LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1340, 31 May 1878, Page 3

LITERATURE.

♦ THE HAUNTED HOUSE. By Constance Sterling. ["Danbury News."] (Concluded.) Then he heard a little rustle, and the door of bis chamber was shaken violently. But the captain had locked it securely on his entrance and did not feel inclined to open it now. A long, long sigh seemed to come from the lips of the invisible being, and a little moan of disappointment followed it. ' Roderick, why are von so cruel ? We used to be so happy, Roderick,' said the gentle, sad voice. Then all was silence, and though Captain Hayward listened, restleas and excited, he heard no more, and toward morning sunk Into a deep sleep, which lasted until the sun was high in the heavens. He descended the stairs to the room in which he had sat the evening before, and there found his hoßt and hostess at their simple breakfast. They motioned him to take a seat, and took no notice of his pleasant 'good morning.' After eating in silence for a few minutes, the young officer looked up at the old man, and attentively watching his face tried an experiment. 'Who is Mabel?'he asked. An awful change came over the faces of both man and woman, and the old lady gave a slight cry of alarm. Again they glanced at each other as on the previous night, but this time their faces were livid with terror. ' What do you mean ?' the old man faltered at last. Captain Hayward briefly recounted all that had passed on the previous night. As he listened the old man seemed to regain his accustomed composure, and when Hayward finished, he spoke at once. 'We were both to give you a night's lodging, sir, on that account. The inn is haunted. Every night there are the same sounds, and we know not from whence they come. They have ceased to trouble us, and we do not fear them. Had you staid in the room in which I put you, you would have heard no disturbance.' 'Do you know any story attaching to the inn which could cause it to be haunted in this strange manner ?' asked Hayward. ' I have heard,' said the man, hesitatingly, ' that a young maiden was deserted by her lover, and she ended her days in this old inn, dying mad. I don't know how true the story is, but so it was told to me,' Hayward would gladly have made more inquiries, but the manner of his entertainers forbade it, and as he rose from the table, the old man said that his horse was already at the door impatient to depart. So, after putting on the table a handsome sum of money for his night's lodging and food, the captain mounted and rode away, his mind full of his strange adventure. ' I will come by this road on my return to Baseford,' he mentally resolved, ' and stop again at this lonely inn I may learn more of these singular people.' After a stay of three days in Chenowith, Captain Hayward set out to return to Baseford, being accompanied by a Major Harfield, to whom he had been introduced only that morning. The major, a tall, melancholy looking man of thirty-five years, whose face showed that he had passed through some deep affliction was quite willing to have a companion and guide to Baseford, for he was totally unacquainted with the route ; and Hayward took the lonely road which would lead them past the haunted inn, although he did not tell his companion his reason for doing so. At about dusk they oame up to it, and Harfield asked if they would be able to find accommodations in such a forsaken, weird looking building. 'I stopped here as I came by before.'replied Hayward, ' and I fancy the old man liked the looks of my gold pieces.' They experienced little difficulty in obtaining admittance, though the old man trembled as if with an ague fit when he opened the great door and saw the two travellers. There was but little conversation on either side, and at nine o'clock the two officers were showed to the room which Hayward had been awarded on the previous occasion.

After they had retired, Major Harfield made some remark about their comfortless surroundings. ' There is an unoccupied room down the next corridor, which is very nicely furnished, ' said the captain, and then told how he had c ime to occupy it before, omitting to tell what he had heard while in there, for he feared to be laughed at for a superstitious fool, and wished his companion to hear for himself, without any previous prejudice. ' Suppose we try to find it now,' said the major, ' for I can never sleep on this straw bed, and we can pay the old man well for changing quarters.' They both rose and lighted the candles. Hay ward was able to lead the way, and they found the door, but it was locked. ' The old man has guarded against my midnight prowlings,' said the captain, 'but we will see if the lock can be made to succumb.' He drew a bunch of keys from his pocket, and after several vain attempts found one that gained them admittance; but though the key would unlock the door, it would not lock it again, and all efforts to do so proved fruitless. ' Never mind,' said Harfield, rather wondering at his companion's anxiety to have the door fastened. ' We are not likely to be intruded upon.' They both lay down, and soon fell asleep. Just before midnight Hayward was awakened by his companion, who, shaking him, said in a low tone : * Listen, captain, there are strange sounds in this old inn.' .As he finished speaking, there came distinctly to their ears a long, weary sigh, then a hollow groan, and as before same the words : * Roderick, why do you not come ? I am all alone, all alone with Tiger.' 'My heavens' cried the major, again grasping his companion by the arm, ' Do you hear that, captain ?' ' Yes, what of it ?' asked the captain, trying ti speak cooly in the endeavor to quiet his companion's wild excitement, 'the inn is haunted ; the old man told me so.' Before the major could reply, the sad voice came again ; 'Roderick, come to your darling. Why do you Btay away from Mabel ?' the matter?' asked Captain Hayward, as his companion sprang from the bed in the greatest excitement ' Matter !' he said, his voice "hoarse from emotion, ' I will tell you what is the matter. My name Is Eoderick, and that of my wife was Mabel,' the last word almost screamed. There was a rustle, a slight shaking of the door, and then the knob turned, and into the room came what seemed to both a vision. It was a lady who looked about twentyeight years of age, he? face so melancholy, her large, dark *yes so full of misery that to look at hey in her youth and beauty such wretchedness brought tears. She was dressed entirely in white, and at her feet crouched a large Newfoundland dog, as motionless, after his first entrance, as his ead-faced mistress. The two officers stood gazing en this apparition in horror, the face of Harfie d almost that of a madman., and working with some powerful emotion. For a moment the vision stood thus, and then aga,in came the plaintive cry which they firsh heard : 'Roderick ! !we were so happy. WbyJ do you leave me all alone, Roderick ?' * Mabel!' the major gasped, advancing toward her. ' Can the grave give up its dead ? My wife 1 my own ! my Mabel!' He threw his arms around her, and even as he d d so, the dog began to bound about him showing evidences of joy and recognition. ' Down, Tige, old fellow,' said the major, hi? voice broken and tremulous. ' What does this mean,' asked a shaking voice, &Ad turning toward the door, the two officers saw their host. 'lt is my place to ask what this means!' thundered the major, supporting the faint-

