Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1894-07-19

uulIles ih ItBatu 70 tne hauuJet
house.
Ny landlAdy, a simple kindly old
soul, showed surprise at my ques-
tions.
Have you never heard the story1
she asked.
We'll, it happened about eighteen
years ago.
The owner, quite q youngsh sort
of man, lived there with his wife
and baby.
He was an inventor, / believe, q
dreamy, distracted man, who didn't
want people around to bother him
so his wife, q sweet young thing,
staid right at home with the little
girl. But one day a stranger came
to the house, an old friend of the
family, a cousin or something, and a
real handsome young fellow.
After that the lady used TO be seen
out riding or walking with the hand.
some stranger, usually accompanied
by the little one, a quiet child and
very like her mother.
So everything went on smoothly as
far as anyone knew, until one night
terrible thing happened.
The fair young wife had shot her.
self through the heart.
She was found in the library by a
servant who heard the report of the
pistol.
1t was little toy her husband had
given her some time before, to crafty
the fancy she had taken to learn to
shoot at mark.
Poor lady, she had hit the mark
too well that time.
But was no one suspected Of having
killed herT Iasked. No, they sent
for doctor and the coroner, and the
latter reported it case Of accidental
shooting but whether 1t was acclden-
tai, or whether the poor thing was
unhappy and took her own life, no
one will ever know
where was her husband at the
time, asked.
He was out in the shrubbery with
the visitor, and, poor man, he was
nearly wild when they told him.
Did he take no steps to try and
discover the murderer?
The good lady looked at me in sur
prise.
'What need when there had been
no murder? she said simply.
And the appearance at the old
house2' ] asked the question in a
careless tone, as I cracked the shell!
Of my second egg.
20, they do say that the dead lady
can be seen walking in the shrubbery,
and sometimes a fearful scream is
heard, as of some one in mortal
agony
AT what time do these occurrences
take placer
always at night, and more especi-
ally on the seventh i of June, the an
niversary of the night on which she
died
The seventh of June. and this was
the eight
Again that strange thrill passed
over me, and ! put my cup of coffee
down untasted.
1t was perhaps a week after this
that in taking my daily walk, my feet
strayed in the direction of the old
house.
It was MONDAY, and no moon
threw ghostly shadows to startle the
Imagination.
l smiled little in remembrance of
my own folly. Strange what queer
freaks mans fancy will play upon
him.
And then just as these thoughts
passed through my mind, the sound
Of music fell upon my ear. Soft and
low, but distinct, the notes Of an old
tune played on tinkllng old piano,
aoated out upon the midday air, from
the direction of that gruesome wing.
would solve the mystery this
time!
Again | passed through the sag.
ging gate. and followed the scarcely
visible foot path that led to the wing.
I had traversed but half the dis
tance, when the music stopped as
abruptly as it had begun, and pro-
found silence reigned over all the
place.
AS before I searched in vain for
signs of life about the deserted place,
and vexed and irritated l left the
haunted house to solitude, and be-
took myself to the woods.
1t might have been month after
this, that my landlady greeted me
with a smiling face.
i have some news for you, Mr..
Holden, about the haunted house that
you are so interested in.'
Interested inr ! groaned in spirit
Hide anything from woman If you
canl
The old house has animate, at last,
pursued the good lady, an old colored
woman.
'Aloner
Yes, quite alone. Says she hai
come to lake care of the house and
look after things
Strange that the owners have
taken so sudden an interest in the
place after all these years
Better late than never, replied the
lgood soul lacrouiclv.
Does she talk like an intelligent
pareopp aakad fha nI1astlnn idlu