The Arm Chair Library No. 79: The Haunted Homestead — page 23: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE HAUNTED HOMESTEAD. 21 ei eee ——— A eee her life to one object of her ambition. Yes—literally, this was so; for it was observable that as the carefully tended land recovered, she lost vitality, and __ ag the mansion arose she sank. a “It was in glorious autumn, when the richest wheat harvest that had ____ ever been reaped in the State was ____ gathered into the barns of Wolfbrake, and the finest corn crop that had ever grown in the valley stood ripe in the _ fields, that the house was finished. AR Se “So much money had been spent and so many debts remained to be paid, that there was but little to ex- pend upon furniture, and Mrs. Van ~ Der Vaughan could not appoint her house in a style so gorgeous as would have satisfied her ambition. However, it was furnished in the manner that you now see, which, after all, is much handsomer than anything that was known to the grand old Van Der Vaughans in their grandest days of, no doubt, fabulous grandeur. “It was about the first of Novem- per that the last of the Van Der Vaughans removed into this house. “The plastering of the sleeping rooms was not so well dried as had been supposed. ‘This was soon ascer- tained by Mr. Van Der Vaughan, who advised and entreated his wife to de- lay the removal. “But when had Madeleine Van Der Vaughan yielded to any will but her own? With the impatience and fever of a long desire, she hastened to take possession of her new residence. “Although the weather had con- tinued fine, with westerly or southerly winds, up to the day of removal, yet ___ then the wind shifted to the east, eS ae blowing up masses of dark clouds and cold mists, followed by rain and even toe a: sleet. _ -——~—~—sCT“A‘das! worn out by self-assumed, _ unnecessary burdens, Madeleine Van Le , 8 Der Vaughan was in no good eondi- tion successfully to meet a change of weather and other circumstances. Moreover, she, so earnest in her ambi- tion, so zealous for ostentation, was fatally careless in regard to her own personal comforts.- There was no grate or stove in her chamber, or ip any other room in her house; all de- pended upon open fire-places, which, however handsome, cheerful and poetic they may look, are not always just the very best things for damp houses in severe weather. “Mrs. Van Der Vaughan’s chamber could not be properly dried and heat- ed. The consequence was that she took a severe cold, which fell upon her lungs, and from which she, in her enfeebled state, had not power to re- cover. She dropped into a rapid con- sumption, and in six weeks from her triumphal entree into her new house she was borne thence to the family burial-ground, that you may see from your windows.” “Poor lady! What room did she ceeupy ?” “Yours.” “And—she died there?” “Yes: she died there, a victim, I am sure, of her own impatient, feverish ambition.” “Do not judge her harshly.” “T do not. This is the reputation she has left behind her.” “Yet it may not have been her true character. Reputation is one thing, character is another,” said I, falling into thought, and then reflecting that much yet must remain to be told, to give me a sure clue to the household mystery. “Well, what else?” I inquired. “What else, my dear? Why, noth- ing else. I have told you all her story to her death.” said Mathilde, uneasily. “But after all,” said I, “one of the most interesting things in the con- b | m