Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1884-12-04
Behind the Tapestry.


row my widoWhood. was chill.
less. too and when the grave closed
over my husband thought that there
was no place left for me in the world.
was rich, young : and my friends
and my own reflections in the glass,
told me that | was beautiful.
did not care for the people who
! uttered 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 sc"oolfellows we were en-
gagged at the spme tine we we're mar
ried in the same month Of the same
year.
During rhe three years Of my mar
ried life we had seen little of each 9TH
er, but when my husband died, ana
Mary Clifford wrote to me tendeIly out
! of her full heart, answered back her
love.
She asked me to stay with her aud l
went.
l stayed with the Cliffords a couple
Of months. During that time the
house was quiet, visitors few-they
eschewed company for my sake.
AT the end of two months l feft
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 Il
couple of years. AT the end Of that
time great longing came over mo to
see Mary Cl.ffmd again. l must
write to her and promise visit. did
| so.
BY return of post l got short but
charactistic reply:
DEAREST HONOR Of course |
long to see you. but unfortunately the
house is full. Large as it is, it is
crammed from celler to attic.
"MY dear, don't want to refuse
YOU. do long To see you. Will you
sleep in the Tapestry room for Of
course it is empty. | dare not put
anybody else there, but l don't think
you; Honor, will be afraid of the ghost.
If the Tapestry room will do, come,
aud thousand welcomes. can put
up your maid. Your loving friend,
MARY CLIFFORD. y
To this letter made a short ans.
wer
Il do not believe in the ghost. The
Tapestry room will do beautifully. Ex
pect me to morrow"
The next evening l arrived at AS
ren'S Vale in time for dinner. The
Tapestry room looked charming.
fell in love with it at once, aud vowed
laughiLgly that the ghost aud | would
make friends.
My maid, however, looked grave o.
yer jesting remarks ; it was plain
that she believed in supernatur al visi
tatiOns.
The Tapestry room was quite away
from the rest Of the house it was at
the extreme end of the wing. No 9TH
er bedrooms wei g in the wing.
Altogether, this wing of the old
house seemed dead. Visitors only
came to 1t out Of curiosity they paid
brief visits, and preferred doing so in
broad daylight.
Old as the other rooms in the wing
looked, the Tapestry room bore quite
the palm Of ancient appearance.
The furniture was all of the blackest
oak the bedstead the usual four pos
ter on which our ancestors loved to
stretch themselves. But the curious
| feature of the room, that which gave
it its name, was the tapestry. Not an
| inch Of the walls was TO be seen they
we're hung completely with very an
cient and very faded tapestry. On
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 great work of her life had been
completed.
1t does not matter to this story what
became OF the proud and fair dame, but
i: was her ghost which was said TO
haunt the wing, and the Tapestry
chamber in particular. Warden, my
| maid, las she helped me to undress,
looked quite pale with terror.
"They do say, ma'am, as Dune
Clare Clifford appears with her head
tucked under her arm, and threads
from the old tapestry hanging to her
sh eletOn fingers. She's dressed in
| gray silk, that don't rustic never a bit,
| though 'tis 50 thick it might stand all
alone, they do say. 'Tis awful lone
some for you, madam, to sleep here a.
lone, and I'll stay with you with pleas.
ure il it comes to that, though my
nerves arn't none of the strongest"
thanked Warden, however, and