Mliss :: :: University of Virginia Library

Reginia had never loved her brother so well as
at this moment. He looked so manly, so handsome,
so much like a gentleman, that at the last
moment she had half a mind to intercede with
Mr. Gray to have Bob remain in the city. But
the signal was given for “all ashore,” and Mr.
Gray took her hand to lead her away. She kissed
her brother tenderly, made him promise to be
“good,” and tore herself away.

On the wharf they waited till the boat pushed
out in the stream. Faces became indistinct,
but the waving of handkerchiefs transmitted a last
and a last farewell.

Mliss stood quietly gazing at the retreating form of
her friend, and unconsciously drew closer to Mr. Gray
and put her hand in his. He was left to her, but
Reginia stood a little apart, her graceful figure distinctly
outlined against the blue expanse of water.”

Reginia turned at last, tears in her beautiful eyes,
and her glance fell upon her two companions. Something
in the attitude of the two, in the tender care of
the one and the trusting love of the other, awoke a
painful thrill in her heart. They were nearer and
dearer to each other than she could be to either.

Mr. Gray acceded to Mrs. Shaw's request to pass the
night at the house. The departure of Bob left them
without a male protector, and Mrs. Shaw was nervous
and timid.

Ten days passed. Though retaining his room at the
hotel, Mr. Gray became in effect a member of Mrs.
Shaw's family.

One morning the place of Mliss at the table was vacant.
Reginia ran up stairs to call her, but soon returned,
pale, with a wild look in her eyes. The room
of Mliss was also vacant.

The newspaper dropped from Mr. Gray's hand.
Without a word he passed Reginia at the door, went
up stairs and entered the room where Mliss had slept.

The bed had been alept in, but there were no signs
of unusual disorder. Her dresses were hanging in
the closet, and her trinklets on the table. Nothing
seemed to be missing but the child herself.

The house was searched, the servants questioned,
doors examined, but no clue was discovered to her
mysterious disappearance. The servants averred that
they had heard no noise in the house, and that no one
had entered after the family retired.

But one fact remained, Mliss could not be found.
Not a trace could be discovered, not a word or a scrap
of paper to indicate why or how she had gone, where
or with whom she proposed to go. The little dirk-knife
was found open under the pillow, an assurance,
if one had been wanttng, that she had not gone of her
own will.

An hour later, the telegraph was conveying messages
on every line of travel from the city, authorizing the
arrest of any person who should be found in company
with a girl answering the description of Mliss. Detectives
were set at work, stimulated with gold and
promises of large rewards in the event of discovering
the missing child.

Mr. Gray returned home at midnight with no news
of any assuring character. A score of vagrant girls
had been brought to the police-office, but no Mliss.

In the next ten days every means of tracing the
young girl or her abductors were exhausted. The
search proved fruitless. Mr. Gray was forced to the
conclusion that Mliss had either been carried on
board a ship bound for some foreign port, and thus
out of the reach of the telegraph, or that she was
securely secreted in some part of the city.

Meantime Mrs. Smith was not idle. She complained
loudly at the loss of her child. The accusations
that she had made in confidence were now
made openly. Mr. Gray himself was the abductor.
Mr. Gray, alarmed at the probable consequences o

his guilty intimacy with the girl, had hidden her
away.

Related to those who knew neither Mr. Gray nor
Mliss, there was a seeming foundation for her accusation.
The meeting of Mliss and Mr. Gray in the latter's
office was tortured to meet the enemy's purposes.
Tim could be produced as a witness of the meeting.
The act of placing her in Mr. Shaw's family was
a blind. The man could not brave public opinion by
taking the child openly under his immediate protection.
And then Robert Shaw, whose knowledge
of the city might prove troublesome, was sent into
the country.

Mr. Gray then takes up his residence at the house
of Mrs. Shaw. Himself in the same house, her removal
could be easily effected. He could unbolt
doors when the household were asleep, and walk forth
with his victim. He could return after placing her in
a secure hiding-place, and be present at the discovery
of her flight. How else could an entrance be effected
into a carefully secured house without leaving a trace
of the means by which ingress was attained.

These representations were made to Dr. Fox and
others. Dr. Fox was too conscientious a man to give
authority to a story which he really believed to be
false, but in this case the woman's view was plausible.
He felt a little hurt at Mr. Gray's manner to himself,
and the humiliation of the retraction he had been
forced to make was still fresh in his mind. His
religion had not raised him above the conditions of
humanity. He was far more ready to believe than if
he and Mr. Gray had never met.

Dr. Fox presented Mrs. Smith's statement to Mrs.
Shaw. Mrs. Shaw presented it to her daughter.
Reginia did not, for a moment, believe it true, but she
could not prove it false. Perhaps her mind was not
free from the effects of certain affairs which had come
to her knowledge in which very estimable gentlemen
had behaved very wickedly. Men who were the soul
of honor in all other points were sometimes treacherous
in their relations with women.

