Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1891-07-10
MARIE LAFARGE.

asked my friend Haywood, as we sat at
breakfast one day toward the end of July,
7SS-.
Haywood and | had been friends at col
iege and had lived together in chambers in
the Temple ever since we left Oxford
We shared each others tastes and amuse-
ments and were. in fact, inseparable.
1--WE seem to have done everything" re-
marked |, in reply to Raywood's question.
"Can you suggest anything new?"
LET us do some mountaineer
I'VE have already been to Switzerland
twice"
"Yes, in the ordinary tourist fashion.
What mean is, let us go off the beaten
track and find out new places for our
selves"
agreed" said l. so in few weeks time
we were off to the Alps.
After few weeks in Lucerne, where we
had friends. we went south to Niteraken,
md then set out to wander among the less
frequented portion of the Bernese ODER
land and it was on this excursion that we
beard of Marie Lafarge.
"Well, we're certainly having good
time" remarked Haywood one day as we
tramped along, but so far we haven't had
single adventure"
w z are OH illc eve VI one NOW, perhaps,
for the barometer is going down rapidly,
and to be caught in a violent storm on the
edge of this precipice would be no joke"
"Why, look at the Finsteraarhorn! There
Is a storm brewing sure enough Is there
village anywhere about, WONDER" said
Haywood, whose ardor for an adventure
had cooled when he found it might be near
at hand.
Eyes: according to the map there are a
few huts about a mile further on"
Lets hurry along, them" and we did.
We reached the village just as the storm
burst. The hamlet consisted of some half
dozen dwellings built on a narrow ledge of
rock.
We looked around for hostelry, but
saw none We went up to peasant wom-
an standing at the door of cottage, or,
rather, a hut, and asked for the inn.
There is not one" replied she, looking
establishment at the question.
''What do tourists do, them"
''They never come here"
is there no one who will give us a
nights lodging?' asked Haywood in dis
may.
ANY of us would do SO willingly" re-
piled the woman kindly "but we have no
suitable accommodation. Nine. Lafarge
might put you up. sir She has the largest
house in the village, and madame never
loses the chance of earning anything. Ma
dame is not one of us. She comes from
Geneva" added the woman disparagingly
But madame is in such Distress" inter
posed the woman's husband. she has
Fnst lost her poor stepdaughter in dread
ful manner, There is reason to fear the
poor girl has been murdered"
Then it would he useless to disturb the
poor woman" said l.
Il don't know replied the peasant wo
man, who appeared shrewder than her
husband. "Mme. Lafarge is not one to miss
n chance of earning money, and never did
fhlnk her heart was so set on that girl
Marie as she pretended. If you offer hei
good terms she'll smother her grief for q
time. Grief can always bde"
1--WE will try, at all events: thank YOU
said |, and taking one of the woman's chill
aren as guide we went toward the dwell
ing of Nine Lafarge.
"What has happened to this girl tina,
your father speaks off" asked Haywood Of
the lad
With some circumlocution he told s
story, which was briefly as follows:
Nine. Lafarge, who was widow, hat
daughter and a stepdaughter. The lat
ter, Marie by name, had inherited little
charming girl she had been sought in mar
riage by most of the eligible young men o
her own and the neigh boring villages
She was coquette, however, in an limo
cent, girlish fashion, and while not posi-
lively discouraging any, she gave accept
Ance to none
handsome, daring young fellow from
the next village, Max Reikmann by name
seemed likely, however to he the happ,
man, and he and the coquettish Mari
were on the point of being betrothed wher
Marie set out one fine afternoon to meet he
hover and-never returned.
This was about three weeks before tn
Cay on which we arrived at E..
Whom do they suspect" asked Ray
wood.
The boy would not say at first, but q lii
tie cross-eXamination elected the fact tina
suspicion was divided between the miserl,
stepmother, who had inherited the poo
girls property, and the lover, who wa
known TO be of a passionate disposition
and desperately jealous.
Most people suspected the lover, how
ever more than the stepmother, inasmuc
as some friends who were spending til
day with Nine. Lafarge and her daughte
witnessed the departure of Marie to NEE
Max. Nine. Lafarge, however, had lief
her guests for "A short time after Marie sc
out, though, as far as they knew, she ha
not quilted the house. Max himself ell
tered the house of the Lafarges an hou
later, appearing much excited, and aske
why Marie had not met him as she ha
promised
Have the remains of the poor girl bee
found YETI" asked Haywood.
mo. If she fell over the precipice at tn
point people think likely she never will b
found. man fell over last year and the
have never seen trace of him since"
Presently we reached the house of til
Lafarges
1t was the last in the hamlet, and stoo
somewhat apart from the others. It locke
comfortable enough in its way Yet
chill sense of eeriness, for which | coul
not account, fell upon me as we entere
the dwelling.
In another moment forgot everythin
else in surprise and admiration.
The boy who conducted us had called oil
when we entered the house, and "A youn
,;rI, I..c