The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-03-22

Gill; and send 1t staggering in violent evolu-
tionS along the page; her language was any
thing but conventional; nay, 1t sometimes
became indiscreet, If not scandalous. Occa,
sionally our refined little medium would
protest, and remove her hand from Inc
table. But no sooner did she resume, than
Mary was at il again. She would not be de-
MED. She was temperament, VIII,
person. OF all our long procession OF COM
municants. she alone showed an unmlstaKa-
BILE and vivid individuality we would have
known her had we met her on the street.
She had been waiting in the dark void of
the unseen world, Tor the better part Oh
century, for an opportunity to speak and
declare herself. and she was not going to
let it go unimproved. And yet the poor
creature knew not what to say-Only that
she admired Mr.. Hawthorne's sympathy.
He assured her that he would not and did
not sympsthize with her, hoping thereby to
pacily her and so get rid of her. But no
she chung to us all the tighter. Having at
length found sympathiZer, she would
henceforth cleave to him. 1t soon became
impossible to get communications from any
body except Mary ROndel; and. since the
atmosphere she brought with her was clearly
unheavenly, the seances were finally aban-
doned, and that was the end of Mary, SO far
as we were concerned.
Now, the sequel was strange. We re-
turned TO America two or three years later,
and four years after that my father died.
Some venerable maiden cousins of ours sent
us subsequently, a box of old books and
papers that had belonged to our family in
the last century. Among the books was a
COPY of Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia"
bearing the date 1856. On the dy-eaves
were the autographs of number OF our an
cestors, from the first emlgrant down To
Daniel Hawthorne, who, history says, COM
maRded privateer during the Revolution:
And on the broad margin at the bottom OF
the tenth page was inscribed, in faded
brown ink, woman's name, MARY Ron
del" 1t is before me as l write, an Ill
formed name, but showing character.
After some reflection, | remember the
circumstances under which had seen that
name before. Searching further into tie
book, | came upon the love sonnotS and
stanZaS in the latter part Of the volume:
but several of these had been marked round
with a pen, and such CLOSES written in the
margin as PRAY, mlstriS, read this; or
Read this as il | myself spaks it.. Some
of these writings were in the chlrosraphy OF
Daniel Hawthorne; others IN another hand.
! surmise that the book had once been read.
Jointly, by two lovers, who had taken this
Indirect means OF intimating their senti-
mentS.
At last I wrote a letter to those old
maiden cousins, and. without saying any
thing about the spiritual experience In the
Italian villa, inquired whether they were
cugniZant of any family traditions con-
neeted with person called Mary Rondel.
Here is their reply
Dear Cousin A Miss Mary
Rondel of Boston knew one of your great
uncles, Daniel Hawthorne, about 1775. The
story will not Interest you, it is not credita-
BILE to either party. 1t ended unfortunately;
there had been some talk of a marriage, but
their relations were broken oil, and L am
unable to say what became OF the young
woman. Your uncle alterwdrd fitted out
a privateer," etc.
No; don't pretend to explain it. 1 sim
ply give you the facts. Take off the shade
from the lamp. That is enough for one
evening. JULIAN HAWTHORNE.