Show A J f x fw w I NANCYS NANCY'S GHOST By EDWARD H. H COOPER x w s x x s Copyright This house Monica told me impressively Impressively Im Is stuffed d with ghosts they walk about all over the old wing WIDe In crowds where your bedroom Is added Sylvia pointedly Oh please dont don't let them begin talking about the ghosts again cried May Then wo we blew out the school room lamp and conj conjured red up the ghosts of the old castle till I felt inclined to protest on Mays May's be be- I be-I half To find a woman who had bad never possibly susceptible to alarm and must subsequently sleep In the midst of their ghostly heroes and heroines was just nuts to these three small ladies ladles I did my duty I hope In the matter of shudders and thrills and notes of exclamation but speaking en connoisseur connoisseur con con- the ghosts with one or two exceptions were a trifle too noisy to tobe tobe tobe be Impressive It was not very early when I went to my room but as I was not tired I sat down Yn to write a fairy story The clock struck one and two the fire was going out and it was too much trouble to put coal on though a north east wind was rattling the windows windows windows win win- dows dows' and creeping in through many a crack and cranny The supreme silence silence si sl si- si lence which reigned over the house except when the wind sea-wind shook walls and windows brought back one or two of the childrens children's ghost stories and the moment of their return was rather a nervous one Yet I wanted to finish I this story so I went on with it ft refusing with an effort even to look i round at my bed the thoughts of which were so enticing I would write steadily on I would not look round would not look round at what There was no thought of bed in my mind when I repeated the words to myself I did not want to look round and could not work That however was a state of mind which for business reasons could not be allowed to con con- I turned and looked A child chUd was standing at the foot of the bed bed bed-a a little maid of about 11 Ina in ina ina a long dark frock with short sleeves and a wide flounce of lace round it Her face was white and not pretty her hair hung down in long straight lines and her hands folded in front of her were white and thin with the veins showing blue in them She was standIng stand stand- Ing there quite quietly looking at me and did not move when I got up The apparition was was not a very frightening one and my chief thought about it ft at the moment was that it would please the children to r J e a i She Was Standing There Quietly Looking at Me They would have preferred tho the sword sword- brandishing person but this was better better bet bet- ter than nothing What was I H it 7 Are you ou Nancy I asked Nancy was one of the apparitions I had been told about The figure child answered no word only its sad gray eyes ees looked at me with a shade more of life In them I glanced away for fora a moment presuming presuming presume ing that this apparition was merel merely tho the result of late hours and Monicas Monica's stories and willing to give every chance to science In truth when I 1 looked back the figure had left the bottom of tho bed but it was only moving towards the far wa wall To my great satisfaction It went to the panel which I had suspected of a capacity for opening and stood there a mo mo- ment All the lore gathered from seers and ghost books forsook me In Inthis Inthis inthis this emergency and I quite forgot that I ought to have followed The Tho small maiden looked at me for a n. moment reproachfully ro re then she vanished A feeling that the tho schoolroom would hardly say Thank you for tor such a astory astory story coupled with another vaguer idea that my little visitor might be unhappy unhappy un un- un happy happ If she sho were the subject of ot chatter chat ter and laughter among this houseful of ot people held me silent next v about her Perhaps as a reward for tor this sho she came camo back next night and stood for a n. moment at the bottom of tho bed and then moved towards the wall with anneal In her eyes My manners mannen came back to me and I followed fol lowed her to the pane panel and when she vanished through It It I made various clumsy attempts to open It But no sign of an opening could be found and at this hour of ot the night decent regard for ones one's fellow creatures forbade an attempt to kick It down I went to tobed tobed tobed bed In a temper resolving that the panel should be opened to-morrow to even if it had to say open a all night and admit the whole army of Monicas Monica's ghosts from the Scot anti demonstrator tor downwards Next day however the question was settled in the simplest way way- I asked Monica for more details about Nancy whose history she had slurred over so slightingly on the evening of ot my ar arrival arrival ar- ar r. r rival and Monica weary of such a along along along long silence about her favorite ghosts and thankful for any anyone one who would