The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1894-10-17
SECRET OF THE WELL

DLOnUl VI lllE W ELL.
The study door opened softly. Chris
topher Schuyler finished the sentence
he was writing, and then looked up.
The dimpled, rosy and altogether
welcome face of his bride of week
confronted him.
"IOu said you would be ready in half
an hour" said she, reproachfulIy,
land its more than an hour
Dimples and roses then bctook them
selves outside the door once more, and
Mr.. Schuyler, suddenly remembering
that he had promised To drive with his
wife that afternoon, wiped his pen on
the wiper which nature provides all
but bald-headed men, turned his man
uscript face down, slammed a paper
weight upon it, and rushed, hastily after
the departed one, shouting:
''All right, darling; soon as find
my hat ~
81 propose not TO have hat-tree in
every room in this house." observed
the young lady, while Mr.. Schuyler
was frantically instituting an unavail-
ing search for some kind, any kind, of
head-gear She then contemptuously
bent one finger at 4 bust of Schopen-
hauer, and Schuyler, with an exclama-
ton of relief, captured from the phil
osopher a soft felt hat and adorned his
own head with il without much loss of
time.
But does any one suppose that the
preparations were over ?
Button my glove" ordered the head
of the family, and her husband obey
ed
''Oh, my veil Chris, dear, its on the
dressing case" and Chris. dear, went
upstairs two steps at a time after il.
bat that isn't the right one Chris J
Would you have me wear a terra Gotta
veil with a Nile green hat ? Heavens ~
The catastrophe averted, there was still
Il parasol to subdue, a wandering rib
bon to reduce To order, and curls about,
above and around her ears to arrange
in a more orderly, but not less eoquet-
tish manner.
''You hear the whispered words she hears,
You little ringlets round her ears
chanted her bond slave, and lifted his
mistress To her seat in the carriage, be-
slowing Il hug and receiving a pinch on
the way.
"Where shall We go, sweetest ~ said
he.
''Let Us 90 where you have often
promised to drive me, but never did,
faithless man." she answered. ''TO
the ancestral halls of the Schuylers"
"As you like, but / warn you, Wini-
fred, they are now the ancestral halls of
the Murphys, Sullivans, O'Tooles and
OBriens. The Schuylers haven't lived
there for fifty years, for when the mills
were built in Schuylertown the hands
took possession of all the waste land any
where about, and ended by swarming
nto the mansion itself"
''No matter, / want to 20 there, just
the same. And on the way you can
tell ME all the legends connected with
the old house. Didn't you say il was
200 years old?"
''Or thereabouts," j" said he, declining
TO commit himself
WASN'T there ever IA murder or sui
eide or something equally shocking in
il? Come, freeze my young blood at
once with the most unpleasant tradi-
ton you can think Of Wasn't there a
bloody crime, and somebody hanged" ,"
''No Schuyler was ever hanged that
/ know Of" said Christopher, ''but
doubtless, there are many, even now,
who richly deserve il. Concerning leg
ends, | can tell you about Dancing Da-
maris = how delicious ~
"And about old Syrenia Schuyler
who was witch i'm the days when
witches were fashionable"
"Ah, my blood is already commenc-
ing to CONCEAL" said Winifred, COM
fortably settling back.
'Old Syrena lived and died in the
house where we are going. She must
have been an uncomfortable person by
all accounts. Her neighbOrs each side
of her had to give up tying their cattle
in the stalls, because by her magic pow
er they became unloosed as fast a. the
farmers tied them. Once she was far
away from home and found il needful
To return To get a piece of cloth she had
left behind her. She retraced her steps
and was gone only few minutes bring
ing the cloth. Another time some boys
near the Schuyler house treed squir-
rel, the largest they had ever seen.
They shot at il a number Of times, but
failed to hit it. Finally they left il and
were going away, when it ran down
out of the tree and turned into large
striped eat. The cat ran before them
and they began to pelt ii with stones,
but the stones made no more impress
sion on the eat than the shot did on the
squirrel. The cat ran through closed
window into the Schuyler house, and
Immediately after old Syrena looked
out of the window at the boys, who
took to their heels with great unanimi-
ty. The theory is, of course, that Syre-
IA took the form of both squirrel and
cat.''
"Dear old Syrena ~ murmured Win
fired.
"But that isn't all about Syrena. She