The Penn's Grove record., 1884-10-04
1 MYSTERY


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Il lies lovingly against my shoulder,
shough half loath yet to lose its Gus
larry resting place. For her the fu-
B appears all bright she is marry
the man she has chosen, and a sis
IS affection no doubt seems tame in
nparison with that world of love
lch is open now before her. Still
re is something in her manner be-
wing a vague uneasiness, something
host indehnable,
Ny sever years seniority has e5tab-
led a different relationship between
1t is more as a child Hove her than
a sister, and she too has always
ked upon me in the light of the
,ther we have lost. Our father also
lead. 1t IS a wild eerie night with
/. The wind Is blowing 50 bolster
Big that every door in the house
ms to be creaking on its hinges and
sry window shaking in its frame.
'Magdalen, - she whispers timidly,
o you ever feel, on a night like this,
though you were not alone, as though
nething intangible were beside you,
d you dared not turn your head to
what it Is P''
III am not so stupid, " is nay prompt
ply. 81 don't believe in shadowy
ms and impalpable presences, nor
deed in anything ghsstly at all.
Ghosts are the bogies with which
" brighten children. | am not speak
of them, but of the Spirits
/ interrupt her hastily.
eff 0 are going to talk nonsense,
lay, l shall ring for lights. 1t is Rus
j who puts these ideas into your head,
nd 1t Is very wrong Of him.
Russell is the man she is going to
marry ; and at his name her eyes droop
and ner fingers hdget nerVously amongst
the fringes of my dress. Sometimes
Il am half afraid that there 10 more fear
than love in her feelings for him. He
Is very grave, even tacituTn at times,
and very much older than She. But,
when / had at first set my face against
the marriage, partly on these grounds,
and partly because he was a w1doWer,
and / was a little jealous that my dar-
ling should have even a dead rival, she
had begged Inc so hard to consent, and
had seemed so distressed when | hest
tated, that | could not but believe that
she loved him.
1t was at a dance that she met him
first. 1 remember so well how gay she
was when she set out, how full Of fun
and roguery, her eyes dancing and her
lips tremulous with delight. She has
never been so light-hearted since. Even
that same night, when l went into her
room to hear of all the events of the
evening, 1 was struck by a change she
was looking so pale and tired, and an
sWered me only in monosyllables when
| questioned her. Not till the next
morning did l hear of the stranger who
had been there, who had danced with
her nearly all night and evidently cap
tiyated her fancy. In the evening too
1t had come out that he was somewhat
Of a conjurer and ventriloquist and
afterwards, May told me, he had at
tempted to mesmerize her, but only par
TALLY succeeded. He had chosen her
because be said she dad such dreamy
spiritualistic eyes, and would surely
make a good medium.
But in this he is mistaken soft and
languid as my little sister seems, she
has a very strong will, and does not SO
easily succumb. 1t is for this reason,
because she is usually so brave and self
contained, that l am surprised she
should be nervous now.
what is it, dear P' | whisper anX-
lously, when she lapses ito a sacred ST.
lence, holding my hand so tightly the
while that 1t Is with some difficulty l
refrain from crying out"
''Magdalen, what shall | do when l
leave you 2" she cries trrelevantly, as 1t
appears to me.
"You will have your husband you
will not miss me" l return modify
"Magdalen, that is unfair As if he
could ever be quite the same to me as
you, quite so good, or quite so dear 1
love him-oh, yes, l love him-my
whole soul is bound up in him, | think
but, but
But you are a little nervous tonight,
and %unstrung. Leaving home is always
u trial at the last" | answer tenderly.
sit may be that but do you know
drawing her hand away to rest her
head upon it, and peering thoughtfully
into the fire. have never been the
same since that night ?"
THE night you met Russell 20
She mods gravely.
"Of course, - l commence railyilgly
''when a giIl Is in love"
But she breaks in, almost sharply
''It IS not love or, If it is, love is
the most selfish, all-engrossing senti
ment under the sun. 1t is a pain, and
no pleasure. 1t is a morbid fascination
that precludes all other ideas, all good
ness, purity, and sweet home-affections.
Oh, .Magdalen, if this is love, life is
not worth having |"
you mean you do not care for
him ?''-blankly.
mo; / care for him too much. 1t
is my own feelings l condemn. He Is
everything that is good and and true
81 do not understand"
"Nor do L. 1t seems of late as if
were living in a spirit world, as though
/ had no identity of my own at ALL"
MAY, l believe it is that spiritualis-
tic rubbish which is doing you harm ~
perhaps" she answers doubtfully
II have heard that mesmerism has a
strange effect on nervous people"
"You don't meal to say that you
suffered yourself to be mesmerized after
that first time /" | exelaim, in Mortified