Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1900-01-31
CHAPTER XIV

CHAPTER XIV. 80.
To-day Is wet; soaking, steady down.
| pour that commenced at early: dawn is
still rendering miserable the shrubbery
and gardens
Vera, depressed BY the melancholy o.
the day. has cast her oooK Hs,de.. and
with certainty of meeting nobody in
the empty rooms apd. corridors, wanders
aimiessly throughout their dreary length
ana breadth. These rooms are well
known to her, and presently wearying OF
them she turns aside and rather timidly
pushes open huge, faded, baize-covered
door that leads she scarcely knows whith.
er. She pushes it back and looks eagerly
| inward.
1t is not an apartment, after ALL. A
long, low, vaulted passage reveals itself
only dimiy lighted by painted window
at the lower end. 1t appears to be q
completely bare passage. leading no
where; but presently, as she runs her
eyes along the eastern wall, door meets
them, an old oaken door, iron clas sped
and literally hung with cobwebs:-'
Curiosity grows strong within her
Catching the ancient handle of this door
mere brass ring sunk in the w,oodwor,
she pushes against it with all her might
In vain. But not deferred, she pushes
again and again; and at the last trial OF
her strength a sharp sound-a ring OF
something brazen falling on a stone fiooI
crashes with a quick. altogether as.
founding noise upon the tomblike silence
that fills the mysterious passage.
At the same moment the door gives
way, and she, unexpectedly yielding with
it, steps hurriedly forward into a dark
, and grewsome hole. -.
The poverty of the light has peiSaps
dimmed her sight, because after little
while a shadow on the opposite wall
that resolves itself into an opening, be
comes known to her. 1t is not door
rather a heavy hempen curtain. and now
resolutely determined to go through with
her adventure, she advances toward it
pulls it aside. and finds herself face to
face with Gregory Dysart!
He is on his knees, next that peculiar
cabinet described in an earlier chapter
and as he lifts his head upon her en-.
trance a murderous glare, as of one
hunted, desperate, comes into his curious
eyes.
The side of the cabinet is lying wide
open, and, as he involuntarly moves, the
VI HOiueu COluS IdlllUS one upon
another alone breaks the loud silence that
oppresses the atmosphere. In his hand
he is holding an old and yellow parch:
ment.
"I-I~am sorry" murmurs Vera. terri.
fed; Il did not know; -"
What brought you here, girl-here
where l believed myself safe? Go, go
there is nothing-nothing, tell you
they lied to you If they told yon any
thing-go, 1 say!"
He has entirely lost his self possession,
and Is stiil kneefihg Oh the hoor, now
hugging, now trying to hide beneath him
the paper he holds with his sinswy, ner-
vous fingers. Go. go, gor'' he shrieks,
beside himself. He is in a perfect fren-
"; all dignity is gone; to the girl stand
ing trembling there it is a loathsome
sight to see this old man on the brink of
the grave thus crouching. abased, dishon-
ored. 20 az
II am going" she says, family. She
is CHASTITY pale; the sight Of him in his
horrible fright, cringing thus upon the
ground, has so unnerved her that she ac-
tually grasps at the curtain for support.
N.t ITO be cOntinued)