Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1896-02-03

| ihuSi ublAilSNi, WV lOi bo tiC otOi y
has come to us, and their pictures are
in the salon, though some think us
not Of the right mind to keep them
there.
'It comes soon now, petite, the
tragedy OF those two. One night, just
such q night as this, they went riding
in the go gay spirits, and going up
| hill for the second or third time
! what should they see but another
! sleigh coming DOWN. 1t was coming
fast, and my great uncle knew it was
death for one side or the other, since
pass they could not And he shouted
4 to the other driver to haiti
| "Ah, it was too sad. On, on, came
the other sleigh, fast like the wind,
| and my great uncle Gaspard saw that
| it would into him crash, and he
quickly drew pistol, and fired TO
kill the horse, before it was
too late. And his own horse,
he get such fright he plunge over
the side, throwing HIM out, but taking
his bride down to death
! 'He lived, but like man in
dream, till some one tell him the
truth that on that night there was no
other sleigh but his own, and that he
saw the shadow was OF his own, in
some way [ know not the exact, the
moonlight make that effect by what
you call projecting the shadow, and
| when he know that, he take again the
! pistol and with it end his misery and
his life
A long silence succeeded this weird
tale and then Clotilde asked in
broken voice:
sis it then that the sleigh is ghost" ?"
eyes, petite, a-what you call phan-
TOM"
"f am not afraid. I accept, and
will pray to give the poor ghosts
peace"
1t was not like the Loup-Garou, not
to the miud OF C.otilde half as dread
full, but she was 'no5 really afraid of
these because her old uncle had much
sense, and he did not believe one of
these stories, although tell them he
did, and most graphically.
Again on tho following evening
came the sound Of bells, and this time
| Clotilde went not near the door, but
sat moving her sweet lips in prayer.
Then the door was flung violently
open and brusGue, CHEEKY voice
called:
"HelIo, there, Victor, Alphonse, you
var,ets, where are you hiding?"
Certainly this was no ghost, and the
three women who clung about his neck
gave frantic evidence of joy at his
! coming. Clotilde was not one of the
J three. A big old man in fox-skin
coat had taken her in his arms, and
was talking to her in gentle burr, the
old uncle who told her the dreadful
! stories, and then she slipped one smnll
hand into her lovers and looked at him
with shy, happy eyes.
sit was SO good of you to come in
stead OF the ghosts, she said, when
later they sa5 cooingir in a corner, while
The uncle, who was q great favorite
with the young Gaspard, was making
himself agreeable to the ladies.
"rhen you know, dear little one?"
said the young man. "And you are
not afraid to make your home in the
Chateau Frontenac?"
"f,ot with my Gaspard," came the
soft answer, "out like it better if the
ghosts came not, and your sisters,
they are sorry, too. But afraid no I"
"What OF this SO much being
afraid ?" asked c grnff voice, and the
old uncle Of CIotilde ho5bled over to
the corner where snatches of their
conversation located the Two lovers.
Then he WAS told tho story of the
ghostly sleigh, and looked wise and
thoughtful for the restot the evening.
The shrewd French Canadian was
filled with marvellous stories of ghosts
which he loved to relate, but none OF
which lie believed, not even his stock
fright-story, tho legendary Loup-
Garou.
The next morning Uncle Pierre was
missing from the chateau, but no one
was disturbed, ho hal taken his gun,
and would return when he pleased,
which was at nightfall, and simultan-
eously with his coming rang out the
jangling, invisible bells.
He @ound tho family shivering
around the great fire as If they wei g
stricken with deadly cold, Even Gas.
pard looked troubled and the little
Clotilde was trying to assure aim that
she wes nos-"Oh, no, not the least
afraid p
"Fine is the night" he said in salu,
tation, 'anl tho air is the clear, so
you hear-r-r, oh, SO far! Heard you
not, my Clotilde, the sleigabells that
come me vith?"
"Oh, OH cried the ladies of the
chateau in faint chorus; "the bells
do make our hearts to shake" and
they said an audible prayer.
"Wha5 you make afraid? Not the
bells of echo, that the wind do bring
to your door for the too sweet music?
Pahl Ghos5 is il, not al all, but the
r.r ravine, and the hills, they do make
of the bells OF the s,eighing companie,
the echo which for the minu-t-e stop
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