San Antonio Sunday Light (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 17, No. 276, Ed. 1 Sunday, November 6, 1898 Page: 10 of 12
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whioUnow for all my apparent oravery
I regard more in the light of a penance
than a pleasure.
Imagine then how hard I found it
to retain my self possession or even any
appearance of dignity when at the mo-
ment I was stretching forth my hand
toward the knocker of this inhospitable
ransiou I heard rising from somewhere
never rightly knew where the howl of
a dog so keen piercing and prolonged
that it frightened the very birds over
py head and sent them flying from tho
Hnes in clouds.
It was the unhappiest kind of wel-
come for me. I did not know whether it
came from within or without and when
after a moment of indecision I saw the
door open I am not sure whether the
pnilo I called up to grace tho occasion
had any of the real Amelia Butterworth
In it so much was my mind divided be-
tween a desire to produce a favorable
Impression and a very decided and not
to be hidden fear of the dog who had
greeted my arrival with such an omi-
nous howl.
“Call off tho dog!” I cried almost
before I saw what sort of person I was
addressing.
Mr. Gryce when I told him of this
later said I could not have made a more
significant introduction of myself to the
Knollys mansion.
CHAPTER IV
A SPECTRAL HOME.
The hall into which I had stepped
was so dark that for a few minutes I
could see nothing but the indistinct out-
line of a young woman v ith a very
white face. She had uttered a sort of
murmur at my words 1 ut for some rea-
son was strangely silent and if I could J
trust my eyes aeemed rather to be look- I
Ing back and over h r -h older than in- ;
to the face of her adv.. ingguest. This
was odd but before I could quite satis-
fy myself as to the can- of her abstrac-
tion she suddenly bethought herself
and throwing open the door of an ad- j
Joining room sho let in a stream of light
by which we were enabled to see each
other and exchange the greetings suit-
able to the occasion.
“Miss Butterworth my mother’s old ; ‘
friend” she murmured with an almost
pitiful effort to be cordial ‘‘we are so 1
glad to have you visit us Won't you— ( •
you sit down?” i "
What did it mean? She had pointed I ।
to a chair in the sitting room but her !
face was turned away again as if drawn 1
irresistibly toward some secret object of 1
fear. Was there any one or anything at 1
the top of the dim staircase I could
faintly see in the distance? It would not
do for me to ask nor was it wise for me
to show that I thought this reception a
strange one. Stepping into the room she 1
pointed out to me I waited for her to
follow me which she did with mani
fest reluctance. But when she was once
out of the atmosphere of the hall or out
of reach of the sight or sound of what j 1
ever it was that frightened her her face '
took on a smile that ingratiated her ' 1
with me at once and gave to her very . 1
delicate aspect which up to that mo- i 1
meat had tot suggested the remotest ■
likeness to l c mother a piquant charm j 1
tnd subtle fascination that were not un- j '
vorthy of the daughter of Althea Bur- j
oughs.
“You—you must not mind the pover-
y of your welcome” she said with a
aalf proud half apologetic look around
her which I must say the bareness and '
shabby character of the room we were
in fully justified. “We have not been
very well off since father died and
mother” —again that look this time :
one of unmistakable fear but she soon
checked it and smiled again though
without any show of piquancy—“and
mother left us. Had you given us a
chance we would have written you that !
our home would not offer many induce-
ments to you after your own but you '
have come unexpectedly and”—
“There there” I put in for I saw ;
that her embarrassment would soon get j
the better of her “do not speak of it. I
did not come to enjoy your home but
to see you. Are you the eldest my dear
and where is your sister and brother?”
“I am not the eldest” she said. "I'
am Lucetta. My sister”—here her head
stole irresistibly back to its old position i
of listening—“will—will come soon. i
My brother is not in the house. ”
“Well” said I astonished that she
did not ask me to take off my things
“you are a pretty girl but you do not
look very strong. Are you quite well I
my dear?”
She started looked at me eagerly al-
most anxiously for a moment then
straightened herself and began to lose ‘
some of her abstraction.
“I am not a strong person” she
smiled “but neither am I so very weak
either. I was always small. So was my
mother you know.”
She seemed to think she must talk of
her mother though I noticed that the
word gave her pain. As forme no topic
could be more agreeable save one. I!
therefore answered her in a way to pro- ■
long the conversation.
