Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1879-03-19
WOODSTOCK, VT. WEDNESDAY, MAR 10, 1879,

tried to disguise it,, know, and 80
did but ! am certain that bold as
we tried to appear to each other We
both troa more softly, aud drew breath
nelyously as We approached the door
"There, Sir" he said. as We enteredi
"you see It is q very nice, pleasant
room, aud II you can only conlr'ye to
forget what Ia under the bed, youV
sleep as well as you ever did IN your
lilc,"
| assured him that ! was too sleepy
to be troubled about any one, dead OF
a live. and that was never accua'
toned to give away to nervous fears
lie expressed his full belief 10 what ]
said hypocrite AZ he was'--and bAde
me goodnight Then | closed the
door after him, bat did not lock II
for did not like to cut myself quite
of from all connection with tho outer
world.
| placed the candle on the table and
sat myself down on chair beside the
window farhest from the, bed, and
then | fixed my eyes upon the long
dark objcct--lhe terrible THING be-
meath it, In u drowsy, medltaliyc
state Of mind | began TO dream over
the position in which | was placed.
, At first felt naturally n little indig-
, nant Why should I, a man Of busi-
ness, whose whole miud was bent up
, on the mysteries Of profit aud loss,
and how to make the best OF good
, bargain; u man who never read a
: novel, and who never Of his own ac'
cord looked at the romantic side OF
! life; Why should I, Of all men, be COM
PEELED to sleep in the same room with
/, a corose, and that, too, the corpse OF q
/; murdered man
The coffin might be safely screwed
down, and no doubt the sleeper with
: in it would never trouble my rest; but
: there was something in the vicinity
of such an object that made my flesh
creep, and like tittal dream, would
trouble my thoughts even against my
own better sense.
| sat there gazing upon the coffin
my eyes riveted upon tt could not
take them off. could only just dis
tineuish its outlines. 1t looked like
q black confused mass. And yet it
seemed as ifsome sort OF lite, some
horrible, death-like life, were hover.
ING around it. That frigh,tul wooden
box, its still more terrible inmate ;
nothing more, I knew. than inanmatc
objects, the dust returning to its kin
lred uiust-were still, felt, linked in
some myterous way to the living
world; tor there is strange sympathy
between the living man and the earth
ly form, still and cold in death, which
has once been the tenement Of hu-
man soul.
What, l questioned, had this poor
old man done that he should come to
such frighttul end' Who was that
imp'acable enemy tina. could be salts.
fed with nothing less than the old
mans life Was the old man the sin,
ner. the murderer, the avenger of
some cruel deed committed by the
hoary reproba,e before age had paral.
lied his faculties and palsied the de-
sire and lusts of the flesh? Had the
avenger waited with cruel patience
while his victim by long years OF in
tegrity had stnven to wipe out the
memory OF youthful crimes, and then,
when society had yielded him in his
old age the houors which he seemed
SO justly to have earned, had stricken
him down remorselessly upon that
lonely shore? Or, I asked, might not
the murderer on the other hand, be
some fiend in the shape ola man-
perhaps son even, or some once be-
loved proteye, some ott-forgiven prod
igal-who, to avenge some fancied
wrong, or hide the knowedg of some
crime, had committed this fearful
deed? But there was no voice to
answer me, the chamber of death was
still, that blood.stained image ofhu-
mani,y beneath the bed was all that
remained-a silent memento of ter.
rible crime.
sat there gazing, dreaming, in a
sort Of magnetic trance. Suddenly /
started, overwhelmed with sensation
of dread 80 terrible that | could not
even utter n cry.
could have sworn that some one
touched me on the shoulder | felt the
lipht nressure of hand laid upcn me.