Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1890-10-04
rrANcnun1 1EIA,:o :oBAYuIs DY,mo

terious movements ofthc dark creature.
made me feel very uncotn Portable.
Still decided to face the danger, II
danger there was, and moved to tho
door of the box to wait until the danger
had passed.
Slowly sho moved forward until sho
was within threo or four steps OF me,
then stopped again; her face was In tho
shadow and could not distinguish her
features. Whilc I was. trying to dis
cern them she moved suddenly forward
and gave mo a searching look; in an
other second, Before / had recovered
from my surprise, sho had passed on
and moved rapidly along the street
without stopping any moro.
Tho watch passed without further In
cidents, but remember that I had no
trouble in keeping awake and was very
thankful to be relieved. told You that
was a now recruit at the time, and
| dreaded to. make myscif ridiculous in
the eycs of the company; besides that,
had a lurking idea that the whole
scene might have been plotted for my
| benefit / resolved, therefore, to say
nothing about it and SEQ whether any
of my comrades had an encounter with
tho mysterious woman. l devoutly
uopcA tuab IAcJ "ouAos hho "1o A1os
disappointed.
Night after night the midnight
sentry saw the figure, always coming
from tho same spot, always silent. al
ways passing on after the samo incom-
prehensiblo movements Not ono of us
had had tho presence OF mind to stop
the woman and question her.
| We had in our company u man such
| nc Gn6S nv Wh full nf life al.
| ways laughing, joking, suro to be at the
bottom of all mischief, always punished
when there we're any punishments to be
administered. skeptical, as all such men
are, believing IN nothing save his own
wit and bravery. The stories that were
| told about the u,idnight visitor had al
| ways drawn a sarcastic smile TO his lips,
and no was .eternally laughing at tho
victims of the woman in black. Catch
| him shaking in his boots with fear OF
| some facetious grisette who was having
| great sport frightening the soldiers out
! of their wits!
Finally we gr ew exasperated, and ono
of us broke out:
Talk is cheap, Ri,knrd; you have
not been there yot; you may not stand
it any botter than the Others"
'Bct would!'
''Bet you five francs you would not
| ''Takenv
"When will you try?"
Tonight Who is on duty?'
Leroy"
Leroy was found, and was moro than
willing to exchange guard with Richard.
Both repaired to the sergeant, who, after
listening to their story, told them to dc
as they pleased about 1.
4 = So the matter vas settled, and Just
before twelve Richard drew himself to-
gether, shouldcred his gun, and M archcd
out to his post What occurred we
learned later, and his tone was very diff
ferent from his usual ono I will tell
you the story just as he told US:
81 started on my beat, Inc said, "rhinl-
ing of what was going;to happen. / ad'
| nit now that / did mot feel as easy
about tho matter as I had folt before.
Tho loneliness Of the spot was telling
on my mind, and nadc me rather anx
ious. Still resolved to stop tho WON
an, If she appeared, and question her
! could not do otherwise. But tho cor
rer She always came from looked very
dark and ominous, and altogc ther, my
feelings were far froa -leasant-
/ -Iweiye O'clock struck in the stecplt
| OF q nGlp DOrlnS CHURCH, anu WaLCHeu
attentivcly for tho apparition. After
watching ten or fifteen minutes / saw
something move in the dark, and a
dread presentimcnt seemed to clutch my
heart The woman appeared, gliding
along as you all saw her; but | knew
that my boasting had been vain, tha,
tho sight affected me more, perhaps
than any of you. | was absolutely
panic-stricken, fascinated by the ap
proaching figure, as somo poor bird by
the snake that bcwilders it with It's
glance before devouring 1t. / felt that
] ought to run, but could not move
On she came, nearer and nearer, stop
ping at intervals, till she looked me in
the face; then, uttering wild cry, she
sprung forward, and l fell, with dag
ger planted up to tho hilt in my side.
Such was the story Richard told US
fcw weeks later as ho was recovering
from his wound. AS to the woman, she
was discovered by the police and pro
nounccd mad. l havo heard rumors tt
the effect that she had been abandoned
that her crime was but a dcspcrat t
vengeance. Whether the story was
true or not Richard would never say. =
| Waverly.
| Sawdust.
Little Daisy Parks Ton her first visi
to her country uncle)-Oh, mamma
what lovely place! Look at tha