, 1888-11-10
.HSTRANGE PHOTOGRAPH.

1.-The appointments of my room were
1nxuriously delightful, and slept, slept
profoundly do not know how long-but
was awakened by q sense of not being
alone; n watched, startled feeling as a
white, swift moving object passed along
The tapestried wall opposite me and disap-
Peared. l sprang up, and, lighting my
lamp, threw the rays from a strong Argand
burner through the room. | lifted the
tapestry. Nothing but oak panels, solid
n substantial enough, under my close
gaze. l could think of nothing which,
moving outside, might have produced this
effect within, and, try as / would, l could
offer no solution of the odd apparition.
! had come to Penarse for twenty-four
hours, with my old schoolmate, Reynolds
Herholf, who, by marriage with its young
Spanish mistress, lately orphaned, had
become its master.
/ always rather fancied mysteries. l
liked fathoming them. | considered my
self a first class amateur detective. Twas
in good spirits-"a vague looking forward
to some pleasantness"-as ! went down to
breakfast.
l made no mention of my little expert
ence during the night to my host, but /
accepted the renewed invitation that /
would lengthen the twenty-four hours to
n week.
When night came the house was full
of guests, and it was late before the
building was quiet. | leaped easily to
the ground, from the balcony below my
window. and trusted to the lessons my
limbs had learned in boyhood to get back
again.
The lights were not yet all out, so | sat
down to wait under the shadow of "A
friendly maple. AS | sat, | observed a
dark figure moving slowly along the
southern wall.
"Ahl my friend of last night, " | said in
my own mind, expecting every minute to
see a magic lantern performance. /
watched it closely. | could but dimly
discern the outline. as it stood death
still, the head thrown slightly back,
as if the eyes were watching closely some
point above them. Something white
tloated slowly down from an upper win
dow. A zephyr caught it; it rose again,
and then descended %obliquely. | could
see it nova bit of white papcr-at my
feet. / heard a low, muttered curse as
the man CROPPED about on hands and
knees in the darkness. Again and again
he searched, but in vain. | was on the
point of announcing myself and Offering
him his billet douX, as conceived it to
be, when h sweet notes of n mocking
bird fell on my ear-so wonderfully clear,
so perfectly initiated, MS to command my
profound establishment and induce my
silence. Three times he repeated the
warbling notes, and then moved swiftly
again to the wall. Mirabile dictul again
Il white messenger foated down. He
seized it, and disappeared in the darkness.
"a maid and her lover" said, in con
tempt of my own curiosity, as l proceeded
to light my lantern and try my effects"
BAIL Nothing could have been less like
the flmy, translucent vision of the
night before than my yellow, shapeless
glare.
| blew out the candle and stood looking
into the darkness of my room. Hal BY
Jove, there it went againl The perfect
outline of n slim, white, human figure
thrown against the dark silk tapestry
Before my eyes it had appeared and disap-
peared. | could not tell whence it had
come or whittier it had gone. l climbed
TO the balcony, and again examined the
room thoroughly, but without forming
the smallest solution to my odd vision.
The note | had picked up was, after all,
no love lettcr-a bit of waste paper-and
ran as follows:
have read that we
Must not look back Of Elizaheth's reign to
See ~chimneys in use.
You can imagine that
White walls in those days were
Hollow mockeries indccdl A
Twelve foot room would be a
Midnight dungeon.
| was soon sleeping %soundly, and only
Weakened in time to prepare for a luxuri.
Gus 10 o'clock breakfast. / was unusually
impressed by LIerholf's haggard appear.
anCe. He assured me that he was well,
but to me he looked feeble and worn. |
wondered that | had not observed it moro
on the day of my arrival.
A couple of days passed, and once again
had seen nv StrpDna visitor
The figure that | had seen on the sec
ond evening, from my seat under the
maple, l had seen several times since.
Sometimes it disappeared in the wall of
the house; sometimes it came out of the
WALL There must be q secret door, but |
could not find 1t; and why a pair of ser
wants should choose midnight and mys-
terry for courtship, If such it was, l could
not understand.
had unraveled the cipher of the note l
had found, and by taking the first word
Of each lire, read: Il must see you.
White Hollow, twelve, midnight"
sat, as had grown to be my custom,
under the dark maple. 1t was midnight
ard past. The wall as usual yielded its
Hgurc. This time. without doubt, a
wornn's. She moved swiftly down the
garden walk and out of sight. I took
my place rs nearly rs possible where 1
had first seen her, and waited. An hour
had passed beUre again heard the faint
orGchlng Of Ter gown against the shrub
berry. Shc followed the wall, from its
couth corner. close under the shadow of
the dark gray stone. The point where q
iutting angle made almost blackness was
reached, and. by a swift movement, which
came the nearest possible to being too
l@te, | contrived to insert q twig between
the edges of a spring door as the woman's
figure dissolved into darkness. applied
my ear to the narrow opening, and could
hear quick footsteps along a stone floor.
1t length oil was silent, and | entered.
The door swung noiselessly on its hinges
end closed behind me. l found utter
darkness and q damp odor for com.
pany. felt my way slowly and cautiously.
Occasionally the gallery wiGened some
what. but usually it was barely widu