The Washington herald., 1912-03-03

She would vanish whenever came
near
1t was therefore apparent that this
vas no hoax q had thought il TO be
one at firsD, but bona hde ghost.
Therefore / determined to look more
thoroughly into the matter, and, il pos
sible, to get rid of this charming though
Objectionable character.
slept in that room for a month.
Each night l saw this apparition. II
seemed to disappear into the sanctuary
with much regularity, 50 ! came to the
conclusion that there was something in
the place which attracted the unhappy
spirit back from the other world.
therefore pried around in the
sanctuary with great diligence, and am
glad to say that my efforts to find what
was the matter with this gentlewoman
were amply rewarded by discovering
the cause OF her uneasiness. When
running my hand over the side wall one
evening. my fingers came in contact
with hidden spring between two of
the stones. pressed it, and was much
surprised to see the entire side of the
wall drop downward into a sort of a
slide. Behind was a long coffin.
With the aid of my valet, lifted
this out upon the floor and found a
heavy silver plate upon the top II was
inscribed with the name of Mary Mon
tague McCrenley.
"'Of course ! was much surprised to
hnd this name upon the plate, and in
looking up the family history found
that Mary Montague Glen-Allen had
been betrothed to Sir Archibald Nc
Crenley, but that she had married Sir
Nigel belmont, a Burgundian noble
man. How was it, then, that McCren-
ley was here inscribed, and not Del
mont? ~
But this mystery was soon to be
cleared away. opened the coffin in
order to probe more deeply into this
strange affair, and was amply rewarded
for my pains. Inside was heavy lead
box, which undoubtedly held the skele-
ton, but on top of this was a sealed tube
OF glass. ! opened II, and found a
French, but / soon deciphered it.
Then it was clear to me why this
body was there and why the plate was
marked McCrenley, for, apparently,
when the lady had married the Bur-
gundian, she was under the impression
that the younp Scot to whom she had
been first betrothed was dead. As a
matter of fact he was very much alive,
but, because of numerous daredevil
escapades, which included the killing of
brother officer, he had to leave the
neighborhood She did not love the
man whom she married, but did so in
order to please her parents, as the
match was distinctly to her worldly ad-
vantage.
After she had lived with him some
time her first lover appeared, and, after
numerous clandestine meetings, ar
ranged to make off with her. But the
Burgundian found this out and tried to
stop the affair. He came upon the
couple one evening. fight ensued, and
he was killed in the contest with the
young Scot The latter escaped.
Then Lady belmont returned to
her own home under the expectation of
marrying her first and only love, and,
as far as / can make out, she lived at
this time in the room which you had
when you were here But, unfortu-
nately, she was not to end her days with
the man whom she had real affection
for. Her parents would not consent to
the union. So they were married in
secret.
Arranging one night to fly with her
lover, she escaped from the window by
a rope. 1t broke, precipitated her into
the moat, and she was killed Her body
was secretly buried in the wall of the
sanctuary, for family reasons, and in
order to hush up the scandal that might
ensue, had they buried it with the
family, or had they sent it to the house
of the Delmonts. Sir Archibald Nc
Crenley had sworn that he would cap
ture the body, should it leave the house,
and, as he was daring fellow, they
knew that he would keep his word.
The narrative did not state what
happened to this romantic lover. As
for the body, had it reburied in the
family vault beside her father and
mother. l have slept in the room many
times since, but have seen no visions
of yeiled ladies, and know that, should
her spirit now do any restless walking,
il is confined to the open air. Trusting
that you are in the best of health, and
with kindest regards to your husband,
believe me,