Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1900-08-11
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A ManiaC's Freak
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
TT HAVE heard of persons whoa
The Terrible Experience That Blanched

cessive fear, but, as l never saw my
self anyone SO affected, l am disposed
to be incredulous on the subject"
The above remark was made to DR..
Maynard, as we sat on the piazza of
his pretty villa, discussing the differ
ent effects of terror on dissimilar tenn
peraments. Without replying to me,
the doctor turned to his wife, and
said:
Helen, will you please relate to my
old friend the incident within your
W experience? 1t is the cost con-
vincing argument I can ADVANCE
l looked at Mrs. Maynard in sur
prise. l had observed that her hair,
which was luxuriant. and dressed very
becomingly, was purely colorless; but,
as she was a young woman, and also
a very pretty one, l surmised that it
was powdered to heighten the bril-
liancy of her fine dark eyes.
The doctor and l had been fellow
students, but, after leaving college,
WI had drifted apart; l to commence
practice in an eastern city. hefto pur-
sue his profession in a growing town
in Che west. l was now on a visit to
him for the first time since his mar
riage.
Mrs. Maynard, no doubt reading my
supposition by my look Of incredulity,
smiled as she shook her snowy tresses
over her shoulders, and, seating her.
self by her husbands side, related the
following interesting episode:
It was nearly two years ago since
my husband was called on n evening
to visit a patient several miles away.
Our domestics had all gone to a wake
in the vicinity, the dead man being
a relative of one Of u serving WON
en-. Thus I was left alone. But I felt
no fear, for we never had heard of
burglars or any sort of desperadoes
in our quiet village, then consisting Of
a few scattered houses. The windows
leading out on the piazza were open
as now, but l secured the blinds be-
fore my husbands departure, and
locked the inside doors, all except the
front one, which I left for the doc
tor to lock after going out, SO that,
if I should fall asleep before his re-
turn, he would enter without ~arousing
me. I heard the doctors rapid foot
steps on the gravel, %quickened by the
urgent tones Of a messenger who
awaited him; and, after the sharp
rattle of the carriage wheels had be-
come but an echo, I seated myself
by the parlor astral, and very soon
became absorbed in the book I had
been reading before being disturbed
by the summons.
But after a time my interest sue
cumbed to d%rowsiness, and I thought
Of retiring. Then the clock in the
doctors study struck IL, so I deter
mined to wait a few moments more,
feeling that he would be home very
soon. I closed my book, donned a
robe de chambre, let down my hair,
and then returned to my seal to pa
tiently wait and listen. Not the faint
est sound disturbed the stiffness of
the night. Not a breath of air stirred
the leaves. The silence was so pro-
found that it became oppressive. I
longed for the sharp click Of the gate
latch and the well-known step on the
gravel walk. 1 did not dare to break
the hush myself by moving or singing,
I was SO oppressed with the deep still
ness. The human mind is a strange
torturer of itself. I began to conjure
vivid fancies about ghostly visit
ants, in the midst of which occurred
to me the stories I had heard from
superstitious people about the troubled
Of those who had died sudden
ly, like the man whom my servants
had gone to awake" who had been
killed by an accident at the sawmill.
In the midst Of these terrifying re-
Elections, l was startled by a stealthy
football on the piazza. I listened be-
tween fear and hope. It might be
the doctor. But no, he would not
tread like that; the step was too soft
and cautious for anything less willy
than a cat. As I listened again, my
eyes fixed on the window-blind, I saw
the Stats move slowly and cautious
ly, and then the rays Of the moon dis
a thin, cadaverous face, and
g~littering eyes, peering at me.
Horror! Who was it? or what was
It? I felt the cold p%erspiration start
at every pore. I seemed to be frozen
in my chair. / could not move; I
could not cry out; my tongue seemed
glued to the roof Of my mouth. while
the deathly white face pressed closer,
and the great sunken eyes wandered
In their gaze about the room. In a
few moments the blind closed as
noiselessly as it had been opened, and
the cautious footsteps anne toward
the door. "Merciful he~avens!" I cried
in q horror-stricken whisper, as I
heard the key turn in the. lock, "the
in his haste, must have for
TO withdraw the key"
I heard the front door open, the
step in the hall, and, helpless as a
I sat riveted to my chair. The
door was open, and in it stood
tall, thin man, whom I meyer before
He was dressed in a long,
loose robe, q sort of gaberdine, and
q black velvet skull-cap partially con
a broad forehead, under which
cleaned black eyes, bright as living
Goals. and placed so near together
that their gaze was preternatural in
their distinctness; heavy, grizzled
eyebrows hung over them like the
name of a lion; the nose was
sharp and prominent; the chin was
overgrown with white hair, which
hung down in locks as weird as the
Ancient Mariners. He politely dotted
his cap, bowed, replaced 1t, and then
said, in q slightly foreign accent:
"Madam, it is not necessary for me
to stand on any further ceremony, a.
1870 -- ~ lf-----l 49, "