The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1895-09-12
A GHOST STORY.

than they do now, and ono would con-
stantly hear people whisper to one anoth-
or, whilo some individual was rotating his
or her experience: "Ah, it is very odd that
these ghost stories should always be rclat-
cd ut second or third hand. y Now, I want
to sect person who personally has seen tho
ghost, and then will believed
Yes people aro moro accustomed to
hearing about ghosts now, and yet oven
now should it bo II wife, daughter or sister
who ventures to narrato some supernatural
experience she is poohpoohcd, or laughed
ut, or told to 'talSc a pill"
Now, L have seen ghost and am pre-
pared to attest most solcmnly to the fact
us well rs to tho truth of every word here
set down. l have of course avoided names,
but nothing else, so, without further pre-
amblc, will state my case.
Some years ago L became tho object of
tho infatuated alteration of /. person of my
own ago and sex, and uso tho word Gin
fatuatcd' ndviscdly, because 1 feel now,
as did at the time that neither nor any
mortal that ever lived could possibly be
worthy of tho overwhelming affection
which my poor friend lavishcd upon me.
l, on my Sidc was not ungratcful toward
her, for [ loved her in return very dearly,
but when / explain that L was u wife and
the mother of young children, and that
sho was unmarried, it will easily be I'M
derstood that our devotion to each other
must of necessity he rather one sided, and
this fact caused some dispencc between us
ut times.
For many years my friend held IL post at
court which she resigned soon after she
began to know me, and although her royal
mistress, in her gracious Kindness, assign
cd two houses to hcr she gave them both
n ~ IN,
Indeed she gave up relatives, old servants
and comforts in order that she might come
and live (and die, alasD in lodgings, over
shop near me. But she was not happy
Sho "gloomcd' over the inevitable fact
that in consequences of the differences in
her homo circumstances and mine, could
not be with her every day and all day
long. l think she was naturally of an
unhappy disposition, being deeply, pas
sionatcly and Enthusiastically jealous, and
also painfully incapable of taking things
and people us they were. All this gave mo
often much annoyance, but we were, all
tho same, sometimes very cheerful and
happy together and sometimes the re-
verso.
Later on, she, poor soul, was taken i'll,
an@durng months Of nuctuating health l
nurscd hor-sOmctimcs in hope, sometimes
wlthout-and mt moments during her i'll
ness she found strange comfort in foretell-
ing to mo, after tho most "uncanny' fash
Ion, things which she declared would hap
pen to me after her death They were
mostly rivialitics-littlo episodes concern
ing people and things over whom wo had
talked and laughed together, for she was
gifted with keen sense of the ridiculous.
Among other things she said to mo ono
afternoon:
"This bazaar for which wo arc work
ing" (sho had been helping mo for weeks
for charity bazaar, and L can now SEQ her
dainty little hands as she manipulated the
delicate muslin and lace; poor, door
L"D-"I shall DO dead before it takes
place, and L shall see you Mt your stall, and
on ono of the days of the bazaar an old
lady Will como up to you and say: Have
you any of poor Miss LIS work. Gnon-
tioning me.) And you will answer, Yes;
hero is some, and you will show her this
which am working, and she'll say, Have
you any morc?' and you'll say Yes again.
and shell carry it all off and say she buys
it for poor Miss LIS sake And 1
shall know and SEQ it all!'
remember repeating wohderingly.
''What LADY,"
She answered dreamily: ooh, L don't
know, but some old lady! You'll sccp'
what occurred at the bazaar, months after
her death. An old lady, with whom 1 was
not acquainted, did buy all her work, hay
ing asked for it and carrying it away 'for
her sake" An old lady, too, whom had
never seen.
Ono other curious circumstance which
attended her death was that, after looking
forward with moro than usual pleasure to
my coming birthday (Which she said would
be "a more than commonly happy ami
versary') chat was the very day on which
sho died
think that one of tho sharpcst regrets
which l ever experienced in my life CON
sisted in tho fact that 1 was not with INV
dearest friend ut the moment that she
passed away. Sho had made me promise
that would DO with her at that time and
God knows l had tho fullest intention of
fulfilling her wish, but on that very even
ing, of all Others, was called away. and
she died in my absence. 1 had been sit
ting by her bedside all the afternoon and
oil that evening had held her dear hand
and had kept whispering comforting
words in her ear, but latterly she had
made no response and was seemingly un-
conscious.
Suddenly q messenger came from nv
house (not u hundred yards it was AWAY
saying my husband wanted mo at once, ms
ono of my children was ill. 1 looked at
the nurse, who assured me there was moth
ing immediate impending, so STOPPING
over my poor friend i whispered ut the
same time pressing kiss on her forehead
that "half an hour should see me at her
side again" But she took no notice, and,
much against my will, hastily and noise
lessly left the room.
clt
ricd across the square, and rs l passed the
church the clock struck IL, and | sudden
ly remembered that today was my birth
lnvi