The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1899-11-24

pen in my pocket: But it will com
back to melt will come back to me.
No man can lack Inspiration in place
like this. / sha'n't sleep tonight; /
shall sit up and think"
But the glow of the reddening en-
beers was more potent than any opiate.
The perpetual moan of the stream out
side and the melancholy sigh Of the
hemlock boughs served as lullaby,
and Mr.. Drake was fast drifting off into
dreamland, in spite of his resolutions,
when something like the creaking OF a
floor board raised him to sudden alert
ness.
He had muffled himself in his travel
ing mantle. or wrap, and, with his
great coat rolled up for pillow, had
lain down in corner where the
warmth could reach him, while the
shifting tongues of flames should not
disturb his eyes; SO that he was invisi-
bic, although any one who entered the
apartment would be compelled to cross
the bright line of freight that stream
ed like red pennon across the floor.
And while Mr.. Drake was assuring
himself that he had tightly bolted the
front door, and that no stray mink, or
weasel, or starveling dog could posi-
bly, jump as high as the dilapidated
| windows, fig ure came slowly in--the
| figure of a very old man dressed in q
faded butternut-c olored suit that bore
| the quaint cut and impress of q centu-
ry ago; a shadow, transparent, blood
less sort of old man, with long silver
| hair flowing down on his shoulders; an
old man who shuffled noiselessly over
| the floor, and who sat down on the
backless chair, and warmed his hands
over the blaze with appalling compo-
sure.
The blood seemed fairly to CONCEAL
in Mr.. Dra ke's veins. The longed for
Opportunity had come at last, but he
was spurred on by none of that eager
ness to interview the ghost which he
had always imagined would stir his
pulses; in fact, if there had been any
possible back door whereby he might
escape, he would promptly have avail
ed himself of that ignominious gate
way of retreat. AS it was, in his con-
sternation, he knocked down pile of
wood, lost his balance, and tumbled
into the very presence of the ghost.
The shadowy old man simply lifted
his strange steely eyes and looked at
his UiS-G-UiS without seeming in any
way astonished or perturbed at the I'M
expected presence, and then fell to
warming his spectral hands again.
"Isay," said the author, pulling him
self together with a desperate effort,
who are you? What the deuce do you
mean by tresspassing here i''-which
was not at all the sort of speech he had
always pictured himself as making to
a ghost; but we know too we'll the dis
crepancy between the real and the
ideal.
II come" slowly answered the
strange visitant, from the Land of
Shadows"
What do you want ~ gasped the
new tenant.
Il want my home"
"Eh ?' cried Mr.. Drake.
when l was alive" deliberately
uttered the spectre, 81 walked in these |
halls, and dwelt beside this hearth |
stone. In death claim them STILL"
Mr.. brakes face had turned the |
color of putty. He shook as if he had
the palsy.
"Have-have you been long dead ?"
said he. Once more the old man trans |
fixed him with the strange light Of the |
steely blue eyes.
"a hundred years." he said.
Mr.. Drake rose unsteady to his feet;
he made a grasp at his mantle, and
rushed toward the door.
''If / had staid another second in
that room" he afterwards declared, 81
couldn' have breathed. Ishould GER
tainly have fallen down in a fit."
Mr.. Pratt had scarcely completed his
morning toilette when Neighbor Bats
ley's one-horse wagon stopped before
real estate Office, and Mr.. Drake jump.
ed out. his rubicund face grown pale
and fiabby, his eyes wearing startled
expression, his whole personality alter
ed.
"Hal-lo ~ said Mr.. Pratt in great
amazement.
II was comm in to early MARKET"
explained Neighbor Baisley, when l
found this gentleman wandering just
this side of Desperation Hall, and he
said he wanted to see you, and SO l
brung him here"
"Ah % said Mr.. Pratt, tying his
bingham cravat one-sidedly in his
haste. 1.-The lease is quite ready, sir
right here on the table,"
81 don't want the lease" said Mr..
Drake, irritably. "I'll have nothing
to do with leases. ''I'm going back to
the city by the very first train"
"Well, declare" said Mr.. Pratt, II
am beat! What's the matter, sir, if l
may make bold to ask p"
Matter ?" roared Mr.. Drake. 1.-THE
abominable old hole is haunted ~
Haunted ?" repeated the agent.
"Why, 1 thought that was exactly
what you wanted, SIR"
Don't be an idiotr' irate exclaimed
Mr. Drake.
But the gentleman don't under
stand" explained Neighbor Baisley,
only Uncle Perez Packer. 1can't seem
to make him comprehend that Desper-
alton Hall was used for the county
poor-house while the new one was a.
building, and that Uncle Perez can't
be made to b'lieve that he don't belong
| there still. He's harmless soul, and
folks know that he goes there every
day; and i've tried to tell the gentle
man how the old creetur is as crazy as
cricket, and sticks to it he's been
| dead a hundred years, and only comes
| back to life now and then. The gen.
| tleman won't hear to reason. Ghosts,
indeed Bless you, there amt nothin'
but black beetles and rats at Despera-
ton Hail."
81 can't help that" said Mr.. Drake,
testify. 1--WE had enough Of the place.
All the wealth of Golconda couldn't
tempt me to go back there for another
hour"
"But q bargains bargain" said
the real estate agent; and I've fairly
| earned my commission"
So Mr.. Drake paid his commission,
and shook the dust OF Amman Water of
his feet forever.
And the Drake family remained joy
fully in the city, and nothing more was
said Of hegira into the country; and
when the first grisly horror had lost its
edge, Mr.. Gervaise Drake made a very
nice dinner-table story of the ghost,
and repeated it until all his friends
were heartily tired of it.
But it cured him of his yearning
after the Mysterious and the Possible,
and Desperation Hall yet remains on
Mr.. Philo Pratt's list of Desirable
Country Mansions for sale or to Let.
LOWS LOVE OF MUSIC.
| While Rev. w. J. Davis was living
in Africa his little son John, a boy of
4 years, went too near to a chained
lion in a neighbours yard. 1t was
| Had q not lion hut uoa an wild and