Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1898-11-03

huddled up in corner, glad to keel
4 her eyes shut, and full of a nameless
underlined terror. The clock strucl
ten, and she looked up; from the cas-
there was faint CLEAN of light, com
ing, perhaps, from the gas-lamp:
without; she groped her way nearer Il
it and chose for her resting place tn
tomb Of one of the great benefactOr:
Of the cathedral, Baron de Gers. be.
cause he must originally have been 6
| Frenchman. And here she tried to sc
to sleep but for long time without
success, for the pain and excitement
OF the evening had been too much fOl
! her. Then, too, the eerie feeling Of
| the place was the reverse of soothing
! Esperance, though not foolish, had
! been brought up among the supersti-
| tons of the French peasants, and
moreover, she was very imaginative;
she could not help picturing to herself
the ghosts OF those buried within the
cathedral coming to look at the I'M
usual night visitant, and, of course,
she began to shiver little. Just
then upon the awful stiffness of the
great building, there rose a strange,
weird, mysterious sOund-a kind of
onward rushing, her teeth chartered,
she trembled from head to foot, and
strained her terrified eyes into the
darkness, fearing she knew not what.
The sound seemed now close to her,
then far away, then again it drew
near and nearer, and she distinctly
felt her hand touched; she gave a
little cry, and, as if in answer, the
rushing sound passed by her once
more, and she heard a sharp, clicking
squeak, and knew that her ghost was,
after all, only bat. The relief was SO
intense that she fairly laughed aloud
at her mistake, hoping that it was not
sacriligious, and then in a few min
utes she said her prayers and slept.
But her rights were not quite over.
She woke with a start just as the
great clock was tolling twelve, to
wonder why her bed was so hard and
cold, and then to realize everything
more fully than ever. Twelve o'clock,
and George and Bertha were far
away, and every one at the deanery
must be sleeping peacefully, and she
was alone in the cathedral! Then,
with the cold chill of terror creeping
over her once more, she looked up.
What was that still white figure OPP
posite her? 1t had not been there
when she feel asleep. She forced
herself to get up; and with stiff be-
numbed limbs crossed the aisle to
the object of her alarm. But it
proved to be no phantom-only the re-
cumbant figure of a crusader, the
white stone being illumined by
flood of silvery moonlight which
shown through the southeast win
dOwS
She was relieveu, and, in spite OF
her grief about Bertha and the diff
culties of her situation, she could not
repress an enraptured exclamation as
she looked to the east end Of the ca
thedral Each arch and pillar rose in
marble whiteness, contrasting wildly
with the black shadows around; the
moon-beamS fell with almost dazzling
radiance on the exquisite carving,
while some OF the windows reflected
back the brightness, each tiny pane of
glass sparkling like a diamond. AL
though the previous day had been
hot, Esperance was shivering with
cold now. She crept up to one Of the
stoves, knowing that for a great part
of the year they were kept up all
night; but the fires had been discon-
tinued for some days, and the iron
bars felt as cold as ice. Then she re-
membered Bertha's cloak, which
must, evidently, have been left for
her, and she went down to the iron
gate once more, her footsteps echoing
strangely in the silent night. The
Moonlight did not fall upon the nave
at all, and the yawning blackness
looked awful. She turned to look once
more at the radiance of the east, and
then again looked through the gate,
while that appalling darkness seemed
to surge in upon her overwhelmingly.
She picked up the cloak and moved
| back again to the crusadar's tomb,
not sorry to be in the moonlight re-
gion again.
Just then a fresh thought occurred
round at eight o'clock to unlock the
gates! how should she explain her
presence to them? Bertha's flight
must, if possible, be kept secret, and
| yet if she were found locked in the
cathedral in this unaccountable way
they would surely suspect something.
i She hoped and prayed that the dean
! or Cornelia, or some one who must
i eventually know, might come before
them, and in the conviction that al
would in some way be made right
i she fell asleep.
Claude Magnay wrote for rooms al
I the Spread Eagle and made eager prep.
! arations for his visit to RilcheSter
invoking blessings on Lady Wor,
thington's head. He went by al
: evening train, and by an odd coinci-
dence met two of his Rilchestel
: friends at the ticket-Office-the precen
tor and MIR. White, the minor canon
They travelled down together, CLAUDE
: in very high spirits, finding the mos
= trifing piece of Rilchester gossip full
of interest. The precentor was a mid
l dle-aged man, very musical, and
; most devoted worshiper of Wagner
j He related piteous anecdotes of hi
: revolutionary attempts on the cathe
S dral music, and the cruel persecution
d he underwent at the hands of tn
n dean and the organist, while Nj
: White gave a graphic description of
e scene in the vestry after a wedding
D when the precentOr had succeeded i