The Gift in the Next House.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8062, 19 March 1906, Page 4

The Gift in the Next House.

I suppose X ought to have been when Uncle Gregory offered to have aic :i.«; an \ inmate, giving mi' my board anil lodgings for 1 nothing, and as he toM my mother, " Slc l/j ! the young cub's manners and moikU." I My uncle's was large, gloom v mid ol most unattractive appearance, but it ryjoin-u 1 in a beautiful garden, and thither 1 \v,» ; ' thankful to escape a solemn meal, ii> 1 which the great feature was the eiiov;ih';u 1 quantity of china and plate and the sm..! | amount of food. i My uncle had sustained in Ins youth w/.u is known as a " disappointment," and il h:-f! ' had the effect upon him of making him obj -cf i to all female society, except that of hi phenomenally ugly housekeeper r,nd t\v< ! equally unattractive maids. ! Certainly this garde n, with the serene hush ! that brooded over it, was an improvement 1 my boarding hon«e. I was just roiigmiulsiV | ing myself upon the change, when .i Strang ! sound reached uiy ears. I stood motionn >». i listening. It seemed to come from the olV.u side of the wall, my neighbour's gaidm Again and again it was repented there oonh! be no doubt about it, some one, man, womar. or child, was sobbing in heart-broken fashion within a few yards of me. I climbed to the wail and looked over and saw a girl, all in white, with the mosfcbeauti L Jul golden hair imaginable, flowing past Inn , knees; she was standing just below iru\ [ looking up with eyes dark ami beseeching and glorious as the eyes of a stag. My W:!; companion spoke first. ; 41 Have you come to help me ? " she a<ke. > in a voice that was scarce above a whisper, ■ 11 Oh, say you have." i She pressed her little hands together, and I saw tears in the great eyes gazing up at me. "Ofcoursc," Isaid, eagerly. "Iswearit." " Thank you"—she smiled as she spoke. "I see you are to be trusted, then take me me away—before—before lu kills me 1" > "Who will kill jou ? " I asked in alarm. "Why, they must be perfect brutes if the\ * don't worship you." "You don't understand," she rmswcrco f hoarsely.' 44 He would—oh God—listen ! " A deep, bell-like sound rang through the 1 night air—it was the bay of a bloodhound. The girl crouched for an instant, listening to it, tlieu gathered herself up with a cry, ami fled across the lawn to the house. The next evening as I dutifully accompanied my uncle on his constitutional we 6&w coming down the steps of the next hous* a haggard individual. Uncle Gregory,-wlx was leaning on my arm, suddenly gripped it. 5 44 That was the man," he whispered , hoarsely, " that was Harvey Paine. How—f how I hate that man ! " " Ha? he a daughter ? " 1 asked eagerly. 41 Yes," answered my relative curtly ; "now you are to ask me no more. Henceforth the people in the next house are not to I bo mentioned." ? That night I made another attempt to see my mysterious divinity and succeeded. 44 You have kept your word," she said in a hysterical whisper, 41 but it is hopeless. lie will be here directly—his visits are constant j now since that night when I escaped him. Slot—the. bloodhound—found—me—" , "And hurt you ?" I asked furiously; " the 1 brnte " 41 Oli no, no, only betrayed me," she an swered hurriedly. "Come and take me awn v —before I die." 44 I'll come," I said recklessly; " though 1 don't even know your name, I love yon, and I can still recall the thrill of excitement and exultant anticipation with which I sei out on my adventure. It was a dark night. I had provided myself with a tile to saw through those iron bars at her window and that divided me from the Girl in the Xext 1 House. . # I saw tjiat my heroine was not at {he window as I cautiously made my way to it. As I produced my file there floated out toward me the sound of the bloodhound's howl. It is. dose to me, as though the brute were in the room into which I intended to break. 1 thought I heard the soft thud of an animal • as he pattered about the room, when silence, then the swish of a gown, and the voice I loved calling softly: 44 Is—is any one there ? " I was on mj leet at the window instantly; my beloved was behind the bars. As sho saw mc she gave a little sob of joy. 44 1—1 thought I heard the bloodhound in your room," I stammered ashamed of my fears. 44 1 began to fear that you were not there." 41 Indeed I am, ,; she answered, petulantly. 44 Take away these bars—let me out—or'l all nil die 1" At last my perseverance was rewarded; the bars yielded; I wrenched them apart and leaped into the room. I went up to the cap. tive and held out my hand to her. She rose—l could see her pale face gleaming white in the darkness—she took my hand after a faint hesitation, the next instant she had hurled herself upon me, her arms gripping me like bands, and fastened her teeth in my throat. I staggered back, the awtul thin? clinging tome as some vampire lo its prey, tin- warm blood trickling down from the wound she had inflicted upon me. I tried to free myself from her, but she seemed endowed with the strength of tweniy men. Her hair swept i across my face, almost blinding mc. She tried to strangle me with it, twisting it. into a thick coil to wind about my mck. I

crashed heavily 011 to tin; floor. The wag throttling mo with her lung, jjoldi-n treses. Then upon the darkness there uui>;t a Jijjht, fchc 6hc-fieml sprang to her feet and ran howling from mo. I recovered from my illness thai super rencd on my terrible adventure. 1 shrank at first from learning Urn mystery that surrounded the Girl m the Nest Jlou.su, but on* day my uncle told me the whole story. The Girl in the Next House was a ravin" maniac, hut her wretched father, Harvey Payne, was devoted to her, and had tried ail hislifu to conceal her condition. It was she who had nnule the awful sounds in her room I had attributed to the blood* bound, which was kept to protect her. "Uncle fiiY'gonv' I said timidly, "why did you hate her father so ? " "Because," "lie said, "Harvey Payne wag Ihc man who stole from me the woman I loved, the woman who was my promised wife became his, and she was the mother—she died when the child was but a few days old—of the Girl in the Kcii House."