The Mayor's Wife

d behind the mayor and I found myself again alone in a spot where I had not felt comfortable from the first, I experienced an odd sensation not unlike

se, its perpetration had taken place in this very room. It was a fancy, but it held, and under its compelling if irrational in

om the dining-room. It was through the dining-room door Nixon had come when he so startled me by speaking unexpectedly over my shoulder! The two windows faced the main door, as did the ancient, heavily carved mantel. I could easily imagine the old-fashioned shutters hidden behind the modern curtains, and, being anxious to test the truth of my imaginings, rose and pulled aside one of these curtains only to see, just as I expected, the blank surface of a series of unslatted shutters, tightly fitting one to another with old-time exactitude. A flat hook and staple fastened them. Gently raising the window, and lifting one, I pulled the shut

room. As I passed the first stair-head, I heard a baby’s laugh, followed by a

aching the mother, I paid a short visit to the nursery where I found a baby whose sweetness must certainly have won i

ld woman’s face. Conceive my astonishment at finding the spot still lighted and a face looking out, but not the same face, a countenance as old, one as intent, but of different conformation and of a much more intellectual type. I considered myself the victim of an illusion; I tried to persuade myself that it was the same woman, only in another garb and under a different state of feeling; b

I was destined for a while to live, breathe and sleep. However, as soon as I had drawn the shade and lighted the gas, I forgot the whole thing, and not till I was quite ready for bed, and my light again turned low, did I feel the least desire to take another peep at that mys

comfort brought by this understanding was scarcely sufficient to act as antidote to the keen strain to which my faculties had been brought. Yet nothing happened, and when a clock somewhere in the house had assured me by its own cle

ing my wants and showing himself an adept in his appointed task. Once I caught his eye and I half expected him to speak, but he was too well-trained for that, and the meal proceeded in the same silence in which it had begun. But this short interchange of looks had given me an idea. He showed an eager interest in me quite apart from his duty to me as waiter. He was nearer sixty, than fifty, but it was not his age which made his hand tremble as he laid down a plate before me or served me wit

. As I was rising from the tabl

. Ellen will show you where.” Then, as I was framing a reply, he added in a less forma

so I perceived that he simpl

sily kept awake. I don’t believe I could keep awake if I

ust what I had intended him t

rd, perhaps with the intention of making aud

ing merriment, like the light-he

to. I really should enjoy the experience of com

. But his curiosity or his interest would not allow him to see me pass out without making another attempt to unders

whispered in the neighborhood, that this house

half ashamed of my arts), and, coming back, tu

good fortune of passing the night in a house that is really haunted. Wha

lanced nervously at the door and tried to seem at his ease; p

f our gossiping with the neighbors. But I think the people have mostly been driven away by strange noises and by ligh

won’t s

ut these things, and we don’t believe the half of it ourselves; but the house does

ughed again. “I don’t think I shall bot

might possibly account in some remote way f

ons. This all had come from a servant, a nurse who had lived in the house before. Ellen herself, like the butler, Nixon, had had no personal experiences to

th. Why, they hesitated to say; yet if pressed would acknowledge that the rooms were full of terrible sights and sounds which they could not account for; that a presence other than their own was felt in the house; and that once (every tenant seemed to be able to cite one instance) a hand had touched them or a breath had brushed their cheek which had no visible human source, and could be traced to no mortal presence. Not much in all this, but it served after a while to keep the house empty, while its reputation for mystery did not lie idle. Sounds were heard to issue from it.

almost saw the ghost, certainly saw the ghost’s penumbra. It was one night, or rather very early, one morning. She had been sitting up with the baby, who had been suffering from a severe attack of croup. Hot water was wanted, and she started for the kitchen for the purpose of making a fire and putting on the kettle. The gas had not been

r warned her that the space between her and the real hall was not the solitude she was anxious to consider it. A sigh! That meant a person. Striking a match, she looked eagerly down the hall. Something was moving between the two walls. But when she tried to determine its character, it was swallowed up in darkness — the match had gone out. Anxious for the child and determined to go her way to the kitchen, she now felt about for the gas-fixture and succeeded in lighting up. The whole hall again burst into view but the thing was no long

the ch

t was safe to leave the house. Her employees did not fe