“Yes your mother was small” said
I “but never thin or pallid. She was :
like a fairy among ns schoolgirls. Does
it seem odd to hear so old a woman as '
I epeak of herself as a schoolgirl?"
“Oh no!” she said but there was no
heart in her voice.
“I had almost forgotten those days’
I proceeded seeing I must keep up the
conversation if we were not to sit in to-
tal silence “till I happened to hear the
name of Althea mentioned the other
day. Then my whole early friendship
with your mother recurred to me and
I started up—as I always do when I
come to any decision my dear—and
sent that telegram which I hope I have
not followed by an unwelcome pres-
ence. "
“Oh no ” sho repeated but this time
with some feeling “we need friends
and if you will overlook our shortcom-
ings— But you have not taken off your
hat. What will Loreen say to me?”
And with a sudden nervous action as
marked as her late listnessness she
jumped up and began busying herself
over me untying my bonnet and laying
aside mv bundles which up to this ino-
mi nt 1 bad noid in my hands.
“I—l am so absentminded" she
murmured. “I—l did not think—l hope
yon will excuse me. Loreen wculd have
given you a much better welcome.”
“Then Loreen should have been
I hero” I said with a smile. 1 could not
restrain that slight rebuke yet I liked
the girl notwithstanding everything I
had heard und her own odd and unac-
countable behavior there was a sweet-
ness in her face when she chose to
smile that proved an irresistible attrac-
tion. And then for all her abseutmind-
edness and abstracted ways sho was
such a lady! Not even tho plainest of
dresses and the total absence of any- ]
thing like adornment to her person
could hide that fact. It was in every :
line of her thin but graceful form and '
in every injection of her musical but
constrained voice. Had 1 seen her in 1
my own parlor instead of between these '
bare and moldering walls I should have)
said the same thing. She is such a lady!.
But this only passed through my mind :
at the time. I was not studying her
personality but trying to understand j
why my presence in the house had so'
visibly disturbed her. Was it the em-!
barrassment of poverty not knowing
how to meet the call made so suddenly
upon it? I hardly thought so. Fear
would not enter into a sensation of thii
kind and fear was what I had seen in
her face before the front door had closed i
upon me. But that fear—was it dread of
me or of something disconnected with
me and threatening her from another
portion of the house?
I could net but think the latter The
way her ear was turned the slight
starts she gave as some sound—l could
not gather what —came from the farther ;
recesses of the house convinced me that!
her cause of dread lay elsewhere than
with myself and therefore was of a
character worthy of my deepest atten-1
tion. Though I chatted and tried in a
way to arouse her confidence and set
her at ease in regard to myself at least;
I could not help asking myself between
my sentences: Is it her sister? Would it
prove to be her brother? Was it anything
connected with the dreadful matter that
had been the first cause to draw ma
here or was it the sign of some habitu-
al distemper which misunderstood by
Mr. Gryce had given rise to the suspi-
cions which it was my possible mission
here to dispel?
Anxious to force thiugs a little. I
said with a glance at the dismal branch- j
es that almost forced their way into tha ;
open casements of this side of the house t
“What a scene for young eyes like [
yours! Do you never get tired of these I
pine boughs and clustering shadows? -
Would not a little cottage in the sum- '
mer part of the town be preferable to
all this dreary grandeur?”
She looked up with sudden wistful-.
ness that made her smile piteous.
“Some of my happiest days have been '
passed here and some of my saddest. I
do not think I should like to leave it for
any sunny cottage. We were not made .
for bonny homes” said she. “Tho J
somberness of this old house suits us. ”
“And of this road ” I ventured. “It!
is the darkest and most picturesque I
ever entered. I thought I was entering |
a wilderness. ”
She for a moment forgot her cause of |
anxiety beyond. She looked at me quite .
intently and a subtle shade of doubt;
passed slowly over her features.
“It is a solitary one” said she;
"quite solitary. I do not wonder it i
struck you as dismal. Have you heard j
—has any one ever told yon that —that;
it was not considered as oetng quite |
safe?”
“Safe?” I repeated with—God for-
give me —an expression of mild wonder j
in my eyes.
“Yes it has not the best of names. 1
Strange thiugs have happened in it or
have been thought to which is just as
bad. I thought that some one might
have been kind enough to tell you at ;
the station.”
There was a gentle sort of sarcasm in |
the tone; only that or so I thought at i
the time. I began to feel myself in a
maze. 1
“Somebody—l suppose it was tho sta- i
tion master—-did say something to me I
about a boy lost somewhere in this por- j
tion of the woods. Do you mean that i
my dear?”
