The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1870-07-09
Tale of Mystery.
CHAPTER I.

The lovely Leonora Adelgita de Mount
morency Fitzgibbing Saook was about to
change all those names or most of them,
for another.
The other was Poodleton.
1t belonged originally to gentleman of
that name At least it was so runered.
But, in this life, as the poet has wisely OBJ.
served, much that isn't is, and when it is,
th en- it most frequently isn't; and ''ceteris-
paribus, vice versa, mutatis mutandis.'
Such is life
Augustus Poodleton was a man of inde-
pendent means. He had a splendid man
sion in Belgravia. He had noble horses,
carriages and veIocipedes.
He and Leonora met at a ball He met
her there, and she-such are the strange
Condolences of a mutual passion,-met
him there at the very same moment. o
bliss
They joined in the stately fandango, and
whirled round in the Intoxicating pirouettes
of the Caledonian Lancers. They met
three or four times afterward At their
second meeting they fell in love at first
sight. 1t was fated.
They were married.
CHAPTER II.
But they did not live happy ever after
CHAPTER III.
There was a mystery about Augustus
which the kind and inquisitive eyes Of his
Leonora failed to penetrate.
He spent good deal of time in his study
1t contained a wash-hand-stand and basin,
a chair, a small mirror, three corks, and
large oak chest.
The chest was locked, except when it was
open. 1t never was open, except when
Augustus was alone.
Every evening he used to shut himself up
in his study, and in the gathering gloom he
used to wrap himselfin a long cloak, press
his hat over his brows, and hasten from his
home
He used to be gone for hours.
Was it some hidden crime? Leonora did
not know, but she heard strange sounds
proceed from his study, interrupted at times
by bursts of wild laughter Sometimes it
seemed he was singing, but it was in sub
dued tone.
| CHAPTER ".
| She followed him one evening. But she
| lost sight Of him at the corner of street.
In vain she searched among the giddy
throng of the New Cut, they needed her
not, save to pick her pocket But what is
pocket to a broken heart l really don't
know
AS she turned HON eward, sick and faint
the mocking chorus of a band of Ethiopians
seemed like the laughter of fends:-
''De old die Of her favOrits tOOn.
! And the little dog laugh de
/ Yah! YAH yahi yah! yahr
That night when Augustus returned home
she taxed him with this hidden crime.
"There is dark spot on you that all the
perfumes of Arabia cannot efaee."
"Where p said Augustus, looking in the
glass.
"Trifer You have some secret mystery
concealed from the wife Of your bosom
some crime-some curse Tell me, Oh,
tell me /"
'Neverr' he exclaimed, and busted into
tears.
"There is some dark shadow over you,
Augustus"
"Black-black !" he moaned, writhing.
| HeFeai LhlS HOIfOF! are you some ue-
mon in disguise2 Some yampyre-some
corpse animated by a resident fiend-some
skeleton magically endowed with lief
"Bones bonesl" he murmured, in an
agony of repentance.
81 thought so Har And she shrieked
and fell in faint On the floor with her head
in the fender.
CHAPTER V.
He combed the cinders from her hair,
and put her with her back against the coal
scuttle Then and there he revealed his
awful secret, his melancholy history.
"You behold this splendid mansion
those lovely horses, only you can't see them,
them velocipedes, only they are not there,
how do you think I keep up these ap-
pearances. On ancestral wealth 2 No
Bills? Nol By speculation? Mol BY
going bankrupt No Hush-in thine ear
/ Il beleng to band of niger mInstrels,
which earn nightly millions in the New
Cut am Bones Yah yah p
Then they lived ike Rod, but divorced
3 ever after.