NAN HAGGARTY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XX, Issue 37, 1 July 1892, Page 21

NAN HAGGARTY.

(Continued.) "Oh 1 nothing 1 nothing I " she saiJ, " But— Bobert— would you aiind drawing down that blind." One of the windows had been forgotten uncovered ; and it was after a glance towards tbat window that the sadden change came over Mrs May's face, and silence fell on the noisy little revel. After some wonder and greit efforts on Mrs May's part to hush up and forget the interruption, all went merrily as before. The Christmas candle was lighting, the " Mary " of the house, who was no other than its mistress, having lighted it, and there was no happier circle enjoying that nigbt'a festival. "Come, now," said Bobert May, " we shall go into the drawing room, and yon shall lie on the sofa, Mary, while the children and I get op some Christmas carols." So, reluctantly, the lights on the tree were put out, at last, one by one. Fairy-like carls of smoke and perfume of wax filled the room. The servants went off to their own dominions with much outpouring of thankfulness and many good wishes, and the family party went to the long, old-fashioned drawing-room. Mrs May rested, a little tired, perhaps, with her exertions for her poor friends of all the country ronnd, and the father and children soon filled the room with a cheery version of " When good King Arthur ruled the land he was a goodly king," and all the subsequent history of that " bagpudding" that was the type of the holy-crowned dish of later centuries. The Christmas log was presently brought in by Mike— it was only a stout, dry stump from the garden. " If ye please, sir, he whispered to the master, as he passed him —and Mike looked very pale—" ould Nan Haggarty was sittin" in the kitchen, as sure as I'm here." " What nonsense, Mike ! " The children were busy with the rhyme about the bag-pudding made by the legendary queen, and took nonotica of the conversation as Mike put the log on the fire. " Well, ye may say so, sir, bat she was sitting in the kitchen ; I saw her. An' I ran out to the others again ; they was comin' along the passage ; and she disappeared ; she only showed herself to me. The Lord be merciful to her I Will that log do now, sir 1 " 11 All right, Mike. That's something like a blaze. Hold your tongne about the other matter. See you don't frighten the women with such folly." So Mike was dismissed, and the yule log cracked bravely . "Although you have had presents already, Santa Clans may come," said the father to the three children, as they were retiring for the night. 11 Oh 1 yea, we shail hang our stockings on the rail of the beds. Good night, papa ! Good night, mother dear 1 " Then the husband and wife sat by the Christmas fira alone and talked of the past year, and of the mountain road, and man's work and cares— and how Murphy's men were discontented and ought to pay more, how Qainn never kept hia contracts, and how if the frost became very hard the work might have to stop altogether. " Well," be said at last, " I think it is about" time for Santa Clans ; " and his wife took from their hiding place in a cabinet some of the trifles in which childrea delight — a necklace, a drawing-book rolled tightly, and a number of gla^s marbles for the boy. With these treasures for his children the master of the house went softly up the stairs to play the part of Santa Claus. The light of the children's bedroom fire shone brightly as he noiselessly opened the door. He lookei in. Some one was standing there — not a child or a servant. A shock of amazement struck him dumb and still. There, plainly visible in the light from tha hearth, ftn old woman was seated, with a dark cloak on, and a little white cap. As if conscious of his entrance, she sirred on her chair. She began to rise. He thought she would never stop rising —she was so tall, so lank, so straight. She faced half round and the light was on her face— a colourless face, drawn and old, with Bunken mouth and hollow eyes. The man at the door Baw tbat she held in her skeleton hand a white cloth and a large pair of scissors. He had heard of poor Nan Haggarty from Mike, and of the dusting and the mending. All his boasted disbelief in ghosts and goblins was gone ia a instant. His mouth dried up. It was as if all at once his belief in the solid earth's roundness had been demolished, and the earth had been proved fiat after all. He had been angry with Mike, who first spoke of this phantom in the bouse. But here it was, visible to himself when he least expected it. He would have advanced and spoken, but he dreaded to wake the sleeping girls. What if they saw it to ? All this flashed in a few moments across his mind. The apparition passed through the open doorway near the fireplace. He followed. Georgie slept in the little room beyond, and another door led out from it to the landing. The master of the house followed briskly. No one was there. He crossed in three sttps to the other door. Tho landing was all dark. The clock ticked underneath on the stairs. He turned back into the children's rooms, lighted a candle and searched, and placed the little gifts in the expectant stockings

