Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1892-07-21

\ devoted adnlrer, ana Doth stood ready
to swear that nobody was on that roof.
! The rear windows thus disposed Of, the
doctor had turned his attention to the
window at the side, and here there was
/ possibility of explanation.
\ AS has been said, the Holdens house
was one Of the Oldest at the old frontier
fort, but 50 solidly and substantially had
it been built that, when others were con
I demned and ordered replaced along the
row, the authorities had decided to re-
4 tain 'Bayard Hall" 1t was originally
a double set, with hallway in common,
( intended for the use of four bachelor
4 officers, each to have his two rooms, there
being four rooms on the first and four
on the second floor, while the kitchen
and servants rooms were placed in a
wooden addition at the rear. The
ground fell away rapidly from the front
/ piazza, so that while the first floor front
was but few steps higher than the
walk, the rear porch was a full story
above the ground, giving abundant
space for storerooms, etc., under that
4 part Of the house, and necessitating a
/ fight of dozen steps to reach the porch
or the kitchen doorway. Around the
front and sides Of the second story there
ran originally broad gallery, but this
was before the days Of the war Of the re-
bellion, during which the post was lit
tie used, and when, after certain repairs
and alterations, the house was declared
assignable as family quarters, the old
wooden gallery had been condemned
and torn down. Nevertheless, the beams
which were its support On the east were
1 found solid and firm.
They projected through the wall Of
rough hewn stone, and an old time quar-
termaster, selecting the house for his
own use, had thrown light gallery out
Y upon them. 1t made such a convenient
place for flower pots, shrubs, bathtubs
and things of that description, said he.
Furthermore it was a place where lie
could go in the warm evenings and
smoke and sip his toddy with his chosen
H associates, and not have every garrison
gabbler crowding in to disturb their
chat and absorb his precious Mononga-
hela. The gallery had no roof, was only
\ five feet wide and was inaccessible except
/ through this one window, which the un-
4 sociable major had had cut down level
with the floor. Robbers Roost" the
/ disdainful subalterns used to call it in
the days when bluff old Blitz had occu-
7 pied the quarters and barred ont all but
his chums. and by the same name was it
4 known when Holden moved in with his
wife and olive branches and took up his
abode there few years before the OPEN
4 ing of this story.
When the Eleventh marched out and
the Twelfth came in, Colonel Farquhar.
finding the dc-tor in possession, decided
that the Holdens should not be disturbed
that there was abundant room for
others in the new quarters. The Hol-
/ dens entertained a great deal. Pleasant
people were visiting them month after
month, and everybody in the Twelfth
! blessed them for the brightness and gay
Z ETY. their presence lent to the garrison.
/ A sterling fellow was Holden, one of the
best men III one Of the very best corps,
personally and professionally, in our lit
tie army; and as for his wife, an accom-
\ plished society woman, st. Louis belle,
still IA the heydey Of youthful woman
hood, everybody in the garrison delight
ed in her friendship and kindliness.
I There was no more popular parlor than
Holden's, and night after night the young
officers gathered there. But Robbers
/ Roost" had fallen into disuse. The glass
door was generally shut, and the vene-
! tian blinds with which old Blitz had
decorated it were ordinarily closed ex-
/ cept when this, one Of their two guest
chambers, was occupied. Shades and
I lece curtains similar to those at the rear
windows draped it within, so that from
4 the interior this side door presented al
most the same. appearance as the win
dows themselves, and it stood directly
opposite the hall door.
But Miss Guthrie had become enthusi-
astic over the lovely view down the
Pawnee valley from that side gallery.
She was frequently to be seen there. She
had gone out for one farewell look as the
4 valley lay flooded in the light of the full
moon, and this was Immediately after
changing her dress. She was exclaiming
over its beauty as arrayed for her Jour-
4 ney she came dancing down the stairs to
4 join her hostess and the excited children
I in the parlor. She suddenly missed her
gloves, remembered that she had left
them in her room, had scurried up the
stairs, had reached the landing at the
V top, but never entered her room At all,
when there was heard that awful shrek
of terror and heavy fall. Holden at
! the instant was in his own room, the
rear room on the opposite side Of the
house, and was changing his best uni
form into something more suitable for a
run down to the railway.
This had delayed him a second or two,
\ SO that Brewster and Randolph, two Of
the most active Of the Junior officers,
were foremost at his heels as he flew up
the stairs. His first care was for Nita,
but the youngsters had br w into the
room and out on the gallgls as though
\ expecting to overtake some intruder
there. The side door was wide open, the
lhade up, the lace curtains drawn apart
\ If any one had been iii the room escape
70 the gallery was easy enough, but from
there there was practically none except
4 by leap of fifteen or twenty feet to the
hard ground below. No one had run
out, either front or back, for Murphy and
+ the Irish cook were at the rear on the
east side, the rushing swarm Of officers
at the front. Ii any one had hidden
X there escape unobservcd was well nigh
4 impossible. No one was found-no trace
of any one. Indeed, when Nita was per-
nlitted to talk she vowed that no one
had been there. Size herself had left
/ the blinds, door and curtains open as She
came in from the moonlit gallery, had
turned out her lamp and descended the
stairs. The gallery doorway could not
be seen from where she fell, and as all
was darkness in the room itself. how
could she have seen any onef
Out on the gallery, Of course, any one
would have been revealed, thanks to the
brilliancy Of the full rNoon, almost as in
the broad glare of day; but one had tc
be at the hall door or ill the square room
itself in order to see the gallery at all, and
Nita declared, as before, that she had
not reached the door. What she fancicd
was ghost, bathed ina pale, cold light,
was probably the white curtains of the
rear windows. But the light whence
came that
The possibility of any one having been
/ in the room was not entertained.