Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1876-09-29

Please take another"
He changed chairs Immediately.
'Will this do?''
It was the one next to mine. I begged
him to take one on the other side of th,
fireplace, which he did at once. Then
sat down and surveyed the situation.
was alone, save an old woman, my tenn
porary factotum, in the kitchen. The PEG
pie in the houses round We're now all away
for their holidays. l had q ghost, presum
ably lunatic of q dangerous kind, under
my roof. It was impossible 10 get rid of
him, unless he chose to &c. You cannot
push, kick, or throw q ghost out OF win
dow or door; you cannot keep him in one
| room while you go to sleep i'll another; yoJ
cannot shut yourself up ii your bedroom
and defy him; above all you never know
what tricks he may be at. Thinking OF
these things, I became conscious Of anoth-
er access Of terror-sighter this time. My
guest, however, perceived it, and in a
twinkling was on me again, with his skele-
ton fingers round my throat. | shook him
of; that is, l regained my presence Of
mind, and he covered back to his seat,
where he sat, his head on his arm and his
long white clothes clinging to his limbs, a
sight never to be forgotten.
''Pray tell me what it means,'' I said.
''It means that if you were afraid of me
I would throttle you like dog. It means
that am sitting here waiting for the mo
ment when you will realize who and what
I am: the Injuries you have done me; the
wickedness Of your life: the loneliness Of
your position; and your presence with
another world. Ha la l see it coming!
Your nerves won't stand me another
quarter of an hour, and then [ shall seize
you by the wind-pipe, and squeeze, squeeze
the likelihood out Of YOU
Presently he went Oh again:
"You will have to go to bed soon, you
cannot sit up ali night"
How long can you stay here?"
GAS long as / please. Ho! no! no |
can be with you now, now [ have found
you, morning, noon and night. When you
are quietly in your bed, shall be sitting
by your bedside, waiting for a moment IS
weakness. When you ara at your office in
the city, I shall be at your elbow, waiting
to find you off your guard. At dinner I
shall be behind you. You will not escape
me. Sooner or later you will be afraid.
The time will come. I shall wait. I shall
watt"
''Pray explain,' I said blandly. "You
will wait until am afraid?"
"Precisely. We ghosts cannot hurt
people who are not afraid Of us. Our pow
er is only over the cowardly and super
stitious-that is, over nearly all mankind.
Once man has the pluck to stand up to
us, we are poWerless."
'sMy good friend" I replied, ''let US en-
joy each Others society without mutual
confessions. I grant all that you have
said. It is very curious aud interesting.
Not, perhaps, quite so horrible as I might
have expected, had I known you were
coming, but still, by the way you hail from
the cemetery close bY?"
Il do. All! villain and traitor! who
put me there? do; and as I was taking
an evening invisible stroll, I happened to
look in at your window, and saw the man
I had expected and most hoped to see. Hal
ha, I shall make it hot for that man. So
I will too he added weakly, after pause.
I made 10 reply, but went on smoking
as If he had been an ordinary visitor.
"When I was in that country ship,
trading between Rangoon and Calcutta
there, what's the use rak+ lg up that old
story?;'
''None, replied. ''None at s'l unless
you like"
mo use talking. What's the good Of
talk? Come to that, [ might remind you
what went on, you know, at Yokohama.
Eli? What do you say to that?''
ct have nothing to say to that"
''Lord Lord. Some men will brazen
out everything! and what about the Hong
Kong business? Who promised what
tell me that-if some one walked the
plank, and something was thingumbobbed
-3h?n
Here was q very serious question. I only
shook my head.
''Thingunbobbed,' he repeated. Scut-
led, you villain . and the coolies sent to
Kingdom come? And after that to round
upon man! Why did [ take to drink?
Why did I go off at thirty-six, with rum
and water enough to float King Solomon &
fleet? Why? why? why?"
Cant say, am sure. Shall we say
good night"
eff you are going to bed will go with
you. Man now I've caught you, do you
think / shall leave you?'
This was pleasant
shut the windows and went up stairs
He followed me. I undressed and got
into bed. Once there shut my eyes re-
sol utely and tried to go to sleep. This was
impossible. Every ten minutes or SO felt
obliged to open them. He was always
standing by the bedside, grave, stern and
resoluie to do me mischief. if he could-if
grew afraid.
ssYou are still here?'' l asked, when the
clock struck two.
81 shall stay here" he added. $50 long
as you stay here. [ shall be with you day
and night. You will never cease to feel
me with you. I will make Sleep impossible
and 1 will trouble your business hours"
There was little sleep for me that night.
When the day broke dropped for half an
hour into heavy Inconsistencies, awak.
ing suddenly and with q feeling Of horro.
upon me that at first [ did not understand
I rose and dressed. 1t followed my
movements. l saw the spectre now only
when it came into the sunlight. Then ii
was dimly visable, but only think to my
SELF breakfasted and went into the city.
It came with me. 1t sat beside me in the