Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1908-04-18


The rat or two securing the floor of
the bare attic scuttled to corners as
tbs orm-eaten bedpOsts creaked to
her movement. Even the glitter Of
their eyes was robbed of half its ter
rOr, so great was the darkness; but
the girl, too, used to their presence to
feel much alarmed, slipped out of bed
unafraid, for the morning, she thought,
must surely be near at hand. She saw
through the thick, greenish panes of
the dormer window that the January
sky was filed with cloud-wrack, unlit
by the stars that usually served as her
clock. The old farmhouse, empty Of
any human life save her own, moaned
dolorously, as ever and again the win
ter blasts embraced Ii. The girl CROPPED
on her little trunk for the finder box
and knocked 1t over the edge, whence
1t fell upon the floor with resound-
ing clatter that made the rats Scurry
and her heart give a great tbump. She
crept to the door; what was the time.
she wondered. Clocks were not so
plentiful in the farm-houses Of the
early thIrties: there was only one In
the house, the tall, oak-encased time
piece that. solemn and solid as
church tower, stood downstairs in the
dihing-room. Farmer SpotSwOOd's sill
yer turnip. and his wife's gold Geneva,
which was wound up only ON state Oc-
casions, were both away with their
owners at the great sheep fair, and
would rot be back till the morrow Of
what account was a little time, more
or less. in this rambling. forgotten-by-
the-world farmstead. Yet the girl,
fresh from sleep, had no idea whether
1t was late or early, and much had to
be done in house and dairy ere her
master and mistress came home.
Patty stood shivering on the land
Ing. There was nothing. Nothing
save the sigh of the wind. the creak
Of a crazy lattice, broken startlingly
by the grinding of a chimney cOwl
overhead Patty Phippen, growing
suddenly bold put her, foot upon the
first stair. She began to descend,
swiftly 1T first, then more slowly, for
her heart was full OF fear in the gloom.
Half a century before a woman had
been murdered in that very house, and
her spirit in hideous guise was still
reputed TO haunt the dismal passages.
Patty, like all her class % me time,
firmly believed in ghosts, witchcraft
and the powers OF darkness. Each In
slant she spent in dread, expecting TO
see some unearthly sight; she crossed
one finger over another to make the
sign Of the blessed cross, and cried
aloud at every step she descended a
protecting exorcism: I'm the name of
Christ, why troublest thou this earth?'
She would have cried 1t louder. but
dared not; the sound Of her own voice
breaking the solemn stiffness frighten-
Cd her.
In the name OF Christ, why trou-
blest thou this earth?"
She stopped breathless. There had
been a rustic, a strange pat, pat. The
girl almost swooned upon the stair;
she prayed, not aloud this time, but
inaudibly. Another step; again the
sound. Twas the swish of the hem of
ried across the landing a-tiptoe, and
began to go down the neither flight of
stairs. the unaccustOmed tap Of her
bare feet on the boards seeming a
sound unearthly. Yet she began to feel
less afraid, and repeated with greater
confidence the exorcism, which sank
to the most pathetic bathOs: Christ,
10
earthF"
Her goal was won. The throbbing
OF the clock was audible, a sonorous
unceasing note coming from source in
visible. The room was no lighter than
the stairs and passages bad been, but
Patty felt less afraid; even the clock
treasured her with its voice of COM
partnership. She had only to cross the
room. mount a chair, feel the position
OF the hands on the clock face; the
task was not quite unfamiliar to her.
The heavy oak chair Scraped the
boards as Patty dragged 1t into place
Up she clambered nimbly with youth
though country bred. But her hand.
extended TO open the glass door. did
not encounter 1t. Her position had been
miscalculated, and Patty. losing her
balance. almost fell over the back of
her chair. and came with force and
outstretched palms against the vain
scoting OF the wall beside the clock.
Her Imagination. though none OF the
quickest was sufficiently keen for her
to conjure terrifying visions Of Satan
pushing her to destruction from the
pinnacle of a hOrsehair-eovered chair.
Leaning trembling against the wall she
shrieked