Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 December 1890 — Dr. Elfenstein's Mission [ARTICLE]

Dr. Elfenstein's Mission

fl Remarkable Romance.

BY EMILY THORNTON.

CHAPTER VII. THE HAUNTED TOWER. Leaving Sir Reginald to his wild ride on that lovely May morning, we will go back a day or two in our story, and again seek Dr. Elfenstein. In many of his visits, which were all professional, he had, by dropping some leading word, striven to discover the public mind in regard to the mur'der committed in tfieir midst twenty-Uve years before. To his surprise, he mot everywhere a decided reluctance to talk upon the subject, as the law had acquitted the only one suspected, but the gloomy looks and wise shakes of the head he so often met told him well that the younger brother Fitzroy was still held guilty in the opinions of the general mass of the inhabitants. Sorry to see that his friend was still so hardly thought of, Earle Elfenstein dropped the subject. Jumping into his gig, he drove away to the village, resolved to go through the extensive grounds of the “Hall,” as strangers were in the daily habit of doing. Glendenning Hall lay next to his own cottage home, and stopping at the gate lodge, he asked permission of the keeper to drive around the premises. This permission was easily gained, and the son of the gatekeeper, an intelligent boy of fourteen, volunteered to ride with him. to explain the places on the route. So climbing to his side, Sandy began at once to chatter of all that come into his young head. “You are the new doctor, I know that well,” he remarked; “so it is all right for you to know how to get to the Hall, in case you are sent for in a hurry. It is quite a ride, you see, before the mansion comes even in sight. This front part of the house is where the family live, and is of stone, very handsome; but all that ■wing, or part, that runs back, very old, deserted, and almost falling to pieces.” Dying insensibly away From human thoughts and purposes, It seemed—wall, window, roof, and tower To bow to some transforming power, And blend with the surrounding trees. These lines flashed into Earle Elfenstein’s mind as he gazed on the almost ruined portions of the old Hall. Then, again, his thoughts returned to the boy, and he said, quietly: “There was a murder committed here once, I have been told, my boy. Which part was that done in?” “It is not on the front, but on the right-hand side, where the blind is halfopen. That was Sir Arthur’S room, and is now occupied by Sir Reginald. It is in the second story; but the balcony railing that surrounds it, you see, is not so very far from the ground, as the house sets so low at that end. “The body was evidently swung from that balcony to the ground by means of a rope tied under the arms. ’ The rope was dangling there, the next day, in the wind. “See! This path leads to a beautiful lake; you can see the water plainly through those parting tree boughs. There the body was supposed to have been flung, to hide it for a time; but it must have been carried away the same night, for it never has been found. ” “That is very strange,” quoth the Doctor. “Where could the murderers have hidden it?” “No one can‘tell. People think his brother did the deed, as they had quarreled the night before it happened; but when he was tried it seemed to be proved that he did not ” “Yonder is a curious-looking building,” remarked Earle, pointing to a square brick tower that stood beyond, yet attached to, the deserted wing. “What‘ may that be?” “It is called ‘The Haunted Tower.’ Please drive fast past that, Doctor, for I shiver whenever I think of it, even, much less pass near it!” returned Sandy. -Why?” “Because it 18 a fearful place. It is haunted!" was the whiskered reply. •Who says so?" •Everybody. No one likes to -,ake thi?

path, even in daylight, such terrible things appear at those windows at the top of the tower on dark, stormy nights.” “Who, for one. has seen these things?" “I have. And so has every person who live* in x~bnu<e wfthwlddows facing this way, or who is out much nights. You see, that tower is very tall, and soars way above the trees. I saw it myself the last time we had a terrible storm. I was staying with Jim Colgrove all night. Jim lives just below you, in the village. It was about ten o’clock, and we were in his room, undressing. “When we were ready for bed, Jim put out the light aud I ran to the window to see if it still stormed, when suddenly a bright light caught my eyes, in the top of the tower, and. looking up, I saw the most frightful object eyes ever beheld, dancing inside, plainly seen through the windows." The boy stopped here, while his eyes seemed dilating with horror at the remembrance, and his lips grew pale. “What was it like?” “Oh, I don't want to describe it! I can’t, really! Jim looked out when I screamed, and was as frightened as I. so we both jumped into bed, quick, and covered up our heads to shut out the sight. It was terrible, Doctor, terrible!" “Are you sure others have seen It 9” “Oh, yes; and you can see it yourself if you look that way about ten o'clock the next hard storm that comes. It seldom fails to appear then ” Dr. Elfenstein said no more, but inwardly resolved to remember, and be on the lookout for the specter of the Haunted Tower. Yet, while he resolved, he laughed at himself for putting the least faith in this boy’s unlikely story. “It is a wild tale these villagers have invented, in order to excite strangers and draw attention to this quiet, rural place. Ido not believe one word about the ghost, yet, for the joke of the thing, I will look this way about ten some real stormy night and see what is to be seen. ” As if to keep the thing in remembrance, Earle saw that the sun was sinking, even then, into a bank of clouds, and ho concluded that a thunder storm would burst over them that very night. One thing, however, Earle Elfenstein noted, the present baronet’s apartments were on the same side of the building that connected with the ruined portion, while the tall old tower, which seemed of more modern build, stood just back of the whole, while its large windows on each of the four sides could be distinctly seen by the whole village inhabitants, as it rose so far above the houses, and even above many of the numerous trees that tilled the grounds. With a breast full of curiosity and eager to be at work unraveling the mystery that hung so deeply over this wellknown place, Earle turned the head of his horse toward the entrance, determined if a storm did rage at ten that night to be stationed at some window or place where the Haunted Tower could be distinctly seen. Could Dr. Elfenstein have known what the appalling storm had in store for him he surely would have dreaded more its coming.

