The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1900-07-14

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Tho Terrible Experience That Rlanehed
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self anyone SO affected, l am disposed
TO be ~ineredulous IN the subject"
The above remark was made to DR..
Maynard, as we sat on the piazza of
his pretty villa, discussing the differ
emit effects of terror On dissimilar tenn
peraments. Without replying to me,
ednc&nSu Ene to his wife and
said:
"Helen, viii you please relate to my
old friend the incident within your
own experience? It is the most con-
vincing argument I can advance"
I looked at Mrs. Maynard in sur
prise. / had observed that her hair,
which was lu~xuriant, and dressed very
becomingly, was purely colorIess; but,
as she was a young woman, and also
q very pretty one, I surmised that it
was powdered to heighten the bril-
liancy Of her fine dark eyes.
The doctor and I had been fellow
students, but, after leaving college,
we had drifted apart; 1 to commence
practice in an eastern city, he to pur-
sue his profession in a growing town
in the west. I was now on a visit to
him for the first time since his mar
rage.
Mrs. Maynard, no doubt reading my
supposition by my look of incredulity,
smiled as she shook her snowy tresses
over her shoulders, and, setting her
self by her husbands side, related the
following interesting episode:
It was nearly two years ago since
my husband was called on one evening
60 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 our serving wOm-
IN. Thus I was left alone. But I felt
no fear, for we never had heard of
burglars or any sort of ~desperadoes
iR our quiet village, then consisting of
a few scattered houses. The windows
leading out on the piazza were open
as now, but I secured the blinds be-
fore my husbands departure, and
locked the inside doors, all except the
front me-, which I left for the doc
tor to lock after going out, so that,
e 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 q 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 drowsiness. and 1 thought
of retiring. Then the clock in the
doctors study struck IL, so 1 deter
mined to wait a few moments more,
feeling that he would be home very
sdon. 1 closed my book, donned a
robe de chambre, let down my hair,
and then returned to my e to pa
tiently wait and listen. not the faint
est sound disturbed the stiffness Of
Che night. Not a breath of air stirred
the leaves. The silence was so pro
found that IL became oppressive. I
longed for the sharp click of the gate
latch and the ~well-known step on the
gravel walk. I did not dare to break
the hush myself by moving or singing,
I was SO oppressed with the deep still
ness. 1he human mind is a strange
Z ~torturer of itself. I began to conjuTe
up 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
spirits of those who had died sudden
ly, like the man whom my servants
had gone to ''wake," who had been
killed by an accident at the sawmill.
In the midst Of these terrifying re-
hections, I was startled by a stealthy
football on the piazza. / 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 / listened again, my
eyes fixed on the window-blind, I saw
the Stats move slowly and cautious
", and then the rays of the moon dis
closed a thin, -~cadaverous face, and
bright, glittering eyes, peering sc me.
HorrOrl Who was it.? or what vas
st? I felt the cold perspiration start
at every pore. I seemed to be fazen
in my chair. I could not moves I
could not cry out; my tongue seemed
glued 20 the root Of my mouth, while
the deathly white face pressed closer,
and the great sunken eyes wandered
in their gaze about the In =
few moments the blind closed as
noiselessly as it had been opened, and
the cautious footsteps came toward
the door. 'sMerciful ~heavensl" I cried
ln a horror-stricken whisper, as ]
heard the key turn in the lock, "the
doctor, in his haste, must have for
gotten TO withdraw the key"
/ heard the front door open, the
step in the hall, and. helpless as q
statue, I sat riveted to my chair. The
parlor door was open, and in it stood
a tail, thin man, whom I meyer before
beheId. He was dressed in a long,
loose robe, a sort of ~gaberdine, and
a black velvet skuIl-cap partially con-
ceaIed q broad forehead under which
cleaned black eyes, bright as living
Goals, and placed so neal together
that their gaze was preternatural in
their distinctness; heavy, grizzled
eyebrows hung over them like the