Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1853-02-10
BY heaven must have thai . &; even

At the same time he began to empty q purse,
and piled up the gold pieces. | felt ID awk-
ward position. bad exhibited lie zQak for
the sole purpose of finding out my unk| n, and
then came young fool willing q lsJ exor.
bitant price asked for it. But what tohe
done7 could not help parting Vita clok;
and was well pleased on the otheE lh osbe
well paid or my nocturnal adsentfer The
young man put on the cloak and went away; bit
almost instantly he came back, AID dlaching
paper from the cloak, he threw its4oene, say
ing 10y
There is something which e3es ht9Belongto
the mantle, suppose p - g
Icarlessly took the paper up, aadNhat did |
read? y
Bring hocloak this evening aishe same
hour to the bridge Of Pontel Veccbigronc thou.
sand ducats are 'aaiti.g for = sss,st -
/ was thunderstruck. Ny pa,u'g regarding
both benefit and curiosity had failed. did not
hesitate long, but took up the five hundred du-
cats and ran after the purchaser.
Take your money back-' said to him, and
let me have the cloak cannot part with it,
The young man thought at first it was a joke,
but as ! insisted, he became angry, and called
me fool. From words we came to blows;
regular fight ensued, and was happy enough
to seize the mantle. But my adversary called
the police to his aid, and was taken before
court of justice. then offered twenty, fifty,
eighty, ducats, over the price. At last went
so far as one hundred. What reither treaty nor
violence could effect, was effected by gold He
took my money; took the cl ,ak and carried it
off triumphantly, not caring the least that the
whole town was setting me dom as a madman.
could scarcely wait till night A little be-
fore the time went with the cloak under my
arm to the bridge. With the last stroke of
twelve, the figure of the unknown appeared to
me, as fit were out of the earth.
Have you the cloak p was his first question.
Here it is answered, but it cost me six
hundred ducats, cash.
i know all about it, he replied, but here are
one thousand
He advanced with me to t,et& &lustrades of
the bridge, and counted the money into my
hands. There were one thousand ducats elis-
tening gloriously in the moolight and was de
lighted. I put the money into my pocket, and
began to scrutinize the features qfthe stranger,
which had been point of seq laary considcra
ton. But impossible he worYa close mask,
out of which two firery eyes were cleaning.
THANK you, sir said. What more do you
require of me? am ready to do your bidding;
unless you bid me to do wrong
sAs regards wrong, you-neeo feo' feer on that
point he answered, while prtti"eA, his, cloak on
his shoulders. '.'f require simply the. AID OF a
physician, not for living body, hut for a dead
one.'
asked for an explanation. He beckoned me
to follow him, and as he walked along, he said; /;
Il came here from very distant country with
my sister; and we stayed at tfE house of a near
relative. had the nlsfortunsA Use my sister !;
she was taken suddenly i'll, an lied ina few
hours. According to the CT p our family,
the deceased members are SpFevlous 10
their burial in the family HaHe vaon -waour rela-
tive here intends TO bury my lul Cardinslw. |
have no objection to this in I'D ts"ssainy rate,
send to my father the headpt Mheloved daugh-
ter, that he may look upon it once more.'
This idea Of cutting off the had of his sister,
seemed to me rather strange one; but did
not raise any objection, lest should displease
the generous unknown. therefore assured him
that had pracised the embalmcnt Of bodies,
: and requested him to conduct Inc to the deceas-
ed. However could not help asking why all
this should be done with so much secrecy. lie
explained that if his relatives knew of his inten-
ions. they would consider him cruel, and oppose
his wishes but the head once of, it would be
useless to raise any objection.
We had now arrived at large and nlagnili.
cent house. My conductor pointed to it as the
end of oul nocturnal journey. We passed the
principal entrance, entered little door, which
the stranger closed cautiously after Us. We
mounted narrow winding staircase, which led
to a long corridor, from which we entered q
room elegantly furnished but spareIy lighted by
: single lamp suspended from the ceiling. In
7 The apartment was bed, in which the deceased
was lying. The stranger averted his face, as il
, to hide his tears. He pointed to the bed, told
me to do my business well, and quickly left the
, room.
= | took the knife-whch, -LsySsapacity Of
physician, always carry about me-and ad
. vanced towards the bed The head was only
visible; but It was so beautiful that was seized
with sentiment Of compasslon The black
hair was arranged in long tresses, the face was
pale, the eyes closed. The instant made an
incssion in the throat the deceased opened heI
eyes, then closed them again with.a long deep
sigh, in which life seemed only just to depart
, at the same time stream of warm blood flew
upon me from the wound ! felt convinced ii
was who had murdered the poor girl. For a
moment experienced the greatest anxiety. Had
been deceived by the owner of the red cloak
or was his sister only in a traneeT The last
suppositlon seemed to ne the most plausible
But was | to tell the brother OF the deceased
that had made an incision less deep, shonld
= have awakened her 10 life, instead of putting
: her to death ? Impossible! And therefore
, hastened 10 separate the head entirely from the
: body. Again the dying gave deep groan
: stretched herself in convulsive movement, and
, expired! This time was overpowered with ter
ror; and shuddering violently, rushed out Of the
; room. There was no appearance ofmy conduc-
: tor; and cropping my way throughthe darkness,
l reached the staircase. Sometimes walking
sometimes fang7 ! succeeded II kandiag the
! floor. No one below. The doot s ajar and
| =