Year: 1868

| is tnere no person in the house but
your wife and yourselfy"


No, we rent the house furnished, and
our servant Left yesterday. But pardon
me, If you have family which requires
your presence l will not ask you to re-
main, see that you are an elderly lady
and would prefer some one like you, but
IL you cannot remain l must manage with
Minnie alone"


AT did not speak from that cause, sir.
have no claims upon me. am widow
and have had daughters of my own. l
willingly offer myself to assist your wife,
| if l can be of service"


"Ithank you" He placed chair beside
the alcove for me, and could do nothing
but passively occupy it. turned my at.
tention again to the figure on the bed.
She seemed to be breathing quietly, but
the look of agony was still the same.


must have been sitting there over an
hour, when noticed her large eyes slowly
open and fix themselves upon me. lean
ed forward and looked at her. Her lips
moved only. | bent lower. Only one
word came "Motherp and, making an
effort, she tried to reach out her arms to
me. ..


Mr.. Randolph came softly to my side
and spoke:


Minnie, are you Detterg


She shook her head, again made the eff
| fort to reach out her arms and with the
effort gray shadow fell upon her face.
The light died out of the eyes, and with
a low moan the waXen lids closed forever |


There was no passionate grief in the
long drawn sigh Of the husband. Itsound-
ed to me more like relief, and the first
words spoken by him were
.NXUo1l che hoe o.ooa uor- Io,,r- J,o. IA
take for body to coolS"


looked at him in horror the tears
dimming my eyes as l thought of the
young life gone out of eXistence-so lone
ly, so forlorn--were almost frozen back by
such question. H.


at is necessary for me to be in Phila-
delphia tomorrow. must have the body
removed as soon as possible believe
there is some foolish prejudice against
putting body in the coffin while warm,
but l have no time to waste with non
sense ! suppose you can assist me in
placing it there?"


Was this a man or a fiend? All sense
of decency was outraged in the beastly
expression of sentiment and with every
feeling of indignation aroused, asked
him if he supposed me capable of counte-
nancing any such proceeding.


"Surely," said l, "you cannot put aside
the body of the woman who has been
your wife as you would the carcass of
brute?"


He smiled, and stepping to my side,
caught me by the arm, kissing in my ear


"To-morrow--do not trihe with me-
she has known what it is to tri1e with my
will-do as desire, or too bodies will have
to be disposed of instead of onep


In al 7
supposedP


ayes, and there is enough left for you ~


What could l do? l was weak
woman. In that house-all alone with
the human fiend and the dead / could
only comply.


Walking to the side of the looking. glass,
which described as occupying the end of
the room, he touched the frame. Slowly
it moved, until it opened like door, show
ing dark closet at its back. For mo-
ment he disappeared in the darkness, then
came forth, carrying-O my God what?
A coffin


I braced myself against the side of the
alcove, as watched the horrid thing,
placed upon two chairs directly in front
of me. Then / seemed sinking down
down. thought myself rapidly fainting.
But as my eyes were closing, they rested
upon the silver plate of the coffin, which
bore-plainly written on its tace-the in
scription:


MINNIE RANDOLPH.


AGED 10.


Down, down, seemed to sink, until / lost
all power over myself, and--struck my
head against the window sill, with terrible
force The pain of the conclusion soon
brought consciousness, and awoke to the
realization of knowing that l had fallen
asleep at the window and dreamed the
whole matter. l could scarcely realize
that it was dream, and perhaps, woman
like, was little disappointed in being
cheated of my ideal sensational. Of
course, after rubbing my head and trying
to ease my pain, my first glance was across
the street. Everything was as quiet as
possible. There was a brilliant light in
the room but there sat my opposite. neigh
bors laughing and chatting as lovingly
and affectionateiy as usual. l rubbed my
eyes over and over again-but that was no
dream. Not light was out in the street
On going to my dressing room, l saw it
was scarcely ten o'clock, of summers
night, and that had really been asleep
only about twenty minutes The next
day l amused my landlady by detailing
my dream, when she explained the foun.
dation for my brains vagaries, by inform
ing me that the young couple who oc-
cupied the "second floor front" were men,
bers of the French Theater and often re-
hearsed new pieces at their own home.
So much for the Mystery in Bleecker
street-Ie0cheSteT Democrat.