The Evening critic. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1881-1885, 1885-04-14
THE EVENING CRITIC.
OLD sER1Es, 1aae-NEw sER1Es, 1ssb.
A HORRIBLE NIGHT.
ny LOUISE CHANDLER MouLToN.
Copyright, 1856


bowed me out into the chill fog of the
November day. l went next day to Paris,
and spent the day after in the gay shops
and streets Of that needless, happy, caro-
forgetting town. | was to leave for Turin
fIom the Care do Lyon at 715 in tho even
ing: When the dusk fell the clouds
gathered, and drove alone through the
pouring rain to the station. My friends had
brought me flowers and fruits, and they
would have gone to sec mo off, but | re-
fused. They were women-why could not
do as well as they2 And then there was
the agent Of Blank & Son He was sure to
be there, What could want more2
reached the station. The rain beat on
my unsheltered head as paid the driver
twice his fee, for the truly feminine reason
that no demanded it. l went in. No
agent of Blank & Son was to he seen. l
had my ticket dated, my trunk registered,
and then l followed porter laden with
my hand luggage to the train. ALI the
length of the train for Turin We wandered
| there was but one frst-class carriage to
be found. had my frst-class ticket in
my hand, andiI went up to this one carriage
| and would fain have entered it. A stold-
| looking old priest sat there in solitary
| state, and as l was about to climb up he
| said grimly that IL was all taken. l
| pleaded for one little corner, but in vain.
| said:
But, monsieur, my ticket is frst-class,
| and there is no frst.class carriage but
| this"
| at is all taken, madame came his
| reply, memorable as fate. l turned away
in despair. Clearly | must either go second
class or give up my journey for that night.
| could not do the latter, for the friend of
| my heart was waiting for me in Venice,
and her plans depended on mine. At that
moment | caught sight, for the first time,
of limp man wearing the livery of Blank
& Son. He was the most knock-kneed,
weak looking creature you could imagine
still he was Messrs. Blanks agent Ex-
piriDg hope was rekindled in my breast. /
cried out to him. / showed him my little
book with my first-class ticket. Slowly, as
If no were going to execution, he went up
to the surly priest in the single lrst-class
carriage, and slowly he came back to me-
He says it's all taken, ma'am."'
"Yes, but can't you speak to the chief of
the station?'
"There's no time" and he pointed to the
clock, Just on the quarter past seven. He
was SO utterly helpless, so pitiably weak, |
turned from him desperately. Even the
second-class carriages had been filling fast.
saw a vacancy in only one. plunged in
to it and the porter handed In my baggage.
l glanced then at my comprehensive
beetle-bTowed, black looking men, evidently
Italians, smoking iercely, Terror took
|
and a kindly voice, speaking English with
French accent, said:
Madame, can l be of any service ?" and
at the moment the speaker sprang into
the carriage, took his seat in the corner
opposite me, the door was shut with q
bang and the train moved away.
l told my tale, and the young French
man-who was after all more English than
French, since he had lived in England al
most from his boyhood-tried to comfort
me. At that moment l realized that
had drawn off my gloves, the more readily
to get out my tickets and the small change
for my porter, and that on one hand a
ruby ring was catching the lamplight, and
on the other duller glitter betrayed a
large sapphire. | had worn tho rings for
\ safe-keeping, but my mind misgave me rs
j saw how earnestly the smoking Italians
D were regarding them. / settled back in
my corner and drew on my gloves, but
now some evil attraction compelled me to
look steadfastly at my companions and
try to take their measure.
1t was task beyond me. l had never
seen such men. The head and face of the
younger were exactly the image of the
murderer in Nine. Tussauds Chamber OF
Horrors. Happily for the world that MUIR
derer had been hung but could it be that
his uneasy ghost was reincarnated in this
man, and had come to torment the world
|
hism" and this idea seemed most reason
able. There was a sort of evil fascination
FOR me in the study Of these two ruflians
1t seemed to me thoy looked behind theil
tobacco smoke like demons seen through
the sulphurous clouds of the Inferno. Sud.
denly my Freuch. Englishman leaned for
ward and spoke to me.
Madame, have fear of those Italians.
like their looks very ILL.,"
81 agree with yOu,r j said. "That
younger one looks exactly like one Of Nine
> Tussaud's murderers,"
HE makes me less of terror than the
other. He is perhaps too young to contriv'
d plans for harm; but the other" He drew
o long breath. 1.-THE other has in his eyes
look so terrible, so wicked, it gives me fear
. And behold them They are so shabby
n Why do they pay second-class fare Would
they not be third but for some mischie
they plan2'
what shall we do?" whispered back,
~ hope to defend Madame while we wake
: They will wait for us to sleep. We mus
not Sleep"
Then we settled ourselves back into on
corners and watched the two Italians il
, silence. After while they stopped smok
ing and the Oldest one pulled something
black out of his pocket shuddered
thought ii was pistol; but no, 1t was
: small black bottle The man drank from
it and then handed it to his companion.
thought they were rousing up their courage
thus, and / grew cold with terror. Mex
the big man took out clasp knife nearly
foot long. He opened it, and its bright
y keen blade cleaned wickedly In the lamp
light He cut of a block Of bread with il
from a long roll for his companion and on
for himself, and replaced the weapon. Blu
}, l knew from thenceforth that 1t was there
| bent forward and whispered
ibid YOU see that?h
eyes, madame, saw it. They think w
, will fall asleep in security when we hay
, seen them eat and drink"
But" ] said, that knife is not reassul
ing"
. "Mon Dieu, no The Italians do mostl
their murders with knives" He Whispers
, sepulchrally, as ITO do murders were tn
natural and legitimate business Of tn
1, Italian nation.
Then again we settled back in our cor
ners, watching, watching, and the Italian
went to sleep, or seemed to do so but
thought | could see them looking out from
under their closed lids now and then, anC
opened my eyes widely and stared hard
that they might not for moment think
had gone to sleep.
n About ! o'clock in the morning the car
"a riage stopped and man entered.
Heaven be thanked whispered m,
&c neighbor two are now three against TWO.
But no, the newcomer belonged to tn
enemy. They welcomed him. They treate
him from tho black bottle. They Gu
9 bread for him with the wicked, gleamin
y knife; and then the three began to tall
together, eagerly, excitedly, and felt tina
I /. Z u