Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-12-12

AAO -
that there I don't have"
Daisy, holding her skirts high enough
to reveal her pretty ankles and dainty
shoes, and Georgiana, trembling, stood
out in the middle Of the room.
SIS mice eliminated from that there
plane you referred to, missusY' Peter
inquired.
Georgiana's smile was wan. do
you mean to be facetfous, Peter?"
"Supposin' the haunted room is
mousy," he suggested.
"The mice are no doubt the only
creatures that haunt the place., Geor-
giana answered, still holding high her
skirts.
you will find out II you try sleepin'
there" Mrs. Morningstar warned them.
Daisy dropped her skirts after a eau
tious glance around her and took up
her notebook. What are the facts
about the case7" she asked, with a
lawyer like eye upon Mrs. Morningstar.
.'I'm awfully. stuck on psychic phe-
nomena."
~ i OOu / hllOW llShS "h0 yON $4,000
Mrs. Morningstar hesitated. "Is it that
you want to know what 1t makes in
the haunted room?"
Eyes. What has been seen there and
by whom? And what Is the story OF
the room? Usually there's n romantic
legend attached to a place believed to
be haunted"
Mrs. Morningstar was usually gar-
rulous enough and liked nothing bet
ter than to gossip Of her W and her
neighbors' affairs to al interested lis
tener. But she did not seem to greet
these questions with her usual readi-
ness.
"It don't come easy to me to tell
about what happened there, fur all
I'm used to 1t fur some twenty years
now. II Eunice wasn't workin' out
with pop and Abe this after in the
fields over I'd change the subjec'," she
said, using the phrase with a self
conscious air Of employing elegant
language, fur us we don't never talk
anything before her about what hap
pened upstairs there; it's near twenty
one years back already. Eunice she
was just a little over a year old"
She sat down to tell her story, and
Georgiana and Daisy returned to the
settee, the latter with her notebook
open on her lap.
1--WE were keepin' hotel here and we
had a-many Corners and goers. Here
one day a couple come, a man and his
missus and their baby a year and a
half old. They vas tony people-that l
must give 'em-and they had money a
plenty. They sayed they'd stay a
while, bein' as they liked my cookin',
though to be sure they didn't eat much,
neither one of 'em. The missus was
always wonderful pale and she never
could fetch a smile. She was always
settin' and thinkin,' starin' in front OF
herself and not noticin' no person nor
nothin'. She didn't seem to have no
heart fur that baby Of hern.
"She wouldn't mind. still. that It was
settin' on her lap and she'd near cave
it slip of. Him and her often had
words up in their rooms. They rented
two rooms off Of us and they furnished
'em grand with such a bookcase and
writin' desk and a bedroom suit. Me
and pop us we used to listen outside
in the hall still. We couldn't hear
what they sayed much, but him he'd
scold In a low voice, and her she'd
cry faintlike SOS no n would hear.
The mister he used to go In town fre-
quent, If not o%ftener, and l used to tell
pop still, You mind if some day he
don't come back no more. 1 kin see it
at him how he's tired Of her yet. Yes,
he'll 60 of and leave her with that
child to keep. now you see oncet If he
don't l sayed to pop"
'"The child was Eunice, I supposeY'
In his interest in her narrative, not
merely for itself, but for any light 1t
might throw upon Eunice. Kinross for.
got to be Pete and leaned forward
across the table, regarding Mrs. Morn
ingstar with a thoughtful frown. The
sound Of his own voice brought him
back to himself, and he again glanced
with apprehension at the girls. But
they, too, were so interested In b sto-
ry that even the fact Of the farm
hands idling in the kitchen while his
employer and Eunice worked in the
fields escaped their notice.
eyes, it was our Eunice," Mrs. Morn
ingstar answered, sbut that don't come
in yet. 1 mustn't get ahead of my sto-
~. Oncet when I could hear they was
scrappin' l peeped in the keyhole-not
that l wanted to be inquisitive, but a
body likes to know, too, what's goin'
on in their own hotel. Well, that there
woman could have easy got a divorce
cheap If she's Of just brang up some
remarks where he made
"What remarksY" inquired Kinross.
"Why," she exclaimed, "he run at
her with a razor"
"Remarksg' he questioned hazily.
"And me, l hollered and run. And 1t
was just the next night the crime was
commit. 1t was the 9th of July. We
was called to the oom by the scream
in of the little baby, and we had to
break the lock, and there we found the
woman dead in her bed, lynn in a pool
of blood, and the man he had few!
There was a envelope pinned to the
baby with some money in 1t. We u.
ceited 1t was meant fur to pay any
one where would keep the child. Well,
us we didn't give no n else the
chancet. Ne and pop we took n
KEEP the child"