Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1888-07-06

emily / heard trunks brought IN then
/ strange voices, then gong upstairs.
looked up at the tree. He waved q
giant finger at me. as much as 70 say,
go down and find out" Charm
ingi felt CuriOsity-alWays q sign Oh
vitality. / encouraged 1t by waiting.
/ said to myself, eve will ind out to-
morrow, my good fellow keep quiet
all the while slyly meaning to ask Su.
san, the chambermaid, whom heard,
with no fairy FOOTBALLS, ascending and
descending the stairs.
Susan had a great contempt for me.
Whether several years of residence II
q clearinghouse had given Susan a
disgust for her species, or whether she
was actually a misanthropes or Wheth'
er again, L OF the whole human race.
had failed to impress Susan's mind
with my superior claims to respect,
certain it was that Susan had not
that amenity OF manner or activity
OF service where " as concerned which
would have been expected from our
relative positions. II my pitchers
were ever full of water, my boots ever
at the door where they should have
been, / have only to say it was the
exception and not the rule. Susan's
manner, too, Of answering a question
was abrupt and not particularly re,
spectful So l was not surprised on
opening my door and addressing a
timid interrOgatOry to Susan to the
effect that l should like to know who
had arrived that she should answer
somewhat IN this wise: Go away,
Mr.. Sidney, don't be a-botherins me.
who is tired and distracted to death
now" However Susan was a Wom-
an, and could not resist the pleasure
OF telling a piece of news.
''There is a gentleman and q lady
and a sick one, and lots Oftrunks;and
the sick one has tainted away, and
they is bringin' her to-"
1 shut my door and looked out at
the tree. He nodded and Winked his
one eye at me and tossed his branches
in wild delight. We understood each
other perfectly. Iphigenia had arriv-
ed; saw it at glance. This faintinP
person was evidently sick girl who
had been brought to this house by her
parents. She would recover slowly.
would fasciuate her. and il she did
not then die [ would kill her? Yesl In
the dead Of the night I would ascend
to the third floor, front, wake heJ
from her chidlike sleep, and then,
calmly. cody, like Mr.. Forrest on the
stage. l would plunge my knife into
her pure bosom, and walk away.
wrapping my mantle round me-"
and keep my dreadful secret to eat
out my heart"
l made my Preparations with tiend-
ish GOODNESS. l looked long and stead
lily In the depths of lOOking.glass,
making my cOuntenanCe as interesting
as the case would permit. I pulled
out of a drawer a blue CraVat, which
in moment OF previous despair
had rejected, but which became me
much. 1 spent an hour or so over my
hair and curled my lip until it was
quite lame. These preparations over,
l had nothing before me but the mum
dane necessity OF going to bed. As
common life, with its perpetual grind
of buttons and boots and shaving,
came back to me, I relapsed again
into apathy and began to tire even OF
the idea OF killing the girl. The tree
kept me up and nodded and Winked
in the most uncommon manner.
She was not at breakfast-DO, nor
at dinner. heard, too, to my dis
gust, that she was married. Mrs.
Brown! Evening came, and alone in
my room tried not to see the tree;
but look where I would, so firmly was
1t daguerreOtyped on my mind that
1 could but see it and ever and anon
came the tap, tap, as if to remind me
1 was not alone.
Mrs. Brown was travelling with her
nurse and physician. Who or where
was Mr.. Brown did not appear. One
day / stopped the nurse in the hall
and inquired for her mistress. SbG
told me she was better and would
be down IN a day or two. AS fOl
the physician, he was a very silent,
dissagreeable fellow, with gray haiI
and q young face, a contradictory
sort of expression and a pair Of eyes
which never met yours.
As a proof that got better OF my
apathy about this time, I will men.
tiOn that, in passing through the
halls, heard the nurse ask Susan
who that young man was who spoke
to her. Susan replied: ooh, a miser-
able kind OF a dyspepsia feller-he
don't know nothing"
AS a psychological fact, and a proof
that I had come to have some feeling,
1 was very glad to observe that the
remark aroused in me a considerable
degree Of wrath.
That evening saw Mrs. Brown! As
I came home at twilight went up to
nv room, but before entering 1t I
sprang back as from an electric
shock, for coming out of 1t was WO-
mantle strangest WOmanl a small,
! pale, gaunt woman, with black eyes
/ and great hOllOws around them,
dressed in black and white-a stormy
sky with a moon shining in it.
Excuse me, sir, I have mistaken
/ your door for mine" said a voice
1 which frOZs the marrow in my bones
/ "a low dreadful voice, as if coming
/ from the tOmbs. Iscarcely rememb Der
/ what followed. knew / loved her.
! She had but to ask me a question
! and I turned to listen to her She