Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1896-12-02
AN ASTRAL DOUBLE.

house without objection"
"Who oaresS" laughed l. "Ghosts can't
trouble us. They always como at 1a
o'clock, and I am always sound asleep
then. II you ever chance to be awake at
that unscemly hour, begin practicing and
that will drive even ghosts away"
Our friends called, and all were charmed
with our delightful little home Walter
practiced steadily and patiently and was
getting pale and nervous. We attributed
II to his pcrscvering work and decided to
spend the holidays in the little country viii
lagc, which was our real home, leaving the
piano and every note In the city. We re-
turned refreshed and ready for I 1 weeks
siege of constant sound-musical and 9TH
| erwise.
We had been In town two weeks, not
long enough to overcome the effect of our
visit, nor yet to be tired of the practicing,
yet Walter was evidently getting thin and
pale again. / suggested mild tonic, but
he did not take kindly to tho idea, and I
| did not insist. Then, one night, was
awakened from sound sleep by Walter
standing by my bedside, wide awake,
shaking from head to foot
Mother no said, II cannot endure
this another night"
Nnub IL IT, my SUM HSkNuS inOT-
| oughly aroused by his excited tones.
"COme into my room and listen. My
| telling will never convince you"
| arose, threw on my wrapper and fol-
| lowed him into his room lie turned on
| the light, and we sat down and waited.
| Nothing unusual was heard. Walter ro-
fused to tell me what he had seen or heard,
| saying he preferred To see il | could eXpe-
| rioncc tho same thing he did. For three
nights this was repeated; then / told Wal
ter that l would exchange rooms with
him. a5 he was getting haggard from want
| of sleep or anxiety. A week passed by, and
l had heard nothing had not been aroused
| or awakened once, and Walter was nearly
| conN inCed that his nervousness had beon
J caused by tho electric light shining in his
| window, producing disturbing dreams We
| decided to change rooms entirely and car
ried all Of his furniture into my room
and mino into his, which apparently set
tied the matter. l began to joke Walter
upon his ghost being off on u vacation,
but saw this voxcd him and dropped tho
| subject.
In March friend came to visit me, and
l shared my room with her. We had not
seen each other for several years and lay
| talking together till the clock struck /.
| L
| you will not be able to do the city tomor-
row. Good night"
: The house was silent.
| whats that" softly said my friend
listened. Bump, step, stepl Bump,
stop, stepl A heavy stick was set upon IA
stair; then one foot, then another. Over
and over till the TOP of the stairs was
rcached-through tho short hall into our
room. Oh, hcavensl
My friend shrieked, and flew out upon
the floor and turned OIL the gas as Walter,
white as death, came into tho room.
"You have heard it at lastH'
| No strange person was In tho room.
| Nothing was disturbed. / told Walter
rather sharply to go back to bed and not
frighten us again in such manner. After
| he had gone, however, l looked carefully
under the bed and into every corner, but
discovered nothing. l returned to my
| couch little nervous and a great deal
vexed with myself. OF course my friend
and told ghost stories the rest of the
night, and the ghost always proved to be a
cat or u rat. We did not fall asleep till
nearly daylight We awoke at 10 o'clock.
Then we laughed at our fright-knew II
was not n burglar, for 1t made too much
noise, and a ghost would not need cane.
1t was plainly wholly imagination.
Wo tramped and rode and shOppcd all
the next day and attended the opera in tho
evening, returning at 12 o'clock FUSED up
entirely" left the light burning brightly.
At |, precisely-bump, step, step; bump,
step, step-it came again, like an old man
climbing the stairs with a heavy cane. My
friend was sound asleep, and was glad OF
it. Down the hall 1t came and in at the door.
/ was sitting up staring straight at it, but
saw nothing Bump, step, step-across
the room to u window where stood u large
armchair l stared and stared and did
not even wink, but there was nothing In
the chair-simply nothing l heard nu
more sounds Breathless and frightened,
l sat there till either / tainted or fell
asleep, ] never shall know which. The
next thing l realized 1t was morning.
Walter and my friend were up and dressed,
They had heard nothing, and kept quiet
about what l had dreamed G).
Every night for two weeks this same
thing happened. My friend went homo,
and / went house hunting. 1t only took
me u short half day to find just what
wanted. Then I said to Walter: "This
house is too small, too dark, too cold, toe
everything. 1 have taken IA house on Will
lett place."
| 'All right, he REPLIED but L noticed ne
looked IL little curlously at mo, though he
said nothing; neither did /.
When informed my landlord Of my in'
tended removal, he said, "The house you
have taken is much smaller and darker
and colder than this one"
~ don't think So, / replied shortly.
"By the way, Mr.. b., did anybody evel
die in this house of yours!'
| HNO Mra Allen - he answerpd Nl
J bought it OF the man who built it, Ht
was an old man, John Huntington by
name, who was lame in one leg, and he
walked with stout cane He went Il
New Jersey TO live with his daughter wher
che was married. He didn't want TO go
thOugh-not bit. But he is living thor,
D | now -