Show J J o t a 01 J. J A CARNATE GHOST cv I cl cEaF e e e L. Fc ff cc c i ie I We Vve had been married only two months yet yet et we thought that we had passed through every trying experience that i is bound sooner or later to test the endurance endurance endurance endur endur- ance of f young married people Three book agents had made unsuccessful at attempts attempts at- at r tempts to sell us a Household Encyclopedia Encyclopedia Encyclopedia a sewing machine man and a real estate agent had been routed routed- and the cook had been coaxed into a sweet tem tem- per Indeed I congratulated myself on still being alive and in the good graces of my wife But we had forgotten burglars It was wasa a chilly night in November and of course the moon was on the China side of the globe I was sleeping like a saw log when my wife clutched me by the arm armand armand and I awoke w with th a start Henry do you hear anything With my half-awakened half senses I lis lis- For a second or two I heard nothing nothing nothing noth noth- ing and then th there re came floating up th the stairway the most melancholy and doleful doleful dole dole- ful sounds that ever broke the stillness of the ni nl nio ht They began pitched high and faint as if they had been borne for forr r miles on the breeze breez then gradually died down and down until the last sounds seemed only a long long- drawn out groan g There Hear it she whispered Indeed I did I felt my hair bristle at atthe atthe atthe the first sound I could not for the life of me think o of one one earthly reason for such a midnight disturbance For a time it was silent and I could feel the bed shake My 1 wife was frightened nearly into hysterics and I really I-really really I dared not try to speak for fear of betraying betraying be be- the state of my mv own nerves Then it be bean an a ain that awful nerve- nerve racking c sound this time with n q regular carnival of the most awful and discordant grumbles and groans as if all all the demO demons demons de de- mO mons of Hades were turned loose down down- stairs And then came a few scattered wails like the d despairing moans moans of lost so souls ls but all the time the pitch went up tip up and finally it seemed that Gabriel and his angels must be wheeling wheeling- around in the heavens somewhere Oh I tell you I had my suspicion suspicions that the last day had come or rather r the last night But really I was baffled and I felt provoked at it too A man always feels feels- so when he knows that something has got the better of him All I could think of was Marleys Marley's Ghost and I expected every every every ev ev- ery minute to see something clawing around in the atmosphere I am not a coward and yet when my mv wife begged beg me to get my gun and go go downstairs I admit I didn't move as if I were going goin for my months month's salary Henry she whispered if its it's burglars burglars burglars burg burg- lars I put your gun in inthe the bottom of the trunk and I dont don't think its it's loaded No it wasn't loaded but I got hold of it screwed up my courage and started downstairs When I reached the the first first landing landing- everything ev- ev was deathly still I had left Marian in bed with her head covered up and I suddenly felt an inclination to dash upstairs ain again and let the burglar or whatever it might be steal the whole house But I was a married man and I went Drave Bravely y on If I had known that there was a man down there I would have been after him in a minute but with that unearthly unearthly unearthly un un- in I earthly sound ring ring-inq my ears would about as soon have descended into a den of snakes Through the hall I crept into the dinine dining din- din ine ing room and the kitchen poling into the pantry and the china closet Finally I reached the parlor Now that I T was on my mv feet and had a agun agun I T felt e returning returning re re- gun un in my mv hand my coura courage turning and the i ideas leas of supernatural t things were quickly fading into the back back- ground It was dark as as pitch and 1 I was f fumbling n bling my way towards towards' the piano when suddenly I saw glaring out of the darkness two fiery eyeballs The blood in my veins went degrees below and the gun dropped from my hand with a crash At the same moment there burst forth under tinder n my y very nose those same ominous sounds Desperate now I clutched at the casing got ot hold of the button and turned on the light Th There re in the middle of the piano keyBoard keyboard keyboard key key- board startled by the sudden flood of lip light with two two keys buried under one hind foot and the other three paws scattered scattered scat scattered scat scat- anywhere alone alone- the next two octaves octaves octaves oc oc- taves was Marians Marian's old grey Tom Toni cat P P. S. S S.- S. The S.-The The cat Tom wasn't able to walk for a week afterwards I |