Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-03-07

| was born two hundred years too late"
| With that she gave screech, not know
ing quite why, and there was nothing in
front of her but tall BUSH
Extremely probable I said. All
this is the talk of ignorant, superstitious
girls, May I ask if you have seen OF
heard anything odd, Mrs. thompson
"Mrs. Thompson folded her hands and
looked straight up to the ceiling.
"'Come, come, Mrs. Thompson, said,
let us have it all out. In talking to you
/ am speaking with woman Of sense,
and it Il important you should tell me all
| you can that may throw light on this
| business
"'Well, SIR said Mrs. Thompson, st
may be fancy or it may not be, but good.
ness knows I was thinking of nothing of
the kind when | SAVIOR seemed az if I
saw-a procession of monks going up the
| great grass walk between the moat and
| the ha-ha.'
"'Monks! How do you know they
were monks? asked.
"'They was dressed like those in
"Faust" at the Lyceun, said Mrs. Thomp-
son, not an imaginative person, and the
answer so far was conclusive.
"Thank you, Mrs. Thompson, that
will do I said. 4 must consider what
/
! "Well," Morton went on, "things did
not get any better after my interview
with Mrs. Thompson. My sister came
! down to breakfast the next morning
! looking very white and worn; but she is
i not very talkatlve person and / asked
her no questions. Indeed, if I had she
would not have answered them. Pres
emily the butler-a model of discretion
wished to speak with me. He slept in
room overlooking the moat, and through
his window; which was left open, he had
heard a noise as of people padding about
and talking to each other in hoarse whis-
! pers. He did not suggest any ghostly
/ explanation, and of course did not, but
while intrusted him with double bar
relied gun, could not help remembering
that the old boat which was still moored
in one corner of the moat was more than
| half rotten. Then the boy, a pert youth,
said he wouldn't stay in a place where
the moment he'd cleaned the kives they
| got dirty again and looked as if some
body had been trying to saw wood with
them; and the footman explained that
he was not used to practical jokes and
could not think it due to himself to re-
main where they were played. 1t ap-
peared that he had found the pepper box
| filed with snuff, the saltcellar with sugar.
the mustard pot with treacle, and the
narmalade jar with chutney."
''Looks like Brownies" l interposed.
eyes" said Morton, somewhat YEARLY;
"we have 'em of ali sorts, as you will
see. In the garden is rockery with a
| fountain and cascade, and the gardener
, iutimated that he was not accustomed to
a waterfall making faces at him, and
wouldn't stay where he was expected to
put up with it."
"Kuhleborn," I said. 81 should not
have thought it of him"
Nor /, Darsie;' replied Morton; "but
after the loss of his niece what can you
expect? However, in this part of the
proceedings there was a touch of humor.
+ Not so with other branches of the affair.
We managed to get a man servant to
sleep for one night in the room where
the maid had heard voices, and the next
day he left. He, too, had heard voices,
but with a difference. He described a
whispering and muttering as of many
persons holding secret counsel together,
and then dead, cold silence, broken by
| a fierce whisper of Is it timer Then
many voices seemed to say with horri-
bic hiss, Yes and then he said he felt,
although he saw nothing, that man
was standing over him with knife, and
! then he tainted. [ needn't tell you all
the things | heard of, but here is one
more. One of my nephews came to stay
with us for few nights, and his first
night in the house put him in cherry.
looking oak-panelled room. 1 had no.
ticed, as it happened, that there was a
space between the wall on one side of
/ this room and the room next to it. There
might formerly have been passage
there, or it might have been a hiding
place in troublous times-a kind of sup
plement to the Priests Room. Anyhow
there was nothing remarkable in the
fact. But the boy told me that he was
walked in the small hours by some one
chanting prayers and psalms in Latin in
a low, weak voice just outside his room.
Then he heard tramp of feet and rat
tie of steel, and then a miserable groan
and heavy fall, and then all was still.
He is a nervous boy, but plucky, and aft
ter he had lain quaking little while he
made up his mind that it was nightmare
and rats, and wanting to sleep in the
same room again. However, I made
some excuse for preventing that, and
soon afterwards he left us without hav-
ing been disturbed again"
Morton paused while, and l struck in
with, "Have you yourself, Morton, seen
or heard anything of this strangely in
elusive assortment of presences?
"Well," he answered with some hesita-
| ton, ''not absolutely, but it may be that
Bruno" (his favorite mastiff has"
How was that?" I asked.
SIN this way" he replied "There
was something wrong with the lock of
my study door, and had had it put in
order by the village locksmith. My sig
! ter and the servants had gone to bed, and
! Bruno and were alone in the study at
night, when it occurred to me to try
the result of the locksmith's handiwork.
I locked, unlocked, and relocked the
] door several times, and finally, having
| locked it, happened to think suddenly
/ of passage wanted to look up in Apul-
eius, and acting on the thought, took the
| book from its shelf and sat down in my
armchair with Bruno at my feet. got
interested and absorbed, and it may have
been half an hour before my attention
was aroused by growl from Bruno. At
the same time l felt cold wind on the
| back of my neck"
"Ausgespielt," I ventured to interpose.
"Deuce bit" said Morton; sit was 3
real draught. looked round and saw
the door that had locked, and which
opened outward, slowly enclosing itself
and swinging inward. AS it opened SC
did Bruno retreat backward, still growl-
ing, with his eyes and coat both staring
horribly, until when it was wide open he
gave dolorous whine, dropped down
| with his head between his fore paws,
and lay there trembling and whimperins.
And what did you do?" asked.
ST went and shut the door," he replied
with manner that prevented me from