She uodded glancing again over her i
shoulder and partly rising as if moved
by some instinct of flight.
“They are dark enough" 1 observed j
with another look toward the heavily j
curtained windows “for more than one |
person to be lost in their recesses. ” I
“ Yes” she murmured reseating her- I
self and eying me nervously while she ‘
spoke. “Weare used to the terrors they ■
inspire in strangers but if you”—she
leaped to her feet in manifest eager-
ness and her whole face changed in a
way she little realized herself—“if you I
have any fear of sleeping amid such
gloomy surroundings we can procure I
I you a room in the village where you I
I will be more comfortable and where we '
i —we can visit you almost as well as
I here. Shall Ido it? Shall I call”—
My face must have assumed a very
grim look for her words tripped at that
point and a flush the first I had seen
on her cheek rose up to her forehead
giving her an appearance of great dis-
tress.
“Oh 1 wish Loreen would come! I
am not at all happy in my suggestions "
she said with a deprecatory twitch of
her lip that was one of her subtle
charms. “Oh there she is! Now I may
go” said she and without the least ap-
pearance of realizing that she had said
anything out of place she rushed from
the room almost before her sister had
entered it.
But not before their eyes had met in
a look of unusual significance.
CHAPTER V
IXJREEN LUCETTA AND WILLIAM.
Had I not caught that look I might
have received au impression of Miss
Knollys that would in a measure have
counteracted that made by the more
nervous and less restrained Lucetta.
The dignified reserve of her bearing
the ouiet wav in which she approached
and above all the even tones tn which
she uttered her welcome were such as
to win iny confide nce and put me at my
ease in the house of which she was the
nominal mistress. But that look! With
that in my memory 1 was enabled to seo
below the surface of this placid nature
and in the very constraint she pnt ou
henelf detect the presence of that same
secret uneasiness which bad been so
openly if unconsciously manifested by
her sister.
She was more beautiful than Lucena
in form and feature and even more
markedly elegant in her plain black
gown and fine lawn ruffles but sho
lacked the evanescent charm of tho
other's smile and though admirable to
all appearance was less lovable ou a
short acquaintance. bhe had not had as
much suffering as Lucetta
But this delays my tale which is one
of action rather than r< flection I had
naturally expected that with the ap-
pearance of tho elder Miss Knollys I
would be taken to my room but on the
contrary she sat down and with an
apologetic air informed me that she was
sorry sho could not show me tho precise
attentions she wished Circumstances
she said over which she had no control
had made it impossible for them to oiler
mu the guest chamber but if 1 would
bo so good as to accept another for this
one night she would endeavor to pro-
vide mo with better accommodations on
the morrow.
Satisfied of tho almost painful nature
of their poverty and determined to sub-
mit to privations if necessary rather
than depart before I had penetrated the
mystery of this remarkable household
I hastened to say with what I hope
was sincere good feeling that any room
would be acceptable to mo and still ex-
pecting to bo taken up stairs I began to
gather up my wraps but Miss Knollys
again surprised mo by saying that my
room was not yet ready; that they bad
not been able to complete all their ar-
rangements and would I make myself
at home where I was till evening.
As this was asking a good deal of a
woman of my years fresh from a rail-
road journey and with natural habits
of great neatness and order I felt some-
what disconcerted but hiding it for the
reasons before given I laid down my
bundles again and endeavored to make
the best of the somewhat trying situa-
tion.
Launching at once into conversation 1
began as with her sister to talk about
her mother. I had never known save in
the vaguest way why Mrs. Knollys hud
taken that journey abroad which had
ended in her death and burial in a for
eign land. I had heard she had gone
abroad for her health which had begun
to fail after the birth of Lucetta but as
she had gone unaccompanied by her
husband or children there was much
that it would be interesting for mo to
know concerning these events which I
felt that these girls might be willing to
tell me but Miss Knollys intentionally
or unintentionally assumed au air so
cold at these well meant questions on
my part that I desisted from pressing
her and began to talk about myself in a
way which I hoped would establish
reallj friendly relations between us and
make it possible for her to tell me later! ■
if not at the present moment what it
was that weighed so heavily upon tho ;
household that no one could enter into I
it without feeling the shadow of the .
