The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1896-08-01

| tage, Mrs. v, the aunt or a famous
painter. / have been told"
HAS this person been dead long?"
About five years, l think"
"And why was she not buried, like 9TH
er people, in the village cemetery?"
Madame Gilbert, casting a shy glance
to right and left, replied:
Mrs. v was strong minded woman
a philosopher l have been told. You
know there are often such in artists fam
lilies She died at &c. She read many cele-
brated writer's, whom she often quoted.
and whose works she knew by heart
Voltaire. Rousseau, many others whose
names l do not remember, although they
/ were incessantly in her mouth. An anna
BILE little woman she was, too, lively, wit
| ty, agreeable. charitable TO the poor, and
much beloved by the peasants But when
she died. scarcely bent by age. still CO.
quettish, reading the newspapers daily
! without spectacles IL was yonder there
beneath that arbor of honeysuckles that
she seated herself every morning; she
wished to remain faithful to her prn-
ciples, and, she did not believe in
much of anything, never went to church
left a will. in which she requested to be
buried in her own garden. Her heirs full
filled her last wishes, and when the pres
ent owner bought the property. the obli-
cation was imposed that lie should res
spect this little nook of land"
well ii is a disagreeable condition,
and If the house and garden We're to be
sold again, | would not buy them at any
price. Meanwhile. | enjoin it upon you
not to say word of all this to my wife
III she should ever learn the least thing
which could confirm her in her suspicious
she would not remain one hour. AS for
me, | am going to have a talk with the
proprietor"
Chance willed it that | should encounter
Father Michael, our baker, the deputy
m IA
dissatisfaction, and the step / was about
to take
1T is useless for you to go to Paris"
said he to me; ION Saturday last. at the
request of NJ. Roux himself. the munich
pal council decided to eXhume Madame
v and transfer her remains to the
neighborhood cemetery. You will imag-
Inc that the interests of a proprietor VIII
prevail over the posthumous request of an
ola woman. The ceremony will take place
at noon tomorrow. You will therefore do
well to take your wife to Paris this even
ing, and not return until the day after"
Immediately returned to Gilbert and
gave him my instructions that he should
remove all the turf covering the grave
replace it carefully, so that his labor
should not appear.
Five minutes afterward l mad invented
plausible excuse for the necessity of an
immediate departure.
After pausing few days in the capital
we returned to our villa. In the mean
time letter from Father Michael an
nounced to me that my presence was in
dispensable at Nerrieres as the moon
would then be at the full. and a whole
FAMILY of weasels had been discovered
whose urgent destruction imperously
called for my devotions. that is to say.
some hours of watching passed in the
forest at night
At o'clock, therefore, on the evening
| Cpf in,
weasels. The weather was magnificent
ana the moon al the full. No night could
nave been more propitious, nevertheless
my vigils were in vain, for no sign of a
weasel appeared, and after waiting till
midnight l returned home.
l was but 20 PAGES from the house,
whose white walls, Illuminated by the
rays of the moon, stood out from the
dark ground of the thickets behind 1t, and
was about to turn around the group of
Bengal roses decorating its facade when,
casting my eyes mechanically toward the
six feet of turf which, three days before,
still covered the sepulcher of Madame
V, l remained petrihed. immovable,
dumb with fear and horror
Beneath the weeping willow which for
merly shaded the tomb stood wrapped in
us shroud, the spectre of the departed. 1t
was not an optical delusion, nor hallu-
cination of my disturbed mind. The phan-
tom seemed to be awaiting me, waving it's
arms as if trying to disengage them
from its white shroud; and while its
head reached to the uppermost branches
OF the tree its feet nimbly agitatng, how
cred over, rather than touched the
ground. They seemed to be making in
enectual efforts to detach themselves en-
tirely and advance to meet me.
a shudder of indescribable terror ran
over me, and though not cowardly by ma
ture, a cold sweat stood on my fore
head. l tried to speak. but / could not
utter word; l tried to walk, but my
limbs refused to obey my will. AT last
imagining myself to be the object of
some trick, l adjured the spirits to speak
threatening to fire upon it unless it an
swered my challenge.
had scarcely uttered this threat when
a nash OF lightning tho first indication of
an approaching storm, Illuminated the
whole garden, and amid a gust of wind
which enveloped me in whirwind of
DUST, the phantom disappeared. / could
not doubt that it was the shade of Mad
anne V, suddenly vanishing before my
eyes, in order to save me a second pro-
fanation more sacrilegious than the first
Clearing in few leaps. without daring
TO turn my eyes in the direction of the
Well, the distance which separated me
from the pavilion, l rushed. more dead
than alive, into the bedchamber. where
my wife was quietly reposing.
was very careful not to awaken her
ana especially not to tell her of my noe
turnal adventure; but violent clap of
thunder rendered useless the precaution
which had taken to make as little noise
as possible on entering.
"Ah. it is you, my love" she said to
me. You did well to return; have been
oppressed by a bad dream; light the can
die. beg, and see if all is right about the
house"
The night was terrible, and l never |
knew more frightful storm. When day
appeared and the tempest abated l had |
not succeeded i'm closing my eyes.