Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1899-04-20
The Flower of Death
A Night of Wild Despair and Its joyful
Morning
NOU are as good as dead" said the
! doctor, looking steadily at Ana

NJ
doctor, looking steadily at Ana
rtole.
Anatole staggered. He had come tc
pass cheerful evening with his ole
friend, DR.. Bardais, the savant whose
works in poisonous substances are sc
well and favorabIy known, but one
whose excellence of heart and almost
fatherly kindness Anatole had been
able to appreciate more than anyone
And now all of n sudden, without re
gard for his feelings, without being
prepared to hear it, the terrible prog
nostic is uttered by so great an author
atty.
Unfortunate fellow" continued the
doctor, what have you done?'
Nothing that I know Of" STAN
mered Anatole, greatly troubled.
''Try to recollect. Tell me what you
have drank, what you have eaten, and
what you have breathed."
The last word spoken by the doctor
was ray of light to Anatole. That
very morning he had received a letter
from one of his friends who was trav-
-e1ing in India. In this letter had
been a flower plucked on the shores
of the Gauges by the traveller flow
Ger, red, warped, and of bizarre shape,
the odor of which, he remembered well
now, had seemed to him strangely pene-
trating. Anatole searched in his peck
-etbook and took therefrom the letter
=and flower in question, which he showed
to the savant.
without doubt" exclaimed the doc
tor, ''it is the Pyramenensis Indica-
the fatal flower, the flower of death"
"Do you really think SOP"
"I am sure of it"
"But it is not possible. am only IS
years old. feel myself full of life and
health
when did you open that fatal let
ter?"
"At nine o'clock this morning"
.sWell, tomorrow morning, at the
same hour, indeed at the same moment,
YOU will feel a sharp anguish at the
heart, and it will be all over with you"
"And do you not know any remedy,
any means of"
None" said the doctor, and, hiding
his face in his hands, he sank back
ward in his armchair, choked with
grief.
From the emotion displayed by his
oil friend, Anatole realized that there
was no hope. He departed in dazed
manner.
With beads of cold perspiration On
his brow and his thoughts confused,
Anatole moved along unconscious of
what was passing around him, and not
even suspecting that the streets were
becoming deserted. He wandered a
long time thus; but at length, coming
to bench, he sat down.
The rest did him good. Until then
he had been like a man who has been
struck on the head with club. The
effects of the shock were disappearing,
and he began now to collect his va
grant thoughts.
MY plight" thought he, SIS that of
a person condemned to death. Yet l
can still hope for mercy. BY the way,
how much longer have 1 to hve?"
He looked at his watch.
1T lacks three hours of morning. 1t
is time was in bed. I go to bed, in
deed. To devote the last sad hours
of my life to sleep! No. / can certainly
do better than that. But, what? Par
bleu! I have it. will draw up my last
will and testament"
A restaurant which remained open all
night was near by. Anatoie entered
and sat down.
Waiter, a bottle of champagne and
q bottle of ink"
He drank a glass and looked at his
writing paper, rejecting: ITO whom
shall 1 leave my 5000 francs income?
1 have neither father nor mother
fact which is lucky for them. And