Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1907-08-10
DESIRE AHERY'S MIRROR.
BY DOROTHY BLISS USHER.

4
moment to touch the gilded frame of the
mirror caressingly.
81 wish | could take this with me,
Abbot" she said turning to the maid.
Something may happen to it while |
am in Italy
II hardly think 50, Miss and besides
there is no room in the trunks for so
large a looking glass
| Miss Marcia continued to look at the
uarrur. 1t was of that kind dear to the
collector of antique furniture, with a
| heavy gilded frame, at the top of which
was carved Il stiff basket of pineapples.
But Miss Marcia cared for it as a family
relic for this mirror had history. In
! 1885 Desire Avery, the grandmother
seven generations back of the present
owner of the mirror, had brought it from
! England on the ship Hopewell She had
priced the mirror highly. and her name
was cut into the wood at the back
| When she died. her husband a Capt
| Avery. packed the mirror and some of
her other choicest possessions away III
| his scachest, and they had sailed with
him on the ocean for many years At
his death. his chest was put into the at
| tic of a dTeary old house in Saco, Me-,
and it was here that Miss Marcia, on a
visit to her cousin. Sophia Sprague, had
found the chest hidden in a dark corner
under the caves, and had chosen the mir
ror from its contents. When Miss Mar
ca had borne the glass triumphantly
downstairs. Sophia. rubbing off the dust
with a bony forefinger, had declared, 1T
isn't any use to fuss with an old broken.
,,I, E,,A
was determined, and when the frame
was reglded, and a new glass fitted in,
the mirror was certainly handsome.
Now Miss Marcia gave one last look
at it as she turned to direct Abbot in the
packing, for she was about to start the
next day for winter in Italy Her sill
yer and valuabes were already safe in
the bank. Her keys were to 90 next
morning to her lawyer, and her New
York home looked lonesome enough
with pictures. rugs and furniture
shrouded in linen
There are some people from New Eng
land stock transplanted into the aristo-
cratic side streets of lower New York
who profess to become homesick even
during a two weeks absence-so great
is their love for the Knickerbocker City.
Miss Marcia was one of this type. Tall
and angular. with a certain tilt of the
head. and an expression of the mouth
which furnished a key to her character,
she was most agreeable person in spite
of her New England peculiarities, if she
was always agreed with, but if anyone
attempted to argue with her. she was
impossible.
The following day she departed with
her faithful Abbot for her winter abroad.
On her way she stopped at Gibraltar and
at Algiers, and sent home pleasant ac-
counts of her trip to her limited circle
of friends.
But she had not been ihf Florence long
when she had strange dream. She
dreamed that burglars had gotten into
her house, and had carried off the an
| tiquc mirror.
Il, Il woman of 65, taking stock in a
dream! l. the vice president of the So
rosis! What would my father say!" she
said to herself Nevertheless the dream
troubled her, and when she dreamed the
same thing the next night she confessed
to Abbot that she was worried"
And why not write to Mr.. Van Slyke
to look into the house. miss?"
|
by contraries. Mr.. Van Slyke would
think me a superstitious old woman, and
that is what ! am, | suppose"
On the third night Miss Marcia again
dreamed that her house had been robbed,
and this time the dream was more def
mite Burglars were staying in the house
and carrying off her furniture piece by
piece and among the rest she watched
them bear away the beloved mirror. 1t
was all So vivid that she now became
thoroughly alarmed in spite of herself.
and wrote TO Mr.. Van Slykc. I'm due
time an answer to her letter was re-
ceived. 1t ran as follows:
My Dear Miss Avery: In accordance
with the request in your letter of Feb
ruary ;. sent man to inspect your
house on Washington square He brought
me back a strange report He found that
men had been living there for over three
weeks, having gained an entrance TO the
basement by means of the coal hole in
ene sidewalk Then. by breaking down
Il door. they reached the front part of
the house. They had carried away sev-
leral oriental rugs. pictures, among them
your Vatican, and furniture, but a good
deal of it has already been found in
various second hand stores. The men are
new under arrest, and l shall do all in
my power to recover everything that is
missing. Believe me, Very truly yours,
"Stuyvesant Van Slyke."
When Miss Marcia finished reading
this letter, she held it out to Abbot and
sank Imply into chair.
SO all that | dreamed was true" She
kept saying to herself An true!
Thieves have taken-my %atteau' Then
sh, suddenly reused herself. Abbot, he
doesn't say anything about my mirror
1t is probably gone with the rest My
Grandmother Desires mirror"
And what do you intend to do
miss."
20 l can't stay here. I must identify
my things. MIR. Van Slyke has nothing
hut an inventory to recognize them by.
We must start at once, l presume 0.
dear, this confuses me SO. / Culrrrce-rval-
lze that is not my dream still"
A week later Mr. Van Slyke met his