Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-03-14

pointed WIN us uHSSeT 10 Tie Srounu anu
disappeared. There, lying full in the
rays of the moon, which shone through
an oriel window overhead, he beheld a
coffin, and on it, in large white letters,
the following inscription: Paul Mer-
rell. Born June 5, 1900 Died October
10, 1892 ct was now June of the year
1S2S.l
''What he told me made my blood run
cold In vain told myself that it was
a deluslon-a dream. myself had seen
the apparition, and had seen it twice
over. Determined, however, to find out
if any trick had been played on us, in
stantly went down the corridor again
this time without highland examined
particularly all round the spot where my
brother had described the coffin to have
been. Not trace of anything unusual
could I find. All was still and peaceful,
and 80 bright was the moon shining that
could perfectly distinguish the faces of
the old portraits on the walls.
"My brother was visibly changed after
this. He did not speak much on the sub
ject after this night, and l observed that
he became graver, and more silent ana
thoughtful, and his old boisterous spirits
quite forsook him.
"Fer myself, though was not, l be-
heve, naturally superstitious, and l felt
persuaded that in the end I should I'M
ravel the mystery and trace the strange
apparition of that night to natural causes,
still I feared for him. tor the occurrence
seemed to have taken hold upon his
mind, and I had heard of cases where
such warnings, merely through working
strongly on the imagination, had brought
about their own fulilment.
~ set myself in every way to divert
his mind from the subject, and affected
to laugh at the whole thing, and to make
sure Of being able to sift it out; but I
wrote privately to our friend Hawkins
(my brother particularly wished it kept
a secret), and told him the state of the
case, beseeching him if he could hint at
any possible explanation of the mystery,
to do so without delay.
'His letter was most unsatisfactory
lie had never heard of such an occurrence
IN his lite There was no haunted cham
ber' in his house, nor did it even boast an
hereditary ghost of any sort; nor did he
believe any of the servants (the old wo-
man before mentioned and her two nieces,
all of whom had lived with him tor years.
capable OF playing trick of any kind.
81 was forced to drop my investiga-
tons, but kept an anxious watch over
Paul, and, as far as business permitted,
was constantly with him. To my great
alarm, saw that, as the months rolled
on, his depression seemed to increase. I
privately consulted physician on the
case. His advice but seconded the
promptings OF my own common-sense
divert his mind in every possible way
change OF ty-society-any
thing to keep him from brooding over
it.
cit was now the end of September,
1928. The ill-omened day drew near.
To my great vexation, was summoned
away rom home just at this time. II was
call that I could not well refuse to obey.
I pondered long, devising every possible
means of remaining near my brother till
after the 10th.
"Then, ali resources failing, I COM
mitted him to one or two trusty friends,
to whom I told all the circumstances,
binding them to solemn secrecy, and with
an anxious heart, set forth on my journey.
had to pass not far from the scene of
our summer visit. made it my bust
ness to go to Plas Mervyn, and from
thence Ito give it more an air of truth)
I wrote my brother the following letter,
fabrication from beginning to cnd-a
falsehood, if you will-but surely par
donable falsehood, if ever there was one ::
"'Dear Paul Il have solved the mvs-
terry OF Plas Mervyn. You will laugh
with me aboutjit when l see you again
(and so hoped, he would, dear boy. No
time for particulars. Hawkins is we'll
We changed horses at B., and so / came
here for sight of him. vii. write again
from S. In terrible haste, Yours, NED
"This, 1 hoped, would buoy him up till
the dreaded day was passed: and, that
over, the danger was averted.
"My friend Hawkins sympathlzed
kindly in my anxiety. Not content with
expressions of sympathy. he insisted on
making business in town for the second
WcCh III OCtODCI duu tiSSulluS llIuScll
of my brothers welfare, promising
to let me know the 10th and the fol-
lowing day how he found him. Heaven
only knows how, in distant town in the
north of England, I awaited those letters.
They came surely enough, and poor Uncle
Paul" (here my father would pause and
shake his head sadly; while he pauses, 1
will take up tine thread of his story and
finish it for him)-"My poor Uncle Paul!
what of him? Simply that he is alive and
we'll at this moment--a hale old man of
sixty tive!T That am engaged dine at his
house at seven o'clock this evening (by-
the-by, it is now half-past tive), and that
on this day three weeks the once dreaded
10th of October-now always kept as
day of jubilee in his family 1 am to be
married to his youngest daughter-the
prettiest girl in England"
So much for ghostly predictions!
Why He Loved His Teacher.