The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1889-05-04

Inclination and the terrible presentiment
| which night and day possessed MIN. IL
seemed as il there must be something ap-
| normal in the conditions under which We
lived. TO produce an effect which. though
| characterized by different peculfarties. was
In both cases attributable only to a dlsor-
dered Imagination, and wondered II !. IN
nv turn. should come under this occult IN
| fluence. -
| / might have been occupied with the
| speculation for half an hour. when L heard
a scream of terror that l could not doubt
| came from the wing in which Edith lay. In
an instant | opened the door ana II !
| through the corridor. The doors in I, :
| picture gallery were open. As drew aside
the curtains which closed in the staircase
corridor of the left wing. saw Sir Edmund
come from his room with lamp. me door
of Edith's room exactly faced his 1t was
| wide open; all was dark within.
What IS it. my dear. what is 1t! he
| called, as he entered the room.
There was no answer
followed to the door. Sir Edmund was
standing by the empty bed. looking around
him in blank dismay.
she is gone" he gasped. The door was
wide OPEN
The bed stood away from the wall babe
Sir Edmund lock on the further slde.
There WAS scarcely roop for him TO Pses
but as he lowered the light he said, in quick
alarm:
she is here-unconscious. Ring the bell
for the women.
l ran to the bell and rang it violently;
then from the stairs in the cross gallery |
called to the servants to come down. In
the meanwhile Sir Edmund had raised
! Edith and placed her on the bed, where she
| lay like one dead.
From his room got a spirit case. but we
e l.
hand. and it was an intense relief to us
when the housekeeper BUSTED in. followed
by Edith's maid, for we were as helpless as
children in this emergency.
The housekeeper told me to leave the
| room. / went to the door. and stood there
trembling from head to foot
| had taken Edith's hand. and the icy
| GOODNESS of the lifeless fingers that l had
| only known quick with warm blood chilled
| my very heart with fear.
There was "a long period of terrible sus-
| penSc. and then | heard the dear voice
murmur. and. my heart bounding with JOY.
| yentured forward that might see the life
| once more in her beautiful face. Sir Ed
mund stopped me on the threshold.
Thank God!" ne said. fervently. she has
come back to us; but the women say she
must be kept quiet. Go back to your room.
my dear fellow. and we will talk it all over
at breakfast time. Goodnight, good
night"
| returned reluctantly TO my room. AS
| passed his chamber | heard the Judge snor-
! ing loud and long.
| 1t needed something more than such
! trifes TO wake him when he had bed to
! sleep in
! What air lady puzzled me was how Edith s
| door came to be wide open when she had
| tainted in a quite remote part of the room.
CHAPTER TX.
! What happened in Edith's room that night
! did not learn until the next morning. but
| | will give her account in this place IN order
| to preserve the sequence of events.
True to her resolve. she had left the Win
! dow open and the blind down. exactly rs on
| the preceding nights. 1t was her habit to
| lock the door, and that she did not omit to
do so on this occasion she was convinced
! by the fact that she found some difficulty in
turning the key, and had afterward tried
| the handle to know if the bolt was shot.
| She left the lamp burning on the table.
| screened from her by the lace curtains of
the bed. 1t was past eleven when she lay
down, and she felt SO little fear that she fell
| asleep almost Immediately.
pillow slipping from beneath her head
awoke her, she believed. Her first con-
| seriousness was that her head felt uncom-
fortably low. She put her hand out TO find
il she had slipped to the edge of the bed;
but no, her position was unchanged.
! Then it struck her that she had left a
light on the table; it was now out, and all
was dark.
She wondered if this was a trick of i'm
| agination. Was she awake or asleep? She
| touched her eyes to be sure they were open.
| Then it occurred to her that she might have
been asleep a long while. There was moth
| ing extraordinary in her lamp going out. or
| her head slipping from the pillow. Say
| ing this to herself, she felt for the pillows.
! 10 her establishment she found that both
| were gone.
1t was droll. She felt inclined to laugh.
thinking how she must have tossed about
in her sleep to knock both pillows out. But
| the bed-clothes were perfectly smooth. the
bed on each side of her even. soft. and yield
! ing. That was strangel
Il must have done all the tossing with my
| head she said to herself, still tickled by
the oGdity of the thing.
| One thing was certain-she could not
sleep in comfort with nothing but bolster
under her head.
She leaned out and felt upon the floor as
far as she could reach to the right The
pillows had not slipped out on that side.
! Then, putting her shoulder against the wall.
| she felt down on the left. There was moth
ing there. What did it all mean? Decidedly
| this must be new freak of the imagina-
ton.
She was not yet thoroughly frightened
| The spirit who would steal her pillows
must have some sense of humor; it was
preferable to drumming on the window
panes and glaring through the blind at her.
| Hearing and sight had been tried. and now
her sense of touch was to be tested
| But, though she tried to make light OF the
! affair, she felt that something terrible I'M
| derlay its comic aspect, and a little Shivcr
| ran through her at the thought of getting
up and striking a light. 1t was 80 much
| easier to be courageous in the daylight than
| in such darkness as this.
After all. perhaps the pillows had Slid out
Of the bed in a natural way, and lay only
just little beyond her reach. But, rather
than stra' ch her arm out again in the dark
| space, she preferred to put up with the
| bolster doubled
She doubled the bolster and gave it lit
tie pat: then she put up a lock OF hair that
| come down, and told herself nst to be stu
pid about little thing like that; and Won
dering whether she should dare to tel! of
this incident in the morning, she dropped
on her elbow, and laid down her head
down, down. down till it touched the bed.
| What is this?" she asked herself. start
ing up in a fright. She felt from side 10
side; now the bolster was gone; there was
nothing there but the bed.
But this pantomime trick was no longer
comic. She felt the tears Of fright spring.
ing in her eyes. and something rising in
her throat. Cold fear chilled her to the
bone.
Was she in reality awake? The striking
OF the clock in the belfry assured her Of
that.
Ding dong. ding dong, ding dong. ding
dong is lightly chimed; and then the hour
was tolled out slowly, generously, solemn
! Boom, boom, boom, boom.
But if this was not halucination, what
was it? The work of actual hands? What
then? II they had no more direful inten-
ton than to play trick Of this kind, they
were not to be feared. 1t was not
terrific: it was merely childish mischief.
and this reflection suggested that after
all, it might only be Lola who was trying to
brighten her. And just for one moment. as
she leaned back on her elbow, she fancied
she saw something like those luminous
eyes in the midst of the darkness, and close
to her-therel there. above her, toward the
side Of the bed.
is it you. Lola2" she asked. but in avoice
so faint. for she was sick with fright. that