The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1892-08-04

such q hole in it that,
on rising from the table, we felt q
vague sensation of sleepiness and
congestion.
"Will you take walk with me?'
asked Robert. ''Let us go to my
rooms. I want to show youtwo new
pictures"
';All right"
We were walking very fast, Cypress
ed by the cold, smoking our cigars
with rapid puffs and not saying much,
when with a common movement we
stopped to look at a superb bay cob,
harnessed to a tilbury, who was
coming in our direction at a gate
that showed supple strength and per-
feet rhythm. just then we were op-
posite the Palais de l'Industrie, al
most at the corner of the Avenue
Marigny. At the precise moment
when the horse was passing by us he
slipped with all four feet and fell to
the ground heavily. There he lay,
entangled in the shafts and traces;
with an air of bewildered abandon.
Passers- came running up Soon
there was a group, talking and GEES
ticulating. At last the horse was ex-
treated, raised up and led away by
the bride. The carriage, one of the
shafts of which was broken, was haul
ed to the nearest carriage house by a
team of ofticious by-standers, among
them, OF course, a kitchen maid.
AS we'moved off / said tony friend:
"a fine invention, decidedly, this
wooden pavement! At the least frost,
the slightest drizzle, these poor
horses are unable to stand up. I
have seen seven or eightaccidents my
self, on this very spot, within a year."
Robert, turning very pale, answer
ed me in a strange voice that was al
so little hard:
eff SO many accidents happen on
this spot, it is my fault
Your fault? You are madp'
"No; but morally am innocent"
And he continued, for my air of
amazement implied all possible in
terrogations for enlightment: ,,
"Ah! my dear fellow, how Incidents
of 40 apparent Importance some
times upset our whole lives! You
must have asked yourself why l have
changed my way of living. lam GO
ing to tell you The, story which has
opened my eyes to the invisible
world" 49,
This phrase, and especially it's con-
clusion, filed me with some anxiety.
Whether it was the duck pie, or the
fear Of seeing Robert go mad, do
not know, but 1t a disagreeable
cramp in my stomach. With wander
ing eyes and contracted brow he con
tinued: -.
You remember George Sauviniere
and his targic death about two years
and half ago. On reaching home
one night, I found a letter in which
he announced to me his intention of
killing himself. l Immediately hur-
ried to the little hotel in the Rue des
Saussaies, a dismal den where he had
lived since his misfortune. l arrived
too late; he hanged himself. While
the servant wentin search ola useless
doctor and to notify the police, I
reclaimed there, alone with the body
which we had stretched upon
the bed. Around the neck a very
slight violet streak, a countenance
that was almost smiling, the chin
thrown a little forward. As I took
a few steps toward the mantel-piece
to light two candles, my foot caught
in the rope that we had cut and
thrown upon the ground. A curiosity
seized me-a curiosity that was min
gled with q sort of timid respect-to
get a closer view, to examine and feel
this thing that had killed. twas a
curtain cord, covered with red wor-
sted, and looking bourgeois and
harmless enough, and, while was
handling it, thinking What! it was
this!and filled with that astonishment
which always come from finding so
paltry and simply the factors of the
problem of death, which seems to uss
gigantic. there came to my mind that
old superstition which makes the
rope with which u man has been
hanged an infallible talisman of good
luck" - 1@. "a
"Wen, you took the rope. But I
do not see the relation"
"Wait! No, I did not take the
rope. The police officer who was
coming would ask to see it, and I
would blush a little at this fit of
superstition. But cut off little
piece oft, two or three inches in
length, which on reaching home. [
carefully placed in my pocketbook."
And then?'
'Then, starting from the moment
when l had this bit Of rope in nv
possession, began to digest badly,
had constant Nightmares that took
no particular form at first, and then,
little by little, became more definite;
and every night / again saw Sauvin-
iere, with his little violet streak
around his neck. 1t was Dreadful.
1t came to q pass where was afraid
to go to sleep. spent many nights
in gambling at the club. And what
lp,1 IL L n "