The attachment of Mr. Gray for Mliss was at least
romantic. He had once spoken of running away
with Mliss, to save her from her mother. True, he
spoke jestingly, but might there not lurk a purpose beneath
his jest? Despairing of obtaining the child by
legal means, might he not have resorted to those illegal?
She could not bring herself to believe he had
acted so treacherously, but, at times, when beset by
his enemies, doubts would intrude into her mind.

One day her old admirer, Mr. Hopp, called to see
her. His visit was ostensibly in the interest of his
client, Mrs. Smith, but it afforded an opportunity he
had long been waiting for. As their conversation became
confidential he addressed her as an old friend.
He had loved and respected her father. He loved and
respected her, and desired, above all things, her welfare.
He spoke highly of Mr. Gray as a man and as a
lawyer. Reginia felt her heart sink as this cool reasoner
and close observer assumed, as a matter beyond
doubt, that Mr. Gray knew just where to find Mliss.
He defended his course entirely in secreting her.

Though Mrs. Smith was his client he could not shut
his eyes to the fact that her associations were bad.
How far she was in the power of the unscrupulous
men with whom she had at one time been connected
he had no means of knowing, but if he were attached
to Mliss, as Mr. Gray, was he should not like to see her
fall into her mother's hands. He spoke now as a
friend of Mr. Gray, not as a lawyer. He spoke also
as a friend of Miss Shaw. He had advised Mr. Gray
to do precisely what Mr. Gray had done. He would
not like to have the fact known, but he admitted it in
confidence to Miss Shaw.

Reginia's faith in Mr. Gray was a little shaken.
Now that it was to appear that Mr. Gray's conduct in
secreting Mliss might be justified in a measure by the
circumstances of the case, she was less sure of his entire
innocence. But it placed Mr. Gray in a new position
with regard to herself. If Mliss was living in
secret under his protection he must purpose one or
two things—to make her his wife when he could do so
legally, or to make her his mistress. The former was
the more probable. Mr. Gray then must be regarded
as a married man.

What was it to her? Nothing. There had been no
love passages between them. Mr. Gray had a right to
marry whom he pleased. But the thought gave her
pain. Their associations of late had become very intimate.
The delicacy with which he had come to her
assistance at the death of her father had appealed
to her finer sensibilities. It caused her to regard
him as something more than a friend. It
had opened her heart more readily than years
of courtship. It afforded her an insight into his nature
that few women obtain of the man they marry.
The friendship thus cemented had gone on without
interruption. She turned naturally to him for everything.
His presence gave her courage, strength,
peace. She looked for him at night as if he was her
lover. She was a weak girl, always accustomed to dependence,
and Mr. Gray had the quiet strength of
character that she most admired.

The young girl, in fact, just discovered that she was
in love when she discovered that her love was hopeless.
She had a secret now of her own to guard from
his eyes.

Mr. Gray came to her one night with a singular
proposition. He had heard of a spiritual medium of
remarkable power whom he proposed to visit. He did
not believe in spiritualism, but it was evident that
there were forces at work beyond our present powers
of comprehension.

These forces might be spirits or they might be magnetic
currents conveying thought by some process to
us unknown. That a knowledge of existing facts had
been conveyed from one point of the earth to another
by some secret intelligence, was a fact only the ignorant
denied. Was it not possible some news of the
missing Mliss might thus be obtained.

“Have you ever visited this lady?” asked Reginia.

“No; but I have conversed with several gentlemen
who have. She has given such remarkable tests that
I am inclined to see if she can solve the mystery that
surrounds Mliss.”

“It happens that I know her. I went to see her
with a number of friends, more than a year ago. It
is a very dangerous experiment,” she continued,
with a quick glance at his face.

“Why so?”

“Why, I have reason to believe that they sometime

tell what people are saying without regard to the
truth.”

“The evidence of these intelligences, which we will
call spirits for the convenience of the term, should be
subjected to the same rules as evidences given here
on earth. Any spirit can identity himself to his
friends, and if he fails to do so, he is not entitled to
belief.”

“Then you are not afraid to hear what they may
say?”

“Not in the least. Why should I be?”

Regina thought that if he really knew where Mliss
was, he was subjecting himself to a hazardous test.
She was pleased, however, at the proposition, and
made haste to accompany him.

The medium lived at North Beach, in a pretty residence
commanding a fine view of the bay. They entered
through a garden of shrubs and flowers, and
rang at the bell.

The door was opened by a gentleman of peculiar and
marked physiognomy. Its chief beauty was a pair of
gray eyes full of magnetism and intelligence. He recognized
Miss Shaw at a glance, having been present at
her interview the year before. He welcomed them
cordially, and conducted them into a small sitting-room
where a beautiful blonde lady, apparently not
more than twenty years of age, was sitting with two
children at her feet.

Mrs. Rhodes, the medium, also recognized Miss
Shaw, and called her by name. Mr. Gray was introduced,
and after half an hour spent in conversation,
Mr. Gray made known the object of his visit.

