Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-08-05
standing, but all the surroundings had

changed. L seemed to be IN sort OF
shop or Office. A counter was before
me, and all around me were thin phan-
tom figures, with no features that
could see. Only one among these misty
shapes had a visible human face. And
that one advanced toward me with a
smile which l shall never forget. 1t
was the face of a young man, slightly
dropped. as if its owner were shy or
deferential, with blue, bright eyes and
| gentle, handsome features, and fair
hair, and lips that seemed to be made
for laughter, and smile that shone like
CLEAN of sunshine there. And in a
moment the face and forms had vanished.
The darkness seemed to grow darker.
heard soft steps walking in the air. I
felt as if a cold wind were blowing in
my face. Suddenly saw the chill sea
| shining far off under the white stars. A
voice that was harsh broke out in hoarse
laughter beside me, and them awok e.
Two days after / set out for Edin-
burgh, with three objects. WANTED to
consult an eminent advocate. | want
ed to get a new servant. And / want
ed, at least, to find out where the
| Frasers were
saw the great advocate, and he con-
firmed my fears. ''Unless the missing
deed is found, my dear SIR" he said in
| his blandeSt accents, s'your title is so
defective as to be entirely worthless,
should rival claimant arise"
did not see the Frasers, but | got
their address. and 1 wrote one letter to
the father and four to the daughter. [
| engaged a new man servant in this
way:
| Our need for a man servant being
| pressing, | went, for the first and last
| time in my life. to a registry office The
| shop lay in the south of the town, up
beyond the High street, and when | en-
tered it there were several subdued-
looking beings, unfortunate applicants,
| suppose, standing round. Behind the
! counter were man and woman. and
| to the former, having prejudice in
| favor of doing business with my own
sex, begotten, perhaps, of shyness, ap-
| piled. He kept me waiting a long time.
Then he looked over a prod gious ledger
and read me out numerous applications
| which were perfectly useless. At last,
| however, he came to one which |
! thought would do. I told him so, and
! he thereupon invited me to wait little
| longer. as the young man. in question
was likely to call shortly. At first l re-
fused, but on consideration | decided to
| 90 out and have my hair cut, and then
to return and see if the young man were
| there.
| When l came back some twenty min
utes later, the small office was full of
people. AS l entered, something in the
! look of the place and the attitude of the
| figures struck me as familiar. But
! dismissed the idea at once. The shop
man came to meet me-
1.-The young man is here, SIR he
said. and he turned with wave of his
hand to figure behind him. The
| good looking boy rather than OF a man,
Slight and fair, and with the head lit
tie dropping. AS the boy raised his face
| to look at me, l started back Feature
! for feature, as clear as it could be, it
was the face l had seen in my dream!
/ don't know what followed; | don't
know whether my conduct appeared
very strange l don't what the boy
said to me, or what | said to him. |
have only a vague idea that [ generally
assented to everything. And | know
that when l went home to Tullybardane,
Sydney Loeb went with Inc as my man.
Tullybardane is desolate place. 1t
lies in narrow gorge which runs down
straight to the shore. The hills slope
up on either hand, and end in tumbled
rocks and caverns where the sea foam
breaks and the sea waves sing. The
old grange is a rambling house. From its
windows you can look over the beach,
and only the falling gardens separate
you from it. On the right hand is the
library, which faces down long avenue
of frs to the sea, and beyond the libra
ry stretches the deserted part of the
house, which for five-and-thirty years l
have been meaning to repair. The Ii
| brary was rather gloomy room, COM
municating only by long passage with
! the other inhabited parts of the house.
Indeed, the whole house was rather
lonely. For myself, 1 never minded
that, but l fancy it struck my new serv-
ant as bit solitary and weird.
Now, must tell you about the do
ings of this young fellow. A day or
after my return. both my mother and l
began to notice something strange
about him. 1t was not that did not
like him, for | took q strong fancy to
him at once, and here, five-and-thirty
years after, he lives to this day less, |
think, of a servant to us than faithful
and trusted friend. But certainly his
behavior was odd, and the first thing we
observed was this.
One afternoon / was sitting with my
mother in the drawing-room. My
mother had ordered tea. Personally, |
am afraid of these unwholesome drinks,
| and never have taken to that surrepti-
tious fashion of working in an extra
meal in the afternoon. But | was sit
| ting with her and talking very discon-
| solately, for felt thoroughly depressed.
Presently Sydney came in with some
cups of tea on a tray-a detestable plan
| of taking tea if you must take it, but
| one to which my dear mother was par
tial. He handed the tray to my mother,
and he handed it to me. Then, to our
surprise, he walked straight across the
| room to big armchair that stood near
| the window, and handed the tray to the
empty chair! But the armchair, or its
invisible occupant, refused it, apparent
~, and the man Withdrew. l am en-
dowed with a large fnnd of Scottish
humor, and burst out laughing. My
mother was equally perplexed.
''He must have thought there was
some one sitting there she said. ''He
must be very short-sighted, poor boy.
It's very strange
He must be as blind as bat I an
swered, ''or else have been playing a
practical joke on us. Inever saw any
thing so absurd in my life.
But in the next few days was des-
tined to see stranger things. I asked
Sydney if he were shortsghted, but he