The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1900-10-16
THE GRAVES DOOR.

~ veranda, of which the outer edge lay
in bright moonlight, while the inner
portion was wrapped in the dense
shadow of the partly drawn bamboo
jalousies.
81 know the feeling, +" said Stanfeld,
noting my uneasiness II never sit here
Of an evening without getting creepy
sensation all over me. The servants say
the old bungalow is haunted, and ]
shouldn't wonder if they are right.
Anyhow, If it isn't, it ought to be, foz
the story connected with it is an uncan-
ny one altogether. See that hole in the
jalousies there on your right9'
''Do you mean that oblong slit just
above the balustrade? Pom my word,
against the moonlight, it looks for all
the world like malignant eyel''
$50 1t is" said Stan6eld, with q
slight shiver. sit was through that
hole Judge Robertson. my predecessor,
was shot. -
''Ah, I've heard there was a strange
story connected with his death, but
know none of the particulars. Suppose
you light another weed and talk me out
of this creepy fit
"Talk you into a worse one, more
like" retorted Stanfield. striking a
fusee. "I'll wager you never heard q
weirder story. But you shall have the
facts and then judge for yourself. "
With that he settled himself in his
chair, and after putting reflectively al
his cheroot for some seconds went on to
tell me the story of the shot through
the jalousies:
Robertson, you must know, was an
Elton boy. like myself. We were ohums,
in fact. in the old days, and that is how
came to know of peculiar tradition,
If may so name it, that is said to have
been in his family for centuries.
ST don't know whether you believe
in death warnings, Dick. but it seems
that for hundreds of years no Robertson
has ever died without first having a dis
tinct premonition Of his approaching
end, and. what is more remarkable still,
the warning always comes in the form
of an odor, an earthly smell-the smell
Of new. dug grave.
"Well, about week before his death,
when he was on his way to take up his
appointment here, in fact, Robertson
passed through Malariabad, where
was at that time stationed as collector,
and of course put him up for the night.
After dinner we were sitting smoking.
just as you and are new, when pres
emily he says:
'Stanfeld, says he, there's dev.
ilish queer smell about. Been having
any digging done on the premisesf'
"'No, said I, 4 haven't, and for the
life of me can't smell anything ex'
oept these Dindiguls we're smoking.
perhaps that's what it is, then,
said he doubtfully, and for half ar
hour or SO the subject was dropped.
"Just as we we're making move fol
bed, however, he suddenly grips my
hand, and, 'Stanfeld, says he hoarse.
ly, for Gods sake tell me that your
people have been digging somewhere
near or that there's been shower.
can't get that earthly smell out of my
nostrils. It's like standing over new
made grave.
tJust a week later, to day, was
at work in my Office one morning wheI
a peon brought in telegram. Dick,
that telegram brought the news that
Robertson had been shot dead by his
own butler at O'Clock the evening be-
fore p
"By his own butlerp' exclaimed
Mortified; for while Stanfeld was relat
ing this tragic tale l had heard the
voice of his butler giving orders to the
table boys in the dining room at ouI
back.
Eyes, by his own butler, " resumed
Stanfield, "and on the very spot where
you sit. Indeed, consulting his watch,
sit happened just at this time, for it'i
now 8 Pollock to the minute. -
"But," cried, glanoing apprehen-
sively at the eyelike aperture in the
jalousies, "why by his butler? Fol
heavens sake. explainp'
81 will, )" continued Stanfeld, ''but
first l must bark back bit and tell you
that the telegram ordered me to proceed
at once to this station as Robertson's
successor. Well, did SO, and almost
my first duty as judge was to try the
poor fellows murderer.
1.-The butler?''
1.-The butler, and that brings me to
the explanation you asked for moment
ago. Robertson, it appears, had had q
case before him in which native was
charged with maltreating his wife, a
mere child barely IL years Of age, in
such brutal manner as to cause her
death. Gases of that kind are far from
being uncommon, as you know, and
Robertson-well, he did what almost
any other English judge would have
done under the oircumstanoes-gave the
scamp his deserts and sentenced him te
death.
"Now this occurred only few hours
before he was murdered, and you will
at once suspect some hidden connection
between the two events And you arr
right In passing sentence OF deatt
upon the brutal native he virtually
passed sentence upon himself.
Robertson had in his service at thu
time, among other servants, butlel
who was related to the man he had jus
condemned Whether he was aware O
the exact relationship existing between
the two don t know, but l am inclined
to think not AS matter Of fact, whel
Robertson sat down to dinner tina
night, after sentencing the native t.
death, he was waited upon by the con
vict's own brother.
"You observed rifle on the dining
room wall, have no doubt. just oppo
site your place at table 1t was from
that rifle the fatal shot was fred.
"Not while Robertson was at dinner
though. The butler was too willy TO
that. He bided his time until his mas
ter had seated himself in his usual plac
here on the veranda, taken his COTE
and smoked his cheroot. Then, whel
these had begun to make him drowsy
the fellow took the rife from the wal
lit was always kept loaded-and crep
through the bedrooms to the far end
the veranda, where. as you see tn
shadow lies SO deep.
''Sitting as we are now, you observ
that the steps between the far end Q
the veranda and the ialousies with tn
hole in IL are concealed by the row G
pillars and you will readily understan
how a. sbarefooted native might cree