Show A MIRROR VISION the hostess an elegantly dressed lady of CO 60 with abundant white hair puffed above eyes still black and bright with it a fire that must once havo have kindled a flamo in many a heart caught caugh t tile tho ball of conversation as it came her way in my youth we never hoard hear ot of this thing you call mental aph thomoso phy and the like but every now and then there took place as ai now occurrences which puzzled tho the thoughtful though they had no namo name to give the phenomena but liko like mos most young girls I 1 was skeptical of all that was not directly natural when I 1 thought of it at all 1 which was not often until I 1 had bad tho th experience I 1 am going to toll tell you yon of which was so that it upset me for some weeks which agitation came not so BO much from tho the real shock and fright that I 1 suffered as from tho mysterious circumstances that attended it my own home was a country place some IS 15 miles from a largo city whore I 1 had several families miliea fa of relatives whom I 1 visited once onca or twice a year or whenever there was to 6 bo be given any ball or opera or festivity of sufficient importance for mo me to desiro desire to attend attento it I 1 was waa just 17 when a royal personage from E europe cropo camo came across tile pond to get a peep at the yankees and though democratic tu to tho the point of being rabid every manly head was uncovered in tho the countr country 3 every manly throat ached with cheering this personage and every feminine heart beat high with th tho 0 hope of having the royal eyo eye rest for foe a moment upon the now new gown which was to bo be had nt at all hazards if the tha family dined on potatoes alone for a year to come there were to be a series of entertainments tain ments given in honor boner of his hia highness and 1 I like all the rest of tho the world must attend in all the finery my fathers amplo ample moans means allowed me from my mothers tile tho family I 1 bad inherited some very flue fine diamonds amounting in value to over 10 and oven a great deal more in those days when these gems were not so common commod and on this occasion I 1 teased my father to lot let me wear them 1 I had no mother to tell in me that such rich jewelry was not in ill tho the best of taste on one bonoso so young and au an unmarried woman cowhen so when I 1 started for tho the city I 1 carried the diamond 4 with me but my maid was an elderly woman who had also been my nurse since my motherless babyhood and the jewels wore were in her 0 care unfortunately however marian fell ill III the day after I 1 loft left home and being confined to her bod bed I 1 was dependent on my aunts maid for services in my dressing etc in order to lighten this womans comans duties which were heavy as my cousins also frequently required her aid as hairdresser and senni seamstress stress I 1 looked after my clothes and waited on myself as much as possible performing such acts of my toilet as I 1 could it thus happened that ono one night after returning from a reception at the house of a foreign consul I 1 disrobed dis robed myself of mv trained evening dress and slipping clipping on oil a loose sack sat eat down to brush my hair before retiring my seat was just in front of a largo glass above my dressor or what was then called a bureau on oil which I 1 had placed tho the jewelry I 1 lind hid worn tho the diamonds I 1 havo have spoken of As aa I 1 plied the brush my eyes naturally fell on this mirror which reflected the room behind me and as I 1 continued to look I 1 saw evolving itself apparently ly from empty air tho figure figuro of a man hevar Hewa well swoll dressed even stylishly andaas and was after a fashion handsome but deathly pale and his eyes glittered feverishly ho he crept nearer and nearer to me seeming to look only at the diamonds loosely strewn upon the marble before me but his right hand was thrust into bi his breast and as he be stood over mo me he suddenly jerked it out and raised high above me a small spanish dagger the hilt of which was of a dead gold or etruscan gold as it is called this was set with rubies which i 1 noticed with that peculiar attention to trifles so often displayed in moments up to this point I 1 had been too ter terrified rIfled to call out or even to move not even turning my bond bead to look around me but watching the movements of the assassin as they were reflected in the mirror but as he be brought down his hand hall with a swift murderous motion to strike me from my chair with a single blow tho the spell that had hold me snapped and I 1 sprang to my feet with a shriek of terror and rushed to the floor door even ETCH as I 1 ran I 1 wondered at not encountering the man but though I 1 could not a 1 seeing him at till nil I 1 did not net atu trot but unlocking the door flung it open still screaming as fast as the sounds could issue from my lips it happened that two of my young men cousins had lingered later inter than tho the rest of the family at the entertainment referred to una and having just como come in were coming up the maul main close to myroon my room rushing bushing mothese to these I 1 throw threw myself into the arms of the tha nearest christopher shrieking the man thu manil the two young men hurried to my room and looked about but could see no one tho the windows wore were all fastened and as iliad