CHAPTER VIII. WHAT DR. ELFENSTEIN SAW. The life of a physician is certainly a very unsettled and unsatisfactory one. No sooner, therefore, had Earle Elfenstein retired to his library after his lonely supper and become deeply interested in a book, while waiting for the hour to come, than a severe thunder shower was ushered in by muttered thunder and zig-zag lightning, and a rat-tat! tat-tat! rat-tat-tat came at the door, and a call for services about two miles off. “Well,” he thought, as he vaulted upon the back of his faithful horse Sultan, “I can, perhaps, have a view of his ghostship on our way back if wo hasten. “My! what a sharp flash that was!” So saying he touched his horse and sped off in the darkness. Before reaching the home of his patient, the storm was indeed upon him. He lingered fully an hour, hoping it would abate, but instead, its fury seemed to increase with every breath. His patient had fallen into a quiet sleep, and he was anxious to be off. Donning his rubber coat, with its protecting hood welt drawn over his hat, he started homeward. Pitchy darkness he encountered all the way, relieved only by vivid flashes of lightning that darted hither and thither over the inky sky, while the wind, eerielike, soughed through the tall trees of •the grounds surrounding Glendenning Hall; thep, seeming to gather force with each lull, broke loose again into fury, lashing and thrashing the branches in a fearful manner. The rain also fell in torrents. Suddenly, a brilliant, flash of lightning caused his horse to "shy to one side, while a crash of thunder almost appalled him. Raising his eyes instinctively toward the sky, they fell by accident (for its very existence had been forgotten in the excitement of the moment) upon the windows of the Haunted Tower. The words of the boy were fully confirmed; the most horrid creature fancy could picture was surely dancing just within the tower in full, plain view. A hideous figure, with large, flaming eyes, and strange, fully defined horns each side the head, was jumping up and down, amid a glare of what seemed sulphurous light, while every now and then it sank down only to reappear, going through the same wild motions and capers, each one appalling enough to strike terror to the hearts of the superstitious beholder. But Dr. Elfenstein was not a siiperti-s tious man. 'Ghosts, goblins, specters, all were to him mere vagaries of a crazed brain. Therefore, while startled and horrified for one moment by this singular apparition, the next he coolly reined in his horse, and thus stood still, calmly contemplating the scene. He certainly had not fancied the thing he saw! He felt himself, the horse; then again comprehended fully the situation; the pouring rain, the wild thunder and still wilder lightning, and : there ahead of him, distinctly visible,the windows of the Haunted Tower, with this hideous dancer. No! He, Earle Effenstein, M. D., was not dreaming, but, in ttuth, was a living witness of something so inexplicable and singular that he then and there instantly determined that it should be his aim, his study, nay, his duty, to unravel the meaning of this perplexing enigma, this covert mystery that had for years, it seemed,, almost paralyzed the villagers with fear, and now had obtruded upon the notice of himself, a stranger, engaged' hi following 6ut the duties,.of' his profession in a dark and stormy night. While still sitting there upon the back of his horse, lost in amazement ahd conjecture, the demoniacal hobgoblin, apparition, or whatever the evil genius of the Haunted Tower might be called,

[ dropped from right; the strange, lurid | light disappeared; darkness reigned over I the place, except as revealed by the I lightning flashes, and the puzzled and I undaunted physician was free to urge ■ his horse onward once more towards.the 1 peaceful cottage that he called his home. Once within the cheerful shelter of the ' library he seated himself beside the table, drew nearer the wax candles, and again took up his book to read another | chapter before retiring for the night. But he soon found that reading was | impossible, for ever before the page flitted the impish figure he had seen, with I its horns, its flaming eyes, and hideous ! contortions. Closing the book then he leaned his head against the tall back of his chair, and thought long and deeply. At the close of his cogitations, as he laid himself down upon his bed for the night, one result alone was reached, namely: “There had been a murder committed years before within Glendenning Hall, and the murderer was still unknown and at large. “For some unaccountable reason the tower was made to appear in the possession of evil spirits by some parties, also unknown.” In his soul Dr. Elfenstein believed the dreadful apparition he had himself witnessed that night was the work of some wicked person, wrought out, probably, to keep up the superstitious notoriety such a mystery would bring upon a place. Whichever or whatever the motive, and what the meaning of the whole thing might be, he was resolved to find out. But how? Such questions are often asked by human hearts on private meditation, and as no answer comes, they press on blindly, seeking the fulfillment of their queries in their own way, and that way often leads, as it did in this case, to strange and wholly unlocked for results. Finding sleep impossible, the Doctor again arose, and drawing aside the curtain from the window once more gazed forth into the darkness of the night. But while the storm still raged furiously, and the sky was shrouded by an inky pall, no light appeared from the direction of the Hall to whisper forebodingly of the specter of the tower. Leaning his head against the sash, the young physician soon found himself pursuing another and an entirely different train of thought. This time the storm passing before his eyes was transferred to the wildly lashed and foaming billows of the sea. His peaceful home had changed to the cabin of an ocean steamer, and the goblin of night into the graceful form of Ethel Nevergail, his lovely fellow passenger of a few weeks before. Again he seemed to be supporting her in his arms, while guiding her feet across the saloon of the rocking, swaying, plunging steamer. « Once more their fingers seemed to have met, and he was gazing, with a thrilling pressure upon his heart, into her frightened eyes and upon her blushing cheeks. Ah, beautiful, lost Ethel! How he longed to see her, to speak to her, to be near her; but he knew that for him Such a pleasure would never again be, so with a weary sigh he dropped the curtain and turned to his pillow, but not to sleep even, but to toss around and strive in vain to banish from his mind thoughts of the girl who had unconsciously succeeded in leaving so indelible an impression upon his heart. [to be continued. |