The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-05-30

things which it has witnessed in its long
life, and. were it able, could tell us some
horrible CHASTITY story of the past. You
may laugh, but l assure you that never
sit under this tree, even on a sunny noon
day, without feeling a chill creeping over
me- and a sense of something mysterious
and horrible, which makes me almost
afraid"
"Of course" l said; "having once i'm
agined that the dead branches resemble
skeleton arms, and associated them in
your own mind with the idea of grave
yard, you will be haunted with all sorts
of dismal thoughts and fancies in con
nection with the tree. But since you
don't like it, Cecie | will have this bug
bear removed and we will build pretty
summer house on the spot. | will speak
to the men to morrow, when they come
to take down the wall. -
The portion of the wall to which | al
luded separated our garden from that of
our next door ncighbor. 1t was Of stone,
but the mortar had fallen out and left it
little more than a pile of loose stones,
which | feared might at any moment
topple down on the children, as they
played about it. So | concluded to have
it pulled down, and a light wooden pal
ing placed in Its stead.
Over there, in the next house, lived an
old gentlemen and his wife who passed
much of their time in their garden, cul-
tivating flowers and small garden fruits,
in which they appeared to take great de-
light. They had called on u.s. cheerful
and kindly old couple; and when the old
wall was pulled down and before the new
one was up, the way lay open to a more
familiar intercourse.
One evening, by their invitation, we
stepped over into their garden to see a
collection of roses upon which Mr.. War
rem prided himself These duly admired
the old lady expressed to Cecie her pleas
ure in having neighbors who were neigh
bors. She had lived ten years in their
present abode, and in that time had only
twice seen Mrs. Gage!
"She wasn't always such a recluse,"
said the good lady. 81 remember that
when she and her husband first came
here, "A young married couple Il was
child them, they were merry, gay and
fond of society. 1t was their daughters
fate which so sadly changed them. You
have heard tn story 2"
We had not 'ren long in this town,
yet Cecie remembered to have heard
something about daughter of Mrs. Gage
running away to join lover at dis
tance and being never afterward heard
of.
"Her name was Emily" said Mrs.
Warren, "and she was the handsomest
girl in the town. She was an only child.
and had been all her life pettcd and in
dulged, and allowed to have her own
way. Such children don't generally turn
out as well as they should do; and Emily
Gage rejected many good offers, to fall
in love with handsome and disspated
fellow, who made his appearance here
for Il short time. Being unable to give
satisfactory account Of himself, Mr.. Gage
forbade his visiting his daughter, and
the two then agreed upon an elopement.
This was put a stop to, and the young
man shortly afterward left the place
The girl, however, was closely watched
the parents having cause to suspect that
she was in secret correspondence with
him. And one morning she was no
where to be found-only note slipped
under the door of her parents sleeping
room informed them that she had gone
to join her lover - that she had
taken with her all her jewelry to-
gether with five hundred dollars, which
her father had left in his writing desk;
since she would need money for travelling
and other expenses. And that was the
last that they ever knew about her.
But could they not find the young
man Z" asked Cecie.
They found him, after long search,
but he denied all knowledge Of Emily
and her intended flight They had cor
and she had assured him
that she would yet find means to join
him, but her letters had then ceased, nor
had he ever since heard from her. This
was his story Some believed it, but
others, though nothing could ever he
proven against him, had dark suspicious
of him. And the strangest thing was,
that, having once passed the garden wall
every trace of the girl was utterly lost
"rhe garden wall p
81 forgot to mention that it was in that
sloping trunk of the old tree at the foot
of the garden walk--the same under
which you so often stand then stepped
alOuB us HOIiEpAldl branches 10 llle TOD
of the wall. This was rendered evident
by the broken twigs and scattered leaves
at the foot of the tree. On the ground
outside the wall was found her shawl
which she had doubtless dropped or for
gotten in her haste. That was all. To
this day the mystery of her fate remains
though undoubtedly there
was foul play somewhere. The jewels
and the money were great temptations
to crime
That evening my wife said to me:
THAT horrible tree. Charlie Did |
tell You that it had secret to reveal?
Perhaps it knows what became of that
poor girl"
Next day Cecie went on a visit Of a
few days to her mother, taking the chill
drcn with her. Before going to my
business | gave orders respecting the
tree. wished every trace of it to be
removed before her return, when perhaps
she would forget all about it and its
gloomy associations.
II