Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-10-19

have seen him before, and he had one of 1 those very remarkable faces which, once seen, are never forgotten.} II thought I might catch you mapping when 1 lit upon l you here, all by yourself. Never mindl The time will come. 1 shall wait. shall wait. n
 "Pray explain" I said blandly. "You will wait until am afraidF' Precisely. We ghosts cannot hurt people who are not afraid of us Our power is only over the cowardly and superstitious-that is, over nearly all mankind. Once the man has the pluck to stand up to us we are power lessn
 Thank you," I replied "After that I will take pipe. Can offer you onea'' He shook his head. "A glass of brandy and waterf' He drowned. Doubtless it will do you good to see me take both. Now, my friend, we will talk, if you please. Do you find it cold in that light dressl Shall light fire for you?" "No"
 Would you like a blanket or railway rugF'
 NO"
 Gan do anything for youG" "No. Yes. Be afraid of mo. Man! think of it; am ghostl am a specter! am spiritl am walker up and down the face of the earth. When the dogs see me they vail and cry. When men see me they drop upon their knees. These are coffin clothes! This arm is'--
 My good friend" replied, .let US enjoy each others society without mutual comics sions. l grant all that you have said. It Is very curious and interesting. Not, perhaps, quite so horrible as l might have expected, had known you were coming, but still By the way, you-you hail from the ceme- tery close by7'
 "l do. An, villain and traitor! who put mo tnere2 l do; and as | was taking an evening invisible stroll, happened to look in at your window, and saw the man 1 expected and most hoped to sec Ha! ha! shall make it hot for that man! So I will, too" he added weakly, after a pause.
 made no reply, but went on smoking as if he had been an ordinary visitor. His face. which was not without a certain rugged beauty, was stern and lowering He looked up occasionally with an expression of baffied rage which, now that was accustomed to it, rather amused me. His features-those of a man under forty-were regular; his eyes were blue; his chin was strong and square; his mouth, which was weak, marred the gen eral effect.
 "When I was in that country ship, trad ing between Rangoon and Calcutta-there, what's the use of raking up the old story2"
 ''None," replied, thinking that he cer- tainly must be a lunatic ghost, and making a mental note of the fact one likely to throw great light on the spirit world. "None at all, unless you like"
 'To think that you-you, of all men in the world-never mind"
 Certainly not" said. II am sorry you will take nothing. It is nearly my bed timo"
 "When I saw you last, at Brighton, you were walking with her"
 That was little uncomfortable to hear because had been at Brighton few months before, when Eleanor was staying there.
 ''No use talking. Whats the good of talk! Come to that, I might remind you what went on, you know. at Yokohama. Ehi What do you say to that?"
 ''1 have nothing to say to that"
 ''Lord! Lord! some men will brazen out anything! And what about the Hong Kong businessa Who promised what-tell me that if some one walked the plank, and some thing was thingumbobbed-
 Here was very serious question. I only shook my head.
 "Thingumbobbed, he repeated. "scut- tied, you villain! and the coolies sent to king dom come? And after that to round upon a man! Why did take to drink? Why did go off at thirty-six with rum and water enough to float King Solomon's fleet! Whys why? whyr'
 Cant say, I'm sure Shall we say good nighta"
 ''If you are going to bed, I will go with you. Man! now I've caught you, do you think shall leave your
 This was pleasant.
 I shut the windows and went upstairs. He went with me. I undressed and got into bed. c6, tried to go to sleep. That was impossible Every ten minutes or so felt obliged to open them. He was always standing by the bed side, grave, stern, and resolute to do me mischief, if he could-if grew afraid.
 "You are still heref' l asked, when the clock struck 3.
 "Still here? shall be always herep
 thought of my approaching marriage. It was awkward. A ghost forever at my bed side; a lunatic ghost thirsting for revenge, angry at some imaginary wrohg. Could he be coaxedl
 sat up and tried.
 Come, my friend," said, "let us make e bargain"
 s'No bargain
 "You shall come whenever you please to my smoking room, but not here. Man alive! be reasonable"
 "I am not a man alive" he replied. 1T wish was. And whose fault, ask you, Is itl"
 "Come, my dear fellow, put it to you-is it reasonable to intrude into my bedroom and keep me awakea Do you think it looks like good form to take advantage of your of my inability to turn a spirit out of the roomf'
 "Do you think" he rejoined, angrily, 'do you think it was good form to treat me as you did? Was it reasonable to send me to the cemetery twenty years before my time2 I shall stay here" he added, ''so long as you stay here. I shall be with you day and night You shall never cease to feel me with you. I will make sleep impossible and will trouble your business hours"
 "Then," interrupted, ''you are the most malicious ghost that ever walked. I defy you. You may go to the devilw
 He shook his head sadly and continued that steady watch of his Always his chin upon one hand, while the white shroud flowed sround him, and his face turned to mine with 6 remorseless gaze.
 As tossed in the bed, occasionally opening my eyes and seeing always that spectral fig ure before me, 8 strange horror grew up in my mind. It was not terror. 1 was peI- suaded that he would do me no harm, but the sense of being watched, followed and haunted bv fhic ~oy,roo nh f,,1 erao&o- e~N,