St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1893-01-14

ITS loadcd,n scid potee
The next person | came across was
dapper little man in q beautiful whit
wig, whom l saw to be barber on hi
rounds, and knowing well that barber
were great gossips asked him plainl,
| what sort of man WAS Mr.. Balfour, o
the Shaws.
ssHoot, hoot, hoot," said the barber
mae kind of man, nae kind of a ma1
at all, and began to ask me yer,
shrewdly what my business was; but
was more than a match for him at that
and he went on to his next customer NJ
wiser than he came.
cannot well describe the blow thi:
dealt to my illusions. IF an hours walk
ing would have brought me back te
Essendean had left my adventure ther
and there and returned to Mr.. Camp
bells. But | was out of mere self re.
spect to carry it through, and little as
liked the sound of what / heard, and
slow as began to travel, still kept
asking my way and still kept advanc.
ing.
1t was drawing on to sundown when
met stout, dark. sour looking woman
coming trudging down hill, and she.
when | had put my usual question,
turned sharp about, accompanied me
back to the summit she had just left and
pointed to a great bulk of building
standing very bare upon green in the
bottom of the next valley. The country
was pleasant round about, running in
low hills, pleasantly watered and
wooded, and the crops, to my eyes, won.
derfully good, but the house itself ap
peared to be a kind of ruin; no road led
UP to it; no smoke arose from any of the
chimneys, nor was there any semblance
OF garden. My heart sank THAT"
[ cried.
The woman's face lit up with ma,
hgnant anger. THAT is the house of
Shaws!' she cried. blood built it;
blood stopped the building of it; blood
shall bring it down. See herer' she
cried again, 81 spit upon the ground
and crack my thumb at It'll Black be its
fall! If ye see the laird tell him what
ye hear; tell him this makes the twelve
hummer and nineteen time that Jennet
Clouston has called down the curse on
him and his house, byre and stable, man
guest and master, wife, miss or bairn--
black, black be their fa1l!''
And the woman, whose voice had
risen to a kind of eldritch singsonst,
turned with a skip and was gone.
sat me down and stared at the house
of Shaws. The more / looked the
pleasanter that countryside appeared,
being all set with hawthorn bushes full
of flowers sthe fields dotted with sheep,
a fine fight of rocks in the sky and
every sign of a kind soil and climate,
and yet the barrack in the midst Of it |
went sore against my fancy.
The nearer got to that the drearier
it appeared. 1t seemed like the one
wing of a house that had never been
finished. What should have been the
inner end stood open on the upper floors
and showed against the sky with steps
and stairs of uncompleted masonry.
Many of the windows were unglazed,
and bats flew in and out like doves out
If a dovecote.
The night had begun to fall as l got
close, and in three of the lower win
lows, which were very high up and mar
,ow and well barred, the changing light
# little fire began to glimmer.
Was this the palace had been COM
ng to? Was it within these walls that
was to seek new friends and begin
sreat fortunes? Why, in MY fathers
louse on Essen Waterside tile fire ang
he bright lights would show a mile
way, and the door open to a beggar's
mock.
/ came forward cautiously, and Civ.
ng ear as came heard some ole rat
ling with dishes, and a little, dry, eager
ough that came in fits, but there was
o sound Of speech and not q dog
arked.
The door, as well as could see it in
he dim light, was great piece of
Tood all studded with nails, and I lifted
ny hand with a faint heart under my
acket and knocked once. Then I stood
nd waited. The house had fallen inte
dead silence. A whole minute passed
way, and nothing stirred but the bats
yerhead. | knocked again and heark-
ned again. By this time my ears had
rown SO accustomed to the quiet that
ould hear fhe ticking of the clock In
Ide as it slowly counted out the sec
nds, but whoever was in that house
ept deadly still and must have held his
reath.
/ was in two minds whether to run
way; but anger got the upper hand,
nd / began instead to rain kicks and
uffets on the door and to shout out /
loud for Mr.. Balfonr. I was in full /,
areer when I heard the cough right
verhead, and jumping back and looking |
p beheld a mans head in a tall night
Up, and the bell mouth of blunder-
ass at one Of the first windows.
It's loaded, said q voice. |
Il have come here with letter. Ii i
i'd ito Mr.. Ebenezer Balfour, Of shaws. !
he here?'' [
tsFrem whom is it?n asked the man 3
ith the b1undarhnss I