Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1894-07-26

When day broke | had not closed
my eyes; not that the situation seem
ed desperate, for | had learned to
read Clarisse's eyes. But, all|night
long | had repeated over and over
again to myself:
Heaven grant that the little no.
tel in the Avenue Friedland is still
for sale! We would be so comfort
able there"
In spite of this was no further
advanced when September came, the
last month of my lease. / was no
longer shown the door when l sug-
gested my candidacy, but Clarisse
assumed bored air and calmly
talked of something else. Between
ourselves, / would rather she rung
the bell, for l OWNED that she was
thinking:
My dear friend, you do not dis
please me; quite the contrary. But
you must confess that, in the sol-
tude of Chantilly have scarcely had
opportunity to enjoy my widow
hood. Let me see if it is really
worthy of its reputation. In a year
or two we can talk of your affair. "
In a year or two! Pretty and
charming as she was, Clarisse would
have score of adorers around her,
and adorers around the woman one
wants to marry are like flies in the
milk; they may do no great harm,
but they certainly do not improve
| the milk.
Early in September Nine de Mon
cley informed me one day that she
was going to Paris on the morrow to
| have a look at her apartment.
Il sincerely hope" she added in
severe tone, THAT you do not think
of accompanying me-"
How can you suggest such
thing?' said l, with apparent sub
mission. you leave at
AT eight in the evening, as l do
not wish to be seen. / shall send
Nancy in the afternoon to prepare
my room. All, poor Paris -
She no longer said Poor Charles ~
l admit that this Poor Paris"
made me much more uneasy.
The next evening, at eight O'Clock,
| the doors of the express train, which
stops hardly minute, were already
closed. Clarisse had not appeared.
She reached the station Just as the
bell rang.
"Quick, hurry up, madame!" cried
the railroad official.
Hurry [ repeated, opening a
compartment at random and helping
her in
But instead of getting in, she fell
back, almost fainting, in my arms.
Here is what she had seen, and |,
too, had seen over her shoulder: The
seats of the compartment were unoc-
cupied, and three men, perched like
monkeys on the back of the seats,
held to their shoulders three guns,
whereof the barrels shone in the lamp
light like cannons. One of them, as
we opened the door, had shouted in II
terrible voice: Don't come in,
| for, g4.&
| had closed the door, so quickly
that we had not heard the end of the
sentence. Then Clarisse and | bum
died ourselves into the next compart-
ment without quite knowing what we
were doing. The train was already
under way. We were alone. Nine.
de Moncley seemed half dead with
fear, and | must confess | was yio-
lently shaken.
"Did you see them?" she cried.
what can be happening in that
compartment? They are going to
tight-to kill each otherl What ter
rible tragedy is to be enacted right
beside us?"
II don't understand it at all, F" |
replied. "Only one explanation seems
possible to me. They are hunters
who have suddenly gone crazy.
Otherwise, why should they climb
upon the seats? If they simply
wanted to kill each other, they could
do it without all that gymnastics.
No." suggested Clarisse, sit is
some dreadful American kind of duel
In such case, it, seems, they climb
up ON anything they can find. But
why didn't they stop them at Chan
tilly?"
''The train itself scarcely stopped
there"
''Did you hear how they called out
Don't come in =? The wretches, they
don't want to be disturbed while they
are killing themselves. Goodness
Just listenl"
The fusillade had commenced right
beside us. Several gun-shots had
sounded, dominated by shrill, pier
cling cry, which still rings in my ears.
Then deathly silence ensued; they
were all dead, however bad shots they
might have been.
Though we were making about fifty
miles an hour at the time, | made
ready to get out upon che step and
find out what was going on in our
neighbours compartment. AS | low
cred the window two arms seized me
and a voice broken with anguish
but which sounded very sweet, just
the same--gasped behind me:
Philip, il you love me, do not go
They will kill your
| saw the advantage of my situa-
ton, and i resolved to profit by it.
| profited by it SO well that, afer