The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1886-07-31
SECOND SIGHT.
A Story Told by Highly Imag.
NATIVE Musician.

Ghost stories have always had and
will always continue to have much in
terest for readers-and even the most
practically minded persons. Here is
one which seems to us to have pecu-
liarly strange character, touching upon
what ancients and moderns have alike
termed second sight.
In former times the forest of Senart
had a bad name. One fine summers
night in 1899 the diligence going from
Paris to Melun entered great avenue
of oaks which traversed the whole
longth of the forest-oaks centuries old
and so vigorous of foliage that the road
beneath them remained enveloped 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 a rondeau at that
time greatly in vogue-''La Belle Ar
senne." Under such circumstances
there did not seem to be any danger for
anybody and the driver kept his horses
at a walk.
But on reaching Corbeil he whipped
up his animals and drove them into the
old sleeping town at a 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 began
to look around at each other, to yawn,
and to count up how many were IN the
party.
well, this is very queerr' cried the
driver. Where on earth are my two
inside passengers gomez"
"Don't bother yourself, old boy"
said the tenor; .'your two passengers
will turn up all right somewhere; the
wolves haven't eaten them"
"Parbleu!" retorted notary who
was one of the passengers, II don't
think it is SO very certain they will turn
up. Just before we reached the forest
| leaned over to their door to offer
them pinch of snuff
WaieCu anu W0itCu III Will. Il uc
conductor fretted, the voyagers began
to lose patience-still nobody came.
After an hours waiting the passengers
had TO proceed upon their way without
seeing or hearing any thing of the two
persons who had disappeared in so
mysterious manner.
Some days after this incident M.
Mehul, professor at the Conservative,
was notified by the police that his
oldest and best friend, M, 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 possible meas
ures to have his friend found, alive or
dead. These efforts proved altogether
fruitless. The extraordinary circum-
stances of this disappearance impressed
the artist very strongly; he thoughtand
spoke of nothing else, and his grief left
him sleepless. He lost his appetite,
andhis health was considerably 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 two 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-filled the room
with a fantastic radiance. just then
the musician saw, quite close to his bed,
small bumpbacked man with a very
ferocious countenance, who was hold
ing in his long, clenched fingers a 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 ex-
traordinary visit meant when all of
sudden 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 a cloud.
the room became dark, and the vision
In vain Mehul struggled |
with his fear; he waited. he watched,
he invoked again the lugubrious vision:
no supernatural phenomenon came to
trouble the rest of his night, and in the
overwhelmed with fatigue,
be fell into . feverish sleep. He awoke !