The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1899-09-27

she did SO. She wore short, quilted
skirt little black bodice, and full
white sleeves. She had n gold cross
tied about her neck by a black ribbon,
and wore little cap on her black
braids-a young girl with a French
face, Thomas. Do you know herr
Thomas made no answer. He look
ed ut the gentleman steadily and grew
pale. At last he spoke:
eff | have the honor of understand
ing you, sir, the young person came
through the door?"
Yes" said the American.
"NIore than once, sirY'
About once an hour from midnight
until dawn"
And smiled at you i'm the glass;
where you saw her face? | understand
she did not look toward you as she
passed sirF'
Right, Thomas
MAY | beg you to do me the favor
of looking into this room, SIR"
The gentleman followed Thomas to
the door through which he asserted
that the young person passed, and saw
nothing but a closet about twelve feet
square, with no door save the one that
opened into the large room, and high
in the ceiling a little window through
which bird could scarcely have
flown. 1t contained no furniture what
ever.
There must be a secret door-Or-or
no A
am not mad, and | was wide awake"
Yes, sir" said Thomas, still more
solemnly. "An ordinary young person
could not have contrived to disappear,
but the young person you have seen
has been an apparition, sir, for more
than 200 years"
IAN apparitiOnr cried the American
gentleman.
Yes, sir replied Thomas IAN ap-
partition, sir | think you have seen
Lady IS gentlewoman Rosette, sir
1t is ten years since she was seen be-
fore to my knowledge, but she has
been seen often
IL should like to hear more about
Rosette," said the gentleman.
Yes, sir" said the valet. "This is
an old family, and about 200 years ago
there was a Lord Herbert who was IA
gay, wild young nobleman, and was a
great admirer of the ladies, sir. How.
ever, by the time he was 80 he was
married and settled down. and began
10 be much thought of and respected
So was his lady. too, sir, though she
In, Il
'One thing however. the English
servants did not like-she brought a
foreign maid with her from France-a
girl named Rosette and as pretty as a
picture.
zone day. sitting before her glass.
ROsette combing her hair for her, she
heard her husband come into the room.
Her back was toward him and Rosette
was behind her. and they forgot the
mirror. and SO, sir. she saw in it, with
out stirring. both their faces. and she
saw the girl smile at her husband and
she saw him smile back at her. She
understood everything but she never
stirred, and she never said anything 10
him, no. nor TO the maid. sir.
This was her room, sir. In that lit
tie closet ROsette had her bed, TO be
ready if she called her. But one morn
ing my lady's bell rang furiously, and
the maid who answered it was told to
do my lady's hair. for Rosette had gone
back to her native country.
"All the time she was doing it the
girl thought she heard faint. moan
ing sound, and was frightened, and
went back to the rest pale and trem-
bling, and before night ii was well
known in the house that that little clos
ct there was not only locked but nail
ed up.
after that my Lord seemed to take
to his wild ways again in a measure
and drank a great deal, and my Lady
lived much alone. There never were
any children; but they both lived to be
old indeed, and at last my Lady died in
this room and was buried i'm the church
yonder.
"My Lord was as old as she by that
time, but as soon as the funeral was
over he went into my Lady's room and
stood q long while before the locked
and nailed closet door.
"Then he said TO himself: Il cannot
die until | know and ordered it TO be
opened. There were hundreds of nails
in it; but they were all out at last, and
the lock was forced, and my Lord
arose and tottered into the closet.
at wasn't much they found, only a
few bones and an ornament or two, but
it was plain that the girl had been tied
hand and foot and bound to the bed
and left there to def she was not
murdered outright by the jealous lady.
But ever since, sir, whenever there
is going to be misfortune in the fam
lily, whoever sleeps here in this room
sees Rosette come out of her closet and
smile in the glass. No one ever sees
her face, only its reflection. / hope no
trouble will follow now, sir"
AS for the American, he slept else
where the next night He had no adj
miration for ghosts, even the family
ghosts OF noblemen, and he had no de-
sire to see Rosette smile at him in the