Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-09-04

strange don't know what the boy said
to me- or what | said to him. | have only
avsgue idea that ! generally assented TO
everything And l know that when went
home to Tullybardane, Sydney Loeb went
with me as my man.
Tullvbardane 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 cav
ems where the sea foam breaks and the sea
waves sing. The old Grange is q rambling
house From its windows You can look
over the beach, and only the falling gar
dens separate yOu from il. On the right
hand is the library, which faces down long
avenue of frs to the sea, and beyond the
library stretches the deserted part of the
house, which for five-and-thirty years l
have been meaning to repair. The library
was rather q gloomy room, communicating
only by a long passage with the other in
habited parts of the house. Indeed, the
whole house was rather lonely. For my
self, | never minded that, but | fancy it
struck my new servant as a bit solitary and
weird.
Now I must tell you about the dongs of
this young fellow. A day or two after my
return both my mother and began to
notice something strange about him. 1t
was not that did not like him, for took
a strong fancy TO him at once, and here,
| iiYe-and- thirty years after, he lives TO this
day, less, think, of 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 surreptitious fashion of
working in an extra meal in the afternoon.
But l was sitting with her and talking
very disconsolately, for I felt thoroughly
depressed. Presently Sydney came in with
some cups of tea on tray-a detestable
plan of taking tea if you must take it, but
one to which my dear mother was partial
He handed the tray 10 my mother, and he
handed it to me. Then, to our surprise, he
walked straight across the room to a big
armchair that stood near the window, and
! handed the tray to the empty chair. But
the arm chair, or its invisible occupant
refused it apparently, and the man with
drew.
am endowed with large fund of Scot
! fish humor, and | burst out laughing. Ny
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"
lie must be as blind as bat" l an
swered, " or else have been playing prac-
| teal joke on US. | never saw anything SO
absurd in my life
| But in the next few days I was destined
10 see stranger things. asked Sydney if
| he were short-sighted, but he denied the
charge with warmth. And vet the more l
watched him the more obvious was it that
! he was always meeting invisible people
! (lna I oh tf1s N low
stairs, l distinctly saw him draw back
pressing himself against the wall as if to
allow an invisible person to pass. Another
| time | saw him walk to the front door,
! open it and hold it as if for an invisible
person to pass out. After that | could
sand it no longer. am the worst pos
sibe hand at fault-finding with servants,
but was determined TO have an explana-
ton Of this. So that afternoon l spoke to
! sydney.
Sydney said bluntly," are you given
! TO seeing ghosts -
Il, STRIP he answered. with u smile of
astonishment. No, sir, l never saw a
ghost in my life
Then, what the devil do you mean" |
broke out, by behaving i'll the way you
have been doing?"
The boy stared. Evidently he thought
me off my head. l determined to speak
more gently.
"Then,"I said, "who was that person
you showed out of the house this morn
ing?" knew had him there, for was
sure nobody had called.
"Oh, you mean the old gentleman in
gray, sir? He left no name. l thought,
sir, he seemed to be at home in the house.
had seen him here so often, sir"
Now it was my turn to stare. | was
dumfounded. l literally stammered for
want of words. Then l showed what |
have always thought was remarkable |
presence of mind. turned round and |
walked into the dining-room, telling the |
boy to follow. There poured out glass |
of whisky and gave it to him.
Drink that, l said, land you had bet
ter sit down."
Obviously he thought me as eccentric as |
I thought him. But he merely said {: |
Thank you, sir" and drank the whisky. |
- Do you feel quite well?" 1 asked, frig- !
idly.
"Quite well, thank you, sir
Are you subject to decisions or hallu-
cinations p
"No, sir; never, sir" he answered
! promptly, with lurking smile which he
| vainly tried to conceal.
That smile annoyed me. l broke out
again:
Then, what on earth do YOU mean l
| cried, by telling me this nonsense about u
gentleman in gray ~
Sydney rose. There was some dignity
| in his manner. He spoke respectfully, but
| in an injured tone.
Il beg your pardon, sir-but ! only told
you about the gentleman who called, and |
| thought, sir, you might have seen him, for
he passed by you, and fancied he nodded
to you as he passed"
hn1 fn n
Here was my own servant accusing ME Of
seeing invisible phantoms which only ex
listed in his own disordered brain
But there-I will not repeat all the con- |
versation that followed. ! must say Sydney
! kept his temper wonderfully, for | lost
mine. However, we he'd q long explana- |
| ton, which ended in this way. The boy
asserted positively that lie 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 pas
| sages upstairs and In the grounds outside. |
/ He had he admitted, wondered who he
could be, and had fancied that he must be
some very intimate friend, or some one
| connected with the establishment. He had
never heard him speak, certainly. He had
| not as vet questioned any of the other serv-
ants 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 | told him that no one else
| in the house had ever heard of such per-
| son, Sydney was completely staggered. In
! fact, the only result of our conversation
was to leave on the mind of each of us
grave doubts us to the others sanity, if not
as to his own. But before we parted | made
the boy promise me solemnly that the very
next time be saw this mysterious figure he
would summon me at once.
Next day nothing happened. and med
itated Diminishing Sydney. The day after
an event occurred which changed the cur.
rent of my thoughts, which, thank God,
altered my whole life since, and which has i
made Sydney Loeb the most faithful friend
have.
1t was late in the alternoon-a winter
dusk. | was upstairs in my bedroom writ
ing a letter to Nellie. vowing that l would
never give her up, and yet seeing no pros
pect of ever being able to claim her for my
wife 1t was that hour when the day be-
gins to pass into the night, and shadows
have grown gigantic, and mems thoughts
are turning toward dinner. Suddenly
was reused by quick step and knock at
my door. l called out Come in and
Sydney appeared on the threshold. He
| looked very pale and excited, as far as |
could see him by the dim light of my can