New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-04-19


of this to the servants whispered Mrs fenni-
ker. Pm not such fool my dear | replied;
| Jane and Nancy have any visitor in the Kitchen,
She continued. She came through you, dooI1,
| mother, from the sitting-room, sobbed Hal, wlth
! eyes starting out of his head.
| =" Who. love? asked his mother. -,
| The old woman in the black bonnet on'
So Angela had to spend the remainder of the
| evening between the childrens crlbs; - -,
What we do to-morrow evening = as ked
she. I have it Lucy shall be put 70 ne, Ded
| beside Jack Lucy was our youngest, aged two'
IAN went well next night. There was no alarm
to summon us from our papers and novels, ana we we
went to bed at IL, Angela remorklng that Ihe
three cherubs were sleeping beautifully, ana Vnae
it had been a good move TO let Lucy bear the
sleep by wild shrieSs from the three children
Sf'Whati Mofe bad dreams? This sort Of thing
must be put stop to- ! said and ! CONFESS r.. i
was very angry with the young rascals ny
wife was fumblng for the Matchbox. hush !
she whispered, there is somebody In tne room,
And l. too, at that instant felt inc preSsInGGe U
| The candle lighted, we again reconnoltred-nothlhg
to be seen in dressing-roo BEDROOM, or the
| drawing-roOm beyond, the door OF which was
shut. But the curious sense of presence near
us-stronger than any feeling of the KIND 4 had
| ever previously experienced--was gone. You nave
| all felt the presence of another person unseen.
| You NAV be writing-you have not heard the door
open but though your back Is toward the visitor,
| you know somehow, that he has entered; o.,,;u.
unnatural or unpleasant in that sensation.
"Nothing, of course; merely instance 1t to give
| you some idea of what we felt on that occasion
We were astonshed to find the sitting-room I'M
tenanted. Meanwhile poo, Hal, Jack and Lucy
black bonnet Oh t@Ee her r away yysr Tho cribs
trying to soothe the children. 1t was a good
while before they could tell what had happened.
close to me, and she put her cold face down
near my cheek till she touched me-, and don't
like her-oh, don't like her, mother
Did she 90 to Jack and Lucy, too|
" Yes, yes and she made them cry as we'll
why do you not like. herr, Is it the black
bennett You dreamed of black bonnet met, last
She's so frightful,' cried Hal,
g." How could you see herP There was no
This question perplexed the little boys They
persisted that she had light about der some
where. / need hardly say that there. was no
comfort for the rest of the night. If any one
is trying to gen us sS out OF the Pf Piece eeveG
that trick had been played upon the children,
and she was most indignant
Next day the cribs were removed to the
upper story, and Charlotte and Joanna, our
daughters of twelve and fourteen, were put to
sleep in the dressng-room We predicted an END
nurse was quiclI-tempered woman, who would
not stand any nonsense, and Halls bad dreams
would be sternly driven, away. We settled our
selves to our comfortable light reading by the
drawing-room fire. Suddenly there o cOmmo-
ton overhead: an outcry-surprsed more than ter
rifed. it sounded TO Angela laid her book down
quickly and listened with all her ears. Fast-hyng
footsteps were heard above; the capping of door
then-scurry, scurry-the patter of bare feet
down the staircase. We hurried across the hall,
and saw Charlotte in her nightgown returning
slowly up the kitchen stairs, with puzzled
expression on her honest face.
What on earth are you doing, child p cried
~ was giving chase to hideous old woman
in black bonnet, who, chose, to in
trude upon u.s. painted Charlotte; I saw her
in our room; jumped out of bed and pursued
her through your room and the sitting-room. Then
l saw her before me going downstairs, and |
ran after her. but the door at the foot of the
kitchen staircase was shut. She certainly could
not have had time to open it. and really don't
know where she can have gone to-
This was CharlOtte'S explanation Of her mad
scurfy downstairs. Her downright sensible face
was puzzled and angry
$50 you see, the little ones must have, been
termented by that old wretch, whoever she is
They didn't dream it, father. as you thought
Wouldn't l like to punish her!"
BRAVE rave , Oh. Charcttes ie as bold as lion
She went back to bed and when we followed
her, in couple of hours she was sleeping Soundly
trick was being played upon us, it was carried
out in so clever manner as TO BATTLE me COM
pletely. need not say that made careful search
of every Granny about the handsome house and
offices; and if there was O secret passage or
door in the wall anywhere, it escaped me- We
had peace for fortnight and then the annoyance
"Angelas nerve was shaken at last, and she
began to whisper, There arc more things in
heaven and earth, Horatio--''
John, You are making story" interrupted
Mrs. HennilSer.
1t is every word true. I am coming to an
end. Angela, in spite of her disclaimer, did be-
leve in q ghost in black bonnet. Charlotte
believed in her, but did not care about her
ghostship The nurse and cook and housemaid
ey were end eg T ee al Pc
mortal funk. AS to the children, they would not
leave off clinging to their mother, and fretting
and trembling when evening came. The milkman,
the baker and the butcher all told the servants
that we would not be long at the Hall, for no.
body ever remained more than month or two.
This was cheerful and encouraging for me-"
But you, had never seen the charming old
woman all this timep"
had a good long look at her. and a more dia-
bolica face never saw-no, not even in the dock
was writing letters in the study about u O'Clock
one morning when / suddenly looked up, to see
the appearance that had excited such a turmoil
in my family standing near the table. A fright
full face-a ,short-set woman dressed in black
received But she looked quite human--quite
everyday-theIe nothing ghostly in her air
only the evil face curd!ed ones blood. stared
and threw it at her. My motive in so doing
was to brighten her who had frightened my wife
so much. Courtesy. such creature need not
expect from me, being, as her villanous counte-
nance proved one of the criminal class The news
paper fell upon the floor, after apparently going
through the figure, and there was vacuum
where il had been. / not much shaken
however although my theory of a human trick
ster dressed like a woman seemed overturned"
Did you tell Mrs. Henniker what you had
| seen P"
Naturally did. At this period we talked
of nothing else. She saw the apparition twice
herself. Once she entered our dressing-room and
saw the figure bending over sleeping child lit
| faded as she looked; another time she was with
me in the drawing-room. when she laid down her
| hook and whispered, See, see. near the door =
nnoh
visited me in the study in clear daylight. did
| not make her out quite as distinctly because
our candles did not light up that end of the long
room, or my older eyes were not as good as
Angelas"
| "What did Mrs Henniker do?"
"She started up and ran to catch the old
woman in the black bonnet