Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1875-08-27
& 6trrihlt gtnry.
A TERRIBLE ALTERNATIVE
BIT LADY pUYYus HARDY.

"You aeem to be very much struck by
that picture" said my old friend, the Col
onsl (for - don't mean to betrsy family -
erets, I shall speak Of him - the ''Colsnel.''
only }, ut whose cosy nook in Buckhsmshire
! had quartsred myself for few daya--
The picture he alluded 70 certainly had
attracted IN unusual amount Of my stten-
tion, considering that, a. . rule, am
strangely deficient in artistic taste.
"well. yes" answered, my eye return
ing 70 rest on that particular object which
had attracted it many times before; re
garding il a. . picture. / should say Il
10 by no means the best Of your collsctioa,
but regarding II n portrait, there is
something about Il that .fetches' me. II ID
not that the face il either handsome or ia
but usre ,s strange, wsro
something about it which the artist seems
to have caught fresh from the living face
and transferred to the canvass. and which
oil his after art had failed to paint cut"
The picture which gave rise to these OBJ
servations was that of . man certainly not
past middle age, dressed in the fashion Of
the earlier period Of the region Of George
III. The face and figure, as regarded
mere term and feature, were commonplace
enough; there was nothing sufficiently re-
marksble in the portrait to attract more
than . passing observation; indeed, on
looking At il, you felt it ought to represent
. kindly, genial gentleman; but somehow
it didn't There seemed to be something
behind it, working ou. through the paint
ed eyes, a. though it or they had seen what
they should not, and they were haunted
by some awful mystery that would not be
hidden even in the grave. Turning my
back upon II shifted the conversation,
and my friend seemed by NO means dis
pleased to dismiss the subject We had 8
long, gossipy chat on many matters inter
esting to old friends who meet but seldom
and with long lapse Of time between. 1t
was late before we could make up our
minds to separate. At last, as I left the
room, candlestick in hand, I could mot
help, against my will, casting . furtive
glance at the portrait, and hastily shut
the door behind me. WAS dead tired,
for I had come of long journey; but
when got to bed 1t was long time be-
fore I could compose myself to sleep, and
when did I was troubled in my dreama.
The portrait had followed me up stairs,
slipped into the room after me, and tried
to get into bod beside me; but failing in
that, went and leaned against the wall and
came out of the frame and climbed up to
the top of my bed, hid in the curtain folds,
and multiplied itself by thousands, till the
whole atmosphere, above and around me,
was filed with the one weird, strange
face. In the morning my friend hoped /
had slept well. l told him the sort OF
purgatory l had endured, adding:
: ~ am sure there is some grim secret
connected with that picture; you may as
well tell me what it is. If it is family
secret, promise to keep it sacred"
"Well," he answered, after moments 9
reflection, 'there 10 . painful story con-
nected with it. The portrait is that of
my grasdfather-Doctor Matthias, let US
call him. He was one OF the physicians
in-ordinary to George I'LL, which position
he occupied long before he had reached
middle-age. He was courteous, genial,
kindly man, full Of those social qualities
which make man favorite of society
SO much l have heard. When l knew
him things were different. In the year
ITO, full of high spirits and pleasant an
ticipations he went on the Continent for q
months holiday; he came back at the end
of it an altered man-his genial nature
clouded with an ineradicable gloom. He
gave up all practice, all society; bought
this place and settled here; he received no
visits, paid none; he lived in his library
among his books, occasionally taking
long, solitary ramblcs about the country.
His nature did not degenerate into harsh
ness, but strange melancholy possessed
him; its cause was unknown, SO was its
cure. He turned his back upon the world,