Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1883-03-29

might come useful some day, and no
the time has come. Go in at one,
Pierre, and be quick about it, hay
toldyou all the receptacles where none
and jewels and plate are kept. Yo
can't make mistake" "
"Must go alone? Won't YOU com
with me? We should do 1t all the quicl
cr, two Of us together, and it's aiway
so much pleasanter at night to hav
company in an old house like thi.
They say it's haunted, and there was
death here SO lately. Oh! sweet Bal
ette' do, please, come with me-"
MAY / be Stewcd in a potat-h
ilrst, answered that young lady, yer
forcibly and laconicaly. You o
along, rierrc, ahd look sharp, an
don be such miXturc of mule an
a miIk.sop. | shall stay here ant
watch" " So saying, she pushed he
true knight without further crremon,
through the door which she had opened
On went Pierre, his teeth chattcrin,
and his heart beating in unison. tn
moonlight as it stole through the Ion.
narrow windows Of the old house. play
ing strange, uncanny games with hin
as he went. Now dark, gigantic fg
ure seemed lurking in Wonder corner
now pale hand beckoned to him in {
m0onbram, now the shadows formed
themselves into long black procession
which came to meet him. With care.
fullv held breath, and fo"' that Scarce
dared tread, he passed near the corri.
uOr. where he kneN. from Babettc. that
the servants rooms lay; but to his ioy
and relief he heard no sound there.
The family portraits rs he passed them
IN the long gallery, came to life, now
and then, in ray of moonShinc, and
gared at him; the wind whispered
something mysterious and startling to
him through every key hole, the rows
OF chairs in the rooms looked rs if thpy
were waiting for party OF ghosts.
But the worst OF all was that, carefully
rs he had been schouied beforehand
by Babclte rs 10 the whereabouts of
all the vaIuablas in the chateau. he rot
nothing for his pains. He ransarkcd
the pantry, which he had expected to
llud full of plate, but found nothing
better than pewter spoon. He s1uuht
hthcrand thither in the dead counteS,'s
apartments for the caskct of diamonds,
but it had vanished like gems seen in n
dream. He discovered the strong iron
box where the count usually kept his
money in large sums, for in those days
1t was not so easy to send to the bank
Tor supplies; but though the box was
there it was open and had not sou in
ii.
1t was terrible to have TO return
empty-handcd to his licga lady, who
would be ccrtnlntO ay the whole blame
for the failure Of their enterprise ON
his shoulders, and to make il no iirht
burden too; still such fate was better
than riSking meeting the ghosts any
longer. With flying steps he 4pch apnr
the corridor which he had to traverse
before he reached the narrow staircase
at tho bottom of which was the door
where Babette waited for him. But
why was 1t that, before he had passed
half through the passage, which was
lit by several windows through which
the moonbeams fell, he paused with a
start and = shiver?
a little way farther on, in front of .
him, 1t seemed to him that he saw a
igurc. A desperate hope that this
shape would melt into nothing, like all
he other apparitions which had hlher-
% haunted him Tonight Il feeling that,
It any cost he must pass it to reach his
ongcd'for goal, the outside of the
louse-thcsc things prompted the luck
ess Pierre to asten onward once more.
3ut when he drew nearer to the form
t was still there, visible in terrible re-
'lity in Il patch of moonlight. A few
tcps further, and Pierre threw his
rms above his head with low cry:
here, not many PAGES frum him stood
female figure, which cxcatly reScm-
lied the dead Comtesse de Florin,
whose funeral he had seen 90 by but a
cw hours ago.
How he passed the phantom Pierre
onld never afterwards tell. The next
hing he could remember, when in fu-
are days no thought over the matter,
ias standing in the cool night air and
he moonlight, blubhering in u most
earty and open fashion, with Babette
curing upon him from her fair lips
That was not exactly Il shower of roses,
uch rs should meet Il returning hero.
he rejected with scOrn, like the adj I
ancCd freethiuker that she was, his {
tory about the countcss's ghost, and
allied the whole thing the produce of |
is towards fancy. :
Next morning the MAYOR of Vcrre- {
lille made legal inspection of the
hateau, to secure for the government,
he said, but in reality for himself
'r he had no absolute right for such a |
valuablcs he might .
nd there. He was, however, no more l
'rtunate than poor Pierre had been;
did not find single object of value
+ single gold coin in the chateau. !
lis worship flew into rage, and in q
Sted on having the servants and the !
'rVants' rooms searched, but with no
lccess. Fitiue, Maurice and their com.
anions submitted quite calmly to the
ldignity, though the mayor had more .
IAN once n shrewd and unpleasant v
iSpicion that he heard something like a
oppressed litter behind him; but v
hen he looked back he only saw Mile |
lime and M. Maurice following him u
ith respectful gravity. The whole !,
lsiness was certainly, to say the least q
it, singular, for it was well known Il
Iat there was n deal of rich plate and W
wclry in the chateau, and that the 3
'unt, before his arrest and removal to .
Ie prison at Toulon, had collected n y
'nsiderable sum of money prepara- u
nv to the trying with his wife to o
axe their escape from france.
IL was some few, months after the
,ents just narrated that the GOOD "
lks of Verreville began to be dis [,
rbed by stories which went lloatino b
'out in the town. concerning the il
'urch being haunted. 1t was said n
at people who had passed the old G.
Hiding at midnight had seen n mys. d
rious light cleaning through the win "
,ws; but hitherto those who told the A
10 had none of them had the courage c,
look further into the matter. The 81
d church was now completely de- n,
rted; religious services had, it is W
ne, begun again to be publicly per. d,
rmed in the land. but In Verro,,iIIo IA,