The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1899-04-26

forgive me. Jack. and lets be frlends
again
The rickshaw hood had fallen back,
and inside as hope and pray daily for
the death l dread by night, sat Mrs
Keith " Wessington. handkerchief in
hand and golden head bowed on her
breast
How long stared motionless do
not know Finally was aroused by my
syce taking the waler's bride and ask
ing whether l was ILL., From the horri-
BILE to the commonplace is but step
l tumbled off my horse and dashed, half
fainting. into Peliti's for a glass Of
cherry brandy There two or three cou-
pies were gathered round the coffee ta-
bles discussing the gossip Of the day
Their trivialities were more comforting
to me just then than the consolations
of religion could have been. plunged
into the midst Of the conversation at
once, chatted. laughed and jested with
face (when 1 caught glimpse Of it
in a nlirror) as white and drawn as
that of corpse. Three or four men no
ticed my condition. and, evidently set
ting it down to the results Of overmany
pegs. charitably endeavored to draw
me apart from the rest of the loungers.
But I refused to be led away WANTED
the company of my kind-as child
rushes into the midst Of the dinner
party after fright in the dark. l must
have talked for about ten minutes or
so. though it seemed an eternity to me,
when | heard Kitty s clear voice out
side inquiring for me- In another min
ute she had entered the shop, prepared
to roundly upbraid me for failing so
signally in my duties Something in
my face stopped her
why. Jack. >" she cried. what have
you been doing? What has happened2
Are you iIl?' Thus driven into direct
lie, said that the sun had been lit
tie too much for me. It was close upon
5 o'clock of a cloudy April afternoon,
and the sun had been hidden all day. l
saw my mistake as soon as the words
were out of my mouth. attempted to
recover it, blundered hopelessly and
followed Kitty in a regal rage out of
doors amid the smiles Of my acquaint-
ances made some excuse have for
gotten what on the score Of my feeling
faint and cantered away to my hotel
! leaving Kitty to finish the ride by her
self
In my room sat down and tried
calmly to reason out the matter Here
was l. Theo5ald Jack Pansay, a we'll
educated Bengal civilian in the year of
grace 1855. presumably sane, certainly
: healthy. driven in terror from my
sweetheart's side by the apparition Of
woman who had been dead and buried
eight months These were facts that I
could not blink Nothing was further
from my thought than any memory Of
Mrs. Washington when Kitty and I
left Hamilton>s shop. Nothing was
more utterly commonplace than the
stretch of wall opposite Peliti's. 1t was
broad daylight The road was full of
people. and yet here, look you, in def
ance of every law Of probability, in di-
rect outrage Of natures ordinance,
there had appeared to me face from
the grave.
Kitty's Arab had gone through the
rickshaw; so that my first hope that
some woman rarvelously like Mrs
Washington had hired the carriage and
the coolies with their old livery was
lost Again and again | went round
this treadmill Of thought and again and
again gave up bafled and in despair
The voice was as iaexplicable as the ap-
partition had originally some wild
notion Of conhding it all to Kitty; of
begging her to .narry me at once, and
in her arms defying the ghostly occu-
pant of the rickshaw "After all, l
argued. ''the presence Of the rickshaw
is in itself enough to prove the exist
ence Of spectral illusion. One may see
ghosts of men and women, but surely
never Of coolies and carriages The whole
thing is absurd Fancy the ghost Of a
hillman!
Next morning | sent penitent note
TO Kitty. lmplorlns, her to overlook my
strange conduct Of the previous after
noon My divinity was still very wroth,
and a personal apology was necessary
| explained with a fuency born of
night long ponder-ng over falsehood
that had been attacked with a sudden
palpitation Of the heart, the result of
Indigestion This eminently practical
solution had its effect. and Kitty and |
rode out that afternoon with the shadow
of my first lie dividing rs.
Nothing would please her save can
ter round Jakko With my nerves still
unstrung from the previous night !
feebly protested against the notion,
suggesting Observatory hill, Jutogh, the
Boileaugunge road-anything rather
than the Jakko road. Kitty was angry
and a little hurt. So | yielded from fear
of provoking further misunderstanding
and we set out together toward Chota
Simla. We walked greater part of the
way and. according to our custom, can
tered FROM mile or so below the con-
I,vr{ ho