The Portland daily press., 1894-05-02

and sat up the rest of the night. This
time I concluded that my cousins Wits
had some denented relative or friend con-
fined in the house, and that she had es-
canned accidentally and made these excur-
sions into my room. l determined to speak
to nv cousin in the morning and obtain
the truth from him, and thus protect my
self against further alarm and fright.
When I descended the next morning, I
was 40 fortunate as to meet my cousin
alone in the lower hall. Come into the
library and letme speak with you, l said.
He led me into the room, saying laugh
ingly. Have you, too, seen the ghost?
Indeed l have, replied, and then told
him of what had happened to me. He
seemed annoyed 1t is very strange, he
said. No one is confined here in the
house. Soon after we came this same lit
tie brown woman appeared to my wife.
When she told me of it, laughed at her.
In few days, however, the thing repeat
ed itself. Both of the girls have seen her.
I myself have not yet been honored. Seri-
ously, though, I begin to fear that there is
a mystery. Something must be done. My
wife and daughters wished ito give up the
house a month ago, but felt that there
must be some mistake, and l determined
to remain and prove to them that either IL
was their overweight imaginations or
something which would in time explain
itself naturally
AT breakfast my cousin related my ex-
perience to the family. We discussed the
matter very seriously. That same day my
Cousins wife heard low cries of distress in
= 1oJr ono
by her, we went into the room Immediate
ly, but found no one On the night of that
day I was again awakened from my sleep
by the appearance at my bedside OF this
same little woman, as silent and pathetlc
as ever.
''On the following day the cries of dis
tress were again heard in the vacant bed
room, but no clew to them could be dis
covered OF course the whole household
was aroused and excited, and there was
little rest for any of us. Had it not been
for the ardent feeling of my cousin con-
corning the old family house nothing could
have held us there day longer. Appreci-
ating his pride in the matter, we deter
mined to wait awhile, and with the assist
ance of skilled detectives see If the mys-
terry could be solved.
"a week passed. Detectives came and
went, but they discovered nothing. In the
meantime, however, the little brown wom-
an appeared twice to me in my room and
as often to my cousins wife. When we
called or rang for some one, she dlsap-
peared as suddenly and as mysteriously as
she had come
81 can give you no idea of the sensation
she produced upon those who saw her.
Above everything we saw at the time and
recalled afterward those pathetic eyes of
hers, looking beseechingly into ours
Whoever she was, she was woman OF
deep sorrow, and in some way, we all felt
she represented some terrible tragedy or
undying grief.
lone evening at the end Of a week Mr..
Graves, young detective, called and
asked to see the family. He was shown
into the library, and drawing package of
papers from his pocket begged leave to lay
before us some information which he had
obtained. Somewhere in New York, it
seems, is kept record of all the old houses
in the city. This enterprising young de-
tective, bafied by his Investigations at the
house, was convinced from what he had
learned that the affair partook of the SUI
pernatural consequently he had gone into
these records and hunted out that of this
old family house in Blocker street What
he told us contained the only explanation
of the little brown woman which we have
ever had, and as my cousin gave up the
house Immediately none of us has ever
seen her since"
ssWhat was it?" asked in whisper the
group of women.
After this house had passed from my
cousins family continued Miss Blunt,
sit was occupied for some years, it seems,
by M. Grovoche, French wine mer-
chant. He lived alone in Blocker street
with his servants and was supposed to have
amassed large fortune. When some
years had gone by in this way, he suddenly
disappeared, and for many years no expla-
nation could be discovered. His mother,
a peasant woman from the Gironde, came
to this country in the hope of finding him.
She spent the remaining years of her life
in the search, and the devotion and energy
with which she pucsued her purpose made
her at one time familiar figure to the po-
lice of New York, and especially to the
people in Blocker street, where she was
frequently to be seen. The poor woman
died without obtaining any clew to the
fate of her son. and soon the whole matter
was lost sight of by those who had taken
an interest in her. A few years after her
death a man died in New Jersey who left
a confession to the effect that the house Of
M. Groyoche in Blocker street had been
entered by him one night with the intent
to rob; that M. Grovoche had discovered
him concealed in his bedroom and had at
tackled him; that forthwith he returned
the attack and murdered M. Grovoche by
q thrust in the side with a dagger. He
knew the house very we'll, for in planning
the robbery he had been familiarizing
himself for some months with it. He
dragged the dead body below to cellar,
which he knew contained drainage well,
into which he dropped it. He then made
his escape noiselessly, leaving the treasures
of the house untouched. When search was
made for the body, which was said to be
buried in the well, it was readily discov-
cred and identified as that of M. Grovoche
by silver chain and crucifx which still
hung about the skeletons neck. From
that time until my cousin bought and re-
fitted the house it had remained vacant
and an air Of mystery had chung about it.
I have no doubt, unless it has been pulled
down to make way for stores or ware
houses, it is vacant today and pointed at
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