The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-09-26

good trait! Well, gentlemen, he oent
over the poor creature, and in voice as
gentle as woman's, endeavored to arouse
the girl from her lethargy.
"sWho are you,' said he, and what
has happened?'
"sHe is dead-deadp she muttered
hoarsely.
"sPerhaps it. is not so bad as that he
reioined, tell us all about it. We are
friends, my dear, and medical men, and
may be able to assist you.'
"eHe died this morning, before my
very eyes, she moaned died, oh, my
God +! of starvation. And I never knew
that he was depriving himself for my
sake. Oh my husband, why did you
not let me die with youP And she threw
herself across the body, sobbing as if her
Door heart would break. There were
tears in the Doctors eyes as he looked at
me,n added the Professor, with tremor
in his voice, "and the rascal has always
sworn that my own were not diy. That,
however, is aside from the subject.
Though We knew nothing of these
ehildren-for they were but little more
we felt that we had CHANGED upon a
strange, sad story of love, pride and suf-
fering, such as is rarely told, even in this
unhappy world.
"The Doctor stopped down and felt at
the heart of the PROSTATE man.
"tHe is dead he whispered, motioning
me to initiate his example.
"'Yes Dead replied, after examining
the corpse.
elbow we made the truth known to the
wife ]. do not remember. 1t would seem
that she:had preserved some faint rem
nant of hope until over-assurance de-
stroyed it utterly. With low groan she
fell utterly insensible at our feet. AL
though at a loss as to what course to
pursue, we felt it no more than our duty
to remain in the hut for the night; and
on the morning to make tie best arrange
ments for the poor girls comfort that
were possible. Fortunately the Doctor
had his medicine case in his pocket.
Administering powerful sleeping por-
ton to her, he placed her upon the wide
couch and left her in a happy uncon-
sciousness of the events that were to
follow. We then proceeded to more
careful examination IF the man.
"Without vanity I can say that both
the Doctor and myself have received
some few testimonials as to our scientific
ability from the world. You will proba-
bly, believe, then, that we are capable of
deciding upon very simple case of death
by starvation. He paused and looked
graVely around. Very good; remember,
then that I assert upon my professional
reputation that the man was stone dead" /"
"Yes," added the Doctor, who had
hitherto remained silent, "the life must
have been extinct more than FIVE hours
when we found him."
"Well," continued the Professor, with
increasing gravity, "haying satisfied our
selves upon this point, we covered the
corpse decently and sat down to wait for
morning. Though in no mood for con-
versation, the startling experience of the
evening kept US both awake for several
hours. But at length, completely over
come with WEAKNESS aud excitement,
fell into light slumber.
"Almost Immediately, itseemed, I was
awakened with shock. The Doctor
was bending over me with an expression
of wonder and alarm upon his pale face.
"sWake up he said, in troubled
whisper, something very strange has
been going on in this room for many
minutes past
"'What is it?' asked, Il thought that
heard some one speaking
"'You did, he replied; I have dis.
tinctly heard a voice beside us, yet there
is no one in the room except ourselves
and these two poor people,
"sPerhaps the woman has been talking
in her Sleep I suggested, 'or it may be
the man is not dead, after all.'
"'No, I have looked at both,' he re.
turned. 'One sleeps soundly, and the
other will never speak again in this
world. So satisfy YOURSELF
'I arose, and trimming the lamp, pro.
ceeded first to the couch where the girl
lay. She, at least, could not have spoken
for all her senses were locked in pro-
found stupor. then examined the corpse
and found it as we had left it, except thai
the features were more shrunken and
sallow than before. No voice could have
come from those rigid lips. Concluding
that we had both dreamed or 1ad mis-,
taken some nocturnal cry for human
voice, replaced the light and was about
to resume my seat, when my movements
were arrested by very singular sound
"'There it is again 7 muttered the
Doctor agitatedly.
ga low, confused murmur, resembling
nothing that I had ever heard before
arose in the room and seemed to circulate
in the air for an instant and then die
away. Again it arose, coming from 8
point over our heads and gradually de.
scending until it appeared to emanate
from some invisible source Immediately
beside us. This time the murmuf did
not die away, but grew more distinct
until we were able to detect Ineligible
| words, though spoken as if beneath o
heavy muffling. l know of nothing with
which to compare the intonation, except
it may be to the articulation of a tele.
phone, or that of ventriloquist.
''The FIRST words we caught were:
"'Oh, my poor wife!
'It would be impossible to describe the
effect that these words produced upon
US. 1t was not so much the tone, weird
end uncanny as it was, as the startling
significance of the words that amazed us
Who could have spoken them but the
husband of the woman lying stupe6ed
upon the couch? Yet he had been dead
for many hours. Full of repugnance Of
the horror of the idea, we started up and
again examined, not only every nook and
Granny of the hut itself, but even the
space outside for many yards around
There was no human being beside our.
selves in the vicinity.
"We again scrutinized the corpse. II
had neither changed in position or ap'
pearance. The flesh had grown perfectly
cold and the muscles rigid; there was
not trace of vitality about it. Now, u
continued the Professor, wiping his fore.
head nervously, ~ have arrived at what
imagine will be the limit of your credu'