The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-01-17


Wiero automata moving through some set
performance, they played instruments,
gNded TO and fro. OF sat in groups about
| the department.
All this saw and comprehended almost
az glance, and with sensations impossible
TO describe. Fear, repugnance. incredulity,
| all settled In my brain at Cnce, until il
seemed as if l must be mad.
My servant stood beside me rigid and
| Dreathiess, clutcling my arm in an iron
| grip. Suddenly he lifted his hand and point
ing at the couple nearest us-the leading
| couple IL the minuet-cried in a voice of
| horror:
Look look! Do you see who thatis
| had already seen. In the young man.
attired in wig ana ruffles, l bebeld mvselfi
/ Cold. white, emOtiODless-still my own face
his partner was young girl whose won
| derous beauty affected me powerfully. even
IN that moment OF wild agitation. | never
| forgot that form and facs; they haunted me
| afterward, with strange, uameless regret
| ful longing that could neither comprehend
| nor shake off.
! As II my servants cry had broken the
mysterious spell which had summoned
these shapes together, the lights went cut
instantly; the dancers disappeared, the
| room was dark and through the empty
| WINDOW frames the night wind sighed
mournfuly.
| Poor Buckle had sunk upon the floor in
! sensible. | stirred the fire into a blaze and
| got him upon the sofa. Presently he came
| to himself, but all the rest OF that night he
! lay silent and distraught.
| At the earliest CLEAN of day we led out
| and mounted the horses. As we turned to
enter the lane, my eye caught sight Of an
| inscription carved in the stone work on the
corner OF the building
"Gerardus Vandeleaer; MDCCXXI."
/ NV I afinfvaIf boI
the night in tie ruined home of nv fore
fathers unawares.
4
never forgot that night in the old house.
but the salient point in my memory was the
race OF that glrl-or phantom! Ihad never
solved the mystery OF that experience: in
deed l had long since given up the attempt :
and 1t remained one of those incompre-
hensible events which occur more fire.
| quently than we are willing to acknowl-
edge IN our dread of the SCOTS of the world.
But that face haunted me, clung to me;
with blending of strange pain and pleas
ure. Aud 1t was this more than aught else,
that made me restless and incapable of set
Ting down TO any fixed residence or occu-
| Buckle.
hone evening after a long days journey,
we we're drawing near a small town In the
northern part OF the state, where we pro-
posed stopping for the night. Just as we
we were passing handsome dwelling sit
uated upon a terraced bluff, removed from
the road, my horse SHE'D suddenly at a
CLEAN OF white drapery in the adjacent
shrubbery, and before | could catch the
loosened bride l was thrown heavily and
became inseusible. AS fell heard my
servants amazed cry: THE face! the faceln
Then all became dark and soundless.
1t seemed as if an age had elapsed when I
became aware OF d pervadinR sense of lan-
guor and pain; vague Inconsistencies
OF being, dreamlike and unreal. heard
some one moving about in the ROOM and
after time I was able to open my eyes.
AS did so gasped, shuddered and sank
back into my pillow with feeling as if my
brain were going again. For bending above
me, not white and fixed nov, but with
sweet eyes suffused with tears, and the
gentle mouth tremulous with compassion, l
saw-the face!
| must have tainted or slept, | know not
which; for all became a blank: until l
awoke with clear mind aud an eager de-
sire to assure myself whether what l had
beheld was dream or a Pigment OF de-
llrium. But no; there it was still, standing
at little distance; and near it. his bluff
features contorted with the attempt to keep
back his tears, stood my servant, Buckle.
"Oh, Mr.. Gerard! oh. my dear master ~
and the poor fellow Selling my hand whose
thinness surprised me as be lifted it in his
own strong palm. "You have come back
to us at lastg Yes,'' he added, seeing my
questioning look, lit is the face-not of q
ghost but Of one except for whose nursing
you would have died. Speak to him, Miss
Alice, see how his poor eyes stare"
And she did, in the sweetest voice I had
ever heard, cooling my hot brow with q
touch like rose-leaf And so [ fell off
] into eli har Ay,I Il Nv Il
grew stronger; and the wound l had re-
ceived from my horses hoof healed and
! health returned under her gentle ministra
ton. One day when | was able to move
slowly through the rooms of the house sup
ported on her arm, she checked our prog
ress before an ancient and faded portrait
hanging upon the wall. looked up at it
and with a shock | recognized the face OF
the man in the wig aud ruffles. my OWE
facet
THE portrait Of an ancestor" she said
my family and yours were once connected
l how do not know, for the records have
been lost"
/ "And you," murmured, II saw you
with him.
YES" she interposed, with slight pal
ing Of the face, your servant has told me
the story
For the sake Of her face as ! saw it in
| that weird scene, loved her. | loved her
for her own sweet sake And because l had
been stricken down at her feet and because
she had nursed me back to life with her OWL
: dear hands. she loved me. When l recov-
cred my health asked her to be my wife
, and she did not deny me.
For herself she asks no questions; she does
/ not seek to lift the veil of mystery which
! surrounds this brief, strange life of ours.
She loves me and that is enough. And
love her. heaven knows dearly and de-
: votedly But l sometimes wonder if it il
not true that we return to this earth again
and again, after the change we call death
aud seek out those we lived in the previous
existence--who are bound TO US by the in
comprehensive law of love, and from
WHOM we never really separated.
} Buckle, who is a philosopher in his way
and who shares the care OF our children
A with my wife, thinks so.
Prevention Is Better
s Than cure and those who are subject 10