Bloomsburg democrat. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1867-1869, 1868-11-18

| li' II dN Di'lciu 40 S'ht Whh'
"rhat is no sign that he is coward. -
There is little Fritz, the tanner; he is quar-
rclsomc enough for you, surely!
ale is no bigger than bantom cock. Il
is little good he can do, if the house was SCI
upon by robbers
ut is not always strength that wins {
fight, girl, it takes brains as well ai Drawn
Come, now, Barbara, give these threcyounl
fellows fair trial.
Barbara turned her face before the mir
ror letting down one raven tress and loop
ing up another.
Il will, MOTHER" she said at last.
That evening Ernest, the gunsmith,
knocked at the door.
"You sent for me, Barbara p he said,
going to the girl, who stood upon the hearth
coquettishiy warming one pretty foot and
then the other.
"Yes, Ernest" she replied, I've been
thinking on what you said the other night
when you were hero"
"Well Barbara?"
Ernest spoke quietly, but his dark blue
eye flashed, and he looked at her in,cntly.
81 want to test you"
"uow?'
II want to see if you dare to do q very
disagrceable thing
"Wha. is it?"
'There is an old coffin up stairs. 1t
smells mouldy. They say Rclrnand, the
murderer, was buried in it; but the devi
came for his body and left the coffin empty
at the end of the week and it was finally
taken from the tomb 1t is up stairs in the
room grandfather died in, and they say
grandsire does not rest easy in his grave for
some reasons, though that know nothing
about. Dare you make that coffin your bed
to-night?'
Ernest laughed
''ls that all? l will do that and sleep
soundly. Why, pretty one, did you think |
had weak nerves?'
Your nerves will have good proof if you
undertake it. Remember, no one sleeps in
that wing OF the house"
Il shall sleep the sounder'
God night, then. will send lad to
show you the chamber If you stay till
morning said the imperious Miss Barbara,
with nod Of her pretty head, ''l'll marry
you.
''You vow it?'
Ernest turned straight away and followed
the lad in waiting through dim rooms and
passages, up echoing STAIRS along narrow
damp ways, where rats scuttled before to a
low chamber. The lad looked pale and
scared, and evidently wanted to hurry away
but Ernest made him wait till he took
survey by the aid of his lamp. 1t was
very large and full of recesses, which had
been barred across. He remembered that
old grandsire Ferros had been insane several
years before his death, so that this precau-
tion had been necessary for the safety of
himself and others. In the centre of the
room stood coffin, beside it was placed
chair. The room was otherwise perfectly
empty.
Ernest stretched himself out in The coffin.
"Be kind enough to tell Miss Barbara it
is very good fit, he said.
The lad went out and shut the door, leay-
ing the young gunsmith alone in the dark.
Meanwhile Barbara was talking with the
big blacksmith in the sleeping room.
Barney" said she, pulling her hand
away from his grasp, when he would have
kissed her, "l've a test to put you to before
| give you any answer. There is corpse
lying in the chamber where my grandsre
died, in the untenanted wing Of the house.
If you dare sit with it all night and let moth
ing drive you away from your post, you will
ask me again in vain.
You'll give me light and a bottle of
wine and book to read p
Nothing"
"Are these all the conditions you offer
me, Barbara?'
"All. And if you are frightened, you
need never look me in the face again"
So Barney was conducted to his post by
the lad, who had been instructed into the
secret, and whose involuntary start at Ern-
est's placid face, as he lay in the coffin, was
attributed by Barney to the natural awe Of
a corpse. He took seat, and the boy left
him alone in the darkness, the rats and the
coHin.n~~
Soon after young Fritz, the tanner, ar
rived, fattered and hopeful, from tho fact
that Barbara had sent for him.
"Have you changed your mind, Barbara?"
he asked.
"No; and I shall not until know that
YOU can do really brave thing"
"What shall it be-? swear to satisfy
you, Barbara. "
II have proposal to make to you. My
plan requires skill as well as courage"
"Tell m" !"
rns. ;" A-.". ~