St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-04-20
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4 lawyers STORY,
Or the Nun With Bleeding Eyes.

old worm-eaten door, from here that
! the nun comes out to brighten nocturnal
| promenaders."
There is one, then, and with bleed
| ing eyes?''
'tAh-h! about that I can tell YOU
| nothing, only that the legend exists,
and Its title is as you have been told.
Stay! your chamber" he added, his
voice more and more alcohOliZed as the
| Armagnac took effect. ''Sleep wellr'
and the doctor ushered him into the
| same one prepared for his uncle, shook
his hand-a grasp, cold. elammy, glu-
/ tlnous as his voice. and. with another
| "Bonne mutt, monsieur" withdrew.
| This room. in which Georges found
| himself alone, was, in truth, but vast
! ante-chamber arranged for the occasion
| as sleeping room and furnished in the
i heavy and disgraceful style of the year
1920. 1t was retreat particularly chill
| and cherries, but the bed was huge.
| the sheets white, and in the center of
| the floor had been placed Writing-table
! with everything needed upon it for
work.
The young Partisan smiled at the at
! tentlon. then put himself to bed. but
| was not able to sleep-OppreSsed. you
| may say. by an unpleasant sense of sol
| ltude and abandonment. 1t was not vet
| II O'Clock; perhaps if he got up and
! utilized his insomnia by commencing
| the contemplated romance upon the
Nun With the Bleeding Eyes" the
! story would be we'll in tune with his
| surroundings.
| 1t was an inspiration: he rose, seated
, himself and Syread out his sheets.
Let me see" he murmured, where
| to begin. With the title? Yes. always
| with that-but after that? After that
| he would see! He was by no means the
first romancer who had started without
| knowing where he would cast the first
! stone.
| Ills pen ran upon the paper
| ION fresh autumn evening young
! nobleman, Aymard de Puy d Ambleuse,
| entered by post and at full speed the
| small but picturesque city of ST. Cy-
bard, in Provence -''
And Georges continued to write. lit
tie by little delivered from his restless
ness. his hand nImbIe, his thoughts
/ keeping pace with MS fingers. The
story was going well, very well. indeed.
i At the sixteenth leaf he had reached
the following passage:
''Aymard laughed heartily at the
| prejudice surviving at ST. Cybard in a
modern, NOltairean century, and. after
| declaring that he would do perfectly
well in the haunted ruins since there
/ was no place for him in the inn. he en-
tered the room hastily arranged for him
In the ancient monastery. threw off his
| sword, his redingOte, his pIuIned tri-
corne, and"-
', At this point Georges Dayred dropped
his pen and bruSduely lifted his eyes.
a door had opened in the cloister-and
| there is no noise more disturbing than
the sound of door which creaks sud-
denly. against all provision, in an
abandoned building where echo slept
ordinarily under the crossing shadows
| Of black and silent vault. Involun-
tarily Georges paled. He was not afraid !;
he was only afraid of being afraid: he
dreaded a hallucination. and, despite
his firm resolve to explain naturally
what he had heard. held his eyes with
tetanlc rigidity in the direction of that
sound.
His temples began to hammer with
the strain; his eyebails burned, but still
he listened: still he waited, until for
! some reason it seemed to him he had
! been waiting for tia light rap was
struck upon the panels. He Sprang to
his feet and faced the doorway.
us it you, doctor?" he called; lis it
You who wish to enter?''
'sN-n-n-n-ow responded voice. ShriII.
broken. dragging, despairing. articulat-
ing the word with difficulty, with an
intOnatiOn slow and tremuious that no
tigurative orthography could sufficiently
depict. Georges felt himself Shudder-
ing.
Mon Dieu!'' lie cried, 'scan it be you.
Mile. Caillette?'
''N-n-n-n-n-or' came the wall again.
and nothing. nothing i'll the literary re-
sources which arrange and counterfeit
the human dialect could give an idea,
even approXlmatiye, OF the sorrow, the
heartbreak, the dismal melancholy of
that simple negatiOn murmured by an
invisible being. 1t was a feminine
voice, but it was not, or rather it
seemed TO be no more-fhe voice Of a
woman. This time the hair of Georges
briStled with horror. with absolute.
downright, unequivocal fright: no
longer fear in a measure speculative.
no longer the fear of fear-but fear
pure ana simple. poignant. inyincibie-
the fear of seeing some frightful thing
or being. incredible yet precise. in
short. the fear of an apparitiOn hideouS
and cruel
Nevertheless. he struggled with him
self; he strove to laugh. to turn his
fear with irony.
''Ah-h," said he. 81 comprehend. 1t
is the nun vino seeks to enter-the nun
with the bleeding eyes"
Yes, yes; bleeding, bleeding!" re-
piled the voice, with a gravity ferOciouS
and terrible.
The nun! in truth. the nun with the
bleeding eyes! Georges clutehed at
the table to keep erect: then drawn by
the madness. the vertigo that forces
one from the brink of an abyss, threw
himself forward, seized the knob. and
with the cry Of sleeper in the agonieS
of bad dream, flung wide the door,
His cry was echoed from the depths of
the cloister: at the same moment he
saw with q marvellous clearneSS that
subtle penetration of minuteSt details
which characteriZeS supreme crises, saw
exactly what he had expected to seei
Upon the threshold oft door, against
that background of night, tail figure
stood erect. 1t was goWned in flowing
white. and under the bandeaux of linen,
which covered the hair, yawned, instead
of eyes, two cavities, deep and
bloody. agitated by cOnvuisive twitch-
ingS, empty, yet darting forth a
sort OF sonber flame through an inter-
lacing of living muscles. The CHASTITY,
emaciated face shook like the tanks of
a horse under the thrust of the spur,
and from the lips. drawn back from the
white. grimacing teeth. came words
ardent, frightfuI. plaIntive, incompre-
I hensible. mingled with SupplicatiOnS
and cries of fury.
This tall figure tottered forward. this
terrifying figure seized and clasped his
hands, this incarnate nightmare dropped
pits head upon his bosom. George Dav-
/ red knew no more-oblivion had mer-
i cifully yelled the vision.
+ 1t was month at least before he