, 1883-05-26

AhNlAAN AhNNNA " II AliA'N NfIt NulAllAE
for party Of ghosts. But the worst
u al was that, carefully rs he had
hecn srhnolcd beforehand by Hahettc
as To whereabouts Of all the valuable
in the chateau, he got nothing for
his pains. lie nnsackcd the pantry,
whh'h lie expected to find full Of
plate, hut found nothing better than
h pewter spoon. lie sought hither
and thithcr In the dead Countess
apartments for the casket Of dia-
mOndSbut II had vdnished like gems
seen in a dream. lie discovered the
strong iron box where the count
usually kept his money In large
sums, for In those days Il was not 50
easy to send 10 the hank for supplies,
but though the box was there, Il was
ope"Tnld hld.not a sou in it. %"
II was terrible to have to return
empty-hlnded to his liege lady, who
would be certain To lay the whole
blame for the failure ot their enter
prise on his shoulders, and tn make
II no light burden, too. SIN, such a
fate was better than risking meeting
the ghosts any longer. With flying
steps he sped along the corridor
which he had to traverse before he
reached the narrow -taircasc, at the
bottom Of which was the door where
Bdhettc waited for him. But why
was'it that before he had passed half
through the passage, which was lit
by several Windows, through which
the mo0nbcams fcll, he paused Mith
a start and shiyer! 4 little way
further ON in front u him, II seemed
To him that hc saw a figure. \ des-
pcrlte hope that thi- shade would
melt into nothing, like all tile other
applritionS which had hitherto
haunted him tonight; II feeling that,
at any cost, he must PASS il to reach
hi lungcd-iDr goal, the outside Of
the hnu>r-thcsc thinS- prompted
the lucklcs~ Pierre 10 hasten onward
once moro. But when he drew
nearer 10 the form il was still there,
visible in terrible reality in a patch
of moonlight. \ few steps further
and Pierre threw his arms above his
head with a low cry; there, not many
paccs from him, stood female
figure, which exactly rcscmblcd the
dead C0mtc--c de FOrion, Whose
funeral he had seen 20 by but u few
hours ago.
How he passed the phantom Pierre
could never aftorward tell. The
next thing which he could remem-
fsassfHVfFg= =tIflurucI, war istltnufng ~ inc
cool night air and the moonlight,
bluhhcring In a most hearty and open
fashion, with Blhctte pouring upon
him from her fair lips what was not
exactly shower of roses, such rs
should meet returning hero. She
rejected with -corn, like the adj
vanccd frecthinker that she was, his
story about the Countess ghost, and
called the whole thing the produce
Of hi- towards fancy.
Next morning the Mayor Of Ncrrc-
Vile madc.a legal inspection Of the
chateau, to secure for the Govern
ment, n he slid, hut In reality for
him-clf-fnr he had no absolute right
for such prorccding-any Valuablcs
he might find there. lie was, how
ever, no more fortunate than poor
Pierre had been; he did not find a
single object Of value or single gold
coin in the chateau. His worship
flew into Il rnge and insisted ON haV'
ing the servants and the servants
rooms searched, but with no success,
F'innc, Maurice and their companions
submitted quite camly to the indig'
uity, though the Mayor had mOrt
than once Shrowd and unpleasant
su.pi Ion that he heard something
! like a suppressed litter behind him
hut when he looked hack he only
saw Mlllc. FiH12 and Maurice fol
lowing him with respectful gravity
The whole business was certainly, {,
say the least Of it, singular, for 1t wa
well known that there was n deal o
rich plate and jewelry in the chateau
and that the Count, before his arrcs
and removal to the prison at Toulon
had collected considerable sum o
money preparatory to the tryinI
with with iswife to make their es
cape from France.
II was some months after tn
events just narrated that the gOo'
folks Of Verreville began to be dis
turbed by stories which went flOatin
about in the town concerning tn
, church being haunted. 1t was sal
that people who had passed the oil
! building at midnight had seen
4 mysterious light cleaning throug
q the windows; but hitherto those VIII
l had told the tale none Of them ha
r the courage to look further into tn
: matter. The old church was no.
e completely deserted; religious serv
ces had, 1t is true, begun again to |
= publicly performed in the land, b'
/, In Verrevllle they were at this perio
q carried on in a pretty new chap
d which had been nearly built befol
y thAtroDbious days began, and latel
4 finished. Thus the old church hG
o become place well fitted for ghOs
d to frequent
!, We must mention here that Il
IS Count de FloriOn had escaped,
h some way that had never been e
v planned, from his prison at Toulo
e the very day after his wife's funeni
r, and had made his home, II Is Bai
It since then, in England. As for ]
" fine and Maurice, they had marie
e. soon after their mistress death, al
d were now living on a little far
10 which they had taken near the tow