The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1880-09-21

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"This seems the burial place of
wealthy people, 'said Bob Asher. ''The
old dame must have had money to
spare"
BY Jove, II is openp' said I, In
low whisper.
It has not been quite filed up
boards are over 1t only some branches
and soil thrown in. How is this Y''
"The bricking of the vault has been
postponed till tomorrow" said Bob
Asher, shovelling out the debris. ''we
have no time to lose, Fred. Shall we
break open the top of the coffin, and use
the rope to pull up the subject by the
neck : That was the way with Knoxa
fellows in Edinburg.r h
"Nay," said /, "by such process the
spinal column may be disturbed; and
that won't suit the professors pur-
pose"
Look round, and listen well; here
goes then" and half leaning the coffin
on its side, Bob and Tom, by inserting
their shovels under the lid, burst Il with
hideous jarring sound and then the
ghostly tenant was seen, enveloped in
shroud of white from head to foot; and
even to us, prepared as we were for it,
that figure had something horrible in
its angular rigidity. Muflling it in the
dark cloak, 1 cast it over my shoulder,
and deposited it in sitting position
the rigot mortis had passed away appar-
ently-between the seat and splashboard
of the trap. My companions meanwhile
rearranged the grave and coffin as we
had found them. Voices and lights
now scared us. Phosfat was SO tipsy
that had to leave Bob Asher to take
care of him; and casting our shovels
and rope into clover field, 1 drove at
breaking pace towards London, intense
ly anxious to reach the professors
house before day should dawn, lest the
police or a passer-by might detect some
thing wierd in the person who was my
companion. 1t seemed to me that we
had not proceeded mile downward,
between hedgerows, when the waning
moon, hitherto invisible, began to glim-
mer over Hampstead, shedding ghost
ly farewell ray upon the silent country,
where not dog barked. WI sssaf
A strange sound, like the murmur of
voice, came to my ear at times Was
it pursuit.? l looked anxiously back,
and even pulled up for an instant.
Behind all was silence-but o, al
mighty heavenl what was this The
old woman was moving-her feeble
hands essayed to lift the cloth that cov-
cred her face! A wild spasm of terror
contracted my heart and any one but
medical man, am assured, would have
abandoned the trap and an adventure so
terrible but the idea of recovery from
trance immediately flashed upon my
mind, and my first thought was, the
professor would not get the prized verte-
bre, after all. lifted the almost mani
mate woman beside me, and felt that
she was warm, fleshly too, and had re-
turning pulse, which the motion of the
trap accelerated. uncovered her face
that she might respire, and a wild cry
escaped me--a cry that rang far over the
heath. ~ r aflst mI abu E,f.
Heayensl Was L going mad outright?
She was Gertrude-G Gerture Chalcot--
pale as death could make her, yet living
still, her hazel eyes lurid and sunken,
her dark hair falling about her face.
All that followed was like q swift
nightmare; the drive to town, muffied
in my overcoat and cloak the abandon
ment of the trap in the street; her con-
veyance in secret to my lodgings, and
placing her costly in my own bed till 1
could get her other quarters and attend
ance. Luckily, Bob Asher, and the
professor too, came about midday, or l
should soon have been fit for Hanwell.
~ ~
How all this came to pass was very
simple, Unwedded still, she had re-
turned with her family to England In
wretched health; her illness took a
more serious form, and would seem to
have eliminated in species of trance,
with the medical technicalities of which
it might be wearisome to trouble the
reader. Suffice It, that the alarm of
cholera was abroad, as, perhaps, in too
many other cases, hastily and, prema-
turely hence the vault being left un-
finished, permitted her to respire, and
our adventures mistake, by the way
ended in her rescue, though horror of
what her fate might have been filed my
heart, and for long period we were
compelled to conceal from her the awful
place in which she was found.
Under our united care she recovered
fast. But my space is short.
Sweet is the union of lovers after q
separation; but with all its charm,
much that was sad, startling and even
terrible, mingled with ours. She was
mine now. Not even that proud and
cruel father, who had so fiercely spurned
, me, could dispute the claim, / thought.