Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1891-01-09

thoughts, tu0 SdlIC lt6lluSo 90 DCAoAN'
And, stranger than all, he could not help
believing that he himself was the old man
that he had seen in his dream, that 1T was
his portrait that had hung so long in the
hall of the Casimirs.
Thus Clinton Casimir felt and thought
after he awoke from his dream, and he was
right.
He was the old mani
Cali it what you like; call it a frenzy,
monomania; call it transmigration of souls,
if you like; call it what you please, yet the
fact remains the same. Clinton Caslmlr
had died in sleep and the soul of the old
man had gone into his body. Yet the old
BODY still dimlv remembered accustomed
things, as we dreamily recall events that
happened in our early childhood.
II 4
Casimir hall was different place after
its young master had lost his soul in Sleep
There was no more revelry, no more mid
night debauches. It 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 yigor. In two months he
was an old man, although 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 Trey 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 fireside on winter evenings
The steward of the house said that on the
night in which 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 a wild
light in the eyes, SO that they shone and
glowed like fire. Then while he stood
candle in hand, before it a 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, lo!
the old mans picture was gone!
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 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 Short by a 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
happened, but a few days after the old man
was buried he took possession of Casimir
hail. saying that he was the only living rel
alive of the deceased and giving his name
as James Casimir. He had been in posses
sion but a few days, however, when the
neighbors, after consultation, sent an
officer out to arrest him for murder. But
when the man of the lazy came to the house
hefound that the pretended heir had passed
beyond his jurisdiction-for he had lust
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
discussing the Casimirs and their family
history, and also the impostor who had
committed suicide, when an old hunter,
who had been a constant visitor at the hall,
created a sensation by saying:
HWell, 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 of the 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 a 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 bean here since
that night" and fled from the room.
The men looked on the wall, and there,
in the place that they had seen vacant for
SO many months, and hanging as naturally
as though it had never been away, was the
old mans picture-the same old portrait
that had hung there for over century
and then had Sc Suddenly disappeared.
But his eyes were not as fierce as they had
been, and whether it was fancy or not do
not know, but all the men said that there
WIS slight smile playing around his lips.
x y
Thus passed away the last OF the CAST
Mrs, and thus Casmir hall came into the
hands of strangers.-W M. Hobby in At
lanta Constitution.