Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1888-04-28

! Sropcd his way along the wall of the
terrace:
cramped in a coffin, and the clod.
falling, falling"
| closed the door. and returned to ny
room with IA shuddcr.
When ! had fastened myself in I tap
ped at the window. and Van lIoeck ~.
Piled by tapping on the wall below.
The fresh air had revived me; | had
no longer 10 struggle with an Irresistible
drowslness-the inclination TO sleep was
gole.
/ had my book to finish, but my nina
was no sufficiently composed 10 read.
A ! walked ahont the room ! thought
OF Edith and OF Van lioeck. wondering
If there coUl! De any connection between
her strange hallUcination ana the terrible
prc6entiment which night and day pos
,>ssed hlm. il seemed rs If there must
ne something abnormal in the conditions
under which we lived. to produce an ef-
feet which. though characterized by diff
ferrnt peculiaritics. was in both cases at
tri6utable only to a disordcred magma
ton, and ] wondered # J, in my turn.
should come under this occult influence.
u hl-ii Iitht btfIl oNAklIlCi Will tiNN
speculation for half an hour or more
when heard q scream of terror that |
could % doubt camo from the wing in
which Edith lay. In an instant / opened
the door anl ran through the corridor.
The doors in the p!cture-gallcrv were
open. As ! drew aside the curtains
which closed in the staircase corridor Of
the left Wig, / saw SIR Edmund ONE
from his room with a lamp. The door
Of EIith's roo exactly faced his; il was
wide open; all was dark within.
"What is 1t, my dear, what is il" he
called, as he entered II room.
There was 40 answer
/ followed TO the door. Sir Edmund
was standing by the empty bed looking
around him III blank dismay.
'She is gone" he gasped. ''The door
WAS wide open-"
The bed stood away from the wall. |
babe Sir Edmund look on the furthcrsidc.
There was scarcely room for him to
pass between the foot of the bed and the
wall. bat rs he lowered the light, he
said. in quick alarm:
''She is MISUNDERSTANDING the
bell for the women"
| ran 10 the hell and rang it violently;
then from the stairs in the croSs-gallcry
| called to the servants TO come down.
in the meanwhile Sir Edmund had raised
Filth and placed her on the bed, whore
She lay like one dead.
From his rnom | GOT a spirit-casc, but
we knew not how 10 apply the remedies
II our hand, and it was an intense relief
10 rs when the ~housekoepcr hustled in.
followed by l. lith's maid, Tor we were
~ helpless rs children in this emergency.
The housokeeper told me to leave the
room. | went to the door, and stood
there, trembling from head to foot.
had taken Edith's hand, and the icy
coidness Of the l~ifeless fingers that | had
only known quick with warm blood
chilled my very heart with fear.
There was n long periolof terrible sus-
penSe, and then ] heard the dear voice
murnur, and my heart bounding with
JOY, | vcnturod forward that | might see
the life once more IN her beautiful face.
Sir Edmund stopped me or the threshold.
Thank Gpl,' he said. ferventlv, "she
has come back TO Us; but the women say
she must be kept quiet. Go back To your
room, my dear fellow, and we will talk
IL all over Mt breakfast-time. Good
night, goodnight"
returned reluctantly to my room. AS
I passed. his chamber | heard the Judge
snoring loud and long.
1t needed something more than such
tribes to wake him when he had q bed to
sleep in.
What already puzzled mo was how
Edith's door came to be wide open when
she had tainted in a quite remote part of
the Don