The Washington weekly post., 1900-01-02

not kissed me for a long time: IT was jus,
as IL there we're a wall between us- She
kissed me n0w very. very solemniy.
''Ycu have always been the very kiDdest
Of sisters" she said 'and / love you very.
very much. and when yoi come 10 die
wiz meet you and wik bring
WHAT" I asked with shudder.
Red roses she said
''Oh. don't, Oh. don'tr' murmured- Il
shall hate red roses as long as live"
Il have something TO tell you. Patricia;
listen to me-" remarked Josephine
did not speak. locked her full In the
eyes; she was slightly taller than / she
laid her thin hand On my shoulder.
You need not Je frightened" she saio
After all. there Is nothing very terrible.
have found out the mystery Of the red
roses. Once man lived here. poet He
had a great. warm. loving heart, and he
planted the garden with red roses, Just as
you see them now, the very same plants.
He planted them. he tended them. and
he loved them. and there was girl whom
he loved even better than the flowers. and
ne planted them for her. But she was
faithless TO him. She left him on the eve OF
her wedding, and went away with an
other. TIE man. from grief and agony at
MS loss. committed suicide, and for this
oeed he was doomed. He was doomed TO
| wander the earth until"
Until what, Josephine? Who told you
this terrible, lugubrious, unlikely taleg'
He told me-" answered my sister; sand
ne told me what his doom was For the
SIN or hurrying to his Maker before his
| call came he was doomed to wander the
| earth until"
Yes. yes" said; until what?'
Until another woman gave him her
heart and was faithful TO him He had
| been long looking for such a woman, but
when l came here his search ended To-
night he lies dead upstairs, and the red
roses / received yesterday cover him. He
Is my bridegroom, Patricia. shall lie
by his side tonight and-but do not ask
| me any more"
she left the room. I heard her go up
stairs and lock the door of her dreadful
bedroom. spent night too fearful to
| speak of, and early in the morning went
TO seek her. The door, as usual, was
locked. / called; she did not answer. 1
| shouted; she did not reply In terror l
called Our servant. and the door was
broken open We both went IL. Joseph
| Inc was lying on her bed quite dead
| There was smile on her face and a look
of great happiness in her half-Open eyes
Red roses covered her; they were every
where. some lying On her breast, some
cl2sped in her thin, cold hands; they filed
the ar with their exquisite perfume.
!
part of the mystery Of this strange
story can never be explained. Did Jose
/ phine really see the spirit which haunted
The queer old house, or was she the sub
ject of hallucinations from an early date
| after her arrival there? / must wait until
! /, too, enter the spirit world to answer
these questions. But something else was
! made plain, only not until long years
| afterward.
AT Josephine's death my cousin received
his share Of her money, and / left the
tall old house and went TO live elsewhere
Years and years went by, my hair was
! gray, and ] had ceased to mourn SO Bit
| terly for the sister of my youth
One day | received a message that a
dying man wanted to see me. I obeyed
the call, for ! could not well refuse. and
found myself face to face with the cousin
| who had inherited Josephine's six thou
| sand pounds. He then told me of the
| CHASTITY trick he had played Being de-
| termined to get the money, and as soon
as possible, he had followed us both to
| Alverstoke, had determined not to make
| himself known, had heard the story of
the house, had watched Josephine,
| guessed that she would be easily inhu-
enced by anything connected with the
unseen, and had made mis- plans. When
| it began to be known about in the town
| that my sister Josephine saw spirits, that
| she was called by an unknown voice,
| that she herself was growing thinner and
| thinner, and more and more spiritual,
he brought his wicked scheme to perfec-
tion. He sent for red roses to the South
of France, and sent them to her day by
| day. The roses finished the work which
the haunted house had begun. Josephine
| died, and our cousin inherited her money
| But l have been punished he said in
| conclusion, for she haunts me. | have
! seen her gentle face over and over again
since the day of her death, but now her
| spirit will rest, for 1 have repented of
my sin"
| ha