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

i of him since Kit y u death, and I felt at
once that y must 50. did not know
why, but a sttange, chilly sensation came
oyer me, and ! thought Of that night in
4 \ 1t was Il heavy, sultrys October evening
! when stepped ont of the train Mt Lang
thorne, and the red moon L,oane,l lnrge
and low through the rising mist, while
| titfal little gusts ST wind in the treetops
! foreboded . coming storm. TreMa yne
twas there on the platform. but hardly
recognized III the haggarvl, wiltl-eyed man,
who met me the athlete who had stroketl
our college boat to. the head Of the river
so shortsa time before. gs
\ you won't have very long to. be with
me. though" ! = iks$sE;yy 81
..Oh, I can stay, u week If you like i
answered. clients are not so nuner-
II don't mean that" he said. II have
not long to stay with; you, ;; -, c.}sy
Why, Will, you have years before you
yet" Z replied. g YOU must not get these
1ancies into your head, old man. Others
beside you have been hardly used by Fate
and lived to be happy enough" 80. l..
Perhaps So. he answered YEARLY:
warming. and heaven only knows what
my end will be like. but it will come
SOON"
VIII T said. lit is worse than foolish
to talk like this. It's u cowardly weak
ness to give way to such gloomy ideas"
But he only shook his head, gIoomily.
and returned the same answer to All [
said:
wait till you have heard my story"
And that. evening he told it me. I can
not say how much Of it is to be literally
believed. how much is only the tliseased
| imagination tf an unbalanced brain, .;But
! it was III awful thing to hear, as he spoke
in a low. rapid. voice, with feverish energy.
while the rising wind hoWled among the
| tossing trees and the moon scudded
through the driving black clouds. I'D /
''Rob.' he said, ''you remember that
night in the church, don't you? When
was mad and Knocked ut that cursed
ut mo in the dark? L have seen it twice
since then-twice in the open day-and
each time it laughed the same Aellish
laugh. Don't interrupt NE, AS l began
to protest-"l tell you solemnly il has
cursed my life. and its devilish revenge
will he consumlnated very soon. dare
say you think am mad now. l only won
der that l am not. 49,.
ut killed my darling. You may well
start. but know it us we'll as if my eyes
had seen it. This is the night when, by
some awful power. it leaves that vault
and goes back to die ruin where it lived
its evil life 800 years ago. 1t was year
|
from the town early in the evening and
started for the hall When 1 got Is the
| old wooden bridgc-yOu know it, don't
you. where we used to fish below the mill
| pool:-i saw her leaning on the rail,
watching the sunset ON the water. She
did not seem to hear me- coming: stood
close behind her and said: 'Kitty!-and
then my rod! I can see it now-the fig
ure turned. and instead of my tlarlinc's
| flower face. l looked straight into that
yellow skull, with it's fixed devils grin.
| heard it laugh ut me. its hollow, chuck
1 mGE. l'"sh; you remember it, don't you,
nodded silently. and he went ON:
Il don't know what happened then. I
supposed I tainted. The next thing that I
| remember was looking round with a vague
wonder at finding myself in the >parlor at
the mill. with the doctor and the miller's
wife bending over me- L must have been
unconscious some time for it was dark
then. l would not rest rs they told me,
but hurried as well as l could to the hall.
They told me that she had gone to the
Vicarage. I went back, but she was not
there. We SearcRed for her in vain all
the night, but in tlle morning found her
down by: the river bank, just below the
bridge, quite, dead-ny darlipg -quite
dead.
"They said it was an accident. that the
handrail was old and rotten, and must
have given way ais she leaned on it, but
l know bette Bob. And l swear to you,
whether you will believe it or notion her
| the print of a bony hand!'
MY dear Tremayne.' said. strug-
Cling to shake off the thrill of horror
that came over me-: you are allowing
your whole life to be distorted by the
is that whenever your brain is overworked
and You are run down generally the
vivid impression Of that CHASTITY thing
comes before you. Those bruises might
easily have been caused by, the stones
in the river. Now take my advice: Get
the doctor to make you up something
which will give you a sound nights rest,
and tomorrow YOU must get right away
from this place. Go to Algiers. or the
Cape-anywhere quite away from here"
II shall be sleeping sound enough to-
morrow. Bob" he said. LET me fin
here, in this very room
lnvoluntarly I looked around with
something of start, for he was gaz-
ing. with wild. fixed stare behind me.
'You needn't be frishtened,' he said.
with cracking little laugh, there's
morning. came in tired: after a long
walk. and as 1 opened the door 1 saw
myself-as clearly as | see you now
leaning with arms on the imantelpiece
and head turned toward, the mirror
"Of course. yoB saw yourself, WILL"
said. with Il mirror opposite you. A man
usually does" 49,. \
"But man does not see Ills own back,
Bob And he does not see what | did
as l looked over its shoulder: The figure
my fgure-never turned; or! moved. but
through the glass. in the { full sunlight,
less jaws parted in their hollow grin. 1
did not faint then, but struck full ut it
with MY stick, cursing it as / struck
The mirror flew into fragments, and the
thing was gone; but through the crash of
the breaking glass l heard the echo of
it's hateful, jeering laugh, ::
He paused a moment: Ithen his reath
came hard and fast. as he went on in u
hurried whisper I could hardly catch.
ut is y year ago tonight, Bob, since
Kitty died. :.s,,.. 49,.
told him it was Il Authorization due to
| his nervous condition. aud that in the
morning he would laugh at these efancies.
| But it was no use: the same weiTy smile
and shake of the head: were all his an
swer, and at last we parted and went to
! bed -. .z-j -.
l could not sleep, hut lay listening to
the growing storm, and starting up at
| every little sound that seemed to my cx-
| cited mind to come from the next room,
where Trcmlync: slept: Quite suddenly
the wind dropped, and what seemed an
endless silence fOllowed-;l dead stiffness
without II sound in the black darkness
except the monOtomous ticking of my
watch. which beat. on my ear like the
! strokes of Il hammer. :, FL. i; I
| Then at last the storm burst, and every
little detail Of the room leaped out in the
lurid blaze Of the lightning. The thun-
der crashed and rolled among the hills,
and the rain ratified like bullets ON the
tiles. Another lull, as the storm seemed
gathering up all it's force for Il madden
burst of fury. and then, through the hor-
| rOr.
| ] sprang up. seized l. candle and hur-
ried out into the corridor. As I opened
the door Of his room / staggered back,
half blinded by IL jagged flash which cut
through the, murky blackness. and as the
Il