The Yale expositor., 1907-01-04


servant all the time"
"As II she were watching for some
thing, and afraid" added my compan.
ION. They do say that Doums is real
ly haunted"
"oh. what fun!" cried. I've never
been In a haunted housed"
II cant see whore the fun comes
In" she replied. IF saw anything
should simply lie down and die"
And what is there to soc hersF
questioned, eagerly.
Nothing" she answered. with q
shrug; mo enc knows. People are
found dead In their beds without any
marks of violence-and you know
dead nsn. and women. tell no talss!"
"But how hidsously mysterious!
yes; and there 10 IL o'clock strik-
ing. and 1 must ask you to see me to
my door. and safe inside it,"
The next week went like lightning
what with drives. rides, acting, dan
cling and games the moments fsw
Lurline had the knack of keeping
things going. and Mr.. Rainsford was
an accomplished host, and entered In
to every scheme with zest The one
| drawback was his mother, who re-
NAMED reserved and sternly unap-
proachable. She was by no means
An agreeable old dame, and said as
much to Maud Anstruther. There
is something peculiar about her, am
convinced"
"And about the castle" she added; ;
place is within a few miles, and he
declares that he knows for a fact,
that within the last Ave years three
people have died here quite sudden
ly. He firmly believes In the ghost.
They say 1t comes only when the
moon Is full-a tall figure, that stoops
over people, and strangles them. A
man he knows, assured him that he
awoke one night smothering-and
struggled and shouted, and the thing
disappeared. 1t always comes by
moonlight"
Bennett, my maid Ga severe elderly
person, who kept US all in order)
was anxious that we should bring our
stay to a conclusion.
miss Dolly" she said as she held
my hair firmly in her hand, will you
make some excuse, and go? There s
something not right in this house; a
lady was found dead in this wing
years back-a young footman came
to a queer end once-and it's not
he. .afI
her death. They are all alike in one
particular-not a mark or sign upon
the corpse-it's just the work Of the
dead"
Il have no intention of leaving this,
Bennett, simply because you choose
to listen to Stories" / answered. IF
people have died in the castle-peo-
pie must die somewhere!"
But not as they die here" she re-
sponded, in a hollow voice-"without
sickness or warning" And she tug.
ged at my hair till I could have
screamed.
Two nights later-when it was full
moon-I pulled aside the curtains, and
suffered the searching white light to
flood my room. For some moments
gazed out of the window on the great
park, with it's somber woods, and up.
lands bathed in silver. Then, as
was very tired, ! got into bed, and
slept soundly. But what was this
which awoke me-this horrible sen.
sation of suffocation?-was it a so
called nightmare? No; somebody was
steadily pressing, with a pitiless dead
weight, the pillow over my face.
struggled at first uselessly and wild
ly-for the thing, whatever it was
leaned over me with redoubled force
But / was muscular girl Not in
vain have l rowed and swan; my
strength was often the subject of Mr.
Rainsford S jokes, and now l put II
forth to save my very life. With ar
extraordinary effort l wrenched aside
the hands that pressed the pillow-an
other frantic struggle, and l tore the
pillow from the thing-whether ghost
or fiend, must breathe, or die!
breathed; l uttered a faint excla
mation-for in the apparition, the
would-be murderer, / recognized my
kind host-Mr. Rainsford. Mr.. Rains
ford-wearing a long gray dressing
gown-his face distorted with an ex
preston of diabolical fury-in hiI
eyes the wild glare of a maniac!
AS sat up painting and staring. h
vanished, and there was nothing what
ever to recall the recent scene, bu
my labored breath, and the dis
placed pillow. AS lifted 1t, signe
ring fell on the floor. This l carries
TO the window, and recognized tn,
, Rainsford crest my hosts own prop
erty.
Now I understood Lurline's gra.
hairs, the old lady's repugnance Il
strangers unhappy womenl the
were both In the secret; they wer
aware of the strain of insanity in tn
! family-the curse of homicidal mania
|. But IL his mother half-suspected hi
wife never dreamed that her husban
!. was the cause of the various myste
: rious deaths at Doume.
1 have strong nerves, but after thi
| ..rt4 1,.rr