The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1914-08-27

4 III
lNH Madeline was no more. he stat
ed his intention of preserving
her corpse for fortnight, previously
to its final interment, i'm one of the
numerous vaults within the main
walls of the building. The brother
had been led to his resolution $50 he
told mel by consideration of the I'M
usual character of the malady of the
deceased. of certain obtrusive 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. | will not deny that when I
| called to mind the sinister countenance
| Of the person whom / met upon the
staircase on the day of my arrival at
the house | had no desire to oppose
what 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 encoffined, we two alone
bore it to its rest. The vault in which,
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 APP
parently in remote feudal times for
the worst purposes of donjon keep
and In later days as place of deposit
for powder or some other highly COM
bustble 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 a 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
lace, with that suspiciously lingering
smile upon the lip which is so 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 Y.
came over the features of the mental
disorder Of my friend. His ordinary
manner had vanished. His ordinary
occupations were neglected or forgot
en-. he roamed from chamber to
with hurried. unequal and
'bjectless step. The pallor of his coun-
enance had assumed If possible a
more CHASTITY hue, but the luminous
less or his eve had utterly gone out
me once occasional huskiness of his
one was heard no more. and tremu-
ous quaver. as il of extreme terror,
abitually characterized his utterance.
felt creeping upon me by slow yet
ertain degrees the wild influences of
rs own fantastic yet impressive super
1T was especially upon retiring to
ed late in the night of the seventh
eighth day after the placing OF the
.ady Madeline within the donjon that
experienced the full power of such
ceilings. Sleep came not near my,
ouch. while the hours waned and
'aned away. struggled to reason off
lie nervousness which had dominion
yer me. endeavored to believe that
luch. if not all of what felt. was
ue to the bewildering influence of the
loomy furniture of the room-of the
ark and tattered draperies which. tor
lred into motion by the breath Of
sing tempest. swayed fitfully to and
o upon the walls and rustled uneas-
about the decorations OF the bed.
ut my efforts We're fruitless. An ir-
pressible tremor gradually pervaded
Y frame. and at length there sat upon