Passaic City record., 1899-07-29

soon as I could, and sought out the
owner of the hotel.
He was not tmaster of my Ian
guage, but, fortunately, am familiar
with his, and 1 asked him quietly, but
with good deal of lordly severity, to
explain my extraordinary experience
of the previous night.
1 think he meant at first to deny all
knowledge of the phenomenon; but
he had turned visibly pale at my al
lusion to it, and obviously knew all
that was to be told. And, with little
more browbeating, got it out of him..
He apologized most humbly and pro-
foundly for having put us into that
room; but, as he explained, the hotel
was so full that it was unavoidable.
He then went on to tell me that,
some time before, an italian lady and
gentleman, husband and wife, had oc-
cupied the room we had slept in, and
the next one to it, whose door was op-
posite to my wife's bed. On the
morning after their arrival the hus-
band had reused the whole hotel, de-
claring wildly that his wife had been
murdered = which had, indeed,
proved to be the case. There lay the
lady, stone dead, knife beside her
OF the bed--one of the hotel knives,
my host explained in an injured voice
and her husband nearly mad with
grief and horror. But the strange
thing was that, though the knife lay
there, no sign was visible of its having
been used. The poor lady had evil
IDENTIFY been suffocated. The hus-
band, who had slept in the room next
to his wife's said that the door be-
tween their rooms had been open all
night, but he swore he had heard no
sound. How the murderer had come,
where he had vanished to, and above
all, why he had murdered the poor,
innocent lady. remained profound
mysteries.
"Do you mean that the murderer is
still at large?" I asked the hotel
keeper.
He nodded.
"Well, 1 could identify hin. any
where" said, sharply.
The man looked at me keenly,
"You saw, sir-you saw?" he sta m
mered.
CT saw the whole thing, from be-
ginning to end, i'll that internal glass;"
I replied; "the whole ghastly per
formance. Has no one ever seen it
before?"
Mine host crossed himself rapidly.
"It has been seen BEFORE" he an
swered; "but no one has ever seen it
ALL The lighted glass-yes-and
lady, the lady IN the bed-and man
who enters. But, then-no one has
ever dared to stay to face all the hor-
ror through. No one ever saw the
mans face. They have all tainted. or
run away-or what not. You saw his
face, slr?" he ended, in credulously.
Gas plainly as I see yours, I said.
eff ever I see it in real life I will let
you know"
We movod our room that night, on
some plea I gave my wife-I forget
now what it was-and a few days
later we left the place, and I must
confess, honestly, I was not sorry to
go.
But fate works strangely sometimes.
Six months later, my wife was con-
valescent after a severe illness, and
the doctors insisted on my taking her
to this very place again. I suggested
many other localities. But, no; there
she must go, aud nowhere else. So,
back we went, and found it very
charming, even in winter; stepped in
sunshine, fresh and sweet, with clear,
dry air and deep-blue sky.
We had been there week, and my
wife and were sitting at our small
table in the great dining-room waiting
for lunch. when the door behind us
opened and someone came in.
ooh, what'a hateful-looAing manr
my wife exclaimed, and I saw her
shudder. I glanced around, and, by
Jove! I shuddered myself, for, walk
ing down that dining-room, with
brazen, jaunty air. was the very man
whom I had seen in the glass murder
ing the poor lady. Without a word,
I bolted out of the room and breath
lessly rushed to the bureau, where the
master of the house looked at me as if
l were lunatic.
"The man is here!' I said, as soon
as I could speak.
"What man?" he asked bewildered.
"The man who murdered the lady
in that room where the glass is.
Come quickly; I will show him to
you"
I think he still thought me mad,
hut u vain foIIauol mo {o tho