The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1886-05-21
SECOND SIGHT.
FROM THE FRENCH.

| FROM THE FRENCH
Ghost stories have always had and
will always continue to have much in.
terest for readers, and even the most
practical minded persons. Here 10 one
which seems to us to have peculiarly
strange character, touching upon what
ancicnts and moderns have alike term
cd second sight.
In former times the Forest of Senart
had bad name. One fine summer
night in 1899 the diligence, going from
, Paris to Melun. entered great avenue
of oaks which traverscd the whole
length Of the forcst-oaks centuries old
and so vigorous of foliage that the road
beneath them remained envcloped in
, darkness. The back and forward COM
partments of the vehicle were full;
! there were only two travellers, however,
in the interior, and on the outside sat
a country tenor singing with the whole
force Of his lungs rondeau, at the time
greatly in vogue-"La Belle Arscnne. :"
Under such circumstances there did not
seem to he any danger for anybody, and
the driver kept his horses at walk.
But on reaching Corbcil he whipped
/ up his animals and drove them into the
old sleeping town at rafting pace
that shook the pavement. They halted
at the relay station, and all the passen-
gers got out at the invitation of the
driver, who was glad enough of the
chance to get drink. Then they be-
gam to look around ut each other, to
yawn, and to count up how many were
in the party.
We'll, this is very queer!" cried the
driver. where ON earth are my two
inside passengers gonc?'
Don't bother yourself. old boy"
said the tenor, "your two passengers
will turn up all right somewhere; the
wolves haven't eaten them"
"Parbleun' retorted a notary who
was one of the passengers. II don't
think tits so very certain they will turn
up. just before we reached the forest
leaned over to their door to offer
them pinch of snuff
They waited and waited in vain. The
conductor fretted, the voyagers began
to lose paticncc-still nobody came.
After an hours waiting the passengers
had to proceed upon their way without
seeing Or hearing anything of the two
persons who had disappeared in so
mysterious a manner.
Some days after this incident Nj.
Meful, professor at the conserva-
toire, was notified by the police that
his Oldest and best friend, NJ, had
never been seen since the evening he
had taken the diligence for Melun. in
the Cour DIES Messageries. The news
caused great pain to the illustrious
maestro. and he at once took all pos
s;ble measures to have his friend found,
alive or dead. These efforts proved al
together fruitless. The extraordinary
circumstances of this disappearance
impressed the artist very strongly; he
thought and spoke of nothing else. and
his grief left him sleepless. He lost his
appetite, and his health was consider
ubly affected.
One night, while tossing feverishly in
his bed, trying to sleep in vain, he heard
the clock of St. Roche Church, near
where he lived, strike o'clock. The
moonlight, entering between the shut
ters-which Mehul always left half
open, SO that he might be the better
able to get up early-tilled the room
with fantastic radiance. just then
the musician saw, quite close to his bed,
d small humpbacked man with a very
ferocious countenance, who was hold
ing in his long. clenched fingers coil
of rope.
| Mehul rubbed his eyes and rose up in
bed. trying to convince himself that he
was not the victim of nightmare. The
man still stood there, within few feet
of the bed. and the artist was on the
point of asking him what this extraor-
binary visit meant when all of q sud-
lien his tongue Glove to the roof of his
mouth, his hair stood up. and great
trembling came upon him. Right be-
hind the figure of the hunchback he had
suddenly perceived another form, vague
and all white, whose eyes appeared to
be seeking his own. Mehul recognized
that presence. 1t was the phantom of
his dear lost friend! At the same mo-
ment the moon was yelled by cloud,
the room became dark. and the vision
vanished! In vain Mehul struggled
with his fear; he waited, he watched, he
invoked again the lugubrious vision; no
supernatural phenomenon came to trou-
.. bic the rest of his night, and in the
morning, overwhelmed with fatigue, he
fell into feverish sleep. He awoke
very late, and tried to collect his
thoughts and fancics of the evening be.
fore.
Il must have been dreaming!' he
declared, as he hurried to dress to %
) to the Opera House, where there was to
bc rehearsal of "lrato.' '.This is
. what comes of being haunted by 6
. fixed idea-the brain ut least becomes
affected by It,, and the mind can not
distinguish the reality from the dream.
! And yet how clearly defined, how viva.
.. ciously real were the impressions o.
, that dream! l could have sworn was
; awske-that saw my poor friend look
: ing sadly at me and trying to make
signs to me! But again-that littl.
, hunchback-what the devil was h,
. doing there? ALI! bah! the whole thinf
! is absurd. I will not tell anybody
not even my wife-about the hallucina
. ton / have had; they would only laugh
at me, and they would be justifed!'
Everything is forgotten in this world
, even the most startling Impressions
; and in the lapse of time, if Mehul oc
) casionally thought of his friend, h
nevertheless completely forgot tn
! donIio ennor;k;on tl.t N J,,o......:,