The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1891-07-02
BARBARA'S SEVERE TEST.

'tion.
"Why are you so stubborn, Bar
'bara?" she asked. "You have plenty
of lovers"
81 want, when I marry, a man
who is brave, equal to amy emergency.
If give up my liberty 1 want to be
taken care Of"
"Silly child! What Us the matter
with big Barney, the blacksmith"
He is big, but never learned that
he was brave"
"And you never heard that he is
not. What is the matter with Ernest,
the gunsmith?"
Hes as placid as goats milk
''There is little Fritz, the tanner; he
is quarrelsome enough for you, sure
ly"
He isno bigger than q bantam
cock. 1t is little he could doif the
house was set upon by robbers."
That might Ernest, the :gunsmith,
knocked early at the door.
"Nou sent for me. Barbara" he
said, going to the girl who stood upon
the hearth coquettishly warming 'one
pretty foot and then the other.
Eyes, Ernest" she replied, 1--we
been thinking,of what you said the
other night when you were here"
''Well, Barbara?"
II want to test you"
'sHow?"
II want to see if you 'dare'do "a very
'disagreeable thing
'"What is it?"
''There is an old coffin upstairs. 1t
smells ofmould. They say Raymond,
the murderer, was buried in it; but the
devil came for his body and left the
coffin empty at the end OF a week, and
it was finally taken from the tomb.
It is upstairs in the room my grand
father died in, and they say grandsire
does not rest easy in his grave for
some reason, though that I know
nothing about. Dare you make
that coffin y our bed tonight?''
Ernest laughed.
''Is that all? I will that, and sleep
soundly. Why, pretty .one, did you
think had weak nerves?"
'"Good night, then, 1 will send "a lad
to show you the chamber" said ini-
perious Miss Barbara.
Ernest turned straightway and
followed the lad IN waiting through
dim rooms and passages, up ,echoing
stairs, along marrow, damp ways,
where rats >scuttled before them, to a.
low chamber. The boy looked pale
and scared, and evidently wanted to
hurry away, hut Ernest made him
wait until he had taken a. survey of
the room by the aid of his lamp. It
was very large and full of recesses.
with high windows in them, which
were barred across. He remembered
that old Grahdsire Ferros had sbeen
insane for several years before his
death, SO this rprecaution had been
necessary for the safety of himself and
Others. In the center of the room
stood a coffin; beside it WAS placed a.
chair. The room was otherwise
perfectly empty.
ERNEST stretched himself in the
coffin.
"Be good enough to tell Miss
Barbara that it's a very good fit -
said he.
The boy went o,ut and smrt the
door, leaving THE young gum smith
alone ina the dark.
Meanwhile Barbara was talking with
the big blacksmith i'm the keeping
room
Barney, said she, pulling herhanGls
from his grasp when he would have
kissed her, II have a. test to. put you
through before give YOU any answer.
There is a corpse lying i'm the chamber
where my grandsire died, in the un-
tenanted wing OF the house. If YOU
dare sit with it there all night, and
let nothing drive YOU from your post,
you will not ask me to marry YOU
again in vain-' ii ..s.-.,.. .-..,..-..
''Are these all the conditions yom
can offer me, Barbara?'' NJ. =.
Cali. And if you get frightened you
need never look me in the face again. -
Cpl take them, then
So Barney was conducted to
his post by the lad, who
had been instructed in the secret, and
whose Involuntary stare at Ernest's
placid face as it lay in the coffin was
interpreted by Barney to be natural
awe of a corpse. He took his seat
and the boy left him alone with the
darkness, the rats, and the coffin.
soon after young Fritz, the tanner,
arrlved, fattered ard hopeful from
the fact that Barbara had sent for
him. LII,
"Have YOU changed your mind, Bar
bafas" he asked.
mo, and | shall not until 1 know
that you can do really brave thing =
What shall it be? I swear to salts
fly you, Barbara a .s
81 have little proposal to make to
you Ny plan requires skill as well as
courage"
"Tell me-"
"Well, in this house is a man watch
Ing by a corpse. He has sworn not to