The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1881-08-09

4 es, papa rs 20 eHfhusiastic over Mr..
But mean Mr.. Steele's kind heart and
religious feeling; he thinks he must be .
good man, and not saaily frightened" !"
She looked at me squareiy. sAnd want
to know if he's q man fully to be trust
ed"
With untold wealth."
"No to see ghost"
"Ah! see p
You're brave too, aren't you, Mr..
Wolcott ?''
You're very. kind to say so, but as
sure you there never was worse coward
than am. Pve no courage at all-Pm
all brain Now there's the difference be-
tween Mr.. Steele and myself"
Mabel rose. "Yes, I see the differ
ence," she said. Fm very much obliged
to You, Mr.. Wolcott, for your advice. 1
wasn't sure whether he would undertake
it. Brain is good thing, so is courage ;
l prefer happy mixture" And with a
pleasant little nod she sailed off,
never saw until afterward what a
comparison had made-one all courage
and no brain, and the other all brain and
no courage. Ihad muddled things badly,
that was evident, and the worst of it was
that she never gave me an opportunity to
let her know / had not intended any dis
respect to her future liege
All this time Sol Humphreys never
ceased talking about buying the stone
house. At last Mabel made the PROPOSE
tion that some night we three, Ned, But
ter-Scoteh, and myself, should go there
and stay until morning, and if our report
was "no ghosts" she would not say any
more against the purchasing scheme but
if anything diabolical or mysterious hap
pened, that her father was to give up the
idea. Our consent being asked, we
cheerfully gave it, and as one time was
as good as another, we decided to make
the experiment that night.
Armed each with stout stick and a
pillow, we advanced upon the haunted
dwelling about nine o'clock, and were ad-
mitted by the man in charge, whose head
quarters were in an adjoining building,
which communicated with the house by
long entry, at the end of which was an
iron door. This door was closed and
bolted after US, and We were left to make
our explorations in our own way
l for one did not expect to see anything
supernatural, but Mabel's stories were
very vivid, and / would have liked to
oblige her by seeing something uncanny
We had brought lantern with us, and
Butter-Scotch had very self-sscrlicingly
taken charge of it. So we ascended the
stairs, and made tour of the upper floors,
then descended, and made another tour
of the ground-foor and cellar, and Butter
Scotch considered the exploration so
thorough that he strongly advocated 60
ing home and to bed, and bringing In a
sealed verdict, "No ghosts" But we
wouldn't hear of it. So, having made
sure that the front door was unlocked on
the inside, and could be opened instanta-
neously if the proposed ghost were dis
posed to be violent, or use language unfit
for Gears polite" we made ourselves as
az comfortable in the hall as the circum-
stances of no bed and an indefinite ghost
would allow.
I Ten o'clock-no ghost. Eleyen-not a
sound Eleven-thirty-" Ned, you're
snoring1
"Oh no; l was thinking how"
"Great heavens!'' whispered Butter
Scotch.
" Where? where ?" we asked stimuli
taneously.
Butter-Scotch wiped a moth off his
cheek.
Il thought you saw something" Ned
said to him, irritably.
He went in my eye guess you'd
cry out if bug went in your eye"
"That's all right, Scotchy. You're
game, eh, old man ?''
"This is sheer nonsense" Mr.. Steele
explained.
Whir-rr-rr, 6zz, thupp!
Butter-Scoteh yelled, and started up.
"Sit down. Don't you know June
bug when you hear one ?''
Was it, indeed ?" and Butter Scotch
wiped his forehead.
Suddenly there was q crash somewhere
in the house.
"By GeorgeI'' r gasped Ned, "we're in
for it, boys, and don't you forget it ?"
l don't know how long we waited, but
then 1t began again-frst sneeze,
then Kissing sound, then apail rolling
down stairs, followed by an assortment of
dnst-pans and 6re-irons.
This was first-class. After the storm
ceased, Butter-Scotch, IN committee of
one, proposed that we should alter the
verdict to "ghosts smphaticslly," and go
home. 1t was entertaining, bat, to tell
the truth, he was sleepy.
In . few minutes there was another
crash, and we saw something white on
the stairs, slowly and solemnly approach-
ing. As It neared the bottom, it raised
..