Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-07-09
BY META SIMMINS,
Author OF FLUSHED Up"
The exclamation was shril

and Edith's
What nonsense! said Darlington.
sternly He looked, not at the servant,
but at his wife. He saw that her face
was gray, and that she trembled violent
ly. W nat did she think she saw. and
where?"
In my lady's bed room" said the but
Ter. She was laying out my ady's things.
She fancied she saw something or some
one moving in the room-a white figure.
She called to it. and went into the dress
ing room, but it had vanished"
Such courage was very unlike Vic
torine, said Edith, with tremulous con
tempt. Il can not imagine her chal-
lenging ghost"
She thought ii was the housemaid.
my lady; but when she entered the bed
room there was no sign of any one or
anything, so she ran foolishly screaming
through the house"
This is a very remarkable story" said
Darlington .
Again the remark was addressed to the
servant and the look to his wife
80 remarkable that l believe it to be
untrue" said Edith. Where is the fool
ish girl now?'
In the housekeepers room. OF course,
1t may be only her fancy. Then | feared
it might be thief" the butler answered.
Tut, TUT" said Darlington when
men set out to rob they do not choose
6 o'clock in the afternoon to invade a
lady's bed room Go downstairs ana try
and see that better order is kept"
The servant turned and went down.
stairs, with a distinct sense of injury
Darlington looked a. his wife.
You look frightened he said.
81 am frightened"
She made a little movement toward
him. but he did not respond.
Come. l thought you had more pluck
than that. OF what are you frightened
of me or the ghost?"
shaky Nerves.
Edith harrington shivered
"Of neither, really, l suppose; only it's
all little spooky and unpleasant"
81 should certainly have thought you
beyond such fears" he asid "Victorine
evidently suffers from a guilty conscience.
That is why she fled from the ghost |
suppose. for forms sake. we had better
have another look around"
They were at the boudoir door and
Edith would have hung back only her
/ husband was already halfway in the room
when he spoke, and she was forced to
follow him. Together they made round
Of the room. and it seemed to her that
Barringtons search was perfunctory to a
degree But she, with the daring of
desperation, even tried the door to the
dress closet.
"Locked?' asked Darlington mo one
could hide there, then. Well. every
thing seems serene, doesn't it? I am
afraid 1t was a spook"
| "Victorine has the key of that. cupboard
she keeps my keys | expect the silly
girl saw a curtain waving in the wind,
and tried to terrify US all to death"
! The dressing gong booming through the
house ca Used her to start violently, and
her husband turned to her
Your own nerves are not much to
boast of he said
At that moment knock interrupted
them. 1t was the housefeeper
/ II have come to tell you that Victorine
! is poorly my lady" she said. II am
afraid she is quite incapable of performing
her duties"
Edith frowned and said it was tiresome,
and was about to refuse the housekeep-
er's timidly offered assistance. when Bar
rirgton forestaled her
The Maid Ill.,
All yes, Mrs. Marlowe, stay" he said.
with hesrtiness of manner not habitual
to him Mrs Darlington is tired and
little upset by this ridiculous fuss. I
believe she is afraid to be left alone in
this haunted room. think | shall have
to question Victorine"
He laughed and left he room, with Just
a passing word to his wife.
The progress of Edths toilet was a
continuous mental anguish Barrington's
conduct left her vacillating between hope
and despair Despair had the louder
voice 1t cried insistently that there was
something sinister in the calm with which
Darlington had listened to the buffers
story something appallingly suspicious in
the careless manner in which he had gone
around the room for FORMS sake"
Thanks to her maids absence and to
her own nervousness the last gong sound
ed before she was really ready to go
downstairs She would have given the
world if she had dared to remain behind
even for a moment. but at all times her
! husband was a sticker for punctuality,
and tonight delay would have been con-
hrmation of his doubts-if he had any
doubts
AS dinner progressed Mrs Darlington
began to feel that it might be possible
he had none Not for weeks had Tony
been so charming and irresponsible, SO
full of auips and jests. of plans and
projects for the future. What seemed to
| her somewhat promising was that he die
not ignore the alarm which had occurred.
He discussed laughingly the advsab bill
ity of putting the matter into the hands
of the Society for Physical Research if
any further manifestations took place.
"Victorine may be clairvoyante, he
said. seriously She has all the charac-
teristics of the type. 1t may prove an
intensely interesting. case, Edie. What
pity she is in bed, or we might have
had her in and taken down her deposit
ton
II don't think there is much of the
clairvoyante about Victorine," said Edith,