The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1878-11-06

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witch because she cured some sick peo-
pie whom the stupid physicians Of Mar
seilles had given up"
1t was an abominable outrage |"
murmured M. de Couras
at was, Antoine. My life was in
danger. You saved me, and concealed
me here And then think of who you
are. The only son of wealthy coun-
selor to the parliapent. Your father
would disown you"
"I have modest fortune in my own
right" interposed Antoine.
A modest fortunei" she exclaimed
almost scornfullys "How happy you,
the petted child of opulence, would be
with a slender income 2"
ct would be with you. But tell me,
Sephronia, is your decision irrevocable ?"
She hesitated. Then she passionately
drew him to her heart.
"Noi no /" she cried. "Only give
me weeks time. 1 have a strange
foreboding that startling events are going
to happen"
Zone startling event has already hap
pened," said M. De Bouras. "The
plague has broken out to-day in Mar
seillee."
"The plague !" she echoed, with dis
tended eyes. =
eyes; everybody is alarmed"
"And well they may be-" she said,
solemnly. "Few cures can be effected
where the plague appears in its most
malignant FORM"
"Many people have died this after
noon, Sephronia,"
"Then God have mercy upon Mar
seilles You must forthwith leave the
city, Antoinel'
He laughed.
"Whyl am not afraid, he said.
"Do not laugh, Antoine; and my
whole family would have been swept
away by the plague if my father, who
was q very learned man, had not pos
sessed an infallible remedy for the epi-
demic."
Have you got that remedy?" An
toine asked, eagerly.
CT have" she replied.
"Why, then, do not you give it to the
authorities, Sephroniaa"
"And be broken on the wheel as
itch !" she exclaimed, bitterly. "No,
'ol And what good would it do? They
would never apply it,"
II must go, then, Sephronia, he said;
Il shall come back in O week and get
your final answer.
"Stay a minute shalrgive you some
of my fathers plague arcanum."
. She went into an adjoining room and
retu' IN soon afterward with a large
crystal bottle. The other vial she filed
with an oily substance, soft salve,
which she took with an ivory spoon
from the jar.
"If you should get the plague" she
said, "rub your body with this salve,
and drink few drops of the fluid. You
will speedily get well"
They parted most tenderly, and An
tome left the house.
He had passed on but few steps
when he was attacked by two desperate
fellows who knocked him senseless.
is it not curious that, when all good
people shut themselves up in their
homes in order to escape the pestilence,
desperate criminals prowl about fearless
ly, bent on murder and robbery.
They rifed the pockets of the inani-
mate young man. They found in them
a well-flled purse and two vials. The
latter they flung away contemptuously.
They then hurried away.
M. DeCouras awoke ten minutes
later. The night was very dark, but
he groped his way to a thoroughfare
and speedily reached his fathers palatial
mansion.
There terrible news awaited him
his father, his mother, and his two love-
ly sisters had been attacked by the
plague.
All their cowardly servants had fed
FROM the house.
Antoine bethought himself of the two
vials Sephronia had given him. He was
bitterly disappointed when he found
that they were gone.
Suddenly he felt that his own brain
began to reel, and he sank senseless to
the floor.
He, too, had the plague
Twenty-four hours later he awoke to
consciousness. At his bedside sat Seph-
ronia.
ST heard that you and yonr whole
family were down with the plague so ]
came 10 your house. Your parents and
your sisters are dying. You will live I"
He did recover, and a week later was
able TO be about. He persuaded SephrO-
MIA to let him haYs' quantity OF the
panacea.
She remained in the house while he
went into the streets, and he effected
numerous cures.
Everybody was in despair. The phy-
sicians did not know anything about the
plague. A stupid rumor had been cir
culated. that the wells had been poison
ed. So the people refused to drink
water. The good bishop of the diocese,
Monseigneur De Benzunoc made super
human efforts to relieve the suffering,
but all to no purpose. There were no
hearses, no cofins. Vast numbers OF
corpses were piled up in the streets. In
front of one of these ghastly piles An
/ toine De Couras one day met the bish-