Litchfield enquirer., 1879-01-30

not ask me to loave when SO much depended on my labors And Lucy, unknown to her sis ters, had gone to spiritual seanace with Brid- get. They had called for the spirit of Jeanne | de Ia Motte, and there was manifestation. Three letters were scrawled out, D. s. P. No one knew what they meant, but Bridget was, sure they were genuine signs from the unseen world, for these very letters appeared in the scrap of paper that had fallen into Bridget's 1 hands and first started our quest What did | they mean?
 To say the truth, I hardly knew myself. 1 What did they mean-anything like R. l. F., or S. P. G., s. P. Q. R., or any of those ini- tials that peLsons of liberal education are supposed to know the meaning of? By cu- rious coincidence the meaning was made clear | to me that very day. had set to work anx- vile archives, when I came across little bundle of papers--pedigrees of various fami- lies-in which the initials occurred frequently; and iI one place the words they represented were written at full length-Deceae sans pos tertte. 'Dead without leaving issue" We'll 1 that was good news for the Hazlewoods, if true. But why was not the spirit more ex- plicit?
 Among those pedigrees, which were in the handwriting of M. De Freville, found the family tree of the De la Mottes. But here. as everywhere else. the trail stopped most pro- vokingly. Everything posted us to the date of the Revolution-even the marriage of M i De la Motte to Jeanne, daughter of Philippe l Rankin, Esq. It seemed, too, as if the birth of the French girl we were in search of had been noted. for there was distinct ensure in the space just below this last entry.
 And now l felt that surely had come to the end of my reel. l had got to the bottom of M. De Frevilles papers, and found out nothing but what | knew before. In few days l must return, with the news of my fail ure What misfortune for all of us that ever the question had been raised! Not only had we crippled ourselves financially, but our morals was impaired. The girls had lost all | their enthusiasm for the work that was before them; everything now was dreary grind to them in comparison with the brilliant, enjoy l able existence that had seemed within their grasp. Even Bridget was demoralized, and had abandoned her busy, useful contest to go spacing and fortune-telling with witches, war locks, and spirit charlatans. 1, too, had suffer ed, as everybody must who espouses an ad- venturous cause and fails-suffered in the estimation of safe and respectable people, l whose opinion was of importance to me, as we'll as in credit and actual coin. And I found myself feeling almost injured and aggrieved by the Hazlewood family, questioning whether Fanny had not led me on designedly to get the benefit of my services for nothing.
 It was damp sombre Autumn evening and everybody seemed chilly and comfortless about me-. The daily woman came in to ask if wanted anything more, and to say that she would be obliged to take holiday on the fol- lowing day. It was the Fete des Morts and must he passed with her friends, both above and below ground; but she would come in dur ing the morning to arrange Monsienr's break fast. She had locked up all the rooms and brought the keys. These she hung up on their appropriate pegs, and then left the | house.
 As the woman closed the great outside door behind her, it's creaking hinges sounded dolor- ously through the house. The wind hOwled dolefully along the corridors, doors rattled, windows shook, the boards creaked, as if be- heath wandering footsteps. And 1 did not seem to have energy enough to make the situa- | tion more cheerful. The lamp remained un- lighted, the fire smoldered away to white ashes; my brain was wearied with it's fruitless .labors; thought soon gave way to lethargy, and 1 lethargy to sleep.
 1 awoke with start and shiver. It was far on in the night, no doubt, but the room | was quite light, as the moon was now shining brilliantly through the tall windows. had made up my mind for rush to bed, when l heard the great gate groan on it's hinges, and presently footstep in the corridor.
 ''It is the charwoman" 1 said to myself ''the woman Celanie;" trying to ignore the quick beating of my heart But assuredy her tread had strangely changed, for this was 8 light tripping footstep, coming quickly along 1 the paved passage.
 The door was opened softly and swiftly, and a figure appeared-a slim and girlish figure that tripped up to the key board, and put out a hand-a plump childish little hand, marble white in the moonlight-that lowered for a moment in uncertainty before it rested on the ! object of it's search. At that instant the ap- pearance turned swiftly round, and looked in my direction with a sweet, mournful air-a look recalling the serene, ,joyess tranquility of l death. And yet 1 saw with alarm that the l face was like Fanny HazleWOods, as her face l might show after the awful change of death. say alarm, but that was not the predominant l feeling; rather an intense sorrow and hopeless ness, as the soft sad eyes rested upon me. And then the figure gded quickly away, and 1 1 saw it no more.
 l 1 Sat for some time mOtonless, penetrated i with the idea that this had been some celestial vision, conveying either warning of coming l evil or message of some misfortune just hap pened. But by degrees, as the first keen i'm precision of the senses wore away 1 began to l persuade. myself that had been the subject of a hallucInatlon. My mind had been fixed 80 W and sleeping, I had called up the semblance of 1 the person who most engrossed my thoughts struck light, and my tancied notions seem ed to take flight My braiu had been over-eX cited that was all. l had received serious warning, but not of the supernatural order. must take care of myself, or something would 1 give way. And then it struck me as curious that the creature of my heat-oppressed brain should have gone to the keyboard in such a .,otto # E.,4t HToI, &l~ AL board itself to testify to the baselessness of this part of the 'vision-the board which had lately been filled with the keys of all the rooms in the house, except the three reserved for my use. Now, if none of these keys were missing, clearly
 All the keys were there excepting those of the rooms l occupied, till came to the very bottom of the board. and there was certainly one hook without tenant. What was the label over that: spelled it out slowly, hard fy comprehending at first-'Le MausOlee''- The Mausoleum. It was to the tomb, then, that my vistant, whatever her nature might be, had led the way.
 And had not folowed-the mute glance of invitation had refused. Perhaps by sodoing l had lost the last chance of discovering the strangely guarded secret I hoped to reveal. Anything seemed now possible to me in my shaken, nervous state. Fanny and l were SlTOugiy III sympathy upOu tHe SdiIie OoJeCI. Breaking through the impediments of space and matter, she had come to give me aid, and had rejected it; hence, no doubt, the sorrow full, reproachful glance. Would she come again. and thls time to return the key? l would watch and wait, and this time 1 would not lack the courage to interrogate my strange visitant.
 I watched and waited, but nobody came, and before long an irresistible drowsness came over me. l closed my eyes, and when open ed them the gray light of morning was shining in at the windows, and a pale. rosy reflection in the river showed that the sun was rising. Wearied and stiff, and somewhat ashamed ot my feelings of the night before, crawled off to bed and slept till nearly noon.
 The first thing did on rising was to go to the keyboard and satisfy myself that had not been dreaming about the maussleum and the key. There was the label, all right, but nc key. It was puzzling affair certainly, and I felt an eager desire to find out this mauseleum But l could find no one to tell me where to find it. searched the grounds without suc- Oooo Sxv,oa oAoA ko, Al.