Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1905-08-12
HAUNTED BY THE INVISIBLE.

slOnary to CeylOn ne invariably sedlSu
himself in foreign bamboo chair, which
became his dark type of Oriental man
hood so perfectly that 1t surrounded him
with his native atmosphere.
The chair was one of the missionarys
fads. the Oriental was a fad of his
daughter Camilla, and she had grown
very tired of him. This was why he was
making a parting call and taking himself
off out of her sphere.
Doss said he was going away in the
moment of feasting and adulation, and
Camilla was inhaling for the last time
the incense of his presence
When he had made his adicux to his
lady of night and she had returned to
the white and gold boudoir the scent of
sandalwood and foreign spices remained,
and on the table lay peculiar white box
two or three inches square, which GER
tainly had not been there before the
Hindu made his parting call
The girl took it in her hand and hest
tated a moment before opening it. There
was something forbidding about it that
she did not like, but she resolutely re-
moved the cover. expecting some curio
such as he was accustomed to lavish on
his friends. To Camilla's surprise the
box was empty.
He probably repented of his generos-
ity and put the contents in his pocket
when YOU were not looking" said Ken
meth Graham, her lover, when discussing
the incident.
But ! did not see the box until he
was gone. How did he manage to put it
on the table when | was talking to him
at the time. and why did he leave an
empty box?" asked Camilla, regarding
the object with a close scrutiny.
Have you looked everywhere for gems
that might possibly have been spilled
a wedding gift from your dark-skinned
friend" suggested Graham.
There is a strange odor to the box"
Camilla poised it on the palm of her hand
and drew a deep inhalation. Il feel like
quoting my first lesson in Shakespeare:
by the pricking of my thumbs
Something wicked this way comes
IF we had quarreled | should think
my Hindu was working some of his
strange spells upon me-
Let me catch him at it," retorted her
lover. and then the box was laid aside
and forgotten in the pleasant and more
important theme of preparations for the
coming wedding.
When the young man left the girl she
was planning future radiant with love
and happiness. The next day he was
summoned by her father to a mysterious
interview. Camilla was not present.
Mr. Rathbun, her father, looked greatly
troubled.
My daughter is ill., he said as first
greeting. "She is suffering from fever
and delirium. You saw her last night,
and she was in her usual health. Did
anything happen to distress her? She
raves about an empty box. What does
it mean"
Good heavens!" cried Graham inco-
herently, "have you had a doctor? She
found the box ON the table. Who knows
there may have been contagion in it."
He related the episode to her father,
who scarcely seemed to comprehend it.
Some other thought was troubling him.
! He ran his fingers through his hair in
distracted way.
| Come with me-" He led the way to
! the white and gold room, which was dedi-
Gated to Camilla's use. Graham expect
ed to see her. but the place had troubled
and disGrdered look.
Mr.. Rathbun pointed to the large
white paneled folding doors which seclud-
ed this apartment from the rest of the
house, to which, indeed, it bore little
relation.
Look he said; what do you see
there?"
Kenneth Graham. practical fellow that
he was. felt as if he We're losing his
head. He pulled himself together with
an effort
The marks of five dirty fingers,
should say" he answered.
And there was, indeed, the appearance
of five distinct long dark lines that APP
pcared on the white surface of the satin
smooth enamel. as if the fingers had been
abnormally long and horribly unclean.
They have been washed off by the
houscmaid and have eappeared-alwavs
when nobody was in the room You
know. Graham, | am not believer in
/ the supernatural, but how did the finger
marks come there without hands? Tell
me that
Some one put them there, that is GER
| tain" said the young man. boldly
Nothing happens by chance in this
world"
!
marks. and was seized with a giddiness
and repulsion that made him instantly
seek the air
Let me see Camilla" he demanded
Have those marks removed and. Mir
Rathbun. set watch in that room
some who will be prudent and silent"
/ While Mr.. Rathbun was attending To
these details Kenneth had his interview
with Camilla. lie found her in the care
of the old nurse who had tended her
through her motherless childhood, and
she was indeed, i'll with a strange NAL.
ady such as he had never seen.
She attempted to walk across the floor
to meet him, but instead she danced
and she complained that everything was
red and begged to be taken to the sea
| her dear sea.
/ The young man was appalled, at the
change in her, and his thoughts reverted
to that mysterious box He asked her
about il gently So as not to startle her
but She had forgotten or failed to under,
stand him.