The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1876-10-05

The people in the houses round were
now all away for their holidays. had
a ghost, presumably a lunatic of dan.
gerous kind, under my roof. It was
impossible to get rid of him, unless he
chose to 60. You cannot push, kick,
or throw ghost out of window or
door you cannotlock him in one room
while you go to sleep in another you
cannot shut yourself up in: your bed
room and defy him; above all, you
never know what tricks he nay be at.
Thinking of these things, l became
conscious of another access of terror
slighter this time. My guest, how
ever, perceived it, and in twinkling
was on me again, with his skeleton
fingers round my throat. / shock him
off That is, I regained my presence of
mind, and he covered back to his seat.
where he sat, his head on his arm, and
his long white clothing 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, would throttle you like dog. It
means that l am sitting here waiting
for the moment when you will realize
who and what T am; the injuries you
have done me, the wickedness of your
life, the loneliness of your position,
and your presence with another world.
Ha! ha! l see it coming! Your
nerves won't stand me another quarter
of an hour and then l shall seize you
by the windpipe, and squeeze, squeeze,
the life-blood out of you!''
Presently he went on again:
"You will have to go to bed soon.
You cannot sit up all night
| "Hew long can you stay hero?''
Gas long as I please. Ho! no /! no !!
I can be with you, now l have found
you, morning, noon. and night. When
you are quietly in your bed, shall be
sitting by the bedside. waiting for a
moments weakness. When you are
at your Office in the city, shall be at
your elbow, waiting to find you off
your guard. At dinner shall be be-
hind you. You will not escape me.
Sooner or later you will be afraid. The
time will come. [ shall wait. l shall
Wait.''
''Pray explain,' I said blandly.
''You will wait until am afraid -
*'Precisely, We ghosts cannot hurt
people who are not afraid of us. Our
power is only over the cowardly and
superstitious-that is, over nearly all
mankind. Once man has the pluck
to stand up to US, we are p0werless. y
"My good friend.'' I replied, ''let
us enjoy each others society with mu-
tual confessions. grant all this that
you have said. It is very curious and
interesting. Not, perhaps, quite so
herrible as I might have expected,
had known you were coming, but
still-by the way, you hail from the
cemetery close by p
81 do. All! villain and traitor
who put me there? I do; as I was
taking an evening invisible stroll, I
happened to look in at your window,
and saw the ma: I had expected and
most hoped to see. Ha! ha! I shall
make it hot for that man. So will,
too,' he added, weakly, after a pause.
made no reply, but went on smok-
ing as if he had been an ordinary Wis.
itor.
"When was in that country ship,
trading between Rangoon and Calcutta
there, what's the use raking up the
old story p
None T.! I replied ''None at ALL
''N0 use talking. What's the good
of talk Come to that, I might re-
mind you what went on, you know, at
Yokohama. Eh! What do you say
to that -
81 have nothing to say to that
"Lord! Lord! some men will braz-
en- out anything? And what about the
Hong Kong businesse Who promised
what-ten me that-if some one walk
ed the plank, and something was
thingumbobbed-eh g
Here was very serious question.
only shook my head.
"Thingumbobbed,' he repeated.
s'Scuttled, you villain! And the cool.
les sent to Kingdom-come? And after
that to round upon a man! Why did
l take to drink! Why did 7 so off at
SO, with rum-and.water enough to float
King Solomon's fleet! Why why
why?
"Can't say, I'm sure. Shall we say
good night -
IF you are going to bed l will go
with you. Man, now I have caught
you, do you think shall leave you ?"
This was pleasant.
I shut the windows and went up
stairs. He followed me. l undressed
and got in bed. Once there I shut my
eyes resolutely and tried to go to sleep.
|Thio WAC imDoasih1o Evorv +o,, ,,o;,,
utes or SO felt obliged to open them.
He was always standing by the bed.
|side, grave, stern, and resolute to do
me mischief, if he could,-if I grew
afraid.
''You are still here e. I asked when
the clock struck two.
II shall stay here" he added, :'sc
long as you stay here. I shall be with
you day and night. You shall never
cease to feel me with you I will
make sleep impossible, and ! will
trouble your business hours