“Certainly,” said Mrs. Rhodes. “There is a number
of people here who want to speak to you.”

“People?” repeated Mr. Gray.

“Ghosts, if you prefer to call them so. They are so
real to us that we speak of them as people.

“Do you see them?”

“Sometimes, under favorable circumstances. But
I feel them whenever they enter the room.”

“Why,” said Reginia, “I should think you would
be afraid.”

“Afraid? what of?”

“Of the ghosts.”

“Are you afraid of Mr. Gray now?”

“No,” replied Reginia.

“Why are you not? He is a man, and much
stronger than you.”

“Yes, true,” replied the young lady, “but I know
he doesn't wish to hurt me.”

“Well: suppose he should die to-night and come
here as a ghost to-morrow night. Would he want to
harm you then?”

“No, of course he would not.”

“Then why should you be afraid of his ghost?”

Reginia had no answer.

“You must allow something for the influence of
education, Mrs. Rhodes,” said Mr. Gray. “We are
taught in childhood to fear ghosts.”

“And a lot of other damned nonsense,” said Mr.
Rhodes.

“Leave off the big words, Harry,” remarked Mrs.
Rhodos, smiling pleasantly. “Miss Shaw isn't used
to them.”

“Excuse me,” said Mr. Rhodes, “but I get hot on
that subject. There's a lot of damned—”

“Let us give the ghosts a chance,” interrupted Mrs.
Rhodes. “Harry has but one fault. He will swear in
spite of all I can do.”

“Yes,” admitted Mr. Rhodes; “it is a habit I fell
into when I was mate of a ship. A man may get
along on shore without swearing, but it's no use trying
it at sea.”

The children were now put to bed, and preparations
made for a sitting. A small table was placed in the
centre of the room, Mr. and Mrs. Rhodes sitting opposite
to each other, Mr. Gray and Miss Shaw in the
same relative position.

The lights were then removed and the shutters
carefully closed.

“O,” exclaimed Reginia, growing nervous, “I'm
afraid.”

“Mr. Gray,” said Mrs. Rhodes, “go round and sit
with Miss Shaw. If she feels your arm round her
waist she won't be afraid.”

Mr. Gray obeyed, and no further complaints of that
nature were heard.

“Do you see any lines on the table?” asked Mrs.
Rhodes,

No one saw anything.

“I see little, fine electrical lights playing all over it.
In a moment these lights will take shape and form
letters and words. As fast as one word is read it disappears,
and another word succeeds.”

“Do you know what causes these lights?” asked
Mr. Gray.

“It is a way the spirits have adopted of communicating
their ideas”

“Do you ever see the spirits as they cause the lines
to appear?”

“Very often, but not always.”

“Can you distinguish one spirit from another?”

“As readily as you can tell one woman from
another.”

“But if a strange spirit appears—one you have
never seen—”

“Sometimes I have a consciousness what it is.
Sometimes it is presented by a spirit I know. Again
it comes as a stranger and remains such until we get
acquainted.”

“Then you have no positive means of identification?”

“No; they identify themselves. The electrical
ines are now forming words. Listen.”

There was a moment of silence, and then Mrs.
Rhodes began:

“R-e-g-i-e.”

“That's me,” exclaimed Miss Shaw, in a flutter of
surprise and fear.

“Please give your name,” said Mrs. Rhodes, addressing
the table.

“I-don't-need-give-my-name. My-little-princess-will-know-me.”

“Why,” exclaimed Reginia, starting to her feet.
“That is papa. No one else calls me, `my little princess!”'

The table responded by a vigorous tip.

“Are you Miss Shaw's father!” asked Mrs. Rhodes.

“Yes.”

“How long since you passed away?”

“On the twentieth of November.”

“Is that correct, Miss Shaw?”

Reginia was too much overcome to reply. She clung
trembling and half fainting to Mr. Gray.

“My dear,” said Mrs. Rhodes, soothingly, “if this
is your father you need not be afraid of him.”

“But it is so strange,” murmured the young lady

“There's nothing strange about it,” said Mr.
Rhodes. “Your father wants to talk with you just
as much as if you could see him.”

Reginia, still trembling and apprehensive, resumed
her seat.

“If this young lady is your daughter,” said Mrs.
Rhodes, addressing the table, “you will tell her something
that will convince her who speaks.”

“Yes; I will repeat the last words she ever spoke to
me. Do you remember them, Regie?”

“Yes,” faintly answered the young lady.

“You were standing on the door-step at the time.
I was going to my office.”

“Yes; I remember.”

“You kissed me good-by, and said: `Bring Mr.
Gray home to dinner.”

“That is true,” replied Reginia, more calmly.
“Papa was not well, and I thought—”

“Thought you'd like to have Mr. Gray in the
house.” Interrupted Mrs. Rhodes. “There is no
harm in that.”