Evening journal., 1891-07-09
THE LINEN CLOSET.

but surely there are more roomsY"
The young widow who had come down
10 Garland TO hire little house for the
summer had followed the agent into the
two story cottage and was staring about
her.
"Only four roomsfn she said. "surely
! there were ten-I moan that the house looks
larger on the outside.n
ooh, there were ten originally, ma'am, p
the agent replied. "There we're ten. bnt
the rest are boarded up. This Is simply the
wing, but you have parlor, dining room
and two bedrooms, besides the little out
side kitchen, which is a building by itself.
! and the rent is actually nominal
But the folly Of boarding up six good
rooms said the lady. "The parlor with
the wainscot and the black marble mantel-
| piece"
You know the houseSn cried the agent.
"Oh in houses of this sort you alwavs
| fna a black marble mantel and a wains-
cot, said the lady. "And on the other
! side Of the hall the sitting room and spare
bedroom, and three bedrooms upstairs,
and the linen closet and bathroom-the
long, dark linen closet.n
THE ghost always comes out of that"
said the agent
Of the bag. The house is hauntedg1
Eyes, ma'am," replied the agent 1T
has that reputation among ignorant people
But since the mnin building has been
boarded IN the figure has never been seen
by any onen
"The fgurew asked the lady. "All in
white like an ironing board2"
'All in white, but like a pretty girl of
sixteen" replied the agent. II remember
the murder myself Ny father was in the
real estate business where am now.
was school boy. / remember how the
news ran through the village that Martha
Penny had been killed by wild Jack Parker,
and how rushed up with the crowd to see
her. Yes, ma'am, | saw her lying welter-
ing in her blood across the threshold Of the
linen closet.n
The lady shuddcred and sat down in the
large, chintz covered armchair OF the room
they had entered.
You can 90 and play in the garden,
she said to the little boy whom she led by
the hand "Don't 90 out Of sight. Now
tell me the story, Mr.. Bricksn
VERY sensible To send the child away
the agent said. "Well, the facts were
these; Martha Penny lived as seamstress
with Mrs Parker. They made her one Of
| The story goes that she refused him, and
that he said that she should never marry
any other man. Then she declared that
| she meant to go away, apd she was getting
ready to 20 when she saw him with blazing
| eyes coming down the passage, and ran
into the linen closet. A black servant
watched it all As he passed the door he
shot her They arrested him and took him
1 off to prison. But while the body was
waiting for the coroner il disappeared, no
one ever knew how. Mrs. Parker had
taken to her bed Black Ann had been
| afraid to sit in the room with the murdered
I girl. In the night Martha Penny's corpse
| vanished.
"Ihe jury madeup their minds that Jack
was crazy, and he was locked mp awhile
though he swore that the pistol went OF
| by accident, When he was let out again
his mother was dead. He is quite rich
man, but he never could bear to live on his
property. He has a room at the hotel and
| has lot all the land At FIRST he let the
house also, but the tenants were all scared
away by the ghost, they said, so five years
ago he boarded up the main building and
/ only let's the wing. Every summer people
hire il. 1t is prettily furnished, you see,
with new things. The old stuff is all in
the old rooms They do say that they hear
noises in the big building; but probably
rats make them. And, Mrs. Smith, you
don't look like lady who would be afraid
i or
| Martha Penny's ghostT interrupted the
lady. "Indeed | am not Poor little Mar
| tha would do no one any harm. / should
be much more afraid of wild Jack Parker,
though he is alive"
4 Y.f. al afat~. II a
/ the agent "quite broken, though he i
| rather young in years"
"I'll take the house, Mr. Brick, 4" said the
| widow, rising and beckoning through the
open window TO her little boy. And my
servant and and little Tom will move in
| on Monday"
They did so, and soon flowers bloomed
in the garden and at the window, and the
pretty child swung under the elm trees OF
tossed his ball on the lawn. The mother,
reclining in her Mexican hammock, read
or crocheted, or walked with her boy when
the day grew cool. The maid was pretty
and alert. No home in the country seemed
less likely to attract ghosts to itself, and
Mrs. Smith, when questioned, always said
that she had never caught glimpse OF
Martha Penny's specter
But though Mrs. Smith told the truth,
she did not tell the whole truth Some
times at night~-yes, at midnight-wher
little Tom and the maid were sound asleep
the lady, wrapped in double gown ant
with wooden slippers on her feet, woult
glide out into the hall, and there, with hei
ear to the light partition that divided tn,
wing from the main building, would lister
to feet that went to and fro, to walls an,
means, to what seemed to her prayers an,
to many repetitions OF the name "Marthi
Penny-Martha Penny" but oftenes
Martha alone. She never spoke Of thi
to any one, and 1t was plain that she fel
no terror, but sometimes she wept bitterly
as il she was very sorry for the poor. wan
dering ghost.
This went on for months, until one nigh
Mrs. Smith did a strange thing. She aros
in the middle Of the night and let dow
the great coil of her brown hair, AM
braided it in one braid and tied it'wit
white ribbon. She dressed herself all 4
white and over her head threw a square q
tulle. Then she left her house, taking
lantern with her, and stole toward a sid
door Of the main building and tried a Ike
in The lock and entered in.
The place was dry with dust, and dus
, rolled beneath her feet as she climbed IA