secret terror that enve’eped it
But Miss Knollys whf e more atten-
tive to my remarks than her sister had
been showed still by certain unmistak '
able signs that her heart and interest i
were anywhere but in that room and
while I could not regard this as throw-
ing any discredit upon my powers of
pleasing — which have rarely failed
when I have exerted them to their ut- !
most—l still could not but experience I
the dampening effect of her manner. I i
went on chatting but in a desultory j
way noting all that was odd in her un-
accountable reception of me but giving |
as I firmly believe no evidence of my I
concern ami rapidly increasing curiosity. |
The peculiarities observable in this j
my first interview with these interest-
ing but by no means easily to be under-
stood sisters continued all day. When
one sister camo in the other stopped
out and when dinner time came and 1
was ushered down the bare and dismal
hall into an equally bare and unattract*
ivo dining room it was to find the seats
laid for four and Lucetta only seated at
the head of tho board.
“ Where is Loreen?” 1 asked wonder-
ingly as I took the seat she pointed out
to me with one of her faint and quick-
ly vanishing smiles.
“She—she cannot come at present ’
my young hostess stammered with the
least glance of distress at the large
hearty looking woman who had sum-
moned me to the dining room.
“Ah” I murmured thinking that
i possibly Loreen had found it necessary
to assist in the preparation of the meal
I “and your brother?"
I It was the first time he had been
j mentioned by any of us. I had shrunk
1 from the venture out of a motive of
1 pure compassion I think and they had
! not seen fit to introduce his name into
! any of our conversations. Consequently
1 I waited her response with some anx-
-1 iety having a secret premonition that
j in some way he was at the bottom of
my strange reception
hasty answer given however
i without any increase of embarrassment
I somewhat dispelled this supposition.
“Oh he will be in presently ” said
she. “ William is never very punctual."
But when he did come in I conld not
but see that her manner instantly
changed and became almost painfully
anxious. Though it was my first meet-
ing witli the real head of the house she
waited for an interchange of looks with
him before giving me the necessary in-
troduction and when this duty passed
he took hie seat at the table her
thoughts and attention remained so fix-
ed upon him that she well nigh forgot
the ordinary civilities of a hostess. Had
it not been for the woman I have spo-
ken of who in her good natured atten-
tion to my Wants amply made up for
the abstraction of her mistress. I should
ntvo fared ill at this meal good and
ample us it was considering tho re
sources of those who provided it.
Sho seemed to dread to have him
speak almost to have him move Sho
watched him with her lips half open
ready as it app* ared to stop any inad-
vertent expression ho might utter in
his efforts to be agreeable. Sho even
kept her left hand disengaged with the
evident intention of stretching it out in
his direction if in his lumbering stu-
pidity he should utter a sentence calcu-
lated to open my eyes to what she so
passionately desired to have kept secret.
1 saw it all as plainly as 1 saw bis
heavy indifference to her anxiety and
knowing from experience that it is in
just such stolid louts as these that tho
worst passions are often hidden I took
the advantage of my years and forced a
conversation in which 1 hoped some
lash of bis real self would appear de-
spite her wary watch upon him
Not liking to renew the topic of the ’
lane itself 1 asked with a very natural
show of interest how near was their
nearest neighbor It was he who looked
up and he who answered
Old Mother .lane u •'he closest ” said
he "but sho’s no good. Wo never think
of her Mr. Trohm’s tho only neighbor
1 care for He’s some good. Such peach-
es as the old fellow raises! Such grapes!
Such melons! He gave me two of tho
nicest you ever saw this morning By
Jupiter 1 taste them yeti”
Lucetta s face which should have
crimsoned with mortification turned
most unaccountably pale. Yet not so
pale as when be began a few minutes
before to say “Loreen wants some of
this soup saved for”—and stopped awk
wardly conscious perhaps that Loreen s
wants should not be mentioned before
me.
“1 thought you promised mo that you
would never again ask Mr Trobm for
any of bis fruit."
“Oh 1 didn’t ask! 1 just stood at the
fence and looked over. Mr. Trohm and
1 are good friends Why shouldn’t I eat
his fruit?"
The look she gave him might have
moved a stone but he seemed perfectly
impervious to it. Seeing him so stolid
her head drooped and she did not an-
swer a word Yet somehow I felt that
even while she was so manifestly a prey
to very natural mortification her atten-
tion was not wholly given over to this
one emotion There was something over
and beyond all this that she feared
Hoping to relieve her and lighten the
situation I forced myself to smile on
the young man as 1 said:
"Why don’t you raise melons your-
self? I think I should be anxious to
raise everything possible if I had so
much ground as you possess."
