Litchfield enquirer., 1881-01-27

pnsSCu Siucc uaO spent w Inter ln EOSlan0
 and felt the cold very much. 1 made the
 pest or things, however, muff1ing myself anC
 the children in flannel, keeping the doors anC
 windows closed, and having large fires in the
 rooms and hall. In spite of all I could do
 two of them fell i'll. Their illness was not se
 rious, but nursing and looking after them gave
 me much to do, for their ayah Undan nurse,
 was suffering at the moment from severe
 cold: which rendered her almost incapable ol
 helping me.
 Such was my position when, one morning.
 my house-naid asked te see me. Iknew
 what this meant; and was not surprised to
 hear that she intended to leave us that very
 day. Her mother wanted her, she sad. l
 asked her mothers reason. She was impene
 trahle. l offered her higher wages. She said
 trembling, that she would not stay if were
 to offer her hundred pounds. 1 began to
 perceive that the news of the ghost story had
 got abroad, and asked her if there was any.
 thiEs in the house of which she was afraid
 but to this question she was dumb. I said
 would see her again, and sat down to think,
 with my sick child in my lap. Even while I
 was thinking, there came a knock at the door
 of mg room. cried out, s'Come in, but my
 heafa sank
 My cook was at the door. The glrI who
 helped in the kitchen and house was behind
 her.. Both looked scared, and announced that they were going. gEaesss
 did not know what to do. To gain time, l ordered them back to their work. had no
 money in the house, I said. The bank, as they knew, was some miles distant. They
 had no right to leave mo without due notice |; in fact, l would not let them go. So said, and hoped that they were quieted for time.
 But late that evening the ayah came to me
 with consternation in her face. All the three English servants had left me axe aa ua
 By that time the children were in bed, and everything was still bade the ayah go to her.room with the younger children, and after locking my bedroom door, sat alone, thinking. had passed through an exciting day. The night was chilly; 1 was tired, and not very well. That the warmth of the fire and the comfort of my favorite lounging chair should presently cause a delightful sense of indiffer- ence to all and every annoyance, need not be considered wonderful As sat there, gave way to the pleasant compulsion, and was soon. Fiinagine, fast asleeep. say imagine, be cause there was no witness present; and of what we do, or what we don't do, in that strange indefinite border land of sensation which separates waking time from sleeping time, we can never be perfectly certain. m
 So far as know. I slept for some consi der able time. It was the sensation, believe, of my feet waxing cold that first lnosened the bonds of slumber.' While was in that semi conscious state, which has peculiar discom- fort, became dimly alive to the fact that there was in the room some presence other than my own.2 There Was movement-a stir ring in the air, as if some creature had come in The events ef the day returned to my memory, which was still only half alive. I started up, rubbing my eyes, for could not be at all sure that was awake and in my right mind. rs 2@#8 sta ez ''
 When went 10 sleep was alone. Yes, certainly. But even if it were not so, what strange pale face was this now gazing at me across the dimly lighted space of the shadowy room 2 was but half awake. My nerves were in an excited state. The ghost ip the house had been my last conscious idea. And now this strange face, which seems to be ad- vancing on me out of the gloom, was it cre- ation of my own fancy Or was it some one playing trick upon me? In my case, now was my time tn fathom the mystery Trying to be courageous and gather my wits together. advanced. The face recedetl, and passed into the deeper shadow, till it appeared to be suddenly swallowed up in the draperies of the heavily curtained window. rushed for ward, but was not swift enough. Before touched the curtains, the face had disappeared. 1 was certain, however perfectly certain, that as drew the curtains open felt resistance to my hand, and st the same time gust of cold. CT air rushed against my face, as if from an opened window. At first, felt as If about to faint; but my will fortunately, was strong, and 1 threw the curtains aside, and put my hand on the window. It was closed tried the bar, which could only be fixed from the in- side, and it was as I had ieft it early in the evening r {5a...f g.....4 .e ts sG
 At this discovery my agitation overpowered me, my head swan, and l tainted. When recovered consciousness, 1 was lying in the broad recess of the cnrtained window, and l felt trickling sensation on my forehead, and suspected, what afterward found to be the case, that l had struck my head on some ar- ticle of furniture, and was bleeding This in- voluntary blood-etting helped to revive me, and l sat up. s-..s .4,...z s,.. ..t ---
 For a few minutes, remained partially stunned and bewidered. felt creeping as if 1 had been struck by frost wind. After while, my heart began to beat less audibly, and l rose to my feet. At that moment the embers of the fire suddenly sank to the bottom of the grate, sending up a faint light, which was absolute che rful ness as contrasted with the horrible semi darkness that had hitherto prevailed. felt my courage returning, and managed to ring the bell. The ayah came, alarmed that 1 should have summoned her at an hour when she supposed had retired to rest. did not tell her what had witnessed, only asked her to light candle. She did so and as the light fell upon my face, she gave slight scream. l had forgot at the moment that blood was trickling from the wound had received. or l. ko, . k~o- ts<-l~sx As it was, 1 had to make the best excuse l could in answer to her inquiries. said must have slept long by the fire, and in moving about the darkeded room had fallen and hurt myself. The wound, however, was found to be mere scratch; and in few minutes the ayah had succeeded in removing from my face all marks of the disaster. 2ssl
 asked her to leave the candle with me and allow me to retire to rest She did 80 and alter the door was closed upon her proceed ed mth the candle to examine the window more minutely. The mystery was as much mystery as ever. The window had certainly not been opened by any one and no trace was visiblson the walls of any possible means of egress or ingress 1 felt more nervous than ever. and was about to turn and quit the room altogether, so much did my fears oppress me, when something lying on the floor within the recess attracted my attention. stopped and picked it up. It was a small piece of white cloth--a few inches square very frail in the texture. as if half rotted with damp or age, and adorned with peculiar kind of embroi- dery such as thought had seen before but could not recall where On one edge there was a hem, the other three edges being irreg. ular and jagged. It looked like a piece of cIoff wrenched out of garment by the foot being suddenly placed upon it. I felt had made discovery 15f sa aFtls Returning to the fireplace, sat down to think. It seemed clear to, me einow that my visitant, however he or she had effected an en- trance, was no spirit. This piece of linen was certainly not lying there when had closed and barred the window for the night; nor could it belong to the apparel of any me.n- Der of my household. It was not unlikely that it was part of the loose garment of eiingy white which now remembered my strange visitant wOre
 am naturally strong-minded and gradually began to recover my composure I said to myself Il shall find out the secret. The first link of the chain is between my finoera I