Year: 1867

When she retired to her couch it was nearly mid
might. This was established by the fact that th
company separated at eleven; and the young lady
reverie by the fire in her chamber had not contin
? ued more than half an hour. She had alway
been famous among her companions-in addition
to all this-for the singularly brief time which sh
expended at her toilette, night and morning, AM
all these circumstances taken together, seem to es
tablsh that it was probably about quarter of al
flhour, or twenty minutes before midnight, whel
with fearful heart and trembling limbs, sh
sought her couch


u She had slept but brief period, she declared
when the vague sense of something hostile AM
threatening near her person, dissipated her slum
ber Some one, or something, seemed to hav
entered her apartment; and she heard again tn
low painful breathing, and the distinct sound o
ia football on the carpet foor She was enabled t
distinguish this minute sound from the fact tina
the storm had expended its fury completely ami
died away; the drifting clouds revealing, as the
swept away, the great blood-red moon, which wa
then just rising, in sombre majesty, above tn
eastern forest. The fire had nearly all died out
and.a quick leaping fame, which from time t.
time licked the expiring embers, Lit up the whit
garment on the chair, to plunge it suddenly int
gloom again.


The horrible breathing continued, and the younl
lady lay shuddering on her couch, gazing with dis
tended eyes upon the objects in the apartment
Again she heard the football distinctly for no 9th
er sound was audible throughout the silent man
sion; and this time it seemed to approach close t.
the bed.


With a sudden movement, the result Of tn
deepest terror and nervous excitement, she shrunl
beneath the covering of the bed completely hiding
her whole person, and lay thus for some moment
listening. The breathing ceased and she agail
cautiously raised the covering and looked forth
As she did 80, the huge clock upon the stair
without, struck slowly-tU tUeluel


1t was at this moment that the strange and al
most incredible part of the adventure began. A
the young lady's eyes fell upon the opposite wall
she saw in the moonlight gigantic shadow, ap
parenty thrown by a man holding q dagger -ant
this shadow struck three times, at the snowy gar
ment resting on the chair before the fire. Th'
young lady uttered a low cry, and closing her eye
fell back fainting upon the couch, from which sh'
had half risen 49,.


How long she lay thus, she could not tell, bu
when she came to her senses the moonlighthad dis
appeared, and the apartment was illuminated only
by chance CLEANS Of freight as before. This dis
appearance of the fearful shadow gave her cour
age, and summoning all her philosophy to her as
sistance, she endeavored to dissipate the effect
her late terror.


In this attempt, she so far succeeded that she
grew alarmed of her nervous fear, which she nov
regarded as the result of disagreeable dream
and with o sudden effort of resolution, determined
to issue from her couch and examine the garment
before the fire. She proceeded to do 80, with 6
trembling frame and blanched cheeks. The apart
ment was bitter cold, for the, dying fire gave ou
no warmth and her bare feet shrank from the
chill floor. She courageously approached the fire
however, caught the garment with an uncertain
hand, and shook it nervousy.


No sooner had she done so than an antique dag
ger, with the hilt curiously carved with armoria
devices, fell rattling upon the floor /: and in the
breast of the linen three gashes were visible.


The remainder of the young lady's narrative may
be briefly given. A strange recklessness seized her
she declared ; and grasping the dagger, she hur
ried to great old chest of drawers in the corner
opened it, and hid the weapon. She walked witt
uncertain steps to the bed, fell upon it, and los
consciousness.


When the maid entered in the morning to make
the fire, the young lady was lying in her thin nigh
dress upon the outside of the bed, asleep or un
conscious, and almost paralyzed with cold.


For three days she had burning fever, but q
the end of that tme her native strength Of consti
tuition overcame the terrible fright and exposure
Honoria soon made her appearance in the drawing
room again-now free from guests-and aidec
in the preparations rapidly being made for tht
visit to Williamsburg.


AS to her nights adventure, she had communi
Gated nothing to her companions. The garment
on examination, was found unharmed- rent wa!
visible-and the great chest Of drawers was tas
locked, as it had been, for twenty years.


The events of the night were not spoken Of ex
cept to the young lady's mother, but the gay
youths and maidens declared that Honoria mus
have seen something" and her fever was lonl
talked of in the region, in connection with subse
quent occurrences.


And now what shall we say Of the whole nara
tive? Was the young lady the victim of morbie
dream? Was the terrible "breathing" in hel
chamber simp.. the low rustic of the. autumn
leaves without2 The shadow on the wall, cast BY
great bough of the spectral oak in the moonlight
and half seen, half Jek in her troubled sleep?-
Did she dream that she arose from her couch, anc
shook the white garment, and hid the dagger?-
Was the whole adventure naught but the result o.
nervous agitation, or that superstitious fear i'm
planted in the girl by those old nurses, who inva
riably warp the youthful mind with their weiro
tales2


Let him who can do so, reply to all these ques
tions. We cannot The profoundest intellect thai
ever dwelt in human brain has said:


sThere are more things in heaven and earh Horato,
| Than are dreamed of in your philosophy"


And no one, ever yet established Hamlet's mad
ness.


TTo BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK.
WHAT LUTHER LovED-Luther, when study
ing always had his dog lying at his teet.a dog he
had brought from Wartburg, and OF which ne was
very fond An ivory crucifx stood at the table be-
fore him. He worked at his desk days together
without going out but when fatigued, and the
ideas began to stagnate, he took his guitar with
him to the porch, and there executed some musl'
| cal fantasy lfor he was skiful musiclan), when
the ideas would flow upon him as fresh as flowers
after summers rain. Music was his invariable
solace at such times Indeed, Luther did not hest.