Year: 1872

time after.


At length turning her eyes upon
me. she said Il have something
I do so wish TO tell some one be-
fore l die. Will you hear it?'
"Most certainly" I replied. She
then related the last part Of the
story I have repeated to you, and
then raising herself she said, Il
charge you to unvcil this mystery
and reveal it to the world; for as
sure | breathe now, so snre Mau-
rice murdered my poor dear nus
band" She sank back exhausted
and soon after expired.


could not shake off the I'M
preston W hich the words OF tins
poor woman made upon me. l
determined to visit this house, and
when saw those traces Of foot
step, | knew imagination had
nothing to do with the strange
apparilion. No one would live in
the house which they declared
was haunted, but | prevailed on
my wife to occupy it with me and
sec if it wouid not lead to unrav-
cling the mystery. l found an
old diary upstairs written in
cyphcr; | tried in vain to find :he
key to it. Somehow | felt sure it
had belonged to Maurice. At this
time I Of course knew nothing
about the well. We had been liv-
ing here some time when one day
my wife called my attention to
the floor IN the buttery which she
said seemed TO be giving away. |
examined it, and careIessIy stamp
ing upon it to test its stEength, it
suddenly gave way andsI fell
through. l escaped without any
broken bones, but | never shall
forget the strange sensation l felt
as came down on something
which ratified so as to chill the
blood in my veins, while at the
same time cloud Of offensive dust
arose almost overpowering me.


| was cXtricated from this un-
pleasant position as soon as posi-
ble and examining the place, we
drew to light the skeleton remains
of u man, whom we afterwards
found to be the unhappily murder
ed husband. | set to work more
than ever AZ the mystic
rious cypher Of the diary fully
believing it to have belonged to
Maurice, and with the assistance
ofProfessor-I at last succeeded.
| was right. The inmost thoughts
of Maurice were here disclosed,
and the details Of the murder. The
diary closes with these words: Il
shall win the prize | have worked
for, but, ah! wherever [ go, whe-
ther asleep or awake | feel the
steady gaze Of a pair of eyes, the
same which looked in upon me on
that night. | convinced myself at
the time that it was only fancy;
but still they haunt me. Even

now they are looking over my
shoulder reading these words
which | have written Is relief
Tor my brain; but shall destroy
this book tomorrow, though it is
written in Il cypher OF my own
invention"


The apparition remained still
Il mystery, and | doubted much If
we should ever be able to clear it
up. One evening | was sitting
here in the twilight, my thoughts
still engaged on the subject, when
all at once l felt as if some one
were looking at me. 1nvoluntarlly
I raised my eyes and met the gaze
of eyes upon me through the win
dow curtains. The light Of the
fire fell directly upon them max
ing them appearnnaturally hrl 5ht.
l started from my chair, but al,
ready they had disappeared. |
walked rapidly from the house
looking on every side but could
see no sign Of human hcing. |
was retracing my steps when l
heard Il strange kind Of moaning,
and looking III the direction from
whence it came saw crouched
down close to stone wall Il figure
all huddlcd together. [ went up
to it and laid my hand on the
shoulder Of "SiIly Billy" Instantly
the thought flashed into my mind
that | held the clue to the myste,
rv. l remembered the strange
effect this creature had produced
on the poor woman. my patient
and wondered it had not occurred
to me before. | led him home,
and rs we reached the house one
of those moments Of half sense
seemed to cometo him; he dragged
ma to the window and leaned his
head against the sash, graspIng
my arm tightly; then he tried to
break from me as if to run, but !
held him firmly and made him
enter the house. | gave him
something to cat and drink, after
which | took him into the garden


When he saw the stairs he mount
ed them quickly, pushed open the
door at the top, and stood with
extended arm and pointing finger
and his eyes fixed with steady