The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1875-03-06

ed, with an effort.
II have been dead a year." replied
Fulmen, sadly. They buried me in the
chapel. You can read my epitaph on
the marble slab, the third from the
high altar"
Ralph could not detach his eyes from
this singular creature, whose marvellous
beauty counteracted in some degree the
terror which the apparition would 9TH
erwise have caused.
'Alas' resumed the spectre. -draping
the shroud about her form with all the
coquetry with which living belle
might wrap an opera cloak around her
Il AM dead, really dead, at seventeen;
when life was full of light and perfume
and music; when fears, even, were SO
sweet that they resembled smiles; when
the present was so happy that the fu-
ture was quite forgotten. And then 1
loved you. trusted in your oath; but
you did not care for me. You have
come here to marry my sister,
'Fulmenl murmured Ralph, who felt
pang of remorse at his heart. Il have
loved you; love you STILL
She shook her head.
The dead are never loved she said,
in sad tones.
Ralph trembled. He felt his blood
curdle in his veins. He remembered
his oath. Yet Fulmen did not complain.
She did not overwhelm him with re-
proaches. She seemed resigned. He
saw her lean her head upon her hand /;
a fear shone in her eye, and shiver
rassed through her frame.
Il am cold, she said, and rising from
the chair in wi ich she had seated her
self, she approached the Fireplace, and
bent as If to warm herself by the half
extinguished brands. The dead are
always cold,' she murmured.
'Heaven!' exclaimed Ralph; you are
not dead; but, dead or living, you are
beautiful, more beautiful than any liv.
irg woman, and love you as on the
first day l saw your
THE dead are never loved abe re-
peated mournfully.
But you are not dead. The limbs
of the dead are rigid; the flesh corrupti
they are insensible; they cannot walk
they cannot speak; you are not dead
it is impossible
Il am dead,' repeated Fulmen in q
tone of authority which admitted of nc
question-'dead, and yet suffer.
you sufferl' the earl exclaimed.
Yes. Because died with guilty
thought in my heart. 1 remembered
the ball where I met you. 1t was earth
ly love, mot penitence that engrossed my
last hours. Yet, If you, who aIe alive
can love me still, God will perhaps par.
don me, an shall suffer no longer
Il do love your cried Ralph, gazing
at the young girl, so beautiful in hel
sadness. Yet secret voice said with
in him, 'Ah if she were only aliye!'
A pale smile passed oyer the face o.
the phantom. 1t rose, advanced towart
him. Ralph inv oluntarily shrunk bacl
at its approach.
you see. she said, mournfully, '.ti!
always so. The living fear the dead
No, nor said he, eagerly, ashamed
of the momentary terror; mo Fulmen
my beloved come
She extended her hand, and took tina
of tie young man. Ralph uttered cry
His hand was pressed by the cold, clam
my fingers of a corpse. She let his hant
fail.
No. she repeated in half suffocateC
voice. You see it carn)t be; a !
doomed to suffer always
And she hed;while Ralph was so over
whelmed that he had no power to spea
or move. The candles went out sudden
ly;sience reigned again in the cham Der
the phantom had vanished.
The next day dawned bright anC
beautiful. The Baron de Roche Noire
who did not appear to notice the palloI
and abstraction of his guest, proposed
hunt. The day was spent in the opeI
air; and if, amid the excitement of tn,
chase, the earl thought of the occurr, N
ces of the last night, they seemed u
him only as bewidering dream. Blu
with the returning darkness, and espe
cially at the sight of the picture, the ap
partition again seemed to him reality
aud he determined to ascertain tn,
truth. Pleading headache, be retir-
ed to his room, and, extinguisEing til,
candles, he called, softly: