Show my midnight peril tho tilo night of the of october shall I 1 ever forget its pitchy darkness the roar of the autumnal wind through the lonely forest and the incessant down pour of the min rain this comes of short cuts I 1 muttered petula petulantly to myself as I 1 plodded along keeping alose to tha tho trunks of the trees to avoid the deep ravine through which I 1 could just hear the roar of the turbulent stream forty or fifty feet below my blood ran cold as I 1 thought what might be the possible condition why had I 1 not been contented to keep in the high road hold on was that a light or are my eyes playing me false k I 1 stopped holding on tho the low 1 resinous boughs of a hemlock that grow on the edge of the bank for it actually seemed as if the wind would seizo seize me bodily bodil yand and hurl me down the precipitous descent it was a light thank providence it was wag a light and no ignis fattus or copse gleam to lure me on oil to destruction and death 1 hallo o oo my voice rang through tile tiie woods like a clarion I 1 plunged onward through the tangled vines dense britfus and rocky banks until gradually nearing 1 could perceive a figure wrapped vr appedu in an oil oilcloth cloth cioth cape capo or cloak carrying a lan ian langorn torn As the dim light fell upon his faco I 1 almost recoiled would not solitude and the woods bo be preferable to tho the companionship of this withered wrinkled hideous old man but it was too lato late to recede now wanting he snarled with a peculiar motion of or the lips that seemed to leave his yellow atu btu stumps Ps of f teeth tooth th all bare 1 I a am lost in the woods can you direct me 0 to B R station VI ayea ryes yes I 1 R station ia is twelve miles irom from here twelve miles I 1 stood aghast yes yesa yea sJ can you on tell me of any shelter I 1 could u d oby obtain tain f for fon or the nol where are you going to drews drewa tho the maple swamp swamp la ius it a tavern no 1 would they take me for the night I 1 could pay them thein well his eyes gleamed the yell yeli yellow OW stumps stood revealed once more ici III tl guess so folks do stop there Is it far from here I 1 II 11 not kot mry very nry about half a mile then let us make haste and reach it I 1 am drenched to the skin we plodded on my companion more than keeping pace with me presently we left he the edge of the ravine entering what seemed like trackless woods and keeping straight on until the lights of some gome habitation gleamed fitfully through 9 h the wet foliage it was a ruinous old place with tho windows all drawn to one side as if the foundation had settle dand tue pillars of a rude porch nearly nearly rotted away acoman A woman answered my fellow follow travelers knock my bly companion whispered a word or two to her and she turned to me with smooth voluble words of welcome she regretted the poverty of their thel accommodations bu but I 1 was w welcome to them sueh such a althey hey they were where is isaac do demanded 0 aw my guide ho has not come in a yeh yet ye I 1 sat down on a wooden bench beside the fire and ate af a fe mouth fuls of bread broad 1 11 I should like to retire as soon as possible bleI biel I 1 said for my weariness was excessive certainly the woman started up with alacrity where are you going to put him im asked my guide up chamber put him in isaacs room IWO no its the most comfortable 1 I tell you no llo 11 but here I 1 interrupted the whispered collo colloquy guy 1 I am not particular I 1 dont care where you lodge me only make haste 11 so sol soi I 1 was conducted up a steep ladder that stood in the corner ot of the room into an apartment celled with sloping beams and venti ventilated rated by one small window where a cot bedstead crowded close against the board partition and a pine table with two chairs formed the sole attempts at furniture the woman set the light an oil lamp on the table canet anything hin g more I 1 can get you sir nothing I 1 thank you col III 1 I hope slee sleep N well weli sir when shall I 1 call you at four in the morning if you please I 1 must walk to R station in time for the seven express ill be sure and call you sir 11 she withdrew leaving me alone in the gloomy little apartment I 1 sat down and looked around me with no very agreeable sensation col cil 1 I will sit down and write to alice alic I 1 thought that will soothe my nerves and quiet me perhaps I 1 descended the tile ladder the fire still glowed on the stone beneath my companion and the woman weman sat beside it talking in a low tone and a third person sat at the table eating a short stout villainous looking man in a red flannel shirt and muddy trousers trow sors sers I 1 asked ked for writing materials and returned to my room to write to my wife my illy darling alice I 1 paused aused and laid down my pen en as P t concluded the tiie words mf half to think what she would say could she know of my str strange ange 0 quarters not till both sheets shoots were covered did I 1 lay aside my pen and prepare for slumber As I 1 folded the paper caper I 1 happened to glance toward my couch was it the gleam of a human eye observing me through the cracks of the board loard partition or was it but my own fancy there there was a crack there but only blank dar darkness knoss beyond yet I 1 could have sworn that something had sparkled balefully at me I 1 took out my watch it was one it wa waa scarcely worth while for mo me to undress for three hours sleep I 1 would lie down in my clothes and snatch what slumber I 1 could so placing my valise vallie close to the head of my bed and barricading barri cading the loc lockless klesa klese door with two chairs I 1 the light and lay down athirst at arst I 1 was very wakeful but gradually a soft drowsiness seemed to steal over me like a misty mantle until all of a sudden some startling electric thrill coursed through all my veins and I 1 sat up excited and trembling A luminous softness seemed to glow and quiver through the room no light of moon or star was ever so s soft or penot penetrating rating and aud by the little window I 1 saw alice my wife dressed re d in floating garments of white ite with her long golden hair knotted back by a blue ribbon apparently she was beckoning to me with outstretched hands and eyes full of wild anxious tenderness I 1 sprang to my feet and rushed toward her but as I 1 reached the window the fair apparition seemed to vanish vanish into the stormy darkness and I 1 was left alone at the selfsame instant the sharp report of a pistol sounder sounded 71 7 I 1 could see the jagged stream 0 of f fi lire to above the pillow straight straight through the very verv vers spot where ten seconds since bince m my head had lai iad lain iain with an instantaneous real roal realization of my danger I 1 gwun swung myself over the edge of til ill he win window ow jump jumped ove some eight or ten ton leet into nto the ta tangled rose bushes below and as I 1 crouched there recovering my breath I 1 heard the tramp of footsteps into my room Is ho lie dead cried a voice up the ladder the smooth deceitful voice of tho the woman with w ith the half closed eyes of course he is cried a voice back that charge would have killea killed ten men A light there quick and tell tom to be ready A cold agonized shudder ran through me what den of midnight murderers had I 1 fallen into and how fearfully narrow had been my escape with a speed that only terror and deadly peril can give I 1 rushed through the woods now illuminated by a faint glimmer of starlight I 1 knew not what impulse guided my footsteps I 1 never shall know how many times I 1 crossed my own tracks or how close I 1 stood abc abt at the brink of the deadly ravine but some merciful providence encompassed me with a guiding and protecting care for when the morning dawned with faint rays of orient light against the stormy eastern sky I 1 was close to the highroad high ill iii li road seven miles from R once at the town I 1 told m my story to tha the local police and a detachment tach ment was sent with mu me to the spot after much searching and many false faise alarms we succeeded in finding the ruinous old house but it was empty and deserted our birds had flown nor did I 1 ever evier recover my valise and watch and chain which latter I 1 had left under my pillow its drews drewy 8 gang ay said the tilo leader leador of the police and troubled us the these se two years I 1 dont think though come back here her just ejust at present nor did they but the strangest part of my story is yet to come some three weeks subsequently received I 1 i a letter from my sister who was with alice in her english home a letter whose intelligence filled me with surprise f 1 I must tell you something very vory very strange wrote my sister that happened to tous tons us on the night of the of october alice had not boscn so well for some time in fact she had been confined to her bed for nearly a week and I 1 was sitting beside her reading it was late the clock had just struck one when all of a sudden she seemed to 1 faint away growing cold and rigid as a corpse I 1 hastened to call assistance si but all our efforts seemed vain to restore life or animation I 1 was just about sending for the doctor when her senses returned as suddenly as they had left her and she sat up in bed pushing back her lier hair and looking wildly about her alice I 1 exclaimed how you have terrified us all are you ill 11 not ill she answered but I 1 feel so strange grade grado I 1 have been with my husband hudband hus hua band 1 and all of our reasoning failed te to convince her of the impossibility of her assertions she persists to fo this moment that she saw you and was with you on the night of the of october or rather on the morning of the where and how she can not tell but wo we think it must have been a dream dreana she is bettor better now and I 1 wish you could see how fast she sho is improving this is my plain untarnished unvarnished tale I 1 do not pretend to explain or account for its mysteries I 1 simply relate facts let psychologists unravel the skein I 1 am not superstitious neither do in and apparitions but this thing I 1 do know that although my wife was in england in the body dody the morn ng of the of october her spirit surely sorely stood beside me ime in new now york in the moment of bhat deadly peril that menaced me it may bo be that to the subtle instinct and strength of a cifes awiles holy love all things thing s are to fios lios possible sible sibie but alice surely surey saved my life the friends of senator morion morton who returned home on katurd saturday a y will be glad to hear that he is 1 looking and feeling better than he has for several everal overal y ye ear arsand sand his physicians ans entertain strong hopes that he will entirely regain his health the senator Senat orwill will remain here for a few days and as sionag soon as lim mrs morton is able to travel will proceed to the hot springs in 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