The Portland daily press., 1893-12-07


plished the principal Object of her resi-
dence in Parasitic education of her fam
ily-assented with pleasure to return,
and in little more than year they found
themselves again in the chateau of their
ancestors.
About eight years after their return from
Paris, the family mansion demanding re-
pairs, they found it necessary to remove
for some time to Marseilles, where they
resided in the house of M. Danyille, the
father of Nine. Valette.
Time had effaced the impression of his
dream from the mind of Valette. Sitting
one night after supper in the midst of his
family, a loud and sudden knocking was
heard at the gate, but when the servant
went to open it he found nobody without.
After short interval the same loud knock
ing was again heard, and one of Valette's
sons accompanied the servant to the gate
to see who demanded admittance at so I'M
seasonable an hour. To their astonish-
ment, no one was to be seen there A
third time the knocking was repeated, still
louder and louder. and a sudden thought
darted across the mind of Valette.
Il will go to the gate myself, I" said he.
81 believe I know who it is that knocks -
His presentiment was too truly realized.
As he opened the gate lie Brun appeared
and whispered to him that the next night at
the same hour-for it was now the twelfth
hour-he must prepare himself to leave the
world. Then, waving his hand. as if to
bid adieu, LIE Brln disappeared.
M. Valette returned, CHASTITY as the
phantom he had seen, to the family circle,
and upon their anxious and urgent inquir-
les as to the cause of his uneasiness re-
lated for the first time the incident of the
dream and the promised warning he had
just received. A sudden gloom and mel
ancholy were spread over the faces of all
present. Nine. Valette threw her arms
round the neck of her husband and en-
braced him, with tears. H. Danyille, how
ever, obstinately declared his incredulity
and considered the whole as one of those
unaccountable illusions to which even the
strongest minds are sometimes liable He
declared his son-in-law must be the victim
of some delusion, and although he could
not account for his dream said that this
last vision must be mere imagination.
No sooner had M. Valette retired to his
apartment than NJ. Danville endeavored to
impress the same opinion on the family of
his son-in-law. Apprehensive lest the very
presentiment of the event might occasion
it, or at least be attended by disagreeable
consequences, he thought of device which,
as mayor of the city, it was in his power
easily to accomplish. This was to cause
all the clocks Of Marseilles to be put for
ward one hour, that they might strike the
predicted hour of 10 next night when it
should be only II, so that when the time
set by the ghost should be believed by
Valette to have passed over without any
event superyening, he might be persuaded
to give up the fancies with which he was
so deeply impressed.
Next day the unhappy Valette made ev-
cry effort to arrange his worldly affairs,
had his will executed in due legal form,
received the sacrament and prepared him
self for the awful event he anticipated.
The evening approached. From large
open window which looked into beautiful
garden he saw the sun go down, as he be-
lieved, for the last time.
The lamps were now lighted in the hall,
and he sat in the midst of his family and
partook Of the last supper which, he be-
lieved, he was ever to eat upon earth.
The clocks of Marseilles tolled the eleventh
hour.
"Ny dearest Marie, said he to Mime.
Valette, 81 have now only one hour to live.
There is but one hour betwixt me and eter-
nifty"
1t approached. There was an unusual
silence in the company. The twelfth hour
struck, when, rising up, he exclaimed:
Heaven, have mercy on mel My time
is comel"
He heard tie hour distinctly rung out
by all the bells in Marscilles.
"The angel of DEATH said he, "delays
!. L 1. 4 -
sionf No, it is impossibler'
"The ghost, said M. Danville in a tone
Of irony, "has deceived you. He is lying
prophet. Are you not yet safe? The whole
thing is the illusion of an unhealthy i'm
agination. You should Danish, my friend,
a thought which so completely overwhelms
you"
"Well,'' rejoined Valette, Goods will
be donel shall retire to my chambers and
spend the night in grateful prayer for so
signal deliverance.''
After having been nearly an hour in his
chamber M. Valette recollected that he
had left unsigned in his library docu-
ment of Importance to his family, to which
it was necessary his name should be af-
fixed. In passing from his bed chamber
to the library he had to cross by the head
ly down to the wine cellar. At this spot
he heard faint murmur of voices below,
and instantly ran down to the bottom of
the stairs to ascertain the cause No soon
er had he descended than an unseen hand
stabbed him to the heart. this moment
the clocks in Marseilles struck one in the
morning, or, as it really was, 10 at night
the exact time predicted by LIE Brun
The cellar of M. Danville had been bro
ken into by robbers, who, perceiving them
selves discovered, saw no other means of
escape than by numbering the i'll fated Va
lette, by whom they had been surprised.
These men were unconscious instruments
in the hand of fate.-San Francisco Argo-
naut.
When Great Men Married.
Shakespeare married Anna Hathaway