The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1886-12-11
"Well,' said, "let us write to the agent
l.. -. L. Ioro -

| W.
The result of all this was that, week o.
two later, on placid afternoon early in thu
month of August, l drove up with my
children, servants and luggage before the
deep porch of one of those moderately -sizeo
country-houses which abound in the county
of Surrey. 1t was to be my home for the
next twelve months servants and ghosts
permitting.
For once, description and the expectation
that followed hard upon it were, l felt
abundantly justified. My earthly paradise
was paradise indeed; and joyfully, on the
evening of our arrival, 1 sat and wrote to my
husband of our good fortune. The house
was beautifully situated, and was itself pic
turesque, with its deep porch in front, anc
the neat balcony that surmounted it. Ii
was an irregular building, and its red brick
walls were half-smothered with ivy and
clematis. Beyond the garden in front was
broad lawn, bounded by the grand old
beeches and elms which form a belt round
Lord B-'s estate. During the first few
weeks nothing happened to change my
good opinion of the house.
There was one circumstance | did not
like; but I persuaded myself it was trivial
and to be affected by it proved ultra-sensi-
tiveness; besides, 1 had been warned be-
forehand. Two of the lower rooms were
occupied by an old woman. She was
pensioner, was told, of our landlords S
Many years ago, she had been housekeeper
to some relatives of his, who lived in the
house. and she had lived in it ever since
[ wished to see her and have some CONVEX
sation with her. I disliked, in the first
place, that any one of whom knew moth
ing should be in my house; and in the sec
ond place, was anxious to warn her to
keep the ghost-story (whatever that might
be- secret. My three English servants
we're north-country girls. I had taken
good care that they should be utter strang-
ers to the neighborhood; but l knew, if the
possibility of seeing a ghost were suggest
ed to them, they would promptly make the
possibility certainty, and then my trou-
bles would begin.
1 sent a polite message to Mrs. Weevil,
asking for an interview, and she came to
my room. She was not prepossessing
woman. Her age might be somewhere
between sixty and seventy; and as she
dropped an awkward courtesy on entering
my presence, 1 felt she was giving me a
homage which she did not pay willingly.
| said l understood she had permission
from the owner of the house to occupy GER
tain rooms in it.
eyes, ma am" she said; but not from
the owner as is the owner Of the 'ouse now,
ma am"
She manifested, 1 thought, a certain i'll
concealed sulkiness as 1 went on to ask her
if she could not be induced to find accom-
mediation for herself in some Of the cottages
on the adjoining estate, so as to give us the
house to ourselves. She stubbornly re
fused.
"No, ma am" she went on to say. 81
am an old woman as has lived here fol
nigh twenty years, and never gives trou
BILE to no one. l. only wishes to be lie
alone; and I means to stay, ma 'am-yes,
means to stay"
l saw that it would serve no purpose al
present to try to dissuade her; and as | die
not wish to quarrel with her, I changed thu
conversation. I said 1 understood there
were some foolish stories current about the
house being haunted, and I hoped, what
ever she thought of it, that she would say
nothing to my servants on the subject.
eff your servants Il let me alone, ma'am
I'll let them alone / has no wish to med
die with any lady's servants"
I then permitted her to go. She wa
certainly no trouble about the house; ane
she was very seldom seen either by me o.
the servants. She only went out occasion
ally, as if to make such purchases as her
necessities might require, locking the dool
of her rooms both in going and returning
A month passed by. People in thu
neighborhood began to call. They al
praised the house and grounds; but they
all looked mysterious, and one and another
limited: "You won't stay here over the
winter"
NV answer was smile But the winter
came. Flowers faded; trees grew red, gol-
den, brown; and at last their shiverins
leaves fell to the ground. 1t was an earl
winter. In November, the cold was in
tense, and the days were short and gloomy
Many years had passed by since 1 had spen
a winter in England, and I felt the cold
very much. I made the best of things
however, muffiing myself and the children
in flannel, keeping the doors and windows
closed, and having large fires in the room
and hall. In spite of all l could do, tive
of them fell i'll. Their illness was not Sc
rious; but nursing and looking after then
gave me much to do, for their ayah (Indial
nurse) was suffering at the moment from
severe cold, which rendered her almost in
capable of helpiug me.
Such was my position when, one morn
ing, my housemaid asked to see me.
knew what this meant; and was not sur
prised to hear that she intended to leav
us that very day. Her mother wanted hel
she said 1 asked her mothers reason
She was impenetrable. l offered her highe
wages. She said, tremblingly, that sh
would not stay if I were to offer her 91OC
l began to perceive that the news of tn