Show WHOM GHOST OF ALIN STRANGE sao MOM of et disquietude wit possession of ralf rait seawell the moment he b board beard that she was waa of the house hour party awty he did not know that 4 lady wallace had asked her and felt angry with his hl fair young hontos hoil tess for or the indiscretion the fascination in seawell 7 murmured a guest irrelevantly look at him and miss clifford he deceives us ui all answered is ft pretty american he s e enigmatic and melancholy 0 0 hes hea the only concrete specimen ot of evil I 1 know we talk a good deal about bad things thing and read bad books but on the whole modernity la in very good food dont you think sol some of you have a ferocious bark miss swift most moet persons bark to la worse than their bite ralf rait Seg wella bite Is much worse than his bla bark I 1 guess why hes hea so BO uncanny in facts fact he be never barks at all he just walks up to one in a friendly sort of way and bite I 1 hope they have consigned him to the haunted room 11 they have I 1 believe but he know they never tell their guests then nothing ever happens theres nothing to happen tor for they a ghost you know only a door that leads nowhere an obtrusive thing that flroes becs its personality or door allty on you it has not been opened tor for hundreds of years no human power can force it 1 I asked mary mar clifford to please you yon wale said lady wallace they were sitting together in the great hall you were such friends I 1 am sorry its a hostess duty to know all these things I 1 apologize she noticed a weary expression settle on his ats face her sympathies were touched when their eyes eye met she flushed and smiled with it a winning intimate grace that was daring without being bold how shall I 1 atone aton 6 0 you witch I 1 he said in a very low voice then suddenly be stood up as a little white figure passed at the end of the hall ball it was miss clifford she said was it he answered indifferently let us talk about you 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 that night as ralf half seawell shut himself in his room the feeling of depression he experienced on arriving at marsdale Mer sdale returned his thoughts wandered to the house bouse party nineteenth century men and women effervescing f RALF HALF COME BACK with spontaneous epigram locked up in these vast gloomy rooms how strangely the place dominated the people I 1 the old seemed the significant fact the infesting butterflies but shadowy things inhabiting tor for a brief pe nod this great somber pile he looked up tip and noticed a door that had escaped his bis observation in the afternoon lie he tried the handle then a cold shudder went vent through him as he be turned from it and crossed the immense room only dimly lit by candles that spluttered splutter ed at intervals he glanced again at the locked door what a miserable hole bole they had consigned him to A wild desire to sneak away elsewhere became almost irresistible unable to rest he be flung himself out of bed stirred up the fire to a blaze and lit every candle in the room As he held the match to each one he looked with renewed fear over his shoulder then he be placed a chair near the fire are yet facing the dreaded quarter and sat down determined to watch till daybreak but with inactivity and a nd the dead silence and the blaze of light the strange incomprehensible terror returned doub letold lefold the sound of hla his own breathing became painful ile he thought of mary clifford then something moved ile he sat fiat still as one paralyzed hla his blood romped through his veins and ley icy hands seemed to grip his heart the handle before him turned and the door that had not opened for a hundred years swung back and a man walked slowly into the room lie he was dredged in evening clothes and seemed to all appearance like other men but for a startling expression in hla his gray even evea ralf rose to his feet tongue tied while his visitor walked to the fireplace and sat down I 1 can give you an hour he murmured I 1 here was a silence what for said ralf rait at last to live he answered indifferently it leaped to ralf half seawell a s mind that he was entertaining a madman the house was waa full which necessitated the using of this room the mysterious door was undoubtedly the entrance to the apartments of some insane relative his hii own previous loua apprehension must have been caused by a latent consciousness ness of a human presence a it toa tones throw from him the thought of lla his solitude in the dead at 0 aught with ft a homicidal mant maniac so was su ly un manning he turned vale pale but questioned with assumed aaness why justice answered the stranger tn ager slightly lightly elevating his brown brow how do you propose to uke take my ilia llafet V through your imagination I 1 shall look at you he glanced op ralf ral shrank from the gaze then said aid with a ghastly attempt at a smale well I 1 hope my light still duma burns 1 I cling to life you know here and here after I 1 shall hall fight tor for that