ing woman, whom he bad called his wife/ in his strong arms. 'You are Marcus Withers, then, and you wrote me a lie I You told me you had never seen my wife since the day she went to the insane hospital. You wrote me that she had died mad, stark, raving mad. Old man! You lied to me. This is my wife here in my arms. Villain I I can hardly help murdering you ! For ten years I have lived alone, brooding over my misery 1 Miser ! I know why you kept her from me.' The head, crowned with a wealth of golden hair, lying on his breast, was now raised. 'Roderick,' said the sweet, plaintive voice. ' Have you come ? Why did you leave me all alone, Roderick. 0, the pretty flowers! let me go aguin to gather them. Oh, dear, lam all alone, Roderick is gone.' 'I am here, Mabel, my own, I am Roderick, dear wife,' the major murmured. ' She is mad,' said the old man. * She is indeed, stark, raving mad. Tor ten years I have had her here. She is my grandchild, if she is your wife, Roderick Harfield.' The pretty Mabel smiled as the old man spoke, and clapped her hands as she saw the bright glare of the lantern. It was too true, reason had fled. But when Roderick Harfield left the lonely inn the next day, he took his wife to Baeeford with him, the two officers taking turns in. walking, so that the sad-eyed beauty might ride. But when they left the inn, Marcus Withers made a full confession, and the complete story was this : When Roderick Harfield was twenty-five years of age, he met Mabel Withers, who was visiting some mutual friends in the town in which the major was then stationed. He fell in love with her, and asked her to marry him. Then she told him that insanity was hereditary in her family, and though she did not think there was any trace of it in her veins, her grandfather had forbidden her to ma»ry. She was heir to a large fortune which her father, not believing her to be tainted with the hereditary malady, had willed should be hers on her marriage day. But she knew the consent of her grandparents who were her only living relatives, could never be gained to her marriage. Major Harfield at last succeeded in talking her into a private marriage, and said it should be publicly announced whenever she so wished. He cared nothing for her fortune which was to become her grandfather's should she die leaving no heirs. The girl returned to her grandparents a few weeks after she became Harfield's wife, and a few days after her return, Harfield's regiment was ordered fco India. He wrote to his wife to disclose her marriage to the grandparents he had never seen, and she did so. The major was unable to obtain leave to visit her for his regiment left almost immediately, but he was greatly comforted by receiving a letter from Marcus Withers saying that since the marriage had taken place, he freely forgave them both, and would take every care of the young girl during her husband's absence in India. The second letter Major Harfield received after his arrival in Calcutta, contained the announcement of his wife s strong manifestations of insanity, brought on by grief at their separatien, and then came a physician's certificate of insanity and one certifying to her incarceration in an asylum for the insane. The grandfather wrote frequently to inform him of his wife's state of health, which, according to his accounts, grew worse every day, and at last when he had been three months in India came the announcement of her death. When the major returned home three years later, he found that she old people had disappeared and left no trace behind them. Bub the neighbours all certified to their hearing of Mabel's death, and the grief of her grandparents. But Marcus Withers was a cunning man, and the God he worshipped was Mammon. His objections to Mabel's marriage rose not from fear of insanity, but from fear of losing the property which was to be his at her death, and over which he had full control so long as she lived unmarried. Poor Mabel did indeed go to the asylum, having succumbed to the hereditary disease of her mother's family, but Marcus Withers removed her from there three months later, and travelling to the north of England, found the lonely inn where he took up his abode with his wife and grand-daughter, and lived for ten years, saving every cent and hoarding up the fortune left by his son. But Mabel was well treated, and her fancies indulged. The dog had been a year old puppy of Harfield's which he gave her when she returned to her grandparents, and this animal they allowed her to keep. The room in which the officers had fclept had been well-furnished, for it had been her fancies that Koderick would come to her at any time, and she wanted ttie room kept ready for him, and with her own hands arranged it newly every day. Major Harfield hoped much for hi 3 wife's complete restoration to health, but though she became much better she never was again in her sound mind. And as her intellect grew stronger, her physical strength grew weaker, and she faded slowly away. Two years after her strange discovery by her devoted husband, she was laid forever at rest in the old churchyard near Chenworth. The old inn still stands near the cross-roads, but the old people have l"ng since died. The creaking sign-board still swings in the wind and the ivy grows heavier each year on the wall. It is still called "The Haunted Inn." though the story of Mabel Harfield is well known.

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