THE TIMES, NEW BLOOMFIELI), PA.. AUGUST. 30, 1881.
THE MYSTERIOUS ROOM.
( ONC I,l IKI.
THE 'squire paid, " If It had not been
for the what shall I call It V-obstl.
uacy Y resolution V firmness V of rny
old friend, hete, who would persist in
bleeping In that unlucky room last night,
and the fortunate circumstance of Mr.
Bradley's being here you certainly would
never have heard, fmm me at least, Buy
account of the mystery which has so
long perplexed me. I must begin by
telling you, that to the best of my
knowledge, flint room was never slept
lu but twice since I was born, and I am
more than forty years old. You heard
what the mnjor said respecting mir old
housekeeper. She and her, husband
lived here In my grandfather's time,
they grew old In the service, and died
within a few weeks of one another. On
the day that the old woman was burled,
as I was returning from the funeral, I
overheard something which, it appear
ed to me,was spoken purposely for me to
hear, though it was addressed by one
old villuge gossip to another. I do not
recollect the precise words, but the pur
port was, that the ''squire would have no
more evil HjnritB in his house now. This
brought to my mind the strange Btorles
I used to hear when I was a boy, and
without having the slightest idea that
my father attuched any importance to
the matter, for I never In my life had
heard him allude to it, I unwittingly
asked him what could have induced the
housekeeper to tell such terrible stories
about one room in his house. You im
agine how much I was astonished at his
reply, when he told me that what the
housekeeper had said was but too true !
" ' For some time past,' he added, ' I
have Intended to speak to you about this
painful matter, but having hitherto
always endeavored to drive the subject
from fay mind, I have not had sufficient
resolution to do so."
" I begged my father to explain him
self, and to conceal nothing from me;
for, to confess the truth, the more re
luctant he appeared to be, the more
urgently I pressed him.
" He then told me that, not long
after my grandfather's death, he had
ordered this room to be prepared for a
friend who was coming to spend a few
tlays with him ; that his servant had
made difficulties and objections, and had
proposed some other room for his guest,
but that he did not choose to give way
to her whims,and accordingly his friend
slept in the room as he desired, but on
the following morning he told my father
that he must leave him that day, and
when pressed to give his reasons forso
sudden a determination, he protested
that nothing could induce him to stay
another night in a house in which his
rest had been disturbed by such fright
ful visions. He refused to tell my father
what it was he had seen he refused to
sleep in any other room, and he tried
hard to persuade my father never either
to sleep in that room himself, or allow
any otber person to do so.
"Fully persuaded, however, that his
friend was laboring under some mental
delusion, my father, who had no fears
whatever about the matter himself, was
so far from being deterred from sleeping
there, that he immediately resolved to
do so that very night, and accordingly,
in spite of the evident reluctance of his
housekeeper, he did so, thinking, as he
told me, that this would be the most
effectual means of putting an end to the
foolish rumors which had been spread
by ignorant and superstitious servants. i
" Taking the precaution to lock the
door in order to prevent any intrusion
in the night, he left a lamp burning on
the dressing-table,and went to bed ; and,
undisturbed by any apprehensions, soon
fell asleep. My father was always a
sound sleeper, and not easily disturbed
by noise in the night, and it was not by
any noise that he was now awakened,
but by feeling the bed-clothes gently
moving, as if some one were pulling
them towards the foot of the bed. The
bed, I should observe, stood just as you
saw it last night, facing the fireplace,
on each side of which stand those high,
lacked chairs, and with the left side to
wards the door. As it was a cold night,
my father had drawn the side-curtalns
of his bed, but there were no window
curtains, nor even blinds, and though
the moon shown brightly into his room
at the time he woke, and the lamp was
still burning, he could see nothing but
the furniture standing in their usual
places. He lay quite still, and hearing
no noise, nor perceiving any motion in
the bed-clothes, he began to think he
iiad been dreaming, in consequence of
the conversation be had had with his
guest in the morning. But haidly had
he composed himself to sleep again,
when he felt the curtains on both sides
of his bed first gently, then violently
shake. Still he saw nothing, and, not
withstanding a certain degree of treplda-
tion which lie confessed that he felt, he
made a sudden plunge at the curtains
with open arms, but whatever was there
it eluded his grasp, and again for a
minute all was quiet. 'lie now deter
mined to rise, but the moment he began
to stir, he beheld two figures slowly and
noiselessly gliding from the sides of his
bed towards the foot they stopped for
an instant, then moved in the direction
of the windows, which were opposite
the door, and between which was the
table on which the lamp Btood. With
out again attempting to raise, my father
turned to look whether the door was
open. No, it was shut, and the key re
mained in the lock as he had left it.
