The Press., 1894-12-06

SltlOn. The mOOnIgnG nau ulSappodreu from her little chamber. A cold night wind blew in at the window. The house was buried i'll darkness and silence. El- sic rubbed her eyes vigorously, wonder ing what had happened. She listened to the old clock ill the kitchen striking it's slow and solemn 12. More than two hours had passed since she sat looking out at the lane and the moon illumlned hill and thinking of Paul, and yet It seemed hardly moment. She remem- bered vividly the vision of Uncle S1 holding out to her the packet of papers Elsie was not more superstltlous than other healthy minded young girls o1 her age, but now her nerves were slight ly shaken, and the dream, or whatever it was, took powerful hold on her mind. Uncle Sis sad and solemn face brought the conviction that he was not at rest in the grave and that he called upon her to take some decisive step.
 The closet door opening ill the solid wall was as inexplicable to Elsie as ever, but as she sat there in the dark, shivering, trying to think calmly of these strange things it suddenly occur red to her that the moment had come for calling Paul out of the woods with the whippoorwill's cry. All were fast asleep in the old farmhouse. Not a mouse rustled in the wall. She was fully dressed, and it was but the work of moment to take a little plaid shawl from among the garments hanging OH 4the wall, throw it over her head, open the door and creep out into the passage. She stole along through the slu1nbrous house like spirit, crouched at the door of the spare chamber and heard within the regular breathing of Arthur Hap good, glided down the back stairs, avoiding the creaking step, and softly undid the kitchen door. It was chill and dewy without, and the melancholy moon sloped toward the west, casting long beams across the grass, where rabbit, sitting on his haunches, pricked up his sensitive ears
 Elsie knew every stick and stone ana bush in the home fields as well by night as by day. She ran through the farmyard, crept between the bars into the lane, sped up the steep cowpath ana over another fence to grassy knoll, where near pile of stones grew the great branchy hollow oak Here she stopped to take breath, putting her hand to her side, for the climb was steep and rugged. The low moon looked at her solemnly. There was a stirring of young birds iI the bushes Some small creature, per, haps snake, filtered away through the grass Elsie, half frightened at what she was doing, let out her voice in the long, low, melancholy call of the whip, poorwill. The sound seemed to divide the country silence like a sword thrust. Then it fell again more profound thai
 before, and the night held its breath ir the low moonlight Again she let out her voice louder and longer in the strange bird call, and putting her ear tc the ground she listened, with beating heart. Yes, he was coming now The light snapping of twigs, the crunch o1 heel on the stones. told her so. In 8 moment she saw his tall, dark outline
 looming over her, and they had clasped | hands
 "What is it, Elsie? Has that fellow
 been annoying you again?'
 "Don speak of him." said Elsio i'll an agitated whisper, and she laid hold l of his arm. ''I have seen Uncle Si again tonight i'll my sleep, and he open | ed the same closet door ill the corner of | his room and showed me that bundle of papers He looked so sad, so awful, ] was frozen with terror and I had to get out of the house to breathe. What dn you think it means?"
 l Paul saw that Elsie was wrought uE to the highest pitch Of excited feelings and skeptic as he was about supernatu- l ral appearances he tried to soothe her in- stead of making light of her delusion. ''It is very strange, Elsie. Do yon think we could cFeeB into the house without being heard?o
 "I am sure we could, Paul. Do come with me, and let us try to probe this mystery"
 "I know Hapgood has come back, Elsie, for have been spying on the house all day from the top of the hill. I would like to take a look at that wall in the corner of Uncle Sis chamber. Now remember the attic stairs go up near that place, and there must be a cavity underneath. Perhaps years ago, when you came here as a child, there was a closet door there, and it has been walled up. You may have forgotten all 1 about it, and it has come back to you HOW in a dream. At any rate, we will 1 go down and see what we can find'
 The moon had set, and moaning wind bowed the tops of the trees, and dark clouds rolled up from the west, obscuring the stars. They crept down the lane and into the house like two conspirators and presently found them selves in the dark room where Uncle Si died and where he had slept for more than half century. Elsie groped her way to the chimney piece, where stood the night lamp she had used ill tine old mans long sickness, with matches.
 Stealthily she kindled the wick and
 looked at Paul, who was quite pale, and he, too, remarked that Elsie also looked pale and wide eyed with suppressed excitement.
 They gazed furtively around the room
 as if expecting to see something strange and uncanny, but it was just the same | plain, familiar, homely place they had always known. Paul had taken off his shoes, and now he approached the cor uer where Elsie had seen the closet door open in the wall He passed his hand | over what appeared to be solid sur face, but he noticed that the wall paper
 looked brighter and fresher in that part | of the room than elsewhere and seemed to have been put on by an unpracticed I hand, for 1t was streaked and wrinkled l He stopped down and examined tho base
 board where it appeared to have sprung away from the wall He gently inserted
 his fingers just there, and all old rusty
 nail fell out, and suddenly section of
 the board came away in his hand. Then
 he tapped upon the wall gently, and it | gave forth a hollow sound. They looked l at each other with frightened eyes. FL sic put her lamp down on the floor, and slight space was revealed between the wall and the floor. As the light flicker