Los Angeles herald., 1891-09-30

uitAc, dAN ho AO ACdppSrASu AuJ puuS
kicked up his heels and dashed away up
the road
''Never fear; he will take care of him.
SELF" said the stranger. Follow me-"
He led the way. The darkness had
concealed from me the fact that was
very near a house. A wide door was
flung open. Within | saw deep hall
ioored with oak, at the end Of which a
fire roared in great chimney. was
seated in huge chair, my garments dry
ing with curious rapidity. My host
stood near me-a handsome man with
his long, curling, golden hair and beard,
and sort of hunting dress of white fan
nell He smiled on me, but said nothing
until l spoke.
'.They will be frightened at home"
said.
II viii not be long" said he coldly.
II am so thankful to you," hastened
to add. $50 very thankful"
He did not answer in any conventional
manner. His reply was this:
"You have good reason to be. A death
in the cold waters of the torrent is not to
be desired, nor is violent death of any
sort. Nature seems to forbid it. Thank
heaven for life, little girl"
''And afterward you" said l.
He bowed gravely, then went toward
some great piece Of furniture, on which
silver seemed to simmer in the freight
and brought thence a goblet of wine.
'Drink," he said.
| drank Twas warmed, comforted; a
sort of dreamy delight stole over me. l
heard music; | saw figures pass to and
fro. did not quite comprehend what |
saw; delicious slumber came on the
wings of the music and enfolded me.
For awhile was delightfully."- conscious
that slept. Then was obliterated.
Cries and shouts aroused me. | strug.
gled to open my eyes. heard my name,
"Maisie! Maisiel' shouted from afar.
heard the clatter of hoofs.
''There! There she Isl There she Isl"
in my uncles voice.
l saw half dozen mounted riders ap-
preaching over the fresh, sun lit slope of
a great hill, and | saw that sat among
ruins, close to the time worn, weather
bleached wreck of an old chimney, the
high mantel of which projected over my
head. The roof of the house was gone;
only one wall remained. About me lay
stones and mortar, blacl1ened wood and
all the tokens of a dwelling destroyed by
fire and abandoned for years to the ele-
ments.
There was no wide hail. no glowing
fire, no sideboard laden with silver, no
host attired in white to offer me beakers
of wine; but was dry, warm and COM
Portable, Notwithstanding
My uncle burst into tears, clasped me
to his heart, and in doing so changed his
tune and lectured me for losing myself.
JaclSanapes had come home riderless
My aunt thought me dead on the road,
and was i'll with grief and terror. And
how did / find the ruins? And what
mercy that 1 had not gone over the
precipice near byl So they bore me
home And | kept my own counsel,
said not one word of my experience un-
til our kindly neighbors had been break
tasted and gone their ways. Then re-
lated it.
sit must have been delirium," l said
yet it seemed so real"
"My dear Maisie," said my uncle, "in
Scotland we are astonished at nothing
have myself heard this story before
fromfour people who were rescued in the
same way, and saw the same wrath and
the same restoration of those ruins that
you describe. My grandfather, poor
country woman with her babe in her
arms, Mrs. McLynn of the Heights and
my sister Constance have narrated the
same adventure. Everybody knows the
Haunted Ruins, but we have a special
interest in it. Long ago a handsome
young man, by name Alexander Mccoy,
was sole heir to the place, then the hand
soonest residence hereabout, as one may
well imagine He had all that could
make life happy, but he chose to fall in
love with an ancestress of ours, who
firted with and Tilted him. Her por-
trait hangs on the library wall, a saucy,
dark eyed girl in her teens He thought
life worthless without the jade, and the
night she married some one else, set fire
to his old house and committed suicide
by jumping over the precipice into the
torrent. 1t is said he also appeared to
her at midnight, but that he said, 4
forgive you
''The fancy is that it is the spirit of the
suicide, who thus expiates his sin, and
that when he shall have rescued GER
tain number of persons he will be per-
mitted to rest. The story is always the
same. The luminous object, the figure
with the lantern, the great hall, the de-
ightful fire, the wine, the handsome
host with his white costume and golden
beard, the wakening among the ruins.
If horse or q dog be present, the animal
quivers in abject terror as your pony
did. Horses assuredly either see spirits
or think that they do They have more
supernatural terrors than men or
women"
"But, uncle" said 1, 81 really am
afraid l am not quite Scotch enough to
understand all this. The ghost of sui
eide is all very natural, but the ghosts
of house, of an oak floor, of blazing
fire, of glimmering silver; the ghosts
also of delicious wine, and Of a great
armchair in which l slept delightfully."-
can these things be? Had not better
call it dreamY
"You NAV call it what Won like - said