The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1880-06-24

"I was always tall, and thin, and
gaunt, as you see me now, girls. I took
after my father. He looked well enough,
for o man, mind you. But his features
and figure did not suit girl, and 1 was
always called 'homely' from child.
But Oliver was handsome, like our
mother. He had great blue eyes and
curling brown hair, and the brightest
color, and the sweetest smile. And Isa-
dore Was like him, only. far more beaI1ti-
fak z1Iou. hayeseen her portrait, down
"What! that lovely, that angelic
child?" cried Elfrida, wonderingly. 'T
thought that was an artists ideal pic
turey'
1t was the image of our Isadore at
nine years of age," replied Liss Mildred,
trying to cover the sudden break and
tremble In her voice by loud "Hemp
''And at 16 she was far beyond that
painting for beauty" continued Miss
Mildred. strangers used to stop In the
street to look at her, and to inquire who
she was. But she appeared to know
nothing and care nothing about her won
derful good looks. She was good and
gentle, and always amiable, without the
least apparent sign of vanity.
"'Ripe for heaven, our good old min
lister used to say. wish she might have
gone there thenp said Miss Mildred,
with sasstifed lgroan., fLsk kAxs
N''She did not die, them exclaimed
Elfrida. 'I was so afraid you were going
TO tell us of her deathp'
''She did not die, God help herr' re-
piled Miss Mildred, with sigh SO deep
and sad that it. was almost groan.
NHere, In this very wing chamber, my
brother Oliver thought of it" she said,
after long pause. "Here he called me
to help him decide how to carry out the
plan. You see, girls, Isadore was like
your friend Evelyn-she possessed great
couragex She seemed to have no fear of
anything on earth. Oliver knew this: SO
did L And neither of us expected any,
thing more than a hearty laugh at her
expense, or at our own, when the evening
frolic ended.
TT was Hallow Eve, -Isadore and her
dearest friend, q Miss Nancy Bruce (who
lived then at the farm Just below this one),
had agreed to Try fate, with spells, on
that evening. rfhey dared, each other
to one thing and another, and finally Is
adore pledged herself to go into the
lonely old north rooms, with q candle, at
9o'c1ock that evening, and eat an apple
before Grandmamma Thorne's great
mirror that had been stored away there
for safe-keeping for fifty years or more.
Et'Xou. .sse, girls, the idea was, that her
futufe husbands face was to appear to
her, looking over her shoulders, in that
mirror, as she stood before it, eating her
\ fFWsls Oliver oYerheard the girls plan
ming this that afternoon, and he told me.
And asdaaid before, i helped him, here
in thid Very room. that evening, while he
disguised himself in a long white dress,
| and painted his face all over a deathly
white, with heavy, frowning black eye
BROW that met, forming black arch
across his forehead ,Tzs
s1t changed him terribly, and he
looked SO like corpse in that shroud-like
dress, that i was half scared myself at
him, Bnt neither of usthought of Zsd-
d6rc being frightened ttl.l-
And 80 we stole into the north room,
|4nd contrived to get the mirror out of its
A4Ene. Oliver put his face into vacant
space. Ihung drappery around it, and
HhMged him to keep perfectly still, and
then stole away TO watch. Tor 1sadore in
II
'9n few minutes she came down the
stairs, with her candle and apple in her
hands. She was smiling roguishly to
herself as she opened the door of the
north room and went in."T #H "a
frida, eagerly, as Miss Mildred paused.
q Where was your mother? How
could she let 1sadore go into that dread
pl room Z" breathed Martin Hurst
Father and mother were both staying
with sick neighbor as watchers that
night" said Miss Mildred; "and 1
watched and waited, in the outer hall,
till Nancy Bruce came, crying, down
stairs, to tell some one what they had
planned to do. because she thought
something awful had happened to keep
Isadore so long In the north room.
| when Nancy saw me she caught
hold of me and dragged me with her to
the door of the north room. We went
| in. The candle was burning on the
Beside it my brother Oliver was lying
white fire, In the half darkness. The
poor foolish boy had rubbed phosphorus
all over it, after left him, to make it
/ @OON os.AA AAohO SllnotlJ HuO6J-llht.
| "And Isadore-where was Isadore ?'
cried Martin Hurst, beginning to shiyer
with nervous dread. ~ ! .vfa
"We found her huddled down in a
heap In a distant corner, with her face
turned to the wall. She knew no one.
| Oliver told us, long afterward, that she
stood gazing at him in silence so long
that he advanced his face toward her,
through the mirror, meaning to play to
offer her kiss.
"The light, the life, the intelligence,
all went out of her own face at that mo-
ment," he said. "She fed and crouched
down in the corner; and he, believing
that he had fatally injured her, fell faint
ing to the floor"
"Poorfellow!" sighed Elfrida. 'Whera
is he now, Miss Mildred?"
"In heaven, I hopel He was one a
our first volunteers from this town. and
one of the first officers who was killed In
the last war. They told me that he
exposed his life in leading his men
into action. / did not mourn for him.
girls; knew hO,O glad he was to 60
Our parents died heartbroken, one wear
from that fatal Halloween"
"But Isadore, where is she ?" asked
Elfrida, half-fearfully.
cat the State Lunatic Asylum. Al
| first, she seemed only idiotic, and I kept
her at home, devoting my life to her, as
some small return for the wrong that I
had helped to work. But now she is a
raging, raving, dangerous maniac Oh,
girls, there is nothing left now of the
beautiful child, or Of the lovely girl It
was all our fault r. said poor Miss Mil
dred, bursting into tears and hurrying
out of the room. -
Elfrida's eyes were wet, like ours, as
she brought back and silently demol-
ished the fearful "woman with broom. ("
And Evelyn Moore, returning an hour
later with the letters, never knew why