“Oh you're a woman!” be answered
almost roughly “It’s a good business
for women and for men too perhaps
who love to see fruit hang but I only
care to eat it. ’'
“Don’t” Lucetta put in but not
with the vigor I had expected
“ I like to hunt train dogs and enjoy
other people’s fruit” he laughed with
a nod at the blushing Lucetta. “I don’t
see any use in a man’s putting himself
out for thiugs he can get for the asking.
Life’s too short for such folly I mean
to have a good time while I’m on this
blessed sphere. ”
"William!” Theory was irresistible
yet it was not the cry I had been look-
ing for Painful as this exhibition was
of his stupidity and utter want of feel-
ing it was not the thing she dreaded or
why was her protest so much weaker
than her appearance had given token of?
“Oh” he shouted while she shrunk
with a horrified look. "Lucetta don’t
like that. She thinks a man ought to
work plow harrow dig make a slave
of himself to keep up a place that’s no
good anyway. But I tell her that work
is something she’ll never get out of me.
I was born a gentleman and a gentle-
man I will live if the place tumbles
down over our heads. Perhaps it would
be the best way to get rid of it. Then
I could go live with Mr. Trohm and
have melons from early morn till late
at night. ” And again his coarse laugh
rang out.
This or was it his words seemed to
rouse her as nothing had done before.
Thrusting out her band she laid it on
his mouth with a look of almost frenzied
'appeal at the woman who was standing
at his back.
“Mr. William how can you!" that
woman cried and when he would
have turned upon her angrily she lean-
ed over and whispered in his ear a few
words that seemed to cow him for ho
gave a short grunt through his sister's
trembling fingers and with a shrug of
his heavy shoulders subsided into si-
lence.
To all this 1 was a simple spectator
but I did not soon forget a single feature
of this scene.
The remainder of the dinner passed
quietly William and myself eating with
more or less heartiness Luoetta tasting
nothing at all. In mercy to her I de-
clined coffee and as soon as William
gave token of being satisfied we hur-
riedly rose. It was the most uncomfort-
able meal I ever ate in my life
CHAPTER VL
A SOMBER EVENING.
The evening like the afternoon was
spent in the sitting room with one of
the sisters One event aloue is worth
recording 1 bad become excessively
tired of a conversation that always lan-
guished no matter on w T hat topic it
was started and observing an old piano
in one corner—l once played very well
—I sat down before it and impulsively
struck a few chords from the yellow
keys. Instantly Lucetta—it was Lucet-
ta who was with me then—bounded to
my side with a look of horror on her
face.
“Don’t do that" she cried laying
her hand on mine to stop me. Then see-
ing my look of dignified astonishment
she added with an appealing smile "I
beg pardon but every sound goes
through me tonight. ”
"Are you not well?” I asked.
"I am never very well" sho return-
ed. and we went back to tho sofa and
| renewed our forced and pitiful attempt*
at conversation.
Promptly nt 0 o’clock Miss Knollys
came in. She was very pale and cast as
usual a sad and uneasy look at her sis-
ter before she spoko to mo. Immediate-
ly Lucetta rose and becoming very pale
( herself was hurrying toward the door
whon her sister stopped her.
“You have forgotten” sho said “to
say good night to our guest."
Instantly Lucetta turned and with
a sudden uncontrollable impulse seized
my baud and pressed it convulsively.
“Good night” she cried. "I hope
yon will sleep well” and was gone be-
fore I could say a word in response.
“Why does Lucetta go out of the
room when yon come in?” I asked de-
termined to know the reason for thia
. peculiar conduct “Have you any other
guests in tho bouse?"
Tho reply came with unexpected ve-
hemence. “No” sho cried “why
should you think so? There is no one
here but the family " And she turned
away with a dignity she must have in-
herited from her father for Althea Bur-
roughs had every other interesting
quality but that “You must be very
tired” she said. "I€> you please we i
will go now to your room. ”
I rose at once glad of the prospect of
seeing the upper portion of the house
She took my wraps ou her arm and we .
passed immediately into the hall. As
we did so I heard voices one of them
shrill and full of distress but tho sound
was so quickly smothered by a closing
door that I failed to discover whether
that tone of suffering proceeded from a
man or a woman.
