The Irish standard., 1915-05-08

which for centuries had nodded the
destinies of his family and which
made him what now saw him-what
he was. Such opinions need no COM
ment, and l will make none.
! PART IL.
~NE evening, having informed
Ia me abruptly that the Lady
Madeline was no more, he stat.
~ ed his intention Of preserving
her corpse for fortnight, previously
to it's final interment, in 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 un-
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
called to mind the sinister countenance
Of the person whom l met upon the
staircase on the day of my arrival Al,
the house l had no desire to oppose
what regarded as. at best. but
harmless and by no means an uulmt
ural precaution.
At the request Of Usher, PERSONAL,
aided him in the arrangements for tlls
temporary entombment. The bod,
having been encoffined, We two aIon
bore It to its rest. The vault in which
we placed 1t was small. damp an:
entirely without means of admission
for light, lying at great depth imme
diately beneath that portion Of til,
building in which was my own sleep
ing apartment. 1t had been used ap
parently in remote feudal times 70.
the worst purposes of donjon keep
and In later days as place Of deposit
for powder or some other highly COM
bustble substance, as a portion Of its
door and the whole interior Of d long
archway through which we reached IL
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, murmhred out some few
words, from which learned that the
deceased and himself had been twins
and that sympathies of scarcely i'll
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 so terrible III
death. We replaced and screwed dow,
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 mentl
disorder of my friend. His ordinary
manner had vanished. His ordinar!
occupations were neglected or forgot
ten. He roamed from chamber Il
chamber with hurried, unequal ani
objectless step. The pallor Of his coun
tenance had assumed IL possible ,
more CHASTITY hue, but the luminous
ness Of his eye had utterly gone out
The once occasional huskiness Of hi.
tone was heard no more. and a tremu
lous quaver. as If Of extreme terror
habitually characterized his utterance
I felt creeping upon me by slow ye
certain degrees the wild influences o.
his own fantastic yet impressive super
stihons.
It was especially upon retiring Il
bed late in the night of the seventh
or eighth day after the placing Of tn
Lady Madeline within the donjoh tina
experienced the full power Of sucl
feelings. Sleep came not near m,
couch. while the hours waned ant
waned away. 1 struggled to reason of
the nervousness which had dominion
over me. endeavored to believe tina
much. II not all Of what ! felt. wa
due to the bewiltiering influence of tn
gloomy furniture Of the ROOM of tn
dark and tattered draperies which. tor
tured into motion by the breath Of F:
rising tempest. swayed ftfully to ant
fro upon the walls and rustled uneas
lily about the decorations of the bed
But my efforts were fruitless. An II
repressible tremor gradually pervade,
my frame, and at length there sat upol
Imy very heart an incubus Of utterly
causeless alarm. Shaking this off with
a gasp and q struggle l uplifted myself
upon the pillows, and, peering earnest
~ within the intense darkness of the
chamber, hearkened-I know not why,
Except that an instructive spirit prompt.
ed me-to certain low and Indefinite
sounds which came through the
pauses Of the storm at long intervals
l knew not whence. Overpowered by
an intense sentiment of horror, unac
eountable yet uncomfortable, l threw on
my clothes with haste, for felt that
should sleep no more during the
night, and endeavored to arouse my
self from the pitiable condition into
which l had fallen by pacing rapidly
to and fro through the apartment.
I had taken but few turns in this
manner when light step on an ad