Bisbee daily review., 1915-01-23
Copyright, 1910, by Meredith Nicholson

This concealed stairway, wherever it was, could not be of iutcrminable length and had counted. l think ff teen steps of that strange ascent when it ceased l heard a fumbling as O; some one seeking a latch. and sudden y a light current ot air swept by me. but its clean fresh quality was not in itself disturbing ] stopped and struck a match smartly on the carpet and at the same time clicked the switch ] should say that not more than ten sec. onds passed from the moment the soft rush of air had first advertised the opening of passage near me until the hall was flooded with the glow of the electric lamps overheard My match had also performed its office. but, find ing the electric current behaving itself normally, l blew it out What I saw now interested me immensely
 In the solid wall near the stair and almost directly opposite the trunk room a narrow door hud swung outward-a nent coutrivance so light in it's con. 1 s!ructiou that it still swayed on it's l concealed hinges from the touch of the | hand that had released it. How it had opened or what had become of the pr0wler who had unIatched it remain cd to be discovered. It seemed mpos- slble that whoever or whatever had climbed the hidden stairway had de- scended nor had been conscious of a ghostly passing as on the previous night l had only my senses to apply to this problem. and their efficiency was minimized for mounent by fear.
 The opening in the wall engaged my attention at once, and was steadied by the thought that here was a practical matter susceptible of investigation. stepped within the door and lighted a candle, and just as the wick caught fire click went a switch somewhere and out went the hall lamps. But. having. 80 to speak. put my foot to the myste rious stair. l would not turn back. and continued on down the steps.
 Great was my astonishment Co find that ] had apparently stepped from a new into au old house. The stair reads were worn by long use, the plaster walls that enclosed them were battered and cracked and | seemed to have plunged from the glory of Hope Held into some dim lost passage ot a d0micile of another era that fay within or beneath the walls of the Manor Az slowly descended, holding high my candle l recalled. not without a qualm the story of the British soldier whom. tradition OF superstition linked to th, sitc 9f Miss Ho.ister's property
 At the foot or the stair ] found two rooms. one ou either side of a small hlu and these also were clearly par. of an old house that seemed t1 be somehow merged into the Ho.listeI mansion. remembered now that thC mansion stood wedged against rough spur of rock and that the front and rear entrances were upon different lev. els, and it was conceivable that tho . bacb part of the mansion might inelose these rooms Of an earlier house occu pyiug the same site Why they should have been retained was beyond me.
 Through the carefully preserved win dows, many paned and quaint, of these hidden rooms the unfolding walls oi tue new house were blank and black.
 One door only remained in this shel Of the old house. and hastened to fling it open, still lighting my way withNs candle. Before me lay the coal cellar at which ! bad merely glanced on tht morning after my installation at Hope field. now began to get my bearings ] remembered two iron lids in the ce mented surfuce of an area on the eas side of the house where fuel was de - posted, and. mounting few steps tha
 were of recent construction and hal evidently been built Co afford cOmmuui cation between the remnant of the ol, house and the subterranean portion O
 the new, ] found 10 my relief and satis faction beneath one of these opening a short ladder through which the cour B might be reached. Here. then th
 manner of ghostly ingress was ilu, trated by perfectly plausible means l The lid of the coal hole was entirely .. withdrawn, and a bar of moonlight la, brightening upon pile of authracit $ at the foot of the ladder