The Pomfret Mystery

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume V, Issue 1475, 6 November 1905, Page 4

The Pomfret Mystery

AMBUR Dudlet VINTON .

fe (JHAPTEBIX ( |th fiJ '(Continued) ' " V Sometimen at night I dtoatned tnat the t h V 1 thick oaken doors of the uult swung open w \y myaterioualy and ihat there rnahed out,a t troop of grinmnggoblinfiioes and v forms, which swept in ghostly procession, » A through the deserted corridors of the house 01 ", and clustered, in the darkoes", around my J T x ' lhe antique china was to me simply « t \ t something which I should not handle, but r the pietores were my fnondb '1 knew the J *\\ histones of all the dead and forgotten Do » ik lameures whose pororaito scowled and r?' simpered at me through the dark varnish , IV,' -hlch shrouded the-r oauva-ej, Bid I " wandered in imagmaion tlnougb Hie &« landscapes that stretched away lor indefi tf !>te distances behind their frames of tar fe'fflJSagarret, withttscobwebs and its fc«» ,dnst »nd its invalided ftnd dunrdod luraitf~~\ tore, its chests full of anoient finerj.its ty& thotlsandatid ooeotUsand endathatao m> enrhulatein everyoldgarrot,was, forme, r4i<'»mineolthertohest treasures mthu lim, cobwebby, tton first sawihelaoo If -.'of the woman who was to bo all the woild k feto me; who was to raise me to Heaven and plunge me Into Hell „who was to tor Wl ment and dfhgbtme,to eoothe and wound %1 1 me, to give mo lite and then to lead me to t *N* a bilttt unendurable death, tfhflt was in old portrait of the fairest a s'" woman thr ever lived f ? C# I dragged it forth from the pile of LV' lnobW where it had lain for many years, V>\ and bearing it as best I could, to the 4*4} small p»ned pole window I owfally V K' 1 btueheo the dust Iram its dim oanvae. Out of (he dusky, dark baokgroumU face ( {&9 J Childaslwas,Heltthewondroußpower 114 wave of irresistible passion, end I fell W, upon my knees bofoie it m frenzied adora ( 4W°l'took no heel of the flight of time as I ) W Welt' there wrappod in ardent homage, of |$L. that wondrous face, but it was dark when M' (he voice of Aunt Margaret roused me , fMuJtoa my trance, and with a strange feel lining Of exaltation m my heart, I went down »"? to everyday commonplace life, fs% riMnot Life'was never again to be m to me. A sentiment had fef(been awakened-a epellha been wovefFv' tS that keia my heart and soul subservient to their enchantment, and oast a glamonr kttil over every ooi and thought Ml \ Aunt Margaret," Hid lasl»t •! he Mr table 'eating the bread and milk that Stormed my evening meal, "Aunt Mar f WgareY/whoistbe lovely My who* por grf.tr«t.Bnpst..r ß mthegMret?' JK Aunt Margaret glanood at Aunt Betsy \Wi ("with a strange scared look, and hennaed tmt'" "•>• What portrait do you moan, Porcy 1 M% "Aportrait that Hound m the garret f/A*-a portrait of a lady-oh fo beautiful I Ws^\ With long yellow hair streaming down her acd beautiful, blue ejos" Sfev he ' ait{aoe ' iattll» 8l » TOllne9 "' r0!8 Wm before my imagination as I spoke M, 'i« it itLalmel" said Aunt Betsy, in »-hushed, awestiucktonei-mor'e to Aunt than tome "Ho has seen £#'Lal.n> ' T|a . ®PV< /'Who lflLalmo 9 " I asked, glancing a vague, intuitive alarm in the ashen fP) taoes of the old aunts. Aunt Martha %K { J ranswered, with tremblmg hps and falter &&* wg voice. |M%}iLaline|was an anceetress 1 odours, Wit Percy, in the day* when the Delauieures family of France. It h her f%y,fw>fatMMW im imi There ffaa V| klf another Lahne, one hundred years ago, so wj"™'* like" the first Laline inform and faoe that "It&ifieiame painting served as a likeness of &Mitb,emboth.'Whe3 you are twenty one Wii ft years old'jou will be told moro about BIA-l?dreamt of the faoe that night—it was W?\ never absent from my rrmd from the that ray eyeß closed until they opened in the morning. But, when I went *H< Vs to the garret again, the portrait was gone. *$ *. 