Abilene weekly reflector., 1912-01-25

AZ the center Of the table. had NOT
seen the man with the deaths neaa'
Suddenly be began TO speak.
.-rhe baIIetgirlB are right be said.
''The death OF that poor Buquet - per.
haps not 30 natural as people think.
Debienne and Poligny gave start
SIS Bucuet dead?" they cried.
eyes" replied the man. or the
shadow OF a man, quietly. "He was
found, this evening, hanging IN tne
third cellar, between farmhouse ana
a scene from the Roi de Lahore.
The two managers, or rather ex'
managers, at once rose and stared
strangely at the speaker. Az last
Debienne made sign to NM. RICH
ard and Moncharmin; Poligny NUT
tered a few words OF excuse to the
guests: and all four went into the
managers once. leave M. MOI
charmin to complete the story. IN
his Memoirs, he says:
INN. Debienne and Poligny seemed
10 grow more and more excited. FIRST
tbev asked US II we knew the man.
sitting at the end OF the table, VINO
had told them of the death OF Joseph
Buouet; and, when we answered IN
the negative, they looked stiil more
concerned. They took the master
kavs from our hands, stared at them
for a moment and advised US to nave
new locks made, with the greatest
secrecy. for the rooms, closets ana
nresses that we might wish to nave
Theoretically closed. They SAID tnls
40 funnily that we began to laugh ana
n ask II there were thieves at the
onera. They replied that there was
something worse, which was the
ghost They told US that they never
would have spoken to us OF the gnos1
II they had not received formai oi'
ders from the ghost himself to ASK
ne TO be pleasant to him. They nao
hesitated to tell us this curious story
which our skeptical minds were GER
tainly not prepared to entertain BUT
the announcement Of the death OF Jo-
senh Buouet had served them as a
hrntal reminder that, whenever tney
had disregarded the ghosts wisnes'
some disastrous event had brougnt
them to a sense of their dependence.
"The Joke became a little tedious;
and Richard asked half-sertously ana
half in Jest:
"'But, after all, what does this gnose
of yours want?
m. Poligny went to his desk ana
raturned with a copy Of the mem
orandum.book. The memorandum
hook ends with Clause 9S, which says
that the privilege can be withdrawn II
the manager infringes the conditions
stimulated. This is followed BY the
conditions, which are four In number
"The copy produced by M. Pohgny
was written in black ink and exactly
similar to that in our possession, ex-
cept that, at the end, It contained :
paraRraph in red ink and in queer
| handwriting. This paragraph ran az
follows:
".5. Or If the manager, in any
month, delay for more than Iort
i night the payment Of the allowance
which he shall make to the opera
ghost of twenty thousand francs 9
month
"Is this all? Does he not wan'
anything else? asked Richard WIN
the greatest coolness.
i "'Yes, he does replied Poligny. !,
"'Box Five on the grand tier snall
be placed at the disposal OF the opera
ghost for every performance
when we saw this, there was notn
ing else for us to do but to rise IRON
our chairs, shake our two predeces
sors warmly by the hand and con
xratulate them on thinking OF TINS
charming little joke, which proved
that the old French sense OF numol
was never likely to become extinct
'Thereupon we all four left the OF
fice. Richard and had never
laughed SO much in our lives.
(Conitnued next week.