Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1890-08-29

smaller drawing room, whittier he was at
by the sound of the cracking Of a
wood fire. There a staggering blow await
ed him. Standing before a tall, ancient
mantel, with one foot set upon the heavy
brass fender, In the light of a great wood
fire which sparkled and famed in the deep
chimney place, stood his fellow traveller of
the morning. She nodded to him politely
and with perfect unconcern. He approached
and spoke with her, expressing some sur
prise at finding her under the same roof
with himself.
Glow did you GOMEZ" he said. 81
thought mine was the only train which
could reach here today"
81 came by a way of my own" she re-
piled, and went on in a light, ordinary
conversation until the host and hostess
appeared from the larger drawing room.
Mr.. Heaphey at once advanced to greet
them and fell into conversation with the
hostess. He was a little surprised, though
not particularly, to find that neither of
them made any offer to present him to the
lady, who still stood, in nc way r%ecogniz-
ing their presence, by the fireside. Dinner
was almost Immediately announced. The
host invited Mr.. Heaphey to give his arm
to his hostess. and they passed into the
dining room.
"You see" said the hostess, as they took
their seats at the table, 1--WE have no one
here, and it is very kind of you to come
and give us your company"
AS the lady of the Preside had entered
the room with them, n was at that
moment sitting directly opposite to Mr..
Heaphey, all these remarks seemed to him
most extraordinary. He affected, how
ever, not to perceive anything strange in
this conversation, and dinner went on, the
mysterious lady taking no part whatever
in the talking and, so far as Mr.. Heaphey
could see, being in no way recognized by
the host, the hostess or the servants who
waited at the table. AS may be imagined
all this did not :end to enhance Mr..
Heaphey's comfort at dinner. 1t was i'm
possible for him to allude to a person who
seemed to exist only in his W percep-
lions, and yet who manifested in the eX-
preston of her countenance no sort of con
seriousness of this extraordinary neglect.
When they retired to the drawing room
after dinner, one or two persons coming in
from the ~neighborhood, conversation be-
came general. The mysterious lady moved
about from point to point, once or twice
speaking with Mr.. Heaphey, but never,
so far as he could see, ~exchang-
ing a word with any other person
present. By the time that he retired
to his room, Mr.. Heaphey was profoundly
upset by this most unaccountable of all
the experiences through which he had yet
passed in connection with his mysterious
v~isitant of the summer. Determined, if he
could, to satisfy himself whether he was
or was not the victim of a hallucination,
he made some excuse for speaking to the
footman, who was arranging his clothes
before leaving him for the night, about the
lady who had dined there. The footman
looked at him intelligently at first, and
then with a curious, almost quizzical ex-
preston informed Mr.. Heaphey that he
had not the least idea what he was speak
ing of, as he didn't know that any lady was
staying in the house, and as the one or two
ladies who had called during the evening
had driven home to their residences. See
ing that he was to get no light from this
quarter, Mr.. Heaphey was silent, remained
in the house two or three days, finished
the portrait which he had undertaken to
paint in water colors, and left.
From time to time all the circumstances
of this strange acquaintance would recur
to him, but he never cared to dwell upon
them in his own mind. Still less did he
dItdlu VI NOlllnlibllullDS tICnl w any OAc
else. He could not regard them as purely
a delusion of his own imagination, for
there in his dispatch box was the engrav.
ing from Heath's Book of Beauty" there
was the half finished sketch of a face
which had imprinted itself with an almost
terrible distinctness upon his memory; and
yet he felt that to hint at any of the cir
cumstances of his unparalleled adventures
would expose him in the minds of Other
people to suspicious which, but for the
material evidences there before him, he
would be very apt to entertain of himself
So the time passed on. Once or twice
taking the sketch up, Mr.. Heaphey hac
worked upon it until it was well advanced
to completion. He never took it up ex
cepting under a stress of feeling which h'
could never define nor resist: he never laiC
it away again except with a sense of relic
and satisfaction. Early in the ensuing
winter Mr.. Heaphey was called to the ives
of England to keep an engagement mad'
long before with a friend who resided,
think, somewhere in the marches o
Wales. He started upon this journey from
some point the name of which |
now recall-for it is many years since Mrs
Murray told me this %story-in the eastern
or midland counties. At all events he lief
this point on a Saturday, n his route LEI
through the ancient little cathedral city o
Lichfield. On reaching Lichfield great wa
Mr.. Heaphey's disgust to find he coul'
make nc connection westward until Mon
day morning. This condemned him t
pass Sunday at Lichfield, a prospect whicl
he was not enough of a philosopher to ac
cept with satisfaction.
There are two or three very decent inn
in Lichfield, however, and in one of thes
I think the Swan-Mr. Heaphey mad
himself as comfortable as circumstance
would permit. He ordered the usual Brit
ish dinner, with the usual soup, the usus
fish and the usual joint, enlivened it wit
a pint of dry champagne, picked up tn
county history, and settled himself for
quiet evening and a sedative smoke. II
had hardly got through with his Dime
when the waiter, to his establishment, cam
in with a card on a salver. Taking up TIL
card, Mr.. Heaphey read on it the name
a gentleman who many years before ha
, been one of his school fellows, but of whoi
) he had seen and heard nothing since |
came to years of manhood. He had forgo
ten, in fact, the very existence of the mai
/, and he was entirely at a loss to imagine