During the few seeonds which passed
while he was looking at the door, he
perceived that the lamp had gone out,
or had been extinguished, for instead of
the yellow light of the lamp, there was
now only the pale blue light of the
moon, shining through the windows.
The two figures were Btlll there, now
standing motionless, then slowly retreat
ing backwards in the direction of the
fireplace. My father became nervous
and extremely uncomfortable, yet he
retained sufficient presence of mind to
to enable him to examine his nocturnal
visitors.
"Except that they were of different
height, in all other respects they pre
sented prefflsely the same horrible aspect,
which my father described as that of a
death's head, partially concealed by a
sort of cowl or veil, which fell over the
shoulders, while the body was loosely
wrapped in long white drapery, which,
descending to the feet, concealed the
whole of the figure except one bony
wrist and hand. The idea of being
locked In with these two frightful un
earthly beings became intolerable, and
my father resolved at all hazards to rush
out of bed and make his escape. He
rose, keeping his eye9 fixed on the spec
tres who were now nodding their ghast
ly heads, and beckoning him with their
skeleton fingers, but making no attempt
to approach nearer the bed, or to inter
cept his retreat towards the door.
Though In a state of considerable agi
tation, my father never for an instant
lost his presence of mind, and though,
as he told me, his hand shook violently
as he unlocked the door, he did not neg
lect to lock it again on the other side, as
soon as he found himself safely in the
passage. This done, he passed on quick
ly to his own bedroom, and hurrying on
his dressing-gown, went without a min
ute's delay to call up his man-servant.
Now I must explain for the benefit of
those here who are not so well acquaint
ed with the geography of the house as
Mr. Bradley and the major, that in or
der to reach the butler's room it was
neccessary first to go down the front
stairs, then through the servant's hall,
and up the back stairs, which led to the
servant's rooms. With all the haste,
therefore, that my father could make,
several minutes must have elapsed be
tween the time of his leaving the room
in which he slept, and his reaching that
of his servants.
" He knocked sharply at the door, but
receiving no answer, he went in, and,
as he expected, found the butler and his '
wife both fast asleep. His first idea was
to wake them, and ask if they had seen
or heard anything unusual ; but, after a
moments' reflection, he decided that it
would be much more discrete to leave
them to their repose, which he felt as
sured had not been disturbed that night.
" Without betraying his secret to any
person in the house, the next morning
he made a careful examination of the
room. The door he found locked as he
had left it ; the windows were both of
them barred. The old-fashioned linen
chest which you saw last night, I should
tell you, was not then kept in the room,
and if it had been It could never have
contained two, or even one being of the
size of those whom my father had Been
gliding about in the moonlight. It was
impossible that they should have been
secreted under the bedstead, which was
too low to admit of such a supposition.
The chimney was much too narrow,and,
had it been otherwise, the white gar
ments of the apparitions would have
afforded sufficient proof that they did
not enter by that means. The eliding
panel in the wainscot was immovable,
having been made fast at the time that
my father had the plate-closet removed
to his own chamber. The thing was
Inexplicable: the more my father pon
dered on the matter, the more he was
perplexed, and at length, finding no
clue to the mystery, he resolved, wheth
er wisely or not I cannot say, to keep it
to himself, and comply with his friend's
entreaty never to allow any person to
occu py the room agai n .
" Such was my father's strange story,
which he concluded by begging me,
whenever I should take his place as
master of the house, to prevent any
one's sleeping in that chamber, and
no one ever has done bo till last night,
when, you are all aware how much
against my wish, the major persisted
in passing the night In a room which
for such extraordinary reasons had been
disused for bo many years. I have noth
ing more to add, but Mr. Bradley will
now tell you, not only what came to
bis knowledge several years ago, but of
the discoveries he made this morning
whilst we were out with our guna ; and
when you have heard his story, I think
you will agree with me in believing
that he has thrown such a strong light
upon the spectres that they will never
again venture to show themselves in
this neighborhood."
