The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1875-07-02
4 TERRIBLE ALTERNATIVE.

4 TERRIBLE ALTERNATIVE.
.,Nna seem to be very much struck by
that plcrurc." said my Old friend the
Colore, for. a. | don't mean TO bctray
family secrets, | shall speak of him as the
"COione!" only, at whose coy nook in
Buckinghalnshire | had quartered myself
for "a Iew days. The picture he alluded to
certainly adattracted an unusual amount
OF mv attention, considering that, as a
rule. I M strangely deficient in artistic
taste.
We. ve>." | answered, my eye re-
turning % rest on that particular object
which nal attracted il many times before {;
regarding Il rs 4 picture, | should say it
is by no means the best Of your collection,
but, regarding it aS Il portrait, there is
something about it that fetChcs me. 1t
is nor hat the face is either handsome or
Intellectual, bur there is strange, weird
sOar-ni y about il which the artist seems
to have saught fresh from the living face
and transferred 70 the canvas. and which
ali his after art had failed to paint out"
Tay picture which gave rise to these OBJ
seryac.0.S was that Of Il man certainly not
past middle age. dressed in the fashion of
the earlier period of the reign of George
III. The face and figure, as regarded
mere form and feature, were common
place aa0Ggh: there was nothing suf-
fcien-.v r"nlarkable in the portrait to at
tract more than Il passing observation ;
indeed, on locking at il, you felt it ought
to represent a kindly, genial gentleman
but somehow it didn't. There seemed to
he something behind it, working out
thro~rn the painted eyes as though it or
they rad seen what they should not. and
were tainted by some awful mystery that
WOULD rot be hidden eve in the grave.
Turning my back upon it | shifted the
conversation, and my friend seemed by no
means displcased to dismiss the subject.
We had i long, cosby chat on many
matters interesting to old friends who
meet but seldom and with long lapSeS of
time between. 1t Wa late before we
could make up IL minds to separate. AT
last, aS ! left the room, candleStick in hand,
[ couIG not help, against my will. casting
a furcivo glance at the portrait, and hastily
hut lie door behind me. | was dead
tired, ior | mad come off a long journey a;
but when | got to bed it was a long time
before 7 could compose myself to sleep,
and when | did | was troubled in my
dream. The portrait had followed me
IN stairs. Slipped into the room after me,
-! .,,-,, IN oot info tho hnI hpSiHn mo .
hut, falling in THAT. went and leaned
against he wall and cane out OF the frame
and Climbed up to the top OF my bed, hid
i'm the curtain folds, and multiplied itself
BY thousands, till the whole atmosphere,
above and around me, was filled with the
one weird, strange face. In the morning
my friend hoped | had slept well. told
him the sort of purgatory ! had endured,
adding:
y an sure there is ONE grim secret
connected with that picture; you may as
well tell me what it is. If il sa family
secret. I promise to keep it sacred"
Wei" he answered, after a moments
reflection. there is Il painful story con-
nactaH with it. The portrait is hat OF my
grdnG.a.her-DoctOr Matthias, let us call
him. He was one of the physicians-in-
Ordinary % George ILL.,. which position he
occupied long before he had reached
middle-age. He wa a courteous, genial,
kindly man, full of those social qualities
which make a man a favOrite of society.
so much [ have heard. When | knew
him things were different. In the year
1910, full Of high spirits and pleasant an
ticirations. he went on the Continent for
amouth's holiday; he cam back at the
end OF y IN altered man-hiS genial nature
cIoudeG with an ineradlCable gloom. He
gave ND all practice, all society; bought
tbis nlaoe and settled here he received
no visits. paid n he lived in his library
amono his books, occasionally takinglong
solitary rambles about the country. HIS
nature did not degenerate into harshness
but d strange melancholy possessed MN
its cause was unknown, so was us cure
He turned his back upon the world, aho
though ne WIS no world scOrner nothih9
would induce him to enterit again. tie was
a widower, and his only SONNY fathei
was then a boy at Harrow. You may
imagine this was not a lively place Tor Z
h~igh-spirited young fellow to come homt
to; they saw little Of each other. In dut
time nv father married, and | was born,