Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1890-03-06
CARRIS17UN'S GIFT.
The Story Of an Occult and Mys-
terions Power.

sturdy, strong-built, bull-necked rascal
stood scowling at me, and, l con-
Guided, making up his mind as to what
course to pursue.
my good people," I said, '.you are |
behaving in the most unheard-of man. |
ncr Can't you understand that mean |
to pay you we'll for any trouble l give |
here l stay tonight To turn me out
would be sheer murder"
So saying pulled off my overcoat
and began shaking the Snow out of my
VIII skcrs.
dare say my determined attitude.
my respectable, as we'll as my muscular
appearance, impressed my unwilling
host. Anyway, they gave in without
more ado. While the woman shut the
door. through which the snow flakes
were whirling. the man said. sullenly:
well. you'll have to spend tie night
on n chair We've no beds here for
strangers. Specially those as amt
wanted
Every well. my friend Having
settled the matter. you may rs well
make yourself pleasant Go out and
put my horse under cover and give him
feed of some sort-make mash if
you can"
glance as of warning. my scowling host
rand l suggested. | glailv sank into
chair. and warmed myself before a
cheerful fire. The prospect of spend
ing the night amid such discomfort was
not alluring. but had, at least, roof
over my head.
The more churlish the nature, the
more avaricouS it 10, as rule, found
to be. My promise Of liberal remunera.
ton was. after all, not without its effect
upon the strange couple whose refusal
10 afford me refuge had SO nearly en-
dangcrcd my life. They condescenied
to get ME some tea and rough food.
After | had disposed of all that, the
man produced a bottle of gin. We
flied our glasses, and then, with the
aid of my pipe, settled down to make
the best of night spent in hard
wooden char.
had come across strange people in
my travels. but have no h,si alton in
saying that my host was the sullenest,
sulkiest, most boorish specimen Of hH-
man nature had as yet met with. In
| spite of his recent i'll treatment of mo,
was quite ready to establish matters on
a friendly footing. and made several at.
| tempts to draw him into conversation.
The brute would only answer in moro
| syilables, or often not answer at all. So
| gave up talking as bad Job, and sat
in silence, smoking and looking into
the fire. thinking good deal, it may
be- of some ono should have met that
morning Mt Lilymere, had the wretched
snow but kept off.
The long clock that cumbrous eight
dav mac nine which inevitably occupies
one corner of every cottager' kitchen -
struck nine. The woman rose and left
US. l concluded she was going to bed.
If SO enyied her. Her husband showed
no sign of retiring He still sat over
the file, opposite me. BY this tine |
was dreadiully tired; every bone in my
body ached. The hard chair which, an
hour or two ago, seemed all could do
sre, now scarcely came up to my ideas
of the comfort | was justly entitled to
claim. My sulKy companion had been
drinking lently but steadily. Perhaps
the liquor he had poured into himself
might have rendered his frame of mind
more pleasant pnd amenable 10 reason.
My good fellow" l said, ''your
cha rs are excellent ones of the kind,
but deucedly uncomfortable. am hor-
ribly tired. If tho resources of your
establ shment can't furnish Il bod f01
me to sleep in, couldn't you find 8
mattress or something to lay down be-
lore the tire?"
you've got all you'll get tonight
he answered, knocking the ashes out o.
his p pc.
"Oh. but say!'
$50 do say. say this: If you don
"a like it you can leave it. We didn't asl
g you to come
4 You internal beast" muttered-
3 and meant il, too. l declare had no
!, been so utterly worn out l would have
had that bullet-headed ruffian up for ,
lew rounds on his own kitchen floor
and tried to knox him into a NOR
amiable frame OF mind.
Never mind" Isaid, "but. remem
: Der. civility costs nothing. and oftel
gets rewarded. However, if you wisl
. to retire to your own couch, don't lie
your native politeness stand in you
way, Pray don't hesitate on my &C
If count. Leave plenty If fuel, and
q shall manage until the morning.
Where you stay. | stay" he an
swered. Then he filled his pipe. an,
once more relapsed into stony silence
l bothered about him no more.
= dozed off for few minutes-woke-
dozed off again for some hours. l wa
n in al uncomfortable sort Of half SLEEP
crammed full of curious Dreams
dreams from which started, wonder
IT ing where was and how l got there
l even began to grow nervous. A
sorts of nor, ible travellers tales IA
through my head. 1t was in Just sue
places rs this that unsuspecting voy
ayers were stated TO have been mu
- dered and robbed, by just such upmit
gated ruffianS as my ho~t-l can to
you that together 1 spent most vi
pleasant night.
To make matters worse and more di
NAL. the storm still ragged outside. III
wind moaned through the trees, but
had again changed. and knew fro,
the sound on the window-panes TIL
, heavy rain had succeeded snow. A
the big drops of water found their wa
down the large, old-fashioned Gimme
the lire hiss, d and spluttered like