The Argosy — page 115: what you’re looking at

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

100 In the Dead of Night. ? be a strange coherence, a remarkable similarity, in the stories told by © the different persons who profess to have seen these appearances. And ~ now they are not content with saying-that Park Newton is haunted by one ghost: they will have it that two of them have been seen of late.” ‘‘ Two of them!” exclaimed the General and Kester in one breath. ‘“‘ Aye, two of them,” answered Richard. ‘One of them I need not name. The other one is said to be the ghost of my poor lost brother.” ‘“ What wretched fabrications are these!” exclaimed Kester. ‘“ Are you and I, sir,” turning to the General, “to have our lives worried and our peace of mind broken by the babbling of a set of idiots,: such as there unfortunately seems to be in this house? ” “They do not disturb my peace of mind, Kester.” ‘“They do mine, sir. This house is my property—pardon me for mentioning the fact. Once let it acquire the unenviable reputation of being haunted, and for fifty years to come everybody will swear that it is so. Should you, sir, ever choose to leave the house, what chance shall I have of getting another tenant? None! With the reputation of being haunted, no one will live init. Slowly but surely it will go to rack and ruin.” ee “It is hardly to be wondered at,” said the General, “‘ that these people have connected a tragedy so terrible, as that which will make Park Newton memorable for a century to come, with certain ghostly appear- ances. I myself find my thoughts dwelling upon the same thing very frequently indeed. What a strange, sad fate was that of poor young Osmond! Him I did not know. But in my dreams I am continually — seeing the face of my poor lost boy whose fate was only one degree less sad. Do you never find yourself haunted in the same way, Kester ?” “Haunted, Uncle Arthur? ‘That is a strange word to make use of. I have not forgotten my cousin, of course—-nor am I likely. ever to do so.” For a little while they all sat in silence. Nothing was heard save the crackling of the fire or the dropping of a cinder; or, now and then, the moaning of the wintry wind as it crept about the old house, trying the doors and windows, and seeming as though it were burdened with the weight of some terrible secret which ft was striving to tell but could not. | | Suddenly Richard Dering spoke. ‘This is the eighteenth of — January,” he said. ‘‘ Eight months ago to-night, Percy Osmond was murdered, and under this very roof. To-night, at twelve o’clock, if what these people allege be true, footsteps will be heard—the noise of — some one walking up and down the room where the murder was © committed. Such being the case, what more easy than for us three to . prove or disprove the accuracy of at least this part of the story? Why — Gomicbooks.con ~~