The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1889-02-15

OF the room; that he followed u and
found himself by the well. to which the
CID man pointed. smiled on him. and
disappeared.
In the morning when Dolph walked he
found his host standing by his bedside,
who gave him hearty mornings salu-
tation and asked him how he had slept.
Dolph answered cheerily, but took occa-
sion to inquire about the portrait that
hung against the wall. "Ah." said Heer
Antony, "that's portrait Of old Killian
Wander Spiegel, once burgomaster OF
Amsterdam, who, on some popular
troubles, abandoned Holland and came
over to the province during the govern
ment Of Peter Stuyvesant. He was my
ancestor by the mothers side, and an
old misery curmudgeon he was. When
the English took possession Of New AM
sterdam in 1904 he retired into the
country. He fell into a melancholy,
experimenting that his wealth would be
taken from him and that he would come
to beggary. He turned all his property
into cash. and used to hide it away. He
was for year or two concealed in
various places, fancying himself sought
after by the English, to strip him of his
wealth; and finally was found dead in
his bed one morning, without any one
being able to discover where he had con-
cealed the greater part Of his money"
When his host had left the room,
Dolph remained for some time lost in
thought. His whole mind was occupied
by what he had heard. Wander Spiegel
was his mothers family name; and he
recollected to have heard her speak Of
this very Killian Wander Spiegel as one
Of her ancestors He had heard her say,
too, that her father was Killians right
full heir, only that the old man died
without leaving anything to be inherited.
It now appeared that Heer Antony was
likewise descendant, and perhaps an
heir also, of this poor rich man; and that
thus the Heyligers and the Wander Hey.
dens were remotely connected. "What,"
thought he, ''if, after ALL this is the in
depreciation Of my dream, that this is the
way l am to make my fortune by this
voyage to Albany, and that am to find
the old mans hidden wealth in the bot
tom of that well? But what an odd,
roundabout mode of communicating the
matter! Why the plague could not the
old goblin have told me about the well at
once, without sending me all the way to
Albany to hear a story that was to send
Inc all The way DUCK dSdIIH
These thoughts passed through his
n1And while he was dressing He de-
scended the stairs, full of perple:ity,
when the bright face of Marie Wander
Heyden suddenly beamed in smiles upon
him, and seemed to give him clew to
the whole mystery. CATER all, F" thought
he, 1.-THE old goblin is in the right If
am to get his wealth, he means that /
shall marry his pretty descendant; thus
both branches of the family will be again
united, and the property go on in the
proper channel"
No sooner did this idea enter his head
than it carried conviction with it. He
was now all Impotence to hurry back
and secure the treasure, which, he did
not doubt, lay at the bottom of the well,
and which he feared every moment
might be discovered by some other per-
son. "Who knows" thought he, "but
this night walking old fellow of the
haunted house may be in the habit Of
haunting every visitor, and may give
hint to some shrewder fellow than my
self, who will take shorter cut to the
well than by the way of Albany" He
wished a thousand times that the bab-
bling old ghost was laid in the Red sea,
and his rambling portrait with him. He
was in perfect fever to depart. Two
o.. three days elapsed before any oppor-
tunity presented for returning down the
river. They were ages to Dolph, not
withstanding that he was basking in the
smiles of the pretty Marie, and daily get
ting more and more enamored.
At length the very sloop from which
he had been knocked overheard prepared
to make sail. Dolph made an awkward
apology to his host for his sudden de-
parture. Antony Wander Heyden was
sorely astonished. He had concerted
half dozen excursions into the wilder
ness; and his Indians were actually pre-
pairing for grand expedition to one of
the lakes He took Dolph aside, and ex-
erted his eloquence to get him to abandon
all thoughts of business, and to remain
with him-but in vain; and he at length
gave up the attempt, observing "that
it was thousand pities SO fine a young
man should throw himself away" Heer
Antony, however, gave him a hearty
shake by the hand at parting, with a
favorite fowling piece, and an invitation
to come to his house whenever he re-
visited Albany The pretty little Marie
said nothing; but as he gave her fare
well KISS. Her ulIlpleu CLtth tuIucu PdiO
and tear stood in her eye. Dolph sprang
lightly on board of the vessel.
They hoisted sail; the wind was fair;
they soon lost sight of Albany and its
green hills and EMPOWERED islands. They
were waited gayly past the Kaatskill
mountains, whose fairy heights were
bright and cloudless. They passed pros
perously through the highlands without
any molestation from the Dunderberg
goblin and his crew; they swept on
across Haverstraw bay and by Croton
Point and through the Tappaan Zee and
under the Palisades, until in the after
noon of the third day they saw the
of Hoboken, hanging like a
cloud in the air, and, shortly after, the
roofs of the Manhattoes rising out of the
water.
Dolph's first care was to repair to his
mothers house, for he was continually
goaded by the idea of the uneasiness she
must experience on his account. He was
puzzling his brains as he went along to
think how he should account for his alb
sence without betraying the secrets of
the haunted house. In the midst of these
cogitations he entered the street in which |
his mothers house was situated, when |
he was Thunderstorm at beholding it a |
heap of ruins.
There had evidently been great fire,
which had DESTROYED Sovpra1 large hOl1SpS |