The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1917-07-24
The Owners
Unexpected
Return
Did He See a Ghost ?
By PAULINE D. EDWARDS

'The Society For Psychical Research
is doing some good work lately" said
Gilbert to his friend Slade as they
sat beside the open fire. II believe the
! time will come when it will show a
scientific relation between mortality
and Immortality"
Il do not believe in ghosts" said
John Slade emphatically.
Daniel Gilbert drew his chair nearer
to the cracking blaze
Il never believed In ghosts-untl last
year," he said quietly.
What happened last year% SHADES
tone was skeptical.
Il saw ghost"
where had you been diningT laugh
ed Slade.
Il hadn't dined at all. / came down
to the Elms quite Unexpectedly. /
wanted to look up some papers that
knew to be in the library. The house
had been closed all summer, and at
this time even the caretaker was away
for a few days.
! MY plan was to dine at the village
inn, go up to the Elms, spend the even
ing searching for the papers, sleep In
my old room and take the first train
to town after breakfast. My train was
several hours late, and when we ar
rived in Elmville the inn was shut up
for the night. If you are acquainted
with our village boniface you will I'M
derstand that for neither love nor mon
ey nor 'auld lang syne' would he open
his doors to a guest after midnight
So 1t meant dinnerless tramp up to
the house.
1T was nearly o'clock when / en-
tered the avenue, and was surprised
to find the iron gates of the drive wide
open. That was against my orders.
1T was a dark night. The stars
shone bright, and young moon threw
thin silver veil Of light in the open
spaces. AS 1 came In sight Of the
house stopped still in my tracks.
you may not believe me, John, but
my house was a blaze of light from
basement to cupola, and from behind
| the lighted windows came the strains
Of an orchestra, while forms foated to
and fro in swaying rhythm to the
waltz melody.
LAS l stood rooted to the spot the
church clock in the village struck once,
and as If by magic the music ceased
and all motion stopped behind the thin
curtains An instant later every light
In the house died out as If extinguish-
ed by some mighty breath. 1 ran up
the steps and fitted my key in the
great lock- It yielded, and the heavy
door swung outward to my touch.
Il threw a ray Of light about the
great entrance hall and reached for the
button to switch on the electric lights.
The button clicked without response.
Again and again tried, but In vain.
"a search Of the drawing room and
library revealed the same condition.
The current was shut off and probably
had been since the departure of the
caretaker.
Il lighted the large oil lamp on the
library table. 1t was an easy matter
to dig out the documents 1 wanted
and store them into my leather bag.
AS set the bag on the floor / saw
lying ON the Turkish rug white rose,
fresh and fragrant, as If just plucked.
This was no earthly blossom de-
cided as / laid 1t before me on the Ia
bic. And then had another shock,
for almost under my hand and In the
very spot on which l had placed my
bag when entering the room was
small lace handkerchief Across one
corner was embroidered in tiny letters
girls name"
Gilbert blew a cloud of smoke that
obscured his face. John Slade leaned
forward in his chair.
"And the name-the girls manner" he
asked quickly
"Viola-Just VIOLA" said Gilbert
dreamily.
'That is not all of the story" said
Slade impatiently. go on, old man."
mo; that is not all l turned to
the mantelpiece and leaned my head
against the high shelf, trying to solve
the mystery of my house, for to my
knowledge no woman save the care
taker, an old black nanny, had dark
ened-or shall l say frightened 2-my
doors for several years
when l turned back to the table
the handkerchief was goneI
with hardly a thought as to whether
1 was seeking shadow or substance
thrust the rose in my pocket, and,
swapping on my pocket electric, 1
fastened into the hall. There was a
CLEAN Of white In the distance, and I
pursued it. 1t flicked around corner
and disappeared up small spiral STAIR
case that led to the second floor.
when 1 reached the top Of the
! stairs the bit Of white became a wo-
mans graceful form, with some ethe-
real garment of f1lmy stuff floating be-
hind her. And as followed seemed
to be walking among violets.
Down the grand staircase she van
ished, this time with little clicking
heels on the polished floor / held her
steadily In my ray of light and was
after her like a flash. We crossed the
drawing room, and then she disap-
peared through the paneled door that
leads into the west gallery-you know
that long, glass inclosed gallery that
my father used as a winter parlor2
She few down the length, and hoped
to catch her at the end, but at the
| door leading into the gardens she
turned her face toward me for one In
slant, and, by Jove, John, she was the
loveliest girl ever laid eyes upon
and you know don't care for women!
"Just a glimpse Of her beauty, and
the door opened and closed sharply,
Loo xy@n oil In he 1nVsxy
l was tired out by the exciting adven-
/ ture of the night and too wide awake
to sleep, so went back to the library,
got my bag, put out the light and left
the house. l spent the night sitting
on a bench in the railroad station, and
it is needless to say that l took the
first train to town"
"And that Is ALP asked Slade after
a little silence.
Isn't 1t enough7"
you didn't search the house, make
any effort to discover whether the in
truder was spook or human-didn't
you do anythingT
/ "Nary thing. / went abroad the fol-
| lowing week and at times forgot the
incident A few days ago it came back
to me, and so inXited you down to
spend this night with me at the Elms."
why this particular night?" de-
manded Slade suspiciously.
Because it's the anniversary of my
adventure with VIOLA" replied Gilbert
coolly. Il want witness to further
demonstrations, you know"
/ John Slade sank back into the shad-
ows of his chair and smoked thought
fully. Once he burst into a reminis-
cent chuckle.