The Dickinson press., 1891-07-18
"Verv little"

laugh withoutrealizing that they are
playing with terrible things"
"But the rope, the rope!" l cried.
"Ah, yes, the rope-I am coming
back to it. For ayear ! studied with
Saggi. and all that time misfortune
continued to rain upon me. ! broke
my leg in falling from a horse; Mar
the left me-; l quarreled with three
old friends, and was neglected in the
will of my uncle, who had made me
play chess with him twice Il week for
Is years, Everything, inshort, every
thing!!"
But the rope? Where did that
come in?"
"The rope! Exactly; it was the
rope!!'
"What: it brought i'll luck"!'
eyes, my dear fellow. You would
never have believed it. But that's
because yon dc not know. And Mt
that time | didnot knowcither, But
now!"
And with an air that WAS at once
triumphant and sorrowful, Robert
added:
81 was always dreaming of the
hanged man. l had IL nervous dis
ease have it vet, for that matter.
Unable to stand it longer, ] deter
mined to tell I'LL to Saggi, and he eN-
planned everything tome. Very bad,
my rope! Depiorable. An absolute
toked OF i'll luck.!"
"Oh no! Another illusion wiped
out! Painful. very painful" | said
in a conciliatingtone
"Do not Joke; it is Il very serious
matter. This was Saggi's eyplana-
ton, The rope with which imam has
been hanged does indeed bring luck,
but OH the express condition that the
man hanged did not commit suicide,
but was executed by a public hang
man."
"Prccious information! But the
horse that We saw just now
81 am coming to that. The rope
that has hanged a suicide brings. on
the contrary, i'll luck. Enlightened
by this revelation, wanted to get
rid immediately of the rope which |
had been keeping so carefully, and
which was unquPstionably the cause
of all my mis!"rtunes. But how to
do it? 1t WAS not Il thing to lee done
lightly. The talisman might tall in
to other hands and become the mis-
fortune of some one else. In that
case the responsibility would be
mine, and, you see, nothingobstructs
the flow of the fluid portion of the
soul like
"Thank YOU. | prefer to remain in
ignorance. But whatcourse did you
take??"
81 resolved to throw this cursed
rope into the water. With that in
view | left my house one night,
holding the piece of red rope,
moniacal tint. AS | was crossing
the Champs Elysees, at the place
where we just saw the accident, l
stumbled into heap of sand-they
were just then laying the wooden
pavement-and fell so uwkwardly
that again broke the leg which had
suffered by my previous accident:
In my fall dropped the rope. 1
tainted: they carried me to my
house and ! lay there fiat on my
back, for three months. The rope
remained in the hole and they laid
the pavement w it. And since
that time all the horses fall ut that
spot, and there have been fatal &C
cidcnts. 1t is friglltful and queer, is
it not?!"
"Terrifying," said l, with an air
of conviction. "But how about
yourself? Have you got rid of your
evil gcnius?!"
ooh, you may be sure. | bought
the wholerope with which Stramlord,
the English assassin, was hanged
last Summer in London. | went to
get it myself. 1t cost me dear, but
| do not regret it. Now, am in
luck; and, in iact-l may announce
it to you-lam goingto be married"