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Page 38
An amusing farce.
One of them saw something and could not be laughed out of it by his
fellows. But the general report was unsatisfactory. The mistake
was the employment of Irishmen in a task involving superstition.
Fourth tenant: Mr. Weston and family.
Remain three weeks. Leaves suddenly because the nurse encountered
something moving about in the lower hall one night when she went
down to the kitchen to procure hot water for a sick child. Bess
again offered her services, but the family would not stay under any
circumstances.
Another long period without tenant.
Mr. Searles tries a night in the empty house. Sits and dozes in
library till two. Wakes suddenly. Door he has tightly shut is
standing open. He feels the draft. Turns on light from dark
lantern. Something is there--a shape--he can not otherwise
describe it. As he stares at it, it vanishes through doorway. He
rushes for it; finds nothing. The hall is empty; so is the whole
house.
This finished the report.
"So Mr. Searles has had his own experiences of these Mysteries!" I
exclaimed.
"As you see. Perhaps that is why he is so touchy on the subject."
"Did he ever give you any fuller account of his experience than is
detailed here?"
"No; he won't talk about it."
"He tried to let the house, however."
"Yes, but he did not succeed for a long time. Finally the mayor
took it."
Refolding the paper, I handed it back to Mr. Robinson. I had its
contents well in mind.
"There is one fact to which I should like to call your attention,"
said I. "The manifestations, as here recorded, have all taken
place in the lower part of the house. I should have had more faith
in them, if they had occurred above stairs. There are no outlets
through the roof."
"Nor any visible ones below. At least no visible one was ever
found open."
"What about the woman, Bess?" I asked. "How do you account for her
persistency in clinging to a place her employers invariably fled
from? She seems to have been always on hand with an offer of her
services."
"Bess is not a young woman, but she is a worker of uncommon
ability, very rigid and very stoical. She herself accounts for her
willingness to work in this house by her utter disbelief in
spirits, and the fact that it is the one place in the world which
connects her with her wandering and worthless husband. Their final
parting occurred during Mr. Dennison's tenancy, and as she had
given the wanderer the Franklin Street address, you could not
reason her out of the belief that on his return he would expect to
find here there. That is what she explained to Mr. Searles."
"You interest me, Mr. Robinson. Is she a plain woman? Such a one
as a man would not be likely to return to?"
"No, she is a very good-looking woman, refined and full of
character, but odd, very odd,--in fact, baffling."
"How baffling?"
"I never knew her to look any one directly in the eye. Her manner
is abstracted and inspires distrust. There is also a marked
incongruity between her employment and her general appearance. She
looks out of place in her working apron, yet she is not what you
would call a lady."
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