Addressing himself to the 'squire, Mr.
Bradley said :
" Although I have beeu In orders al
most forty years, I never till to day was
called upon to lay a ghost I In former
times, I believe, it was considered to be
one part of the priest's duty, and prob
ably a very profitable part, for who
would not pay a pretty round sum of
money to get rid of such unwelcome
visitors as those you have Just described.
" I must tell you then that about six
teen years ago, whilst I was Btill a resi
dent in this parish, I was sent for one
day to Bee Mrs. Lofty, the old house
keeper here, who was dying. I had
hurled her husband a few weeks before.
The old couple had for a great many
years been considered as most trustwor
thy and conscientious servants of the
old Squire, your father ( for you were
called the young 'squire then), but it
seems in one particular they had not
deserved the confidence which was re
posed in them. The woman, it seems,
was greatly afraid of her husband, for
whilst he was alive she had never had
sufficient courage to confess the guilty
part she had taken In deceiving her
master. After his death, and feeling
that her own end was approaching, she
determined to relieve her conscience by
making a full confession of the decep
tion they had practised. She told me
that in his youth, her husband, like a
great many men of his class on this
coast, had often been actively engaged
in smuggling spirits, and that long
after he had discontinued going out to
sea, and had to all appearance become a
steady man he had kept up a connection
with smugglers, and aided thera in vari
ous ways, but so cunningly that he had
never been suspected by his master.
You observed," continued Mr. Bradley,
addressing himself to me, "the beautiful
view of the sea from the windows of
the 'haunted room,' as it has been called
for many years ? Now there are only
two bedrooms in the house which com
mand this particular view, looking
down the great avenue the one just
mentioned and the adjoining one, occupi
ed by the man-servant. It was well
knoivn that a very favorite rlace for
running a cargo of spirits on shore was
just that opposite the end of the ave
nue, where it was easy to conceal the
kegs amongst the black rocks at low
water, and where the proximity of so
many trees afforded concealment to the
boat's crew. In order to prevent, if
possible, the room from , being used at
night,' they gave it a bad name, and af
fected to believe that It was haunted,
and so long as this scheme answered
their purpose, they took no other means
but if, in spite of the dark hints that
the housekeeper threw out, any person
should persist In Bleeping there, tbey
were prepared with some frightful dis
guises with which to terrify him suf
ficiently to prevent a second attempt at
such indiscretion. "Btill," continued
Mr. Bradley, again addressing the
'squire, "this does not account for the
most perplexing part of the business. I
have ho doubt that it was the belief
that there was no other means of. enter
ing the room except by the door or win
dows, which were known to be securely
fastened, which caused the terror that
was felt by both your late father and by
bis friend. But there was, and there
still is, if I have not been misinformed,
a perfectly easy means of access from
one of these rooms to the other, which,
with your permission, Blr, we will now
go and examine. I expect that we
shall find other proofs of roguery which
will leave no doubt as to the character
of the monstrous apparitions you have
just described."
We went up Btairs Into the man-servant's
room. Mr. Bradley opened the
door of a closet by the side of a fireplace
at the back of which were five or six
brass hooks, on which hung the man's
great-coat, a water-proof cape, and some
other garments.
" I think if we remove these things,"
said Mr. Bradley, "we shall discover the
entrance into the other room."
The coats were instantly taken- down,
but still we could see no signs of any
communication with the " bauuted
room."
" This closet, you observe, is not
eighteen inches in depth, and as there is
no recess by the Bide of the chimney in
the other room, there must be plenty of
space for another of similar dimensions
at the back of this the question Is, how
is it to be got at?"
"My carpenter can show us that,"
said the 'squire; he fitted up the plate
closet, and made this for the servants at
the same time."
"And you were absent from borne at
the time, bo I think Mrs. Lofty told
me V"
" Yea, she cunningly suggested that
the Job had better be done when I was
out of the way, on account of the dust
and other disturbances It would make.
