The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1876-07-07
BURG. PA, FRIDAY. JULY T. 1876.

the other for himself afterwards. In those
three rooms he should live apart, he said
and he would have doors through which no
prying eyes could penetrate, and locks no
hands but his could understand. He would
give the rest of his orders in writing, he
said after the other servants had been dis
missed
So at once began this terrible life of suf-
ierng solitude: and though no one ever,
from that day, penetrated into the young
squire's presence, and though he had told
his secret to no one, still it was understood
for the quietness of the whisper was hor-
ror, and not doubt-that slow disease was
eating his life away, and must first of all de-
stroy the beauty OF which he had been so
keerly and so sensitively proud.
Year after year life went on for him in
this awful solitude. Into these rooms he
gathered about him all he could TO make
such life bearable, and sent for the choicest
of the pictures in the gallery to hang
about.
When he rang this bell, the old man
servant found his written order passed under
that locked door When he rang the cham
Der BELL the door between the two rooms
was locked, and the curtains hung heavily
between, but the outer door was open, and
the man could arrange or take away the
meals Through these meals the young squire
had no attendance light the lamps or fires;
or what not. When the inner bell of all
rang, the chamber was at liberty, and the
servant who went about his tasks there
hastened over them, knowing that his master
sat the while locked in that little ante-room
beyond. For he never went from that door
down into the park Though he had it made
on purpose) until the whole household-and
the whole village, too-had been for hours
in bed. Only in the deep night darkness
did he ever venture forth, and no one had
ever chanccd to see him then.
And so in this awful soltude-never look
ing on the face Of man or woman, never
hearing the voice of fellow creature, never
himself seen or heard-the master of this
beautiful home lived for nearly twenty years.
Think Of it Picture such solitude and such
suffering Tor one week then draw it to Il year.
and then To twenty But to fully compre-
hend its weight to him you must remember
the life he had led, the ultrarefined and
naughty nature of the man, and his intense
| senstiveness both to physical pain aud to
any thing in the slightest degree loathsome.
Remembering these, and the burden of the
secret to be kept while the curious world
which missed its idol clamored to be told the
reason of his living death to them, you may
imagine little of the acute and almost un-
bearable suffering of those twenty years.
At last there came time when the meals
were scarcely touched, when there were no
orders put below the curtained doors at all
until one day written paper lay there bear
ing summons for the clergyman.
An old man the vicar was then as old as
am now-and it was he who told me this
story just as tell it to you He came and
prayed as he had been hidden to do, kneeling
in the outer room. He knew the door was
opened leading into the bed chamber where
the squire sat, but he had been bidden not tC
pass beyond the closed curtain, and ne neve
dreamed of trying to do so. He raised hi
voice and prayed in terrible earnestness, bu
no answering voice reached him through tn,
heavy drapery. He might have thought tina
the squire was dead but that there came
written word of thanks at last.
Next day the Vicar came again, but tn
doors were fast then, for he had not beel
summoned, and there was no sign from with
in that his plea for admission was eve
heard
That night the frightened servants sent fO
: him again. They could hear no sound with
in their masters room and for two days nov
they said, he had not even admitted thel
with food.
"You shall fetch the DOCTOR he said, "an
= we will enter somehow he and land say
: him, if we can. You must all remen bt
his orders and your oath"
They broke the lock of that first door wit
"a great difficulty and the doctor and the cerg,
u man stepped softly in. This doc the Oh
', that leads into the chamber was ajar benin
its curtain, and when they saw at glanC
the solution of this ghastly mystery.
The squire lay dressed upon the bed, h
Z loaded pistol still! grasped in the stfiene
fingers OF his thin right hand, and his thi
u right hand, and his left stretched towar'
- the curtain of the bed, as if he had bee
d going to draw it round him when the Ell
u had come.
~ He had not used the pistol though heavt
IL knows if there could ever be enough tenn
d tation to excuse self-murder, it was here
No,in this solitude AMI pain and ghsstline
of suffering, he had waited his release.
y The doctor gently covered the face whit
Is had been 50 proudly beautiful, that Il
D.; ghasily sight might hurt no other eyes al
y it never did. The faithful old servants |
A. membered and obeyed their masters ord
Id even now. For nearly twenty years tn
I'd had lived with him and never looked up
Mt his features and through this one day I'll
a they had access to his room they kept tn,
tie oath most sacredy, and left the soft, VIII
en- covering on the face, which,in its decay,th
us never could have recognized.
'" That is the story. | did not wish to I
it to you in these rooms, did |? No won,
're it has made you white and nervous. Let
er come away.-Belgrdcid.
ito
ed WASHINGTON KNOCKED DowN.--In L