The Arkansaw traveler., 1886-01-30
would be awful to have to grops oaes

would he awful to have to grope one's way about the room In the dark.s This was added wilh something of a sAu6der, as she surveyed heT diminishing fire and light.
 It was true that, independently of the low fire and candle, the room looked cheerY enough, Uncle Richaid, though he had not run rios In the luxuVies which oi late have come to be deemed necessi- ties of a sleeping room, had lett nothing wanting that comfort demanded in the way of sota, thick curtains. or easy chairs But it was impossible for Patience as she sat there to exclude from her mind, iet her surroundings within be what they might the consciousness ot outside lone Illness, emptiness, and gloom; of the oacked.up, miidewing furniture overhead i; of the yards upon yards of long, empty, desolaie rooms, staircases, and corridors below, and above all of the contiEui,y ot the half .bricked room just al the other side of the wall, within few feet ot the wall, within fcw feet of the head oi her bed
 She pulled up her blind. and drew bas her curtains, So as to get the beneht
 
 soon be shining round the corner ot the house.
 How weird and dismal the shadowy garden and overgrown orchard looked in their graveyard stiffness. with their white, swelling m sts wrapped about them 1 Not the futtcI of a distan, bird, nor fain,es, flap of tiiuermouse's wing broke the si' lencc. An artist, no doubt, might have discovered all sorts of fantastic. shifting shadows and lights amid the white gloom |; poet might have said some tine things abou, the grandeur and pic,uresqueness of a neglected solitude; but to the eye oi girl of eighteen, with irrepressible in stincts and cravings for home pleasures and companionship, it passed muster easily enough for the court of the grim King Death himSelt
 As she laid her head on her pillow, a sudden, sweet thought came to her a thought which might be almost called holy for the intensity with which it held her. Whence, how it came, she knew not. It might have been whispered straight into her ear by human voice for the direct yet disDointed manner in which it thrust itself upon her. What if. after all, to this poor sinlesS, namelcss ghost this after death of unres, privilege a sort of recompensc for the ills she had suffered in life What higher gucrdon or reward could any ons hope for than this the privilege of play ing the part of guardian angel to those who ran the risk of the ills from which she had so bitterly sutieredf
 "lf were a ghost thought Patience, there's nothing 1 should like better than wandering about the world, taking care
 f people, and telling them to help each other. Why, 1t would he every bit as good as going out in the Zenana Mission, " Patience had at one time set her heart upon going out to the cast to cnlighten the female Hindoo, That old Sir Godfrey ought to be ashamed oi himse II for running of in irigh, simply be cause she came and told hlm so open his purse little often Now, if were ghost, and could come and 90 in a house like this, how 1 would enJ y giving Uncle Richard a fright now and then weuld go into his study every night, and tell him he ought to be ashamed of himself aIt,inR there working out what he calls his natural system of botany, when some poor man or woman in the village is dy. ing for want of doctor. And every time any one fell ill. would go and say right into his ear, just as she did: Some one Is wanting help; some one Is want ing help Yes, like those words, and they are the very words a guardian angel would be likely 10 gay II power of speech were given her Cali her a guardian a0ani V~a aAI fl k~tI~uA tv Ghosts On, dear, no I'll have nothing whatever to do with them"
 Now, to transform ghost into guard an angel is something equivalent to turn ing a noxious poison into a sleeping dsaught. Uadcr the soothing influence of the thought, Patience closed her eyes, and tell asleep.
 For hours it must have been that she slept the heavy, dre imless sleep oi youth and health. Then her thoughts began to waken to activity once more, ana troubled dreams came to her.
 She faDcied she was vanderirg through the old house, alone in the dead of nigh ircsistibly compelled to seek for some one or some thing she knew not what Up staircases, do ~n s,aircases she went through the empty sitting rooms, the de serted, vault-like kitchens all alone, with nowhere familiar face to be seen won dering In herself at the hidden impuise which compelled her waDderings. a, the secret feeling which sec med to tell her that task Of some sort was set before her--it might be a great one it might be a small one, but whatever 1t was, do it she mast
 By and by she found herself on the topmost floor Of the house, standing gar ing upon the heaps of piled-up, dusty fur- nitnre, the damp-eaten relics Of bygone generation, ancient tables, beds,eadS chairs. pictures, and looking glasses al ways with the wonder in her mind, "Wha, am expected ts do! What is 1t l have