The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1899-08-17

Vnere were. fortunately, NO the00oph10f1
present.
Gould you." she went on. ARREST the
hand Of God3''
rather hopeful blasphemy; III 1t were .
visible hand. Why not"
Then she collapsed. She burst into tor
rent Of tears like q child. I soothed and
comforted her gently. and by very slow de-
grees arrived at the following narrative:
when my husband went to London last
Tuesday week was the happiest woman in
England. / woke in the pitch dark and
found the room rapidly growing light. Dis
tinct beams Of light appeared to shine from
wall to wall and at last formed dim
circle Then marks-horrid, creeping
marks-appeared on the bright circle, and
these gradually shaped themselves into the
fingers of a moving hand. 1t was like q
human hand cut OF at the wrist. and 1t
began-O God! swear to you 1t began
to write slowly on the wall. The letters
grew into words. and the words grew into .
sentence. At last read in a strangely
formed caligraphy the awful warming: Pre-
pare to meet thy God
II was terrified to death and unable to
move: and az I watched, spellbound. the
fearful letters faded away and the room was
left in utter darkness again.
II lay the rest Of the night rejecting upon
| this separation and wondering whether 1t
was meant for me or for Tom. or for both
| Of US. When daylight returned my nerves
| felt rather more steady, for the room was
exactly as usual and showed no sign Of the
| ghostly writing. 1 almost expected to find
! 1t indelibly recorded upon the WALL
| thought perhaps the whole thing had been
nightmare and determined to say not
| A,.k c1~ ala To-
| room again and see IL it were repeated.
THAT was the day you sent me to bed
early: and, being worn out as the result
of the previous nights experience, soon
| fell into a ftful doze. On one of my
| awakenings l found that the room was get
| ting light just as before. The circle re-
appeared, the marks in it, the great black
hand, the gradually formed letters but
the warning was different. 1t read: God
shall judge"
II sprang out Of bed and rushed to the
writing. l put my hand on it's horrible
sable signs. and it vanished instantaneous
| ly. 1t was no dream.
"You can imagine the condition in which
I awaited the break of day. 1 did not call
my husband, for 1 had an indefnable sense
| that some danger, In which he was con-
cerned. was impending in this room, and
|
| that he would be unable to perceive with
| his different and rather unbelieving con-
stitution.
THAT morning he insisted upon my go
ing with him to Great Malvern; and while
! we were away from this fearful house
| felt sense of freedom. and regained a
measure of composure. I began almost to
think again. as the days went by, that the
| whole thing must have been passing mad
| ness, and determined on my return to spend
! yet one more night in the room alone be-
fore asking him to come back to me.
But last night was more horrible than
ALL l awoke with great start in black
darkness. There came a burst Of white
| light, which disappeared as suddenly as
had come. and left a darkness that could
be felt Then another burst, and the dark
ness again Then the dim circle began to
appear In the same hideous outline, and as
it got brighter the hand traced slowly the
cruel doom: Your hour is nigh
tainted away, and recollect nothing more
until daylight this morning"
| As she spoke 1t occurred to me that the
| whole appearance must be nothing more
than vivid hallucination-possibly the har-
binger of insanity. II so, it had had an
extraordinary physical effect, allowing for
the girls deicately strung nerves and ar
| tistic temperament. Still, the effort must
be made to fathom the mystery.
| Answer me one more question truly
I urged. do you know any one who has
| a grudge against your?
Doctor" she replied. with troubled
look in her innocent eyes, $50 far as I
know, l never injured living creature. l
never disagreed with anyone much, except
an Italian in my stage days. who would
persist In wanting to marry me after /
! was pledged to Tom
His name?"
! Count Bellon a vile creature: but I
have not seen or heard anything of him
for year.
That night Tom Whyte and entered into
a little conspiracy. / asked him and his
wife across to dinner, nominally to stop
Margaret brooding. and having got them
away from home, insisted on keeping them
for the night. Tom pretended to refuse
and then to assent; and limited to Margaret
that. II he were in any danger, it was at
! least lessened while he was with me. and
SO gained her acceptance of the invita-
ton. When they had retired I went across
with Toms latchkey, let myself into his
house unknown, even to his servants, and
prepared to spend the night sitting in his
| bedroom
AS l waited. thinking deeply about the
mystery, l became more than ever con-
vinced that an hallucination was the true
key to the trouble. There is said to be a
kink somewhere in the mental constitution
of every one of US; and surely, l thought,
there must be some such explanation, which
would put these weird visitations into the
category of imaginings My mediations on
the pathology Of the matter were rudely
interrupted The room was filled with an
instantaneous flash Of white light, which
came and went in second, leaving every
thing totally dark. ! started up and waited,
breathless. The flash appeared and van
ished second time, before. My brain
seemed stirred to abnormal activity. felt,
rather than thought positively. that here
was evidence which destroyed the halluci-
nation theory, for I was in prosaic health.
even reasoned Internationally that here
was a flash whose first appearance would
discompose sleeper, and whose second,
when he had been disturbed would COM
plete his awakening
Then began the most appalling moment
of concentrated horror that has fallen to
my lot l am held professionally to have
good operating nerve; but to think Of
that brief interval even now sends chill
down my back. At the time my eyes seemed
to start from my head. and my hands were
lifted up in terror. Slowly but steadily the
white circle grew on the wall. There was
dark mark In the center. which gradually
formed itself into the awful hand whose
writing pronounced doom. Instantly the