Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-05-29

Dcau tllui- gu nave Secll uSf pOr-
trait. downstairs"
"What! that lovely, that angelic
child?" cried Eirida, wonderinyly.
Il thought that was all artists ideal
picture!'
1T was the image of our Isadore at
years Of age" replied Miss Mildred,
trying to cover the sudden breIk and
tremDle i'll her voice by loud HEM"
"And at 10, she was tar beyond that
painting for beauty" continued Miss
Mildred. ''Strangers usel to stop III
The street to look ut her, and to IN
euire who she was. But she appeared
10 know nothing and care nothing
about her wonderful good looks. she
was good and gentle, ami always ami
able, without the least apparent sign
ofVanity.
..Ripe for heaven our good old
minister used to say. WISH she
might have gone there thenE., SAID
Miss Mildred, with a stifed groan. |
'Shc did not die, them" exclaimed
Elfrida. II was so afraid YOU were
going to tell us of her DEATH"
..Shc did not die, God help herw
replied Miss Mildred, with a sigh so
deep and sad that it was almost
groan. 'Hcrc, in this very wing
chamber, my brother Oliver, thought
of it," she said, after long pause.
Here lie called me to help him decide
how to carry out the plan. You see,
iris, Isldorc was like your friend
Evclyn-shc possessed great courage.
She seemed to have no fear of anything
on earth. Oliver knew this SO did L.
And neither Of Us expected anything
more than hearty laugh at her ex-
penSe, or at our own, when the even
ing fro!ic ended.
1T was HalIow Eve. Isadore and
hEor dearest friend, 4 Miss Nancy Bruce
Gmho lived then at the farm just be-
40sY this onc), had agreed to try fate,
with 'spells,' on that evening. They
dared each other to one thing and
another, and finally Isadore pledged
herself to go into the lonely old north
ROOMS, with Il candle, at 9 o'clock that
evening, and cat 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 usband's face was to APP
dcrs, in that mirror, us she stood before
it, eating her apple.
well, Oliver overheard the girls
planning this that afternoon, and he
told me. And, as [ said before, L
helped him, here in this very room,
that evening, while he disguised him.
self in Il long white dress, and painted
his face all over dcathly white, with
heavy, trowning black eyebrows that
met, forming black arch across his
forehead.
at changed him terribly, and he
looked 50 like corpse in that shroud-
like dress, that | was half scared N.Y.
self at him. But neither of us thought
of Isadore's being frightened.
And SD we stole into the north
roooln, ami contrivcu to get the mir
ror out Of its frame. Oliver put his
face into the vacant space. / hung q
drapery around it, and charged HIM
to keep perfectly still, and then stole
! away to watch for lsadOre in the hall.
"In few minutes she came down
the stairs, with her candle and apple
III her hands. She was smiling
roguishly to herself as she opened the
lOUr OF the north room and went ill.,"
And what happeneI?' asked Ell
,riia, eagerly as Miss Mildred paused.
IN here was Your mother? How
,ould she let IsudOre go into that
irca lful roOm?' breatueI Marian
hurst.
"Fathcr and mother were both stay
M with SICK neIghbor as watchers
tnal III nj" said Mss MillreI: land
4 !, I 10
tall. TIL Nancy Bruce came, CRYING
Town staIrs, 10 LeIt sOhlc one what they
nd planned 10 do, bee tu>e she thou ht
something awful had happened to keep
lsIdorp 50 long i'll the North room.
when Nancy saw ne she caught
lold OF me ana dragged me With her
~ the door of the north room. We
went in. The candle was burning on
thc table. The apple had fallen to
the noor. Beside it my brother Oliver
| WAS lying scnSeless, III a ii t. His face
| looked like white fire, III the half
darkness. The po foolish boy had
rubbed phosphOr 4 over it, after ]
| ieit him to mike look still more
| CHASTITY and ghostlike.
| And lslIorc-Wnere was Isadore"
cried Marian t, beginning tc'
| snIvcr with nervous dread.
| We found her hu IdleI down in
| heap i'll L distant corner, with her face
| turned 10 the wall. She knew no one
| Oliver told us, long afterWard, that she
| stood gazing az him i'll silence So long
that he advanced his face towards her
through the mirror, meaning in play.
to offer her kiss. .
the light, the life, the intelligence
sll went out OF her face at that mo-.
nlent," he said, ''she flew and crouchef
down in the corner; and he believing
then that he had fatally injured her,
| fell fainting to the floor.
poor felloww sighed Elfrida.
"Wherc is he now, Miss Mildred?"
'ln heaven, | hope! He was one Of
our first volunteers from this town,
and one Of the first officers who was
killed in the last war. They told me
he exposed his life in leading his men
into action. did not mourn for him,
girls; | knew hOeo yi0d he was to go.
Our parents died heartbroken, one
year from that fatal Halloween"
But lsadorc, where is she?" asked
Elfrida, half lcariully.
AT the State Lunatic Asylum. At
first, she seemed only idiotic, and |
kept her at home, devoting my life to
her, as some small return for the
wrong that [ had helped to worE. But
she is now a raging, rdving, dangerous
| ln:lnior n, triI.lr thnrn = not iur left