Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1912-12-06

think any one he had wronged could
have laid q curse on him. and did l be-
iicve in curses. / said l didn't. and the
only person any one could have said he
had wronged forgave him freely. l
knew, II there was anything TO forgive.
SO 1 told him this. too.
1T was /, not the youngest Of us. who
knew h name Of that person wronged
and forgiving.
$50 then 1 said he ought to take Ma
bel away from the house and have q
complete change. but he said no. Ma
bel had 81 everything In order and he
could v manage to get her away
just now without explaining everything
and above all, he said. she mustn't
guess there's anything wrong. l dare
say l will not feel quite such a lunatic
now you're here
so we said Good night"
is that all the story?' said TIN" third
girl, striving to convey that even as 1t
stood 1t vas q good story.
That's only the beginning" said Miss
EastWick. Whenever ] was alone with
him. he used to tell me the same thing
over and over again. and at first when
began to notice things. l tried to think
that 1t was his talk that had upset my
nerves. The odd thing was that 1t
wasn't only at night, blu in broad day
light and particularly on the stairs and
passages. On the staircase the feeling
used to be so awful that l have had to
bite my lips till they bled to keep my
SELF from running up the stairs at full
speed. Only l knew IL I did l should
go mad at the top. There was always
something behind ~me--exactly as he
had said-something hat n could
Just not see. And a sound that one
could just not hear. There was a long
corridor at the top Of the house. have
sometimes Amos seen sOmething-you
know now n sees things without look
Ing, but II l turned round it seemed as
If the thing dropped and melted into
my shadow. There was q little window
at the end Of the corridor.
downstairs there was another corri-
dor something like 1t. with q cupboard
at M n and the kitchen at the other.
One night I ven down into the Kitchen
to heat some milk for Mabel. The SER
wants had gone to bed-as I stood by
the fire waiting for the milk to boil. 1
glanced through the open door and
along the passage. I never could keep
my eyes on what l vas doing in that
house. The cupboard door was partly
open; they used to keep empty bottles
and things IN 1t. And AS 1 looked I
knew that now it was not going to be
A.1o NAy more. 1et. 1 SalQ Mabel
not because thought It could he Mabel
who was c%rouching down there half in
n half out Of the cupboard. The
thing was gray at first and then it was
black. And when 1 whispered Mabel
it seemed to sink down till 1t lay like
a pool OF ink on the floor. and then it's
g drew in. n it seemed to flow,
IKE Ink. when you tilt up the paper you
nave split 1t on-and it flowed into the
pboar till 1t was all gathered into
the shadow there. I saw it go quite
plainly. The gas was full on in the
kitchen. screamed aloud. but even
then I'm thankful to say l had enough
to upset the boiling milk. So that
when ne came downstairs three steps
screams Of a scalded hand. The expla-
nation satisfied Mabel, but next night
he said:
why didn't you tell me- Ii was
that cupboard. All the horror OF the
house comes out of that. Tell me-haye
seen anything yet? Or is 1t only
Il said: You must tell me first what
you've SEEM He told me and his eyes
wandered as he spoke to the shadows
by n curtains, and I turned up all
three gasligAts and lit the candles on
m mantelpiece Then we looked at
1850 ~A0 o0bA VIC WCkC OOlk Imad.
and thanked God that Mabel at least
was sane. Fol what he had seen was
what I had seen.
After that I hated to be alone with
a shadow. because at any momeu I
might see something that would crouch
and sink and lie like q black pool. and
then slowly draw Itself into the shadow
that was nearest. Often that shadow
was my own. The thing came first at
nteht. but afterward there was no hour
safe from It. l saw it at dawn and at
always 1t crouched and sank. and
was q pool that flowed into some shad-
ow and became part Of 1t. And ALWAYS
l saw 1t with a straining Of the eyes
pricking n aching. It seemed as
though I could only just see It; as IL
sight, to see 1t, had to be strained
h uttermost. And still the sound
was in h house-the sound that I
could lot just hear. At last. one morn
ing early, I did hear it. It was close
behind me-and 1t was only q sigh. II
was worse than the thing that crept
among the shadows.
II don't know now I bore II. I
couldn't have borne It IL I hadn't been
90 fond OF them both. But I knew in
my heart that II he mad no one to
whom he could speak openly he would
60 mad. or tell Mabel. His was not q
very strong character. Very sweet, and
kind and gentle. but not strong. he
was always easily led. : SO Isstayedson.
and bore up. and we were very cheer.
ful ana made little Jokes and tried to
But when We were alone we did not try