The Portland daily press., 1895-07-25
,oke, the bust of woman cut off to the

VI my peu, AHu ~ Sooiuou TO disappear
through the panel of the wall. Is you1
room in the west wing at the end of the
great passage?
1t is, he replied.
Then the apparition must have en-
tered your room when it left mine, for you
are evidently sleeping in the next room tc
mel What is to be done?'
We cannot stay, and I certainly de
not like the idea of breaking up the party
"Well, we talked it over long and ear
nestly, and at last arranged to stay that
night at any rate and see if it visited ul
again
sAfter another days sport, during
which we forgot our fears, night came on
and we once more retired to our rooms
but not to bed.
''I was very tired, but I sat up watch
ing until long past the time the apparitior
had appeared on the previous night, and
then, overcome by fatigue, I threw aside
my fears, and, throwing myself on the
bed, was asleep in moment
II could not have slept very long-nol
many minutes-when awoke with q
start, and felt at once that the thing was
by me- In terror I opened my eyes. Oh
horrorsl The bust of the woman was ly
ing by my side on the bed, with her head
upon the pillowl
What happened after that do moi
know, for must have lost consciousness
for moment, and when recovered the
fearful thing had vanished. I jumped W
from the bed and rushed Instantly into my
neighbor's room, but he was lying upor
the rug in a dead faint. loosened his col
lar and poured cold water on his face, and
as he opened his eyes and revived little J
made him take good draft of brandy
from my hunting flask, which I had with
me.
"He quickly came to himself, and sit
ting up he told me he had dozed off in his
chair and had been suddenly awakened BY
the touch of death cold hand upon his
forehead and found the apparition close
to him, gazing with entreaty In her eyes
into his face. Overcome with horror, ht
had tainted away as found him, We sa,
together and talked long and earnestly and
= at length decided that we would make the
best excuse to our host, urging some sud
den call back to our homes, and would
leave the hodse that morning am afraid
Jefferson must have felt hurt at our sud
den departure but stay we could not, sc
we came away, and here am"
Gascoyne and sat talking and conjec
turing about the mysterious visitant until
late that night.
Weeks and months passed, and it gradu.
ally became only a terrible memory ol
which we spoke now and again, until one
day Gasooyne knocked hurriedly at my
door, and saying in an excited manner,
ssPut on your hat and come with me, /" he
led me without another word again to the
old Ring Of Bells. AS soon as we were
seated in the little room behind the bar be
began in hurried manner:
"I've just had a letter from Jefferson.
1t seems he had Christmas party at Hey
ton Grange last week, and one Of the
guests who had been placed in the room
slept In shrieked out in the middle of the
night that she had seenP ghost, and when
they had Gained her sufficiently to speak
coherently she declared that it took the
form of the bust Of woman. Jefferson
Immediately remembered our hasty flight
and the ouriously embarrassed manner in
which we made our excuses for leaving
him SO suddenly, and believing now that
it must have been in some way connected
with the apparition that so terrified his
lady visitor he made up his mind there
and then that together with the bravest OF
his visitors he would himself watch on
the following night.
He did SO, and soon after midnight the
restless spirit returned once more He and
his friend nerved themselves and spoke to
it, demanding the reason Of its presence in
the house. 1t gazed upon them for mo-
ment, and beckoning them to follow it
f1oated out and led them through a secret
door on the top landing into small room
under the roof, where they found an old
worm eaten chest, into which the appari-
tion seemed to disappear.
They rushed down stairs, and quickly
returning with two or three Of the men.
servants they broke open the lid and were
Mortified to discover the lower part Of a
woman's body, which, from it's decom-
posed state, though it was partly preserved
with lime, had evidently been there for
many years.
"On inquiry they at length learned that
long time before murder had been com.
Hitted, and the murderer, who was the
husband of the unfortunate woman, had
severed his victim at the waist, and that
her bust having been discovered it had
been buried in the churchyard, but that
all search for the lower part of the body
had been in vain.
g AS soon as Jefferson and his friends
could arrange with the authorities the
CHASTITY object in the trunk had been buried
beside the BUST
That was Gascoyne's tale, and he was
able to inform me from a further COM
munication he received from Jefferson that
the midnight visitor had never appeared
again.
My friend was man for whom enter
tanned the highest regard, and had every
reason to believe in his integrity. He de-
olared to me that every part Of this strarg
narrative was true, and have never been
inclined to doubt it.-Omaha World Her.
old.
Real Estate Transfers.
The following transfers of real estate
in this county have been recorded in
the Registry OF Deeds:
Deering N. Richardson to Will
lard g. Hartley.
South Portland-Eliza j. M. Pratt to
E1iza nlix,or