The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1878-01-18

|
; self with grief you can readily believe
But what could l do -? l could not
communicate with Marion's friends in
Paris, even if they still remained
there, which was unlikely, and SO
proceeded with all haste to Liverpool
and took the first steamer for home.
From Allentown / wrote her friends
! in Albany the sad story of Marion's
mysterious death, and my brother,
who is a merchant in Shanghai, being
on the point of returning TO China, |
! accompanied him thither, hoping TO
bury my troubles by diving into COM
mercial pursuits. But it was useless;
| stayed in China until last year, and
then came to New York as represent
tative of my brothers firm.
- Perhaps ! told you yesterday that
Central Park has a strange fascination
for me. No? Well, it has. One day,
some months after my arrival, while |
was horseback riding, | came across Il
lady and gentleman, and that is all
that / remember. l sWoOned in my
saddle and fell. When l revived
was lying in a summer-house near
| where | had fallen, and the result of
the fall was to put me in bed for three
| months. You naturally wonder what
! caused me to faint. I will tell YOU. |
| had seen Marion Scudder! And what
was worse, | learned thatshe was mar
ried. You saw her yesterday, sir, i'll
| the person of Mrs. Howard Vaughn"
''But how did she escape death"' |
| inquired aghast. "Why did she marry,
| why did
'There is where the rub comes in,"
| he interrupted. 81 arranged an inter
view when | got out again, and she
charged me with having betrayed her,
! of having left her to perish at Paris,
| while she maintained that she was in
readiness at the hotel at seven O'clock,
! precisely, and that | never came to
| her, which was true-enOugh. Finally
she denied that she ever sat foot i'll
that balloon. And so, chagrined at
my supposed desertiOn and almost
craZed with fear, she was about TO
giveup all hope when Howard Vaughn,
casual acquaintance of ours then,
came to her like a guardian angel,
and got her safe out of Paris. Piqued
by my supposed cruelty and subse-
quently running away tO China, as
she inferred, and earnestly besought
by Vaughn, who really loved her, she
finally consented to become his wife.
Moreover, she blamed me for writing
wanUOnly, as she then believed, to her
relatives, thereby plunging them III
living and well.n
"But who was the woman YOU took
with you by mistake, and whose un-
happy death sent you off To China :
How in the world could Won have
made such blmder? l should sup
pose -
''Stop there, my friend,r he said. in |
measured accents, raising his finger, |
''the woman took from Paris was
Miss Marion Scudder, or her ghost. |
Why, sir, We talked of matters-mat- |
ters affecting our future-kno"n only |
to Us two. No other person could |
have---why, sir" he exclaimed pas
sionately, ''do you suppose ] could |
have made mistake? Impossible, alb |
surd, prepOsterous"
"I3ut your story is so unreasonable |
as il stands. ] don't believe in ghosts
II cannot understand"
"Gou cannot understand" f." he said,
with biting scorn. 81 cannot under
stand il, either, nor can she, and we
have been studyingupOni it for months.
DO you suppose, sir, that you, who
haYn't yet had time to digest the
bare facts, can understand what has
been and will be a lifelong enigma to
those who are most vitality interest
ed? DO YOU imagine" he inquired,
W
would bring you here to listen to q
tameTecital of matters that you could
understand after the specific state
ment that what had to tell you was
strange, ineXplicable and sad?i
| saw that the man was i'll earnest,
that he was deeply moved, but ! could
not account for, nor could | scarcely
believe what ] had heard, and still ]
was satisfied that this was no mad
mans tale. | essayed an apology for
what | had said, when Kirschbaum
interrupted me, saying soothingly;
s'There, there, never mind. ] have
lost the brightest gem in the casket of
womanly grace aiad beauty and lose
my temper when dwell on the nor
rors of that night. l have made my
self quite i'll by letting my anger get
full rein. 1t is late; you had better
20, and leave me to myself"
was about to withdraw, when he
said: ~ have abused you, sir, but
have likewise honored You. To no
other human being have [ ever told
that story, but l took fancy to you,
as | told you yesteeday, and broke
the seal of SILENCE. Think of me
kindly, and forgive my indeeorUm, if
you can. am terribly annerved.
Good night"
| got very little sleep that night,
and nay theories and specuiations only
plunged me into deeper gloom than
ever. / despared Of ever solving
Kirschbaum's mysteay, but / could
not keep this story ont Of my mind.
Thus two days passed, and had made
my plans for returning home on the
evening train, when as / was strOlling
in Madison Place, / met Mrs. Blossom,
a lady whom l had known in Boston
many years before. She ha;ii fHIequent=
ly ingited me to her house, and once
or twice had gone, but had general
Iv felt nv iIIi*ttneHS to mingie salts
factorally to myself with the clever
people who cOngregated within her
hospitabie walls, and | decided not to
go again. But Mrs. Blossom was very
pressing, and finally she said: ''Do
stop over, and come to my little party
many persons of note who would be
present, but l rCsOlutely shook my
head, and held that | must positive
ly go home.
H.Fhen you Won't have All oppOrtU-
nifty of meeting Miss Vaughn, per-
haps you'll never see her, and she's ali
the rage"
| answered qicllly: "Weu, then,
since you will have il 50, III come"
As the TeadermaS SuIlniSe, changed
my mind i'm view of the suddenly
opened prospect OF meeting KirSch-
baum ; love. True, Mrs. Blossom had
spoken of the lady as Miss Vaughn, /,
but had noticed a great many times
that Mrs. blossoms pronunciation of
'NIi-sv and "MrS.u did not vary.
She Missed all ladies, married or sin
yle, even aS she missed hitting plural |
verbs To tally with her plural nouns.
But let us not cavil at her pronuncia
ton or her grammar, her goodness of
heart made ample amends 1or her par
tiaIity for two negatives, and other
of speech, rs well as for
careless pronunciation,
| was not anliss in my calculations,
and at 10 O'Clock that evening ! found
myself gaily chatting with my divini-
ty of the Park We talked with the
utmost freedom and frankness, the
disparity i'm our ages rendering it un-
necessary that we should observe the
little ceremonies common between
young people in society. We spoke
ut length of Paris, aud she listened at
tentively to all | said of the French
capital, its arts, industries, and archi-
teGtural sp!endors, She hoped that