Connecticut western news., 1892-05-19


 dogs.
 '.An of sudden, in this wild run, my great-great-grandfather dashed his fore head against an enormous branch, which split his skull, and he fell to the ground stone dead. His horse, mad with fright, disappeared in the shadows that en- veloped the wood.
 "The younger d'Arville stopped short, jumped to the ground, seized his brother in his arms and saw that his brains were pouring from the wound, with his blood. Then he seated himself beside the body, took the red and disfgured head upon his knee and contemplated the iInmobile face of his elder brother. Little by little fear invaded him, a singular fear which he had never felt before; the fear of the shadow, the fear of the solitude, fear of the deserted wood, also fear of the fantastic wolf which had killed his brother to venge it. self upon them.
 Darkness was falling rapidly, and the sharp cold made the trees crackle. Fran cois rose up shivering, incapable of re- maining there longer, feeling himself almost fainting. One could hear noth- ing, neither the voices of the dogs, nor the sound of horns; all was silent. And this gloomy silence of freezing night had in it something horrible and strange.
 ''He seized the colossal frame of Jean in his hands, lifted it up and laid it across the saddle, in order to carry it back to the chateau. Then he slowly started to return, his mind wandering as if he were tipsy and pursued by horrible and startling images. Suddenly in his path way through the night monstrous form passed.
 ''It was the beast.
 "A shock of fright agitated the hunt CT; something cold, like drop of water, glided along his loins, and, like friar haunted by the devil, he made the sign of the cross He was distracted by this sudden reappearance of the frightful wanderer. But his eyes fell upon the inert corpse lying before him, and his fear immediately changing into choler, he shook with rage. Then he spurred his horse and dashed after the wolf. He followed it through the copse, through ravines and through the forest, travers-
  nized, his eye fixed upon the gray spot which flew before him in the night. His horse also seemed animated by an un- known force and ardor. He galloped straight ahead with outstretched neck, the head and feet of the dead man across the saddle flashing against trees and rocks. The brambles tore the hair of the corpse, the forehead battered the enormous tree trunks, spattering them with blood, the spurs ripped the bark to tatters.
 Suddenly the animal and it's pursuer emerged from the forest and rushed into a valley just as the moon appeared above the mountains. This valley was closed on all sides by immense rocks, without possible egress, and the wolf found it. self driven into corner. Francois then emitted howl of joy, the echoes of which were repeated like roll of thun- der, and jumped from his horse, cutlass in hand The bristling beast waited with rounded back, it's eyes gleaming like two stars. But before offering bat tie the hunter lifted his brother down, seated him on rock, and supporting by means of stones his head, which was hardly more than patch of blood, he cried into his ears, as though he was speaking to deaf person:
 "'Look, Jean; look therep"
 "Then he threw himself upon tbe monster. He felt strong enough to overthrow a mountain, to grind the stones in his hands. The beast would have bitten him and tried to dash at his stomach, but Francois had seized it by the throat, without even the aid of his weapon, and slowly strangled it, listen ing to the stoppage of the breathing in it's throat and the beating of its heart. And he laughed wildly, closing tighter and tighter his powerful grip and cry. ing in delirium of joy:
 "'Look, Jean; lookr
 "All resistance ceased: the body of the wolf became limp. It was dead. Then Francois took it up in his arms, carried it and threw it at his brothers feet, repeating in tender voice:
 [" Thine, thine, thine, my little Jean there it isp
 "Then placing the two cadavers across his saddle, one upon the other, he set out on his way back He returned to the chateau laughing and crying like Gargantua at the birth of Bantagruel, emitting cries of triumph, stamping with joy in recounting the death of the ami nal, grooming and tearing his beard in telling that of his brother. And often in after years, when he spoke of that day, he declared with tears in his eyes:
 eff only poor Jean could have seen me strangle the brute, l am sure he would have died contented.'
 "The widow of my great-great-grand- father inspired her orphan son with a horror of the chase which has been transmitted from father to son down to myself"
 The Marquis d'Arville was silent. Some one asked:
 ''This history is a legend, is it not?'
 II swear to you that it is true from one end to the other," he responded.
 Then a woman said in a soft, little voice:
 Ut is fine thing to have such pas sions. ."-Translated from the French by Guy de Maupassant for the Boston Herald.
 A Woman Who Is Respected.
 "Here's something rather novel and amusing in the way of business ar- engagement" said the man on the corner to the other man. "Our firm has a travelling man whose wife is what is commonly termed a terror. She regu- lates her husband in every particular. draws his salary and doles it out to him, comes in and raises Sancho with the house if he is out too long, and makes herself generally obnoxious. All the men in the office are afraid of her, and you would laugh to see them all scatter off and get very busy when she appears.
 "Well, sir, this year the firm wanted to cut that drummer's salary down, and ho1u dn think thar did it2