The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1894-10-06


said Marietta, sullenly.
"Oh, it's perfectly platonic,r laughed
Ernest.
"Bah!' seid Rose; you don't object
to a plaster rival, do your"
ITO the health of Nina, cried Ernest
Charles looked up quickly. These
tbes cut him to the heart.
NINA was a good girl, he said.
THAT remains to be seem" cried Mari
cite; II am good girl, too, am notf''
"You will be when you are dead"
Knocked Ernest.
"Charles, said Mariette, confess that
you love Nina stillr'
mo; do notr'
"More than you love mey'
"No, mol love you"
Every well, then prove it. There is
that horrid skull that you keep az
sacred relic. I've seen it grinning up
there long enough. Let us make the
punch in i'll"
"Ah, that's an original idear' cried
Ernest. "Mariette, you have the imag-
nation Of poet"
$50 be it them" said Charles, and
rising he placed the skull in the middle
Of the table.
II am the one to light it," said Mari
cite triumphantly, pouring the liquor
into this CHASTITY cup.
Suddenly the punch was afire, the
tongues of blue flame mixing amorously
with the smoke Of the cigars. An odor
deadly and mephitic exhaled from the
skull. Phosphorescent flames rose and
fell in strange colors of decay, and the
smoke rose in purple spirals into the air.
Charles felt "A shiver clutch him in its
cold fingers from head 10 foot. Marietta
showed her teeth In the horrible JOY of
a secured vengeance. The rain fell
heavily outside, the windows shook.
Little by little drunkenness overcame
these ribald beings who TESTED with the
sacred mysteries of death. Then Marietta
began to sing a song composed by
Charles for Nina, mockingly begging
him not to weep.
As Charles heard the words Of the
song chanted in her pitiless voice, his
heart beat fast, something rose in his
throat, his voice failed and his head fell
heavily forward upon the table. His
/
and the burning brandy touched the
thin folds eff Mariette's dress. Her awful
cry Of terror was lost in the flames
which enveloped her.
Charles remained in delirious con
dition. Idiotic cries burst from his lips,
and in spite of himself, he rested his
eyes upon the mask Of plaster, whose
eyes remained fixed upon his with a
steady persistence that held his own.
He began to repeat the words of his
early love and those of Nina when she
was happy with him, and finally those
that she had uttered when she felt the
end of all their happiness approaching:
Il love You so dearly, my beloved one.
| cannot give youup shall come back
sometimes at night to speak to you. -
Feverish and trembling he drank greed
lily the last glass of punch at his elbow.
Suddenly the cast detached itself from
the wall and came forward through the
clouds of smoke. He felt the sweat
start from every pore.
A sigh fell upon the air; he felt it pass
his cheek, moist and terrible; breath
from the tomb. A cry struggled to his
lips. but died there. His voice choked
in his throat. The figure approached
and the student recognized the beloved
of his youth. Silent tears were flowing
from the hollow sockets of the eyes, and
as she bent toward him Charles felt hei
lips upon his forehead-lips as hard anC
cold as marble. Then the phantom
raised her hand, pointing with hei
skeleton finger to the clock, which wal
at the stroke of g. As Charles felt hi
heart fail in his breast and his veins turn
to ice the vision faded
Day was just beginning; the first ray
of a bright sun lit up the windows o
the little room in the Rue Ores. Charlie
awoke from profound sleep. He locke,
about sleepily upon the confusion which
surrounded him and endeavored to recall
the events of the past night.
"These glasses and empty bottles; tina
is NATURAL he muttered, land | hav
slept here on the table, but-what tim
! is it,"
He walked dizzily to the chimney
!, The hands We're at the hour of Z
and the clock had stopped. He remem
q bered the frightful vision of the nigh
and the accident to Marietta, and Ii
: hurried to the adjoining room.
, "Mariette, Mariettel' he cried. Nc
q body answered. Charles opened tn
> door violently. Ernest and Rose wer
upon their knees beside the bed.
= "Marietter cried Charles.
. "She is dead, - replied Ernest
: Dead"
!. Eyes, at 3 o'clock"
. "Mina is avengedw said Charles sinh
: ing upon his knees.-Adapted for Al
4 gonaut from the French of Frederic d
Reiifenberg.
when the Prince Called ON Tennyson.
II There is one story that viii be histori
n 80 a a., n .,.ht.h III. Drfp,a - NNo1as ~.