, 1888-11-16
him what he had asked. Too late. lie

was BoneI
She sank almost fainting upon a sofa.
and after n little while the door opened
again and | saw enter a young man-not
the same but another. This one also was
In a dress of some military fashion, with
his sword girded round about him, and no
was as fair as the other had been dark,
and | perceived. too, that there was some
faint likeness between the two before me.
/ wondered was this one too going off to
the wars, like the old knights, and had he
too come to say farewell to the girl he
loved2 and which of these two did she
love? She looked up as he came near, and
her eyes were streaming with tears. Then
he sprang to her side and fell OH his
knees before her and laid his beautiful
young face in her hands, and l could see
how great sobs shook him. 1t is not un-
manly that strong man should weep
sometimes. | marveled how all this
should end.
Wel-she gave this one nothing either
only tears and smiles, as to the other,
and when he had left her she wrung her
hands, on which | saw the rich jewels
flashing with all their lovely %colors, and
fed to and fro through the great room in
agony, but with it all 1 heard no word, no
sound of weeping, nor moan of grief; and
then it all faded away and the great
doors and the heavy curtains were there
again in the dim, shaded light, and /
went to sleep wondering What it meant,
and who these were that l had seen, for
knew hat this was a thing that had hap
pened once in that very room
In the morning when my friend came
with my breakfast l said: Mamie, how
is it that in all these years you have
never told me the story connected with
this house2 thought knew everything
about all your old Dutch and Scotch for
bears as well as you do yourself, but
here's evidently a thing l know not, and
you must nave a story to tell me-"
So then told her what l had seen, and
asked her who they were that came back
thus to their old haunts.
You're sure you saw all this? 1t
couldn't have been"-
1.-THE morphine? Not a bit of it; and
now l know you've found the story, l
see it" for she looked earnestly at me for
a moment, and then a far away look
came into her eyes as if she were trying
to recall some dim, half forgotten thing.
l was becoming somewhat impatient
when she suddenly came back" saying;
Pardon me, but, now l think of it,
didn't it strike you that you were rather
out of placer that-in fact, didn't you
feel as If you oughtn't to be there in the
middle of all hat sentiment, emotion,
etc p
mot in the least. 1t never once oc-
Cured to me to think of myself at all,
and l fancy that with them there was no
more consciousness of my presence than
with me there was perception of the
sound of their voices; though l seemed to
know what they were talking about. |
was simply outside Of their conscious
ness"
Now, If ! were up in all occult science,
Buddhism, and the rest of it, l could
make the whole thing clear to you
and
More likely to make it mister than
ever to both of us, | should say"
81 went on, calmly ignoring my sar-
castle comment:
81 haven't the smallest idea what as
trail bodies may be, but that is probably
what you saw, the astral bodies of some
poor creatures that are given q sort of
panto"-
Whatever they were, or may or may
not have been" | interrupted, rather
hotly, 'the fact exists for me they were
present, for mel saw clearly what 1
have told youl and that they were astral
bodies, or any other bodies-creatures
that nave lived and have loved and suf-
fered too, l am entirely certain; and that
is quite enough to claim my sympathy for
them. So, if you know it, / want that
story and If they were your own people,
they that | saw last night, and you don't
know it, then the sooner you find out your
family history the better, l should sayl"
You evidently think, with Macaulay,
that they who take no delight in thedeeds
of their ancestors will not be likely to care
much for the doings of their descendants
-nichty'
IRE noble deeds it is, my friend; and
they whom l saw last night never did any
deed you should be loath to know or to
tell. Come now, begin. My coffee was
life restoring and the rolls food for
goddesses-and / am hungering for other
feasting."
well we are not given to talking of
our ghosts; in fact l had quite forgotten
we had ever had one, much more, or less
which is it?-a whole preserve of them
such as you seem to nave discovered.
However they seem to havo given you
their confidence, so it must be lawful to
complete the business by giving you the
key to it. But keep it to yourselfl
''In great great grandfather van Schlect-
eswitter's time-in Holland-I have to go
so far back for my beginning friend,
ship grew up between himself and a
French family that had fled into Holland
during the religious prosecutions; this
friendship was handed on to great-grand-
mother Magdalentje-you know who l
meanH"
nodded.
And to her loving care and guardian
ship was left a very beautiful young
maiden who came into the family here,
and was in all respects a daughter of the
house. Her pretty name was Isabel Bar
berine. She was known universally as
Ia belle Barberine,' and with reason; but
l need not tell you that, for you have
seen her; her portrait was painted in the
very dress you describe"
So that was why | seemed to know her!
She was u bit of a coquette, la belle,
md fully enjoyed all the devotion her
great beauty and her charm of manner in
spired, though she seems to nave been
good and generous of soul withal. Among
her Utmost countless suitors she distin
guished two, the two you saw. She had
insuperable difficulty in making a final
nLninn LaAu=.a.- 49, il--l = -l