The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1902-06-19
l hope, of carrying out this absurd

= IOm'S mana, ldly CtumOllnS Drcat
!, crumbs on the white cloth, and archl,
said "I must have my ring, Tom
; All my luck has flown to the wind.
since l gave 1T TO you. | botchcd hal
q dozen things today"
| must be heathcn at. heart, for
felt, at that moment, exactly like tax
ing my ish knife, and slowly saving
that wretched girls throat with it.
But, instead, l dimplcd and replied
with my best grade of coax, fiddle
wink, please have my things sent over
to No. 80. That's where Pm going to
sleep tonight" And then l looked at
Tom Merrill, sitting across the table,
with a girls ring on his finger. Bah !
but he had grown common in his tastes
since | had denied him a wife. | won
der if he knew what my eyes SAID?
Miss Reynolds laughed outright
when she heard my order. ",You
can't make me believe that you will so
into that suicides room, with its hOr.
rible associations and sleep tonight.
You'll get out of it some way or other.
You brave, ighspirited girls always
do in the end. Pa much rather ten
the truth and be safe"
her remark, and Tom added insult to
injury by quietly suggesting that there
was probably secret passage built for
adventurous American beauties
And then Tom and Ted talked of the
steel industry, and Tom asked me
about The girls at home, and utterly
refused to be enticed into giving him
any of the thousand and one delight
ful messages that had been sent to
HIM. Miss Reynolds and | finished
our dinner III polite commonpaccs,
while she took in every detail of nv
costume. She had been IN Halifax
four months, and her neck iiXinys and
the way she wore her hair showed il.
AS we passed out of the dlning-room
Theodore asked me If ! really meant
what said. Miss Reynolds laughed
doubtlngly, and heard Tom say to
her: H can't believe that she has
nerve enough to do it. Gee whiz--n
And then he stopped, for ] was watch
him straight and level, with blazing
eyes.
picked a piece Of lint from my gray
skirt before replied to Theodore:
" am going to sleep in No. 80.
Teddie Coulson, and you know it,
without asking me-"
SO my things were sent to No. 50
and we all followed the boy, through
the oid.fashiOncd parlor, and the queer
little conservatory, and out the long
hall, overlooking the harbor. The boy
slammed open the door and threw nv
bags down in No. 50, while | stool
idly al the low window watching the
ilickering white eye III the mouth of
the ocean. a sOft-voiCcd maid brought
us chairs, and we sat at the broad win
dow in the hall until eleven O'Clock.
Every time that | foryave Tom, and
wished that he would come near, and
call me Peg, the light would CLINT on
that hateful little ring, and something
IN my soul would shut with a click
was drowsily weary when at last
shut the door of the haunted room
upon three faces; one scornful, one
tenderly solicitious, and one full of
dumb pleading. But the hand which
held open the door for last glance
was marred by good band. How /
hated that grill
Number 50 was match for
the heavy, old silver in the dining-room
the quaint, carved furniture in The
parlor, and those weird works of art
adOrniny the mantels. A ponderous
walnut bed stood in one conner of the
room. At the side was small fire.
place, now clean and brushed Of the
tell-tale ashes. Over by the window,
where the gray light from the sen
struggled through in the early dawn
stood huge bureau. went and
looked at myself in the glass. And
then horrid fear crept upon me. I'm
der my feet stretched great rug, much
too large for the room, and pushed
under the legs of the bed to get rid of
the extra corners. did not dare look
under the rugl Instead Of my own
face, young and hcavy-eyed with
sleep | seemed to see the wretched
countenance Of another woman, alone,
and sinking TO an agonized death by
her own hand. l moved from the
spot. If the mirror had helped in the
doing of the evil deed, the rug was
guilty Of hiding the dark stains.
| remember thinking Of everything
in a hazy way. l was very unhappy,
but fell asleep at my prayers, and
finally climbed into the great bed, to
slide through three thousand miles of
heavy, stolld slumber.
1t was early in the morning when l
awoke. Too early for the dawn TO
show. 1t was raining, too, and the
wind howled about the corners OF the
roof, like an enormous man who was
i'll. 1t was small sound that brought
me clear minded, and keen-eared to my
senses. A gurgling slop, slop, some.
thing thick like blood. Weird and
bubbllng, the noise grew nearer. Then
sudden, uncanny, horrible, heard my
heart beats in twos and threes-with
startling jumps. My hair stood on
end, my body laid helpless in the great
bed. For there, moving in that tiny
room with me--was somethingl Some.
thing white and long and lean, coming
nearer and nearer with beastly slop
olop onrryla onI huhhIn Of hlOOH