Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-05-23
OUT OF THE TOMB.

walters began to serve them lcisurely, to
give the tardy ones time to arrive and to
save themselves the bother of bringing
back the courses. And the old bathers.
the yearly habitues, with whom the sea-
son YVES fer advanced, kept a close watch
on the door each time it opened, hoping
for the coming of new faces.
New faces, the single distraction of all
pleasure resorts! We go to dinner chiefly
to canvass the daily arrivals, to wonder
who they are, what they do and what they
think. A restless desire seems to have
taken possession of us, longing for pleas
ant adventures, for friendly acquaintance,
perhaps for possible lovers. In this elbow
to elbow life our unknown neighbors be-
come Of paramount importance Curiosi-
ty is piqued, sympathy on the alert and
the social instinct doubly active.
We have hatreds for week, friendships
for month and view all men with the
special eyes of watering place intimacy.
Sometimes during an hours chat after
dinner, under the trees of the park, where
ripples a healing spring we discover men
of superior intellect and surprising merit,
and a month later have wholly forgotten
these new friends, SO charming at first
sight.
That evening, then, as on every even
ing, we awaited the appearance of unfa-
miliar faces
There came only two but very peculiar
ones, those of a man and woman-father
and daughter. They seemed to have step
ped from the pages of some weird legend,
and yet there was an attraction about
them, albeit an unpleasant one, that made
c<,f h.
of some fatality.
The father was tall spare, a little bent,
with hair blanchcd white-too white for
his stih young countenance-and in his
manner and about his person the sedate
austerity of carriage that bespeaks the
Puritan. The daughter was possibly some
"a or 25 years of age She was very slight,
emaciated, her exceedingly pale counte-
nance bearing a languid, spiritless express
sion-one of those people whom we some
times encounter, apparently too weak for
the cares and tasks of life, too feeble to
move or do the things that we must do
every day. Nevertheless the girl was
pretty, with the ethereal beauty of an ap-
partition. twas she undoubtedly who came
for the benefit of the waters.
They CHANGED to be placed at table i'm
mediately opposite to me, and l was not
long in noticing that the father, too had
strange Notwithstanding wrong
about the nerves it seemed. Whenever he
was going to reach for anything, his hand
with q jcrky twitch, described sort of
fluttering ZiGzag before he was able to
grasp what he was after. Soon the motion
disturbed me so much l kept my head
turned in order not to see it, but not before
l had also observed that the young girl kept
her glove on her left hand while she ate.
Dinner ended, l went out as usual for a
turn in the grounds belonging to the cs
tablishment, sort of park, might say,
stretching clear to the little station of
Auvergne, Chatcl Guyon, nesting in a
gorge at the foot of the high mountain,
from which flowed the sparkling, bubbling
springs, hot from the furnace of an an
cient volcano. Beyond us there the domes,
small extinct crGtcrs, of which Chatcl-
Guyon is the starting point, raised their
scrrated heads above the long chain, while
beyond the domcs came two distinct re-
gions one of them nccdlelike peaks, the
other of bold, prccipitous mountains.
1t was very warm that evening, and
contentcd myself with pacing to and fro
under the rustling trees, gazing at the
mountains and listening to the strains of
the band pouring from tho casino, stuat-
cd on u knoll that overlooked tho grounds
Presently ! perceived the father and
daughter coming. toward me with slow
steps. | bowed to them in that pleasant
continental fashion with which ono al
ways salutcs his hotel companions. The
gentleman halted at once.
Pardon mc. sir said he, but may
ask if you can direct us to short walk,
easy and pretty, if possihc:"
"Ccrtainly," answered. and offered
to lead them myself to the valley through
which the swift river nows--a deep, mar
row cleft between two great declivities,
rocky and wooded.
They accepted, and rs VIC walked we nat
urally discussed the virtue of tho mineral
waters. They had, as l surmised, come
there on his daughters account
"She has n strange malady,' said he,
"tbc scat of which her physicians cannot
determine She suffers from the most in
explicable nervous symptoms. Sometimes
they declare her i'll of heart disease; some
times of a liver complaint, again of spi-
nal trouble. At present. they attribute
it to the stomach-that great motor and
regulator of the body-this protcan dis
case of n thousand forms, n thousand
modes Of attack. 1t is why VIC are here.
I myself think it her nerves In any case
it is very sad "
This reminded me of his own jerking
hand.
sit may bo hereditary" says I. your
own nerves arc Il little disturbed orc they
mott"
"Minc?" he answered TRANQUILITY. Not
at all. / have always possessed the calm
est nerves" Then suddenly, as if be-
thinking himself:
"F'or this, touching his hand, "is not
nerves, but tho result of a shock, terri
BILE shock that suffered once. Fancy it,
sir. This child of mine has been buried
alivon'
could find nothing to say. Twas dumb
withNsurprise.
Yes" he continued buried alive, but
hear the story--it is not long. For soma
time past Juliette had seemed affected
| with disordcred action of tho heart. We
| we're fully certain that the trouble was
organic and feared the worst One day
It came. She was brought in ifcless
| She had fallen dead while walking in thu
| garden Physicians came in haste, but
nothing could be done. She was gone
| For two days and two nights watched
beside her myself, and with my own hand: