Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1888-11-22
A STRANGE PHOTOGRAPH,

The appointments of my room were
luxuriously delightful, and slept, slept
profoundly-I do not know how long-but
was awakened by sense of not being
alone; watched, startled feeling as a
white, swift moving object passed along
the tapestried wall opposite me and disap-
peared., l sprang up, and, lighting MY
lamp, threw the rays from strong Argand
burner through the room. | lifted the
tapestry. Nothing but oak panels, solid
and substantial enough, under my close
gaze. | could think of nothing which,
moving outside, might have produced this
effect within, and, try as l would, could
offer no solution of the odd apparition.
had come to Penarse for twenty four
hours, with my old schoolmate, Reynolds
Herholf, who, by marriage with its young
Spanish mistress, lately orphaned, had
become its master
| always rather fancied mysteries.
liked fathoming them. l considered my
self first class amateur detective. Twas
In good spirits-''a vague looking forward
to some pleasantness"-as went down to
| breakfast.
made no mention of my little expert
ence during the night to my host, but l
accepted the renewed invitation that l
would lengthen the twenty -four hours to
| week.
When night came the house was full
| of guests, and it was late before the
building was quiet. l leaped easily to
| the ground, from the balcony below my
window, and trusted to the lessons my
| limbs had learned in boyhood to get back
again.
The lights were not yet all out, so sat
down to wait under the shadow of
friendly maple. As 1 sat, observed
dark figure moving slowly along the
southern wall
"Ah! my friend of last night, I said in
my own mind, expecting every minute to
see magic lantern" performance.
watched it closely. l could but dimly
discern the outline, as it stood death
still, the head thrown slightly back,
as if the eyes were watching closely some
point above them. Something white
foated slowly down from an upper win
dow. A zephyr caught it; it rose again,
and then descended obliquely 1 could
see it nova bit of white papcr-at my
feet. | heard low, muttered curse as
the man groped about on hands and
knees in the darkness. Again and again
he searched, but in vain. l was ON the
point of announcing myself and offering
him his billet doux, as l conceived it to
be, when the sweet notes of a mocking
bird fell ON my ear-so wonderfully clear,
SO perfectly initiated, as to command my
profound astonishment and induce my
silence Three times he repeated the
warbling notes, and then moved swiftly
again to the wall Mirabile dictu again
q white messenger foated down. He
seized it, and disappeared in the darkness.
ga maid and her lover,"I said, in con-
tempt of my own curiosity, as proceeded
| to light my lantern and try my effects"
Bah! Nothing could have been less like
the flmy, translucent vision of the
night before than my yellow, shapeless
glare.
blew out the candle and stood looking
into the darkness of my room. Hal By
Jove, there it went againl The perfect
outline Of a slim, white, human figure
thrown against the dark silk tapestryl
Before my eyes it had appeared and disap-
peared. l could not tell whence it had
come or whittier it had gone. | climbed
to the balcony, and again examined the
room thoroughly, but without forming
the smallest solution to my odd vision.
The note l had picked up was, after all,
no love letter-a bit of waste paper-and
ran as follows:
nave READ tDaU we
Must not look back of Elizabeth's reign to
See chimneys in use.
You can imagine that
White walls in those days were
Hollow mockeres indeedl A
Twelve foot room would be q
Midnight dungeon.
was soon sleeping soundly, and only
wakened in time to prepare for a luxuri-
Gus 10 o'clock breakfast. was unusually
impressed by Herholf's haggard appear
ance. He assured me that he was well,
but to me he looked feeble and worn.
wondered that l had not observed it more
on the day of my arrival
A couple of days passed, and once again
l had seen my strange visitor.
The figure that l had seen on the Sec
ond evening, from my seat under the
maple, | had seen several times since.
Sometimes it disappeared in the wall Of
the house; sometimes it came out of the
WALL There must be secret door, but
could not find it; and why pair of SER
wants should choose midnight and mys-
terry for courtship, if such it was. could
not understand.
| had unraveled the cipher of the note
had found, and by taking the first word
of each line, read: II must see you.
White Hollow, twelve, midnight"
sat, as had grown to be my custom,
under the dark maple. It was midnight
and past. The wall as usual yielded its
figure This time, without doubt, a
woman's. She moved swiftly down the
garden walk and out Of sight. took
my place as nearly as possible where l
had first seen her, and waited. An hour
had passed before I again heard the faint
brushing of her gown against the shrub
berry. She followed the wall, from its |
south corner, close under the shadow Of |
the dark gray stone. The point where q
iutting angle made almost blackness was |
reached, and, by swift movement, which
came the nearest possible to being too |
late contrived to Insert twig between
the edges of spring door as the woman's
figure dissolved into darkness. applied
nv ear to the narrow opening, and could
hear quick footsteps along stone floor.
At length all was silent, and | entered.
The doc; swung noiselessly on its hinges
and closed behind me. l found utter
darkness and damp odor fer COM
panv. / felt my way slowly and cautiously.
the gallery widened some
what, but usually it was barely wide
enough for me to walk comfortably.
There were frequent turns, and twice l
narrow stairways, and at length
reached the terminus Of the gallery on
what seemed the second floor OF the bulld-
Ing. | struck a match had but TWO
and must be careful OF them-but there
was nothing to see. Only the narrow
walls of secret passagel NO door 10 Do
seenl l retraced my steps, but the en-
trance had vanished There was but
II