The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1888-01-12

hung With q large lowered damask.
very rich IN texture, but . little faded.
The bed curtains were Of the game.
ana eli the furniture was carved in
On the bed ray I, very beautiful
woman. Her face was q perfect oval.
her eyes were large and black. and full
OF indispensable sadness. She was in
great pair. but very beautiful even in
agony. In response to my first CUES
ton she spoke in q language strange
to me.
MADAME will speak French" sue.
Rested the gentleman, asking with o
glance II did also. and immediately
began to question her in that Ian.
guage.
soon ascertained the trouble and
telt there was little or no chance of her
surviving long. I took out my pro-
scrlption book, noted the case, the
disease, and it's stage, ETC., at the ton
OF the Leaf. l wrote the prescription
below and tore it on, placing it upon
the end OF the mantel, with orders to
administer the remedy every hour I'm.
til morning, when l would return.
My inclination was to Offer NEIGH.
borly assistance, but the gentleman'a
manner, polite in tho extreme, showed
me very plainly that nothing
more was expected OF me.
and was ushered out OF
the room, down the stairs and out OF
the door by my new neighbor, who so
nolsily closed the door behind me that
Kate heard it and was ready to greet
me as entered my own. With wide
eyes she listened to my description of
apartment and patient, and went to
sleep asking the puzzlinQ question,
"HoW could they have moved in, and
not have heard them?''
In the morning after my coffee, l
went again to my mysterious patient.
l had little hope of finding her alive
and none at all of finding her better.
l noticed a light snow lay unbroken
upon the steps as l went up them,
and yet it had not showed for two
days: l attempted to enter without
knocking, but on turning the knob /
found the door fastened. knocked
at first gently. then louder, and at
last with my fist on the central panel
so nolsily as to bring tho old garden
er from his hens in the rear. He
looked at me as If my senses had
flown, and asked
please sir, an wot are you doing?"
II want to get in"
"And wot ever do you want to get
in for" exclaimed the gardener.
II want to see the sick lady. il she
is still alive"
1.-THE sick lady! But there's no sick
lady, nor never a soul in the house,
an hasn't been these 10 years."
You are mistaken. was here last
night. must 60 in again. saw the
gentleman and lady myself. It is the
owner come back, fancy
The gardener smiled sadly, and as il
to humor ME, took from his pocket a
key.
1T is the key of that door," he
said, 'and the only key to that door,
and never myself for years have I put
it in that lock, comm and goin' as l
40 by the kitchen; but to show you
eAsVV OuO AOuS0 10 0lupLys Will OO30
it and you shall go in"
He cleared the keyhole of an accu.
mutation of dust and bits of dried
leaves, looking significantly at me, and
still more so as the door creaked and
turned stiffly on it's hinges, disclosing
as it opened, loose pieces of paper, and
little dirt heaps that laid against it on
the inside. The once polished floor
and staircase was covered with q
coating of dust which surely could
not have been disturbed for many q
month. began to feel dazed. All was
empty and desolate below, as on the
night before. bounded up the stairs
feeling the cobwebs brush across my
face. The door of the sick woman'a
apartment was'open. took one step
across its threshhold-
1t was cold, damp and empty! It
was devoid of any movable thing; a
few nails showed where once had been
hangings on the walls, aud from these
hung festoons OF cobwebs, heavy with
the dust of years. l stag.
gered as one struck with blindness, see.
ing not what he knows to be there.
was as one who realizes his reason to
be leaving him; the old gardener stood
motlon!ess before mo, pale, and as i
stricken with q nameless fear. Sud-
denly rallied and called out: "IIook!
look! on the mantell-at tho end-you
will find it there-my prescription
and it fits to this" taking my note
book from my pocket.
And he looked and it was there.
l wrote that prescription for the
Polish woman, December II, 1884.
l believe the good gardener has init
mated that the doctor Is not quite
right in his head. and that once he
saw him clean out of it. Hates
nerves prevented our talking together
very much OF this one mystery in our
lives. Toward spring it occurred to
me to buy the property, move the
house away and add tho grounds to
our own. Inquiries made in Europa
where the owner was supposed to be.
resulted in my receiving the following
letter.
Dear Sir:-The former owner of the
property, whom you seek to find, died
some years since. It fell to his widow,
who, after his death, was again known
as before her marriage, La Countess
Marie Krasicka. We find that she ia
no longer living. having died December
II, 1884. The enclosed addresses oil
her heirs will aid you, and there is lit
tie doubt that the American estate
can be purchased by you.
Yours very truly,
The house is gone, the grounds ara
ours. know l placed that prescrip
ton on the mantel. know that never
in the flesh could have entered that
door that night. How came it there9
Venus and Jupiter.
Youths Companion.
The morning starlit sky is radiant
with the presence of the two BRIGHTEST