The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-06-07
THE MERVYN CURSE.

i nE LII ~ SC4COAs
A very striking story of the supernatur-
nj has lust been printed in that lannon's re-
uository of good stories, Rlacswood' $ Mag
azine. We print the gist of it here. 1t Is
hv LADY Gyendolen Ceeil, Lord Sails
bury's daughter
The story is told in the first person, the
narrator being a young girl who is one of
q house party at Mervyn Graz ge. The
Meryyns have many family traditions and
a family curse. to which they never allude.
and this curse is intimately connected
with a room in which is mysterious cab
met that no one has been able TO open for
900 wears This cabinet plays so impcr-
rant par: in the story that we quote the
description of 1t:
Many an hour as a child had / passed
In front of it, lingering the seven carved
brass handles, or rather buttons, which
were ranged down its center. They all
slid. twisted or screwed with the greatest
ease. and apparently like many another
inceniously ccntrived lock, but neither
nor any one else had ever yet succeeded IN
sliding twisting or screwing them after
such "a fashion as to open the closed doors
of the cabinet No one yet had robbed
them of their secret since first it was
piaccd there 500 years ago by Dame Alice
and her faithful Italian. 1t was a oeauti-
fri piece of Workmanship, was this tan
TALKING cabinet. Carved out of some dark
foreign wood, the doors and panels were
richly inlaid with lapis lazuii, ivory and
mother of pearl, among which were twist
ed delicateiy chased threads of gold and
silver Above the doors, between them
and the cornice, lay another mystery, fully
as tormcnting as was the first. In
smooth strip OF wood about an inch wide,
and extending along the whole breadth OF
the cabinet, was inlaid fine pattern in
gold wire.
This at first sight seemed to consist Of
a legend or motto. On looking closer,
however, though the pattern still looked
rs if it was formed out of characters of
the alphabet curionsly entwined together,
you found yourself unable to fix upon any
definite word or even letter. You looked
again and again, and the longer that you
looked tho more certain became your be-
lief that yoD were on the very verge OF
discovery. If you could but approach the
mysterious legend from a slightly differ
ent point of view or look at il from another
distance the ciew to the puzzle would be
seized. and the words would stand forth
clear and legible Ill your sight. But the
clew never had been discovered. "
The family traditions forbid that an IN
married girl shall sleep in this room.
Twice in a century and Il half had the ira
dition been disregarded, but in each in
stance on the morning after the third
night the girl had been found dead her
throat cut in a peculiar manner But on
this occasion. as the house Is Unexpectedly
crowded, the narrator-''E EVE, she is
called-is given this room. From its win
tows can be seen in the grounds below
shaft of stone called the Dead stone.
Margaret Mervyn, the woman who mur-
hered her husband, is buried there, and
Dame Alice had the rock placed over her
grave.
On the first two nights Ewes sleep is
troubled by a tempestuous windstorm,
which, however, no other member of the
household had noticed. Alan Mervyn,
the second son of the house, had protested
angrily, but in vain, to his brother against
her being allowed 10 sleep the third night
In that room. He had taken her TO church
that evening, where the sermon was on
the text, 'Beareth all things, endureth all
things" and using that as pretext had
exhorted her to resist, strive, endure"
"The victory of the cross is ours, he had
told her in expressing his belief ia the
power of spirits to influence US, and
should those unseen influences ever touch
your life, - he added, Il want you to re-
member then that, as one of the race for
whom Christ died, you have as high citi-
zensh,p in that spirit land as any creature
there, that yoa are your own souls ward
en-"
We quote here her experience on the
fateful third night;
It was early. and when first got to my
room l felt little inclined for sleep. IVAN
dered to the window, and drawing aside
the curtain looked out upon the still. star
lit sky. AT least | should rest quiet to-
night. The air was very clear, and the
sky seemed full of stars. A | stood there
gcraps If schpalrnCm learning came back
to my mind-that the stars were all suns,
surrounded perhaps in their turn by
worlds as large or larger than our own.
Worlds beyond worlds. and others farther
still. which no Imam might number OF
even descry-and about the distance OF
those wonderful suns too-that one for
instance, ut which | was looking. What
was it that ] had been told? That our
world was Rot get reGpled, perhaps not yet
formed, when the actual spot Of light
which now struck my sight first started
from the stars surface! While it flashed
along, itself the very symbol of speed, the
whole of mankind had had time to be
born and live and die.
Ny gaze dropped and fell upon the dim,
half seen outline of the Dead stone. That
woman too. While that one ray speeded
toward Inc her lie had been lived and
ended, and her body had rotted away
into the ground. How close together We
all werel Her life and mine our joys,
su5erings, deaths-all crowded together
into the space OF one flash OF light. And
yet there WAS nothing there but horrible
skeleton Of tead bones, while L
/ stopped with n shudder and turned
back into the room. ] wished that Alan
had not told me what lay under the stone.
l wished that had never asked him. II
was a gha stir thing Il think about and
spoiled all the beauty n the night to me.
got quickly into h,d and soon dropped
asleep. so not know how long l slept,
but when / woke il WAS TO the conscious
ness again o. that haunting wind
1t was worse than ever. The world
seemed llied with its din Hurting itself
passionateiy against the house, it gathered
strength with every gust tai it seemed Us
If the old walls must soon crash IN ruins
round me. Gust upon gust, blow upon
blow, swelling, lcssening, lever &C ,sing.
The noise surrounded me. 1t penetrated
my innsJsi being. as all per, aiding as 81
ience itself and wrapping me in a solitude
even more complete There was nothing
left in the world hut the wind and /. and
then weird. intangible doubt as 10 my