Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1888-12-27

but her face was the face Of a maniac, and
she never recovered her reason, dying man,
years afterward within the walls of mad
house.
He saw the whole deyilIsh plot now
Conrad Gillingham. using his wife as nj,
| tool, had intended to abstract the deeds
and, with these in his possession, to attain
him of high treason and claim the estates.
''There was a state trial, which any ont
can read to this day, and he was acquitted
with universal expression of pity for his
misfortune, and of loathing for the subject
of vengeance.
''To piece together these facts has cost me
months Of labor, in reading through old
| diaries and letters in the muniment-room
for have never felt sure whether some day
or other or some of my descendants might
not be challenged to produce the title-deeds
of Gillingham. The blow has fallen upon
me at last. 1t seems that some descendants
of that old collateral branch, all long since
| dead and gone as I hoped and believed, have
| turned up. Atany rate there are agents busily
at work, making all manner of inquiries,
searching registers and so on, and my law
yers have told me point-blank that may be
called upon to produce these deeds, and that
IL
Gillingham Towers may be in serious jeop-
ardy. Unless you, my young friends, with
your keen wits and ready invention, can
help me, my resources are at an end"
He turned and rang the bell, and then
leant his head upon his hand, his elbow on
the mantlepiece. A servant entered, and
looking up he said quite naturally: put
out all these lights and close the room
oil 0,,1,- fnl fO oh
Pallatti how it looks on state occasion
and take the cigars and things into the
billiard-room. We will finish the evening
there"
OF the almost Incredible events which
followed l confess that l am unable to offer
any explanation. lean only vouch for their
having actually occurred. Whether, as Mr..
Pallatti honestly believes, the soul can in
certain rare instances leave the body and
wander up and down the spirit world like
dog in fair, prying into the secrets of the
dead, or whether those events were merely
the result Ito quote the doctor in Martin
Chuzzlewit'') of most extraordinary
happy and favorable conjunction of circum-
stances" will forever remain a mystery to
me.
When got into bed that night my brain
was in whirl, and should have been glad
to exchange nerves with cat The unusual
quantity of wine had drunk, the dazzling
splendor of the state drawing room, the
awful midnight tragedy of a century ago,
and the life-like portraits of the principal
actors seemed to forbid the very idea OF
sleep. But when l thought myself most
wide-awake began to doze of, and was soon
''as fast as a church." How long it had
lasted l could not tell, when ! woke with
start, and for the third time in my life
found myself alone in the dark. stretched
out my hand for the matches, but they were
gone, and at the same time the luminous
glare appeared upon the wall. Then the
room, with its one tall open window, the
broken furniture, the case of stuffed birds,
and the two figures Of my former visions
developed rapidly. I could see the last
plainly enough nova man in long horse
mans coat and brown boots with great sill
yer spurs, a woman in long white wrapper,
with fair hair flowing over her shoulders
nearly to the ground, and they stood to-
gether by the table reading from a large
sheet of paper which they held between
them, by the light of single candle in a
tall silver candlestick. Occasionally they
turned their faces toward me with an anx-
ious expression, as if they were listening for
something, and Immediately recognized
two of the portraits in the state drawing
room. Suddenly they started violently, the
man rushed to the window and leaped out,
the woman thrust ,the papers into her
dress and a second man with drawn sword
flashing in his hands dashed into the room
and through the window in pursuit of
the fugitive. Then the woman drew
out the papers and tried to tear them,
but they must have been parch-
ment, and she failed; she put them over
the fame of the candle, but one corner
only began to shrivel, and they would not
burn. At last she turned to one of the dirty
prints which opened at her touch, thrust the
document into cavity in the wall, and, re-
closing the aperture, fell headlong to the
ground. l could not have borne much
more, when there was glare of light in my
eyes, hand shook me roughly by the
and voice (Pallatti's) exclaimed
"Good heavens Houghton, what is the
matter! You must have had the night
mare, and look quite exhausted" He took
a tiny vial from his pocket, and pouring the
into teaspoon, put it to my lips
Whatever the potion was it was so strong
that it nearly took my breath away, but its
effect was instantaneous, and / asked him
quite calmly: 'How on earth did you come |
herel"
why, 1 felt so nervous and wakeful |
after Sir Georges entertainment that l
couldn't sleep, and as got worse and worse. |
thought l would see if you were in the !
same plight. You certainly seem to have |
been no better off than l, and 1 think we had |
better stick together and keep ourselves |
awake by talking till daylight doth appear" |
''Most willingly" said, land will be- |
gin by telling you my vision like a modern |
Pharaoh, and perhaps you may be able to |
expound it, Joseph. There may be moth
ing in it, or every thing, who knowss"
The next morning, after an almost un-
tasted breakfast, Sir George, Pallatti and |
were prosecuting vigorous search in the |
haunted wing, but after an hour of hunting |
and poking into every hole and corner, we |
came reluctantly to the conclusion that |
there was nothing corresponding in the re- |
hottest degree with the room of my vision. |
The case of stuffed birds and the dingy |
prints were especially conspicuous by their |
absence.
We were walking away, silent and disap- |
pointed, Sir George and [ leading the way,
and had nearly reached the door which shut |
off the wing from the rest of the house,
when a shout from Pallatti, who had been |
at little distance caused US to /
stop.
''Eurekal Eurekaw he almost screamed:
II ought to have seen it at glancel Come |
back both of you; we shall know all about it |
IN five minutes"
The usually calm and impassive Mr. Pal
atti was in such a violent state of excite
nent that we almost feared for his reason,
put we obeyed him and returned upon our
steps.
Without hesitation he went straight into