The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-02-15
DAILY SHORT STORY.
GHOST MEETS GHOST.
BY MOLLY McMAsTER.
Copyright. lel5.D

There was not the slightest doubt as
to the beauty and desirability OF the
small house. It nestled like a jewel
among the velvety green Of thick FIR
trees and faced the blue waters Of the
sound. In the winter it would resemble
nothing so much as a cozy corner in the
valley Of diamonds. The gabled roof OF
the house would lie under an eiderdown
of snow while blue-gray smoke would
ascend from the great stone chimneys
that supported each flank Of the cottage.
Doreen sighed heavily as she walked
away from the little Long Island home
on which she had so set her heart. 1t
had been taken by a couple from the
city not two hours before. The lease
was signed. The real estate agent had
shown 1t to Doreen the while he cement
ed her keen disappointment.
Never mind" he added. trying to
mitigate her loss. Fir Vale is haunted
by fearful specters that wall about
among those fir trees and perpetrate
CHASTITY tricks on the minds of the ten
ants
But did you not warn this coupler
asked Doreen, with a shade of hope in
her eyes. because she was not afraid of
ghosts.
oh, yes. certainly / did. but they
rather fancied the idea of seeing a real.
live ghost. They said city people seldom
got a chance at anything so exciting.
Doreen shifted at the cold-blooded lack
Of imagination and walked slowly back
to her own cottage that lay back to
back with Fir Vale and did not face the
blue water on the sound.
She did not know that a second appli-
cant for Fir Vale entered the real estate
office even before her footsteps had died
away in the distance
4 young man more keenly disappoint-
ed than Dorcen left the agent after hav-
ing been shown the lease signed by the
fortunate couple from the city.
They won't consider themselves lucky
by the time have become a ghost and
haunted them into CHASTITY fears OF In
sanity and longings for specterless city
flats muttered Jimmy Barker as he
made his frustrated way back to his
own abode.
Jimmy boarded in 2. sort OF farm house
and was sick Of boarding. He wanted
Fir Vale and wanted II badly. 1t was
the only cottage In all his days that
made Jimmy Barker plan hideous tricks.
The new couple had scarcely been set
tied in Fir Vale before the specter OF
imagination began to wall about the fir
Swallowed property. The couple within
the cozy cottage heard the low murmur-
in the trees. and proceeded to enjoy the
comfort of the charming hoVe they had
taken.
Outside. however. restless spirit
foated about. fleeing from its own fright.
1t seemed to the ghost that never be-
fore had a harmless bit of garden been
so charged with nerve-racking sounds.
Her diaphanous white robes. for 1t was
a female ghost. seemed ever to be
clutched by unseen hands. Twigs under
meath her feet snapped. and from time
to time a cone dropped from the branches
overhead and dragged a swiftly stihed
scream from the ghosts lips. In the
pitch blackness the fir trees that seemed
a nest Of green velvet in the light Of day
resembled nothing so much as pointed
bayonets fixed against an oncoming foe.
Doreen realized with a shudder that she
was undoubtedly the foe. and wished she
possessed greater courage for her ghost
" maneuvers for the success OF her pur-
pose. Certainly IL she was going to be
SO cowardly she could never wall Just
outside the windows of the cottage nor
produce hollow. specter-like sounds on
the doors.
She was drawing a deep breath prepar-
a,ory to making a brave effort at haunt
ing, when she screamed and doubled up
an unconscious heap In the p!ne-strewn
garden.
A grewsome and frishtful specter had
doomed up at her very elbow and the
lurid blue light In its waving hand burn
ed with sinister glow. Doreen. after her
one glance. swayed and knew no more