The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-04-25
stayed in London. goirg daily to my work. FL
len STAYED on with me to keep house in the abb

"a
departure. was sitting in my study, a large
room with door leading into the drawing room.
and heavy curtain hung over my side of the
door. IL was past Ii: my sister bad retired half
an hour before, and the two maids who were left
IN the house were presumably abed and asleep.
was therefore surprised to hear heavy and some
what slow footsteps, apparently those of a large
man. ascending the stairs from the ground floor.
The front door knew was locked and chained,
nor had heard anyone ring. The steps paused
for moment on the landing outside of my door,
and then / heard the intruder proceed
to go up the next fight Of stairs, lead
ing to the bedrooms on the second
floor. | sprang up, seized a candle, and
opened the door. AS stood on the threshold
OF my room seemed to hear the footsteps as OF
man heavily mounting the stairs at the top of
the fight of stairs leading up from my door.
But, though held the light above my head, !
could see no one. Everything wore It's usual
aspect. | walked quickly up the stairs, but no
body was visible 1 searched all the empty
rooms. but with no result / called up Ellen
aud the maids. but none OF them had seen or
heard anything / am ashamed to say that L
made a specially vigorous investigation of q
large room at the back of the house, which we
used for night nursery, and which tradition de-
clared to have been the abode of my Inflated
knsman, Ronald Massey. / then went down
stairs and completed my search of the entire
premises. Everything was in order, and at the
end of an hour l went back to my study and my
book, rather annoyed with myself for having
spent so much time in so fruitless explora-
ton, and determined to think nothing more
about the matter.
1t was the next night after this that sud
denly started up very wide awake with convic-
ton that somebody was in nay bedroom. |
seemed to hear still ringing in my ears the sound
or a long drawn human sigh. / sat up, trem-
bling with excitement, and looked about in the
dim twilight of dawn in late July | could see
ore, but did not feel alone The feeling of
suspense became unbearable Jumped out OF
bed and walked with nervous determination to
the window, where | turned round and faced the
room, such light there was being behind me.
/ saw one. Again | walked across the room,
and as did so felt Enthusiastically that wave of
air that meets one walking in the streets when
some person on foot passes close to him in the
opposite direction. I seemed to feel the light
Craze of passing substance against my night
gown. was dimly conscious of faint, indie
scrlbabe odor, calling up recolections OF a time
of life long but indefinitely past And while l
stood fixed to the spot with surprise and horror,
my heart beating violently, heard dis tinctly
four long heavy steps passing from me towards
the window. The floor creaked under their
weight. The next instant | felt that was alone.
But it was not until long after the morning was
as light as noon that / fell asleep again.
awoke much troubled in mind ane loubting
whether should not. like my fatht, be com
PEELED to leave this uncanny dwelling; Tit when
in some measure restored by breakfast, deter
mined to say nothing to my sister at present.
but to wait and see whether the situation would
in any way develop itself. My resolution was
fated to be put to test sooner than expected
did not get home that evening till close upon
dinner time. When entered the drawing room
Ellen greeted me with, .Oh, Edward! what do
you think has happened Skies is dead"
Now Skies was gray parrot belonging to my
wife. He was called because when he first
came to us it was affirmed of him, perhaps
rather libelously, that, like the hero of Mr. Cal
verley's poem, he ''habitually swore." He GER
tainly did from time to time blaspheme some
what unreservedy
l was secretly not altogether sorry to hear of
his demise. So answered with much compos-
ure, did the cat eat him?"
No. said Ellen, 'he died in most horrible
COMMISSIONS
went up to get ready for dinner, thinking
more of how to prevent my wife from replacing
Skies by another clamorous bird than of the
manner of the lost ones death, but in the course
of our meal it occurred to me that his fate was
an odd one.
How did Skies come to have commissions.
asked.
"Why, it was most curious" answered Ellen.
Il was going to tell you about it. / was in the
drawing room writing letters, and suddenly
heard tremendous screaming and Tapping, and
Looked up and there was Skies turning over
and over III the air, and pecking, and clawing,
and tapping his wings, and screaming, and be-
fore could get to him he suddenly twisted his
head right round two or three times and tumbled
down dead on the foorn
"But do you mean," said, "that he was car
rying on these gymnastics up in the airl"
Eyes: when l saw him he was quite up above
his cage, which was on the little table, and in his
struggles he must have wrung his own neck"
THAT seems rather remarkable"
'Yes; and another remarkable thing was that
he must have opened the door of his cage and
got out all by himself, which l never heard of
his doing before because l had been feeding
him with cake after lunch, and know the door
was fastened then. found it open when he was
dead
Had he been out longl'
mo. He must have been seized almost direct
ly after he got out, because it so happened that
about five minutes before he began to scream,
fancied heard the door open, and looked up to
see If anyone was coming in, and no one was
there, but happened to see the parrot and he
was In his cage just as usual"
Well L said Il suppose he's dead, and
there's an end of it; but it is very singular
catastrophe. 1 hope Marion won't be inconsol-
able"
During the rest of dinner was conscious of
being rather poor company. Following close
upon the mysterious occurrence / have described
Sikess unhappy fate troubled me- My sus-
picions, however, were SO underlined, and seemed
even to me. when tried to contemplate them
from an impartial point of view, so ri
dicuous, that / could not bring myself
to communicate them to Ellen, and incur the
contempt which would be the deserved portion of
a grown up man who confessed to being seri-
ously disturbed by odd sound in an empty
l.
have no hesitation in revealing these sentiments
now that subsequent events have justified them
But that evening again determined to wait. l
did not have to wait long,
1t was a cold evening an tier bidding good
night to my sister, / lighted fire in my study.
and sat down to enjoy a new novel had long
been wishing to read. l was about halfway
through my volume when l suddenly felt a SEN
sation of cold looked up. The fire was burn
ing brightly but did not feel its warmth 1t
was as though some opaque body, or a large
glass screen had been interposed between me
and it. A moment afterwards I felt the heat
fall on my face again. Had heard the muffled
sound of footstep on the hearthIug close to
mel put out my hand and felt nothing but the
warmth of the fire. AS / gazed about the room
in surprise, my eye fell on an armchair stand
ing on the other side of the fire. 1t was a nearly
new chair WHICH | had bought shortly after