Year: 1873


was an encounter in the dark somewhere, or
rather in the moonlight, as it appears, which
ended in fainting-6t on your part and hys'
terics on hers, both of you being wise enough
to take each other for ghosts. AS for my
strong minded housekeeper, she has been keep
ing up such succession of screams, swoons,
tearing of the hair and other extravagances,
that I really thought she was going crazy
At last I have reasoned her into composure,
though believe she still labors under the de-
lusion that you were a spectre, sent on a
moonlight fitting for her especial benefit"


Although Stanley said all this with an air
of assumed carelessness, and an infexion OF
would-be contempt in his voice, the disguise
was too thin to cover an evident nervousness
and trepidatiou both in his expression and
manner, and Lucy observed that his eyes did
not meet hers steadily as he spoke. His face,
too, was pale, and there was something OF ag-
itation and uncertainty in his Whole air that
betrayed concealed anxiety Of some sort,
and convinced her that there was more in the
matter than he chose to reveal, in spite of the
affected lightness with which he treated it.


"Do you mean to say, Alfred" she ques'
toned in a searching tone, and fixing her
eyes full on his face, "that the figure of the
woman I saw in the entry by the window was
Mrs Ford's, and none other"


"Of course I mean it, little simpleton," re-
turned her husband. "Whose else could it
be?"


"Then I tell you that you are greatly mista-
ken," said Lucy, her voice now trembling
with excitement, "for it was certainly not Mrs.
Ford"


"Pshaw my dear Lucy, this is mere chill
dish folly" said Stanley impatiently. "You
did not see her distinctly, l suppose, and your
nerves being weakened, and your mind
wrought up by superstitious fancies, you inves-
ted her with supernatural character"


II don't know who or what it was that l
saw" said Lucy "it may or may not have
been supernatural appearance my mind is
50 confused and shaken that I feel almost in
capable of reasoning on any subject, and l
know not what to believe; but of one thing
I am as sure as that am lying here, and that
is, that it was not Mrs. Ford whom l saw in
the entry. tell you it was not" she reitera-
ted, as he made gesture of dissent. IL saw
this woman's face in the moonlight, and it was
white and sick.looking, and she had long
light hair hanging around her. Now, was
that like Mrs. Ford, with her dark complexion
and coal.black, frizzly hair? The height, and
the whole appearance was as different from
Mrs. Ford's as mine is. You may say what
you please, but you cannot convince me that
my eyes deceived me so entirely as you would
have me believe


Stanley arose from the seat he had taken by
her side, and paced several times up and down
the room in great excitement. Al last ne
came back, and, taking her hand in his, said
in an affectionate and persuasive tone


"Now, my dearest Lucy, I want you just
to listen for one moment to reason. You
must not mind if l seemed little harsh to
you just now; /, too, am excited and worried
by all this unusual commotion, and may have
spoken more hastily than INTENDED to. But
now must really try and convince you how
unreasonable you are, in thus persisting in
your refusal to accept the explanation l have
given you. In the first place, your nerves
have been greatly weakened here lately by
all the anxiety you have undergone in regard
to Claude, and the fatigue you have sustained
in nursing him. When person is in this
state, the power of reasoning is, of course,
greatly impaired, the judgment becomes i'm
perfect, and all the faculties of the mind lose,
in some degree, their natural vigor. The
mind acts powerfully on the physical frame,
and affects both sight and hearing, leading
one to believe that they do actually see rhear
things that exist only in imagination. When
anything of reality is mixed up with the de-
lusion, it makes it, of course, only the more
powerful; thus you did actually see Mrs.
Ford (who in the dim, uncertain light, no
doubt presented more ethereal appearance
than is natural to her by daylight and your
fancy Immediately invested her with certain
ghostly attributes, which, to your eyes, were
just as apparent as if they did actually exist.
Her long white night dress, or dressing. gown,
whatever it may have been, probably added
to her spectre-like appearance; as for the long,
floating hair, that was simply the result of
your imagination, probably produced by the
ends of the white handkerchief in which her
head was bound up, and which dangled, some
what unpicturesquely, I must confess, on her
shoulders! Now, my dear child, are you
willing to be reasonable, and take this simple
solution of the great apparent mystery, as the
only natural and sensible one that can be of:
fered2"


Lucy, who had listened to this labored ar
gument with passive air, quietly shook her
head.


"No, Alfred" she rejoined, II do not accept
it, because I cannot. / have accepted many
things since have been your wife, because |
was powerless to resist, and was forced to be
blind and passive, or at all events to seem so.
But do not believe that the explanation you
have just given me is the true one, and never
shall believe it.


An angry light came into stanley's eyes
"Do you mean to imply that l am wilfully
deceivng you? ?" he asked in stern voice.
II have been deceived and kept in the dark
so long," said Lucy, "that it is no wonder if |
mistrust everything. L may be weak and
silly, but I have done nothing to deserve the
treatment | have received at your hands.