The San Antonio light. (San Antonio, Tex.) 1883-1886, 1885-02-16

WHAT GRACE SAW AT TIE BOTTOM OF
THE SHAFT,

WHAT GRACE SAW AT THE BOTTOM OF
THE SHAFT.
The tables had been cleared away,
the guests had returned to the grand
old hall, and dancing had been going
on for nearly couple of hours, when
the band ceased playing, and a compa-
ny of conjurors and jugglers, specially
engaged for the occasion, made their
appearance.
All the lights were lowered, and the
large party of guests seated themselves
in a half circle round the performers.
The host this evening was more than
restless, he was nervous and excited.
and as the minutes and the hours went
on he seemed to find it difficult to turn
his eyes from the door.
Are you expecting anybody. papa?'
Grace had asked him more than once
as she observed his singular manner.
"Yes-I don't know he had replied
impatiently; don't mind me, go and
amuse yourself
And he turned away as though an
noyed at being questioned.
Grace was too much troubled with
her own perplexities to pay much heed
to her father, and when the jugglers
commenced their tricks, and she be-
lieved all eyes were fixed upon them,
she rose from her seat and quietly left
the room.
She had made all her preparations.
The previous year she had soiled her
delicate dress, and she remembered how
Roland Ayre had looked ut her as he
pointed out the stain.
Now she was more prudent.
She hastily buttoned on dark ulster
that completely covered her pale-blue
gown, and otherwise protected herself
In al fAN ola AA.alln MI "a
even now, with shudder, how the
wind, rushing up from the dark aper.
ture, had seemed to strike her with its
icy breath and chill her to the very
bone.
There was no snow on the ground
this year; II was green Yule-tide, and
old people talked of there being full
churchyard, while others, more hopeful
and less prone TO take gloomy view of
matters, said there was frost in the air,
and before New Year Day there would
he skating on the river and the lakes.
With her nerves strung by "a nameless
fear TO the horrible task before her,
Grace Lilburne went swiftly to the
chamber which, year ago this very
night, had been the scene of such a
cruel tragedy.
1t was not until she had lighted the
lantern and fastened the door behind
her, and she felt herself quite alone,
with the consciousness that her victi
was lying only 80 many feet below the
spot on which she stood, that her cour-
age wavered, and for few seconds she
felt that she could not look upon the
face of the dead.
Her courage soon returned and she
knelt down on the floor and pressed the
hidden spring with all her strength
Slowly the boards moved back, disclos-
ing the large square aperture, from
whence the wind came rushing up with
a camp mouldy smell that made her
feel sick as II swept over her.
She waited few seconds, and then
she took the lantern and carefully ex-
amined the sides of the dark mysteri-
ous-looking well.
Her heart stood still as she discovered
that not only were the sides OF the shaft
formed of solidmasoury which had been
scarcely affected by the hand of time,
but that ON one of the four perpendicu-
lar walls iron clamps We're liked, form
ing kind of ladder let into the stone,
and clearly intended to be means of
ascending and descending the shaft.
! Taking the lantern in her hand she