Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1875-12-11

l{S61iuacQ ifpfu Hret la&S.s
had then crept through me TO the bones
was the chill that was creeping through
me now.
| went on again slowly. The white
mist went on again slowly-wiih the cleal
bright night all around it. !.
was awed rather than frightened
There was one moment, and one only,
when the fear came to me that my reason
might be shaken. caught myself keep
ing time TO the slow tramp of the horses
feet with the slow utterance OF these words
repeated over and over again: "Jero'
r,ette is dead. .Teromeite is dead But
nv will was still my own; was able to
control myself. to impose silence on my
own muttering lips. And rode on quiet
". And the pillar of mist went quietly
with me.
Nv groom was waiting for my return at
the rectory gate. / pointed TO the mist,
passing through the gate with me.
do you see anything there p said
The man looked at me in establishment.
entered the rcctory. The housekeep-
err met me in the hall. pointed to the
mist. entering with me.
do you see anything at my side? ? |
asked.
The housekeeper looked at me as the
groom had looked at me.
II am afraid you are not well. sir, she
said. Your color is all gone-you are
shivering. Let me get you glass OF
wine."
l went into my study, on the ground
floor and took the chair at my desk. The
photograph still lay where left it. The
pillar of mist foated round the table, and
stopped opposite to me. behind the photo
graph.
The housekeeper brought in the wine.
put the glass to my lips, and set it down
again. The chill of the mist was in the
wine. There was no taste, no reviving
spirit in it. The presence of the house
keeper oppressed me. | said to the wo-
man, Leave me by myself and take the
dog with you"
They went out, and left me alone in the
room.
sat looking at the pillar of mists how
ering opposite to me.
1t heightened slowly, until it reached TO
the ceiling. AS it heightened it grew
bright and luminous. A time passed, and
a shadowy appearance showed itself in
the centre of the light. Little by little the
shad0wy appearance took the outline of q
human form. Soft brown eyes, tender
and melancholy. looked at me through the
unearthly light in the mist. The head and
The rest OF the face broke next slowly on
my view. Then the figure gradually re-
vealed itself, moment bv moment, down.
ward to the feet. She stood before me as
had last seen her, in her purple-merino
dress, with the black-silk apron, with the
white handkerchief tied loosely round her
neck. She stood before me, in the gentle
beauty that / remember SO well, and
looked when she gave me her last kiss
when her tears had dropped on my cheek.
/ fell on my knees at the table.
stretched out my hands to her imploring-
| said. 'Speak to me-O, once again
speak to me, Jeromette =
Her eyes rested on me with divine
compassion in them. She lifted her hand.
and pointed to the photograph on my desk,
with gesture which babe me turn the
card. / turned it. The name Of the man
who had left my house that morning was
inscribed on it, in her own handwriting.
/ looked at her again. when | had read
it. She lifted her hand once more. and
pointed to the handkerchief round her
neck As looked at it the fair while silk
changed horribly in color-the fair white
silk became darkened and drenched in
blood.
A moment more---and the vision of her
began to grow dim. BY slow degrees the
figure, then the face. faded back into the
shadowy appearance that had first seen.
The luminous inner light died out in the
white mist. The mist itself dropped slow
" downward-foated q moment in airy
cirles on the fioor-vanished. Nothing
was before me but the familiar wall of the
room, and the photograph lying face
downward on my desk.
The next day the newspapers reported
the discovery of murder in London. A
French woman was the victim. She had
been killed by wound in the throat. The
crime had been discovered between ten
and eleven o'clock on the previous night.
leave you to draw your conclusions
from that related. My own faith in the
reality of the apparition is immovable. |
say. and believe, that Jeromette kept her
word with me. She died young and died
miserably And heard of it from herself
Take up the trial again, and look at the
circumstances that were revealed during
the investigation in court His motive for
numbering her is there.
You will see that she did not marry him
privately; that they lived together con-
tentedly until the fatal day when she dis
covered that his fancy had been caught by
another woman; that violent quarrels
took place between them from that time
to the time when my sermon showed him
own deadly hatred toward her, reflected
in the case of another man. that she dis
covered his place of retreat in my house,
and threatened him by letter with the pub
lie assertion of her conjugal rights; lastly,
that man, variously described by differ
ent witnesses, was seen leaving the door
of her lodgings on the night of the muir
der. The law-advancing no further than
this-may have discovered circumstances
of suspicion, but no certainty. The law,
in default of direct evidence to convict the
prisoner, may have rightly decided in let