The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1902-06-18

Aoi,lihS oittinB dcrOSS the table,
win a girl's ring on his finger. BAH
ne had grown common in his tastes
since had denied him a wife. l won
der IL he knew what my eyes sald2
Miss Reynolds laughed outright
when she heard my order. you
can't make me believe that will 90
INTO that suicides room, with its hor-
rlble associations and sleep tonight.
You'll get out of it some way or other.
You brave, high-spirited girls always
do in tie end I'd much rather tell
the truth and be safe"
Tom and Teddie saw some humor in
her remark, and Tom added insult to
injury by quietly suggesting that there
was probably a 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
full messages that had been sent to
HIM. Miss Reynolds and L finished
our dinner in polite commonplaces,
while she took in every detail of my
costume. She had been In Halifax
four months, and her neck ixings and
the way she wore her hair showed it.
AS we passed out of the dlning-room
Theodore asked me If L really meant
what L said. Miss Reynolds laughed
d~oubtingly, and L heard Tom say to
her: "I can't believe that she has
nerve enough to do it. Gee whiz-"
And hen he stopped, for j was watch
him straight and level, with blazing
eyes.
L picked a piece of lint from my gray
skirt before L replied to Theodore:
" am going to sleep in No. So.
Teddie Coulson, and you know it,
without asking me-"
So my things were sent to No. 80
and we all followed the boy, through
the old, fashioned parlor, and the queer
little conservatory, and out the long
hall, overlooking the harbor. The boy
slammed open the door and threw my
idly al the low window w.tcning the
pickering white eye III the mouth of
the ocean. A s~oft-voiced maid brought
us chairs, and we sat at the broad win
dow in the hall until eleven O'Clock.
Every time hat 1 forgave 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.
l was drowsily weary when L at last
shut the door of the haunted room
upon three faces; N %scornful, n
tenderly solicitious, and one full of
dumb pleading. But the hand which
held open the door for a last glance
was marred by "a good band. How L
hated that grill
Number so was a match for
the heavy, old silver in the dining-room
the quaint, carved furniture in the
parlor, and those weird works of art
adjoining the mantels. A ponderous
walnut bed stood in one corner of the
room. AT the side was a small fire.
place, now clean and brushed of the
tell-tale ashes. Over by the window,
where the gray light from the sea
struggled through in the early dawn
stood a huge bureau. L went and
looked at myself in the glass. And
then a horrid fear crept upon me. I'm
der my feet stretched a great rug, much
too large for the room, and pushed
under the legs of the bed to get rid of
the extra NJ 1 did not dare look
under the rugl Instead of my own
face, young and heavy-eyed with
sleep | seemed to see the wretched
c~ountenance 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
I 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
3 slide through three thousand miles of
heavy, stolld slumber.
1t was early in the morning when
awoke. Too early for the dawn to
show. 1t was raining, too, and the
I wind howled about the corners of the
1. roof, like an enormous man who was
I i'll. 1t wa a small sound that brought
! me clear. minded, and keen-eared to my
(. senses. A gurgling slop, slop, some.
g thing thick like blood. Weird and
9 bubbllng, the noise grew nearer. Then
sudden, uncanny, horrible, [ heard my
4 heart beats in twos and threes-with
< startling jumps. My hair stood or
end, my body laid helpless in the great
Z bed. For there, moving in that tiny
- IoOIl ivy ooilophthS1 ooiiO'
thing white and long and lean, coming
9 nearer and nearer with a beastly slop
slop, gurgle and bubble of blood. !
. remember of wondering why there was
: so much blood in q bullet wound. Goo
. in heavenl the thing vas coming to.
ward me. 1t fumbled with the covers
striving to turn them up from the
bottom. Livid fear held me, tongue.
! tied and trembling, to the bed. And
! then something In me- broke at the
sound of the figures voice. Clear and
golden, English all over, came the
beautiful modulated tones: "Deal
, me, but L have had the trouble this
? night. My feet like ice, and never 8
: bit of hot water. This water will never
7 get them back to their proper state. /
have a mind to rouse the proprietor
/ sat bolt upright with a scream OF
laughter. The old lady, for such she
> was, turned a CHASTITY face upon me
Sheer horror tied her tongue that had
but a moment gone been so timber
+" DO you know where you are9" SAID
! l., "You are in No. So"
: 1 shall never forget her face. The
! principles of a lifetime we've forgotten