El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-02-28
THAT Spanish WOMAN
A Painting and a Ghost All In One
Frame. (

x A Painting and a Ghost All In One 3
B Frame. 6
1 first heard of it just after our mar
rage. He came home-it was he then
raving in set terms of art concerning the
picture.
"Why didn't you buy it?" I asked.
81 offered Did Doughty $500, and he
jeered."
I gasped as much as Doughty jeered
$500 was an awful sum then.
Five years after old Doughty died, and
my husband went to a sale of his pictures
and things. He came back gloomy. he
told me that young Doughty was there,
and he could not bid against him. They
made an arrangement. The artists son
was to bid up to $3.50, and the husband
to what amount he pleased. 1t went for
$3.50.
Lately young Doughty went bankrupt
Ignorance of bookkeeping was his ex-
| PLANTATION to the creditors. My husband
was on the warpath again. He asked
young Doughty to dinner and said he
meant to buy the picture. The young
artist raised his paint stained hands in
horror.
"It's accursed! 1t has the evil eye! The
kuN hui uouShI 1 " P-oO uiio
it. Whenever he was rich, people tempt
ed him with splendid offers, and when he
was poor he couldn't sell it. He once
pawned it for SIS. The beastly thing
has ruined me. I've been offered $1,000
for it-when 1 was flush" d.
"And refused?"
eyes. Worse luck! Last year, when
I'd sold my academy picture, a rich Aus
tralian came to the studio He was just
about to buy The Gem for $3,OOO-'Th
Gem is an old salon 16 footer-when he
saw The Garrido,' and said, who paint
ed that ugly thingY
"tOh, it's nothing I replied, but he
went and gazed and fell victim to the
ugly Spanish woman and offered $1.OO2.
81 was firm; he got angry and stalked
out of the place. The Gem will be in
the sale; but don't buy The Garrido.'
It'll bring bad luck"
My husband went to the sale and
brought back the picture in a cab. He
paid only $50.
1 looked with great curiosity at the
work of art, undoubtedly a superb piece
of painting. 1t represented a young
Spanish woman, full face, with a pas
~sionate, scowling countenance, eyes that
followed you about the room, and black
hair which somehow stood out against n
black ground. She was an ugly woman
and yet fascinating.
We hung the picture over the mantel-
piece in the dining room and raved
about it during dinner, and came back a
dozen times after dinner to gaze at it.
The husband ever stopped tying trout
casts to visit "the Spanish woman"
"Lucki' he said. Hang luck,w And
he stuck a peacock feather in the frame.
1t may have been mere coincidence,
but there came unexpectedly Il slump in
the husbands work, he got broken in
the first Thames trout he EVER hooked, a
plate of soup was spilled over my best
new frock, the moths got into my furs,
the p~arlormaid caught the measles and
the dog distemper. All these trifes were
within Il month, but we were reSolute,
placid and philosophic.
A friend, hearing us talk, and, ad-
miring the picture, offered US $3.50. We
jeered:: He left for Jericho.
One night l heard Il strange noise in
the fiat. l did not awaken the husband;
he has theories about not attacking bur-
glars, but is very hotheaded. L crept
down to the dining room. There was a
noise inside. l burst open the door, say
ing all in a breath: You'd better go
quickly and leave everything. I've rung
the call for police. boy messenger, cab,
doctor and fire escape. You've just time
cat, bolted past me.
I went to close the window. The blind
was up and the moon streamed in.
/ CHANGED to look at the Spanish wo-
man; she was looking at me, staring,
glaring. I gasped, then walked bravely
toward her a step or two. The eyes were
opened wider than usual and there vas a
fierce light in them.
My mouth grew dry; I tried to scream;
my tongue merely clattered. In a mo-
ment all the ghost stories 1 had ever
read passed through my mind.
A subdued storm Of words rushed from
the thick lips, and teeth cleaned within
them. The language was foreign; the
voice was like that of Bernhardt when
she curses in a whisper. The head ad-
vanced, fury in the face, mad glare in
the eyes. The frame became a kind of
black mist.
Nearer, nearer; l could feel her breath.
I thanked God silently that she had NO
arms, and put up my trembling hands
to keep her off.
Suddenly strength came to my legs. l
rushed across the room, stumbled over a
chair and fell. The head turned. 1
could see coarse. black curls on the nape
of it's neck as it turned. Closer it came,
closer, but slowly. Only a foot or two
separated the face from mine, and 1 was
paralyzed.
Closer-only an inch off, when all at
once my muscles awoke, and I fed from
the room, banging the door.
I said nothing at breakfast to my nus
band about the matter; he is very SYM
pathetic, but somewhat skeptical and
Quizzical.
At IL a. m. the housemaid and I took
down the picture-at least I looked on
and she took it down.. There seemed
nothing abnormal about it.
Then we put it into a cab. The dealer
refused to give more than $25 for it.
Hitherto he and I nave never had n
quarrel. I suppose that such a garden
of Eden state Of affairs could not last