hanging oa the rails. Then, not telliog anyone, for he hesitated to acknowledge that he himself had seen the apparition and been convinced, he quietly searched the whole honse from the top to the basement-every room, the back staircase, the front staircase and even the cellar. Then he went down to the drawing-room again It was near twelve, and Mrs May was wrapped in fur, and ready for midnight Mass. Borne of the servants joiaed the party, carrying anterns. It was a regain Christmas night of the style most people like when they themselves have warm and happy homes ; the moon was bright among the drifting clouds, and a thin scattering of snow sparkled on the ground. " I hope the Lord will keep the children safe. We are out on a good errand, anyhow," Bobert May said, with unwonted fervor and evident anxiety. There was a silence. They went across the road. Crowds of people were gathering in groaps and streams towards the churchyard with its glittering mounds and stones and its dark trees "Do yon know, Bcbert, I don't like that house ? " 'said the lady m fur, holding closely to her husband's arm. « I was thinking if we could change after Christmas " S He understood the unfinished suggestion. " Something bas frightened you, Mary." Mrs May spoke only in a whisper, after a glance towards the churchyard. « I would not tell anyone but yon-lbut I did see some! thing. There was a face, a dead face, close against the wmdow-1 nothing but the face, with a little white frill round it ; one of the caps they bury people with. There was no figure below-nothin! but the face, with the darkness ail round it," g " You imagined it, Mary. You are making yourself ill » «I am certain 1 did not. I B aw it » They were in the cburchZtfiT' *T^ NaQ Ha^*y's g^e, all whitened with snowflakes, and glistening, under the moon. "When things like that are imagined, the real solution is tbat the house is not healthy," said Bobert May aa stoutly as he «m,M « The children's part of the house is-ia-fs not healthy I am Tur I made up my mind to that tonight. They must have other rooms " « Couldn't we leave the house ? " the wife persisted " I don't think I shall ever be happy i n it now " " I hardly think it is a healthy place," he assented. « Bad air may^reduce people's strength, and play queer tricks with their " Then we ought to leave it at once." so; and it is a pity, for I liked the place from the >, m?' th ' hOUBB iS PerfeCtly charmin ?." said Mrs May, « but you should hear the servants talk. That house is haunted » " Bubbuh. my dear 1 I beg your pardon, but I mean-I mean -well, if it's not a healthy house, the sooner we are out of ttthe f it M . c . an * hi ! e ' <* Qite of the anxiety of the grown-up folks, the happy children slept. Bootless their sleep was galled they awoke to nothing fearful, nor even dreamad of phantoms of the n.gh t. And the fire burned lower ani lower, and the stockings hut bulging with gifts on the rails of the three little beds When everyone had returned from church, and"the house and al Ills doors an 1 win lows f«teaaJ for the night, the father looked mo the nursery rooms to see that all was well ; and he could hardly be leva hi. memory that a gMnt old hag with duster and scissors had w ruded and appeared in that most peacefnl place. The fT heads all lay blwafully on the pillows, the eyes closed, the lips blLthS softly The rather shaded the candle with his hand, 2 w^deled 107I 07 g^, the W ° rld i 9 8 ° beaUtiful and iano <*<" •■ thl face of a -taepm? chiM. We older mortals reason for their exquisite tran qmlity that they are dreaming unattainable visions, peacefal and pure as the riven of Paradise ; wWle-alaa I-In realty the de a»s may be of climbing the apple tree, or fighting for toffee Then the nigbt wore on, and all in the house were 'fast asleeoexcept Blanche. That excitable child woke up, and though "t^ .f^TnT of ' Tf PerhßP9 . a Vefy dark morQin = ' aQd *« woadTred if Sana Clauß had oome. Gently she crept over the coverlet to The foot of her bed. Tnere was something rolled tightly in her stocking Perhaps it was a drawing-book ; she was wishing for one. Oh 1 ye 8 ' Santa Glaus had come ! Of course she knew it was pap, . but not in the wodd would she ever ask him. That would destroy he Ulurion and the coming of Santa Cbus down tha chimney was one of tha' brighter romances of the whole year. Pinkie was asleep; Pinkie was always asleep just when one wanted her. What was in Pinkie's stocking 1 It would noTbe fa* Blanche thought, to go and feel it, and find out ; besides, she mi^ bump against the bed-post in the dark. S WUt time was it? How could one know if it was morning ? She wett to the window, pat her fair face inside tha edge of the et£? wT?* ° Ut ' ° bI hh ° W C ° ld th 9 gIaSI Waa a^ S cheek! Why, there was snow outside. It did not seem a bit like morninj. The garden looked so aill and white ; the sky 80 k9k 9 a night sty with the clouds drifting across a bright moon: and l the silence »f the house told that everyone was asleep

Then cam 9 a solitary figura crossing; the snow of the gardea. Blanche looked down, aud saw it quite plainly. " Poor old woman 1 Has she nowhere to go in and go to bed. On Christmas night, too 1 How cold she mu9t bj. {Concluded in our next.)