The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-02-04

one has stolen my portrait"
Nonsense" he replied testify, you never
her"
Nonsense. of course, all of IL. ] am sur
prised that a sensible man. such as you are
upon most subjects, should even listen to
such trash. much less believe IL. Ghosts
of pictures? Ball. But something must be
done to sweep Il away or these idiots will
think j have done something wrong. l be-
han In IL"
Now YOU are doing something wrong.
My mother, would not
wen. well. but one Of the old servants
her"
Here / must state that the Dowager Lady
Jorilard was very sore about her sons
second marriage, and had refused TO visit
the bride.
guests. have gone. she continued. II
shall make "A complete change from the
housekeeper downwards. ] will get Desan-
OF that"
She had her way ito prevent further
"bother.rD and a new set of servants and
an exact copy OF the missing portrait were
ready for the Christmas festivities.
Il shall not hang my new picture In the
gallery" said Lady Lorilard. mot that l
am the least afraid of their ghost story,
but because. having 80 many doors and
passages leading i'm and out. 1t is just the
place for tricks such as have been already
played Besides. IL would kill everything
else there. The blue drawing room Is the
best place" And really IT was.
SO on Christmas eve this second portrait
OF the second Lady Lorilard. personally
conducted by an agent of the frame-mak-
er, was put in the position Indicated in
presence Of several visitors twho were in
formed of the tricks that had been
played), and it was agreed that some OF
them should sit up all night with their
host and hostess to watch IL.
Baccarat had not entered private houses
in the forties. When we wanted a little
gamble We played Vingt-et-un. or Loo; and
the picture guard on this occasion chose the
latter game to pass the time. There were
nine, four women and five men, and my
lady was Jolly enough TO let the latter
smoke. These were Sir Reginald, Colonel
AmbroSter (his uncle and godfatherl, the
Hon. Percy Ryland and Messrs. Parish and
sidered it .iarks." The fair Contingent
consisted Of Lady Lorilard, Mrs. Ryland
and her sister. Miss Dorne. and a Mrs;
Spofford, whose husband said it was all
"bosh," and went TO bed early. They sat
at an oval table in the middle of the room,
and the Colonel. Mrs. Spofford and young
began with shilling 'tit-ups" dealer eight
cen PENCE with club law, and found this
"A big pool. thanks to one player having
looed the board twice running. For the
next and my lady who had been losing
stood with two others, and il looked as
though she might repeat the coup. for she
held the king and mine of trumps. But alas,
Colonel Ambroster had the acc and young
Parish the ten (guarded), SO. aving TO
lead. she did not get a trick, and Was
looed thirteen pounds ten shillings, to her
EVIDENT mOrtlncatlOn.
Young Parish was in the act of counting
out his two-thirds. when he suddenly eX-
claimed, my God. Look at her face"
Lady Lorilard flushed crimson. THAT is
very rude of you" she replied conscious of
previous black looks II hope l can lose
my money without -
was looking over her head, pale. and clutch
ing the back OF his chair with trembling
hands.
mo, no." he gasped;. 'I don't meas you,
Lady Lorilard. Look, Look at the picture!'
In a moment they were all up, and every
eye followed his.
The whole face of the picture (once sea-
shell pink and white) had changed to a dark
phosphorescent blue. from which opaline
brown. and the fumes ceased. Then 1t
seemed to break up, and black greasy
fakes. like SCOT. foated in the air, and some
Of them fell on the card table. Tfla was
all. The feathers remained intact: below
the corsage there was no stain, but where
the head and left hand had been they could
see nothing except the wooden backing Of
the furnace
As they stood aghast another shock came.
The room was on fire. Some one had upset
a lamp on the first surprise. and the car
pet where it fell was all ablaze with the
oil. Lady Lorilard tainted: 80 cid Miss
Donne. Tn two young men ran to the
door, and would have shouted for help
had not Colonel Ambroster stopped them.
He was the first TO feel his head He
threw the sheep-skin hearth rug OF the
fire and trampled it out. Next he took his
host and hostess-when she had recovered
aside, and the result of a whispered con-
versation was this extraordinary undue
in which about half a pint of oil remained,
and he sprinkled this on q window curtain
close to the disfigured picture and upon
the picture itself, and then deliberately set
fire to both and let them burn till the can
vass Of the latter was utterly ruined. Then
he was the first to rush out and shout
Fire Fire."
BY the time that assistance came the
curtain had burned itself out. and there
was no danger in the smoldering canvas.
This was q secret of nine.
They met early next morning to seal IL IN.
Lady Lorilard was low and nervous. and
did not take the lead as usual. Sir Reginald
was cross, and blamed himself for having
consented to the Colonel's feat. For" said
he, II ought to have had the edges analysed
to see what sort of stuff was used. If it
was a rick
The Colonel. who knew all about the fam
lily history and the weirds woven into it,
replied graveiy:
You and / must not talk ifs. Let it be
as il Is. Something has happened which can
not be explained. L have trumpet it with
something that can be. Don't you, see? You
are very unlucky with your wife's portraits
that's all. \ thief stole one. and a clumsy
visitor--say it was j. / don't ~mind-upset a
lamp and spoiled another. Let us all stick
to that"
And they promised and vowed that they
would.
Lady Lorilard was too ill to accompany
her guests to church on Christmas day.
All night long she had stared aghaSt at
Sleep thinking about Dame Barbara and
wondering if, after all, there might not be
some things in heaven and earth that she
did not understand. The moral Of the
weird-which she could no longer dismiss
as "all bosh"-was that there existed some
power within the walls of Ethan Priors
which would not tolerate the presence of
certain pictures; and she felt with a cold
shudder that when the originals i'm the
case of Lady Barbara-would not take its
hints and go. it might become a terrible
personal. But what had she done to anger
IL? There was one ~turned-down page i'm
her history, the memory of which some
times gave her conscience q qualm, but on
that was written the sin of another. and
contained nothing save unmerited sorrow
for her own account. Could il be that she
was being punished for not having opened
it To her husband? Surely no, for so small
an offense as that. Was IL possible that
none of those ladies who smirked in the
picture gallery had ever told her lord a
lie? Telling a lie was worse than keeping
back a truth about which she had never
been asked a question. What nave /
done?" she asked herself again and again,
and no answer came; for in very truth she
had been a good wife to Sir Reginald. and
all the servants and tenants swore by her.
When all the rest had gone to church she
went out alone into the park; and then. as
she crossed a little stream TO go to her ia
vorite little wood for rest and fresh air.
as the atmosphere of the house seemed 70
stife and stupefy her. she saw what ought
to have been a ghost
The first news which called Sir Reginald
ont of church was that his wife hoI \