The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1886-06-30
INTERESTING STORY.
A GHOST STORY.

One morning Arthur Haywood received q
strange letter. II was from his maiden aunt,
Miss Maud Haywood.
Come at once" it said. ~ ON going
to die, and want to leave you my property.
1t seems right to see you first"
Arthur had never met his Aunt Maud
who lived by herself in handsome country
residence. She had inherited it from her
mother, while the boys-her brothers-were
obliged to make their own fortunes. Arthur,s
father had been the eldest, and all he had
ever said Of his sister Maud was that some
thing she had done In early youth had made
them all angry, and that they never saw
each other, and, for his part, he never d..
sired to do So
And now, when Arthur Haywood was
quite alone In the world, this aunt had writ.
ten to him. He expected to find witch
like old woman lying in her bed. Instead,
when strange, old, black seryant-woman
had opened the door, he was ushered into
room where beautiful woman, who, in the
light Of the shaded lamps, scarcely looked
old at all, sat In a velvet chair, and held out
her hand to him.
p" You are Haywood" she said. s.You
resemble your father, but are not SO stern.
Selim was stern to cruelty. And your
mother is gone, too. Well, she must have
had hard life of it, unless he was kinder
10 her thaa 70 his sister.
There, don't speak. shall say nothing
but what feel. This estate ought to go TO
Haywood. You shall have it. I think
you will have TO wait few months. My
heart is affected. shall die very suddenly.
At present am not very i'll, but it will be
as say.
Don't express regret. You care nothing
for me, and the estate is valuable, and
above all, I hate hypocrisy. l have made
my will in your favor. Stay until the
last"
With these words she closed Arthur's
mouth. Then she rang the bell and ordered
supper, and afterward dismissed her thirty.
year-old nephew to his room, at nine o'clock,
as though he had been school-boy.
II was q large room at the end of a long
passage, very handsomely furnished, but at
the same time very gloomy.
Arthur felt curiously uncomfortable as he
paced the long floor, and despite the early
hour resolved to 30 to bod at once. A night
lamp stood upon the mantel-piece he lit il
before he retired. The excuse he made Ia
himself was That his aunt might be taken III
In the night; but he was conscious of a
renewal of his old childish terror of the
supernatural.
1T is all this talk Of dying and of will
and legacies," he said. :" / shall sleep IL
or"
And, in fact, he fell asleep very shortly
And without being disturbed by 30 much as
dream until midnight, at which hour, the
proper one, as we all know, for the ghost
seer, he was awakened with start, to see at
the foot Of his bed little dark woman with
fierce, bright eyes, who wore curious sort
Of white cap on her head, and a dress OF
some gray stuff, over which was tied white
apron. She seemed to be nurse or serv.
ant Of some sort, and it was Arthur's impress
sion that his aunt was III.
Have you come to call me p he asked.
The woman came little nearer.
Yea replied voice, which made his
blood run cold; that woman is dying"
My aunt r. calculated Arthur.
/" Your Aunt" replied the figure. III
some one doesn't set to work at once she'll
die without being hung. I want her
hung"
This is lunatic," thought Arthur.
He started TO his feet, draping himself il
blanket, ready to do what seemed best
under the circumstances, but the woman
was gone.
He went to the door. It was fastened as
be had left 1t on retiring. The windows
were bolted down. There was no possibility
n any one entering the room. Searching Ii
thoroughly, he made sure that no one was
hidden there, resolved that he had had
bad dream, and composed himself to sleep
again, wondering why imagination should
play snch f7eaks upon him.
however, tulb dreaIh, II dream II were,
we4 sepeated three times. Each time the
strangesdark woman repeated her desire to
ses Maud Haywood hung, and declared that
r Il were not done II would soon be too
late.
His aunt was mot woman to whom &c
repeat such dream, even had she been in
strong health. There was no one else To
speak to-
But the thing seemed SO curious thai
Arthur made record Of Il In sort of diary
be was In the habit Of keeping following Il
by some reflections upon dreams.
At last, however, be was awakened not by
ghost, but by a rap on his door. His aunt
was dying--a servant Lad come for him.
Whea he reached her room she was irsensi-
be. She never spoke to him again. He
conld not mourn her loss, for she was almost
. stranger TO him, hut he showed every
mark Of respect possible to her memory.
The funeral was largely attended rather
from curiosity than any other feeling, for