Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1886-10-20

| odih6 VI ny AobACA uCINOuS cupoIduOub.
Howev er, had company, and there was
Dutch courage in the whisky bottle, so l
kept up stout heart. We were very cheer
full and light-hearted at first We talked
over various boyish escapades; we criticised
the characters of our friends and relations;
we got the fidgets; we found we could not
smoke forever without burning our mouths
Finally the fumes of whisky and the heat
of the fire had their inevitable effect and
we began to doze.
| do not know how long I had been
asleep, but suddenly awoke with violent
start. A cold shudder ran through me
from head to foot I had an indefinable
sensation of something strange aud terri
BILE. rose and stretched myself and tried
to feel at my ease. But I could not.
touched nv brother and he awoke.
"Hellop he said tWhat's the matter?
Why. I've been asleen! What's the timer"
"Two o'clock,' said I.
"Just the time for ghost" said he with
unseemly levity. "Do you know, Will, 1
don't think he'll come here. Ghosts are
une M fsytable things and don't like good
fires. Get too much of them where they
are, Isuppose. Let's go and look for him."
"Anything for a change" said I, al
though the thought of perambuating that
great lonely mansion in the dead of night
was anything but agreeable. 81 am wide
awake"
So am l." said he and taking up the
brass candlestick, he vent toward the door
| followed him-close. We passed along
the passage, our stealthy footballs making
faint sound on the upcarpeted floor. We
examined the rooms on the ground f1oor.-
We heard and saw nothing. We assembled
the stairs. Every individual stair creaked
horribly, but that was all. No ghost.
My brother suddenly opened the door of
gust of air blew the candle out And as
we stood there in the icy cold we distinctly
heard--a groan. 1t was no fancy. 1t was
a long-drawn, wailing moan of inexpres-
sible horror and pathos. 1t died away in
despairing cadence. 1t seemed like the
sorrowful lament of soul in torment. As
we stood there grasping each others hands,
with our hearts throbbing in great pull
sations, it came again. Oh, the horror of
It'll 1t seemed to be in the room and close
US. The cold was deathly, the silence
broken only by that weird and awful moan.
Once more it rose and fell-and somehow
or other the next moment we found our
selves IN the kitchen. with shaking limbs
and ashen faces, relighting our extinguish-
ed candle. Then we looked at each other.
"That was no fancy, WILL" said my
brother.
"Fancy-no," replied, my teeth chat
tering in my head. ''What are you going
| to do?''
| For my brother had relit the candle and
was moving away.
'I'm going to have another look" he
said
"But perhaps" suggested, ''the-the
ghost extinguishes the light"
"1'll give him another chance" said my
brother coolly. "Come along, you chatter
ing idiot" / was too shattered to resent
this unflattering description, and with
quaking heart I followed his foolhardy
footsteps. This time he opened the door |
more cautiously and we entered with every
nerve strung to its untmost tension. Hold
ing the candle on high, we looked around
Pure vacuity. And the sound came not |
again.
"Poor old chap" said my brother "He |
can't stand the light. Shall 1 blow it out
again?'
"If you do" said 1. s'But, Joking
apart, who is going to sleep in this room?
Pm not, for one. And this would natural
ly be the governors room.''
NJ brother ws~ sssFuek. ]
You're right" he :i"we must get to
the bottom of this. Well fifd it out some
how. Aud now l think we may go to bed
I'll just look round"
He examined the room carefully, but
there was nothing to be seen, neither was
there anything to be heard. So we gave
up the thing for that night and went to
bed. could not sleep wink. My nerves
were completely unstrung. After night
of tossing and fever, awoke unrefreshed,
and nightly pleased to find myself in broad
daylight.
At noon that day 1 had to run the
gauntlet of my fnds. And, l am bound
to say, lied like Ananias. AS the day
drew on, l grew more and more uncom-
Portable, and fairly dreaded the ordeal of
the ensuing night. AS before, we dined in
town. 1t was fine night, and we took
walk around the square before turning in.
The houses all looked cheerful with their
bright lights. Ours alone was black and
gloomy. We agreed that at 2 o'clock pre-
cisely we would again visit the haunted
room. There was no oanger of our going
to sleep tonight. We were painfully wide
awake All sorts of wild conjectures cross
ed my mind as we sat by the kitchen fire,
waiting for the appointed hour. Perhaps
some maniac had taken up his abode in
the house, and roved about at night utter
ing that awful noise. Or perhaps some
willy person had fancy to live rent-free
and had adopted this method of frightening
tenants away In any case the effect was
sufficiently horrible. The shock of ones
nervous system was the same, whatever the
cause.
The whisky ebbed fast. but not so fast as
my courage. My brother, cool and prac-
tical, was deep in thought. He was not
likely to indulge the wild speculations that
crossed my brain. He was seeking some
material explanation of the weird phenonl-
enon. At last the hour began to sound.
At the first stroke my brother rose and
took up the candle. had provided myself
with second candle on my own account
We examined the rooms on the gound floor,
without success. We assembled the stairs
and paused outside the haunted chamber.
The passages and the stairs above us were
thick with shadow. My brother turned the
handle-and the weird sound died away as
we entered.
In moment it came again. 1t rose and
swelled and died sorrowfully away. Itwas
singularly human. Yet it was beyond all
description unearthly. No banshee could
wall in sadder or more thrilling tones. We
stood there like Dante and Virgil; except
that the author of the 'Inferno" and his
guide did not wear carpet slippers or carry
brass candlesticks. Neither had they such
extraordinarily tough heads of hair as we
had. l felt mine going gray fast. And
cold stream of terror trickled down my
back. My brother stood still and listened
intently, The ghost groaned again, and
yet again. In fact he kept on groaning. 1t
was frightful. The wall began in a whis-
per; it swelled to an acute pitch; it died
away in a note of woe that thrilled ones
heart. 1t was awful to stand there, wait
ing for the sound to come again. My mat
ter of-fact brother spoke.
"He's in good voice tonight" said he,
approvipgly. "a bit hoarse, but don't
wonder at that Still. wish he'd try an
other key. He's been at this long enough,
and he might get himself tuned-hush!' | |
qnite expected some supernatural visitation |
to rebuke this ill-timed levity. None came.
My brother, having politely wai,ed until
the ghost had finished, began again.
''All these groans are exactly alike" he
said. considering, ''That's odd, isn't it?" |