The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-08-24
REPUBLICAN,.

think he meant at first to deny ali
knowledge Of the phenomenon, but be
had turned visibly pale at my allusion to
II and obviously knew all that was to
be told. And, with a little more brow,
beating, l got II out Of him. He apollo
gized most humbly and profoundly for
having put us into that room; but, as he
explained, the hotel was 30 full that it
was unavoidable. He then vent on to
tell me that some time before an Italian
lady and gentleman, husband and wife,
had occupied the room we had slept in
and the one next to 1t, whose door was
opposite to my wife's bed. On the morn.
Ing after their arrival the husband had
reused the whole hotel, declaring wildly
that his wife had been murdered, which
had indeed proved to be the case. There
lay the LADY, stone dead, knife beside
her on the bed-one Of the hotel knives,
my host explained in an injured voice
and her husband nearly mad with grief
and horror. But the strange thing was
that, though the knife lay there, no sign
was visible OF its having been used. The
poor lady had evidently been suffocat-
ed. The husband, who had slept in the
room next to his wife's, said that the
door between their rooms had been open
all night, but he swore he had heard NO
sound. How the murderer had come,
where he had vanished to and, above all,
why he had murdered the poor, limo
cent lady remained profound mysteries.
DO you mean that the murderer is
still at large" | asked the hotel keeper.
He nodded.
oil
where" said sharply.
The man looked at me kcenly.
you saw, sir-you saw" he STAN
mered.
II saw the whole thing from begin
ming to end in that Internal glass;" re-
piled, "the whole CHASTITY performance.
Has no one ever seen it beforeY'
Mine host crossed himself rapidly.
1T has been seen BEFORE" he answer
ed, but no one has ever seen it ALL The
lighted glass-yes-and a lady, the lady
In the bed--and man who enters. But,
then--no one has ever dared to stay to
face all the horror through. No one ever
saw the mans face. They have all faint
ed or run away-or what not. You saw
his face, sir?" he ended ncredulously.
"As plainly as see yours" said.
"1f ever see it in real life. will let
you know"
We moved our room that night on
some plea l gave my wife-I forget now
what it was-and few days later we
left the place, and l must confess, hon
estly, | was not sorry to 60.
But fate works strangely sometimes.
Six months later, my wife was con-
valescent after severe illness, and the
doctors insisted on my taking her to this
very place again. l suggested many
other localities. But no, there she must
60 and nowhere else. So back we went
and found it very charming even in win
ter, STEPPED in sunshine, fresh and sweet,
with clear, dry air and deep blue sky.
We had been there week, and my
wife and were sitting at our small ta-
bic in the great dining room waiting
for lunch when the door behind US open
ed, and some one came in.
ooh, what hateful looking man!'
my wife exclaimed and saw her shud-
der. l glanced around, and, by Jove,
l shuddered myself, for walking down
that dining room, with n brazen, jaunty
air, was the very man whom l had seen
in the glass numbering the poor lady.
Without word, bolted out of the
room and brcathlessly rushed to the bu-
rcau, where the master of the house
looked at me as if were lunatic.
"The man is here!' said, as soon as
could speak.
"What MANI" he asked bewildered.
"The man who murdered the lady in
that room where the glass is. Come
quickly. | will show him to YOU"
think he still thought me mad, but he
reluctantly followed me to the dining
room door, and pointed cautiously down
the long room to n table at the other end,
where the gentleman in question was
placidly beginning his soup.
"There," said. "There he is, sitting
at that table!'
But, no, sir, no"' gasped my com.
panion, you are mistaken. 1t is impos-
sble. That is the lady's husband. He
comes here every year to lay flowers on
her grave"
"Oh does he?" answered, savagely.
'Then the more devil he. That is the
man who murdered her. swear it!''
And he was the man.
Otnef little DIS OF evidence cropped
up, and in the end the miserable creature
confessed to the deed. 1t was some story
of fiendish and impossible jealousy, and
of awful, ungovernable temper, but the
details have escaped my memory.
One curious fact remains, or. perhaps,
two facts. One is that from the day the
villain confessed his deed the CHASTITY
tragedy in the glass was never again en-
acted. The other is that, from that day
to this. | have never either cared or
dared to sleep in room where long |
Ilass faced my bed.-Skctch.
HAV RrI S-~