Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-07-14
CHAPTER III

CltABI Tx III.
Two DAYS later al about tine same time in
the evening Mrs Ferrars was alone nh the
! little sitting-room, looking very impatient
and rather anxious. She had set out that
morning on The road 90 what sine called
THAT DOGGY house thinking TO meet her
| husband as they had arranged. aud instead
she had met a boy. who stopped her with
| the inquiry
BE YOU the missus of the gentleman at
The Glcn?'"
On her answering that she was Joe had
thrust q note into her hands and mad re-
treated with many backward glances "a; a
person so intimately connected with such "a
celebrity "a the gentleman who mad yoiun-
iarlly passed night alone with DID Sam IN
the haunted house.
The note was from her husband and
simply said that sine was NOT 10 expect him
until the evening and was not TO De un-
easy.
She had been uneasy al the same, and
ever since the time had come when Size
might begin TO expect him she had been
restless and disturbed. As the clock struck
9 she drew mp the blind aud looked out If
the window.
Il wish he would come @" she .aid 20 her
self; e. wish he had never heard of the
place. He Is so sensitive. dear Old thing,
and all his Imagination Wa stirred by tue
my dream. How vivid it was last night!
If he has persuaded himself that he heard
or saw something me VIII never forget It.
| wish he would come. Oh, tIcrc he '- !
We'll. he doesn't seem % be IN any hurry
now"
Hubert Ferrars was coming down the
street with evident reluctance i'm his walk
and manner. She watched him come mp 10
the cottage door saw him pause for "a mo-
ment before he entered. and then me went
to TIE door of the room intending 10 re-
p0ach him. half lu flu and half in earnest
for her long, lonely dav. But as he silne
up the STAIRS toward nor the sight OF his
hi, face stopped her-ho was 50 very
pale and there was a tense look If
horror in his eyes. She coold see him
distinctly the moment lie reached the foot
Of the stairs. but she was hidden 10y q berd
in the staircase until he wa, close TO her.
As he turned the corner and came upon
her suddenly-she had not moved or
spoken in her anxious contemplation ~
his haggard face and weary, reluctant
mOVements-he staggered back with a
half-articulate cry. and would have fallen
but for his instructive clutch AT the balll--
tiers. She ran 10 HIM with little plying
exclamation.
ION, Hubert, my dear old boy" she
said: what have you been doing to your
self"
lie did not answer, but he took her face
in his two hands and kissed lt-loug,
trembling kisses they were.
Come and sit down, dear" she said.
where have YOU been ali day! l0u are
dead tired"
She drew him into the room and made
him sit down at the table, still holding her
hand in his. as If he needed the sense Of
touch to assure him of her reality. She
would not ask hun any questions or LIT
him speak until he had eaten, and then She
put him INTO an armchair, and. knceling at
his feet, said with her arms around him
and her check against his:
Would YOU like 10 tell me now, dear ~
He bent his head slightly, but did not
speak. and she continued:
"What Is it, Huber! Did you-dld
you--sce something:
He bent his head again. and his clasp
frightened round her, As If he feared to see
her slip from his grasp. She waited Il mo-
ment, and then whispered:
What was it? What Is it haunts The
Glen y"
There was a pause, and then she heard
his yOice-h0llOW, tOnelcss, almost lnaudl-
bic:
"You!n he said.
She started from his hold with a shud-
dcring cry of incredulous horror, and for
moment they looked at one another,
speeches. and motionless. Her first ghast-
~ impression was that he had gone mad,
and, reading that thought IN her white,
terrified face, he mastered himself 10y
violent effort, and spoke again in a more
natural tones
There, dearest, / am not mad: don't
look at me like that. At first | thought |
would not tell you, but afterward l felt
that the memory would stand between US
always that We must face it together, aw-
tul rs IL IS.
He drew her back into his arms, and she
let him hold her for several moments with
out speaking.
Tell me all about it," she whispered at
last, and in low, thick voice. speaking in
short, abrupt sentences, he told her.
at was about o'clock. We We're sitting
in-in the room 10 the right OF the door as
you go in"
know" she said "go on"
He shiyered slightly and continued:
IL was a strange experience TO sit there
waiting for something supernatural with
that old man, 10 whom it was 50 familiar as
TO be no longer terrible. He told me that
twas only seen occasionally, generally
about this time of the year always on the
10Th Of November"
She lifted her head with sudden start.
" NV birthday she said and he drew her
closer rs he went on:
He told me that no one knew exactly
how long since il had first appeared. Rnd
that it had altered in appearance as the
years passed. When | saw IL first, he
sad, about eighteen years ago, IL was a lit
tie child running about the house as real
child might have done: then il was pref
ty young girl; and now--ah, sir y he said,
suddenly dropping his voice TO whisper.
look!' He pointed behind me, and
/ turned quickly. There, in the old-tash-
ioned oak settls. near tina anantv haarth-