The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1881-02-18

y0 COulu pOSSlOly
d sign, word or look.
had gained much
fblty, some said; degree
hauteur as time passed; a
isbelief in the loyalty and
man.
ne only living creature that could
Awaken any interest, or relax the stereo-
typed coldness of feature, was Nina, the
child love of this marble Psyche.
The dinner bell sounding put to flight
the melancholy meditations Rathie had
| been harboring. She arose listlessly,
moving across the room. Without see
ing the face. you would call the figure
perfect in it's symmetry, transcendant In
her woman's's loveliness.
CHAPTER III.
At dinner, the girls were merry and
light-hearted, apparently; yet the hearts
| of one or two were quaking irfEAR agony
of fear that it would not do to show, lest
they should be laughed at as towards.
just as the night shades were gather
| ing. and the last rays of the light of day
| had disappeared, leaving in the far
western horizon streak of fiery red,
three girls moved hurriedly along the
| road-the highway road that led to the
distant village. They We're conversing,
/ in half audible whispers, of the strange
| freak they were about to engage in.
/ Arriving at the entrance gate, the least
tinid of the trio (which happened to be
| Mayl pushed forward and boldly insert
ed the key in the rusty lock. With
| vigorous push she succeeded in forcing
open the ponderous gate, that grated
i harshly upon its unused, rust-eaten
hinges.
ssCome, girls, we must get that place
lighted up before it becomes much
/ darker. for We would not even enter it,
an hour from now, in the darkness.
MAY was the first, also, to reach and
forcibiy open the hall door, that looked
SO solemn in the dim twilight. When
she had succeeded turning the key in the
lock, and opening the door with vigor-
Gus push, the choking gust of dry air
that met her, fairly staggered and be-
wildered her, while the girls, standing
behind, were all too frightened to move,
believing she had already seen some
thing supernatural, but, recovering her
self, she opened the right hand door that
led into the spacious library.
The young ladies were prepared Tor
mournful dreariness, but were agreeably
surprised to find the room furnished, be-
4 lieving that the owner had taken away or
disposed of everything. They all went
to work willingly. One built a. fire IN
CRATE, o fire that gave fitful, feeble
blaze at first, but succeeding in that, con-
cluded to ascend higher.
4 In half hours time it produced q
genial warmth, delightful for companion
81 ship, although it was the middle of July.
Florence brushed the dust from two
easy chairs. sofa and table, placing
upon the table cold luncheon. May
selected novel, and. drawing q low otto
man to the fire seaEed herself upon it.
1t was, perhaps, about ten o'clock
when Florence detected a sound from
without the hall door, q sound that re-
sembled knock; then they heard the
door open, and sound of footballs upon
the oaken floor. May reused herself q
this, and threw down her book to look
ina uiringly at the awe-stricken faces OF
Florence and Amy. But the steps had
ceased, and draught of air made them
turn their faces toward the door.
It was open, and standing in the open
ing, with pale face and wild open eyes.
was Rathie. The girls could not recover
for the moment, believing her q spectre
and she was not unlike one-this black
draped figure standing IN the black shad-
ow of the open doorway.
Rathie was the first one to break the
hushed stiffness.
Don't be idiotlc, girlsl You look as
Il though you were afraid that was going
to eat you! I could not rest at home,
knowing you were here here in this rat
haunted place, SO came to see if you
were ready to 60 back again.
i, for one, am very comfortable here,
and will not go until after midnight,
anyway" answered May, thinking re-
| gretfully of her cosy nook by the fire.
place.
eWe might as well stay, suppose;
but what fright you did give usl j
can hear my heart beat yet, said Flor
ence, nervously.
s.Very well; the majority carries the
day; viii content myself by lying down
upon this couch until your leaderships
conclude you have had enough OF this
romancing."
t So saying, Rathie threw herself down
upon the sofa, and stared dreamily into
the fire. What tumult was raised in
her heart by the coming again to this
house after SO many years. The last
time she was in this roomit was with
him, to receive the blessing of his father
upon their engagement. The room
seemed like part Of half-remembered
dream.
Kathie wondered secretly if Leonard s
room had remained the same through all
these unchanging years. Once she saw
that room, and his mother had shown it
to her then-a dear, matronly, loving
woman being that Rathie had always
worshiped because of her kindness to the
motherless girl.
Amy and Florence had both gfown
j tired Of chess and had left it, the ivory
men standing about in their last COM
4 picated move. Florence had lain down
upon the hearth-rug and was half asleep.
Amy sat tottering in the chair, her head
nodding back and forth in q ludi-
crous manner, while Rathie and May
were the only ones alert to the quiet
noises of nature.
+ Somewhere they heard the far distant
barking of dog, and distinctly and
clearly there sounded upon the still
night air the solemn strokes of the vii
lage town clock, distant a mile. Mid
night. What an awful stiffness, concen-
i trated in its force, seemed to hold the
earth. Rathie shivered with undefinable
dread of she knew not what.
! With the last stroke, that sounded like
q death-knell, she sprang to q sitting
i uostura4 Surely that was Something