The Yazoo sentinel. (Yazoo City, Miss.) 1878-1916, 1891-08-06


tho virtue Of the mineral waters.
All, yes said he. my daugater has
n strange malady, the seat Of which her
physicians are unable to determine
She suffers from incompreheuaible
nervous symptoms. Sometimes they
think her afflicted with heart disease,
sometimes with liver complaint. and
sometimes with spinal difficulty. At
present they attribute 70 the stomach,
which is the great motor and prime reg
ulator Of the body, this Proteus-like
malady OF thousand forms, thousand
modes Of attack. That is why we are
here. ] am myself rather Of the opinion
that II Is her nerves. In any case it is
very sad"
That reminded me Immediately Of the
violent jerking Of his hand, and asked:
But is that not hereditary? Are
not your own nerves little afected?'
TRANQUILITY he answered
"Mine? Oh, no; / have always poe
seEed very calm nerves"
Then suddenly, after pause. he re-
marked:
@Ah, yes You refer 10 the action Of
my hand whenever ] reach for an OBJ
ject? That is the result Of terrible
shock once had Imagine, sir, this
child has been buried alivel"
could find nothing 10 say, except
"Ah' with emotion and surprise.
He went on: Here is the story. It
il simple. Iuliette had for some time
seemed subject 10 disordered action Of
the heart. We were sure she suffered
from some disease Of this organ and ex-
pected the worst.
"One day she was brought in lifeless
dead. She had fallen dead while
walking in the garden. The physician
issued certificate Of death. Watched
beside her for day and two nights. |
myself placed her in the coffin, which |
followed to the cemetery, whore she
was laid in the family vault 1t was in
the country, in Lorraine.
II had wished that she should be
buried with her jewels, bracelets, neck
laces, rings, all the presents that l had
given her. and her first ball dress.
"You can imagine the state OF my
heart on returning home. She was all
/ had, my wife having been dead for
many years. Stunned and half mad, /
shut myself alone in my room and fell |
into an arm-chair almost senseless, un-
able to move. / was merely wretched,
breathing wreck.
my old valet, Prosper, who had
helped me place Juliette in her coffin
and lay her away for her last rest, en-
tered noiselessly and asked:
Monsieur, will you not eat some
thingY / shook my head, without
speaking.
He persisted;
Monsieur is wrong. This will make
lim ILL., Would Monsieur like me to
out him to bed?
81 answered:
NO; let me alone
"And he withdrew.
"How many hours may have passed, /
know not On what night What a
lightl II was cold my fire had burned
nut in the great fire place; and the wind,
wintry gale, charged with icy frost,
rowling without and rapping at my
windows with peculiarly sinister
iound.
"Long hours rolled away. Isat there,
Frustrated and over
my eyes were open, but my
body was nevertheless, dead, and my ,
soul was engulfed in despair. Sud-
denly the great hall bell rang out
II gave such a start that my chair
creaked under me. The slow, solemn
sound vibrated in the empty house. I
looked to see the hour by the clock. 1t
was 2 in the morning. Who could be
coming at such an hour?
"And, abruptly, the bell rang twice
again. The servants, certainly, would
not dare to answer it. took a candle
and descended. l was about to de-
mand:
"'Who is there"
"Then, ashamed Of this weakness, ,
slowly drew back the heavy bolts. MY ,
heart throbbed; 1 was afraid. opened |
the door brusquely, and deserted in the
gloom shape like phantom, dressed !
in white.
Il recoiled, impotent with anguish,
and stammered:
"'Who--who-who are your X
A voice answered. II
at is /, father. II
1T was my daughter.
Really, l thought myself mad; and I {
shrank away, retreating backward be- !
fore the spectre as it entered, gesticu-
lating with my hand, as if to ward off
the apparihon. That gesture has never !
left me.
The phantom spoke again:
Have no fear, papa: was not dead. /
Some one has stolen my rings, and has {
cut of my finger; the blood began to j
flow, and that has revived me-
And observed, then, that she was
covered with blood.
i fell on my knees, gasping, sobbing {
Historically. II
As soon "a had partly recovered I
my senses, so dazed still that hardly I
comprehended the terrible happiness
that had come to me, made her go up {
to my room and placed her in my arm !
chair; then l rang sharply for Prosper,
that he might rekindle the fire. prepare s
a warm drink for her, and summon /
The man entered, gazed at my !
daughter, opened his mouth with
spasm Of fright and horror, then fell on
his back, stark dead
1t was he who had opened the vault, I
Vrhn haA rs,uNs1.t.I - a. = l..