Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-27

induced to stay in that house-not even
cat. Rats and mice are never found In IT.
1.-The instincts of the brute creation de-
tect influences deadly to their existence
Mans reason has a sense less subtle, De-
cause it has a resisting power more SUI
preme. But enough; do you comprehend
my theory?"
"Yes though imperfectly and accept any
crotchet (pardon the word), however odd
rather than embrace at once the notion OF
ghosts and hobgobins we imbibed in our
nurseries. Still. to my unfortunate house
the evil Is the same. what on earth can
l do with the house?"
1T would tell you what would do. I am
convinced from my own internal feelings
that the small unfurntshed room at right
angles to the door of the bedroom which l
occupied, form starting point or recepta-
Gle for the influences which haunt the
house; l strongly urge you to have the
walls opened, the floor removed-nay, the
whole room pulled down. l observe that II
is detached from the body of the house.
built over the small back yard, and could
be removed without injury to the rest OF
the building"
And you think. if did that"
"You would cut off the telegraph wires.
Try it. 1 am so persuaded that l am right,
that 1 will pay half the expenses If you
will allow we to direct the operations"
NAY, am we'll able to afford the cost;
for the rest. allow me to write to YOU
About ten days afterward l received a
letter from Mr.. j, telling me that he
had visited the house since had seen him
that he had found the two letters had de-
scribed replaced in the drawer from which
I had taken them: that he had read them
with misgivings like my own; that he had
instituted cautious inquiry about the
had been written. 1t seemed that thirty-siX
years ago "a year before the date Of the
Qetters) she had married. against the
wishes of her relations. an American of
nfai ri n
generally believed to have been a pirate.
She herself was the daughter of very re-
spectacle tradespeople, and had served In
the capacity of a nursery governess before
her marriage. She had brother, wild
over who was considered wealthy, and
who had one child Of about six years old.
A month after the marriage, the body of
this brother was found in the Thames, near
London bridge; there seemed some marks
Of violence about his throat, but they were
not deemed sufficient to warrant the in
quest in any other verdict than that of
found drowned"
The American and his wife took charge
of the little boy, the deceased brother hav-
ing by his will left his sister guardian of
his only child-and in event of the child s
death the sister inherited. The child died
about six months afterward--it was sup
posed to have been neglect ed and ill-treated.
The neighbors deposed to have heard 1t
shrek at night. The surgeon who had ex-
amined it after death said that it was
emaciated as If from the want of nourish-
ment, and the body was covered with livid
bruises 1t seemed that one winter night
the child had sought to escape-crept out
into the back yard-tried to scale the wall
fallen back exhausted, and been found at
morning on the stones in dying state.
But though there was some evidence of
cruelty there was none of murder, and the
aunt and her husband had sought to palli-
ate cruelty by alleging the exceeding stub
bornness and perverssty of the child, who
dor1o rod tn, hrs hall rod
as 1t may. at the orphan's death the aunt
Inherited her brotherss fortune. Before the
first welded year was out the American
had quilted England abruptly, ana never