Rocky Ford enterprise., 1893-12-28
THE GHOST CAME BACK.
BUT WHAT WAS STRANGE 1T
ALSO CAME FIRST.
Asa Gave Warning of the Calamity by
Putting In an Appearance at the Scene
Of the Tragedy Before 1t Was Das In
Regular Order.

He was waiting for her; he had
been waiting an hour and half in a
dusty suburban lane. with q row OF
big trees on one side and some eligi-
bio building sites on the other-and
ling yellow lights OF the city.
He loved her. and he was engaged
to be married to her, with the com
ple.e disspproval OF every reasona bio
person who had been consulted. And
this half-clandestine meeting was to-
night to take the place OF the grudg-
ingly sanctioned weekly interview
because certain rich uncle was Wis
iting at her house. and her mother
was not the woman to acknowledge
to q moneyed uncle, who might "go
OF" any day. match SO deeply in
eligible as hers with him. It was
nearly 10 o'clock and she had not
come.
He shrugged his shoulders and
turned toward his lodgings His
road led him by her house-de-
sirable, commodious, suburban
and he walked slowly as he
neared it. She might, even now,
be coming out But she was not.
There was no sign of movement
about the house. no sign OF life, no
lights even in the windows
Then he noticed that the front
door was open-wide open-snd the
street lamp shone little way into
the dark hall. There was something
about all this that did not please
him-that scared him q little, IN
deed. The house had gloomy and
deserted air.
He walked up the path and lis
tened. says the San Francisco Argo-
naut. No sign OF life. He passed
into the hall. There was no light
anywhere. There was no one in the
drawing room; the dining room and
study were equally blank. Everyone
was out, evidently. But the un-
pleasant sense that he was, perhaps.
not the first casual visitor to walk
through that open door i'm
PEELED him to look through
the house before he went away
and closed 1t after him. So he went
up stairs. and at the door of the first
bed room he came to he struck wax
match, as he had done in the sitting
rooms. Even as he did 30 he felt
that he was not alone. And he was
prepared to see something, but
for what he saw he was not prepared.
For what he saw lay on the bed, in a
white loose gown-and 1t was his
sweetheart, and Its throat was cut
from ear to ear. He does not know
what happened then. nor how he got
down stairs and into the street; but
he got out somehow, and the police
man found him in q ft under the
lamp post at the corner Of tho street.
He could not speak when they picked
him up, and he passed the night In
the police oels, because the police
man had seen plenty of drunken men
before, but never one In fit
Tho next morning he was better,
though still very white and shsky.
But the tale he told the magistrate
was convincing, and they sent
couple of constables with him to her
house.
There was no crowd about 1t as
he had fancied there would be-, and
the blinds were not down. As he
stood, dazed, in front of the door, 1t
opened and she came out. When he
was alone with her he told her how
he had come into the commodious
suburban house, and how he had
found the door open and the lights
out, and that he had been into that
| long back room facing the stairs, and
had seen something-in even trying
to hint at which he turned sick and
broke down and had to have brandy
given him. ~.
"But, my dearest" she said, 81
daresay the house was dark, for we
were all at the theater with my
uncle, and no doubt the door was
open, for the servants will run out II
they're left. But you could not have
been in that room because locked 1t
when came away, and the key was
in my pocket dressed in hurry
and left all my odds and ends lying
about"
81 know" he said, 81 saw a green
brown gloves. and q lot Of hair.pins
and ribbons, and a prayer book, and
a lace handkerchief on the dressing
table. Why. even noticed the
calendar on the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
ber 21. At least it couldn't be that,
because this Is May. And yet it Was
Your calendar is October 2l, isn't itp"
mo, Of course it isn't" she said,
smiling rather anxiously, "but all
the other things were just as you
say. You must have had dream,
or vision. or something"
He was a very ordinary common
place young man, and he did not he-
lieve in Visions. but he never rested
day or night till he got his SWEET
heart and her mother away from
that commodious house and settled
down In quiet distant suburb. In
the course of the removal he inci-
dentally married her, and the mother
went on living with them.
His nerves must have been . good
bit shaken, because he was very queer
for long time, and was always in
quiring If any one had taken the de-
sirable suburban house, and when an
old stock broker with family took
it, he went to the length OF calling
on the old gentleman and imploring
him by all that he held dear, not to
live in that fatal house.
Now the curious and quite inexpli-
cable part Of this story is that when
she came down to breakfast on the
| N, orpiuu of tho fwapfv. eacopd of d.