And always there comes to me one dear phantom and wanders hand in hand with me -- a lost lady of the old years . '' `` My mother ? '' said the Story Girl very softly . `` Yes , your mother . Here , in her old haunts , it is impossible for me to believe that she can be dead -- that her LAUGHTER can be dead . She was the gayest , sweetest thing -- and so young -- only three years older than you , Sara . Yonder old house had been glad because of her for eighteen years when I met her first . '' `` I wish I could remember her , '' said the Story Girl , with a little sigh . `` I have n't even a picture of her . Why did n't you paint one , father ? '' `` She would never let me . She had some queer , funny , half-playful , half-earnest superstition about it . But I always meant to when she would become willing to let me . And then -- she died . Her twin brother Felix died the same day . There was something strange about that , too . I was holding her in my arms and she was looking up at me ; suddenly she looked past me and gave a little start . ` Felix ! ' she said . For a moment she trembled and then she smiled and looked up at me again a little beseechingly .
` XXXXX has come for me , dear , ' she said .
Felix Sara father first haunts house queer superstition thing years