The Olneyville tribune. (Providence, R.I.) 1893-189?, 1893-10-21
Goodness. what is it? What has
On 20

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Nothing" responded he with ~
tered voice; absolutely nothing"
"You are deceiying me-" insisted
Nine. Bernard: 'you are concealins
something from me: do not spare me.
! Speak! am strong. What Gid the
new proprietor tell you? Does he
think OF turning us OFF,
III il were only that. But just
think. he told me with his own lips
he told me to-ah. YOU will never be.
lieve me"
'Oh, yes, only do go on"
''You will have il then! Well,
then. he told me to notify all the
tenants that-he lowered their rents
One-thrd! Did you hear what l said?
lowered the rents OF the tenants
r
nard heard him out-they were twist.
ing and doubling with convulsive
laughter
Lower" repeated they, "ah, what
a good joke, what n drOll man!
Lowe the tenants renJs!"
But Bernard, losing his temper and
insisting that he must b. taken seri-
ously in his own lodge, his wife lost
her temper, too, and quarrel fol-
lowed, Nine. Bernard declaring that
NJ. Bernard had beyond a doubt taken
his fantastic order from the bottom
Of liter Of wine in the restaurant
at the corner But for Mile. Amanda
the couple would undoubtedly have
come to blows, and finally Nine. Ber-
nard. who did not wish to be thought
demented. threw shawl over her
head and ran to the proprietor's
house. Bernard had spoken truly;
with her own two ears, "rnamented
with big gildcd hoops, she heard the
incredible word. only as she was a
wise and prudent woman she de-
manded IA bit OF writing" TO put, as
she said, 'her responsibility under
cover"
She, too, returned thunderstruck,
and all the evening In the lodge
father, mother, ana daughter delib-
Grated.
Should they obey or should they
warn some relative OF this mad young
man, whose common sense would OPP
pose itself to such insanity?
They decided to obey.
Next morning Bernard buttoning
himself into his best frock coat, made
the rounds Of the three and twenty
dodgers to announce his great news
Ten minutes atterward the house
in the Rue dc In Nictoric was In a
stage Of commotion impossible To de-
scribe. People who for forty years
had lived on the same floor and never
hOnOred each other with so much as "A
tip OF the hat now clustered together
and chatted eagerly.
"Do you know, mOnrieur?"
"It Is very extraordinary
"Simply unheard Of"
''Thc proprictor's lowered my rent"
"One third, is il not? Mine also"
"Astonishing! 1t must be mis-
takem
And despite the aIlirmations OF the
Bernard family, despite even the
"bit OF writing under cover" there
were found among the tenants doubt
ing Thomases who doubted still in
the face OF everything.
Three OF them actually wrore TO
the proprietor TO tell him what had
passed, and to charitably warn him
that his concierge had wholly lost his
mind. The proprietor. responded to
these sceptics, confirming what Bern
ard had said Doubt thereafter was
out OF the question.
Then began reflections and com
mentarics
why had the proprietor lowered
his rcnts?"
"Yes, why?'
"What motives" said they all, sac
tuate this strange man? For Ccr-
tainly he must have grave reasons
for step like this! An intelligent
man, IA man of good sense. would
never deprive himself OF good fat rev.
enues well secured for the simple
pleasure of dcpriving himself. one
would not conduct himself thus with
out being forced, constrained 10y
powerful or terrible circumstances.
And each said To himself:
"Therc is something under all
this"
but what"
And from the first floor to the
sixth they sought and conjectured
and dclved in their brains Every
lodgcr had the preoccupied air OF Il
man that strives with all his wits To
solve an impossible cipher and
everywhere there began to be vague
disQuiet, as il happens when one
finds himself in the presence of a sin
iStcr mystery.
Some one went so far as to haI-
zard:
This man must have committed Il
great and still hidden crime: rcmurse
pushed him To philanthrophy
lit was not pleasant idea either,
the thought OF thus living side 10y
side with rascal-no by no means;
ne might be repentant and all that,
but suppose he Yielded IN temptation