Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1899-05-18

-our patience would be exhausted.
Morning after morning and evening
after evening the ghostly rickshaw
and | used to wander through Simla to-
gether. Wherever l went there the four
black and white ~liveries followed me
and bore me company to and from my
hotel. At the theater / found them
amid the crowd of yelling j~hampanies
outside the club veranda after a long
evening of whist; at the birthday ball
waiting patiently for my appearance,
and in broad daylight when | went call
ing. Save that it cast no shadow. the
ricskhaw was in every respect as real
to look upon as one of wood and iron.
More than once indeed | have had TO
check myself from warning some hard
riding friend against cantering over it.
More than once | have walked down the
mall deep in conversation with Mrs.
Washington to the ~unspeakable amaze
ment of the passersby.
Before | had been out and about a
week | learned that the ''ft" theory
had been discarded in favor of insanity.
However, | made no change in my
mode of life. | called. rode and dined
out as freely as ever. l had a passion
for the society Of my kind which | had
never felt before. | hungered TO be
among the realities Of life. and at the
same time | felt vaguely unhappy when
| had been separated too long from my
ghostly companion. II would be almost
impossible to describe my varying
moods from the 10Th of May up to to-
day.
The presence Of the rickshaw filed
me by turns with horror. blind fear, a
dim sort of pleasure and utter despair.
/ dared not leave Simla, and knew that
my stay there was killing me, | knew.
moreover, that it was my destiny to die
slowly and a little every day. Ny only
anxiety was to get the penance over as
quietly as might be. Alternately I hun
gered for a sight Of Kitty and watched
her outrageous hirtations with my sue
cessor-to speak more accurately. my
successors-with amused interest. She
was as much out Of my life as / was
out of hers. By day / wandered with
Mrs. Washington, almost content. BY
night | implored heaven to let me re-
turn to the world as | used to know it.
all these varying moods lay the
sensation Of dull. numbing wonder
that the seen and the unseen should
so strangely on this earth to
hound n poor soul TO its grave.
:,
Aug. 27.-Heatherlegh has been indie
iatigable in his attendance on me, and I,
only yesterday told me that | ought to I
send in an application for sick leave. :
An application TO escape the company :
If a phantom A request that the gov +,
,rnment would graciously permit me to :
ret rid Of five ghosts and an airy rick !
Ihaw by going to England Heather !
egh's proposition moved me to almost I
lysterieal laughter. | told him that | /,
hould await the end quietly at Simla, .
md | am sure that the end is not far Z
fl. Believe me that | dread its advent
more than any word can say. and | tor a
ure myself nightly with a thousand !,
populations as TO the of my :
i
Shall die in my bed decently and as !,
n English gentleman should die. or in a
ne last walk ON the mall will my soul !,
e wrenched from me to take its place +
orever and ever by the side of that !,
%phantasmH Shall l return to r
~ old lost allegiance in the next world !,
shall | meet Agnes loathing her and
ound TO her side through all eternity
hall we two hover over the scene Ct
nr lives till the end of timer As the It
ay Of my death draws nearer the in
horror that all living flesh feels
ward escaped spirits from beyond the
ave grows more and more powerful
is an awful thing to go down quick SIT
Dong the dead with scarcely one-half 10
your life completed Ii is a thousand de
mes more awful to wait as ! do in be
our midst for | know not what un tn
Imaginable terror. Pity me at least on he
lie score of my ''delusion, for | know co
N win never believe what | have ca
here. Yet as surely as ever a Sc
an was done to death by the powers CO.
darkness / am that man. fol
In justice. too. pity her. For as sure. tn.
as ever woman was killed by man | tic
He'd Mrs washington. And the last vel
of my punishment is even now wa
ION me. lac
Grandmother's Cold Cream Jar. ~
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