The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1895-11-20
a STRANGE WARNING.

glad, to see you," he said. ''Wc are
very lonely, aud there is little to do I;
no birds in the covers, for | cant
afford n game keeper, but if you want
to work, the place is quiet enough. !
shall not be at home for day or two,
ns ] am going to town, and shall pick
out my daughter from friends
house on my way back, but William
knows the place, and can show you
all there is to see.
Howard conducted me to my bed
room the first night.
81 say" he said, "there is curl
ous point about your room-of course
you don't know the rambling old place
yet-you can walk around your bed
room.
"Of course can, you crock"
returned. 81 can walk around any
room.
"Ah, but / mean on the outside.
Iou sec, this room is in the middle of
the house, between four intersecting
corridors, SO that you eau walk right
around the four walls"
There was nothing else remarkable
about my room. 1t was comfortably
furnished. Against the wall opposite
my bed, and nearly under the sky
light, stood large sofa, which seemed
an unusual piece of furniture for
bedroom. 1t was too big to go through
tine door, aud | was inclined to think
that 1T must have been lowered into
the room by derrick before the roof
was put on.
turned into bed, but found it i'm
possible to sleep. A strange bed al
ways means several wakeful hours to
me, and lay with my eyes closed,
listening to the odd stable clock as it
savagely changed ont its quarters, and
practised every effort of mechanical
repetition that seemed likely to soothe
my restless brain.
At length / gave up the attempt to
sleep in despair and lay on my back
wide awake.
began to picture to myself the
most horrible phantoms | could i'm
agine, to see if / could make myself
nervous or frightened. l thought of
figures with rolling eyes and gibber-
ing lips, phantoms that carried their
heads under their arms, shad owy,
formless objects of mist, but all to no
purpose. My ghosts were feeble
frauds. / could not invest them with
the nameless dread, and laughed at
them.
i must have fallen asleep as ! was
thus meditating, for when 1 next
awoke the moon was high in the
heavens and shone brightly through
the skylight into my room. My eyes
Mt once fell on the face of beautiful
young woman who was arranging her
hair at n mirror that stood on n table
which seemed to me to have not been
in the room when j retired. l was
about to utter an exclamation when a
look of terror came into her face, n
terror so intense as to freeze me into
unspeakable silence. She seemed to
be listening to n noise without. In
the next strained moment the figure
vanished.
AS / was turning over to sleep
again l heard a light fooistep in the
corridor at the head Of my bed. 1t
passed along the wall and was followed
by a heavier yet a stealthy tread. BY
this time my faculties were fully
aroused, and sitting up i listened in-
tently.
Suddenly the first footsteps broke
into rapid pattering as though in
flight, and the pursuer's heavier
tread was correspondingly acceler-
ated. Twice they sped around my
chamber, and as they passed along
the corridor nearest to my bed
thought that could hear their pant
ing breaths.
At the third round my bedroom
door flew open, and the young lady /
had seen before dashed in and dropped
exhausted upon the sofa. She was
followed by man dressed in black,
who carried murderous-lookin
knife in his hand. She looked at him
imploringly as he stood over her for a
instant, but spoke never word.