The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1879-09-03
THE GHOST OF MORGAR'S TOWER.

Inc property. line last owner, oqulTe Iair-
fax, was hale, jovial, fellow, and had
three stalwart sons, yet none of them lived
to possess the place.
The eldest was killed when Clyde's army
relieved Lucknow; the second fell victim
to the iungle-fever that haunts the moist
rice-fields of Central India; and the youngest,
it gives me choking sensation in my throat
even now when recall his fate.
The hero of the Playing Fields, stroke of
the eight-oar in the most closely contested
race that Oxford ever won, he was a favor
lite everywhere, and the pride of his home.
/ can see him yet, with his laughing brown
eyes, standing up against the crack left-handed
bowler who came assured of an easy victory
for Stepton over the eleven of Stepton-in-the-
Fens. There was some of us who thought
when he carried his bat that greater triumphs
must DC in store for that ready hand, that
watchful eye, and CHEEKY spirit.
A year later. when a pleasure-boat went
down in a squall. the only hope left us was
that he had not suffered long, for there was
dark bruise on the pale forehead when the
BODY was washed ashore. His father never
recovered the blow, but died soon after his
boy; and thus it came to pass that 1, dis
tant cousin, found myself the owner of Nor
cars Tower.
The curse, if curse there still be, will be
d0ttiU 1OT uO C4llVTtu VI Iulllc Will
ever brighten the gloomy chambers of my
new home 1t matters not how l know this
so certainly, for it is not my own story that
am about to tell. Suffice it to say that the
Joy was crushed out of my life ere was 80,
so that l abandoned my chosen career and
hid myself in lonely cottage. thinking that
in the quiet life of student | might find So
lace for my grief. When 1 first heard that
the old Tower was mine, | was unwilling to
remove from the abode to which had grown
accustomed, but ON further reflection L de-
cided that the effort must be made, and that
must not shrink from my new duties on
account of the melancholy associations con-
nected with the place. To the Tower therefore
went, taking with me the treasured vol
umes that were my only friends.
For obvious reasons / can not give the true
names of the localities am about to describe,
but they will be easily recognized by any one
belonging to the neighborhood who may
chance to peruse this tale.
Morcar's Tower was situated in one of the
--LATEST districts in England. In old days,
before cannons were in use, it must have been
a valuable stronghold, for it was then sur
rounded by reedy fen, full of dangerous
and unsupported depths, and only practiced
guides could find the narrow paths that
threaded through the grass and rushes. Grad
ually, however. the fen-land was reclaimed,
though the drainage was extremely difficult;
and a canal, more sluggish than any l have
seen elsewhere, was cut across from the Ayder
to The Deene The soil was rich and paid
well; and at last little town grew up, known
as Stepton-in-the-Fens, to distinguish it from
Stepton proper, or as it was sometimes called,
Stepton-on-the-W Void. This void was moth
ing but rise of the land on the west of the
Tower, and would hardly have been re-
marked in a less level country.
The Tower itself was more properly keep,
square and GRIM built of dark red stone that
took purplish hue when wet. Round it was
deep moat that on three sides had been
hastily and carelessly filled up. Yellow hawk
weed and the struggling ragged-robin grew
in profusion on the unequal surface of the
earth that had been thrown loosely into it,;
/ wondered greatly that my cousin should
have allowed this disorderly fringe of weed
to remain round the house. l remembered,
however, that when my Cousin Frank had
once proposed some alteration, his father had
replied with unusual sharpness that he did
not choose to NEEDLE with the moat. On the
fourth side the ditch was its original depth,
and wooden bridge, with high fantastic
; railing, crossed it where the drawbridge had
formerly been. The walls of the Tower were
enormously thick, and the interior was, con-
consequently, somewhat sombre. There was
plenty of heavy old-fashioned furniture, but
there were few modern elegancies in the house.
In the room that had been Harry's were two
new easy-chairs, some engravings after Land
seer, and some pewters and cups-relics OF
the foot-races and sculling-matches of his
Eaton and Oxford days.
On the ground floor were the drawing and
dining-rooms, with two smaller apartments
the bed rooms were up stairs, and the ser
vants-I had but three-lived in some newer
Offices quite at the back.
1 myself chose to inhabit curious turret
that projected from one corner of the Tower
partly because it was light and cheerful, part
" because had used it when visiting my
cousins in our boyhood. The round shoulder
of the void cut US off early from the evening
sun, and from the turret windows l could
watch the light being stolen from our Fem
by the advancing shadows of the fr-claC
rising ground.
/ loved to see the last glitter die off thu
canal. and from between the reed-beds t.
watch d lazy barge, perhaps being mooret
for the night, a grey heron soaring his wa,
across The opal sky, or a string of carts o
team of horses going slowly homeward-fo
no living creature moved quickly in tn
Fens
When all was still, save that the frogs ha,
begun to croak amongst the rushes, 1. turned
to my books, and in mystic volumes, sucl
as the history of the "Rosy Cross, sought 70
council from men who, like me, had resolve,
be alone.
One night, when had been about q fort
night at the tower, sat up rather later thai
usual at my studies. A new vista was open
ing before me, and 1 seemed to be on tn
point of reaching over that indefnable bar
rier that separates us from the world in whic
spirit is the known reality-a world who's
laws must some day yield themselves up t
our mastery. raised my head, and drew il
~ long breath of the night air that blew il
at the open easement. While sitting thu
pursuing an argument in my own mind, tn
sound Of stealthy footstep on the stat