The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1914-06-18

~ Gu MS lHtClltlOu VI pIcSeI NlAlS'
her corpse for fortnight, previously
to its final interment, in one OF the
numerous vaults within the main
walls of the building. The brother
told mel by consideration Of the I'M
usual character of the malady Of the
deceased, of certain Obtruslve and
eager inquiries on the part OF her medi-
cal man and of the remote and exposed
situation of the burial ground of the
family. l will not deny that when
called to mind the sinister countenance
Of the person whom l met upon the
staircase on the day of my arrival at
the house l had no desire to oppose
what l regarded as, at best, but a
harmless and by no means an unnat-
ural precaution.
At the request of Usher, personally
aided him in the arrangements for the
temporary entombment. The body
having been encotfincd, we two alone
bore it to it's rest. The vault in which
we placed it was small, damp and
entirely without means of admission
for light, lying at great depth imme-
diately beneath that portion of the
building in which was my own sleep
ing apartment. 1t had been used ap-
parently in remote feudal times for
the worst purposes Of a donjon keep
and in later days as a place of deposit
for powder or some other highly COM
bustible substance, as portion Of its
floor and the whole interior Of long
archway through which we reached it
were carefully sheated with copper
The door, Of massive iron, had been
also similarly protected. Its immense
weight caused an unusually sharp
grating sound as it moved upon Its
hinges.
Having deposited our mOurnful bur
den upon trestles within this region
of horror, we partially turned aside
the yet unscrewed lid of the coffin and
looked upon the face Of the tenant. A
striking similitude between the broth
er and sister now first arrested my at
tention, and Usher. divining perhaps
my thoughts, murmured out some few
words, from which learned that the
deceased and himself had been twins
and that sympathies Of scarcely in
telligible nature had always existed
between them. Our glances rested
not long upon the dead, for we could
not regard her unawed. There was
faint blush upon the bosom and the
face, with that suspiciously lingering
smile upon the lip which is 50 terrible in
death. We replaced and screwed down
the lid and secured the door Of iron.
And now, some days of bitter grief
having elapsed. an observable change
came over the features of the mental
disorder of my friend His ordinary
manner had vanished. His ordinary
occupations were neglected or forgot,
ten. He roamed from chamber to
chamber with hurried, unequal and
Objectless step. The pallor Of his coun-
tenance had assumed If possible
more CHASTITY hue, but the luminous
ness Of his eye had utterly gone out,
The once occasional huskiness Of his
tone was heard no more, and tremu-
lous quaver, as if of extreme terror,
habitually characterized his utterance.
felt creeping upon me by slow yet
certain degrees the wild influences of
his own fantastic yet impressive super
stitiOns.
1t was especially upon retiring to
bed late in the night of the seventh
or eighth day after the placing of the
Lady Madeline within the donjon that
experienced the full power of such
feelings. Sleep came not near my
couch, while the hours waned and
waned away. struggled to reason of
the nervousness which had dominion
over me. I endeavored to believe that
much. If not all Of what felt. was
due to the bewildering influence of the
gloomy furniture Of the room-of the
dark and tattered draperies which, tor
tured into motion by the breath Of a
rising tempest swayed fitfully to and
|fro upoI the wailS and rustled nneas-
lily about tire decorations Of the bed.
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