New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1891-07-01
BARBARA'S SEVERE TEST.


Ii give up my liberty want to be
taken care Of"
SILLY child! What is the matter
with big Barney, the blacksmith?'
He is big, but I never learned that
be was brave
"And you never heard that he is
not. What is the matter with Ernest,
the gunsnith?"
He's as placid as goats milk"
''There is little Fritz, the tanner; he
is quarrelsome enough for you, sure
Iy?"
He is no bigger than a bantam
cock. 1t is little he could do if the
house was set upon by robbers.''
That night Ernest, the gunsmith,
knocked early at the door.
You sent for me, Barbara" he
said, going to the girl who stood upon
the hearth coquettishly warming one
pretty foot and then the other.
YES, Ernest" she replied, GIVE
other night when you we're here
"Well, Barbara?'
Il want to test you"
"How?"
Il want to see if you dare do very
disagreeable thing"
what is it?''
'There is an old coffin upstairs. 1t
smells OF mould. 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 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 1 know
nothing about. Dare you make
that coffin your bed tonight"
Ernest laughed.
lis that all? l will that, and sleep
soundly. Why, pretty one, did you
think l had weak nerves."
Good night, then, will send lad
to show you the chamber" said i'm
perious Miss Barbara.
Ernest turned straightway and
followed the lad IN waiting through
dim rooms and passages, up echoing
stairs, along narrow, damp ways,
where rats scuttled before them, to a
low chamber. The boy looked pale
and scared and evidently wanted to
hurry away, but 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
h r.
that old Grandsire Ferros had been
insane for several years before his
death, so this precaution 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 out and shut the
door, leaving the young gunsmith
alone in the dark.
Meanwhile Barbara was talking with
the big blacksmith in the keeping
room.
Barney, said she, pulling her hands
from his grasp when he would have
kissed her, Il have a test to put you
through before | give YOU any answer.
There is corpse lying In the chamber
where my grandsire died, in the IN
tenanted wing OF the house. II 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"
Are these all the conditions You
cam offer me, Barbara?''
'All. And if you get frightened you
need never look me in the face again.
''Tll 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.
arrived, fattered and hopeful from
the fact that Barbara had sent for
him. 49,. +. 5-...l ..-... .@.az
- ''Haveyou changed your mind, Bar
bara?" he asked. :
'.No, and shall not until know
that you can do really brave thing
what shall it be? swear to salts
fy you, Barbara
II have a little proposal to make to
you. My plan requires skill as well as
courage
tsTell me-"
.'Well, in this house is a man watch
ing by q corpse. He has sworn not to