed house to
be sold, which seemed to him, as far as
outside appearances and situation were
concerned, to be the very thing he wanted.
The printed bill referred him to firm of
estate agents in the city, and to them he
at once went, though he could not help en-
tertaining a misgiving that the price would
be exhorbitantly high and beyond his
means. No harm, however, could be done
by simple inquiry. He was agreeably as
tonished to find that the sum demanded
was only four thousand pounds. Not
being a commercial man, he could not help
expressing his astonishment at the small
sum demanded, and naively inquired if
the mansion was very much out of repair.
The representative of the firm unhesitat-
ingly replied that the house was in very
good repair, and would not require more
than the usual outlay upon decoration.
The Colonel pressed his inquiries, and, as
he seemed to be a likely and desirable pur-
| chaser, he was soon informed of the Cir
cumstances under which the house in ques-
ton WAS to be sold. 1t had belonged to
queer old gentleman who lived in Clerk
enwell, and who had died iptestate, and
the sale was ordered by his next of kin,
who had been found with some difficulty.
This old gentleman had died, strangely
enough, in the very act of drawing up his
will. He had just penned the words ''And
l desire that my house in - Square
should be- when some kind of fit seized
him, and he was discovered The next morn
ing by his housekeeper dead in his chair.
Now the next of kin was found i'll Austria
liza or some remote colony, and was anxious
torealize on the property as quickly as pos
sible. The house in - Square had been
uninbabited for years. There was not
scrap of furniture in it; but it had been
scrupulously cared for and kept clean by
an elderly deaf woman, who did not live
in it, but used to go to it every morning
and spend almost all day there, and pre-
served it in such condition that the own
er might have furnished it at any time,
and come to live there without experienc-
ing apy sense of discomfort which would
ordinarily arise from residing in house
which had not been inhabited for a long
time. 1t was well known, may add, that
the elderly -taker never slept there.
The Colonel went to view the house. lie
found that he had not been deceived by
external appearances, or by the descrip-
tion of the accommodations detailed by the
agent it was, in short, just such house
os he and his wife wanted for a town resi-
dence and in due course the purchase was
completcd As he was IN no particular