The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1881-03-15

then permitted her to CO. She was
certainly no trouble about the house,
and she was very seldom seen either by
me or the servants. She only went out
occasionally, as If to make such pur-
chases as her necessities might require
locking the door of her rooms both In
going in and returning.
A month passed by. People in the
neighborhood began to call. They all
praised the house, and grounds, but they
all looked mysterious and one and an
other hinted, You won't stay here
over the winter"
My answer was smile. But the win
ter came. Flowers faded; trees grew
red, golden, brown; and at last their
shivering leaves fell to the ground. 1t
was an early winter. In November, the
cold was intense, and the days were
short and gloomy. Many years had
passed by since L had spent winter in
England, and felt the cold very much.
made the best of things, however,
mufiling myself and the children in
flannel, keeping the doors and windows
closed, and having large fires in the
rooms and hall. In spite of all 1 could
do, two of them fell i'll. Their illness
was not serious, but nursing and look
ing after them gave me much to do, for
their ayah indian nurse) was suffering
at the moment from severe cold, which
rendered her almost incapable of help
ing me.
Such was my position when, one
morning, my house maid asked to see
me. knew what this meant and was
not surprised to hear that she intended
to leave US that very day. Her mother
wanted her, she said. asked her moth
er's reason. She was impenetrable. 1
offered her higher wages. She said trem-
blingly, that she would not stay if /
were to offer her hundred pounds. L
began to perceive that the news of the
ghost story had got abroad, and asked
her If there was anything in the house
of which she was afraid; but to this
question she was dumb. said 1 would
see her again, and sat down to think,
with my sick child in my lap. Even
while was thinking, there came a
knock at the door of my room. cried
out, Come in" but my heart sank.
My cook was at the door. The girl
who helped in the kitchen and house
was behind her. Both looked scared,
and announced that they were going.
1 did not know what to do. To gain
time I ordered them back to their work.
1 had no money in the house, said
The bank, as they knew, was some
miles distant. They had no right to
leave me without due notice; in fact,
would not let them go. So 1 said, and
hoped they were quieted for time.
But late that evening the ayah came to
me with CONSERVATION in her face. All
the three English servants had left me.
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; was tired, and not very
well. That the warmth of the fire and
the comfort of my favorite lounging-
chair should presently cause delightful
sense Of indifference to all and every
annoyance, need not be considered won
derful. AS sat there, gave way to
the pleasant compulsion, and was soon,
L imagine, fast asleep. I say 1 imagine,
because 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.
So far as know, slept for some con-
siderable time. 1t was the sensation,
believe, Of my feet waxing cold that first
loosened the bonds of slumber. While
1 was in that semi-unconscious state,
which has peculiar discomfort, 1 be-
came dimly alive to the fact that there
was in the room some presence other
than my own. There was movement
a stirring air, as if some creature had
come in. The events of the day return.
ed to my memory, which was still only
half alive, I started up, rubbed my
eyes, for could not be at all sure that
was awake and In my right mind.
When went to sleep was alone.
Yes, certainly. But even If 1t were not
SO, what strange pale face was this now
gazing at me across the dimly-lighted