The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1886-05-28

and saw so. It would seem ridiculous,
and / should certainly run the risk OF
being laughed at.
A few days later my holiday came 20
an end, and / left the lovely country
with very pleasant memories OF
Thompson's Old and, as | began 10
believe, haunted house. 1t did not
pass away from my memory during
the busy winter days--neither dld the
sweet lace OF Miss Ethel Mayne.
Ten years have gone since then
Some success as an architect has come
to me, and / am married.
Last year, by one OF those strange
chances winch come IN some men
lives, Thompson had very large eS-
tate left him in the north OF France
He went over to make arrangements
for selling it, but liked the situation
so much that he settled there, and l
have bought his old house. have
thrown both houses into one, and
made several changes since the days
when first knew it. Amongst Others,
we use as a drawlng-room large
room at the back overlooking the gar
den, which Thompson used as lum,
ber-roOm, | think.
My wife and hope to spend many
summer months there.
Our stay this year had nearly come
to an end, when on one Sunday even
ing l stayed uplate, smoking. Before
| went up STAINS | remembered that
my wife wanted a book brought up,
and | went into the drawingroOm to
fetch it. There was no light IL the
room but the red glow of the fire We
had enjoyed that chilly evening, and
! was bending over the table to try
and find the book, when slight move
ment made me look up, and standing
close by the piano, saw-I am very
sure of it-a Slight girlish figure with a
tace / shall never fOrget-it was so
terribly sad. Slowly she moved from
where she stood, and seemed to pass
me-
She wore some kind OF a clinging
brown dress. followed into the hall,
where | seemed to see her go. No one
was there. l rOuse4 my wife, and
together we searched the house
vainly, ofcourse.
| was not in the least alarmed at
the time, beyond a slight shock on
finding myself not alone as | had
imagined; but afterwards, for months,
waking or sleeping, that face, with its
terrible grief has been before me.
OF course | tried in every way !
could to find out what story could be
connected with the house, without,
however, saying why wished to know,
for felt almost as ii | should be be-
traying her confidence If | made that
sad face a matter of every day gossip
at afternoon-teas and dinner-parties.
We are in London again, for the
winter now, and one day lately | met
an old lady, who had in her girlhood
well-knoWn the town in which spend
the summer. She told me that many
years bfore, my house had had the
reputation of being haunted, but that
the rumor had been hushed up by the
landlord, and forgotten. And she
told me this story:
The house was occupied by a young
husband and wife. They loved each
other devotedly, but the husband was
unreasonaDly jealous of his brother.
One evening he accused his wife of de-
ceiying him as to her love; she was too
wounded to answer his bitter words,
and he went out. Two hours later he
had drowned himself, and his dead
body was brought into the house, into
the very room where his young wife
was playing while waiting for his re-
turn. She lost her senses from that
day, and during the rest of her merci-
fully short life her music was her only
apparent consolation.
And, " added the landlady, "she is
said to play there still; those who love
music can sometimes hear her"
For myself the thought of the poor
girls bitterly sad story will only give
an added interest to the face ! never
shall forget, and her music both my
wife and have listened TO and loved
For long-for my wife heard it first
when she was Ethel Mayne.