Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1881-08-13
A FASCINATING GHOST.


three months. Must remain in employers
house. Address i'll own hand. stating wha
salary Is expected, ", Box 400, this office.
l was very much In need of q situa
ton, and answered the advertisement.
The reply came from Sol. Humphreys.
Sol. Humphreysl-the last man in the
world / would voluntarily have written
to, and for employment, tool Two
years before, 1 had nice little Irritation
with pretty Mabel Humphreys, and il
had gone so far that if the crash in my
! affairs had not occurred, believe there
might have been an understanding, il
not an engagement But as it was. /
put away all thoughts of love and love.
making, and dropped pretty Mabel
very suddenly, without any kind of an
understanding, and had not seen her
since. And now to think l had fairly
got myself into it again But, / re.
tiected, | might not see much of Mabel,
after all. So much the better. Bread
and butter were necessity, and would
go and make the best of it.
The next morning caught the train,
but missed my breakfast, and by the
time reached the house l was decidedly
hungry.
MIR. Humphreys met me at the door,
and was pleased to see he did not
seem to remember me at all. He put
up his eyeglasses, and inspected me
from head to foot.
Suppose you come in and have some
breakfast. You haven't had any, ]
suppose?"
said had not.
"WeI, come in and have some"
After breakfast Mr.. Humphreys led
the way into the library, and motioned
me to take chair. while he explained
what my work was to be. He had been
writing history, or textbook, of ferns
he was an enthusiastic botanist-- and
wanted it copied for press. The work
OF rewriting the whole thing legibly,
was more than he wished to undertake,
so he had advertised for an amanuen-
sis.
After this had been explained to me,
MIR. Humphreys started up. Get
your hat, Mr.. Wolcott. l want to show
You around"
All through the house and all over
the place he took me, and when he got
to the farther extremity of the grounds
he paused, and pointing to huge stone
house beyond, said, "I'm trying to buy
that house; I'm very anxious to get if,
but my daughter objects"
/ asked him why she objected.
"Well, you see, it hasn't been occu-
pied lately, and she says its gloomy;
says its haunted, and she wouldn't like
to live in it.
miss Humphreys can't really believe
that to be true" answered.
81 don't know whether she does or
not. She's away now, but she'll be
home tomorrow, and perhaps she'll be
more reasonable"
The next day Mabel arrived. She
met me politely, went through the in
PRODUCTION gracefully, and acted as il
she had never seen me before. There
was not the slightest half-glance OF
recognition: she evidently intended to
consider me a recent acquaintance.
With curious inconsistency l could not
help being little disappointed, while
at the same time l was immensely re-
lieved. l don't know what [ had ex
pected-a start, blush, just the shy,
pleased look of a girl toward an old
friend not yet forgotten; or was il
haughtiness, hardly yelled anger, disgust?
Whatever had expected, / got nothing
at all but pleasant, meaningless words,
great pollteness, great civility. l had
nothing whatever to do with, and could
have no interest in, the intimacy that
formerly existed between Mabel Hum.
phreys and James w. Wolcott; he was
one man, and / was another. And SO
the days went on, and she was ALWAYS
friendly with her fathers copyist.
Toward the end of July Ned Hum
phreys came home, and brought Mr..
Butter-Scotch Steele with him. Mr..
Steele's baptismal name was William,
but he had been rechlistened by his
friends Butter-Scotch, on account of his
fondness for that particular kind OF
candy.
Ned was quite a boy, and a capital
fellow at that, and he and l soon be.
came firm friends; but Butter-Scotch ]
loathed. really don't know why ]
loathed him so much, unless because
there was a rumor afloat that Mabel
was making up her mind to renounco
the bangs and bangles of single life,
and henceforth stick to Butter-Scotch.
OF course this of itself was enough ia
make me contemplate placing an extra.
ordinarily bent pin on his chair, or con.
verting his overcoat pocket into a re.
pository for a litter of baby kittens.
But Independently of this rurnor had
distinct and positive impression that
loathed the man just as he was, whether
he ever succeeded in marrying Mabel
or not. OF course it was none of my
business, but it did seem pity to stand
by and see her become the missing rib
thereby completing the anatomy o.
such a molly-coddle.
One morning was standing on tn,
piazza-just finishing nice cigar Mr.
Humphreys had presented me with tn,
day before, with the remark that Ssh,
didn't mind a man smoking once in
while, if he smoked tobacco, but b,
abominated cabbage when Mabe
came out.
Mr.. Wolcott," she said, "are 20,
going TO be busy for few minutes ?
az think not," I replied. "Mr
Humphreys doesn't want to begin fo
half an hour vot -