Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1899-09-30

you, Slc! DuJ no answer ctuie' Ihcii
I grasped the door bell ard rang peal
after peal, but all 1 heard were the
echoes dying away in the empty house.
1 may rs we'll confess that ran to til o
railroad station. When / asked the
night Waterman who lived at 20 High
street he replied 81 cannot tell you,
sir, as 1 am but little acquainted in
the place" Still puzzling my brain
over the mystery, remained with him
until 5 the next morning, when the
first train took me home.
The next afternoon, my cOurrge
having returned, drove over to Mill
Vile and went straight to the house
which I had visited the previous night.
I went boldly up the front steps and
was ringing the bell, when q man at
work in the next yard looked over the
low fence.
"There is no one at home, sir" he
said.
"Where are the people who belong
here?" 1 asked.
'"Ihey are spending the winter in
Southern California, and have been
away since last September" was his
reply.
On returning to my affice I found q
telegram from my sister, who lived in
au adjoining State. In response to it
I started at once, and on arriving at
her home the following morning l
learned that an elderly physician, a
friend of her husband, was about to
give up active practice. Arrangements
were speedily made and I moved to
my new location.
During the spring and summer I
was kept busy and HAD but little time
to myself, yet often 7 pondered over
my midnight visit to Millville, trying
to persuade myself that it might be
only a delusion of my brain while in
some stage OF somnambulism.
One evening, at about 1890, I had
returned from q professional call and
was about to retire, when I picked up
the evening paper, which my thought
full sister always left on my table.
The first item i read was not;oe in
the society columns: "Miss Mar
guerite Lawton, of Millville, is visit
ing her grandmother, Mrs. Stephen
Powers Lawton, on College avenue. y
The name of the town brought to
my mind the mysterious call I had
once answered. L placed the paper
on the table at my elbow. As I did
so I became aware of a feeling as ii
some one was in the room. CHANGING
hastily around saw that I was alone,
but as my gaze again fell on the table
1 saw moving toward me the figure OF
q mans hand, holding in it's grasp the
same peculiarly shaped key. The
hand moved over the table until 1t
rested on the paragraph had just
read, and the key tapped once or
twice on the name, marguerite"
The hand began to fade; already I
could see to read the letters that were
under it, and, as the shape OF the key
began to grow indistinct, seized a
pencil and made sketch of it on the
margin Of the paper, opposite the
paragraph.
The key had barely faded from my
view when my bell rang. A man
stood in the door. "Come at once to
Mrs. Lawton's, College avenue"
In response to my inquiries he re-
piled: "She is unconscious; it is
probably stroke of paralysis.
In a few minutes we entered the
room, where slight, girlish figure,
clad all in black, was kneeling by the
side of bed, whereon lay an old lady.
She was dead, and but one glance was
needed to show me that she was the
mysterious one who had opened the
door for me at the Millville house.
"Here is the doctor, Miss Mar
guerite," said the man.
The young girl rose and with q
stihed sob held out her hand to me.
"My dearest friend, my only friend
ON earth, is gone" she cried.
A few days later my sister and I
called to see Miss Lawton, who had
decided to close her grandmother's
house and go away.
1.-THE only relative I have now is
my mothers half-brother in Cali
fornia. He has telegraphed for me to
come to him. Poor papa aud I were
so happy there until his sudden death
last SPRING" Then she added, 81
will show you his picture" and TAX
ing photograph from case on the
table she handed me the exact like
ness OF the man whom I had found
upon the lounge with the ugly cash
on his head. I did not question her
at that time, although my curiosity
was difficult to control, as 1 saw that
she was deeply agitated, and I felt
that she must be kept as calm as pos
sible.
Destiny, fate or what compelled me
to follow Marguerite to California? 1
was not wholly impelled by the desire
to obtain solution of my mystery of
which I felt that somehow I held the
key, having been to locksmith and
had key made from the drawing on
the newspaper margin. In the latter
part of January I placed my practice
in the hands OF one of my medical
friends who was not quite ready to
settle down, and started out for six
weeks vacation.
Marguerite and my sister had kept
up correspondence, so had no diff
ficulty in finding the object Of my
search, and in less than five weeks
was on my way east with my bride.
Before leaving California I had
learned the particulars of Mrs. Law
tons sudden death. Marguerite 8
grandmother, who had been a leader
in society until her husbands death,
was the possessor of some valuable
diamonds, which few years previous
she had placed in her sons hands for
safe keeping until Marguerite should