Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-05-21

declared, as he hurried to dress TO go
to the Opera House, where there was
to be a rehearsal of "~Irato." ''This is
what comes of being haunted bya fixed
idea-the brain at last becomes affected
by it, and the mind can not distinguish
the reality from the dream. And yet
how clearly defined, how vivaciously
real were the impressions Of that
dream! I could have sworn l was
awake-that | saw my poor friend
looking sadly at me andtrying to make
signs to me! But again-that little
Observation-Disclosures the devil was he
doing there? All! bah! the whole
thing is absurd. I will net tell any
body-not even my %wife-about the
hallucination l have had; they would
only laugh at me, and they would be
justi1ied!"
Every thing is forgotten in this
world, even the most startling impress
sions, and in the lapse of time, if Me-
hui occasionally thought of his friend,
he nevertheless completely forgot the
double apparition that had m~omentarily
terrified him.
Five years passed. The imperialed
| Caesar had encircled his brows with the
crown of France, and his glorious ac-
cession was being celebrated by public
festivities. Mehul, with his wife on
his arm, had taken his children to see
the Examinations at the Champs Ely
secs, like any other good citizen. He
| stood in ecstacy before a fountain of
fire playing in the center of the
grounds, when he suddenly discovered
Chat some one was stealthily exploring
| the pockets of his coat. With a quick
movement he succeeded in g%rasping
the thief's hand and, wheeling round,
found himself face to face with a little
hump-backed man. That v%illainous-
looking fellow:--he had seen him
somewhere before. Where had he al
ready observed that %scoundrely face
and those apish hands? Like a flash
the recollection of his dream returned,
and in his establishment he would GER
tainly have allowed the man to escape
had not the police seized him just in
time. Trembling with excitement,
Mehul went to the police station to
make his declaration; he charged the
man with having tried to rob him. He
wished to charge him with something
else, but dared not. Was it possible to
accuse of murder a man whom one had
never seen except in a dream?
And Notwithstanding the temptation
to do so became stronger and stronger,
Mehul returned home, greatly agitated
by the souvenirs which this singular
incident had provoked. He went to
his bed, but without any inclination to
sleep; he lay thinking with his eyes
| wide open, he argued with himself and
a violent struggle ragged in his mind.
Ought he, or ought he not, to tell the
magistrate what had happened to him?
Dream or vision, was it not after all as
a warning from heaven that there had
appeared before him those CHASTITY
! shadows-that double apparition of
which he had never spoken to living
| soul?
Once again, exactly as she shone five
years before, the moon looked in be-
tween the half-closed shutters, and the
bells of the parish church chimed the
hour of two. Just at that instant a
white shape made itself visible against
the luminous beam-it seemed to stand
before the window. And with it's COM
ing came the sound of a scpulchral
whisper, "Avengc metz "Yes, dear
friend, I swear to thee / shall avenge
thee" cried Mehul, risingin his bed.
y *
Then all his hesitation passed away,
Next day he went early to the police
headquarters of the Champs Elysees
and frankly told all the circumstances
of his strange vision to the commits
saire. The police officer would prob
ably have told any one else who visitec
him upon the same GRAND to 90 tt
Jericho. But M. Mehul was the choil
master of his Majesty, the Emperor
and a musician of acknowledged
genius, to whom the opera owed more
than n rare masterpiece. The police
official respectfully listened to his story
and promised to consider the revela.
ton in a serious way. To begin with
he had the h%unchback submitted tc
most rigorous secret interrogation
and a very astute Juge d~'anstructioa
harassed him with every possible ques
ton that could terrify a guilty con
science.
These maneuvers succeeded beyond
expectation. Before a week had elapsed
the hunchback had been made to con
fess that he was indeed the assassin o
M. 1t appeared that the wretch
had, during the Reign of Terror, beer
a member of the Tape-dur (s'Hard
hitters')-those cut-throats whom thu
Committee of Public Safety had EN-
ployed to excite riots. The overthrow
of that regime of Fraternity or Deati
had left this estimable citizen withou
employment, and rather than return tt
his old trade of tailor, he sought to live
Independently of work. The indis.
erection Of a servant had enabled him tc
discover that NJ was going t.
Melun to deposit in a notary's hand:
the price of a country residence which
he had purchased, and in which h,
hoped to end his days. Our Tapc-du:
took advantage of this information tt
engage Il place in the same diligenc.
in which M started that evening
for Melun. Sitting face to face will
the unsuspecting traveller, who showed
signs of drowsiness at an early hour, Il,
watchnd his chancn Amid tho dark