Middletown transcript., 1886-09-02

what I have always thought was re
markable presence of mind. Iturne'
around and walked into the diniD
room, telling the boy to follow. Their
poured out a glass of whisky ant
gave it to him.
Drink that" / said and you hat
better sit down." .H
Obviously he thought me as eccen
trio as | thought him. But he merely
said, "Thank you, SIR" and drank
the whisky b. fire psz< eal /
"Do you feel quite well ?" l asket
frigidly. H
"Quite well, thank you. sir.
Are you subject to delusions OF
hallucinations ?"
T" No, sir; never sir" he answered
promptly, with lurking smile which
he vainly tried to conceal.
That smile annoyed me. / broke
out again : !
"Then, what on earth do you
mean,'!.I cried. by telling me thi'
nonsense about q gentleman il
gray 7" er 3 81.
Sydney rose. There was some dig
nifty in his manner. He spoke respect
fully, but in an injured tone: 20
"I beg your pardon, sir, but only
told you about the gentleman who
called,and I thought, sir, you might
have seen him, for he passed by you,
and fancied he nodded to you as he
passed" e,ai, f;f (.
- Really, things had come to a pretty
passl Here was my own servant ac-
cusing me ofseeing invisible phantoms
which only existed in his own disor-
dered brain! A'i4 s
But there, I will not repeat all the
conversation that followed. I must
say Sydney kept his temper wondert
fully, for 1 lost mine. However, we
had long explanation, which ended
in this way. The boy asserted posi-
lively that he had three or four times
seen an elderly gentleman in gray
walking about the house. He had
seen him sitting in the drawing room
with my mother. He had seen him
in the passages up stairs and in the
grounds outside. He had, he admit!
ted, wondered who he could be, and
had fancied that he must be some in
innate friend, or some one connected
with the establishment. He had
never heard him speak, certainly. He
had not as yet questioned any Of the
other servants about him. But then
he had himself only been few days
in the house, and as yet did not
know all the people about the place.
When 1 told him that no one else in
the house had ever heard of such a
person Sydney was completely stag
gered. In fact, the only result of our
conversation was to leave on the
minds of each of us grave doubts as to
the Others sanity, if not as to his own.
But before we parted I made the boy
promise me solemnly that the very
next time be saw this mysterius figure
he would summon me at once.
3 Next day nothing happened, and !
meditated dismissing Sydney. The
day after, an event occurred which
changed the current of my thoughts,
which, thank God, altered my whole
life since, and which has made Sydney
Loeb the most faithful friend / have.
1t was late in the afternoons win !
ter dusk. | was upstairs in my bed
room, writing a letter to Nelly, vow
ing that 1 would never give her up,
7
and yet seeing no prospect of ever be-
ing able to claim her for my wife. 1t
was that hour when the day begins to
pass into night, and the shadows have
grown gigantic, and mems thoughts
are turning toward dinner. Sud-
lenly I was reused by a quick step
and knock at my door. I called out
: Come in" and Sydney appeared on
he threshold. He looked very pale
and excited, as far as I could see him
oy the dim light of my candles, and
he spoke in a strange voice.
"He is here, sir, the old gentleman
n gray-in the passage"
Jumped up and was following him
n a moment 1t must have been
we'll past six o'clock, and yet the
ights in the corridor were still un-
lighted. l looked all around but
could see no one.
Where p I said in a whisper ;
or I think the gloom and the
boys strange looks had frightened my
sense out of me.
Sydney took me by the arm and
| felt he was trembling all
'ver. And for my own part an un-
chill seemed to be creep
ng through my limbs. Ut
There, sir, there-don't you see
,im Pat the top Of the stairs. He's
reckoning us to follow-come."
| strained my eyes in the direction
where he pointed, but could discern
nothing. However, / caught hold of
Sydney's arm. and followed him ST.