At the Mercy of TiberiusEvans, Augusta J. (Augusta Jane)
History
At the Mercy of Tiberius
Evans, Augusta J. (Augusta Jane)
Rome -- History -- Tiberius, 14-37 -- Fiction
"I'm that frustrated I couldn't say what I want; but I didn't signify
bottle and jimmyjohn liquor, I mean sperrits, sir, ghosts what walk,
and make the hair rise like wire all over your head. The ole house is
hanted shore 'nuff; and I can't stay there. Lem'me tell you, Lord! Mars
Alfred, don't laugh! It's the Gawd's truth, ole Marster's sperrit is
fighting up yonder in his room with the man what killed him. I seen
him, in the broad daylight, and I have cum for you and Mars Lennox to
git there, jest as quick as you kin, so you kin see it fur yourselves.
I know you won't believe it till you see it; nuther should I, but it's
there. The sperrits have cum back, to show my young mistiss' child
never killed her grandpa."
Mr. Dunbar rose quickly, handed a glass of water to the old man, and
then placed a chair for him.
"Tell me at once what you saw."
"Ole Marster standin' in the flo' close to the vault, with his arm up
so--and the handi'on in his own hand--"
"How dare you come here, with this cock-and-bull story? You are either
drunk or in your dotage. Your master has been in his grave for eighteen
months, and--"
"Oh! to be shore I know'd what you'd say. Cuss me for an idjut; but I
swar, Mars Lennox, I am that scared I dasn't to tell you no lie. The
proof of the pudden is jest chawin' the bag, an' I want you both to git
a carridge quick, and take me up home; and if you don't see what I tell
you is thar, you may kick me from the front door clean down to the big
gate. The grave is busted wide open, and the dead walks, for I seen
him; and I'll sho' him to you. Come on, I want you to see for yourself."
"You imbecile old nincompoop! Go home, and tell Dyce to give you some
catnip tea, and tie you to a chair," laughed Mr. Churchill.
"You'll laugh t'other side of your mouth, Mars Alfred, when you see
that awful sight up yonder. Ole Marster has come back, to clare the
name of his grandchile, for he and his murderer is a wrastling, and it
ain't no 'oman, it's a man! A tall, pretty man, with beard on his face."
Mr. Dunbar struck a bell at his side, and a clerk came promptly from
the rear room.
"Nesbitt, step over to the livery stable, and order a carriage sent up
at once." Turning to Bedney he continued:
"I suppose the gist of all your yarn-spinning is, that you have found a
stranger prowling about the place. How did you discover him?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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