The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1896-02-21

Helen touched the costly trinkets or
the table with something like were
Numbering who had used them last
There was a knot of ribbon that the
murdered girl had worn on her bosom.
there, too, was the little gold brooch
that had fastened her collar. In a closet
hung the bridal dress, spotted with
blood, side by side with the s~tiffened
and stained veil, to which the dead
orange flowers yet chung. Their peta,s
crumbled to dust beneath the touch OF
Helen, and emitted a faint, sickly
sweetness.
Helen Fulton, are you afraid ~
asked the girl Of herself. putting her
hand on her heart to see if it beat
quicker than its wont. NO." she said.
Helen is not afraid. Not at all. Won't
it be splendid to tell grandchildren,
that their courageous grandmother
slept in a genuine haunted chamber?
Won't the little darlings creep into bed
In a hurry and wrap their heads up
under the %coverlet?"
When night arrived, Helen excused
herself early and went up to her cham
Der. She dressed herself in a thick.
warm dress, put a heavy shawl over
her shoulders and making sure that the
lamp was full of oil, she made her
noiseless way to the haunted chamber,
entered, and, locking the door behind
her. put the key in her pocket. She
meant to be secure from all intrusion.
Ghosts, she agreed would not need to
open the door to get in, if they were
orthodox ones. The lamp burned bright
ly and lighted up every nook and cor
ner of the apartment. Helen did not
mean to go to bed; she sat on the sofa
n crochetted, laughing a little to her
self, at h idea of watching a ghost
II crochetting a sontag at the same
time. A dead silence reigned. The wind
which had blown through the day sub
sided and not ever a deathwatch licked
in the Wainscot. The old clock chimed
10, then 11-Helen's bright eyes began
to droop. She was growing decidedly
sleepy, and before she knew it her head
had sunk to the arm of the sofa and she
was asleep!
The consciousness of some presence
beside her own woke her suddenly. She
up and rubbed her eyes. A cold
current Of air swept over her, chilling !
her from head to foot. The door into the
passage stood wide open and her lamp
sWayed in the blast of air like a willow !
tossed by autumn gales; and just be-
i the great arm chair where Marina |
had sat when the fatal blow was struck, /
stood a tall figure enveloped in gauzy
and upon her head and over her
face was the bridal, blood-stained veil |
Helen could have sworn it! The right
hand of the spectre, the long, delicate,
marhle-white hand was extended to-
the chair; the other was tightly
pressed against her heart.
Helen took a step forward, but before
she could lay a hand upon the strange
presence it returned, dropped the veil
lpon the floor and vanished through the
open door. Helen gave pursuit, but the
ong corridor was empty-there did net
behind even SO much as the echo
If a foot. For this time the girl was
But n thing she remembered.
fhe door of that chamber had been IN
ocked and the phantom had forgotten
o lock it after her; she was unable, it
appeared, to pass through keyholes,
ike the spirits Helen felt acquainted
With, through the medium of various
novels she had read surreptitiously.