The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-04-08
THE DREAM GOWN OF THE Jap
ANESE AMBASSADOR.
BY BRANDER MATTHEWS,
Author OF 'vlgn cites OF Msnhsttsn."

seemed to him then. Tie was not in
Persia now--of that he was certain, nor
i'm Japan, nor in the Spanish peninsula.
Where he was he did not know.
In the dead hush of midnight he could
hear the barking of a dog on the OPP
posite shore of dusky and indistinct
waste of waters that spread itself far
below him. The night grew darker and
darker, the stars seemed to sink deeper
In the sky, and driving clouds occasion
ally hid them from his sight. He had
never felt so lonely and dismal. In
the center of the road stood an enor-
and fantastic, large enough to form
trunks for ordinary trees, twisting
down almost to the earth, and rising
again into the air. AS he approached
this fearful tree, he thought he saw
something white hanging in the midst
pf IL, but on looking more narrowly he
perceived il was place where it had
been scathed by lightning and the white
wood laid bare. About two hundred
yards from the tree small brook
crossed the road; and as he drew near
he beheld-on the margin of this brook,
and in the dark shadow of the grove
he beheld something huge, misshapen,
black and towering. 1t stirred not,
but seemed gathered up in the gloom
like some gigantic monster ready to
spring upon the traveller.
He demanded in stammering accents,
"Who are you?" He received no re-
ply. He repeated his demand in still
more agitated voice. Still there was
no answer. And then the shadowy OBJ
ject of alarm put itself in motion and
with scramble and bound stood in
the middle of the road. He appeared
to be horseman of large dimensions
and mounted on black horse of power
full frame. Having no relish for this
strange midnight companion, Cosmo
Waynflete urged on his steed in hopes
Of leaving the apparition behind; but
the stranger quickened his horse also
to an equal pace. And when the first
horseman pulled up, thinking to lag
behind, the second did likewise. There
was something in the moody and dogged
silence of this pertinacious companion
that was mysterious and appalling. 1t
was soon fearfully accounted for. On
mounting n rising ground which
brought the figure of his fellow-trav-
eler against the sky, gigantic in height
and muffled in cloak, he was horror
struck TO discover the stranger was
headlessl-but his horror was still more
increased in observing that the head
which should have rested on the should
ers was carried before the body on the
pommel of the saddle.
The terror of Cosmo Waynflete rose
to desperation and he spurred his steed
suddenly in the hope of giving his
weird companion the slip. But the
headless horseman started full Jump
with him. His own horse rs though
possessed by a demon plunged head
long down the hill. He could hear,
however, the black steed painting and
blowing close behind him; he even
fancied that he felt the hot breath of the
pursuer. When he ventured at last to
cast n look behind, he saw the goblin
rising in the stirrups, and in the very
act of hurting at him the grisly head
He fell out of the saddle TO the ground;
and the black steed and the goblin
rider passed by him like whirlwind,
-
How long he lay there by the road
side, stunned and motionless, he could
not guess; but when he came to him
self at last the sun was already high
IN the heavens. He discovered him
self to be reclining on the tall grass OF
n pleasant graveyard which surround
ed little country church in the out
skirts of a pretty little village. 1t
Was in the early summer and the foli-
age was green over his head as the
boughs swayed gently to and fro in
the morning breeze. The birds were
singing gayly as they fitted about over
his head. The bees hummed along
from flower to flower. At last, so ii
seemed to him, he had come into land
of peace and quiet, where there wa