Miss Knollys. who was preceding me
glanced back in some alarm but as I
gave no token of having noticed any-
thing out of the ordinary she speedily
resumed her way up stairs. As the
sounds I had heard had proceeded from
above I followed her with alacrity but
felt my enthusiasm diminish somewliat
when I found myself passing door after
door down a long hall to a room as re-
mote as possible from what seemed to
be the living portion of the house.
“Is it necessary to put me off quite so
far?" I asked as my young hostess paused
and waited for me to join her ou the
threshold of the most forbidding room
it had ever been my fortune to enter.
The blush which mounted to her brow •
showed that she felt the situation keen-
ly-
“1 am sure ” she said “that it is a
matter of great regret to me to be obliged
to offer you so mean a lodging but all
our other rooms are—are out of order ’
she explained firmly “and I cannot do
otherwise tonight. ”
“But isn’t thero some spot nearer
you?” I urged. “A couch in the same
room with you would be more accept ■
able to me than this distant room.”
“I—l hope you are not timid ” she
began but 1 hastened to disabuse her
mind of this at once.
“1 am not afraid ” said I “of any
earthly thing but dogs but I do not like
solitude. I came here for companion
ship my dear. I really would like to
sleep with -. »e of you. ”
This to see how she would meet such
urgency. She met it as I might have
known she would by a rebuff.
“I am very sorry ’ ’ she again repeated
"but it is quite impossible If I could
give you the comforts you are accus-
tomed to I should be glad but we are
unfortunate we girls and”— She said
no more but began to busy herself about
the room which held but one object that
had the least look of comfort in it That
was my trunk which had been neatly
placed in one corner.
“I suppose you are not used to can
dies” she remarked lighting what
struck me as a very short end from the
one she held in her hand.
“My dear” said I “I can accommo-
date rayself to much that I am not used
to. I have very few old maid’s ways or
notions. You shall see that I am far
from being a difficult guest.”
She heaved a sigh and then seeing
my eye traveling slowly over the gray
discolored walla which were not reliev-
ed by so ranch as a solitary print she
pointed to a bell rope near the head of
the bed and considerately remarked:
“If you wish anything in the night
or are disturbed in any way pull that.
It communicates with my room and 1
will be onlv too glad to come to yon."
I glanced np at the rope ran my eye 1
along the wire communicating with it
and saw that it was broken sheer off be-
fore it even entered into tho wall.
“lam afraid you will not hear me"
I answered pointing to the break.
She flushed a deep scarlet and for a
moment looked as embarrassed as ever
her sister had done.
“I did not know’’she murmured.
“The house is so old everything is
more or less out of repair. ” And sho
made haste to quit the room.
I stepped after her in grim determi-
nation.
“But there is no key to the door” 1
objected.
She came back with a look that was
as nearly desperate as her placid fea-
tures were capable of.
“I know ” she said "I know. Wo
have nothing. But if you are not afraid—-
and of what conld you be afraid in this
house under our protecti' u and with a
good dog outside?—you wiil bear with
I things tonight and— Good God ” she !
I murmured but not so low but that my
1 excited sense caught every syllable
"can she have heard? Has the reputa-
tion of this place gone abroad? Miss
Butterworth ” she repeated earnestly
“tho house contains no cause of terror
for you. Nothing threatens our guest
nor need you nave rne least concern ror
yourself or us whether the night pass-
es in quiet or whether it is broken by
■ unaccountable sounds. They will have
! no reference to anything in which you
are interested. ’ ’
“Ah ha” thought 1 “won’t they!
You give me credit for much indiffer-
ence my dear. ” But I said nothing b
yond a few soothing phrases which .
made purposely short seeing that every
moment I kept her there was just so
much torture. Then I went back to my
room and carefullv closed the door. Mv
first night in this dismal and strangel/
ordered bouse had opened anything but
propitiously
CHAPTER VIL
THE FIRST NIGHT.
I spoke with a due regard to truth
whon I told Miss Knollys that I enter-
tained no fears at the prospect of sleep
big apart from tho rest of the family
I am a woman of courage—or so I have
always believed—and ut homo occupy
my second floor alone without the least
apprehension. But thero is a difference
in these two abiding places as I think
you are ready by this time to acknowl-
edge and though I felt little of what
is called fear I certainly did not experi-
ence my usual satisfaction in tho mi-
nute preparations with which lam ac-
customed to make myself comfortable
for the uight. There was a gloom both
within and without the four
between which I now found
which 1 would havo been something
less than human not to feel and though
I had no dread of being overcome by it
I was glad to add something to the
cheer of the spot by opening my trunk
and taking out a few of those little mat-
ters of personal equipment without
which the brightest room looks briren
and a den like this too desolate for
habitation.
