St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1903-01-03

o1hcer, Goetz Won Berlingen, burst il
upon him before he was out of bed.
Rise, sluggard!" he shouted
'kriegs Mobil. We are to mobilize fol
war In fortnight the cavalry of the
guard must be beyond the Rhine"
The Chateau Revenant in the neigh
borhood of Nancy had been forsake1
by its aristocratic owners. When, il
spite of their splendid bravery, Mac
mahon and his gallant troops had beer
driven in headlong rout from the blooG
stained field of Worth, the ancient
family tied westwards, too, leaving
behind only Gabriel Monod, the aged
butler, to whom it would have meant
/ death to 60 forth from the home of his
masters, where he had lived, man ant
boy, till now so summers whitened his
head. He would guard and care for i;
lovingly while they were away.
A patrol of Uhlans had ridden up tc
the main entrance, and the officer an
nounced to the pale and astonishec
Gabriel that the must prepare break.
fast for Gen. Helm Won Grubsch and his
staff, who would arrive and take uE
their quarters for the day, and pos.
sibly the ensuing night.
/! That was day never to be forgotten
by the aged servant Of the Revenants
In and out of the parquetted rooms
stamped the spurred and booted Ger
mans, and instead of decorous still.
ness there was the clank of sabers,
and the. costly hangings of the stately
dining and reception rooms showed
through wreaths and spirals of to-
bacco smoke. And the wine cellar
the pride of the butler and the wonder
OF the neighborhood for miles around
what gaps were made in it! Was
there ever such thirst known? At
ticers amused themselves with song
and jest. E...
In a corner of the lofty drawing
room card table was set out, and here
Helm Won Grubsch and three of his
. principal officers sat down to whist.
. Every now and then they would ad-
journ to a massive sideboard in the
aext apartment and quaf goblets of
that wonderful champagne of the
Revenants, which was quite priceless.
Gabriel came and looked at them from
nearer distance every now and then.
Should he tell them the story of the
Revenant ghost, and thrill the nerves
of those naughty, martial Teutons?
At last he plucked up courage, and
asked permission from the "Messieurs
les officers Allemands." Helm Won
Grubsch laughed a consent, and to a
hooking group Gabriel told his tale,
and this is it's substance.
A young man had been cheated of his
lady love by wealthy member of the
Revenant family. He, in despair, but
Disgusting his grief, had come one
night and played cards with his rival.
Late, towards dawn, when the rosy
fingers of the coming day were caress-
ing the hill tops, the rich Revenant
trumped the ace OF hearts with dia-
monds. At that moment D'Estrees
sprang from his seat and blew his
brains out with pistol. His rival
died two days later, thrown from a
horse. And since that date it was the
tradition that if anyone who had separ-
ated two loving hearts should play at
cards in the room, to him young D'Es-
trees would appear in the shape of the
living lover and be portent of the
doom of the rich and ruthless destroy
er of loves young dream.
ho hon vi e.10
through, and then guffawed. Helm
Won Grubsch laughed less merrily
than the others. Indeed, he had
frowned once or twice during the mar
rative.
"Well," he said at last, tive will play
tiE dawn and test your ghost, my man.
The wine is good. Let tomorrow take
care of ITSELF" ......
The next rubber opened with dia-
raonds. but interest in hearts there
was none till Won Grubsch's partner,
playing second, put down the ace of
hearts. A look of perplexity passed
over the generals face as he gazsd
at his cards.
lawfully sorry to trump your trick"
were the words whose German equiv
alent came to his lips. But no soon
er had he taken the card between two
of the fingers of his right hand than
it was laid hold of. He looked up,
and there, standing in front of him,
was the tall figure of an officer Of
the cavalry of the guard. The eyes
were fixed in strangely absent man
ner on the distant dawnlight. All
saw, but took what they saw for real
flesh and blood, till moment later
the figure was gone. The general
played the ten of diamonds.
"The rest of the tricks are mine,
gentlemen" said he, showing a hand
of all the court and higher cards of
diamonds.
'What hand! What luck!" ex-
claimed the others.
Helm Won Grubsch rose from the
chair. A cloud was on his brow.
"You saw a cuirassier?" he asked,
suddenly.
81 thought So" stammered each i'll
turn.
"Perhaps it was that champagne, he
unused.
Two days later he fell dead in battle,
shot through the temple by Chasse-
pot bullet.
"Diamonds can sunder hearts no
more" whispered Max Won Veldenz, as
he led his charming bride, Eva Won
Salitz, from Fthe altar of the Daum
church year later. Indeed, Eva in
herited the Won Grubsch fortune,
while her husband had made a splen-
did name on the battleield.-Trans-
lated from the German in Chicago
Tribune.