The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1876-10-04
WITH A GHOST.

alive man of 80, whose days are spent
in business; a new suburban villa !; a
bright, sunshiny country; neighbors
all round one; and a new cemetery
hundred yards distance from the
house.
| TO this house and to this man the
ghost came.
And in this wise:
It was in August. was sitting af-
ter dinner, trying to get sentimental
over my approaching marriage, and
picturing to myself Eleanor in the
easy chair opposite me. The light was
fading, but as my eyes followed the
lines mechanically, and my thoughts
| were elsewhere, that mattered little.
Outside the house there was stiffness
extraordinary no stirring Of the
leaves; no breath in the air !; no voices
from my kitchen; no sounds from the
houses on either side, which were
locked up, their tenants being at the
seaside; not even the distant bark of
dog or the distant roll of a carriage
to show that there was another living
person in the world beside myself.
Then curious feeling came over me
suddenly realized that life may go on
in invisible, intangible forms l looked
round me with shudder [ expected
something. The room became, with
out warning. distinctly darker the
air grew chill l felt cold dews stand
upon my forehead. Remember that
up to this moment there was no reason
at all-none whatever-for alarm.
Yet I became unaccountably afraid. l
turned to the window for relief, and
there there saw it for the first time.
1t was standing outside the window,
dark shadow, clearly outlined against
the sky colorless, and yet it's draper
les were like white grave-clothes
shapeless, and yet, somehow, human
in appearance. And it had a face.
Deep.sunken and lustrOus eyes, bright
with phosphoric splendor, showed me
hollow cheeks, lips that trembled as if
with passion, and a frowning forehead.
When turned he raised his hand and
shook it at me beneath it's linen folds,
and when, with that singular move
ment remarked by all who have con-
versed and are familiar with ghosts,
"a movement in which the shape
neither glides nor walks, but change
place,-the spectre stood within the
room facing me. am ashamed to say
that 1 was frightened.
$50" he said, with an angry glance,
81 have found you at last
made no reply. What was there
to say?
81 have found you at last, have II?
Now have you, what shall do to
you1''
l could only look hopelessly. He
pushed one arm outside the cerements
which covered it-a long, lean arm,
marked with tattoo representing ship
in full sail, surmounted by a skull and
cross-bones. He shook his fist excited
ly in my face. noticed that the air
was not stirred by his movements.
1t was odd, too, that l recovered my
courage as soon as he began to thereat-
en-.
His gestures became more threaten.
ing. He repeated twenty times ruiz
ming the question with which he first
accosted me: s'Now l have found you,
what shall do with you? 1t seemed,
indeed, as if he could say nothing
more.
sCome,' l cried at last, ''this is
fooling. What do you mean by COM
ing to my house like mailman
Leave off asking what you will do with
me. If you are a ghost out Of his
senses, say so; if not, vary the mon
otony by saying something else. Can't
you swear. man? Can't you relieve
nature in the usual manner g
He groaned and wrung his hands.
81 can't he said. cit isn't al
| lowed. wish I could. What shall I
do with you? What shall do with
you?'
"You have asked me that hundred
times already. Bah you are ghost.
Ghosts can do nothing. used to be-
lieve that they did not exist. Now l
see that they do. But look here.''
took the poker from the fireplace
and passed it through him. AThen
cut Kim down like a guardsman at
Waterloo. Then l sliced him in two
like a soldier at an assault-of-arms.
At each pass of the weapon he ducked,
recoiled, and cried aloud.
''See, you cannot resist. I do what
I likewith you. What can you do in
return -
He raised his hand and struck at my
| lace. IL WAS as IL Il cola VIM OleW
upon my cheek. could not suppress
a shudder. The coldIshiver came across
me. He saw it at once, and sprang at
my throat. TO my surprise, what
was before as breath of cold air be-
came tangible. I felt his cold grasp
with his long, bony fingers at my
throat. His face, close to mine, was
filled with an eager longing for re.
venge. His lurid eyes glared in mine.
His teeth glistened in the twilight. 1t