Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1885-09-21
he had never been.

though he had never been.
Except for the marks he had made
with his feet on the old oak door,
there was not trace of his exis-
tence.
| believe the servants doubted that
he had ever been, and only thought
that the young lady who was foolish
enough to sleep in the Tapestry
chamber had been visited by a new
form of the ghost. Be that as it
may, we never got clue to where
or how the man had vanished.
Ten years later | was again on a
visit at Aspen's Vale. This time l
did not sleep in the Tapestry room.
I now occupied cheerful, modern
and un-ghost-like room, and but for
one circumstance my visit would
have been thoroughly unremarkable.
This was the circumstance which
seems in wonderful way to point
moral to my curious tale. I paid my
visit to the Cliffords during the
Assizes. Squire Clifford, as one of
t he most influential county magnates,
was necessarily much occupied with
his magisterial duties during this
time. Every morning he went early
into Lewis, the town where the
Assizes were held. One morning he
told us of a case which interested
him.
:sHe is a hardened villain,' he
said ; che has again and again been
brought before me, but has never
yet been convicted. He is unques-
tionably a thief; indeed, one of the
notorious character in the place but
he is such slippery dog, no jury has
found him guilty. Well, he is to be
tried again to-day, and I do hope we
shall have some luck with him this
time
The squire went away, and it came
into his wife's head and mine to pay
visit to the court, and see for our
selves the prisoner in whom he was
interested.
No sooner said than done. We
drove into Lewis, and presently
found ourselves in the large and
crowded building. When we entered
the case under discussion had not
commenced, but fresh prisoner was
ushered into the dock.
What was the matter with me! |
found my sight growing dim, / found
myself bending forward, and peering
hard. The memory of an old terror
came back, the sensation of a couple
of hours of mortal agony returned to
me again. Who was in the prison
er's dock? / knew the man. He
was my guest of the Tapestry cham
ber of ten years ago.
There he stood, surly, Indifferent,
with his vast breadth and height,
his raven-black hair, and that pecu-
liar white lock flung back from his
brow. He did not glance at anyone,
but kept his eyes on the ground.
1 could not contain myself. l for
got everything but my sense of dis
covery, l started TO my feet and
spoke.
ssMr. Clifford, know that man !;
he was in my room ten years ago.
Do you remember the night when |
got that terrible fright in the Tapes
try chamber in your house? There
is the man who frightened me. |
could never forget his face. There
he stands"
Whatever effect my words on the
squire and the judge, there is no
doubt at all of their remarkable sig
nifcance to the prisoner. His indif-
ference left him; he stared with
wide-open and terrified eyes at me.
1t was plain that if | recognized him,
he also recognized me.
All his bravado left him he NUT
tered something, his face blanched,
then suddenly he fell on his knees
and covered it with his hands.
My evidence was remarkable and
conclusive; and that day, for the
first time, Hercules Armstrong was
committed to prison. He had long
been the terror of the neighborhood,
and no one regretted the just punish
ment which had fallen on him. What
his subsequent career may be I know
not; this is the present end of
strange and perfectly true story.
|
| United States Treasurer Jordan
amazed the government printing
office the other day by taking off his
|