Show GHOST OF STRANGE sense of disquietude took possession possess ion ot of ralf rait seawell the moment 1 1 he hoard heard that she was 0 of the C house party he g did not know that lady wallace had i asked her and felt angry with his fair Y young oung hostess tor for the indiscretion the fascination in seawell Seg well murmured a guest irrelevantly look at him and miss clifford ile he deceives us all answered a pretty american hes enigmatic and melancholy hes the only concrete specimen of evil I 1 know wo we talk a good deal about bad things and read bad books but on the whole modernity Is very good dont you think so sol 1 some of you have a ferocious bark miss swift most persons bark is worse than their bite ralf rait seawells Seg wells bite Is much worse than his bark I 1 guess why hes so uncanny in fact ho he never barks at all he just walks up to one in a friendly sort of 0 way and bites I 1 hope they have consigned him to the haunted room they have I 1 believe but he be 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 forces its personality or door do allty on you it has not been opened tor for hundreds of years no human power can force it 0 0 0 0 1 I asked mary clifford to please you 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 ail these things I 1 apologize she noticed a weary expression settle on his face her sympathies were touched when their eyes met she flushed and smiled with a winning intimate grace that was daring without being bold how shall I 1 atone you witch he said in a very low voice then suddenly lie ile stood up as a little white figure passed at the end of the hall it was miss clifford she said was it he answered indifferently let us talk about you 0 0 0 that night as ralf rait seawell shut himself in his room the feeling of depression he experienced on arriving at marsdale Mer sdale returned ills his thoughts w wandered an to the house party nineteenth century men and women effervescing twig 10 15 A A ki RALF COME BACK with spontaneous epigram locked up in these vast gloomy rooms how strangely the place dominated the people ale the old seemed the significant tact fact the infesting butterflies but shadowy things inhabiting for a brief period this great somber pile he looked up ill and noticed a door that had escaped his observation in the afternoon he tried the handle then a cold shudder went through him as he turned from it and crossed the immense room only oly dimly lit by candles that spluttered splutter ed at intervals he glanced again at the locked door what a miserable hole the they had consigned him to A wild desire to sneak away elsewhere became almost irresistible unable to rest he flung himself out of bed stirred up the fire to a blaze and lit every candle in the room As lie he held the match to each one he looked with renewed fear over ills his shoulder then lie ho placed a chair near the fire yet facing the dreaded quarter and sat down determined to watch till daybreak but with inactivity and the dead silence and the blazo blacet of light the strangle strange incomprehensible terror returned doub lefold the sound ot of hla his own breathing became painful ile he thought of mary clifford then something moved mooed ile he sat still as one paralyzed his blood romped through his veins and icy hands bands seemed his heart the handle before him turned and the door that had not opened for a hundred years swung bachand bac kand a man walked slowly into the room ile he was dressed in evening clothes and seemed to all appearance like other men but tor for a startling expression in his gray eyes ralf rose to his feet tongue tied while his visitor walked to the fireplace and sat down 1 I can give you an hour he murmured there was a what for said ralf rait at last to live he answered indifferently it leaped to ralf rait Seg mind that he was entertaining it a madman the house was full which necessitated the using of this room the mysterious door was undoubtedly the entrance to the apartments of some insane relative ills his own previous apprehension must have been caused by a latent consciousness ness of a human presence pre senca a teg throw from hlin him the thought of his solitude in uie the dead of 0 night with a homicidal maniac was sufficiently un manning lie ile turned pale but questioned with assumed airiness al why jestice Ji JL stice answered the stranger slightly elevating his brows how flow do you propose to take my life ite through your imagination I 1 shall look at you ile ho glanced up ralf rait shrank from the gaze then said with a ghastly attempt at a smile well I 1 hope my light still burns I 1 cling to life you know hero here and hereafter I 1 shall fight tor for that second hour the smile withered on his bla lips as his visitor again turned his terrible gaze from the fire to him mary alary clifford has saved your soul profligate the voice reverberated through the room the walls echoed back profligate and his hia own lips moved to utter litter the word but ho said under his breath mary alary clifford find and the sound was as water to a thirsty man the pure love that she alone was able to wake in you and that still lives in your heart though you stifle it under the clogging weeds of 0 gross passions has kept burning the name flame ot of your spiritual life he leaned forward 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 ralf sat still a long time trying to guess how knowledge of 0 the details of 0 his own life had reached his companion was this mad philosopher a friend of hers and even so how bow had bad he divined that she still held the greater place in his heart though he be had been wantonly faithless to her would she mind were ere he in truth to die had he any right to hope even that she should would she care he said your hour Is passed ralf rait started and turned pale to the lips he saw his visitors aspect had changed he had become a phantom creature with a living face A terrible awful human physiognomy stared ai at him with preposterous hideous fixity ile he writhed and but the eyes defied his movements he could not look away all the nerves of 0 his body the consciousness of his mind the very vitality ot of his sa system stem were absorbed by paralyzing fear time brought no relaxation every moment seemed an eternity pity pity he cried but the gray eyes watched him help help help the impotent words echoed back on his hearing his voice was a whisper ile he tried to listen tor 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 eyes the eyes that watched without mercy but slowly in torture life was waning walking from his wearied frame he sank on the aroun ground clutching at the rug with distended fingers mary alary he murmured and the ekes still stared susan swift felt herself awakened by a hand on her shoulder recollection ot of the haunted room kept her listening to the throbbing of her own heart with eyes firmly closed it was a moment which necessitated the staring of a real live apparition in the face she did so however at last and behold nothing more frightening than mary blary clifford pale indeed as a ghost and her great eyes w wide ide open as if 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 it a fire said susan sitting up suddenly no said the girl you must come with me to to mr seawells Seg wells room the american was fairly aghast 1 I think not she said deliberately miss clifford you mu must st be considerably seared scared about something but nothing c could justify such a preposterous notion A look of despair crept into the girls s face she turned away 1 I thought you being an american would be brave ind and kind I 1 thought I 1 could trust you but I 1 must go alone and in a moment she at the door susan leaped from her lied bed she see why an american america should be expected not to mind prowling about in the middle of the night in a mans bedroom droom le but she knew she go ang ng to let mary clifford go alone anyhow As to feeling brave she simply felt terrified they stole together along the gallery down a winding staircase and thence through an interminable corridor susan swift began to feel very disei able A sensation ot of fear was gi owing over her when suddenly they both stopped each affected by some unaccountable emotion mary turned round and said gently you are not afraid Is there an tiling about me that looks abald the american Amei met ican can answered her heart in her mouth th then en they went on through a gloat awl hwang aig door which vilich seemed to cut them oft off from the habitable part of the house neither had ever been there before yet mary hastened as one who knew the way b by y iDi ht stint Int at last they stood still A bense 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 loom A door opposite them inside vas as open and on the floor in a flood of light lay the body ot of R ral alf seawell Seg well the unhappy girl knelt down and chafed chafee the dead hands ralf rait ralf rait come back she cried despairingly anything anything only come back then the click ot of a turning lock vibrated th through the room the door that led nowhere had closed frances F robertson in westminster budget the Tho fall of man llan whilda popular subject lor for a sor nion is not always aimed at bicycle riders |