The San Angelo press. (San Angelo, Tex.) 1897-1907, 1905-03-16

bed. foun1 myself rs far from sleep
as had ever been In my whole life.
"And | did not recover from this
condition for the entire night For
hours | tossed from one side of the
bed to the other IN my efforts to avoid
the persistent eyes of II scarcely to he
perceived drawing fncing me from the
opposite wall. 1t had no merit as n
picture this drawing. but seen MS 1t
was under the rays of Il gibhuus moon
looking in through the half open shut.
ter it exercised upon me spell such
as | cannot describe aud hope never
again to experience. Finally | rose
and pulled tile curtains violently to.
gethcr across the foot of the bed. This
shut out the picture. but | found 1t
worse to imagine 1t there with its
haunting eyes pecriug nt me through
the intervening folds of heavy damnsk
than to confront 1t openly; so pushed
the curtains back again, only to rise II
half hour later and twitch them DIES.
perately together once more.
II idgetcd and worried so that night
that | must have looked quite pale
when my attentive hostess met me ut
the head of the stairs the next morn
ing, for her hand shook quite pcrCep.
tibly as she grusped mine, and her
voice was pitched in no natural key
as she inquired how had slept. | re-
piled as truth If not courtesy demand
ed, Not as well us usual whoreupon
her eyes fell, and she remarked quite
hurricdly, 1 am so sorry; you shall
have another room tonight adding in
what appeared to be an unconscious
whisper, There is no use; all feel it;
even the young and the gay then
aloud ana with irrcpressiblc anxiety,
You didn't see anything dcnrT
"'No" protested in suddenly awak.
encd dismay. "Only the strange eyes
Of that queer drawing pcerlng Mt me
through the curtains of my bed. Is II
| is it haunted roomY
Her look was shocked one. her
protest quite vehement. oh, no! No
one has ever witnessed anything like
a ghost there, but every one finds 1t
impossible to sleep In that bed or even
| In the room | do not know why un.
! less 1t Is that my father spent so many
| years of incessant wakcfulness inside
its walls
"'And did he die in that bedT
asked.
"She gave startled shlver and drew
me hurricdly downstairs AS we paus
ed Mt the foot she pressed my hand
and whispered;
eyes; at uight, with the full of the
moon upon him
81 answered her look with one she
probably understood MS little as di.
hers. | had heard of this father OF
hers. lie had been a terrible old man
and had left terrible memory behind
him.
The next day my room was changed
according to her promise, but in the
light of the charges | have since hearC
uttered against that house ana tn,
family who inhubit it am glad thai
/ spent one night in what, If it wa'
not haunted chamber, had certainly
very thrilling effect upon its occu
pants"
Second passage, the italics showing
where it was most heavily marked:
The house contained another room
as interesting as the one | have al
ready mentioned. 1t went by tn,
name of the library, and its walls wer,
heavily lined with books; but the fam
lily never sat there, nor was | ever for
tunate enough to see 1t with its doors
Enclosed except on the occasion Of thu
grand reception Miss Callista gave II
my honor. have fancy for biz
rooms and more than once urged my
hostess to tell me why this one stoo(
neglected. But the Indy was not com
municatlve on this topic, and 1t wa
from another member of the house
hold | learned that its precincts hat
ed death within them OF one of he
fathers friends, Il noted army officer.
"Why this should have occasloned
permanent disuse of the spot | coul'
not understand. and as every one VIII
converscd on this topic invariably CAV
the impression of saying less than til
subject demanded, my curiosity 500
became too much for me, and | attack
ed Miss Callista once again In regar,
to it. She gave me quick smile, 70
she was always amiable, but shoo
her head and introduced another topic
, But one night when the wind wa
bowling in the chimneys and the sens
of loneliness was even greater tina
usual in the great house, we drew t.
gether on the rug In front of my bed