Louisiana capitolian., 1879-07-26

woman to whom my soul, my yer,
existence was welded. iapproachc,
tho house, but there was no wclcom
Ing light--all was dark and still. 4
lingo Of apprehension crept to M,
heart. Something had happened.
sprang from the buggy aud entered
thA house. The door was unlocked
dallcd loudly for tho servant, bu
she was gone! Lighting tho gus,
approached tho table and discovered
u note addressed to mysclfin in tho ta.
miliar handwriting of my wife.
opened 1t and read:
FRANK: On u mission Of lIlc md death
God help George and Charlie. If not
buck whom You receive this, inquire iol
me ut Mrs. Ms.
GERALDINE.
What could have happened? George
Williams and Charlie Waits were my
young friends from New Orleans, and
Mrs. M. was the lady with whom they
were making their temporary. home.
Hastily folding the note and plac-
ing it:in my pocket, ! picked up my
glove and turned to put out the gas,
when my eye fell upon IN object, d.
rectly facing me, on tho opposite side
ofthc. table, that fairly made my blood
run cold and paralyzcd my hand.
Tho first and only thing saw
was two luril sparks of fire,
burning with an intense and steady
glow. Gradually tho sparks took
shape, and ! made out pair Of eyes.
Slowly tho phenomenon developed
from eyes it grew to u face, then II
long, flowing snow-white beard; q
broad-brimmcd hat rested above the
forehead, pushed back on tho head,
from under which unkempt, and strug-
Cling in all directions, appeared u
mass Of white-hair. Below the waist
tho body was obscured by the table;
but resting on tho table wcro two
gnarlcd fists, doubled and clcnchod
hard.
Tho eyes snapped. l recovered
motion, and, .jumpling back with u
bound, exclaimed: 'TIeavcns and
earth! What are you?"
A low chuckling, the effect of which
is simply indcscribablc, was tho only
response, the squatty form shaking NIL
over, and the head moving from side
to side. Thank God, it was alivc--it
was human Mt least. Instantly com
pretending it to be some tramp, and
remembering my crrand, inpatient
ly ordered it out of the house. Drop
ping its head forward, and locring at
me with terrible fr0wn, the object
spoke in deep, sonorous tones:
"Frank Melton, give me back my
daughter!"
! thought him crazy, so replied
somewhat softly:
"Comc, come, old man, | have no
daughter of yours"
''Liar!" he yelled, bounding over
the table and grasping me by the arm.
"Givc me my daughter-givo me my
Milldrcd--Milldrcd Tennis little
tiger"
| gave an involuntary start. Geral-
dimes early history flashed to my
mind instantly. And this was tho
old man who adopted hcr7 ] turned
a wondering gaze upon him.
Ola, ha, hal" he chucklcd. "You
understand you understand"
"Undersaand what, you old fool ?"
! said, roughly throwing him from me.
"rhc lady you refer to is my wife,"
"Your wife ?" he said, moving again
toward mc,with cat-liko tread and
surveying me all over critically.
"Iow long'"
"a year and q half" l answered in
voluntarily.
"You ard her third husband" he
said quickly, "0ne died by his own
hand, and tae other was--d'o~"ed'
l was like ono in II dream; the room
swan round, and tho hidcous little
old man seemed to grow and expand,
until he tille.l all the space, while his
voice rang iY my ears as the ringing
Of u thousand bells. In this condition
| heard him say:
"Ha!you 9onotknow her. Mildred
is beautiiul-Mildred is grand. All
men love her, bit 10 lore her is dc0th.
Beware! She will kill you. Hsh hha!"
That internal chuckle sank as a
knife into my heart. tried to rouse
myself, and finally succeeded, and with
" feeling of murder in my mind for
this iicnd, | turned to face him, but
he was gone. The room was empty,
and cold pcrspiration stood upon my
face. | sank into q chair to think,
but | could not. The whole thing
was mixed up tumble, and finally
concluded it must have been q dream,
a shadow or a prescntment of evil,