1 'rushed down stairs with a heart filled irk * with anguish, and implored Aunt Margaret i'\ to tell me what had beon dono with it. 7i %j- -Bhe had not intended to d close its biding fpjit* 'place 'to me, but my uvident distress 1 *•"&' '/ shook her resolution/and she informed me %P" that it had been put in the vault for safe stif Ikeeping where the silver was stored. SSW They thought I criod bin o I could Ifhtf- not see the picture—that Imi child ¥\% lamenting a lost p)aytbing-but imy tears f% ' I were not shed for these reesons 1 wept '#*V'v because a wild terrible despair came over fflh me ai the thought of that fair image looked r *%y up among the exeorable horrors with iiHv? which I had peopled the vault ,'f , I rußhed from the house and sought the * ■> shelter of the warm fragrant bay in the CK* mow otthe barn It was my favourite "X*.«s\ refuge when childish mi (fortunes came, 'anamanyat'ibulationhadl sobbed over Up/' there, until the perfume of the odorous hay Mi*f (tbrcooing of the pigeons on the lafttn £f "1/ overhesd, the twit tw't of swallows flying %$t t *m end out through holes under tho oaves, ffirC bad beguiled the current of my thoughts I bad grown gay again But io day a 7r/' /shadowbadsett'edoverme which cooing 'f'b' ]f of the pigeons and the" twit twit" oi tho (fe* swallows were poworless Io dispel Thr. brightness had gone out of my life, and it V v yV teemed to me that I could never bo bap lif, t pya^ain, Vf; , 1 stole uneeon into the cellar and lay kf r i oown on the hard, dsmp floor beforo tho >V ] doors of the vault, My tears ran fast, if/ ■ but my moanß were hushed, for 1 ftarod M<t ' to.be disooyerod. I whispered woids of g!) / love—of passionate sjmpatly-with m/ ■ , ♦ » , lips oloße to tho damp iron bound doors as r \, *if my voice oould penetrate the thick i( c , oaken planks into the dark hollow beyond 4 I could noi eat nor sleop, and Bt last rfaej were forced to nnloekiho doors and bring l \" forth the precious portrait. Then I wus L % mad with joy, and I knelt before it and '//■ kissed its Jips again and again in the fienzy of passion 1 was bewitched—l S- was not a simple child—l was a oreature *i mud with tho spells of an overpoworing, resißtleiß enchantmont t At last, when the paroxysm of my joy '/ was over I let thtm bring tho portrait up > v stairs into the hall Thoy placed it whcio the light fell full upon it and then, Aunt l Margarot, taking me by tho hand said < ',<■ s ' "Sao, Porcy, there>sno picturo heio\%i * nothing but a dork expanse brolen by ,'r 4 '' shadows. Thero is no luce ' J* ! ,"* I stared np into Aunt Martha's faoe m v"' "No faeo 1" when tho solt *// eyes w6re beaming brighter than ever into 11 mine and tho io»v lips seemed to be 4 breaking into a smilo as the sunligat play ' ed over tbem ' " Ob, Aunt Margaret, how can you say that," I cried—and I bent down ovor tho 5 portrait and wuh my finger roverontly >' traced the outlines of the face (w "Seol" I excised, 'hero are tho M l * i 'eyfAihoreisiheydiowhiir, hero is tho ?> ' r mouth'— and asl touched the red smiling r / hpi thoy seemod to press ngainot m\ fingor a warm loving ki-s-'hero ut the wMAdtvootthe shook Bow can jou say Wm\Jim there ib no faco hen. I' »/ But mywods wero all in vain, No but me tould diicein iLe wonderful f|fi!, T loved ii moreeßrnts ly, more pa sionmely, wMf4taota ddßpalrmgly than ever s&s(**{ Hook baok en thoso days with surprise ifflsK if I was not, m, truth, mad | In meone lwesa obild, but *' W&S/y

hat orie-in my love—l *m raon-nnj nore than a tn&" I>l was ft Rod—frtr > lnv nanny could not fathom- the; depths o ibeacoth ng fires of passiou that burned vi'hiriwe ' v-' ■' ■< v , : It was in vain that my aunts strovo tc lisiilution mo by r- pefl od (nas6ftious thai ibo picture waa but a blank—ih-.t no fact jr featurea oould bo traced upon its black meii) : .:o»nv«R—ih«'t I l .was; worshipping n ureature of my fancy, a phantom of iuy bifaiti. I could rioh bp convinaedi My repißOb-oouid not resist tho spall O'St upon it, My heart could not renounce the idol before which it hnd prosirated itself. . To he mtinml •