I 1 had myself just come out oi of tha single door to the apartment and from froin which no one else could have slip red pod without our soo him tile only chanco chance was for tho the burglar to have concealed himself in tho the room by this thia time tho the rest of tho the household was waa aroused and not only my room but tho the entire place was thoroughly searched tile tho three windows of the room were provided with heavy old fashioned shutters two of thorn them opening on the street an all unbroken descent of over 40 foot while tho the other had not been unclosed for years for it looked almost into one in tho the next house which was wag also soon to bo be tightly secured the house itself was occupied by a ro re family in straitened circumstances tan cea it therefore thor eforo seemed an impossibility for a man to have entered the room unseen by mo me and to have mado made his escape in the tha few seconds it took my cousins to io reach the spot where I 1 had bad boon him so thought that I 1 had fallen alien asli asleep gell in my chair and my vision had bad I 1 eon con tho result of my late into supper of m minced chicken and champagne and though I 1 was still shivering from my ight I 1 allowed myself to bo be almost persuaded that this was wan tho the real truth by the next night I 1 had so BO thoroughly y boon laughed into bel believing loving this that I 1 took my seat scat booro bogoro the mirror and began becan brushing my hair as 03 nonchalantly aa 8 at first when to my utter horror 1 I naw aw that figure form itself from nothing absolutely nothing and again advance upon me with that menacing attitude again it raised its hands to strike the terrible eyes seemed to claro alito mine mille fixed on oil thorn them iu in the mirror tind as before released from the horror that hold bold me stricken into marble I 1 leaped to my foot feet and ran screaming roaming eo into tho the corridor without I 1 glanced tack back into the room but there was no ono one visible there but I 1 was not to bo be 0 convinced on 1 vinced this time that mi an overheated imagination was to blame I 1 fled to my aunts door and as she eho opened it fell Ta fainting lAting in her arms arma I 1 was not to bo be from my belief that my life had bad been threatened in that dreadful room by all tile tho sear searching cling and arguments that roro mado made and announced my intention of returning homo home in the morning but tho the next night was waa to bo be that of the grand ball given in honor of tho the prince and that with tile fact that I 1 Q had the prettiest gawu in tile tho city to wear finally prevailed on me to alter py fity mind though I 1 made it a condition that marian my maid was to occupy a little antechamber opening into mine and that my stalwart cousin christopher who was afterward my loved husband band for nearly 40 years was to sl sleep beep on a cot in the hall just outside my door SO bo with a contented mind I 1 went tp to tho the ball returning lato late to find my good maid asleep and as she was still not well voll I 1 crept quietly in and proceeded to undress 1 I let down my hair and though too fatigued as aa usual to brush it sat for somo some moments looking at myself in the glassi glass I 1 was a little vain tain iu in those days when all at once I 1 saw behind mo me tho the manewith man with his knife in his hand band but this time ho he did not evolve avol ye from dr fa but was there real flesh and blood his hot breath nearly scorching tho the back of my nook I 1 leaped to my feet with a scream end as I 1 did so GO bo struck at me but the blado blade glanced aside wounding me only slightly in the shoulder I 1 screamed aloud and ho be felled mo me with a blow just as marian and christopher came rushing in seeing them the and assassin sprang for the tha open window and would havo have escaped by leaping an easy feat forr for a muscular mau man in the window of the house next door which was also open and only about three foot feet distant this had evidently been the way by which ho he had entered and which ile ho used as an egress egr ofis but christopher caught him and dragged him back and after a struggle secured him aided by his bro brothers thors who had been summoned by marian so when I 1 opened my eyes from my swoon it was to see tho the would bo be murderer lying bound while near mo me lay iny a small dagger with a handle of etruscan gold studded with flawed rubles but hero here is tho the strange part of tho story on tho the night of his capture ho he had entered my room for tho the first time though on tho the two previous nights he be had watched uio mo through the shutters of tho the two windows ho he was tho the son of tho the family residing next door and from tho the love of dress and pleasure pIe Haure beyond his moans means had involved himself hopelessly in debt and seeing my diamonds diamond had conceived the idea of killing or at least silencing me and stealing them to pay his debts but though his mind had bad dwelt persistently Persistent lyou on the tha scheme he lind lacked courado to carry it out ont until the night flight of tile ball when pressed by an importunate creditor ho he had bad lot let himself into tho the room where ho be had bad concealed himself until my arrival not knowing of tho the protectors I 1 had been warned to havo hato near me I 1 philadelphia timea |