The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1888-08-03

spirit. did not believe In ghosts or ghost
lore, that maintain; but II had ever has
much Of the spirit Of adventure In me tn,
monotony OF business life had knocked h
out Of me, and had come to regard a goot
nights rest a. one OF the best things In life
Still the stake was we'll worth the PLAYING
for, and did my best to look pleasant over it
One thing did ask my host What wa,
the story attached to the house, and what
form did tho apparition takei
He tapped his snuffbox and shook hi,
head.
mo, no. he said, ~ am not going to put
things into your head. How can I answer
for the state of your digestion, or your prob.
able immunity from nightmare, as II lei
You know too much-that Is too say, you
would know too much, supposing you were a
man Of weak nerves or vivid imagination,
already. II could have kept you in utter
ignorance the test would have been q surer
one, but that could not, and have to re-
quire Of you, on your honor, that you neither
seek nor accept at the hands Of any one the
information withhold from you. You will
not seek-of that am satisfied-what I wish
you distinctly to promise me is that you will
refuse to lend an ear to any one who may try
to enlighten you-the woman Minchin. for
example,"
Igave him my word that I would respect
his wishes, and an hour or SO later found me
In possession Of the room which had been
assigned me at the Cedars. Mr.. Van Decker.
mann had not himself faced the cutting cold
of the moonlit December night, but the old
couple were on the lookout for my appear
ance, and things had been made more COM
Portable than expected. Some Of the old
furniture, of which my host had spoken when
he first entered upon the subject of the house,
had been brought down from the garrets,
and disposed in what would appear to
have been its original quarters, while
bright fire burned frostily in the
old fashioned CRATE I observed, with a
certain remorseful appreciation of thought
fitness for my comfort for which I should
not have given her credit, that Mrs. Minchin
had not limited her provision for my accom-
mediation to absolute necessaries. OF the
two windows the one nearest to the bed was
closely and carefully curtained-for the
other, as she took occasion to explain, there
was no curtain Forthcoming, and an arm
chair and footstool, with the faded coverings
of which the moth had long since made &C
quaintance, had been drawn up to the fire.
The old woman seemed indeed to have re-
membered everything, even to the night
light in saucer on the mantle piece, to ignite
which was her last care before leaving me
for the night. For the rest, she was as tact
turn as her employer could have wished.
She received my thanks in silence, and,
having ascertained at what hour she was to
call me, left me to myself with all possible
celebrity.
When she had turned her back proceeded
to take minute survey of the ROOM
That it was, or had been at some
was connected with the house, I
could not reasonably doubt, seeing the object
with which had been sent there. The first
thing for me to do then was to discover in
what way-if any-it was likely to lend itself
to the preparation of fraud
Briefly, could find nothing in it to reward
my inquiries 1t was large room, almost
square, with nothing remarkable about it.
There were, as have said, two windows,
and there was one Of the closets my wife's
heart had delighted in. opened the door of
this and looked in, It was elnptg, rs it h&d
been, Uncommon with the rest, on the occa-
sion of my previous visit The bedstead,
which had been brought down from the
attics, was of mahogany, minus poles or hang
ings Nowhere was there any ambush for
anything; one could see the room and all it
at a glance. went to the cur
tanned window and examined it carefully; it
fitted we'll and was fastened; SO was the
other, the blind of which drew up, and saw
The garden lying below me, every shrub that
It contained clearly defined in the moonlight
| left the blind up-undressed with my
usual expedition, and went to bed and to
'leep.
It was between and 4 in the morning
when awoke, for took note of the time
but what it was that caused me
% awake cannot say. All know is that
he room was as light as day, and that was
lot alone in it.
Creeping stealthily across the room, and
ceiling his way with his hands as one might
who was blind, was the figure of Andrew van
Deckermann. He had his profile toward me,