Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1896-01-17
THE PHANTOM BELLS
BY MRS. VI. L. RAYNE.

D
tenac had Invited their brothers
/ hancee to make them a visit III
order to explain to her the strange
shadow which hung over thelr
hoase for nearly a hundred years,
and to WHO e banefnl Influence she
, must become habituated, when a
member'of the family.
When they fist saw Clotilde,
she was so young and tlmid they
made up their minds to wait until
Glspard himself came, but one
night as they sat around the great
hall fire there was a great jingle
of sleigAbells and tie sound OF
swift runners on the crisp snow
outside, ard then that mulcal clash
at the door which announced the
Stopiug of 1.-The turnout, and the ar
rival of glests.
Surely there WAS nothing uncom-
mon IN this, the coming OF a party
ofmerry people to country house,
and on a magnificent moonlight
night hen the whole landscape
was as light as day! Yet instead
of loDklng pleased or surprised, I,
the ladiaS sank back IN THEN
chairs, and covering their faces
with their hands, murmured q
prayer.
Cloiilde, the little one, clapped
her hands, and asked earnestly:
"MIght it be, my friends, that II
Is Clspard, who has come with a
surprised
"No, no, ClOiilde, it will not lie
oar G G4spard. Mon Dieu, how then
shall we tell her? Child, 60 you
not to the door, Those sleighbells
you hear are not of the flesh and
blood mean the driver is not"
But the little ClOtilde had run
iOyOusly to the great hall door.
and though no servant stood there
to open it, she swung it wide on
its massive hinges. A bitter blast
of cold air rushed in with a dreary
walling sound, and no sleigh
stood outside, but even as the
startled girl watched. cash OF
musical bells and the swift sound
of The steel.slOd runners filed the
area If snow. She turnei winter
than a lily in tie sOm6er moon
light, and flung the door TO affrigt
ed.
Come to the fire, little one; you
have seen, thea our 81 @ etOn In
the closel7
"Isay not any skeleton-noth-
ing-DOthing, bat l heard the
bells oh, what does it meant
"Yon tell her, Agatha" said the
younger sister.
Il would greatly prefer that she
should Lear it from !Olr lips,
Ceclle," answered the other.
81 am not atraid,' said the girl
proudly. The color was coming
back TO her lips and cheeks, and
her eyes spArkled. 1t cOald MT
be worse than the legends Of the
L1up.Garou which her uncle had
told her since she was a child
not so very long ago that--but
now she was a woman and would
not show fear.
'You will now know why OuI
Gaspard has dark spells when not
even bis sweetheart can comfort
him, why the shadow is never lift
ed from lives, aud We cannot be
quite like other people. Perhaps
you will not then like to marry
our brother, who Is the best and
dearest in the world, but like Us
under The ban"
ST Is the more l would love him
If might, when be has the trou
I ble; but tell me, please; Is 1t that
sone wicked sou come back be-
cause that they cannot resti"
"He know not, petite, but the
story is like this: So lolg ago,
mayoe, that not our oldest rela-
ton can remember. there was an
other Gaspard dc FIOntenac, a
brave, good mai like this one, but
hot.beaded and fiery. And you
know, the steep hills that slut us
in-so high with the big ralint
the precipice Oh either sidei Aud
in the winter there was alway:
snow, and the people went cOastlng
and sleigh.riding with swift horses