The Portland daily press., 1895-07-05

| staircase with lean and pallid finger.
| The long moonbeam reached out across
the floor and seemed to point me up l
believe would have given my prospect
i've Royal aoademician distinction at
that moment to have heard even to the
bark of dog. The curse crawled around
the room and made the new night hide
| Gus.
The looming shadows of pivotal
| events project themselves across the
levels OF our present. felt what would
happen within an hour in that house.
The moonlight moving on had reached
the staircase. 1t stood out an awful sill
houette against the glow. The flame of
my lamp was a feeble streak of yellow
on the first two steps. What was be-
| yond? felt what was beyond, and yet
| l put my foot on that first step, and
then on the second, the third, the fourth.
I believe I waited on the fifth and lis
| tened. 1t was at this winding that the
| presence had passed. With stout good
conscience in my breast, was not safe?
| Safe from what? Was / arguing with
| force that filled distances, that held
the here and the there, against which
| the limitations of life were powerless as
| paper of tissue texture in the grasp Of
a gladiator? The sixth, and then the
seventh step-but the air was getting
very heavy-the eighth, and went on
| quickly. I was on the landing where
the dormer window room opened.
There was no door to it, no curtain.
| The great round moon was now eyeball
and gaze in that lidless window. 1t
| fastened me with terrific spell.
would not go into that room till the
midnight palled.
I turned into an adjacent apartment,
still holding my lamp high and feeling
thankfully in my pocket for unnumber
ed matches The future shadows of
pivotal events project themselves across
our present walked directly up to a
desk that stood open, on which were
| scattered, strewn about, pages upon
| pages of manuscript, closely written
pages, yellowed by years, blurred with
dust, streaked by insect crawl across
| them. What insect crawl, good heav-
| ens From whence? The slow worm
| twisted across the leaves and wrote
horrible hieroglyph. caught the eye
| ball window gazing at me. stamped
| upon the pages for moment, then lift
ed them and tore their meaning out.
| They were still legible. felt they were
| the key to the conclusion. Placing the
lamp in safe position, myself also in
| a safe position commanding that incur
tanned doorway, ready at any moment
to spring, with difficulty made out the
following, still keeping my eye from
| glance to glance on that doorway.
could not have told you why, but I was
impelled to do so.
The faded leaves told the following:
81, the mayor of the town of H.,
| do hereby note down these facts, with
my own right hand write them. Iswear
that | am stating but the truth, thu
whole truth and nothing but the truth
| So help me God"
There then followed the same minute
account of the footsteps which the host
| of the Leeuwenhart had seen, the first
| Of the documents written by the mayor
and attested to by all his household.
There followed the description of that
| night when the moon looked in. Why
| did I glance up with vague chill creep
| ing upon me from every corner and ev-
| cry crevice of the room at that eyeball
| gaze in the dormer window? hurried
| on to the next page:
| cit was on q night Of moon, one
month afterward the 10Th of Octo
| ber''-
Great heavens, the cold sweat brok,
rpon my forehead! I had hit upon thu
very day. Il was the 10Th of October
100 years to tho minute from chat mid
| night and chat moon
ST heard the footsteps walk, ma
| jestic now, awful, claiming-and to
4 ward them swung the shrek thai
! will in one moment more swing m,
soul forward to meet it. I gained ths
dormer window room with one leal
through the dark and saw her, saw he
in phases Of the light swing from tn
roof BEAM She is in that room. hav,
seen her dare not look upon tina
again The footsteps have come again
tonight to claim me. She is with those
footsteps. She is in that room. l go tt
expiate my crime with my own hand OIL
my own rooftree. shall be with them
in that room in moment Have
mercy, God
| L sprang, knew what was beyond
By Gods mercy the flicker of my lam1
held. j am conscious that my heartbeats
were many more than the normal mum
Der of beats to the minute Beyond me,
around me, within me, was nothing but
that awful eyeball gaze whittier thar
the foam that creeps at midnight on tho
shrouded sea. The light held another
white within it's circle. I saw It. I saw
an outlined flmy hand across the sheen
/ saw
With the hurl of a Hercules I spranf
two stories below-clear down through
the window upon my right. I was il
the open night; in the cool and tht
dew, with only the infinite voice of sea
having left behind me my sketchbook
lamp and nightcap.
/ q Fryy