Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1895-04-24
in THE TUNNEL.

She was sitting next mo In tho waitipg
room Of tho railroad station, but outside
hon horses were being fed and watcrcd,
and sho was waiting 10 rest.
When the whistle sounded, she stopped
her cars with both her hands and shuddcr-
cd violently. When tho engine camo In
sight she looked at IL as one might regard
hldeous monster and muttered To herself
In way that made mo fancy her not
quito I'm her right mind.
Then Of "a sudden she turned To me, with
little bow, and said;
"You arc travelling by rail, madam"
answered yes.
"How can your" asked my interrogation.
"Whcrcver 40, i go In my carriage. Those
cars are 80 terrible, especially the tunnels.
"But II one IL not blessed with car
riage2" asked.
"Then you must go behind that terrible
creature, i suppose" said the old lady,
looking toward tho engine, "but I'm sorry
for you"
"Do accidents often happen In tunnclst"
asked, with an involuntary shudder.
"Accidentsl'' sho cried "Worse than
that. I'll tell you what happened to me
In n tunnel. There's time enough, II you
don't mind listening"
bowed. She put her handkerchief TO
her face for, n moment and went on:
"You SEQ that white house on the hill
up there? That Is mine. There my hus-
band died, there my son married. 1t was
| after he married, when ! was 90 years old,
that this happened. Sixty! Just think Of
| it--a time when life ought TO run on with
| out any event whatever--and then romance
came To me-romance for the first time in
my life, because, you see, i Had married
without any thought OF that, very good
man-but so old--at is.
"Well as L said. at 60 he fcD in love
with me. 1 think ho was 20, anu, oh! but
he was handsome. / was sitting on my
porch when he rodo by, and his horse shied
ut something and threw him at my feet
| He seemed to be dead had him picked
up and brought in, and the doctor and
restored him to life.
| "Do you know what he WASP I'll tell
you. He was rider Mt the circus close by
not gentleman, they said, but his voice
was so soft and his way SO pleasant that
he seemed one, and, then, what did that
matter? He called me his good angel; he
kissed my hand. At last he told me that
he loved me.
"It was strange to hear. would not
listen to him at first, but Mt last he knclt
mt my feet, and I-ah, was u woman
still. kissed him on his forehead, and
promised to DO his wife.
"When my sou heard OF it, he was furi-
GUS. He said terrible things. Mother,
he said, if you marry this impostor, who
only wants your money, you will rue the
day you were ,rn.'
II did not care for my sons wrath, nor
that my friends all turned coldly from me.
/ married Adolphe, and we were very
happy.
GAS soon as we were married he began
to talk of Europe and Of the happyiife one
led in Paris. So said, We will go te
Paris
1--WE made ready to go. OF course WI
needed money. I bad bank notes ant
checks to a large amount-a little fortune
indeed--in my great wallet. l also had my
diamonds. Adolphe took care of all thes'
things. To reach the city whence our shiI
started we were obliged to go in the cars
Even then hated and was afraid OF them
II talked and laughed like n girl as w,
whirled over the country, but he grew
more silent, and by the time we roachet
the tunnel very grave. remember goins
into it. Adolphe took my hand and kisset
it.
"I sat still. The cars ratified, the dark
ness grew deeper 1 felt "a little frightened
and reached my hand to touch Adolphe
He WIS not there
II said, 'Adolphe.' There was no an
swer. called 'AdolpheP again. Oh, i
was SO terrble-no answer, and tho dark
ness like the darkness of death!
"At last it began to grow lighter
could see shadow forms, but no shadow O
Adolphe. asked for him. At last the.
helped me and mafe search-he was no
on the train. No one ever saw him again
he vanished in the tunnel
"People tried to make me think Ill o
him. would not. 1, who felt his kissc
on my hand still. Satan is envious of hap
piness, and"- There the old lady lower
cd her voice "That thing with the rc'
eye there is satan, though people don
know 1t. Don't go into the tunnel wit
him--remembe what say, and don't g
into the tunnel
Madam, your carriage Is ready" sal
middle aged woman, entering just then
and the old lady hurried off, shaking he
head as she went and muttering to herself
"She's been talking about the tunnel
ma'amp" asked the middle aged woman
with courtesy.
"Yes," said.
"She never had good sense, think,
said tho woman, land ut go she married
foreigner, younger than her son. He man
aged to put half her fortune into check
and such things and ran away with it aft
or they had been married month. II
jumped off train in tunnel and got OF
unhurt.
"I6 was n rope dancer and good a
jumping, or he'd mover have done 1t, an
he's living now with some bird Of tn
samo feather in Europe. She don't kno,
1t or don't believe it, poor old lady! He
wits amt right and she thinks satan cai
ricd him Off Goodby, madam. The oil
lady is in n hurry, and 1 must go TO her.
Boston Herald