Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1904-09-15

ana tnere was q little DuZZ OF
sation. Tongues wagged briskly while
eyes were fastened on the whirling
wheel.
What has become of our English
friend?" asked one.
"Gone home" was the answer from
another across the table. perhaps
the heat went to his head!" He tapped
his forehead significantly.
Gradually the wheel slowed down,
and the ball was about to settle in its
customary click. Gamblers leaned over
the table to see the result of their bets.
The slowly rolling sphere was just
dropping into No. IL! No. it has set
tied in the adjoining compartment.
"Vinght-huit, noir Gagnel" calls out
the croupier with shrill m%onotony, and
the shining heaps are Distributed to the
winners.
"And madame has lost!" exclaimed
the stupid baron, in surprise.
The Woman in Red made no reply,
but stood up and, with an imperious
motion not to follow, walked steadily
from the sale de jeu, a vivid bit of
color under the glittering lights of the
splendid apartment.
Eearly the next morning she was
found lying on the marble steps of the
Casino, dead in her scarlet dress. The
stain trailing along the snowy marble
had been scarlet, too, but was now
turning to a reddish brown. In one
fine, strong hand was tightly clutched
a folded note. The servants and peo-
pie who gathered in trembling awe
sent for the priest of the church of
Sainte Devote to read it. He came
quickly, painting a little for breath.
Taking the paper from the fingers of
the dead woman, he glanced over it
n%ervously, while the people looked on
in breathless silence. 1t was written
in French.
81 will read it," the priest said slow
ly, and he translated the writing in
trembling tones:
"T have taken my own life-let that
pass. Let no one lift the mask from
my face but the priest of the church
OF Sainte Devote, and | pray him, when
he knows my secret, to say mass for
my soul. By all that is holy, respect
these Words" .
AS his solemn voice ceased, those
crowding about %shuddered and fell
back in nameless fear. They at C
carried the body of the woman to where
she had lodged, the early morning sun
cleaning strangely on her scarlet gar
ments and yellow hair. The priest en-
tered the house and closed the door
upon the crowd.
When he again emerged, he was
hardly recognizable. His face, deadly
white, twitched and quivered spasmodi-
cally, his eyes protruded and rolled
wildly from side to side, and his lips
were parted in an awful, unholy smile.
His trembling hands could scarcely
hold the crucifiX. To those who spoke
to him he made no answer--he did not
seem to hear.
They buried the woman that evening
at sunset, among the nameless graves
on the hill behind Monte Carlo, as
speedily as possible. When the grim,
grotesque companion of the dead was
asked If any n should be sent for,
the only answer she would give was:
"Oh, the devil, the devil, the devil.
How should I know?"
The priest from the church Of Sainte
Devote mumbled the service rapidly
and indistinctly oven the grave, with
n shaking hand raised in a defensive
attitude, as though to Danish something
or still the quaking terror that shook
him from head to foot. When the
ritual was ended he turned to the
dense crowd which no secrecy or word
Of authority had been able to keep
away, and said so sternly and distinct
ly that his voice echoed in the silence:
whatsoever as much as dares to
touch this grave, upon him | pronounce
the everlasting curse of the Holy
Church of Rome!"
Down the sloping hillside, back to
the town he led the procession, all the
way shaking like a leaf. When they
came again to the narrow streets he
suddenly stopped trembling and began
to laugh, and at the sound Of such
laughter the people stumbled over each
other in their anxiety to get away.
The commissaire special and the adj
ministration acted promptly and with
energy. There was an extra concert
that very night, a grand ball on that
succeeding. followed by a comic opera.
At Monte Carlo it will not do to en-
courage "reminiscences. And SO, by and
by, people stopped thinking, and be-
gan to talk Of other things. The old
count and the stupid baron were
among the first to drop the subject.
But when to the mad priest in his cell.
there came continually the deep boom,
boom Of the sea, the cry Of the gull
and the chimes of the church where he
should more say mass, he
laughed, and laughed, and laughed
though he could not remember why!