, 1880-07-30
2Hnuum
A Strange Story.


Opa fiHs Summer day, some twenty
tao yearssago,s Ilwas in company with
my relatives, Judge b and his
daughter, journey,ng along the eastern
coast of SoushSCarpiua. We bad our
own conveyance, a eapadious, Sold-tssh-
ioned coach, and travelled by easy stages,
so as not to fatigue Laura, on whose ac-
count, partly, the journey had been
undertaken. She was subject to sudden
and unaccoupEble depressions andyex-
citement, TO fits Of absence, and to'ab-
normal moods OF thought, in which she
would speak incoherentIy, and OCCASION
ally-aetyin q manner, wholly, at variance
with Iher usual gentle and ioVab!e na-
ture. --------s'' '--''--------~-
Latterly ,sher.had been seized with a
strange restletshess of mood-a desire
for changes-=despite her Just then unusp-
ally delicate health and it was in order
to rrAtify this that her father Had de-
cided to take Laura and myself with
him to Charleston, whittier he was called
on business. . we zwsrsi to stop SOME
days at an estate called Blackwater, the
ancestral residence 81 distant relatives
of ours, but whom neither Laura nor
myself had sysFseehs I'D Sn9N
"How stranger she murmured.
UNhere are we. papa2 What place is
ehis7' .t8 ll92 INV r6W g.
'sThis is Ulster county, Laura, aid
there is Blackwater," pointing in the
direction Of fathe poplais. an xE o. 4
asurslys papa, 4 mist kave'been.here
before. 1t all seems so familiar. Surely
4 remember this place, popLars, the
plain, the bridge--is there not a bridge
''rSss'ii tSss' sleA / sah perceive my dear!
There Is nd water in view a I J ~
"You are thinking of'some scene of
which you have read, and which. this
view recalls. I have had such fancies
myself" l observed. ..s, .lssSS
SIT is not ar,fancy, it is a rememA
branee,e sad Laura, !, decidedly 81 teel
sure trat I must have seen either this
spot. or some other exactly like it--only
thers wasia bridge and willows, asid-s-
she stopped with shudder. { ff
"Well, what else q
II don't stnow- butgsomethlng 'hor-l
rible. l don't like this. place7v-I wish
we, were not going to Blackwater." q
sv an onsense n said her father, impa-
tiently. "Do not be foolish, Laura"
She leaned back In the carriage, look.
ing dreamily from the window, till
aroused by a hollow end rdmbling sound
beneath the wheels. We had entered
the border of the wood, and were now
passing over o bridge fSf IN NJ nv &
'Therep exclaimed Laura, exoitedly.
SIT is the very place-the bridge, the
willows, and those dark, still pools be.
meath, the dropping branches" 0v
]. SThe Bla0k~ater, said. Judge B.
HIt IS the name q the stream, and gives
its title to the Whiting estate, which
the first settled in this part Of the coun.
try. 1t has been in, The family for--let
me seeHsome six or seven generations
We were, you know, originally Whit
ings."
Weiwere'vefS Hospitality received by
Mr., and MRS. Whiting /; yeti noticed
that almost from the hemolnentin which
Laura, her bonnet removed, turned her
face full to the light, Mrs Whiting
scarcely removed her eyes from her,
Her husband, too, sometimes looked at
her with 2 very earnest, inanirlng ex-
pression,s a.,,,T ,,,.dqL,.u
'Is Laura like her mother |" asked
tthelady, at length. "a r lNss - ao
"Not in the least neither does she
resemble any one Of our family that I
know Of, Her smother is, like our own
race, fair, with blue eyes. Laura is the
black sheep in our, family flock" said
her fathsf, spiling.T ,'g have never
heard OF Whiting or a b - with
dark eyes and complexion. -
"Humr' said the old lady thought
fully Sand the subject aroppedo q
We were shown for the night, Laura
sandaI u into sat chamber with numerous
narrow windows laura threw open a
sash and looked out into the moonlight.
Presently she turned slowly around and
spoke tbime.e GiGE aHi Sn@aH 20
"'o "Anne, do you believe that we have
lived q life previous to thisP ii
1--WE cannot say that we believe in
such ,tbinGsy Laura, sossunceytain are
ttl..& ~ n.I2r 6Mar ;rAoyaauk n ,,a, ~ :.