The Red Cloud chief., 1880-04-22

| man babbled in his frenzy: 1.-The
| face" he cried. "the FACET was her
face-there In the court below. Look
between the trccsr' / looked out into
the cout
The moon was up, and among the
trees neal the fountain / could see the
figure Of . woman. She was in deep
black. and - presently she stood where
the trunk Of the tree threw her white
face into relief. I could see that she was
looking toward the window. Probably
she missook my figure blotted against
the window. for that Of Emerton's, for
n I looked she raised her arms with .
strange menacing gesture and pointed
at me. Then she giided in among the
trees and was lost IN sight The doctor
came, examined Emerton, and pre-
scribed for him. Hes had . violent
fright" he said. shut he'll be all right
by and by. It's more hysterical than
anything else. Where are his friends?"
II l wanted to learn something OF this
mans strange story. what could I wish
for better than . night alone with him.
The doctor gave me certain directions
and left.
We had carried Emerton TO his bed
room and put him on the bed Seeing
he ives still, 1 went into the front room,
piled up the fire, put on the kettle.
found some whisky, lit my pipe, and
prepared for the night. / had just
turned The burner down when / became
aware of q soft grating sound ut the
outer door. Some n was softly open
ing the outer door with a key. The gas
was low down. Hurriediy | picked up
my overcoat and other traces Of my
presence and flung them under the
large couch at the end of the room. II
was an old-fashioned sofa with q hang
ing valance which reached to the
ground. 1 then crept underneath and
waited for the curtain TO rise on the
drama. had hardly got into a safe po-
sition when the outer door yielded, and
heard a step in the passage that inter-
vened. Then the outer door was gently
closed. 1 expected to see the inner
door open in its turn and some one en-
ter. The minutes went by, and no n
came. Whoever it might be was in the
passage. / could hear a slight move
ment every now and then. and the rustic
of a woman's dress. Unjust have been
quite ten minutes since I heard the
outer door opened when l noticed that
the inner one was swinging noiselessly
back on its hinges, and something was
gliding into the room. Slowly il moved
across the floor till it stood right in the
dim light of the turned-down gas
shall never forget the terrible sight
| chat p.af ~u oyaS WpuiH have
screamed, but my tongue remained
glued to my mouth. / was looking at a
dead woman risen from the grave. Her
face had been beautiful in life; now it
was ashen gray. The eyes were sunken
in their sockets, and her lips were pale
and colorless. The figure was draped
in a long white shroud, and l fancied
that the room was heavy with the awful
odor of an open grave. Slowly the
phantom moved toward the mex room
and glided in. For q moment all was
still. Then came a faint cry. The
man was awake and alone with the APP
partition. s.Drusillar' he shrieked.
mercy! Mercy! Have mercy!"
heard a hollow voice answer him,
Rise and follow me-"
What would you have with me?"
Confess"
"What shall / c~onfess?" 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
it NAV be buried in holy ground"
Again the mans trembling voice
walled out, 81 will confess all"
Follow mel!
The ~apparition glided from the inner
room, and the man followed her.
The dead woman pointed to the table
where the pen and ink were, and
the man obeyed her gesture mechanic
ally.
"Write allr'
l could see from q 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 and
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. "GO"' it said,
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 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 claspcd the paper
closely, then put it in her bosom, and
glided from the room.
had got over the sudden terror in.
spired by such a strange sight. and
had made up my mind that / had de.
tected some terrible imposture. There
was a slight pause in the lobby, and
the noise of q garment being drawn
off; then the outer door opened and
the visitant passed out on to the stair.
case.
followed as quietly as I could. The
staircase was lighted 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 3 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.
ITO give you into custody"
Are you q friend of hist"
answered "Ycs." mechanically.
); "Then let me 60 free if you value hi:
Efe."
IF 1 let you 60 I am your accom-.
plice," I murmured; '.ysur accomplish
in some vile imposture."
"No. II you are my accompliee to
night. you are an accomplice in the
hottest deed q woman v wrought.
Pass me through the gates If you doubt
me; watch me; follow me home; give
me into custodyif you like; I don't care,
I've got what l wanted"
took her arm as though l had been
q policeman, and said: PASS through
the gate, then, and if you attempt e
get away from me / shall call fol
help"
--ll.l A. xh -z-o~n TT