Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1904-08-01

II in her day-the old lady was
something of an oracle. In
failible, sir, that's the word-abso-
lutely lnfailibe. In fact. TO put it
more plainly" said the colonel. she
was always right
Il have no doubt of it. sir" l said.
meekly. You see. was in love with
the cOlonel's daughter, and under
those circumstances father Is not Il
being to be contradicted. More than
that. the colonel was speaking Of II
matter of family history. and the col
Onels family goes back to the time Il
little before William the Norman
made up his mind to come over to
EnglAnd
Her particular powers. my dear
boy went on the colonel. lay with
the romantic. I've heard it said that
all the lovers from all the country
round used to come to her in their
troubles and get good advice. That's
what they say" added the colonel,
with wink: but, between ourselves,
Aunt Janet was probably mischief
making, Interfering old matchmaker.
That is shown by the fact that she
still troubles this earth when she
should be reposing respectfully some
where else. One has to put up with
this sort of thing. you know"-the
colonel frowned and coughed and set
tied his neck into his shirt collar
''One must put up with it when one
belongs to an ancient family. And.
after all. the old lady>is never really
troublesome. Picturesque in sense,
and always keeps to the upper floors"
And this" | said, pointing to
massive old silver candlestlck on
sidebOard this Is Great-aunt Janet's
candlestick. eh?"
Yes said the colonel. frownng at
it and shaking his head. Perfectly
ridiculous. Of course: but it Is said
that whenever there is any love affair
on hand the ghost Of the Old lady
walks; that she carries the candle
stick with which for some three
quarters of Il century she lighted her
self to bed, and that if one of the
lovers meets her at that critical time
she gives him such advice rs lifts
him. so to speak"--the colonel made
movement with his hands as though
dandling a large sized infant awk-
wardly-"lifts him into the lady's af-
fectiOns, or vice versa But she Is
always accompanied by the candle
stick"
1T might be worth trying" | said,
half to myself. and just at that mo-
mpnt the door Of the smoking room
opened aud she came in.
Not bad notion" said the col
onel. with chuckle. Here, Dora,
our friend here thinks of trying to
get a tip from Great-aunt Janet to-
night. though what he wants to troI-
bic her for can't for the life of me
imagine"
Il do assure you" | suffered as
she gave me her hand in saying good
night. Il don't see what Great-aunt
Janet could have to tell me- and. of
course. | shouldn't think of doing any
thing"
'Of course not" she replied with
demure eyes looking into mine. but
it's a pretty idea"
She kissed her father-oh, adora BILE
lips pressed for a moment against the
stern. white mustache-and went out
Of the room; and | found. quite UNI
expectedly. that | could not sleep.
discovered, too. that had left my
cigarette case In the smoking room.
and had dim notion that cigar
cite might soothe me. and might drive
out of my head certain vain dreams
and fancies. For who was | that
should think that blue eyed Dora
should ever care twOpence about me =?
I went down softly through the
darkened house to the smoking room.
and switched on the light there and
looked about for my cigarette case.
found it, and had just slipped it
into my pocket. when the remem-
brance of what the colonel had said
brought to my mind the heavy silver
candestick. | glanced toward the
spot where 1t had stood. and saw
to my establishment that 1t was no
longer there. In fash | glanced
quickly around the small room and
realized that the thing was gone. And
] knew. OF course, in u moment what
that meant
The ghost of Great-aunt Janet had
chosen that night for walking.
Why? Was she such sympathetic
Old creature that she had guessed my
secret? And could she give me any
help or any advice? | remembered
distinctly what the colonel had said ;
how he had suggested that the old
lady came only when she was able
70 help a lover. That was my des-