Wichita eagle., 1886-11-12


"The young man is here, sir" he said, and
he turned with q wave Of his hand to figure
behind him The figure advanced. 1t was
the figure of good-looking boy rather than
Of a man, slight and fair, and with the head
little dropping. As the boy raised his face
to look at me I started back Feature for
feature as clear as it could be, it Was the face
had seen in my dream!
don't know what followed; don't kno"
whether my conduct appeared very strange
l don't know what the boy said to me, or
what said to him have only vague idea
that generally assented to everything. And
know that when / went home to Tully-
bardane sydney Loeb went with me as my
man.
Tullybardane is desolate place. 1t lies In
O narrow gorge which runs down straight to
the shore. The hills slope Up on either hand,
and end in turnbled rocks or caverls where
the sea foam breaks and the sea waves sing
The old grange is a rambling house From
its windows you can look over the beach,
and only the falling gardens separate you
from it. On the right hand is the library,
which faces down a long avenue Of frs to the
sea, and beyond the library stretches the de-
serted part OF the house, which for five and
y =
The library was rather gloomy room, COM
municating only by long passage with the
other inhabited parts OF the house. In
deed, the whole house was rather lonely.
Fer myself I never minded that, but fancy
it struck my new servant as bit solitary and
weird
Now, must tell You about the doings Of
this young fellow. 4 day o. two after my
return, both my mother and l began to no
tico something strange about him. 1t was
not that [ did not like him, for I took G
strong fancy TO him at once, and here, five
and thirty years after, be lives to this day,
less, think; of a servant to Us than a faith
ful and trusted friend. But certainly his be
havior was odd, and the first thing we ob-
served was this.
One afternoon I was sitting with my mother
IL the drawing room Ny mother had Or
dered tea Personally. l am afraid Of these
uawholos51lc drinks, and never have taken
to that sJI;TcptitiOus fashion Of working in an
extra meal in the afternoon. But l was sit
ting with hcr ard talking very di5consolatcly,
for I felt thoroughly depressed. Presently,
Sydney came IN with the cups OF tea on a
tray-a detestable plan OF taking tea il you
must take it, but one to which my dear
mother was partial lie handed the tray to
my mothc-, and he handed it to me. Then,
to our surprise, he walked straight across
the room to q big armchair that stood near
the window, and handed the tray to TIE
empty chairl But the armchair, or its in
visible occupant, refused it, apparently, and
the man withdrew.
1 am endowed with q large fund OF Scottish
Lunor, and 1 burst cut laughing. Ny mother
was equally perplexed.
"ie must have thought there was some
one sitting there" she said lHe must be
very shortsighted, poor boy. It's very
strange
He must be as blind as a bat" l an
swered, "or else haj been playing practical
joke on Us. IneTer saw arythinS SO absurd
in my life"
But in the next few days was destined to
see stranger things. I asked Sydney if he
were shortsighted, but he denied the charge
with warmth And yet the moro 1 watched
him the more obvious was it that he was al
ways meeting invisible people Once, as /
CHANGED to see him coming down stairs, I dis
tinctIy saw him draw back, pressing himself
against the wall, as if TO allow an invisible
person TO pass Another t;rlo I saw him
walk TO the front door, open i, and hold it, as
if for an invisible visitor to pass out. After
that I could stand it 10 longer. I am the
worst possible hand at fault finding with scr
wants, but I was determined to have an e1
PLANTATION Of this. So that afternoon [ spoke
to Sydney.
Sydney said, bluutly, are you given tc
seeing ghosts.G
Il, sir he answered, with a smile OF aston
ishnent. NO, sir, [ never saw 4 ghost III I1y
life"
Then. what do you raan," I broke out,
"by bohavirg in the way you have been
doirss!7
Tic bog started. Evidently he thought me
of my head. I determined to speal, more
gently.
Then" l said. who was that person you
showed out of the house this moTning.7 l
knew had him there, for was slIre nobody
had called.
40, YOU mean the old gentleman in gray,
siri He left no name. 1 thought, sir, he
seemed to be at home in the house; | had
seen him here so often, sir"
Now it was my turn to stare. Twas dumb
founded literally stammered for want OF
words Then l showed what l have always
thought was remarkable presence OF mind
turned around and walked into the dining
room, telling the boy to follow. There |
poured out a glass of whisky and gave it 10
him.
Drink that" said, land you lad better
cit down
Obviously he thought me as eccentric as
thought him. But be merely said, Thank
YOU, SIR and drank the whisky.
"Do you feel quite well'" 1 asked frigidly.
"Ouita we'll thank yOu sir -
Are you subject 10 delusions or hallucina-
tionS!"
NO. sir: never, sir" be answered promptly,
with a lurking smile which he vainly tried
TO conceal.
That smile annoyed me. 1 broke out
again:
Then, what on earth de you mean,-
cried, by telling me this nonsense about u
gentleman in grayI'
Sydney rose. There was some dignity in
his manner He spoke respectfully, but in an
injured tone:
Il beg your pardon, sir, but only told you
about the gentleman who called, and l
thought, sir, You might have seen him, for he
passed by you, and l fancied he nodded to
you as he passed
Really, things had come to pretty pass,
Hero was my own servant accusing ne Of
seeing invisible phantouls which only existed
il his own disorCiered brain.
But there, VIII not repeat ali the convcr-
sation that followed l must say Sydney
kept his temper wonderfully, for los. mine.
However, we had long explanation, which
ended il this way. The boy asserted posi-
lively that he had three or four times seen IN
elderly gentleman in gray walking about the
house. IL Lci seen him sitting in the draw
ing room with my mother. He had seeS him
in the passages up stairs and il the grounds
outside. Ee had, he admitted, wondered
who Ee could be, snd had fa2cied that he