The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-12-21

| pdSstu away. he JnOueHb VI WhAS NC nat
been as we recall half forgotten things that
we have seen in dreams. de thought Of
his present self as if he had just come back
into the world after long sleep He did
not feel the blood of youth course so freely
in his veins-he realized that he was nc
longer young. He had not the same
thoughts, the same feelings as before.
And, stranger than all, he could not help
believing that he himself was the old man
hat he had seen in his dream, that it was
bis portrait that had hung so long in the
BALL of the Casimirs.
Thus Clinton Casimir felt and thought
after he awoke from his dream, and he was
right.
He was the old mani
Call it what you like; call it frenzy. a
mOnomania; call it transmigrstion of souls,
if you like; call it what you please, yet the
fact remains the same. Clinton Casimir
bad died in sleep and the soul OF the old
man had gone into his body. Yet the old
body still dimly remembered accustomed
things, as we dreamily recall events that
happened in our early childhood.
Casimir hall was different place after
its young master had lost his soul in sleep.
There was no more reyelry, no more mid
night debauches. 1t was the talk of the
country. The people could not understand
what had come over the master of the old
hall. His former friends were hardly rec
ognized or treated but indifferently. Then
his hair grew white and his limbs lost
their accustomed vigor. In two months he
was an old man, althoug h in years, count
ing according to the body, he had but just
reached the twenty ninth milestone. And
every one who saw him in his miserable
old age knew him at once as the same old
man whose portrait they had seen hanging
among the pictures in the gallery.
And as to the portrait itself the strangest,
widest story concerning it had gone out,
and was vouched for by many who lived at
the hall. Old wives still tell it in whispers
around the freside on winter evenings
| The steward of the house said that on the
night inwhich his wild young master had
slept that fearful sleep he had cause to go
into the room where the old portrait hung
He stopped for an instant before it and
was fascinated to the spot by the strange
look of the face. He said there was wild
light in the eyes, so that they shone and
glowed like fire Then while he stood,
candle in hand before it smile came upon
the face, and the old man raised that long
first finger and brought it down upon the
other, counting five again. He vowed be-
fore heaven and earth that the old mans
mouth moved.
The steward fled from the place, nearly
dead with terror, but the next day when
he ventured with others into the room to
look once more upon the awful face, 10!
the old mans picture was gonei
The house was searched, and inquiries
made of every one on the place, but it
could not be found.
The being who now ruled over the CAST
mir estates was a cynical and unhappy
old man. He had no friends, he wanted
none, and he was so decrepit and infirm
that wherever he walked he had to lean
heavily upon a stick He tried sometimes
to do good to those around him, to be
charitable-tried earnestly, perhaps, but
he failed. At last he laid stupendous plans
to expend all his fortune for the good of
his fellowmen, when they were suddenly
cut shor5 by very tragic circumstance
This was the old mans death!
One day there came to the hall a young
man of tall and soldierly presence and
stern in countenance. He became init
mate with the master of the hall, and they
walked together frequently. One morn
ing the old man being late in coming
down, the servant who went to awake
him was Mortified to discover that he had
been murdered in his room during the
night. There was no mistake about the
crime, for there was the fatal dagger
wound in his breast. And strange TO say,
though life had been extinct for some
hours, yet he sat there in his chair, cold !
and stiff, with the first finger of his right |
hand pressed down against the little finger /
of his left as if he had died while counting |
something.
The young soldierly looking man was /
shocked when they told him of what had /
but few days after the old man |
was buried he took possession of Casimir |
hall, saying that he was the only living rel /
alive of the deceased and giving his name !,
as James Casimr. He had been in posses
sion but a few days, however, when the
after consultation, sent an
officer out TO arrest him for murder. But
when the man of the law came TO the house
he found that the pretended heir had passed
beyond his jurisdicton-for he had Just
died by his own hand. Perhaps he saw or
had heard that the officer was coming.
A large crowd OF the neighbors had
gathered about the dead body and were
the Casimirs and their family
history, and also the impostor who had
committed suicide, when an old hunter,
who had been constant visitor at the hall,
created a sensation by saying:
"Well, this man may not be a Casimir,
but two people never looked more alike in
this world than he looks like the picture
Of James Casimir, the first one ofthe race"
Then they went upstairs to examine the
picture, and, Just as the hunter had said
they all turned pale when they saw the old
portrait was the exact image of the dead
man whom they had just left.
They were Just about TO leave when the
steward gave wild shrek and fell TO the
floor in fit of terror, pointing as he did so
TO picture on the opposite side of the
room. One of the servants, looking in the
direction, shrieked out
It's the first time it's been here since
that night" and fled from the room.
The men looked on the wall. and there,
n the place that they had seen vacant for
% many months and hanging as naturally !
rs though it had never been away, was the
I'D mans picture-the same old portrait
hat had hung there for over a century
md then had so suddenly disappeared
But his eyes were not as fierce IS they had ,
,een. and whether il was fancy or not | do
rot knaw, bat ala toe men said that there
Tas slight smile playing around his lips.
Thus passed away the last Of the Cast
Mrs, and thus Casiulir ball came into the
lands Of strsRgers.-W. u. Hobby in At
an:a Constitution
Settling n Doubt.