The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1895-07-06

me. 1t will be refuted when they shall
have heard the spirit of my wife
speak lovingly to me. For you will
address me from beyond the tomb in
very affectionate language; Is it not
so. Miss SoutchotteY"
mo! No! You shall not 10 this. You
can not dream of carrying out your
intention. Listen to me, I implore
you. For the four years that i have.
been with you | have always obeyed
you; everything that you have wish
ed / have performed; all that you
have imposed upon me | have endur-
ed. / have deceived, l have lied like
you, l have learned to simulate the
sleep of somnambulists, the frances,
the raptures; the burdens of men
seated on my bo'!y. pins thrust into
the flesh of my arms. have never
caused me to vince. l have never ut
tered a complaint! Still more: behind
the curtain, mimicking far-off voices,
| have made mothers. wives, believe
that their sons, their husbands, were
coming from the other world TO speak
with them, and in the salons, among
the furniture, under the lowered
lamps, rObed in a shrOud or veil, I
have dared to impersonate the vague
form in which eyes blinded by tears
recognized their beloved ones. Oh!
these sacrileges! If you knew how I
dreaded them! You parody without
fear the eternal mysteries. because
you do not believe them; while l am
full of doubts and fears. Dieu! If,
one day, at the very moment eve
when 1 give myself to him, Death
should appear before me, raising his
arms in m~aledictions! 1t is to these
terrors that 1 owe the affection of the
heart with which l suffer and of
which l shall die; 1t is through them
that 1 languish and that drag along,
feverish, ill and worn out. Eth bien!
Never mind! 1 belong to you entirely.
Dispose of me; o can do it, and l
wish it. Do / ever complaint? But this
time, Benjamin, what you ask of me
is too much. Because of my obedience,
because of my sufferings, have pity on
me at last! Do not force me to play
the role of the poor woman who was
so beautiful and so good. Oh, what
put this idea, of all others, into your
head? Spare me, Benjamin-Benja-
min, l beseech you"
He was not laughing now. AS there
was a noise of furniture being over
turned, a sound produced by a head
coming in contact with a partition, it
is probable that Professor davenport
had violently repulsed Miss Ida. But
the waiter did not enter, because the
guests had not rung. +.
The same day, shortly before mid
night, in the salon of Mrs. johanna
Harding, forty persons were seated
facing the curtain that would present
ly reveal the apparition Of the spirit
a solitary lamp emitted a very feeble
light in one corner of the room-that
light which tends to increase the dark.
ness rather than to diminish it-and
on everything a profound stiffness
while the fire in the CRATE threw out
a furtive illumination, adding TO the
weirdness Of the cene.
Never had Professor davenport ap
peared to such advantage as on this
evening. The world of spirits obeyeG
him implicitly, as though it were his
lawful right; he was truly the all
powerful ruler of souls! They haG
witnessed hands without arms pluck
flowers from the jardinieres; an &C
Gordon, played by an unseen agent
had prodced exquisite melodies; thu
most improvised questions had beer
responded to in a remarkable mannel
by rappings on the different articles
of furniture. Even the professor him
self entered into a somnambulisti'
trance, was elevated from the floor a
a distance of about three ~feet-accord
ing to taken by Mrs. Johann;
Harding-and, his two hands full O
burning embers, he f1oated smiling TO
a full quarter of an hOur n the air.
But the most interesting, the mos
decisive experiment promised sine
the commencement of the can
would be the apparition of Mrs. Ara
bella davenport.
''The hour has Gomez. cried the me
dunn. While every bosom rose and fel
with Impotence wrought by feal
while every eye was strained in TIL
frighted anticipation of the coming
vision, Benjamin davenport stood up
right near the curtain; in the penum
bra. tall and majestic. a hellish CLEAN
in his eyes-as though inspired by
demon, or even demon himSelf-h
was truly terrible and beautiful.
"Arabella, come FORTH" he eXclaime,
in a commanding voice, with the ges
ture of the Nazarene before the tom
of Lazarus.
They waited.
Suddenly a cry is heard behind tn
curtain! a shrill, heartrending cry o
supreme terror! the cry of a soul tax
ing flight.
The audience shudddered. Mrs. JC
hanna Harding almost tainted. TIL
medium himself had appeared aston
iShed.
He turned toward the trembling cul
tain, which, slowly raised, gave pas
sage to the spirit.
1t was a young woman with lon
blond hair, very beautiful, very palt
enveloped in a white robe, her uncoN
cred bosom revealing under the lei
breast a bleeding wound, in whic
Quivered a knife.
Everybody recoiled. moving the
chairs close to the wall. Those VIII
had the presence of mind to look
the medium observed that he shut
dered, turned CHASTITY pale and IT
cOiled also.
But the young woman, Mrs. Ar
bella-the genuine" whom he reco'