The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1886-07-31
verv,.te and tried to collect his thoughts

ana IancleS Oh the evening ucioiO-
IL must have been dreaming" he
declared, as he hurried to dress to go
to the Opera House, where there was
to be rehearsal of s'Irato." This is
what comes of being haunted by 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! 1 could have sworn l was
awake-that l saw my poor friend
looking sadly at me and trying to make
signs to me! But again--that little
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. the devil was he
doing therep All! bah! the whole
thing is absurd. l will not tell any
body-not even my wife-about the
hallucination l have had; they would
only laugh at me, and they would be
iustified!"
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 momentarily
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
sees, like any other good citizen. He
stood in ecstacy before fountain of
fire playing in the center of the
grounds, when he suddenly discovered
that some one was stealthily exploring
the pockets of his coat. With a quick
movement he succeeded in grasping
the thief's hand and, wheeling round,
found himself face to face with a little
looking fellow!--he had seen him
somewhere before. Where had he al
ready observed that scoundrely face
and those apish hands? Like 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 man whom one had
never seen except in 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
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
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
white shape made itself visible against
the luminous beam-it seemed to stand
before the window. And with its COM
ing came the sound of sepulchral
whisper. "Avenge me!'' eyes. dear
friend, swear to thee 1 shall avenge
theen' cried Mehul, risingi in his bed.
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 visited
him upon the same errand to go to
Jericho. But M. Mehul was the choir
master of his Majesty, the Emperor,
and a musician of acknowledged
genius, to whom the opera owed more
than one 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 hunchback submitted to
most rigorous secret Interrogation,
and very astute Juge obstruction
harassed him with every possible ques-
ton that could terrify guilty con-
science.
These maneuvers succeeded beyond
expectation. Before week had elapsed
the hunchback had been made to con-
fess that he was indeed the assassin of
M 1t appeared that the wretch
had, during the Reign of Terror, been
a member of the Tape-dur (.'Hard-
hitters' )-those cut-throats whom the
Committee of Public Safety had en-
ployed to excite riots. The overthrow
of that regime of Fraternity or Death
had left this estimable citizen without
employment. and rather than return to
his old trade of tailor, he sought to live
independently of work. The indis-
erection of servant had enabled him to
discover that M. - was going to
Melun to deposit in notary's hands