Then 1 took a good look about me to
see how 1 could obtain for myself some
sense of security for the night without
which it would be impossible to get
even a modicum of rest The bed was
light and could be pulled in front of th-
door This was something. The win-
dow’s—but there was but one and that
was heavily draped with some thick
dark stuff very funereal in its appear-
ance. Going to it I pulled aside the
heavy folds and looked out. A mass of
heavy foliage at once met my eye ob
structing the view of the sky and add-
ing much to the lonesomeness of the
situation. I let the curtain fall again
and sat down in a chair to think.
The shortness of the candle end with
which I had been provided had struck
me as significant so significant that I
had not allowed it to bum long after
Miss Knollys had left me. If these girls
channiug no doubt but sly had
thought to shorten my watch by short-
ening my candle I would give them no
cause to think but that their ruse had
been successful. The foresight which
causes me to add a winter wrap to my
stock of clothing even when tho weath-
er is at the hottest leads me to place a
half dozen or so of candles in my trunk
and so I had only to open a little oblong
box in my upper tray to have the means
at my disposal of keeping a light all
night.
So far so good. I bad a light but
had I anything else in case that William
Knollys—but here Miss Knollys’ look
and reassuring words recurred to me.
“Whatever you may hear—if you hear
anything—will havo no reference to
yourself and need not disturb you. ” I
was in no danger myself but others.
Why did I think there might be others
to whom that reassurance would not
quite apply?
Not knowing how to answer these
thoughts and fully conscious that sleep
would not visit me at once under exist-
ing circumstances I finally made up
my mind that I would not attempt to
lie down till my mind had become bet-
ter satisfied that sleep on my part would
be desirable. So after making the vari-
ous little arrangements already alluded
to I drew over my shoulders a comfort-
able shawl and set myself to listen for
what I feared would be more than one
dreary hour of this not to be envied
night.
And here just let me stop to mention
that carefully considered as all my pre-
cautions were I had forgotten one thing
upon leaving home that at this minute
made me very nearly miserable. I had
not included among my effects the alco-
holic lamp and all the other private and
particular conveniences which I have
for making tea in my own apartment.
Had I had them with me and bad I but
been able to make and sip a cup of my
own delicious tea through the ordeal < f
listening for whatever sounds might
como to disturb tho midnight stillness
of this house what relief it would have
been to my spirits and in what a differ
ent light I might havo regarded Mr
Gryce and Ihe errand into which his
suspicions had driven me. But I not
only lacked this element of comfort but
the satisfaction of thinking that it was
any one’s fault but my own. Leia had
laid her hand on that teapot but I bad
shaken my head fearing that the sight
of it might offend the eyes of my young
hostesses. But I had not calculated in
being put in a remote corner like this
of a house large enough to accommodate
a dozen families and if ever I travel
again—
But this is a matter personal to Amo
lia Butterworth you say and of no in-
terest to us; And you are right. I will
not inflict my little foibles upon you
again.
Eleven o’clock came and went. I had
heard no sound Twelve and I began
to think that all was not quite so still
as before; that I certainly could hear
now and then faint noises as of a door
creaking on its hinges or tho smothered
sound of stealthily moving feet Yet all
was so far from being distinct that for
some time I hesitated to acknowledge
to myself that something was going on
in the house which was not to be looked
for in a homo professing to be simply
tho abode of a decent young man and
two very quiet appearing young ladies
and even after the noises and whisper-
ing had increased to such au extent that
I could even distinguish the sullen tones
of the brother from the softer and more
carefully modulated accents of Lucetta
and her sister I found myself ready to
explain the matter by any conjecture
short of that which involved these deli-
cate young ladies in any scheme of se
cret wickedness
(Continued Next Sunday.)
—We are offering Indian Territory
hay an oats best in the market at
summer prices. PITNSET WOOD CO.
10-22-tf
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San Antonio Sunday Light (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 17, No. 276, Ed. 1 Sunday, November 6, 1898, newspaper, November 6, 1898; San Antonio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1683538/m1/10/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .