THE VEILED LADY.

Evening Star, Issue 14699, 17 October 1911, Page 3

THE VEILED LADY.

| IN THE LITTLE WHITE HOUSE, i In a littte white house ou the outskirts ; of Rutland. Ohio, the first, home of Mormonism, in the West, liv.es a spinster who was known in girlhood for her beauty. .She has worn a heavy veil for more than 40 years. In all that time, so far as the people in the village know, no man has seen her face. Few people have seen beyond the heavy veil. Sometimes, when alone, she raises tho veil to her forehead, but she pulls it down at the first approach of a human being. When she drives out ' it is doubly thick, and envelops her face from her forehead to her chin. Tho name ot the veiled lady is Harriet Martindale. She has money, and ehe is not stingy with it. She bought a library for tho village. She bought homes for two aged spinsters who had lost their own. No one in the village knows why she wears the veil, but the gossip, ir that it is because of a love affair and a resolution made more than 40 years ago that no man should again see her face. To strangers who call at the little white house tho veiled lady seldom shows herself. Men whom she has known since boyhood sometimes call on farm btwiness. Her veil is in place when she opens tho door. She stands with hor side or back to the visitor. The house was silent when the writer (says the ‘New York World ’) knocked 1 at the heavy, wide whit© door. Footsteps were «oon heard, however. A bolt was drawn, and the heavy door was opened about -a foot.' Beyond lay a darkened room. From behind tho heavy door came the voice of a woman, low and kind. “What is it?” “te this Miss Martindale?” “Yes.” Tho finger tips drew back, the door closed, the latch clicked. There were hurried footsteps inside, then the inner door closed with a bang. All was still. To further mps there was no answer. —An Unusual Beauty.--The veiled lady has lived ttiere ever since ehe was a little girl. Tho postmaster at Kirtland went to school with her at the old Western Reserve Seminary, and remembers her as a young woman of unusual beauty. She had large black eyes. Her hair was dark. She was fond ot horses, and could manage th© wildest on the farm. She was graceful, popular, and had many suitors. Tie postmaster and the other old residents of the village remembered a morning more than 40 years ago when she was missing from home.' She had risen in the night, harnessed a colt, and ridden north. The whole countryside was aroused. The (lake to which the tracks of the colt led was dragged. But the girl was not drowned. She returned homo white they were still patrolling the beach. She said she had gone away to be alone, and, as far as tho postmaster remembers, no other explanation was made. When they saw her again the veil covered her lace. She has worn it ever since. Women now grown middleaged remember when, as little girls, they sometimes went-to the house of tho vened lady to look at picture books she had for them. Even m those dsjs ak» kujt iter face hidden, •