Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1876-12-16
rConcluded from FIRST page. 4

lcit tuc wy Ups Mss auu
his young. clear voice came Up again,
with trembling in II:
'Ay, Esther, that | will. Ny father S
mare is in the stable, and this very hour,
] will start, and take no rest till find
Roger Vane and put your ring in his hand
God helping me-"
"God bless you. Martin - | whispered
TO him as he went; and having blessed a
human creature for the first time in this
bitter year, it seemed as if peace stole in
to my heart, and tender tears into my
eyes, and halfthe weight rolled away from
my wretched bosom as knelt on the cold
bare floor. l counted two days by, and
went for the last time from the Jail to the
crowded courtroom. On the day when !
looked for Martin back again, they,told
me that | was to die. And, while the
voices clamored all around me for my in
nocent blood, and from beyond the win
dows the shrill cry rung in, cursed them
all as l stood sthere-all. gray old judges
and young children, and cast my muir
der upon their heads for evermore. | lay
by the grated window all the rest of the
long. slow afternoon, all through the open
twilight. and waited for Martin. My
blood was hot with fever, and there was
ibauhSoo III Oidlu dluIosl UtlleNcu,
as | crouched there, that all these tales
were true, and that devils had crept into
every pulse that beat in my hot head and
whispered in my ears as ] clenched my
hands over it. At last | heard my name
called, in voice that was human, and yet
was kinda pitiul voice sounding under
my grating; Esther Esther | sprang
up and answered him. pressed my face
to the bars, and, in the growing starlight,
| saw him standing there-Martin all alone
/ could only speak his name, and all other
sounds died in my dry, parched throat.
Il have done your errand, Esther
"'lou have seen-you have seen Rog-
er vaner
~ have seen him.
And the ring p gasped out.
HE seemed to hang his head lower
and lower, as if he feared to meet my
eyes.
81 put it into his hand Esther, as you
bade me
"And he sad-what did he say Are
you dumb, Martin Brown P cried, stamp
ing my foot wildly. Why cannot you an
swer me?
Because l shall break your heart the
boy cried out, breaking into tears. 'Esth-
er. he will not come TO you,-he is cruel
and false, and deserves not one sigh that
you have spent for him ! He is to be mar
ried, tomorrow; he cannot break away
from his bride, at Gov. Winthrop's grand
house, to keep tryst at Salem iailr
THAT was all / heard. The place
whirled round and round with me, and the
roar OF great waters was in my ears as
fell on the stone floor, senseless while
yet alive. But that was the bitterness of
death; what cared Tor the rest P To-mor-
row came, and the April sunshine ginted
fair over the earth, and shone on the bride
In the streets of Boston town, and on the
witch-girl climbing the cursed bill to die.
heard the shouts, and jeers and boot
ings of the rabble irving the tender spring
air, and | saw. as one in a dream, the sea
OF hateful faces upturned to me, and the
black gallows drawn against the sweet.
blue, sunny sky, and felt the hangman's
hands touch me and turn cold the blood
in my veins, and flung out my last breath
in curse that should cling-that has clung
to all women born Of that woman
down through unnumbered genera
ticns-down to you, who trace your
lineage through Mabel Daniels and
Roger Vane! In that curse my soul
wayered and futercd out, sprang free,
and left, swinging between the black earth
and the sky, on Witch's HILL the fair form
that crept close into lovers arms in the
green wood long ago."
She stood over me-this ghost of Esther
Chillingworth,- and tore tho coil of dark
hair away from her neck; and, in the
faint. misty moonlight, | saw dreadful
oircling mark around the fair, white throat
My blood curdled with the horror of it, and
l MD my eyes, covering away in the pill
low as she hung over me with long.
moaning sob, like the hast breath of the
dying, think that terror made me insen-
sibie as lay there heard no more, nor
saw my strange visitant vanish with the
glimpse OF the moon but when | opened
my eyes again, the room was light with
dawn, and | was quite alone, with nothing
more CHASTITY than dull old family por-
trait to watch me between the parted
curtains. "a dream" | thought, as
rubbed my hands across my eyes.
Esther Chillingworth's ring was gone
from my finger IL don't know the exact
story OF it," said Aunt Lucinda at break
fast. The legend goes that it belonged
to a sweetheart of our ancestor, Roger
Vane. who was hung for witch craft-the
girl ] mean, not Roger Vane, in the Sa-
lem excitement of 1893. That was what
my grandmother used to tell me. She
never wore the ring, for she said it was
unlucky. BY the way, you haven't got it
on, have you? / don't see it on your fin
ger"
''Auntie," | said solemnlv. with my
eyes as round as the saucer before me.
ut was taken away from me, last night !"
Taken away Nonsense" said Aunt
Lucinda. "What are you talking about,
child?'
SO told her. Tut, tut ~ said my aunt
derislvely; you've had the nightmare
the ring has slipped off your finger in bed
1t was size too loose for you. Susan
will lind 1t when she is doing up your room
III engage !"
And SO she did, but my firth was in no
wise shaken. nor could any skeptical ar
guments destroy my firm belief in the