The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-06-17

WILL hey. LUG gas WAS AZ" ooW u
Hurriedly picked up my overcoat ant
other traces of my presence and funt
them under the large couch at the end o
the room. It vas an old fashioned sofa will
hanging valance which reached to tht
ground. / then crept underneath, ant
waited for the curtain to rise on the dra
ma. I had hardly got into a safe posi-
ton when the outer door yielded and
heard step in the passage that inter
vened. Then the outer door was gentl.
closed, and I expected TO see the inne
door opened in its turn and some one en-
ter. The minutes went by, and no ON
came. Whoever it might be was in th'
passage. I could hear a slight move
ment every now and then, and the rustic
of woman's dress. 1t must have beer
quite ten minutes since I heard the QUITE
door opened when poticed that the in
ner door was swinging noiselessly bacf
on its hinges, and something was gliding
into the room. Slowly it moved across
the floor till it stood right in the din
light of the turned-down gas.
I shall never forget the terrible sigh
that met my eyes. I would have scream
ed but my tongue remained glued to my
mouth. T was looking at a dead woman
risen from the grave. Her face hat
been beautiful in life; now it was asher
gray. The eyes were sunken in thei
sockets, and her lips we're pale and col
orless. The figure was draped in s
long white shroud, and / fancied tht
room vas heavy with the awful odor o
an open grave.
Slowly the phantom moved toward
the next room, and glided in. For
moment all was still. Then came .
faint cry. The man was awake, ane
alone with the apparition.
"Drusilla p he shrieked. "Mercy
Mercy Have mercyp
I heard hollow voice answer him
~"Rise and follow me-"
"What would you have with me?"
Confess"
"What shall confess 2" answered
the wretched man, his voice trembling
in an agony of fear.
"Confess the foul wrong you did me
Confess where my poor body lies, that ii
may be buried in holy ground"
+ Again the mans trembling voice wall
ed cut:
~ will confess ALL"
"Follow me-"
The apparition glided from the inner
room, and the man followed her.
. "Writep'
The dead woman pointed to the table
where the pen and ink were, and the
man obeyed her GESTURES mechanically
"Write ALL"
1 could see from a rent in the valance
the whole scene. The man white with
terror, the beads Of cold perspiration on
his brow, sat and wrote.
The apparition glided behind him aud
looked over his shoulder.
Once he paused in his task.
"Write ALL" said the white figure.
And again the man wrote.
The figure then grasped the paper with
its waxen fingers. 60" itsaid, pointing
to the inner room.
With his eyes fixed upon its livid face,
the man backed slowly for some PAGES.
With a violent effort and little scream,
he seized the door, swung it to, and bolt
ed it on the inside.
Then, for the first time, the dead wo-
man trembled.
Z She seemed strangely nervous and agi-
tated now. She clasped the paper close.
ly, then put it in her bosom and glided
from the room.
I 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 q
slight pause in the lobby, and the noise
of garment being drawn of, then the
outer door opened and the visitant passed
out on the staircase.
followed as quietly as I could. The
staircase was lighted with gas. As I trod
on the second landing the ghost heard
the noise and looked up. She was dressed
in an ordinary black, costume now, and
her face was natural color. To my in.
tense surprise, she neither screamed mol
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 friend of his"
answered "Yes," mechanically.
"Then let me go free if you value his
life"
eff I let you 90 free am your accom-
plice," murmured; "your raccomplice in
some vile imposture."
ses'No. If you are my accomplice TO-
night you are an accomplice in the holies'
deed 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 I wanted"
I took her arm as though / had been
policeman, and said:
''Pass through the gate then, and if you
attempt to get away from mel shall cal
for help"
Z She nodded to the proposition. The
man at the gate was halfasleep. Irouseo
him, and from his box pulled the core
aud let US pass through the wicket door
into the Strand.
1 then listened to the strangest story
that ever mortal lips had uttered, and
there was no doubt that every word of il
was true.
The confession which the trembling
wretch had written sit her dictaLion-as
he believed at the dictation of his
dead wife-I had read. 1t was plain
statement of how he had poisoned the
poor girl whom he had welded in it Of
mad jealousy, and how he had concealed
his crime; how at the last moment he
had overheard a whisper that some one
suspected foul play; and how, fearing the
body might be exhumed, he had, with
assistance of an accomplice, since dead
stolen the body that night and re.buried
it in the garden of house in a lonely
part of the American town where this
accomplice lived.
This woman was his wife's sister and
she had suspected foul play from the
first. She was an actress, and was away
on provincial tour when Blisset Emerton
wooed and won Drusilla and took her
ohroad with him E,merton had never