Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1886-05-27
SECOND SIGHT.
FROM THE FRENCH.

strange character, touching upon what
ancients and moderns have alike term
ed second sight
In former times the Forest of Senart
had bad name. One fine summers
night in 1899 the diligence, going from
Paris to Melun. entered great avenue
of oaks which traversed the whole
length 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 the time
greatly in vogue-"La Belle Arsenne. "
Under such circumstances there did not
seem to be any danger for anybody, and
the driver kept his horses at walk.
But on reaching Corbeil 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-
gan to look around ct each other, to
yawn, and to count up how many were
in the party.
well, this is very queer!" 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"
"Parbleur' retorted a 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: y
They waited and waited in vain. The
conductor fretted, the voyagers began
to lose patiencc-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 q manner.
Some days after this incident Nj.
Mehul a professor at the conscrva-
tore, 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
sible 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 sleeplcss. He lost his
appetite, and his health was consider
ably affected.
One night, while tossing fevcrishly 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-.tillcd the room
with 4 fantastic radiance. Just then
the musician saw, quite close to his bed,
a small humpbacked man with 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 a nightmare. The
Inan still stood there, within few feet
of the bed, and the artist was on the
point of asking him what this cxtraor,
binary visit meant, when all of sud,
den 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 tC
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 h
invoked again the lugubrious vision; NJ
supernatural phenomenon came to trou
bic the rest of his night, and in tn,
morning, overwhelmed with fatigue, h,
fell into feverish sleep. He awokt
very late, and tried to collect hi
thoughts and fancies of the evening be
fore.
ii must have been dreaming!" b,
declared, as he hurried to dress to q
to the Opera House, where there was t.
be a rehearsal of "Irato." This i
what comes of being haunted by
fixed idea-the brain at least become
affected by it, and the mind can no
distinguish the reality from the dream
And yet how clearly defined, how viva
ciously real were the impressions Q
that dream! ! could have sworn | wa
awakc-that | saw my poor friend look
ing sadly at me and trying to max
signs to me! But again-that littl
hunchback-what the devil was h
doing there? All! bah, the whole thin
is absurd. will not tell ANYBODY
not even my wife-about the hallucina
ton have had; they would only laug
at ME, and they would be Justified"
Everything is forgotten in this worlC
even the most startling impression
and in the lapse of time, if Mehul o.
casionally thought of his friend,
nevertheless completely forgot II
double apparition that had momentaril
terrified him.
Five years passed. The Imperi
Caesar had encircled bis brows wit
the crown of France, and his gloriol
accession was being celebrated by pu
lie festivities. Mehul, with his wife {
his arm, had taken his children to 5,
the Examinations at the Champs Ell
Al