The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-08-25
WOOING A PHANTOM.
Translated From the Original by Maurice Jokai
By LOUIS FELBERMANN.

] as though he would say You can cure
all these Iunatics. but 1 defy you TO IN
I vent . remedy for me-"
II p true that his fixed delusion was a
/ difficult one to remove But / made an
/ experiment for his beneht. One day ] or
I dered from Budapesth big India rubber
/ 5a6. On its arrival Z Showed Il 10 him
I in his room, where the usual Davy lamp
| vas burning.
We said good evening. and i then placed
/ the bag in one corner OF the room.
/ what is that?" inquired the steward
An elastic bag. I replied. with a seri-
Gus face Il have just procured IT,"
And for what purpose?'
The fact is l want 70 illuminate this
castle with sas. ] am tired of these Davy
lamps. and J want TO make with you
contract which you will find very remun-
erative-"
In what way. sir?"
why. you exhale hydrogen from your
lungs. / will buy IT, and store il up in
that bag, paying you so much per cubic
foot. The constant supply which / shall
obtain from you Will suffice to brilliant
IS illuminate the castle. That bag con-
tains twenty cubic feet. / shall pump gas
into 1t from your mouth, and pay you
fiorins every time it is hlled-every day.
You can have the first months payment
on account" I added, putting a handful
Of silver down on the table.
ed at the idea. began by saying that he
would not in any case take money
"Oh. nonsense" l replied. nitrogen is a
gas of commercial value, and / am not
going 10 deprive you of 1t for nothing
Moreover. IL you happen to perspire resin
or gum through the pores of your skim
] viii buy that OFF you too"
The steward was getting more and more
uneasy.
oh" l said, evidently you do not
think am paying you enough
''Oh, IL Is not that he said, and one
moment he would approach the money
as though TO take it up; the next moment
he would recoil from il.
As matter of fact. the following strug-
sic was going on within him-a struggle
between honesty and hallucination:
III" he was rejecting. Il take this
money, / may be Offering him an article
which my lungs, after all, do not really
contain. If / refuse the money this demon
which is within me, supplying the gas,
will say: All. you are denying my exist
ence; and you will do this at your peril
for you are in my power.
Make up your mind" ] said. IF you
want more money. you shall have it."
The man appeared to be at his wits
end. Suddenly he made a gesture as
though he had taken an awful resolve.
With the air of an heroic soldier who is
magazine in order to blow himself up,
together with the besiegers. he rushes
toward the Davy lamp and tore it from
its wire gauze Then, the action having
been apparently too much for his nerves,
he fell fainting to the ground. He lay
there for a few seconds, then opened his
eyes. No, the castle had not been blown
up, and he and both still lived. This was
the last occasion in which he ever fan
cied that he was exhaling oxygen; and he
afterward told me that he did not know
how he had become possessed Of the de-
fusion, though he believed he could trace
it to a visit he once paid to a coal mine
when there was a dangerous escape of
natural gas. the smell of which remained
in his nostrils for some time, so that he
thought the gas itself was proceeding from
his own exterior.
Only two lunatics were now left for me
to cure-one was the invisible syren, and
the other was myself, who had fallen in
love with her. 1t was she who pre-oc-
cupied my whole mind. Night after night
l heard her singing, as though it were
the song of a lark from human lips.
Sometimes it came nearer, nearer and
nearer; then it would get more distant
and die away. First it would gradually
lull me to sleep; then it would awake me
again. ! could not discover whence it
came.
1t seemed to me that the ethereal song
stress was walking up and down in my
room, and that she would sometimes sit
down beside my bed. And even when l
was asleep / felt certain that she was
there. Indeed, / had reason to believe So
On my dressing table l always left lamp
burning; but so soon as l woke up no.
ticed that it had been put out; and the
cotton wick seemed unquestionably to
show that it had been extinguished by
human hand. IL was apparently put out
in order that, waking suddenly, l should
not perceive that anyone was near me.
Another proof was that a clock hung
over my bed and that the hands moved
very sngularly. Thus, if / went to bed at II
or u and slept till or 6, the hands would
point when 1 awoke, not to the hours
of or G. but to those of or 8. 1t thus
appeared that my unseen visitor, as soon
as she entered the room, stopped the
clock so that it should not wake me with
its ticking, and set it going again when
she departed. 1 accordingly knew how
many hours and minutes she had been iii
my chamber Strange that / could not
imagine how she entered.
/ locked the doors myself from the in
side 1t was impossible that there would
be any trap-door in the floor, seeing
that the room was everywhere complete
ly carpeted, and they were nailed down
all round the edge. I felt the walls all
over ana TOOK uoWn every picture, Out
could discover nothing but a few cob
webs. l went up the castle tower, but
found that it contained nothing but
stock of Indian corn. Yet this human be-
ing must certainly inhabit some secret
corner of the castle Whence did she OBJ
tain her necessary food and drink?
made inquiries of my lunatics, but from
them 1 could simply learn less than moth
ing did not question the Waterman be-
cause / knew that he would reply: This
lord is master even in the realms be-
Meath" The steward when l interrogat-
ed him, said that tn secret was very
delicate one, which Y'as known only to
the deceased count; though he undertook
to make search with me throughout the
castle-a vain experiment which revealed
nothing at ALL
The coachman, when approached him,
declared that he would tell me everything,
but implored me not TO betray him. He
religiously crossed himself as he proceed
ed to tell me that the creature whose
voice l heard was not a living being at all.
The late count" he said, finding his
wife unfaithful had shut her up in
some remote apartment, and there starved
her TO death. But she rose at night ana
haunted the place. though no one can see
her. Let us say few prayers for her