Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-05-30

master in my own house. But perhaps
it may be as well to have the place
patched up a little before they see it,
You'd better come back to the hotsl
for the night" said Mr.. Pratt.
"Not l." said Mr.. Drake. Good
evening, my worthy friend. Be sure
you csl for me earlyin the morning.
Tho real-estste agent drove away,
carrying in his minds eye q last pic.
ture of MI. Drake standing %cheerfully
in the doorway under q semicircula1
fan-light of bottle-green glass. III
went home, his face one prodigioul
smile. ~
eve let Desperation Hall, Eben,'
he said to his clerk, as he jumped on,
at his own door, ssSit down and make
out a five years. lease at once, at five
hundred dollars q year, to Gervaise
Drake"
Eben Joyce whistled a long low
whistle. "Well, WE'LL" said he, ''won.
ders will never cease"
In the meanwhile Mi. Drake, left
alone with the Antique and the Mystic.
rious, and all the rest of the capital
lettered adjectives which were dear "a
the soul of his Muse, set himself to work
in the dusk gathering dry sticks and
lighting a fire in the great room, where
the dark wooden wainscoting was in 4
sort of perspiration of damp, and q per
sistent rat gnawed behind the carved
door %lintels; and when the fire blazed
merrily up, its myriad sparks fleeing IN
a fantastic procession up the chimney,
casting lurid% reflections on the shadow
angels and the grim satyrs' faces in the
corner of the ceiling, he chuckled al oud
in the fullness of his satisfaction.
Never did tongue sandwiches and dry
Amontillado taste sogood as did Mr..
brakes lunch that night as he ate it
sitting on the floor in front of the blaze.
1--we thought of the framework of
half a dozen thrilling sketches since the
fire began to blaze" said he; "and I
know I could write . capital poem if
only I had remembered to put my men,
orandum book and my fountain-pen in
my pocket. But it will come back to
met will come back to me. No man
can lack inspiration in place like this.
1 sha'n't sleep tonight; 1 shall sit up
and think"
But the glow of the reddening en-
bers was more potent than any opiate.
The perpetual moan of the stream out
side and the melancholy sigh of the
hemlock boughs served as a lullaby, and
Mr.. Drake was fast drifting off into
dreamland, in spite of his resolutions,
when something like the creaking of q
floor board raised him to sudden alert
ness.
He had mufled himself in his travel
ing mantle, or wrap, and, with his great
coat rolled up for q pillow, had lain
down in q corner where the warmth
could reach him, while the shifting
tongues of flame should not disturb his
eyes; SO that he was invisible, although
any one who entered the apartment
would be compelled to cross the bright
line of freight that streamed like a
red pennon across the floor. And while
Mr.. Drake was assuring himself that he
had tightly bolted the front door, and
that no stray mink or weasel, or starvel-
ing dog could possibly jump as high as
the dilapidated windows, a figure came
slowly in-the figure of a very old man
dressed in a faded butternut-colored
suit that bore the quaint cut and inn
press of a century ago; a shadowy,
transparent, bloodless sort of old man,
with long silver hair flowing down on
his shoulders; an old man who shuf1ed
%noiselessly over the foo4 and who sat
down or the backless chair, and warmed
his hands over the blaze with APPALLING
composure. =
The blood seemed fairly to CONCEAL in
Mr.. brakes veins. The longed-for op-
portunity had come at last. but he was
spurred on by none of that eagerness to
interview the ghostwhich he had always
imagined would stir his pulses; in fact,
if there had been any possible back door
whereby he might escape, he would
promptly have availed himself of that
i%gnominious gateway of retreat. As it
was, in his CONSERVATION, he knocked
down a pile of wood, lost his balance,
and tumbled into the very presence OF
the ghost.
The shadowy old man simply lifted
his strange steely eyes and looked at his
vis-G-vis without seeming in any way
astonished or pertugbed at the unexpect-
ed presence, and then fell to warming
his spectral hands again.
81 say" said the author, pulling him.
self together with a desperate effort,
''who are youp What the deuce do you
mean by trespassing here?"-which was
not at all the sort Of speech he had pic
tured himself as making to a ghost; but
we know too we'll the discrepancy be-
tween the real and the ideal.
"Icome," slowly answeredthe strange
! visitant, sfrom the Land of Shadows.''
"What do you want, gasped the new
tenant.
81 want my home"
':Ehp" cried MI. Drake.
..When I was alive" deliberately
uttered the specter, II walked these
halls and dwelt beside this hearth-stone.
In death l claim them STILL"
Mr.. brakes face had turned the
color of putty. He shook as if he had
the palsy.
said he. Once more the old man trans
fixed him with the strange light of the
steely blue eyes,.
"a hundred years" he said.