The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-10-19

Dominion. and he knew most of those
that remained. in his day. Cairnstorme
met her first in Baltimore, think, and
took her away from the most fashion,
able set there TO bury her on that for
saken island What? o, l don't mean
IL was barren or anything of that kind.
or that there We're not all the comforts
that wealth can buy. Cairnstorme was
an odd fellow, but he was supposed
TO be immensely wealthy, and his big
house was as finely adorned, outside
and in, as any mansion in the south.
He had servants without end and gar
dens and conservatOries and all that
sort of thing. The old place was filled
with books and pictures and guitars
and bric-a-brac and things lying around
just as he left 1t when was IN theTe
last.
''Lohely? Well. l don't suppose 1t was
lonely just at first; because there Were
always parties coming over from the
mainland. Lots of company, always
house full. They say that when the
wind set right you could hear music
from there all day and all night COM
ing over the water like-like-wen, 4
am no good at SMILES and we VIII have
to let 1t go at that. Anyway, there
was a good deal of entertaining, and
ny ali dCtOu4llS tl.fg ibu'e hthf' A'"" =
Jolly time. Why, Cairnstorme's name
at that time got to be synonym for
hospitality. | reckon there was not a
governor or a general or representa-
tive of one of the old colonial families
that did not know the taste OF Cairh-
stormes Madeira, nor one OF their
daughters )nor many of their wiVes)
that had not enjoyed filtration on
one of those verandas. Mrs. Cairn-
storme was said to be that delightful
but rare creature, a perfect hostess.
'what did you say her maiden name
was?" asked some one.
Il did not say-but 1t was-there, /
had 1t on the tip of my tongue. Oh,
yes Burnette, FlorenceS Burnette."
Miss ciarcey gasped a little as though
she had been douched with spray. i
looked at her and saw that she was
quite pale.
what is the natter" / asked In an
undertone. But she motloned me with
her hand to be silent and Burnbee went
on with his story.
THE whole thing-gaiety visitors,
music, lights, entertainments-all
stopped suddenly one day and the Cairn-
storme mansion was shut up. Some Of
the servants We're taken down to
Charleston and others lived In a scared
sort Of way in the quarters. II was
given out that Cairnstorme and his wife
had gone abroad. 't
After While he came back. No one
knew exactly when he came, but one
day he appeared. looking quite III and
old, but dressed with the same scrupu-
lous care he had always shown. He was
alone. What had become of his wife
nobody knew and nobody dared to ask
The story was that she had died and
was buried in Florence, and do not
suppose her family ever questioned 1t,
but the neighborhood either then or
afterward began to harbor a suspicion
that she had never left the island.
However, no one had a chance to find
out anything, as visitors were no longer
encouraged. The place got a bad repu-
tation. People said it was haunted.
Even the niggers were regarded with
distrust and fear by the black people
on shore and every once in a while one
OF them would run away. 1t was a
desolate spot. have gone down there
for ricebirds when I was a youngster.
and never have ! seen greater desola-
tion. The cotton had run wild and was
tangled with vines and weeds, bind
weed running over everything and the