Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1914-02-07
THE
GREAT HESPER
By FRANK BARRETT

When we met at breakfast, Edith
was In her customary bright and
cheerful mood. Reassured by her
appearance, Sir Edmund said, smil-
ing
We'll, my dear, has there been
any recurrence OF strange sound and
spectral sights during the night ?"
Yes" she answered: but they did
not frghten me, for | knew it was
only poor Lola"
"Lolaw | exclaimed.
Il had left light burning" she
said; "the blinds were turned down
ward, and the light shone upon
them; the tapping woke me. 1t was
just the same SOUND that | heard
before. While | was looking at the
olind before the open WINDOW, the
tapping stopped, and | saw finger
come down between the third ana
fourth lath from the bottom, ana
turn the third; after that the finger
slid in between the next two, and
turned the second. Then | saw her
two lustrous black eyes looking
through. Almost Immediately after
ward they disappeared. Don't be
afraid, Lola | SAID, in a low voice,
for | feared if she were frightened
she might slip from that terribly
narrow ledge. | waited a few min
utes, to give her time to get back
to the bay, if she intended to, and
then | drew up the blind and looked
out. There was no one there, and
the window in the bay was as we
left it last night-closed."
Are you sure it was Lola" |
asked.
Yes, they were her eyes"
"Do you know what time it was
when you saw herr" | asked.
II can be sure of that, for in TAX
ing my watch from the stand, it fell,
breaking the glass and stopping the
hands, and very soon after that |
heard the clock strike"
She showed me the watch, the min
ute-hand was so bent that it could not
pass the hour-hand, when | lifted it,
the movement recommended, proving
that the spring had not run down.
The hour marked by the hands was
five minutes to one.
AT five minutes to one Lola was
sleeping at my door, | said.
CHAPTER VIII.
Edith could not say whether the
laths she mad seen turned were open
when she went to the window, and
there was no means of confirming the
fact afterward because in pulling up
the blind they would, if open be re-
turned to their former position. In
face of my evidence, she was firmly
convinced that what she had seen and
heard was an extraordinary illusion of
the senses parallel to that which fur
nlshes the sole excuse for a tolerably
widespread belief in supernatural ap-
pearanceS. She was ashamed Of the
feebleness of mind which her eXpe
rlences seemed to imply, and, resolved
to overcome the weakness, she resisted
all her fathers persuasions to change
those conditions under which she had
passed the last two nights.
Van Hoeck alone refused to believe
in Edith's hallucinatlon.
"One has only to hear Miss Las
celles speak to discredit notion of
that KIND" he SAID; she has every
sign of mental vigor and physical
strength, and TO accuse such a girl OF
that kind of morbid insanity called
hallucinatiOn, is just as creditable
TO your understanding as to believe
Il
vagabond' California card-sharper,
ana the half-breed wench he chooses
to call his daughter"
When night came, he said TO me, /
after we had separated from the |
rest
This is no time for sleep, Thorne;
you like it or not, if il is |
nlxr 1 10
/ readily agreed to this, and for
lawn from which | could see Edith's /
window. Then the rain, which had
been drizZing for some time, fell
heavily, and forced us to go in.
We changed our boots for slippers
and sat together in my room, | with
a book, he with his chm in his hands
his face hideous with the light of the
lamp on his protruding eyes.
Heaven knows ! was not wanting
in love for Edith, or solicitude for her
and yet | could not keep
awake. 1t must be remembered that
had had no sleep the preceding night,
and that | did believe in Edith's hal
and therefore saw no actual
danger menacing her. | tried TO in
leleSJ myself III the DOOk, out my
thoughts grew confused, the type
swan before my eyes, and helped to
Demuse my senses. AT length / put
down the book, and shaking my wits
together, | said TO Van Hoeck-
LET us talk"
Talk" he muttered scornfully,
why not ask me to sing you comic
song? If the Kid were here | sup
pose you wouldn't want me 10 amuse
you. You could keep awake until
-hree or four in the morning watch
ng her, but as it's only your future
wife who is concerned, you are log
headed before midnight"
This sarcasm did not prevent me
lozing again a few minutes later.
vas ashamed of my drowsiness, and
after a minutes doze / would wake
With guilty start only to drop off
again in few minutes. / knew not
low long this had been going on,
when Van Hoeck shook me by the
lrm, and woke me thoroughly.
at is counting destruction to sit
lere with the door open," he said,
ono of ms blind and the other dead ,