The weekly clarion., 1879-01-08

4dSulltN ~ p4dlc III tue mousse SBA III
little seaside village was often the resor
of smugglers and other wild aud lawles
characters. Ore day, while thinking Q
them, | felt SO uneasy that | said to IN
husband:
Il hope. Henry, there is nothin
: wrong with your mother; she has bee
in my mind all day"
oh, said lie, why should YOU fee
anxious about her 10 day l saw h
Tuesday and, if she were i'll, Mar,
: would be sure to let Us know II i
only one of your 'fancies, little wife
Still did not feel easy, for more thar
once before my so called fancy ha,
proved to be a reality = 50 l deter
mined that in a few days l would 60 an'
see Mrs. Benson. All that evening
could not get her out of my thoughts
and it was a long time before | went Il
sleep think it must have been abou
8 o'clock in the morning that | swoke il
a state of horror had dreamed that
saw Mrs Benson standing in the window
of her bedroom, beckoning me To come
TO her, and pointing to female figure
who was stealing along under the shad,
of the trees Ia the avenue, for the moon
was shining brightly.
started up, thinking | heard her call
iog me. And here is the most extraor
dinary part of it all-though l was now
quite awake, | heard, rs | thought, a
voice saying to me:
$50, tell Mrs. Benson Martha is de
ceiving her tell her to send her away at
once.
Three times these words seemed to be
repea. ed in my ear. | can't describe
exactly what the voice was Ike; it was
not loud, but quite distinct and | felt
as | listened that it was a warning, and
! that ! must obey it. | woke my hus
baud, and told him my dream and the
words l had heard. He tried to calm
my mind, and evidently thought me
| foolish to be so frightened by only y
upid 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 maid to
her, and was believed to be most trust
| worthy in every way. She had been four
years with her. and was much respected.
She was a silent, reserved kind of per
son, about 30 years of age. One thing
| 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 likely
not return until next day, and, if posi-
bic, he was to come for me. He could
drive over early and spend the day, and
We would return home together IN the
evening, il all was well with his mother.
When | arrived | 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. l could not help look
ing at her more closely than L would
have done at another time, and | thought
saw 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 told them [ would stay till the next
day, il 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 a whole day with them.
As the day passed on aud nothing out
of the way happened, l began TO think
/ had frightened myself needles,ly, and
that my dream or vision might have
been the result Of an over-anxious mind.
And then Martha, what about her
Altogether | was perplexed. | did not
know what 10 think, but | still felt a
certain underlined uneasiness. | offered
up silent prayer to be directed to do
right, and determined to wait patiently
and do nothing tor a while l almost
hoped | 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 enjoying 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, while in other
parts the moonlight shone brightly
through breaks in the trees. l did not
feel in the least sleepy; and, putting out
my candle, | sat by the window, looking
at TIE lovely view, for | could see the
coast quite plainly, and the distant sea
glistened like silver in the moonlight. |
did not think how long had been sitting
there until [ heard the clock strike Il.
Just then [ heard, as | thought, foot
step outside my door, which evidently
stopped there, and then in few seconds
passed on. | did not mind, thinking it
might be one of the servants, who had
been up later than usual, and was now
going quietly to bed. began to undress,
not lighting the candle again, as [ had
light enough from the moon. As came
toward the window TO close it | saw,
exactly as in my dream, female figure
evidently keeping in the shade of the
trees going down the avenue. [ de-
termined to follow and see who it was
for now felt the warning voice was not
sent to me for nothing, and seemed to
get courage, girl though | was, to fathom
the mystery. | hastily dressed, threw a
dark shawl over my head, and, going
noiseIessiy down stairs, opened the glass
door in the drawing room window, and
left it so that | could come in again. |
kept in the shade of the trees as much as
possible, and quickly followed the path
| had seen the woman take. Presently
| heard voices one was a mans, the
other a woT1an's. But who was she 4?
| came close, and got behind large
group of thick shrubs. [ could now see
and hear them quite well; they were
standing in the light; | was in deep
shade
just then the woman turned her head
toward me. 1t was Martha
What did she want there at that hour
and who was that man? l was puz
zled. Where had | seen that face be
fore ?-for that [ had seen IL before I