take an Intelligent interest even in the least exciting of ot them told me the childs child's story She Sho and her brother had been objects of bitter hatred to a stepmother whose own children they would prevent from Inheriting a title and large estate She had resolved to get rid of them and had apparently succeeded The boy had fought on the English side in the 45 rebellion and had been killed and the sister a sickly sickly sick sick- ly scared child chUd had died of or HI treat ill treat treatment I ment There was an old letter among the family papers describing how the writer had found Nancy living alone day and night in two rooms in a deserted deserted de de- de tumble-down tumble part of the house HI m with cold and starvation seeing and speaking to nobody except the evil woman whose visits to her were always always al al- al ways followed by outcries and sobs which the servants talked about in frightened voices When she was between between be be- tween 11 and 12 Nancy died One of the two rooms described in the letter was apparently the room In which I Iwas Iwas Iwas was sleeping the other being connected connect connect- ed with it by a sliding door and short passage which Monica proposed to show me The panel opened readily enough under the accustomed fingers of my guide and we passed on into the next room It was a smaller room than the theother theother theother other unused and completely neg neg- The floor was bare and In the middle of It stood a round empty table table ta ta- ta ble thick with dust There were some curious three-cornered three drawers In the table which swung open sideways Instead instead In in- stead of or allowing themselves to to be be pulled out and we looked into them hurriedly hastening to see what was to be seen while the fast dying daylight daylight day day- light lasted In the first two drawers were only scraps of paper in the third was more paper and a small square picture The next and last drawer was locked and as I moved it about wondering how readily the lock would yield I felt Monicas Monica's hands suddenly suddenly sud sud- denly clasp on my a aims ms with a clutch of terror terrol Her face was gone ashen white and her frightened eyes were staring into a corner corner of the room Following their look I saw Nancy there She was standing very quietly with her hands folded in front of ot her but there was a new look of contentment content contentment ment on her face as if she were thankful thankful thank thank- ful that we had bad found round our way at last to this lonely prison Peering forward I saw for a moment the quaintly dressed little lady and the gray eyes with this new light of ot pleasure pleas pleas- ure in them Then the figure van van- I turned to console my weeping weeping weep weep- ing trembling companion who was protesting that she didn't mind seeing a ghost but this one had come in so quietly Unfastening the locked drawer seemed the best chance of making her forget her fears There must be something In It we agreed or perhaps something which Nancy wanted With one or two vigorous s pulls we wrenched the drawer open It drew out lengthways like Uke an ordinary ordinary nary specimen of its kind but two very blank faces stared into It when open for it was empty Then with witha a simultaneous flash of ot Intelligence Intelligence- Monica and I are the same age really though I have lived JIved in the world a a. few more years than she has has I I and my companion began to feel about for tor the tho spring which should open one of those secret drawers familiar to so many generations of youth We Vo found It at last last last-It it was but an ill fitting false back bac to the drawer an looking amateurish-looking affair and affair and with vague awe we picked up a small wooden doll which was lying ly ly- lying ing there Its face was wooden the features and hair being merely painted on and the arms and l legs gs were unbending unbending un un- un bending and roughly shaped res resembling resembling em bling bUng In no way the tho graceful and agile limbs of Its Us modern descendants With It was a piece of paper half halt ered with round faded child Monica 1 and I took it to the window and having sacrificed a handkerchief to the removal of a n. few cobwebs we read the sheet which was something in the nature of a last will and testament testa testa- testament ment Betty Detty has haa told me mo to-night to that I am very ill and perhaps I Khali die die- It If I die I want my doll to be buried burled with me She Is the only person I love e in the world and tho the only person who loves Joves me Nancy The Instantaneous action proposed by Monica was not possible for certain certain tain tale reasons of politeness but the permission permission per per- mission of various authorities having been obtained next day the doll don was buried burled as near as possible to the little maid who had come to us in this regulation ghostly fashion to plead that her last wish might be carried cu out |