The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1894-10-05

One note isnf much, but it's part of q
So don't keep on gru,nbling about it.
The cheerfulness that yous-in business dis
win ksften the ourl ess of al! on the way
Elf YOU don't gOson grumbling about 1t.
THE SKELETON HAND
Win Tremayne and l were college
friends thirty years ago. He kept i'll the
rooms beneath mine. in the corner of THE
quaint sold red-brick court of St. Johns.
and l was oneSof the few men who knew
him well. He was never very popular.
for he was 4toos reserved land exclusive,
holding aloOf from the rowing set
though he, was perhaps the best oar in
the first boat-and not sufficiently prac-
teal and definite in his aims and ideas
for the reading men. Yet he was un-
doubtedly clever, in vague. erratic
way. and to those who really knew him
his manner was singularly charming, al
though his changes of mood We're as ca
PRECIOUS and sudden as Il girls. and l,
chance. word might ut any time throw
him mtO"a dreamy melancholy. or. more
rarely. into Il white intensity of passion
1t is more than twenty years now since
| saw him laid in Langthorne church.
yard. AMI there can he no reason why
should not relate the strange events
which spoiled and shortened his life
How far, indeed. they were actual
events. and how much was merely the
vivid im;lginations Of Il powerful but ull-
balanced intellect, | cannot say. l shall
not attempt to explain or theOriZe. and
from the simple statement of what T my
self saw. and, what Tremayne told me,
each reader may draw his own conclu-
siOllS. -
At the end of my third year at Cam
bridge. as soon as we could get down
after his Tripos, went home with IRE
mayne. 1t was an unusually hot sum-
mer. 1 remember, and lie had felt terri
bly, the strain of the long, Esultry days in
the Senate House, with the air culver.
ing With heat and the silence only broken
as they marched slowly down the long
rows Of tables and the Irritating scratch
ing of flying pens 1t was a relief to
get away into the country, to the vicar
age of the little Midland village where
Will lived with his uncle. We had Il
very quiet time: there: fishing and ram
bling across the country. and falling in
love-both of us-with -kittie Maitland
at the Hall. I am a&prosaic old bach
elor now. as dry as my briefs, s.but l, too,
have lived in Arcadia and dreamed my
dreams. They were never anything but
dreams with me. and yet they have had
more influence on my life than many
realities.
One night; as we sat smoking in the
garden, Tremayne. who had fallen into
Il dreamy mood, suddenly sprang up and
said:
Bob. you We never seen the old church
by moonlight, have you? Let's pay an
evening call on the knights and DANES in
al! right" l said: lazily; "get the
We strolled across the grass where the
yew trees east strange black shadows
over the mounds and tombstones, and
up the aisle to the chapel, where, behind
carved oak screen. and under their
c,nopies of marble, lay the effigies of two
knights and a lady. The moonlight
poured down on them in all the splendor
of IL cloutlless night in June. and the
played weirdly over the face Of one gigan-
tic figure carved in full armor.
"Queer-looking old chap, isn't he?" said
Will: doesn't look as if he'd stick
ut much. He was an awful brute
in the. old days, you know, when
the ruin Oh the hill. was his baro-
NAL hall. The villagers say he
visits once a year still. He would be
buried standing up. and no one dared to
disobey him, even when he was dead: so.
down i'll the vault. his coffin stands on
end. with IL hole in the lead where his
skull looks out. I've seen it many IL
time"
How ghtstly!' l said ''Who was
he?''
~*Qh. an. ancient enemy of my fore
fathers. There's an old monkish chron-
clea the vic,rage which tells how he and
Guliemus ,Trema gnus- me name as
lnine-fell ont about some lady. My an
cest0r ha,I the pull of~him there, but the
old blackgtl,srd got shissreyeRge. for he put
all arrow through him from behind Il
tree soon after the wedding. Let's 90
down and bear,! him in his vault and tell
him what we think of him.
Don't be IL fool, Tremayne!'' l said;
what is the earthly good Of going down
there now
..Rubbish!' he answered, laughing; Il
believe you are afraid
oh. well. then, if that's what you
think, l said, come on, and ! took up
i; candle from, the lecterl, lighted it and
stood waiting.
He lifted !, stone in the floor and we
went down flight Of stone steps. feeling
place was heavy with the peculiar un-
clean smell Of mold 'andsrOttenness. thick
with black darkness. and cold as it was.
the air felt hot and close. l felt that
ought not to have allowed him to 90. still
nervous and excitable from the strain of
his examination. but the taunt of fear ir-
ritated me and made me careless.
lVnv<N n l.
in front Of a huge leaden coffin standing
upright against the wall; bring the can,
die along
L held it high above my head, and
peered into the darkness. The next mo
ment stepped back aghast, for through /,
jagged hole there leered out upon us IL
yellow skull, with what seemed to my
fancy Il malignant, fiendish grim As I
stood there looking into it's eyeless sock
first in a f1ippant. hooking way; but
gradually he got excited, and addressed
it as if it were a living thing. haunting
it with the evil it had done, and it's pres
cnt impotence. He seemed carried away
by freakish madness, snapped his fin
gers at the grisly thing, defied it, and
heaped insults Oh it.
'"rremayne,'' I gasped at last. ''fo1
heavens sake, come away: You're not
yourself; come out of this foul air. As
I -clutched his arm something-I suppose
it was a bat-few suddenly out from
behind the skull, and knocked the candle
OUT Of my hand. and as we struggled ul
the steps through the spitchy darkness. q
low, evil chucklc seemed to come from
behind us. ,,.... 80. '''<''
ibid you see it:'' lie painted with dry
lips and drawn, ashen face. leaning
heavily against the church door. Z "Did
yoa -; it: IT. 5was his soul; his devils
Nonsense. man." l said; ct was g
bat or an OWL. You are feverish and
hysterical. Oyerwork has pulled your
nerves to pieces. Come home and get
to bed" %Se'. ~
''But it laughed at me. Didn't you hea,
it laugh at meY' 49,. "
:'Why, Tremayne;'':I said, you car
imagine hearing anything in your state
A mans senses play him queer tricks
when he's unstrung. Pull yourself to
gether and come away -.,- H. 80
He.was in a hisl, fever by the time ]
got him home, and ] sat by his bed fol
night after night as he tossed and raved