Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1884-07-10
The Bisnop's Ghost.


op of Chicheste- wss whksd In his pal
ace, at tour o'clock in the morning, by
the opening of the door Of his bed cham
Der, when female figure, all In white,
entered, and sat down at q small table
near to his bedside.
The prelate, who protested after ward
that he was not frightened, demanded.
in tone Of authority
Who are you 2"
Not word or reply.
The presence heaved profound sigh,
but would not speak.
The bishop then pulled the bell-cord,
which hung within reach but the ser
wants at that hour were 30 sound asleep
that nobody heard the alarm.
He repeated the question. this time
persuasively still no answer. only re-
petition of the deep sigh.
Then the apparition took packet of
papers from its bosom, laid it on the ia.
BILE, where papers OF the bishop were ly-
ing, opened II, and began to overlook
the different documents.
At length. when the prelate had rang
and rang, and rang, without answer OF
any kind, the specter, without 80 much
as having winked at his frantic efforts
to arouse assistance, quietly gathered
up its papers, and returned them to its
bosom. then solennly arose, and de-
parted as sedately as it had entered.
When the servants at length appeared,
the bishop demanded of them what
they had seen.
Seen, my lord 2"
| Ay-whOm have you seen Who
IL the woman that has been here Q"
| Woman, my lord ?"
| In short, when his lordship had told
OF his vision, his domestics were firmly
of the opinion that he had been dream
ing. And when he appeared before his
family in the morning, and told the
wonderful story, they all said he must
have been dreaming.
| But they were to think differently
very soon-when an aged nurse came
down from her chamb Der, with pale face
and wide-Open eyes, eager to know II
all was well with his lordship. She
said she had been called up, toward
morning, by her patient Ga girl sicl
with fever, whom she was nursing)
and had gone down into the kitchen
after some cruel she had there left OF
the hob. On her way back she had seeI
a tall, deathly-looking :fgure-appa
rently female-robed all in white, com
ing out from his lordship's bed cham
, ber. The figures arms were folded owe
, its bosom, and 1t sighed as though ii
, pain and distress, or in agony o
spirit.
. And now the thing became real ant
: starting. The word went abroad, an.
the whole town wasIthrown into excite
, ment; and there Is no telling where i
would have ended, nor in what fashion
the good bishop would have put ii ol
record, had not. the mystery been clear
. ed up in the following very simpl
menner:--
) One day-a week after the appear
ance of the ghost-the keeper of a pri
vate madbouse, In the neighborhoo
of Chichester, called upon his lordshi
for the purpose of returning q paper
t which he was satisfied belonged to hin
| and which he-the keeper-had foun
in the possession Of a poor crazy woma
Z who was under his charge
/ Said he, in explanation, I" She Is
| harmless creature, who thinks tbs
;, relatives have robbed her of great 81
Q tates. She has lot of papers, whic
, she guards religious)y, as being ht
!. title deeds. These papers she carrie
i, in her bosom, ever and anon referrin
to them, and signing nournfully ov'
t her sorrows. On that warm night, u
i lord, your people had left door open
! she had wandered away from our as
q lum, and she must have entered yol
. house and opened packet of pape
d in such position that she took th
l. document Of yours up by accider
She would never have done it inte
tionally."
And 80 the mystery was solved al
r the good bishop was very thankf
" that he could for evernore safely q
ie clare that the visit of his ghost W
n not dream.