, 1883-07-05

went Up TO the mouse one NaN niiu
seI9 in nv pocket, and q wheelbarrow
full Of groceries. She carried a broom
and new cruIliuc-JrUsh. 1t was a
wonderful, grand, dirty old place. We
SET to work 10 clean ito drive out the
insects and the rats; and We got some
fresh straw to sleep OF, for the beds
were all moldcr.uE away. That nigh
at 3 We lay down with 4 lamp burn
ing, and went to sleep Ike two tops
and l think It musth have been l. o'clock,
or nigh to it, when Jane shook me vio-
lently. 1 started up, and, holding each
others hands, We both saw what had
frightened her.
\ man stood near the bed, a young
man, with fair hair curling about his
temples; his breast was bare, and we
saw great bleeding wound there. I
had my pistol under my pillow, and [
drew it out and looked at him.
$50, OF fire, " 1 said "Pm not q
fool to be tricked in this way"
Instead of obeying he slowly moved
toward the bed. Jane shrieked and
drew the counterpane over her head.
covered him with the pistol.
Gone step more and L fire" said.
He took the step. L fired. A shrek
of laughter followed, and there was no
one there. I arose and searched the
place. Every window was barred, every
door locked. I unlocked one of the
doors, and entered the adjoining room.
A great bed, with tester and canopy,
stood there, and upon this lay the figure
of woman, all in white, covered with
blood. I rushed toward it, lamp in
hand. Again those hollow shrieks OF
laughter, and nothing but the stained
and yellow ticking Of an old feather-bed
lay under the canopy.
"Silas Silas y screamed my wife,
who had followed me, clinging to my
arm. SIT is all true. Let us leave the
place"
"Jane," said I, sit seems to be true
that this place is haunted, but we have
risked our all on it. The things We
have seen have not hurt us, and l pro-
pose to drive them away. I'll take you
to the village, if you like, and leave
you there to board. but here stay I'M
til 1 beat these ghosts"
"Not alone, said Jane. And she did
not leave me.
If you believe me, friend, day and
night for three weeks VIC were haunted
rs people never were before-faces,
voices, hands in the house and in the
field and, worse than Ill, we grew sick.
[ sent for the doctor, who wouldn't
come /; and we vent TO him.
"You are POI. onaI he said. "What
have you eaten, or what have you been
drinking ?"
We thought it over, and I told him
that We knew of nothing harmful, and
that we cooked and pre- pared all our Owl
food.
al never knew any one to pass a day
at that confounded Louise you live
in without being affected in this way" "
said he; ''even those who did not eat
there. Constable Collins sa Us he touched
nothing but cold water, and he came
near dying"
"It's the well, then, " said 1.
They used to call it the best well il
the county," aid the doctor.
"It has nasty taste now," said I.
"Fll beg Of my neighbors until I've
cleaned it OF t."
And that day began. We got better
slowly, anil I tried to hire two farm
hands to help me with my well. Not
one would be hired. I was weak from
Sickness and to tel the truth, ii seemed
as If the old boy himself WIS in the
place. ( was almost tired of living rs ]
did, and feeling like a maniac; and one
day l We Mt down to the well, and sal
there, wCI .dering whether it mig ht no:
be best to give up and so somcw here,
as fara Ia Iorer, when [ felt what see med
to be AN icy hand on my head, and,
iooiunG II p, saw my two ghosts, side by
sld'e. Tn ey were horrible enough, / lcan
tF Il you, and they looked at NE and
pointed Il to the well and then I head
two voices crying:
"Get out! Get us out Get us out
and bury us The water is cold, and
our wounds are deep. Get us out"
And then the truth came to me,
Heaven knows how.
Iwent over to my neighbor's house,
just able to crawl there, and I said tc
him:
Mr.. Jarvis, will you send one OF
your men to the people they ought ta
go to, and have the police go to my
place? There's something IL my well
that ought not to be there"
Well, they came, and was right
They took out of that well two bodirs
rolled up in sheet lead. By bits jov-
elry, and things of that sort, they ,unG
out that they were the bodies of the
young wife Of the old proprietor and / he
young man who used to run after ilq1
The old man had killed them both, but ha
must have had help to bury them in then
ieaden collins. And now people be gan
to remember how two roofers, who / IL,
Z good deal of this sheet lead on han /,
grew suddenly well off, and went frca
ihe place about the time the old man
sold the estate, and they believed tlls.
ne had paid them for helping him TO dis
pose Of the bodies.
They buried them in the graveyard.
and Jane and 1 never saw the ghosts
again. The farmland and summer
Doarders brought he the price I la