Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-08-09


but never ends her speech. for in pulling out
her needleful Of red cotton with great energy she
manages to drop her thimble.
Arthur jumps up hastily and rather heavily
from the window seat to find it for her and in
doing so treads on a loose board. which moves
with a creak under the carpet and nearly
throws him down. The floor is covered with a
dingy old Brussels-date early Victorian; il is
nailed down all around the skirting board. so
that the evil cannot Immediately be remedled.
This must be seen to. Sarah, when the room
is done up. 1t is a regular man trap. l don't
want Dot to break her neck the minute she
comes homer
Sarah looks exceedingly cross.
1.-The board has been loose for wears and YOU
never remarked 1t before. l suppose our
necks (reproachfully) were not supposed to
be so brittler'
Il wish your tongue were not 30 tough" re-
to-ts Arthur.
l hate family reciprocities, having never
been used to them. Looking round desper-
atelv for something pleasant to talk about
observe curious mark. like a finger pointing
downward. impressed upon the pane of glass
near which am sitting.
What is this curious mark?" I ask. looking
up. Arthur and Sarah exchange meaning
| Chances; l feel myself growing hot and cold by
turns and wonder what uncomfortable topic
have started now. The fates seem against me
this afternoon.
MY dear child" SAYS Arthur with mock
our family skeletons l begin to feel quite
afraid OF you. This is the boss of them all or
rather its finger mark. The terrace below has
been dug up again and again by superstitiOus
members of the family, in hopes OF finding the
bones. but with no result whatever"
1T is not subject for laughter or light con-
versation, Arthur. You know perfectly well
that whatever is done to the window the finger
marks always return to the same pane. We
are accustomed to it, but"
yrnrr, NV inc hIa
time almost to apologize for existing.
You are precisely the person that is to be
minded. cried Arthur, ringing the bell and
ordering hot water, soap, soda, fannels and
brushes ad hbitum. And we soap and scrub,
and sponge and dry ut that pane. inside and
out, till We are tired, with the unique result of
bringing the downward pointing finger mark
into still stronger relief.
Without doubt it is no accidental thing, but
a sign fraught with meaning. Has the dining
room below been eXamined?' l ask.
"les, and the explorers were rewarded by the
discovery of several nests of mice and n dead
rat; after that the planks of the dining room
floor were replaced. and enterprise tell asleep"
Then they have never looked under this
fioor?'
No. not in my day; but, by Jove, Dot, it's
not half bad ideal
Il have no doubt proper search has been
made, though We do not remember 1t. do not
suppose Eva is the first person who has thought
of such very simple and evident place to
look III as the foorng-right under the finger
mark"
We both hasten to assure Sarah that this
time she is in all probability right-doubtless
the same idea struck everybody who has given
the uncanny matter thought Notified by
this hattery. she goes down stairs to make
afternoon tea, which she wisely never allowed
a servant to touch.
AS soon as she is gone say to Arthur. with a
curious kind of shiver running down my back:
III there is anything in the air l feel con-
WINGED it will unfold itself to me; nobody can
possibly be more matter -of-fact than | am IN
my waking moments, but to make up for it
dream"
You a seer?" cries Arthur incredulously. 81
should as soon have expected to hear kitten
lay claim TO second sight. Pray. did you see
me i'll the glass last ALI Hallow Eve?'
No. | didn't but saw myself looking ex-
actly like somebody else-and wondered. Why,
1t was you, of counsel"
The next morning was the last Of my visit to
Hawke5worth as Eva Howard. Everybody was
in the unnecessary state of furry which. in
country houses. 80 often precedes the departure
OF a que t by an early train.
1t was only when | had taken my seat by
Arthurs side In his dog cart and he was rapidly
driving me toward the station that found an
opportunity of telling him what had dreamed
THAT night
Il dreamt I was sitting in the ladies' bower,
No'A'o
denly heard the lost bride calling, Eva Eva,
come to me- | looked around and listened,
but could not discover where her voice came
from. Finally l tossed down a coin that was
lying at hand in hopes that it might fall
in the direction from which the voice pro-
ceeded: it rolled near the window seat. just
where You trod on that loose board, Arthur
and then something woke me-"
My dear Dot. you have been telling me the
merest jumbo OF the events of the day; that
a he in hia
m lost superior manner, which was just the least
bit like Sarah's, and consequently grated on
my nerves.
Il am going to write it down in your pocket
book all the same,"I returned, taking the
reins while he hunted in various pockets for
the tiny volume, wherein l wrote down my
vision in rather a spidery manner, owing to
the rolling of the wheels. and returned 1t to
him again with sigh Of relief, as II the act of
recording the dream had lifted some weight
from my mind. Twice. in the course Of few
months, it has REQUIRED to me, but, apparently,
nothing more is to come of it, SO have kept
my own counsel and given Arthur no more
sybilline warnings.