The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1879-08-28

| Dorr"
The window was shut close; he let it
down with tremendous. clatter and
bang, remarking that che hoped, as the
the carriage close" Qor he declared to
me there was peculiar odor hanging
about which struck him from the first)
"she would not object to little air."
Still no reply. Then he said che
feared she was not well. Would she
like him to pull the bell for the guard
and have the train stopped again ?" But
nothing he could say or do elected any
sign of life from her.
\ Jack now became seriously uncom-
| Portable and alarmed on her account.
| He thought she could not be asleep. but
had tainted. Suddenly it crossed his
mind that she was dead. Night had
now closed in, but as the last tinge of
lamp gained its full power and revealed
every object more plainly than hitherto.
Jack leaned toward the motionless
form. A long black veil, falling from u
close fitting hat-like bonnet, enveloped
nearly the whole upper part Of her
| figure; indeed, on close inspection, il
hardly looked Ike an ordinary veil, but
more like large thin, black silk hand
kcrchief. Her dress was of common
black stuff, much worn and frayed, from
amid the folds of which appeared the
ends of piece Of rope that must have
been fastened round her waist; and one
hand, cncased in an old, ill-fitting black
| glove. lay placidly on her lap.
| Full ofuncomfortable sensations, Jack
was about to lift the veil, when, for the
first time, the figure moved; its hand
stole slowly from underneath the folds
| of the dress. and the veil was gradually
lifted and thrown up over the head.
mvoluntariy my friend shrank back
| into the corner of his seat, for a face was
revealed to him which no one could have
| looked upon without Il sense of awe. 1t
was that of a woman somewhat past
| middle age, thin, haggard and pale to -
degree which only death could parallel
| The features, finely chiseled and proper
| toned, showed that at one time there
| must have been supreme beauty, while,
though the iron-gray hair looked little
disheveled and unkempt, The glance of
! the eye was steady, calm and determined.
In this glance lay. chiefly, the awe in
spring expression of the face, for, in ad-
Gition to the penetrating look, there was
a persistencey in it, and at the same time
I fascination, quite terrible. 1t fixed
| itself upon Jack from the first moment
.Ildl W liItl tNcs anu lOl tlitl lllluultS
not word was spoken either side.
Presently, however, he tried to pull him
self together, and to assume his usual
| light-hearted manner, which had thus
| for n minute been so strangely and unusu-
| ally disturbed, and he said, briskly:
Il bee. your pardon; | was.afraid you
were i'll"
She slightly bent her head, but spoA,
not word, nor withdrew her glance.
He felt more and more that it was
costing him an effort to be himself. Her
slow, stealthy, albeit lady-like demcanor,
idded greatly to the effect already pro-
'iuced, and Il curious sensation was grad
nally creeping over him, that-impossi-
bic as it might seem-that face was not
strange to him. Little as he, with his
temperament, was given to speculation
or introspection, he found himself striv-
ing to look back for some event or cir
| cumstancc in his life which might give
him Il clcw. Had he ever dreamed of
such face, or had he seen it in child
! hood? He was puzzled, affected, quite
put out. And still the deep. penetrating
eyes We're fixed on his, piercing rs it
We're into his very soul. And the hands .
what were they doing? Taking off the
! gloves as with set, deliberate purpose /;
and the long, white, thin, almost claw
! like fingers worked strangely and ner-
vously, slowly closing and opening upon
the palm, as if preparing to grasp some
thing.
Again he strove TO throw off the un-
| pleasant, unusual sensation which had
crept over him.
Il can't stand this" he thought; 81
was never so uncomfortable in all my
! life! | must do something, or say some
| thinn M "a tn thi- tn son.l-a l.r
take her eyes off me-"
He moved abruptly to the further
corner Of the carriage, and to the same
side on which the woman sat.
"Tll try and dodge her in that way"
he said to himself: "she shall not sit
and glare at me in this fashion,
But she too Immediately shifted her
place, and, rising to her full height,
which was very great, went over to the
seat exactly opposite to him, never for
one single second dropping her eyes from
his. He looked out Of the window with
a vague notion of getting out of the car
riage when suddenly, passing a little
station which he recognized, but at which
the train did not stop, an idea struck
him-an idea after his own heart-a
comic ideal He availed himself of il on
the instant, and assuming an ease which
doubtless sat i'll upon him, and which he
was far from feeling, he pointed with his
thumb bach toward the station they had
Just passed, as he said mysteriously in a
hollow voice:
"Do you know that place?"
She seemed to answer in the afiirma.
tive by slight inclination of the head as
before.
"Ah! you do. Good! Longmoor.'
he went on; "then | don't mind telling
YOU a secret" He paused. CIT
frighten her." .he thought.) "Crimina
lunatics," he said aloud; Il am one ot
them. have just escaped from there =
He leaned forward, as if to impress hel
, with his words; she also bent forward
until her lips almost touched his ear, a:
she Missed into it:
80 have L"
With what had already gone before
this put the finishing touch on Jack:
uneasiness of mind. 1t was not, as II,
; said, the mere presence of the woman, OF
: the revelation which his Joke had ellie
: tied, whick scared him, though the cir
| cumstance in itself might be unpleasan
, enough.
Il should have faced it right ava,
from the first, as any man would hav
done, had it not been for the re
4 markable intluence,he face and look ha,
p. upon me; that unaccountable feelin
e that she was no stranger to me, it was
1 that unnerved, and even appalled, me.
No sooner had she uttered the words
y 80 have l." than Jack sprang to tn