The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1890-07-30
A HAND In THE DARK.
by MRS. ETA F. MARTIN.
L 4 II

The words involuntariy passed my lips
as threw myself into the luxurious easy
chair drawn up temptingly before the
open crate. They applied equally to
Tom and myself. Tom was lucky fell
low, certainly-the master of the grange
and the husband of charming woman
and | counted myself almost equally
fortunate in my freedom from business
cares for three whole weeks, and the
prospect OF unlimited fishing and driving.
Cousin Tom had recently inherited a
fortune; l was still plodding alone In
London; but for three weeks of liberty |
determined to enjoy all the blessings the
gods had vouchsafed me, and to imagine
myself, for the nonce, as rich and happy
as Tom himself.
Although it was early fall the nights
were a little keen, and Constance
Toms wife-had ordered fire in my
room, the cheerful blaze giving to the
richly furnished apartment a delightful
touch of warmth and coziness.
With such fire and such a chair, and
with my favorite evening paper in my
pocket, retiring was not to be thought
of so drawing to my chair table on
which stood shaded lamp l gave my
self up to the perusal of my journal.
Over the long parliamentary report l
must have gone to sleep. and when l
awoke the lamp had burned itself out,
and but few sparks remained of the
CHEEKY fire. The room was not in total
darkness, for there was a moon, hidden
by clouds, to be sure but still throwing
enough light at the wide windows to
make things dimly visible.
On the instant awakening l felt that
some one was near me, and, with that
startled feeling one has on awakening
suddenly from a sound sleep, cried out ;
"Who's therel"
No answer came, and the only sounds
were the tapping of tree branch against
the window and the ticking of the clock
over he.fireplace.
Still was conso ious,t ,that somebody
something-was near me, and held my
breath, straining my ears to catch
some sound that should reveal the in
truder, but only the tap of the tree branch
and the tick of the clock broke the si-
lence.
j remembered that there were matches
on the table, and turned my chair to
search for them. An exclamation of as
tonishment rose to my lips as did so,
for on the surface of the table was a
strange luminous spot-neither lamplight,
freight nor moonlight.
Up to this time my feeling had been
one of annoyance rather than fear, but
there was something so indescribable, so
supernatural, about this light that sud-
den terror seized me, and gazed as one
fascinated, unable to move.
A card and pencil l had taken from
my pocket lay on the table, and over
this the light grew brighter, and in the
midst a hand appeared-awoman's hand, f,
delicate and beautiful, but of deathly
whiteness, and on the third. finger cleaned
a ruby, the stone held between two
golden serpents' heads.
The fingers closed over'the pencil, and
after making several irregular marks upon
the card, letters began to be formed, and
as 1 leaned forward with breathless in
terest, saw the pallid hand write with
perfect distinctness:
"Search for the box in theold well. "
Then the strange light grew dim, the
hand gradually faded away, and the
moon, emerging from the clouds, threw
a shaft of light into the room.
The spell that had bound me was
broken, and in a moment had found
match and taper, and light in hand, was
bending over the table.
The card was blank-not w.rd upon
it-and asked myself if I had been
dreaming; but hard as | tried to convince
myself that such was the case l could
not; it had all been too real.
A strange experience it was surely,
but after pondering over it awhile de-
cided to dismiss it from my mind and to
retire.
In the morning the affair seemed more
inexplicable than ever, and l found my
self constantly thinking of the words
had seen traced by the mysterious hand
They were meaningless to me. "Search
for the box in the old we'll" knew Of
no box that had been lost and certainly
knew of no old we'll. The affair had 4
flavor of "Lady Audley's Secret" aboutlt,
and it was not hard to picture a grase-
grown well eoncealing in its depths some
ghastly secret.
If could have laughed the matter of
IS dream should have regaled Tom