I iee her reasons now the old hypo
crite!" " You need not send for the carpenter:
'a sliding door, like the one her master
had ordered to be fastened up,' that Is'
what she said, and though she was
much confused, and at times quite inco
herent, repeating these words frequent
ly without any obvious sense, I believe
I now understand what she meant.
Those pegs, you see, are placed above
the panel, and are Immovable, but the
panel Itself, which in fact forms the par
tition between the two rooms, I have no
doubt it Is the one she attempted to de
scribed." ,
It was probably a great many years
since the door had been moved, so that
It did not give way immediately wheu
we endeavored to push it aside. How
after some little impatience, and a good
deal of humoring we at length got it
to slide in the groove which had been
made for it.
If there were any doubt remaining In
our minds as to the nature of the appa
ritions which had caused so much dis
may in the family In goneby times,
what we now beheld would have dissi
pated it, for on the back of the panel
which opened Into the "haunted room,"
hung two pasteboard masks, made to
closely represent two death's heads, and
on the floor lay a heap of dusty, yellow
looking linen, which had once been
white. On removing these ghostly ha
biliments, we found two skeleton hands,
or imitations of them, I cannot say that
I examined them sufficiently to know
what materials they were made of.
Buch were the abominable disguises that
had been used by the butler and the
housekeeper his wife!
There now remained only to remove
the partition between the closet and the
" haunted room." This was done with
out any difficulty, after a small iron
hook, or catch, had been raised. The
passage between the two rooms was thus
easily made, yet quite imperceptible
when it was closed.
Borne of the company present pro
posed that masks and other trumpery
should be shown in the village, but the
old clergyman Buggested that it would
be far better they should be burnt, and
a9 the 'squire was of the .same opinion,
we immediately made an auto dae of
all the rubbish.
" There Is one thing I don't quite un
derstand," said the 'squire, speaking, to
Mr. Bradley ;" how was It that you
never till now told me of the rascally
trick that had been played by Lofty
and his wife?"
" You reccollect that I left Sandiland
just at the time of the old woman's
death. If had remained here, most
likely the subject would have been men
tioned, and the discovery which we have
just now made would have been made
slxfeen years ago. But the fact Is, I had
not any notion that the audacious plan
of using frightful disguises had ever
been carried Into execution, or, that
your father himself bad ever been so in
sulted by bis servants. What was meant
by the eliding door I never suspected till
last night, when you told us of the se
cret closet that had formerly beeu used
for plate. I think, sir, that the ghost is
now forever laid, and that this room
may safely be used In the future ; per
haps it would be the best way of silenc
ing foolish tongues if it were slept in
occasionally. Some of these young
men"
Four or five candidates offered them
selves Immediately.
Before the party at Sandiland broke
up, I was obliged to return to my stud
ies. Many years have rolled on since
the happy days, bringing their stores of
good and of evil, bringing new friends
and dearer relations, sweeping away old
friends, none more dear to me than my
kind-hearted old friend the 'squire.
The major, too, Is gone, and the line old
house where we met has passed Into
very different bauds, and no longer has .
" The Mysterious Boom."
Spiders as Telegraph Obstructors.
One of the chief hindrances to tele,
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bordering the highways swarm with
spiders, which spin their webs every,
where between the earth, wires, posts,
Insulators, and trees. When the spider
webs are covered with heavy dews they
become good conductors and run the
messages to the earth. The only way to
remove the difficulty is by employing
men to sweep the wires with brushes of
bamboo ; but as the spiders are more nu
merous and persistent than the brush
, users the difficulty remains always a
serious one.
A Lady's Wish.
" Oh, I do wish my skin was as clear
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answered the friend. "Howl"' inquir
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blooming health. It did for me as you
i observe." Bead of it. Cairo bulletin. 30
" IS ? ts
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Directions In Eleven Languages.
BOLD BT ALL DRUGGISTS AND DEALEE3 IN
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that letters ot administration on the estate
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Perry County. Pa., deceased, have been granted
to the undersigned. P. O. Address Landlsburg.
Perry County. Pa.
All persons indebted to said estate are request
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ALBERT E. RICHMOND,
Cius. H. Pmilet, Att'y. Admiulstrator
May 10, Mai.