The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1880-09-09
the man obeyed her gesture mechanic.

the man obeyed her gesture mechanic
ally.
"Write ALP"
1 could see from the rent in the val
ance the whole scene. The man white
with terror, the beads of cold prespira-
ton On his brow, sat and wrote.
The apparition gliding behind and
looked over his shoulder.
Once he paused in his task.
'Write aN," said the white figure.
And again the man wrote.
The figure then grasped the the pa
per with its waxen fingers. "Gop' it
said, pointing to the inner room.
With his eyes fixed upon its livid
face, the man backed slowly for some
PAGES. With u violent effort and a
little scream, he seized the door, swung
it to and bolted it on the inside.
Then, for the first time, the dead
woman trembled.
She seemed strangely nervous and
agitated now. She clasped the paper
closely, then put it in her bosom, and
giided from the room.
had got over the sudden terror in
spired by such strange sight, and had
made up my mind that had detected
some terrible imposture. There was
a slight pause in the lobby, and the
noise Of a garment being drawn off;
then the outer door opened and
the visitant passed out on the stair
case.
followed as quietly as could. The
staircase was lis GIFTED with gas. AS
trod on the second landing the ghost
heard the noise and looked up. She
was dressed in an ordinary black cos
tune now, and her face was a natural
color. To my intense surprise she
neither screamed nor attempted to run
away. She stood still, and beckoned
me to her side.
"What are you going to do?" she
said.
''To give you into custody"
care you q friend of his ?"
answered, eyes," mechanically.
"Then let me go free if you value his
life"
eff | let you 60 1 am your accom-
plice.' [ murmured; "your accom-
plice in some vile imposture."
! 'No. If you are my accomplish to-
night, you are an accomplish in the
hottest deed a woman ever wrought.
Pass me through the gates if you doubt
me; watch me; follow me home; give
me into custody if you like; [ don't
care, I've got what [ wanted"
[ took her arms as though had been
a policeman, and said: 'Pass through
the gate, then, and if you attempt to
get away from me l shall call for
help"
She nodded to the proposition. The
man at the gate was half asleep. I
reused him, and from his box he
pulled the cord and let us pass through
the wicket door into the strand.
then listened to the strangest story
that ever mortal lips had uttered, and
there was no doubt that every word of
it was true.
The confession which the trembling
wretch had written at her dictation-as
he believed at the dictation of his dead
wife-I had read. 1t was plain state
ment of how he had poisoned the poor
girl whom he had welded in a fit of
mad jealousy, and how he had conceal
ed his crime; how at the last moment
he had overheard a whisper that some
one suspected foul play; and how, fear
ing the body might be exhumed, he
plice, since dead, stolen the body that
night and re-buried it in the garden of
y house in a lonely part of the Amer
lean town where this accomplice lived.
This woman was his wife's sister, and
she had suspected foul play from the
first. She was All actress, and was
away on provincial tour when Bissett
Emerton wooed and won Drusilla and
took her abroad with him. Emerton
had never seen this sister. The mar
riage had been secret and hurried, and
he had seemed strangely anxious to
leave the country. They were to be
back in five months.
Drusilla-poor trusting fool!-idolized
the man and obeyed him. To her he
was a knight without reproach.
But soon his conduct to her altered
strangely, and she began to suspect that
all was not right. He grew cold and
cruel, and she was miserable and I'M
happy.
She wrote secretly to her sister, told
her troubles and how quickly her hus-
bands conduct had altered. The sister
urged her to leave him and come home
She was expecting her to do so when
there came the news Of her illness and
death, and then Of the mysterious dis
appearance of the body. From that
moment Drusilla Emerton's sister made
up her mind to fathom the mystery
and bring the guilt home to the MUIR
derer. She refused to accept the ex-
tplanation of her sisters death. She be-
ieved Blissett Emerton to be quite
capable of carrying out a carefully-ma-
tured plot to get rid of her. The dis
appearance of the body strengthened
her s11sniciona She concluded at onco