Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1895-05-04

Of shrubs near the hall door-"that I
parted with that unfortunate cousin Of
mine"
Lady Dynecourt shudders, and draws
closer to her husband.
1T was a marvellous story" observes
a pretty woman who was not at the
castle last autumn, when what so near
ly proved To be a tragedy was being en-
acted; quite like a legend or a medi9-
val romance. Dear Lady Dynecourt
finding him was such a happy finish TO
it.. | must say | have always had the
greatest veneration for those haunted
chambers, so seldom to be found now
III any house. Perhaps my regard for
them is the stronger because | never
saw one"
Nor" q~uestioningly. "Will you come
and see r now!' says Sir Adrian
readily.
His wife clasps his arm, and o pang
contracts her brow.
You are not frightened nOgg, sure
lyY says Adrian, smiling at 1er very
tenderly.
-Yes, | am" she responds promptly.
The very name Of that awful room UNI
nerves me. There is something evil in
1t, | believe. Do not 90 there"
III DlpIh ~ up lOICfci IL YOU ISL
it," declares Sir Adrian: but, for the
last time let me 60 and show its ghost
ly beauty to Lady Laughton. | confess,
ever after adj that has happened, it
possesses no terror for me; il only re-
minds me Of my unpleasant kinsman."
Il wonder what became of him" re-
marks RingwOod. Hes at the other
side of the world. / should imagine"
- a ltt IS fla ,.ya.Il - n .a-.. - 800
Ethel, indifferently.
well, let us GO agrees Florence re-
signedly.
So together they all start once more
for the old tower. As they reach the
stone steps Sir Adrian says l~aughingly
to Lady Laughton:
Now, what do you expect To see? A
ghost-a phantom? And in what shape,
what guisel"
"A skeleton" answers Lady Laugh
ton, returning his laugh; and with
the words the door is pushed open, and
they enter the room en- m1Sse.
The sunlight is stealing in through
the narrow window holes and family
lighting up the dismal room.
What is that in yonder corner, the
very corner where Sir Adrian's almost
lifeless body had been found? Is this
a trick, a delusion of the brain? What
is this thing huddled together. lying in
a heap-a CHASTITY. ragged, filthy heap.
before their terrified eyes? And why
does this Clearinghouse smell infect
their nostrilsy They stagger. Even
the strong men grow pale and faint,
for there, before them. gaunt, awful,
unmistakable. lies a skeleton.
Lady Laughton's testing words have
come true-a fieshless corpse indeed
meets their stricken gaze.
Sir Adrian, having hurriedly asked
one of the men Of the party to remove
Lady Dynecourt and her friends. he
and Captain Ringwood proceed TO ex-
anime the grewsome body that lies up
on the floor; yet. though they profess
to each other total ignorance Of what
1t can be. there is in their hearts a
miserable certainty that appalls them.
Is this TO be the end of the mystery?
Truly had spoken Ethel Ringwo0d
when she had alluded To Arthur Dyne-
court as being "out of the world" for
it is his remains they are bending over,
as a few letters scattered about testify
only too plainly.
Caught in the living grave he had
destined for his cousin was Arthur
Dynecourt on the night of Sir .Adrian's
release. The lamp had dropped from
his hand in the first horror OF his dis
cOvery that his victim had escaped him.
Then followed the closing of the fatal
lock and his in~sensibility.
On recovering from his swoon. he
had no doubt endured a hundred-fold
more fortunes than had the innocent
Sir Adrian, as his conscience must
have been increasingly racking and
tearing him.
And not too soon either could the
miserable end have come. Every pang
he had designed for his victim was his.
Not one was spared. Cold and hunger
and the raging fever of thirst were his,
and withal a hopelessness more intol-
cradle than aught elsa hopelessness
that must have grown in strength as
the interminable days went by.
And then came death-an awful lin.
gering death, whilst the loathsomt
rats had finished the work which star.
!, walton and death had begun, and now
all that remained of Arthur Dynecouri
was a heap of bones.
They hush the matter up as well as
they can, but it is many days before
Florence and her husband, or any OF
their guests forget the dreadful hour
in which they discovered the u~nsigl;tly
remains of him who had been oyertak'
ell by a just and stern retribution.
TIE ESD