The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1889-03-02
AFRAIDOF THE DARK.

plenty OF travelling. and nave only
one care In the world-Iam afraid of
tne dark. Indeed, it is somethir g
more than fear-it is a terror which
has haunted me from my childhood
to the present day.
Only three people in the world be-
sides myself have my secret; my
mother, Sir George Dillingham; OF
Dillingham; Towers, with whom ]
lived for FIVE years as private tutor
10 his sons, and who got me my ap-
pontment, and MIR. Pallatti.
When | left the Towers a twelve
month ago my nervous dread of the
nights | should have to pass IN
strange inns, when travelling on in
spcction duty, became SO acute and
overwhelming that | determined to
consult a leading physician about my
self.
Sir Alfred Smith listened to my
story attentively, asked me a multi
tude OF questions about my health
and habits, and especially whether
anything ever occurred in very early
childhood to give me q shock, al
though | might have been too young
at the tinle to remember itnow. My
,.1fachisn oyar ha said.
"Mr. Hovghton, | must tell you
frankly that can do nothing for
you. The symptoms yor have de-
scribed are distressing but | cannot
tell you asa physician how they orig
mate or suggest any way of alleviat-
ing them. have friend, however
who is q profound believer in animal
magnetism, and although am very
skeptical about many OF his theories,
he is one of the cleverest and most
agreeable men to know. 1t can do
no harm for you to see him, and |
am quite certain he will sympathize
with you, if he can do nothing else.
His name is Pallatti, and | have
written down his address for you.
Call upon HIM at three o'clock to-
morrow, and | will write and tell him
that he may except you"
found Mr.. Pallatti the next after
noon lounging over a book in a
large, luxuriously furnished room
crowded with pictures, curious and
pretty things-a handsome young
gentleman, perfectly dressed, with a
pair of eyes which, if they could not
see through q milestone, looked as il
they could pierce a human being
through and through.
After little Indifferent converse
ton | began to tell him my tale, but
] was so nervous that | bungled
wofully and interspersed my nara
tive with idiotic giggles.
"Wait bit, Mr.. Houghton; there S
no hurry" said Mr.. Pallatti, bring,
ing me a glass of wine from a side
table; you are my patient, you know,
and you must drink this before be-
ginning a long story"
expect he must have put some
thing into my draught, for in a few
minutes / found myself talking as
calmly and impassively as if | were
speaking of some other person.
/ told him how, if / left my bed in
tie dark and took two steps away
from it, was utterly lost, how my
outstretched hands would touch a
window where | expected to find a
door, and all the furniture seemed to
play puss in the corner rs | moved
above until at last | would sink to
the ground utterly unnerved and
trembling towait through long hours
for daylight.
told him tand as | went on Mr..
Pallatti's face grew eagerl y attentive)
how, when | was a boy of sixteen,
my mother had described to me the
circumstances of my eldest brothers
death by drowning when / was an
infant; how the same night my light
went out and | saw through q lumin-
Gus haze a room with ladies and a
gentleman in it. q servant coming in
at the door followed by boatman
earring a boy in his arms with q
dead face and water dripping from
his long hair; how, when | told my
mother what | had seen, she said
that | had described to the minutest
detail-the pattern of the wall paper,
the flowers on the chimneypiece-the
identical scene as it occurred on that
terrible morning at Brighton.
ANY other experience like that?''
asked Mr.. Pallatti. 81 can't tell you
how deeply you have interested me,
Mr.. Houghton."
"0nly one other" | replied, land
that occurred ut Gillingham Towers,
where | lived for five years as private
tutor to Sir George Dillingham;
sons. He had been telling me one
evening Il curious story of a tragedy
that occurred in his family more than
a century ago, and had pointed out
to me the portraits hanging in the
great drawing room of the three
principal actors. Some papers OF the
utmost Importance were abstracted
in the confusion at the time, and Sir
George said that his inability to pro,
duce them if ever called upon to dc
so might be most disastrous. The
danger, of course, Increased as the
years rolled by, but the sword still
hung over the house OF Gillingham
though the hair by which it was OF
iginally suspended might have
thickened to a cord.
'"That night a great storm of vino
and rain broke over the Tower; my
window was burst open, my light ex
tinguished, and the matches always
kept to my hand were wet and use
less. For the second time in my liit
the luminous haze rolled out before
me, and with one narrow window
the lower sash of which was thrown
up-a lumber room apparently, will
one bare table in the centre, a few
broken chairs piled APP in the corners
some dingy-looking prints in blacl
frames on the walls, and great
glass full of stuffed birds, some tun
bling and some tumbied from tiei
percfes, md all in the last stage O
tjtIapidntibn and decay. When al
this was clea;'!,F developed. the shad
asey forms OF 1t man and - woma,
titlreni'r,j ilifniYl and | caiiltl see tlia