The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1884-11-28
SEECT STORY.
BEHIND THE TAPESTRY.

over my husband | thought that there
was ~ place for me in the world.
| was rich, young; and my friends,
aud my own reflections in the glass,
told me that | was beautiful.
| Gid not care for the people who
tlattered and made much of me, but
turned, even in the first days of my
trouble, to one friend
She, too, was young and beautiful.
We were schoolfellows we were en-
gagged at the same time we were mar
ried in the same month of the same
year.
During the three years of married
lie we had seen little of each other
but when my husband died, and Mary
Clifford wrote to me tendeily out OF
her full heart, | answered back her
love.
She asked me to stay with her and |
went.
stayed with the Cliffords a couple
OF months. During that time the
bruse was quiet, visitors few-they es.
chewed company for my sake
AT the end of two months left
them, comforted and helped, and with
many promises of return by-and by
Circumstances, however, too varied
and too many to mention, prevented
that second visit taking place for q
couple of years. Al the end CT that
time great longing came over me to
See Mary Clifford again. | must
write to her and promise visit | did
80.
By return of post l got short but
characteristic reply:
"DEAREsr HONOR: OF course long
to see you, but unfortunately the house
is full. Large as it i', it is crammed
from cellar to attic.
"My dear, don't want to refuse
you. l do long to see you. Will you
sleep in the Tapestry room7 for OF
course it is empty. dare not put any
body else there, but l don't think you
Honor, will be afraid of the ghost. II
the Tapestry room will do, come, and
a thousand welcomes. | can put ur
your maid. Your loving friend,
MARY CLIFFORD"
To this letter made short an.
swer:
III do not believe in the ghost. The
Tapestry room will do beautifully. Ey.
pect me tomorrow"
The next evening | arrived at As
pens Vale in time for dinner. The
Tapestry room looked charming
fell in love with it at once, and vowed
laughingly that the ghost and l would
make friends.
My maid, however, looked grave
over my jes,ing remarks; it was plain
that she believed in supernatural visi
tations.
The Tapestry room was quite away
from the rest of the house-it was al
the extreme end of the wing. Nc
OF her bedrooms were il the wing.
Altogether, this wing of the old
house seemed dead. Visitors only
came to it out of curiosity; they paid
brief visits, and preferred doing so in
broad daylight.
Old as the other rooms in the wing
10 ked, the Tapestry room bore quite
the palm, of ancient appearance.
The furniture was all of the blackest
oak; the bedstead the usual four.
poster on which our ancestors loved to
stIetch themselves. But the curious
feature of the room, that which gave il
its name, was the tapestry. Not an
inch Of the walls was to be seen; they
were hung completely with very an
cient and very faded tapestry. One
Dame Clifford, of long, long by.gone
days, had worked it, with the help Of
her maidens. She had come to an un.
timely end on the very day on which
the greet work of her life had been
completed.
1t docs not matter to this story what
became of the proud and fair dame,
but it was her ghost which was said to
haunt the wing, and the Tapestry
chamber in particular. Warden, my
maid, as she helped me to undress,
locked quite pale with terror.
''They do say, a'am, as Dame Cliff.
ford appears with her head tucked un.
der arm, and threads from the old ia
pestry hanging to her skeleton fingers
She's dressed in gray silk, that don't
rustic never bit, though It's so thick
it might stand all alone, they do say
'Tis awful lonesome tor you, madam
to sleep here alone, and I'll stay with
You with pleasure if it comes to that
though my nerves aren't none of the
strongest.
thanked Warden, however, and as,
sured her that | was not in the least
afraid and she, with a well-relieved
face, left me alone | heard her foot
steps echoing down the corridor-they
died away. | was now out of reach OF
all human help, for in this distant
room, in this distant wing, no possible
sounds could reach any other inhabi.
tants of Aspen's Vale.
l think l have implied that l was
brave. In my girlhood, in my short
married life, even in the sad depression
of my early widowhood, | had never
known physical fear; nevertheless,
when the last of Warden's footsteps
echoed out and died, and that profound
stiffness followed which can be op-
pressive, had curious sensation,
| did not call it fear, did not know
it for that grim and pale-faced tyrant
but it made me uncomfortable, and
caused my heart to beat irregularly.
The sensation was this-I felt that
was not alone.
or course 1t was fancy; and what
had ! to do with fancy3
| determined to banish this uncom.
Portable feeling from my mind, and
stirring the fire to a cheerful blaze,
drew one of the black oak chairs near
it and sat down.
Warden had looked 10 pale and
frightened before she left me, that out
OF consideration for her feelings | had
allowed her to leave The jewels which
! had worn that evening on the dress,
ing table,
There they lay, set of very valu-
able brilliants. There was an old,
fashioned mirror over the mantle piece,
and as | sat by the fire | saw the re-
Election of my diamonds in the glass,