Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-02-11
CHAPTER XXI.
The Haunted House.

TO q nelSnt Ol lHISc oSoAiSS 40
but with sloping roof that reduced iti
pretensions abruptly to one story II
the rear. Many of the lower window;
were boarded UP. In the centre Of the
lichened roof arose one enormous Chin
ney, from which no cheerful smoke
ever curled upward to wintry or sum-
mer skies. Behind 1t arose wooded
hill; before 1t stretched starved, neg
lected field. with tumbiing stone walls
and clumps of unpruned orchard-trees
growing among the weeds and wild
grass. No other human habitation was
anywhere in sight. 1t was a house
under some prodigious ban OF excom-
munication." situated in lonely. un-
freouented neighborhood, and given
over. by common consent, to utter des-
olation and decay. For twenty years no
tenant had crossed its Threshold; Tor
twenty years the people round about
had Stunned 1t, and timid travellers
uuaked in body and spirit alike when
forced to pass II, even at distance |;
for twenty years the black shadow OF
Murder had hung upon ft-a SHADOW
that would never be lifted. Abandoned,
feared, rarely approached, even by the
strong-nerved and curious the house
under the lonesome, pine-covered hill,
with its front to the dreary, weed
grown field, was known near and 1ar
as "a haunted house."
On a certain night in the late sum-
mer, something happened at this place
of dark repute-something which can
not be explained until the reader goes
back with me to search for the little
seamstress Of Seedy Court-beautiful
Mercy Dill.
When Miss Affry left her lodging
house to go to the office of the Brit
ish consulate in answer to Peter
Finch's advertisement, Mercy, over
come by a strange foreboding of evil,
an unaccountable sadness that seemed
to deepen and strengthen as the hour
for her marriage drew near. took up ner
work and descended to Miss Affry's do
main to find solace and companionship
with her kind old friend.
She reached the familiar sitting-room
only to find it disordered-a rare thing
indeed-and empty. Glancing out OF
the window, she saw Miss Affry her
self Just rushing out Of the court like
one demented, her shawl awry, her
bonnet askew, her rheumatic old legs
stumping along the pavement with q
speed that amazed Mercy. What had
happened to the old woman? Whittier
was she going? She looked as II bound
on an errand Of life and death. Even
as Mercy watched her she vanished
around corner.
Small as this disappointment was,
Mercy's heart sank in an odd, miser-
able way. She turned from the window,
put the disordered room to rights, ar
ranged Vars books again upon the
shelf, folded up the paper which con-
tained Mr.. Finch's notice, all unconsci-
her life, and then ascended to her own
chamber and sat down again to sew
until Miss Affry's return.
Half an hour went by.
Then the bell Of No. IS rank Violent
ly.
Mercy knew that she was the only
person left in the house, and she ran al
once to answer.
AS she opened the door she saw that
a close carriage was drawn up before
II, and at the threshold stood mana
stranger, with an alarmed and portent-
.ous air.
you are Mercy DIP" he asked, in g
tone as perturbed as his manner.
Yes, she answered, thrilling with
quick apprehension.
Mr.. Valentine Black sends me tc
fetch you to him. He has been taker
with a fit at the clearinghouse Of Sar'
dis G. Co. He cannot be moved-th'
doctor thinks he will not last an hour
For Gods sake, Miss make haste ant
come at once!"
Val sick-val dying! With a stifiet
scream, Mercy staggered back.
Taken completely by surprise, over
whelmed by an unspeakable anguish, l
never occurred to the unfortunate CIR
that these dreadful tidings might b.
false.
wildly she flew for her outer gar
ments, flung them on, and rushed IRON
the house-the house that she was des
tined never more to enter.
You will be at the banking-rooms II
ten minutes, Miss" said the man.
He grasped her with one hand, ant
opened the carriage door with the 9th
er. 1t was a close vehicle, as / hav
said. and curtains were securely draw
across it's window. In one corner sat
dark, motionless object-a man, with
handkerchief clutched in his glove'
fingers.
Mercy did not see him till her foo
was on the step; then thrill OF sud
den alarm and apprehension ran owe
her-her first suspicion Of foul play
She would have recoiled, but swift a
thought the driver pushed her straigh
into the carriage, and as he did so, tn
man I'm the corner leaped up and seiz
ed her in a terrible grasp.
She caught one glimpse OF swarth!
SCARED face, full Of wicked trump
and exultation; then. before she coul
utter word or sound, q handkerchief
saturated with some deadly. sfckenin
odor was pressed down upon her mout
and nostrils. Mercy knew no more.
The carriage turned from the door O
No. 10, and rolled out Of Seedy Cour1
1t crossed Charlestown Bridge at
pace which, though lively, was not swif
enough to attract attention, and throug
the squares and busy streets beyond
went on toward the open country.
No sound came from inside 1t.
The driver, a stolid- faced man, sat o
his box like an automaton. Not on
person Of the many who saw the car
riage pass gave 1t any particular no
,tice.
It entered Somerville. rumble
through the streets Of that quiet towr
land approached Medfcrd in the shad
.ows OF the declining afternoon. tn
sstolid driver knew his business, eVi
dently, and needed no instructions
Turning from the populous quarter
this latter place, he urged his horse
into a lonesome by-road, where fe'
dwellings were to be seen, and thes
only at long intervals.
The lowing of cows, the chirp g.
crickets under the stone walls, alon
broke the almost mournful stiffness
the falling day. :,
On he went, until turn In the soil
1ary way presently brought him !
sight of q desolate, weed grown fiel
and a gloomy, pine-covered hill. unde
which stood an old, black house wit
the long western shadows creepin
over it's one gigantic chimney, II
dreary, boarded-up windows, and tn
rack and desolation Of all its surround
ings.
It was the haunted house under tn
hill-the house upon which the curse {
black murder rested and always woul
rest while a timber remained in II
place.
The carriage turned from the roa
into a deep-rutted track which lie
across the field to the door of tn
abandoned dwelling.
Strange to say, some signs OF III
were now visible about the place. Re
cent footprints could be traced in tn
wild grass that grew up to Its yer
threshold. A faint, blue smoke ascend
IT,