Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-12-21

turn to dust. at last, and I-God, God, Godl
have mercy upon me, and blot me utterly
out of existence-let it be as if l had never
beenI
Il have written this for someone else to
read when the end comes The end, say II
The beginning rather, of an eternity OF re-
morse for my sin. sought to battle God.
dared to raise my voice against the de-
cree of Omnipotence, and terrible has the
punishment been. Pity me! l was mad.
KNEW not what did. But know now
Il have lost Alice. l have lost my soul.
Oh pity mel But / ask no one to pray for
me. Prayers would avail nothing for my
punishment is just"
The manuscript dropped from my tremb-
ling hands as l finished reading it. A
strange terror took possession of me. I
caught sight of my face in the glass as
went to the door. 1t was white as the face
Of the dead man upstairs.
went to Alice's father and put the
strange narrative in his hands. Somehow
could not feel that it was not true, land
yet, could such things bei
When he had read it he rose up from his
chair, but his limbs shook so that he could
hardly stand. His face was pale as felt
my own to be-
>
impresses me with the awful sense Of
having been written by man whose con-
science forced him to tell the truth" he
said. "Of course, though, he was insane
and imagined these things" he added.
This story cannot be true Experience,
reason, everything is an argument against
it. But"-with sudden start-"he says
he stole her body on the night of his re-
turn. We do not know what became of it.
There may be some truth in this at least.
Shall we go up TO mis- room in the tower,
and see what evidence that has to give?"
bowed-I could not speak. The spell
OF an Understandable terror was upon me.
We went up stairs, and through Max
Cramer's room. | dared not look at the
white shape that knew was lying on the
bed in the corner We seemed to be in the
chamber of an awful mystery, mystery
OF the invisible world more than of this 1t
was not the idea of death that terrified us,
but the strange and improbable story we
had read had been powerful enough in its
influence to make us feel, in measure, as
its writer must have felt 1t had taken
possession of our senses with its weird IN
realty.
We paused in silent dread at the door Of
the towerroom. We felt as if we stood be-
fore the door of the other world. What
lay beyond its Threshold
A gust of wind came shrieking up the
stairway as some door below was opened,
and the door before us swung open as If
by invisible hands. With frightened eyes
we looked in. The room was in shadow,
and at first we could but dimly discern
anything in it. Gradually shape in the
center of the room seemed to emerge from
the gloom, as our eyes became accus-
toned to the dim Ight-a long, awfully
suggestive shape lying on low couch,
and covered with white sheet. Beneath
that drapery was distinctly outlined khu-
man form.
We never once looked at each other.
The shape before us held our eyes cap
tives 1t drew them to it in awful fear
and fascination.
Suddenly my companion stepped for
ward, and, with shaking hands, lifted the
cloth. Instead of the skeleton face we
had expected to see, we saw face from
which the blood seemed to have but re-
Gently receded in the ebb-tide of life. The
body of Alice Leith was before us, SEEM
ingly but a few hours dead.-Eben E
Rexford in Chicago Ledger.