Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1904-07-27
Japet's Capdlestitk.
.~N~~~N~
I'm her day-mind you. said
in her day-the old lady was

something OF an oracle. In
fallible, sir, that's the word-abso-
lutely infallible. In fact, to put 1t
more plainly" said the colonel, "she
was always right"
II have mo doubt of 1t, SIR" said,
meekly. You see. was In love with
the colonel's daughter, and under
those circumstances father is not a
being to- be contradicted. More than
that. the colonel was speaking of a
matter Of family history, and the col
onel's family goes back to the time a
little before william the Norman
made up his mind to come over to
England.
Her particular powers. my dear
boy" went on the colonel, clay with
the romantic. I've heard 1t 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
zone must put up with 1t 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 foors."
And this" said, pointing to a
massive old silver candlestick on a
sideboard-"this is Great-aunt Janet's
candlestick, eh?"
Yes" said the colonel. frownlng at
1t and shaking his head. Perfectly
ridiculous. Of course; but 1t 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 century she lighted her.
self to bed. and that II one Of the
lovers meets her at that critical time
she gives him such advice as lifts
him, 50 to speak"-the colonel made
movement with his hands as though
dandling large-sized infant awk.
wardly-"lifts him into the lady's az.
fections. or vice versa. But she is
xfways accompanied by the candle
stick"
1T might be worth trying" said,
half to myself. and just at that mo-
ment the door of the smoking room
opened and she came In.
mot bad notion" said the col.
onel. with chuckle. Here. Dora,
our friend here thinks of; trying to
get tip from Great-aunt Janet to.
night. though what he wants to trou-
BILE her for can't for the life of me
imagine"
II do assure you," suffered, as
abe gave me her hand In saying good
night. II 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
ITS a pretty idea"
She kissed her father-oh. adorable
lips pressed for moment against the
stern, white mustache-and went out
Of the room; and found, quite un.
expectedly. that could not sleep.
discovered, too, that had left nv
cigarette case in the smoking room.
and had a dim notion that cigar
ette might sootbe me. and might drive
out of my head certain vain dreams
and fancies. For who was that i
shelld think that blue-eyed Dora
should ever care twopence about me?
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 1t, 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
candlestick. glanced toward the
spot where 1t had stood, and saw
to my establishment that II was no
longer there. In flash Il glanced
quickly around the small room and
realizSd that the thing was gone. And
I knew, of course. in 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 nv
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
to help a lover. That was my des-
perate case; and on an impulse de-
termined that would seek her and
take ghostly counsel from her. re-
membered that she haunted the IN.
per floors.
/ went up beyond the floor on which
my room was situated and found my
self in darkness. Then, suddenly.
even as tried to muffie my footsteps.
l saw a dim light in the distance
the light of candle. Down the
length of the corridor there advanced
toward me the stately small figure Of
Great-aunt Janet; SO real that she
might have stepped straight out of
her frame downstairs. She held the
candle high. and Thought, looking at
her as she advanced what a presenta
Bile old lady she WAS.
1t took me n moment or two to find
my tongue, and then. fearing that she
might disappear before had had time
to state my errand. l clasped my
hands and blurted out what had to
say.
"Great-aunt Janet! Sweet Great
aunt Janet! Have mercy upon me and
help me! l love the dearest girl In
all the world-and her name Is Dora
land I haven't dared to tell her so
before. II you can show me the
WA