The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1878-02-21

Fecdolou between my nome and my god
mothers. We often spoke of the stole,
diamonds. but nothing had ever beer
heard of them, though reward of fifty
pounds had been offered by Mr.. Hal
for any information that would lead te
the detection of the thief. On my 1GtI
| birthday my godmothef gave tf1e a beau
tiful watch and chain and the diamond
earring which she had got arranged as &
necklet.
"I am SO sorry, Lilian,'' said she
"that have not the Fest of those dia
| rnohds to give you; but, if ever they are
found, they shall be yours, my dear"
L must now pass over six years, which
went by quietly and happily, nothing
very important taking place until the
last year, during which time ] had beef
married. My husband was bafrister
We lived in the North of England. My
| mother -in-law, Mrs. Benson, and Mary
one of her daughters, lived some miles
away from us near the seacoast. It wat
a very lonely place, long way from the
little fishing town, or rather village, OF
Burnley. I confess I often felt very
nervous about Mrs. Benson and he1
daughter living alone Cher husband be-
ing dead for many years.. Except
three women servants in the house, and
the coachman and his family who lived
in the lodge, there was no one nearer
than Burnley, four miles off. Beside,
it was known that there was a large
quantity of plate in the house; and the
little seaside village was often the resort
of smugglers and other wild and lawless
characters. One day, while thinking OF
them, I felt SO uneasy that said to my
husband:
"I hope, Henry, there is nothing
wrong with your mother; she has been
in my mind all day."
"Oh," said he, "why should you feel
anxious about her to-day? I saw her
Tuesday; and, if she were i'll, Mary
would be sure to let us know. It is
only one of your 'fancies, little wife. -
Still I did not feel easy, for more than
once before my so-called clancy" had
proved to be q "reality:" SO I deter
mined that in few days / would go and
see Mrs. Benson. All that evening !
could not get her out of my thoughts,
and it was long time before I went to
sleep. l think it must have been about
o'clock in the morning that awoke in
| state of horror. I had dreamed that I
saw Mrs. Benson standing in the window
of her bedroom, beckoning me to come
! " hCi, ANU pOlutiuS W ISIudIo uS uf6,
who was stealing along under the shade
was shining brightly.
] started up, thinking [ heard her call
ing me. And here is the most extraor-
dinary part of it although 1 was
now quite awake, L heard, as thought,
a voice saying to me:
eco, tell Mrs. Benson Martha is de-
1o f/11 Io,, 4@e I, L
once"
Three times these words seemed to be
repeated in my ear. [ can't describe
exactly what the voice WAS like, it WAS
not loud, but quite distinct; and felt
as listened that it was warning, and
that 1 mast obey it. I woke my hus-
words I had heard. He tried to calm
my mind, and evidently thought me
foolish to be so frightened by only q
stupid dream. [ said would drive over
the first thing after breakfast, and see if
anything was wrong with Mary or her
mother. The only thing that puzzled
me was, that Martha should be men-
toned as deceiving Mrs. Benson. She
acted as housekeeper and lady s. maid to
her, and was believed to be most trust
worthy in every way. She had been four
years with her, and was much respect
ed. She was a silent, reserved kind of
person, about 35 ears of age. One
thing I had often remarked about her
was that when speaking to any one she
never looked straight at them; but
thought it might be from kind of
shyness more than anything else.
AS soon as breakfast was over set of,
telling my husband [ would very like "
not return until next day, and, if possi-
BILE, he was to come for me. He could
drive over early and spend the day, and
we would return home together in the
evening, if all was well with his mother
When I arrived I found Mrs. Benson
! and Mary looking as well as ever, and
everything seemingly just as usual
Martha was sitting at work In her little
room, which opened off Mrs. Benson s
dressing room. I could not help look
ing at her more closely than I would
have done at another time, and 1 thought
l saw a look of displeasure cross her
face at seeing me. Mary and her mother
were of course delighted to see me, and
asked why Henry did not come. too. So
I told them L would stay till the mex.
day, if they would have me, and Henry
would come for me then. They were
quite pleased at that arrangement, for it
was not very often my husband could
spend whole day with them.
As the day passed don and nothing out
of the way happened, I began to think I
had frightened myself needlessly, and
that my dream or vision might have been
the result OF an over anxious mind And
then Martha, what about her? Alto
gether / was perplexed. I did not know
hot 70, l,11f T ca fnlt o.arf,
underlined uneasjness. / offered up a
silent prayer to be directed to do right,
and determined to wait patiently and do
nothing for a while. ] almost hoped I
might hear the voice again, giving me
definite instructions how to act. Lunch
passed and dinner also, and the evening
being very warm, for it was the middle
of July, we sat at the open window en-
joying the cooling breeze that set in from
the sea.
AS they were early people, shortly
after 10 o'clock we said good night, )"
and went up to our bedrooms. My room
| looked on the avenue, some parts of
which were in deep shade, waile IN other
parts the moonlight shone brightly
| through breaks In the trees. I did not
feel in the least sleepy; and, putting
out my candle, l sat by the window,
looking at the lovely view, for I could
see the coast quite plainly. and the dis
tant sea glistened like silver II the moon
light. I did not think how long I had
been sitting there until heard the clock
strike r. Just then I heard, as I
thought, footstep outside my door,
which evidently stopped there, and then
! III a. few seconds passed On. 1 did not
mind, thinking it might be one of the
servants. who had been up later than
usual, and was now going quietlyt to bed.
1 began to undress, not lighting the cam
| die again as I had lioht enough from