Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1879-02-27
GHOST STORIES.
THE HAUNTED ATTIC.
Atlantic Monthly.

More than thirty-fve years ago, when
my husband left the army till again
summoned to military duty by the fa-
tai Crimean war, it was agreed that we
should live for at least year with my
father and mother, as some compensa-
ton to us all for the enforced and pain
full separation occasioned by our wan
dering army life. My father, Colonel
D, had just taken on lease an old
fashioned, picturesque-looking house
on the banks of the Midway, close to
Maidstone. Before the dissolution of
monasteries by Henry VIII, this build
ing had been q branch establishment
of the great nunnery in Maidstone. and
was called the New Wark of Pestehelle,
now corrupted into the more modern
appellat1on of Newark House. The
mansion and the estate belonging to it
had been for more than 200 years in
the possession of an old Kentish family
of the name of Browne, whose por-
traits, collected from generation to gen.
Grafton, were still in the house, but, to
clear the place for the new tenant, had
been ANONYMOUSLY consigned to one of
the large attics. just before my father
took the place very beautiful chapel,
part of the old property, into which we
had private door from our grounds,
had been opened for divine service as d
chapel of ease. 1t had been for years
in the possession of a farmer to whom
the lands Of the estate were leased, and
who used it as a barn, when the admi-
ration Of q wandering tourist was at
tracted to its groined roof and the deli
cate tracery here and there perceptible
through Decorating piles CT hay and
straw. This tourist having drawn pub
lie attention to its beauty, a subscrip-
ton was opened, and very soon the an
| cient building was cleansed, restored
and rededicated to its original purpose.
| Tradition averred that from our wine
cellar to the friary at Aylesford, dis
lance of eight miles, there was a subter-
ranean passage which had served in the
olden time as means Of cOmmunica-
ton between the monks and the nuns.
Be this as it may, there certainly was q
very large opening In the cellar which
the wOrkmen employed in repairs
seemed most reluctant to enter, and
which my dear father, verv insensible
to romantic adventures, but tenderly
concerned for the safety of his val
liable wines, had most securely
bricked up before any Of his prop
erty was removed into the
house. When We did take possession,
it was found that, large as was the
house, there was barely sufficient sleep
ing-room, my nursery establishment
being added to the family staff Of SER
wants. Under these circumstances, my
mother was compelled to assign one ef
the attics as bedroom for her own
cook and housemaid, to which they
made no objection, for the room was
large, and, though rather gloomy, from
the small, old-fashioned easement win
dows, it had a delightful view of the
river and the town beyond. [ believe
that the first night passed off quietly
enough, but in the morning when Mrs.
Harris, the cook, went as usual to my
mothers dressing room for orders, she
requested permission to turn the old
portraits which had been ranged round
the room with their faces to the wall, ii
being dreadful, as she phrased it, fol-
them horrid Brownies to be a-watchine
everything she did, and a-following he1
with their eyes to every corner OF the
ROOM" Permission for this change
was easily granted, but it would appear
that the buried originals of the por.
traits, indignant at being so uncere
moniously displaced, resolved to ayenge
themselves, and very soon mysterious
whispers of what took place nightly in
the attic reached me through my nurse
whose face looked SIS pale as if she hac
shared in the terrors of her fellow-ser