The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1888-01-20
hung with large lowered dsmask.

e1uHS NAeu ~ sotB0 uVWoEcO N0UuSkS
very rich in texture. but q littlef faded.
The bed curtains were OF the same,
and all the furniture was carved in
high relief
On the bed Ray ; very beautiful
woman. Her face was a perfect oval.
her eyes were large and black, and full
OF inexpressible sadness. She was in
great paim. but very beautiful even in
agony. In response to my first ques.
ton she spoke in q language stranga
to me.
MADAME will speak French" sug.
gested the gentleman, asking with a
glance If did also, and I immediately
began to question her in that Ian.
guagc.
lsoon ascertained the trouble and
felt there was little orno chance of her
surviving long. ! took out my pre-
scription book, noted the case, the
disease, and its stage, ETC.. at the top
of the leaf. wrote the prescription
below and tore it of, placing it upon
the end of the mantel, with orders to
administer the remedy every hour un.
til morning, when would return.
My inclination was to offer neigh.
borlv assistance, but the gentleman's
manner, polite in the extreme, showed
me very plainly that nothing
moro was expected OF me,
and was ushered out OF
the room, down tine stairs and out OF
the door by my new neighbor. who so
noisiiy closed the door behind me that
Kate heard it and was ready to greet
me Us / entered my own. With wide
eyes she listened to my description of
apartment and patient. and went to
sleep asking the puzzlins question,
Chow could they have moved in, and
not have heard them?"
In the morning after my coffee,
went again to my mysterious patient.
had little hope of finding her alive
md none at all of finding her better.
Noticed light snow lay unbroken
upon the steps as went up them,
and yet it had not showed for two
days. I attempted to enter without
knocking, but on turning the knob 1
found the door fastened. I knocked
ut first gently, then louder, and at
last with my fist on the central panel
so ncisiiy as to bring the old garden.
er from his hens i'll the rear. He
looked at mo rs if my senses had
flown, and Asked
"Please sir. an wot are you doing7"
II want to get in"
"And wot ever do you want to get
in for" exclaimed the gardener.
~ want to see the sick lady, if she
is still alive"
"rhe sick lady! But there's no sick
lady, nor never u soul in the house,
an hasn't been these 10 years."
You are mistaken. Twas herelast
night. Unjust go in again. saw the
gentleman and lady myself. 1t is the
owner come back, fancy"
The gardener smiled sadly, and as il
to humor ME, took from his pocket q
key.
ut 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
do by the kitchen; but to show you
that the house is empty, will open
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 crcaked and
turned stiiily OH its 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 a
coating OF dust which surely could
not have been disturbed for many a
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's
apartment was open. l took one step
across its threshhold-
1t was cold, damp and emptyl It
was devoid of any movable thing; a
few nails showed where once had been
hangings on the walls, and from these
hung festoons of cobwebs. heavy witt,
the dust of years. ] 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
motlonless before me, pale, and as il
stricken with q nameless fear. Sud.
denly I rallied and called out: "Look!
look! on the mantel!-att the end-you
will find it there-my prescription
and il fits to this" taking my note
book from my pocket.
And he looked and it was there.
wrote that prescription for the
Polish woman, December IL, 1854.
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. Kate's
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 Europe
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 is
no longer living. having died December
II, 1854. 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 are
ours. know / placed that prescrip.
ton on the mantel. know that never
in the flesh could have entered that
door that night. How came it there?
Venus and Jupiter.
Youths Companion.
The morning starlit sky is radiant
with the presence OF the two brightest
stars that shine among the myriad
hosts that stud the heavens. These
radiant stars are the planets. Venus
and Jupiter. There is no need of
pointing them out, for they will be
recognized at glance by the observer
OF the southeastern sky in the early
! r,oppipu