Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-07-30

Mildred - Strangers used 20 stop In the
street 10 look at her, and 10 inquire who
she was. But aho appeared 70 know
nothing and carenOthing about her won
.dorful good looks. She was good and
gentle, and always amiable, without the
least apparent sign Of vanity.
"Ripe for heaven, our good old min
lister used 10 say wish she might have
gone there thonl" said Miss Mildred,
with a stihed groan.
"She did not die thenl" exclaimed
Elfrida. 81 was so afraid you were going
10 tell ne Of her death "
"She did not die, God help herln re-
piled Miss Mildred, with a sigh so deep
and sad that it was almost a groan.
Here in this very wing.chamber, my
brother Oliver thought Of it," she said,
after long pause. Here he called
me TO help him decide how TO carry out
the plan. You see, girls, Isadore was
like your friend Evelyn-she possessed
great courage. She seemed 10 have no
fear of any thing on earth. Oliver
knew this; so did I. And neither of us
expected any thing more than a hearty
laugh at her expense, or at our own,
when the evening frolic ended.
" II was Hallow Eve. lsadore and
her dearest friend, Miss Nancy Bruce
(who lived then at the farm Just below
this one), had agreed to try fate with
spells, on that evening. They dared
I each. other TO one thing and another,
and finally Isadore pledged herself to
go into the lonely old north rooms, with
a candle, at nine O'Clock that evening,
and eat an apple before Grandmamma
| Thorne's great mirror that had been
stored away there for safe-keeping for
| fifty years or more.
+" You see, girls, the idea was, that
| her future husbands face was to appear
to her, looking over her shoulders, in
that mirror, as she stood before it, eat
ing her apple.
"Wen, Oliver overheard the girls
planning this that afternoon, and he
told me. And, as said before, helped
him, here in this very room, that even
ing, while he disguised himself in a long
white dress, and painted his face all
over a deathly white, with heavy, frown-
ing black eyebrows that met, forming
a black arch across his forehead.
at changed him terribly, and he
looked so like a corpse in that shroud-
like dress, that was half-scared myself
at him. But neither Of us thought Of
ISdiore being frightened.
'And so we stole into the north room,
and contrived to get the mirror out OF
its frame. Oliver put his face into the
vacant space. 1 hunga drapery around
it, and charged him to keep perfectly
still, and then stole away to watch for
Isadore in the hall.
"In few minutes she came down the
stairs, with her candle and apple in her
hands. She was smiling roguishly to
herself as she opened the door of the
north room and went in"
"And what happenedP" asked Elfri-
da, eagerly, as Miss Mildred paused.
"Where was your mother How
could she let Isadore go into that dread.
full roomp" breathed Marian Hurst.
"Father and mother were both stay
ing with sick neighbor as watchers
that night" said Miss Mildred; ''and
watched and waited, in the outer hall,
till Nancy Bruce came, crying, down
stairs, to tell some one what they had
planned to do, because she thought
Something awful had happened to keeI
Isadore so long in the north room.
eWhen Nancy saw me she caught
hold of me and dragged me with her K
the door Of the north room. We wen
in. The candle was burning on the
table. The apple had fallen to the floor
Beside it my brother Oliver was lying
senseless, in fit. His face looked like
white fire, in the half-darkness. Tht
poor foolish boy had rubbed phosphorus
all over it, after 1 left him, to make i
look still more CHASTITY and ghost-like.
"And Isadore-where was IsadoreP'
cried Marian Hurst, beginning to shivel
with nervous dread.
ave found her huddled down in ,
heapin q distant corner, with her fac,
turned TO the wall. She knew no one
Oliyer told us, long afterward, that sh,
stood gazing at him in silence so lont
that he advanced his face toward her
through the mirror, meaning to play t.
offer her kiss. -- =. -. e..
"The light, the life, the intelligence
all went out of her own face at that mo
ment, " he said. "She fled and crouchet
down in the corner; and he, believin,
that he had fatally injured her, fel
fainting to Che floor" ...
| "Poor fellow " sighed Efrida
"Where is he now, Miss MildredP"
Gin heaven, hopel He was one o
our first volunteers from this town, AM
one of the first officers whe was killed il
the last war. They told me that he ex
posed his life in leading his men int
action. did not mourn for him, girls
1 knew hot0 glad he was to go. Ou
parents died heart-broken, one year iron
that fatal Hallowe'en.o
s'But, Isadore--where is shePn aske,
Elfrida, half fearfully. - "a l.t-
''At the State Lunatic Asylum. A
first, she seemed only idiotic, and KEEP
her at home, devoting my life to her, a
, some small return for the wrong that
had helped to work. But now she is,
raging, raving, dangerous maniac! Oh
girls, there is nothing left now of tn
, beautiful child, or of the lovely grill
was all our faplt!') said poor Miss Mil
dred, bursting into tears and hurryini
out of the room.
Elfrida's eyes were wet, like ours, a
|, she brought back and silently demolishe
the fearful 'woman with o broom.
And Evelyn Moore, returning an hou
later with the letters, never knew VIII
we girls greeted her so kindly and S
I lovinolv unon that narficTlar night