The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1880-03-17

!. 80
to rush after HIM, when I bethoupht me
OF lighting a candle. It took but MN
ute to effect this, and then, candle in
hand, / entered the long passage which
led to our room. At the far enc Of il. in
ms night shirt, CHASTITY pale, and leaning
against the wall, I beheld Paul He was
alone, and staring straight before him
like a man in a trance. It was sometime
before ! could rouse him sufficiently to
get him back into the loom again. Even
then he did not speak at first.
Paul, IN Heavens name, what is ito
What have you seen?' I exclaimed. for he
continued pale and trembling.
d % good heavens, Ned - was his first
exclamation, as he sank into q chair; am
| asleep or dreaming could I have
dreamed such thinga and l vow I
wasn't frightened. You saw tha1-that
thing whatever it was, Ned2' Ct assur-
ed him that had seen it, Well. 1 fol-
lowed it to find out where it. went. and
I saw
"tSaw what2' asked eagerly. He
did not speak Tor q moment, and then he
told me that the phantom had led him to
the end of the corridor, where 1t paused,
pointed with its finger to the ground and
disappeared. There, lying full in the
rays OF the moon, which shone through
an oriel window overhead, he beheld
coffin, and on it, in large white letters,
the following inscription: Paul Mer-
rell. Born June 5, 1900. Died October
10, 1929 CIT was now June Of The year
1S2S.)
"What he told me made my blood run
cold: In vain I told myself that it was
a deluslon- "a dream. | myself had seen
the apparition, and had seen it twice
over. Determined, however, to tind out
It any trick had been played on us, I in
stantly went down the corridor again
this time without Highland examined
particularly all round the spot where nv
brother had described the coffin to have
been. Not a trace of anything unusual
could I find. All was still and peaceful,
and so bright was the moon shining that
| could perfectly distinguish the faces of
the old portraits on the walls.
my brother was visiblY changed after
this. He did not speak much on the sub
ject after this night, and I observed that
he became graver, and more silent and
thoughtful, and his old boisterous spirits
quite forsook him.
"Fer myself, though l was not, I be-
leve, naturally superstitious, and I felt
persuaded that in the end I should I'M
ravel the mystery and trace the strange
apparition Of that night to.natural causes,
still l feared for him, for the occurrence
seemed to have taken hold upon his
mind, and had heard of cases where
such warnings, merely through working
strongly on the Imagination, had brought
about their own fulfilment.
II set myself in every way to divert
his mind from the subject, and affected
to laugh at the whole thing, and to make
sure OF beng able to sift it out; but I
wrote privately to our friend Hawkins
(my brother particularly wished it kept
secret), and told him the state Of the
case, beseeching him if he could hint at
any possible explanation of the mystery,
to do so without delay -s..oat
"Hls letter was most unsatisfactory.
He had never heard of such an occurrence
IN his lite. There was no haunted cham
Der In his house, nor did it even boast an
hereditary ghost of any sort; nor did he
believe any of the servants (the old wo-
man before mentioned and her two nieces.
all OF whom had lived with him tor yearsl
capable of playing a trick of any kind.
Il was forced 70 drop my investiga-
lions, but kept an anxious watch over
Paul, and, as far as business permitted,
was constantly with him. To my great
alarm, l saw that, as the months rolled
on, his depression seemed to increase. I
privately consulted physician on the
case. His advice but seconded the
promptlngs OF my own common-sense:
divert his mind in every possible way
change Of y-society-any
thing to keep him from brooding over
it, s.v .~r.:.. ...-rs.1 ..
+ ut was now the end of September,
1928. The ill-omened day drew near.
To my great vexation, was summoned
away from home just at this time. 1t was
call that could not we'll refuse to obey.
I pondered long, devising every possible
means OF remaining near my brother tin
after the 10th. - e..
''Then, all resources failing, 1 COM
mitted him to one or two trusty friends,
to whom I told all the circumst ances,
binding them to solemn secrecy, and with
an anxious heart, set forth on my Journey.
had to pass not far from the scene of
our summer visit. I made j, my bust
ness to 60 to Plas Mervyn, and from
thence Ito give it more an air of truth)
I wrote my brother the following letter,
a fabrication from beginning to cnd-a
falsehood, if you will-but surely,a par
donable falsehood, if ever there was one:
"'Dear PAUL. have solved the mvs-
terry OF Plas Mervyn You will laugh
with me about it when I see you again
(and SO I hoped he would, dear boy. No
time for particulars. Hawkins is well.
We changed horses at B., and 50 I came.
here for sight of him. vii. write again
from s. In terrible haste, Yours, NED
"This, 1 hoped, would buoy him up till
the dreaded day was passed: and, that
over, the danger was averted. 1.,
"My friend Hawkins sympath1zed
kindly in my anxiety. Not content with
expressions of sympathy, he insisted on
making business in town for the second
week in October and assuring himself
OF my brothers welfare, promising
to let me know the 10th and the fol-
lowing day how he found him. Heaven
only knows how, in distant town in the
of II.