Middletown transcript., 1886-09-02

once. The shopman came to meet
me. 80
"The young man is here, sir" he
said, and he turned with wave Of his
/ hand to figure behind him. Phe
, figure advanced. 1t was the figure Of
good-looking boy rather than of q
man, slight and fair, and with the
head little dropping. As the boy
raised his face to look at me I started
back. Feature for feature, as clear
as it could be, it was the face l had
seen in my dreaml
1 don't know what followed; / don't
know whether my conduct appeared
very strange. I don't know what the
boy said to me, or what said to him.
I have only vague idea that I gene
rally assented to everything. And
know that when I went home
to Tullybardane Sydney Loch went
with me as my man.
| Tullybardane is desolate place.
It lies in narrow gorge which runs
down straight to the shore. The hills
slopes up on either hand, and end in
tumbled rocks or 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 seperate you from it.
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 I have been
meaning to repair. The library was
rather gloomy room, communicating
only by long passage with the other
inhabited parts of the house. In
deed, the whole house was rather
lonely. For myself l never minded
that, but I fancy it struck my new SER
want as bit solitary and weird.
Now, | must tell you about the do
ings of this young fellow. A day or
two after my return, both my mother |
and l began to notice something
strange about him. 1t was not that
l did not like him, for took strong
fancy to him at once, and here, five
and thirty years after. he lives to this
day, less l think, of a servant to us
than a faithful and trusted friend. |
But certainly his behavior was odd, |
and the first thing we observed was
this.
One afternoon l was sitting with my |
mother in the drawing room. My
mother had ordered tea. Personally, |
l am afraid of these unwholesome |
drinks, and never have taken to that |
surreptitious fashion of working in an
extra meal in the afternoon. But I |
was sitting with her and talking very
diseonsolately, for I felt thoroughly |
depressed. Presently Sydney came
in with the cups of tea on tray-a
detestable plan of taking tea if you
must take it, but one to which my
daar mother was partial. Hehapded
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, ap-
parently, and the man withdrew.
am endowed with large fund of
Scottish humor, and burst out laugh
ing. My mother was equally per-
picked.
"He must have thought there was
some one sitting there" she said.
" He must be very shortsighted, poor
boy. It's very strange"
He must be as blind as a bat,"
answered, "or else has been playing
a practical joke on us. I never saw
anything SO absurd in my life"
But in the next few days I was des-
tined to see stranger things. | asked
Sydney if he were shortsighted, but he
denied the charge with warmth. And
yet the more I watched him the more
obvious was it that he was always meet
ing invisible people. Once, as I chan
ced to see him coming down stairs, i I
distinctly saw him draw back, pressing.
himself against the wall, as if to allow
an invisible person to pass: Another
time I saw him walk to the front door,
open it, and hold it, as if for an in
visible visitor to pass out. After
that I could stand itnol longer. am
the worst possible hand at fault fnd-
ing with servants, butt WAS determined
to have an explanation of this. so
that afternoon I spoke to Sydney.
Sydney" I said, bluntly, are you
given to seeing ghosts p
"I, sir!" he answered, with smile [
of astonishment. "No, sir, | never
saw ghost in my life."
"Then, what do you mean" l
broke out, "by behaving in the way
you have been doing
The boy started. Evidently be
thought nae off my head deter
mined to speak more gently. 4