The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1895-05-25

queer uUtle cOuflSty, ludt uldue u pun
of icy-cold wind in my face, and was
out of the room very fast, as If she
had slid or floated, without any steps
at all.
l put on my hat and locked up the
school and went home then. Looking
back / can't say that l felt scared or
nervous 1 know l did not walk a bit
faster when l went past the old church
yard. There was an oiu graveyard
there neal the school. and the children
used to play there during recreation.
When l reached the house Mrs.
Simonds asked why I had been de-
layed. and if L didn't want any supper.
but she did not appear surprised or
curious. She never seemed surprised
or curious at anything.
l went up stairs to my room and sat
down and thought it over. 1t seemed
to me there must be some natural eX-
planatian forthcoming. AS I thought
it over I remembered that there had
been a strange, faint earthly odor about
the child, and Immediately l put my
own skirt up to my face and smelled
it again. 1 hung my dress out of the
window in the air when l took it off.
The next morning when the scholars
| filed in to school l tried to think that
strange little girl might be among
| them, but she was not, and she did not
come in the afternoon.
That night 1 staid after school again.
I had made up my mind l would. 1
waited. and after a while that little
white arm showed out of the dusk, but
/ / had not seer the child come into the
room.
I asked again what she wanted, and
she said Just as she had before:
please, teacher, find my doll for me
and hear me say my next lesson in
the primer"
1 got up and went to her. just as I
had done before. and there she was,
just the same, and the faint earthly
odor came In my face.
when did you lose your doll?' says
But she wouldn't answer
please, teacher, find my doll for me
and hear ME say my next lesson in the
primer" says she, with a kind of wall.
1 never heard anything so pitiful as
1t was. 1t seemed to me somehow as
if all the wants l had ever known my
self sounded in that child's voice, and
as if she We're begging something l
had lost myself.
but L SPOKE uIIllS. II was always
nv way with children; 1 found it
worked best.
Now. you run home" says I, and
you come tomorrow, and I'll give you
your doll and hear your lesson in the
primer"
And then she rose up and courtesied,
lust as she had before. and vas gone.
/ did not try to follow her.
That evening l went round to ole
Dr.. Erm ons' and asked Mrs. EmmonS
If | could see the doctor for a few min.
utes.
She suspected what had happened
for she looked at me closely, and sale
she hoped l wasn't getting nervous
and overwrcught with school teaching
I said NO" l just wanted to see the
doctor about a new scholar; and she
left me in the sitting room and calleC
him in.
/ asked him, point blank, If anythin:
had ever happened there at Marsh
brook, and he wouldn't tell me at first
Il suppose you want to give up thu
school. l thought you were old enough
to behave Yourself" says he. He wa
pretty short sometimes, but he mean
well.
, I've done the best 1 could by tn
f school," said I.
= "Why couldn't you come home whe'
+ school was done, as o were told tt
instead of staying there in that lone
some place and getting hysterical?
: saw he. 81 don't know that | can ge
another teacher this term. It's a pit
all the lady teachers in creation coul
y not be ducked a few times to get tn
: nonsense out of them. I'll get ii ma
9 for the place next time. V ma
y enough of women
u Il don't want to give up the school,
q. says l.
I. "What are you talking about then:
o says he.
e 81 want to know if anything has evt
l. happened here in Marshbrook?' say
;, |. Il don't want to give up the scho
u if anything has happened"
ie He finally told me how a little 81
y had been murdered fifty or sixty yea
l. ago, on her way to school. on Il
Brook road. They found her lyil
IS dead beside Il clump of furze, with
III great bruise on the back of her nee
y as if she had been hit by a stone, al
IL her doll and her primer were lying
the road. where she had dropped the
LII when she ran from whoever attack'
er her. They never found hin.
,h WAS her name Mary Williams
~ says I.
y GLOW did you know it?'
IL "She told me-" says I.
re The old doctor turned as white as
81 sheet.
nc When he found out | wasn't friGl
ened. and didn't want to give up t
- school, he wanted to know what
'e- seen, and asked a good many qu'
ed tions. | told him as briefly as cou
IL and then l went home.
The next morning before school
IA got some linen rags from Mrs. Simon
le- and a piece of blue ianelette, and
Il made a pretty little rag doll. I'd neN
u made one before. but | couldn't
lt why my work wasn't as good as al
body's. I ravcled out, for its nair,
~ little of an old blue stocking | h;
lat and | colored its cheeks and mot
De- with paint. and its eyes with blue ) IL
| found. too. an old primer that Nj
as Simonds said her mother had studi
nj for | thought that might have be
like the one the child was carrying
| school when she was killed.
That night ! stayed after sch
for again. and waited until ! saw the lii
The white arm raised out Of the dusk. )
did not wait for me to speak that til
me She said. in a shrill voice:
nd please, teacher, find my doll for
I'D and hear me say my next lesson in
the primer"
Put your arm down and he quit
be- a V |, land | will hear your lessor
mo mt tho raU doll in INV nppknt .