Year: 1869

4


boards, that seemed at once SO strange anC


50 familiar. The WATERFALL stood in ont
kcorner of the sink, with the bright tin dippel
| hanging over it, and between the sink anC
the door was the roller with the long, round


towel, clean and fresh, and still creased as il


had come from the ironing board.
| Before | 90 on / must tell you something


of the house ITSELF which has thus far beer


entirely overlooked. 1t was g story-and a.
half house, facing the south. The front
door opened into IA narrow hall On the
right was the spare-room, in other words
the parlor, and on the left was the sitting OF
dining room. The hall ran straight through
to the kitchen, which lay directly back o
the aforementioned apartments, or, should
rather say, back of the parlor and hall
Back of the sitting room, with doors opening


10th into that and the kitchen, was the
d" bedroom" where my father and mother
always slept. This last room did not extend
the whole width of the kit chen, but one END
had been partiti med off to make a large light
pantry. The dairy was still farther back, in
a lean TO or . Inter, as it wass-.led, that
had been added since my remembrance.


From the kitchen, consequently, | could
90 directly into the hall, or the sitting-room
or my mother bed-rOOm,-to say nothing OF
the dairy and pantry. Ruth used to say
that its walls were all doors and windows,
which was a pretty fair statement. There
was an occasional gap, however, where one
could stow away chair or a table and the
sink was a fixture immovable as the house
itself


l smiled to myself as / stood with my
candle in my hand looking round on the old,
familiar objects had evidently come as a
" thief in. the night listen as Intently as
| might. ! could hear no sound, save the
ticking of the clock | touched the stove.
1t was not yet quite colds and the tin tea
kettle filed, ready for the morning, stood on
the top. Ruth must be better thought, or
the household would not be hushed in such
quiet repose D.; and | began to mediate a
pleasant surprise for the family. The light
had seen upstairs was not III the chamber
that Ruth and | had occupied together, but
in a larger one at the other side of the house
If | could only steal upstairs unseen and un-
heard by the - watcher" who was undoubt-
edly with Ruth, | would go to bed, and
create a sensation when L made my unex-
pected debut in the morning.


Ny shoes creaked a little. | unlaced them
and took them off, tied the strings together.
and hung them over my arm. If l could
only get rid of my mantle, which seemed in
the utter stiffness TO make such a rustling
whenever moved and my bonnet and veil





kitchen, my arrival would be detected by the
earliest riser in the morning.


81 will go softly into the parlor,' l
thought, g and leave them. No one will be
likely to 90 in there before breakfast"


Ny trunks were on the doorstep. But
there was small danger of thieves in that
quiet country neighborhOod. And there was
scarcely more danger of their being observed
by the family, who ordinarily went in and
out at what we called the " side door"


/ gathered my skirts about me, and was
about to open the door into the hall, when a
cat that had been lying asleep upon n mat
needing, awoke from her nap and came
toward me, purring so loudly that it seemed
to me the whole house must hear her.


'Jetty's great grandchild,' - l said, she
rubbed herself against me. arnhines hos baaL
after the manner of cats. | petted her a
little, put her TO bed again, and made another
move This time 1 succeeded in getting into
the hall and closing the door behind me,
without so much as a sound.


Moving stealthily along, l reached the
parlor door. One loose board under the
single breadth Of striped homemade carpet
ing creaked loudly, yet thought not loudly
enough to disturb unlistening cars. The
small, old-fashioned brass knob was in my
hand, and | turned it gently. As the door
swung silently back, sudden gust of wind
from an open window within blew my light
out.


| was dismayed at first, but soon remem-
bered that | had dropped two OF three match
es into the tray of the fat-bOttomed brass
| would first disencumber my
self Of my various inconvenient appendages,
and then re-light my candle. There was a
little table, as | well knew, between the two
l.. - I II. 81
while | united my bonnet, and
deposited that, with my mantle, upon ad
joining chair. My shoes and my satchel
found a place upon the floor beside it; and
then, with one stroke ofthe match, the reign
OF darkness ended, and | turned it'll a smile
upon my lip To take cuTsory survey of the
apartment before | went up stairs.


| have been lettering by the way, linger-
ing unnecessarily over little incidents, in
sickening dread of the vague, underlined
horror that scizes hold upon me even yet,
whenever | recall that midnight hour Of
darkness, terror, and despair. Now may
God give me strength to tell what met my
eyes as the light flashed into a far corner of
tue room, and will never, never speak of it
again.


a white, ghastly thing stretched out upon
the trestles, at which | started for an instant
in mute bcwildermcnt, not dreaming what it
might be, yet dumb with unutterable dread.
A moment more and | saw it all-the rigid
outlines, the upright feet, the folded hands,
the elbows sharply defined, the stiffened
limbs, the mOtionless head, beneath the
linen sheet that fell heavily to the floor,
covering all and yet concealing nothing.


In a frenzy of horror and alright l would
have rushed from the room, but / could not
move. / would have screamed, but my
throat was paralyzed. The candle dropped
from my ncrveless hand, and darkness en-
compassed me-a darkness that could be felt,
but oae of which the outlines of white, hor-
rible wonder loomed with more terrible dis
tinctness than before. | could not turn my
eyes away they were bound TO the spot by
some weird fascination and at length it
seemed to me that the sheet moved, and that
the CHASTITY thing beneath it stirred | fell
heavily to the floor. and unconsciousness
merciiully sealed my senses and wrapped me
in forgetfulness.


Strange as it may appear, 1 did not once
think of Ruth or of my father or mother
The surprise and terror were so great, so
overwhelming, that there was room for
nought else. To get out of that fearful place,
to escape from that horrible presence. was
my only thought.


When partially revived, strong shud-
dering seized me. | would not attempt TO
lift my eyelids, lest | should again behold
what?


"She's coming to- whispered some one
beside me. "Speak to her. She will know
your voice, and, most likely, she's forgotten
mine"


Sibyl, my dear child,'' said a voice that
knew at once to be that of John Gardiner,
. take this for me; just a swallow-theIe; :"
and he smoothed back the hair from my fore
head with tender touch. g Are you better
now ?"


Some one was rubbing my feet, and there
was strong odor of camphor in the room.
cannot smell it to this day without feeling
the same sense of weight and oppression at
my heart that felt then.