The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1892-08-04
Robert uttered this word with al,
eXpsession OF anxious

Robert uttered this word with al,
understandable expsession OF anxious
respect.
''But the rope? Where did that
"Then this cook had Saggi consult
the cards for her. Marthe wanted to
see him, and advise me to consult
him. Letmc tell you that this Saggi
is astonishing irightful, even. You
have never paid any attention to
sorceryY'
Very little"
You are wrong. You see, people
laugh Withoutrealizing that they are
playing with terrible things
'''But the rope, the lrope!'' cried.
"Ah, yes, the rope--I nm coming
back to it. Il For year studied with
Saggi, and all that time misfortune
continued to rain upon me. / broke
my leg in fnlling 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 week for
Is years, Everything, in short, every
tbing!'
"But the rope? Where did that
come IMP"
"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 at
that time I did not know either. But
nowp'
And with an air that was at once
triumphant and sorroWful. Robert
added:
II was always dreaming of the
hanged man. I had a nervous dis
ease. I have it yet, for that matter.
Unable to stand it longer, I deter
mined to tell all to Saggi, and he ex-
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 conciliating tone.
"Do not joke; it is very serious
matter. This was Saggi's explana-
tion, The rope with which al an has
been hanged does indeed bring luck,
but on the express condition that the
man hanged did not commit suicide,
but was executed by a public hang
man."
Precious information! But the
horse that we saw just now?''
II am coming to that. The rope
that has hanged suicide brings, on
the contrary, i'll luck. Enlightened
by this revelation, I wanted to get
rid Immediately of the rope which I
had been keeping SO carefully, and
which was unquestionably the cause
of all my misfortunes. But how to
do it? It was not a thing to be done
lightly. The talisman might fall in
to other hands and become the mis-
fortune of some one else. In that
case the responsibility. would be
mine, and, you see, nothing obstructs
the flow of the fluid portion of the
soul like -.
''Thank you, prefer to remain in
ignorance. But what course did you
take?" - ..-
II resolved to throw this; cursed
rope into the water. With that in
view left my house one night,
holding the piece Of red rope.
which seemed to me to have u de-
moniacal tint. As I was crossing
the Champs Elvsees, at the place
where we just saw the accident, l
stumbled into a heap Of sand-they
were just then laying the wooden
pavement-and fell so awkwardly
that l again broke the leg which had
suffered by my previous accident.
In my fall I dropped the rope. L
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 over it. And since,
that time all the horses fall at Tint
spot, and there have been fatal &C
cidents. 1t is frightful and queer, is
it not?"
"Terrifying, - said I, with an air
of conviction. "But how about
yourself? Have you got rid of your
evil genius?''
"Oh, you may be sure. I bought
the wholerope with which Stamford,
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 fact-I may announce
it toyou-lam goingto be married. =
--ee-G---- +.
Thumped Him for a Fool.