St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1884-05-17

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Storm she said, .'but it would not
have hurt me if had"
Mad as Hamtet,' thought l. as l
leaned against the high man.cl-shelf
and looked down at her. She continued
to gaze into the fire for awhile, then
said. simply, by way of explanation,
not apology:
Il always come at twelve. because
then every one is asleep. and the house
is still. l suppose the storm kept you
awake"
As she spoke, she raised her eyes and
looked directly into my face, which
she had not done before. Large, dark
eyes they were. but perfectly lustreless
even the freight was reflected in
them dimly. There seemed to be a
chill in tine atmosphere about her. as
about one who comes in from wintry
weather with the frost in his clothes.
"Yes. it was the storm" replied;
but she seemed already to have for
gotten what she had asked me. and was
again deep in her mu>ing.
Presently. rs l was about to make
further question, she said, softly:
IF you are not going. will you not
have chair2 One tires so soon stand
ing. You will find the old chair by the
cabinet comfortable IF anything can
be comfortable she added. drearily.
certainly had no thought of going
| to bed and leaving the house and its in
mates to the caprices of mad woman,
and l turned involuntarily to the corner
she had indicated. An old chair stood
there which, to my recollection, had
not been out of its place since l
| first rented the house. She had not
turned her head as she spoke. to look
for it. but referred to its position with
perfect confidence rs if she herself
might have placed it there. brought
it nearer to the fire and sat down, find
ing it as she had said. very comfortable.
As soon rs was seated she began in
low monotone and with many pauses,
to talk. but not more to me apparently
The quality of dreariness in her voice
that had already noticed did not pre-
vent its having sort of minor music
which was far from disagreeable.
Il cannot help feeling that this is my
house. twas once, not quite two years
ago before died.
l gave start which she must have
noticed. for she repeated: ''Yes, before
l died. l am ghost. Does that
frighten you? Do not let it never
harm any one-I am only unhappy"
She lifted her hand, and though it
was held between me and the fire, saw
none of the rosy color which freight
makes as it shines through translucent
human flesh and blood She twisted
the wedding ring slowly round and
round-everything that she did was
done slowly and lifelessly-and said
Sometimes wish to take my ring of,
ittpemiEds1ee SO. but died with it on
and must wear it.
While she had been speaking I had
called to mind the fact that the owner of
the house was in reality on his second
wedding-iourney, having lost his first
wife within six months after their mar
riage. r. IT,, be the supplanted wife.
Having come to this conclusion, start
ing with the hypothesis that ghosts
exist, was ready to understand when
she said:
He is very handsome, do you not
think sO?"
Iglanced at the portrait on the wall,
toward the original of which l began
to have distinct sentiment of dislike,
but 1 said, every handsome" to satisfy
her.
He had dark gray eyes," she went
on, of all eyes in the world the dark
gray can say the most. He was very
lonely when died: he travelled every
where: / was lonely, tool wanted to
see him, and used to come back some
times. He never saw me. but when l
was near him he could not help think
ing of me. One dav found him in his
room in little hunting hotel in Swift
erland. When went into the room he
was reading, but soon he began to feel
NV nearness. He threw down his book,
CRYING. shall never be able to forget?
and left the room. He wished, then, to
forget me. l had never thought of
that. had been happy before, in
quiet way at the times when l was al
lowed to go TO him. but that was all
over. i never followed him again.
After that it seemed as if should die
of my loneliness and my longing to see
him."
looked up quickly as she spoke this
last sentence, strange one for per-
son already dead to utter, but she had
not noticed and went on.
s'Since could not be where he was,
I came to the house where we had been
so happy together. wandered through
the rooms at night and looked out of
the windows where we had stood SO
often ard watched the sea: but never
disturbed anything. did not want the
servants to know that l 0me.
thought had suffered all there was to
suffer. When we think that, there is
always some new trouble on the way to
us. One night l found an open letter
on the table. 1t was in his hand, and
l kissed it. Them read it. 1t was
to the housekeeper, directing her to
rent the house. He was to be married
and to travel again"
There was long silence. My heart
rose in pity for the poor young thing
who had believed in vows of eternal
love and remembrance, and it grew
harder toward the original of the por-
trait could say nothing of my own,
but the words Of Scripture fell involun-
tarily from my lips: Like the remem-
brancc Of a guest that tarrieth but