Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 257, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 October 1911 — MY LADY RUTLEDGE [ARTICLE]

MY LADY RUTLEDGE

Orraai

fapfr fhnf r»o rd* u Iror ora a » Af)A *- _. a _ , . .. t * , . and further broinrl-'t. out the * Ti “The young wife o’ old Thomas -Rutledge,” was the answer. “She died sudden.” / v I knew that my * grandfather's, second wife, had died soon after their marriage, but that there was anything suspicious in the fact I had never heard and did not now believe My reason for coming to the hall was to find If my hope of giving a house party the’ seemed feasible. A massive and in osing pile I found tiiv house to be. but ruin and negj* lect Was wri ten all about it. I had brought the keys and at length found myself in one ot the front rooms and a Are roaring up the broad chim* ney. There was no way of lighting the place, but K was moonlight, and after drawing out an old conch on which I proposed to sleep I sat looking out into the vine-tangled garden. Suddenly a shadow fell across the pathway and a moment later a woman appeared, alight and girlish, and enveloped in a long garment of gray. Slowly the form advanced, paused as If looking over the old garden, then, turning, disappeared. “My lady of Rutledge Hall!” I exclaimed under my breath. ' t li I determined that on the following day I would, make a thorough examination of the hou-e both within and without, and began bright and early. It was nearly noon, however, before anything unusual happened. Then, while in a chamber. I glanced; into a long mirror reflecting the part of the; room toward whteh my "back was turned. A crimson curtain hung there as I looked last, now—Hke*a j>ertratt inclosed by the mirror’s frame —scood a girl whose right hand held the curtain aside, her red lips sligntly parted and a startled look to her brown -eyes. I turned to confront the original-. She was gone! Pulling aside, the drapery I found a door, closed and locked. Had I been tricked by a too vivid lmaglnaiion? I did hot believe it. Neither could I bring myself to fancy anything supernatural in the myster. ous figure, she had too much-the look of flesh and bloc-1.. Presently I renewed my search, with greater eagerness than ever, but it was several hours later befo e I entered that part of the housr previously occupied by the care -ker. Then I approached from the outside; but what was this! . Was he hers after all?- There were igns of life. S Puzzled, I knocked at the door. It opened, and "~r the second time I found myself looking into a pair of startled brown oyes. Jes, I had found'the-mysterious lady, and after introducing myself found her name to be Arvilla French and learned how she came to be here. Her father was hot living, her mother’s health required a summer In a qqiet place Miss French had been attracted by the romantic neglect of ■Rutledge Hal!, and coming’ across the man who had cared for the plaoe, learned that she might occupy a * ■ L ■ r— _ V