The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1870-03-18

is still young, and Ilas the faIling-sick-
ness lac is easily frightened. He be-
gins To tremble-tO tremble, Just like
! chicken. 1t IS sad, very sad ~
looked at Mastridia. "You saw
he is young, but if he is your som
''In the spirit, father dear, in the
spirit. have many orphans with
me-" she added, while she made a
motion toward the corner, whence
proceeded the wailing sounds which /
had heard. ''Oh good Lord, holy
mother of Cod And you, dear faith
er, your excellency, before you come
here, have the goodness to think
which one of your deceased relatives
or fFiends-may Heaven be their lott
you wish to see. Go over all your
friends, aud when you have chosen
one, keep him in mind-keep there
until my son comes"
And shall / not tell your son whom
III
''NO, no! father dear, not a single
word. He himself reads in your
thoughts what he needs-and do you
only keep your friend well i'm mind !;
and after dinner drink two or three
glasses of wine. Wine never does
hurt y The old creature laughed, lick
ed her HIPS with her tongue, passed
her hand over mouth-and sighed.
"At half-past seven, then ?'' / ask
ed, rising from my chair. 1il
"At half-past seven, father dear,
your excellency."
/ took leave of the dame, and re-
turned to the hotel. 1 had no doubt
that / was TO be imposed upon ?-that
excited my curiosity. With ArdaliOn
l interchanged but two or three words
at most. "Has she agreed ?" he ask
ed me, contracting his brows; and,
upon my answer in the affirmative,
he cried, "that woman is a prime
minister ~ ~
. According to the prime-minister's
advice, / set myself at work, to go
through the list Of my departed
friends. After wavering for some
time, at last fixed upon an old man
long deceased, Frenchman, who had
once been a teacher of mine. did
not select this particular individual,
because / had ever been especially
drawn toward him; but his whole
figure and appearance were so origin
al, so little like those one sees nova
days, that il seemed to nae quite inn
possible to initiate without having
seen them. He had an immense
head, thick white hair, combed back,
heavy black brows, hawk nose, and
two great purple warts on the middle
of his forehead. He used to wear a
green dress-cOat with smooth brass
buttons, a waistcOat with standing
collar, a frill, and ruffles at his
waists.
"Ifhe can show me my old Dessere,"
thought l, 81 shall have 10 confess
that he is sorccerer" -
After dinner, / drank, as the old wO-
man had recommended, a bottle of
Lafitte, the very first quality-accdrd-
ing to ArdaliOn-but with a strong
taste of burnt cork, and thick resi-
dunn of logwoOd at the bottom of ev-
cry glass. ...---
Exactly at half-past seven found
myself in front of the house in which
l had cOnversed with the worthy Mas
tridia KarpOwna. All the window
shutters We're closed, but the door
stood open. / entered the house,
stumbled up a crazy flight of stairs in
to the second story, and opened the
door on the left. / found myself, as
the old woman had told me before
hand, in an entirely empty room of
some size; tallOw candle, placed on
the windOw-seat, shed a dim light;
against the wall, opposite to the door,
stood cane chair! trimmed the
candle, which had acquired u huge
snuff, took my place on the chair, aud
began to wait.
The first ten minutes passed pretty
quickly. In the room itself, there
was absolutely nothing which could
rivet my attention, but, while lis
tered for every noise, l kept keen
watch on the closed door. The first
ten minutes were followed by many
more half an hour passed-three-
something would have
mOVed-but not a sound / coughed
two or three times To give a sign of
my presence, l began to grow tired, to
be vexed. i certainly had not expect
ed to be imposed upon in such a way.
was just on the point of rising, to
take the light and go down stairs-I
looked away for mOsaent. The wick
again had a huge snuff. When turn
ed nv ewes from the window to the
door | started invOluntariIy. Lean
ing against thedOOr itself stood a man.
He had entered so adrOitly, that had
heard nothing.
He wore simple blue jucket, was
OF middle height, and tOlerably stout.
With his hands behind his back, and
his head bent down, he stared at me.
By the dim lightOf the candle, could
not well distinguish his features-I
made out only huge name of hair
falling dishevelled over his forehead;
thick, distorted lips, and pale eyes. /
was about to speak to him, but re-
membered Mastridia's injuntion, and
bit my lips. Meanwhile the man kept
his ewes fastened on me, and / in
like manner stared at him. Present
ly felt something like fear creeping
over me, and began, as if on COM
mand, to think vividly of my old
teacher. The man kept his place at
the door, and breathed with effort, as
if be were ascending mountain, or
carrying a burden his eyes seemed to
open wider, to approach me, and
a feeling of awe took possession of me,
under this steady, staring, threatening
gaze. From time to time his eyes
famed up with a CHASTITY internal fire,
such a fire as l have seen in hounds
when they caught sight of the hare.
And like hound this being followed
me with this same look whenever /
s.doubled, y that is, tried to turn away
my eyes.
So passed. know not how long a
might have been minute, it
might have been q quarter of an hour.
He stared at me all the while; l eX-
perieneed, meantime, a certain feeling
of discomfort and alarm, and kept
of my friend the Frenchman.
Twice tried to say to myself, "What
this is--what a farcew tried
to smile, to shrug my shoulders-in
vain! Every resolve instantly Jro5e
i'm mel know of no other word to
use. must confess that kind of
gained the mastery over
me. Suddenly / noticed that he had
already moved away from the door,
and stood one or two PAGES nearer to
me; then he hoped little with both
feet at once, and stood still nearer
then once more, and his threatening
eyes were glued, staring on my whole
face: the hands still remained behind
his back, and the broad chest heaved
with IabOred breathing. These leaps
seemed Iudierous to me, hNt yet i
shuddered, and suddenly a kind of
began to Overpower me-
Nv eyelids were glued together. The
figure, with its name of hair and col
orless eyes, in the blue Jacket, grew
info two before me-suddenly vanish
ed entirely. reused myself with an
effort. He stood again between the
door and me, but already much near
or. Then he vanished again, as if a
cloud had passed over him appeared
again vanished, and ngain appeared,
and each time nearer and nearer. Al
ready / seemed to feel his heavy, pant
ing breath upon my face, again the
cloud enveloped him, when suddenly
from out of this cloud, beginning with
the white bristling hair, rose into the
head-of the old Dessere! Yes, those
are his warts, the thick black brows,
the lIawk's-nOse, the green dress-eOat,
too. with its brass buttons, and striped
vest and frill! / cried out, 1 started
m-the old man vanished, and i'm his
place / saw again the figure in the
blue Jacket. 1t tOttered To the wall,
leaned against it with head and both
hands, and, heaving and painting like
an OYer-driven horse, uttered with a
hoarse cry, the words HTea ! tea p'-