The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1889-02-16
CHAPTER XXXU.

CHAPTER XXXII.
Six months have elapsed since the
close of the last chapter. AS time
| changes all things, so did it make q
wonderful change at the Bristol man
sion.
Raymond BristoPs strange disappear
ance yet remained mystery, and no
one knew where his wife had gone, or
what had become of the babe.
Jeanette Nathan still remained at
the mansion, but went nowhere and
received no callers; every one presumed
that she was still mourning for the
loss of her brother, as she had often
called him, and that she preferred soil
tude to the presence of comforting
friends. She wrote the sad news and
the public's opinion to Mrs Bristol,
and the shock was so great and sudden
that it almost killed the fond, loving
mother AS yet she was not able to
undertake the long voyage back to
America, and perhaps would never be
! able t. return.
One night in the middle of April,
| 1877, terrific storm arose about dusk,
| before it. The wind blew a perfect
hurricane and tore large trees up by
the roots as it passed along; the light
ming flashed, while the heavens We're in
perfect blaze of electric fire; the
thunder rolled up from the distance
and fairly shook the foundation of the
| Bristol mansion.
The storm seemed to hang for hours
over that once happy but now dark
ened and desolate home. The servants
We're all gathered together in one room
and all shivering with fright, while
] Jeannette's dark, Withholding eyes
told only too plainly her thoughts and
feelings. On ragged that fierce storm
increasingly; the wind and thunder
still shook the mansion. By and by
the servants sought their beds, too
| frightened to leave each other, vet too
weary to wait for the storm to abate.
Jeanette lay down upon her bed, I'M
dressed, weary and exhausted from
fright. For some reason or other she
felt strangely oppressed that night /;
whether it was the storm or not she
could not tell
1t grew late and all was still and
dark within the mansion, except the
vivid flashes OF lightning that would
illumine the whole building every few
moments. About midnight the alarm
bell rang again and again with such
force that the loud, laundering sounds
echoed and re-echoed through the halls
and corridors.
| Help! helpi wake up wake upl"
went ringing through the whole man
sion Immediately after the ringing of
the bell.
The voice was q mans voice, and
sounded strangely wild and painful. As
Jeanette could not sleep, she heard
the first tap of the bell, but did not
leave her room, thinking it nothing Of
any Importance; but when those pite-
Gus walls for help rang through the
mansion she thought there was some
thing strangely familiar in those tones,
and Immediately arose and turned up
the gas in her room.
! Presently the sounds came nearer,
and she could plainly hear footsteps
IN the corridor near her room door
| The mansion was now filled with hum
ming sounds, as if many people We're
talking and passing to and fro in the
halls.
Jeannette's door slowly opened, and
she came out, looking wild with fright,
while her face was CHASTITY white. AS
she opened the door, cold draught of
wind famed her cheeks, but she could
see nothing; yet she could plainly hear
voices and footsteps. She cautiously
left the room and went down the long
| corridor toward the farther end of the
building.
The lightning still flashed, while the
thunder roared even more fiercely; Just
as she got opposite the room door that
| the poor lost wife had occupied, man
came rushing out, and almost ran
! against her. Old, faithful Tom closely
| followed the man, who looked like O
raving maniac; to take a second look
at this frightful-looking man, you
would think it was skeleton, with the
skin of human being stretched over
! the bones; he was hatless and shoe
less, while nothing but an old ragged
shirt and pair of dirty, worn pants
covered his body. The face, or all
that could be seen of it, was CHASTITY
/ pale, while two dark, sparkling eyes
We're sunken far back in their sockets;
| the face was nearly covered with
| beard that had been allowed to grow
for months unkempt, and the hair was
long and shaggy-looking; it was plas-
tered to the head by the rain,
and great drops of water dripped to
the floor from the ends of hair that
/ hung over the shoulder.
/ n wonder lo.l-
frightened still more; she did not
1 know who he was, and in the dimly
| lighted hall it would have been hard
to recognize any one, but frequently
the hall was illumined by lurid flash
OF electricity, and then she could get a
better look at him.
There was nothing about this strange,
| Withholding man that any one could
identify HIM by, except the broad,
noble, white forehead, which belonged
only to Bristol-and this man stand
ing in front of Jeanette was none
other than Raymond Bristol.
Where is my wife and babe?' As
these words rang clear and loud
! through the hall, there came continu-
Gus blaze of blush light, followed i'm
medlately by a crashing peal of thun-
der.
Jeanette leaned against the wall.
gasping for breath, as she saw what
she thought must be but the ghost of
Ray standing before her calling for his
wife
She Is G. but at that moment
there came coursing down the wall. but
a few feet from where she stood. n
bright blue streak of electricity, and
Jeanette fell senseless at RAYS feet.
ITO BE CONTINUED