second hour the smile withered on him bis lips as his visitor again turned his terrible gaze from the fire are to him mary clifford has saved your soul profligate the voice reverberated through the room the wells walla echoed back profligate and his him own lips moved to utter the word but he said build under hla his breath mary clifford and the sound bound was an aa water to a thirsty man mail the pure love that she alone was wag able to wake in you and that still lives live in your heart though you stifle it under the clogging weeds of gross grom passions alons has kept burning the flame t f your spiritual life 11 ile he leaned fo tor ward another woman here would stifle it this time forever and would kill her you have wronged but he ended with a shrug you will die tonight 11 ralf rait sat still a long time trying to guess how knowledge of the details of hla his own life had reached his bis compas companion was this mad philosopher IL a friend of hers here and even so no bow had he divined that she still held the cleat gi eater place in his heart though he had bad been wantonly faithless to her would she mind were he in truth to die aad Us d lie he any right to hope even that she should would she caret care he be said your hour Is pas passed t ralf started and turned pale to the lips he saw his visitors aspect 11 had ad changed he be bad bome become a phan phantom tom creature with a living face A terrible awful human physiognomy stared at him with preposterous hideous fixity he wr writhed th d and but the by eyes 11 defied his movements ho bo could ut not look away all the nerves of his body the consciousness of his mind the very vitality of his estem were absorbed by paralyzing fear time brought no relaxation every moment seemed an eternity pity I 1 pity I 1 he cried but the gray eyes viat watched ched him helal help help the impotent words echoed back on his bis hearing bearing hla his voice was mi a whisper he tried to listen for the sound of footsteps he knew would not come then again struggled with superhuman effort to release himself from the power of the phantom figure the ghastly face and the ayeal eyes the eyes that watched without bercyl mercy I 1 but slowly la in torture life was waning from hla his wearied frame he sank bank on the ground clutching at the rug with distended fingers maryl mary I 1 he be murmured and the eyes still stared susan sudan swift felt herself awakened by a hand band on her shoulder eb recollection of the haunted room kept her listening to the throbbing of her own heart with eyes firmly closed it was wan a moment which necessitated the staring of a real live apparition in the face she did so ao however at t last and behold noth both ing more frightening than mary clifford pale indeed as a ghost and her great eyes wide open as it it were not the middle of the night and time for reasonable beings at least to feel drowsy get up miss swift ohl oh quick quick is ie it a fire said susan sitting up suddenly not nol said the girl you must come with me to mr seg seawell ell a room I 1 I 1 the american was fairly aghast 1 I think not she said deliberately mise clifford you must be considerably scared about something but nothing could justify such a preposterous notion A luok of despair crept into the girls face she turned away 1 I thought you being an american would be brave and kind I 1 thought I 1 could trust you 0 but I 1 must go alone and in a moment she was at the door susan leaped from her bed she see why an american should be expected not to mind prowling about in the middle of the night in a mans bedroom but she kaw knew she wasn gasn t going to let mary clifford go alone anyhow I 1 As to feeling brave she simply felt terrified I 1 they stole together along the gallery down a winding staircase and thence through an interminable corridor susan swift began to feel very miserable A sensation of fear was growing over her when suddenly they both stopped each affected by some unaccountable emotion mary turned round and said gently you are not afraid la Is there ana anything thing about me that looks staid the american answered her heart in her mouth than the they Y went on through a gilpat swing owing door which seemed to cut them oft off from the the habitable part of the house neither had bad ever been there before yet mary hastened as one who knew the way by at last they stood still A aenne of imminent calamity overpowered them both then in a moment mary clifford opened a door A keen draught extinguished her candle as the two entered the room A door opposite them inside m was as open and on the flout floii in a flood of light lay the body of ralf half sedwell ahe unhappy girl knelt down and chafed chafee the dead hands handa ralf come back she cried despairingly an ana thing anything only come back then the click of a turning lock vibrated through the room the door doo that led nowhere had closed frances robertson in westminster dud bud get the fau of man whiles while 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