Gilpin observer., 1913-07-03
CHAPTER III. (contlnusd).

upon entering the room he f1nds II empty.
CHAPTER III. (contInued).
He did not speak a word and his
neighbors could not have stated at
what moment he had sat down be-
tween them The friends OF Richard
and Moncharmin thought that this
skinny guest was an acquaintance OF
Debienne's or Poligny's. while De-
bienne's and Polignys friends be-
lieved that the cadaverous individual
belonged to Richard and Monchar-
minis party.
The result was that no request was
made for an explanation.
NM. Debienne and Poligny. sitting
at the center OF the table. had not
seen the man with the deaths head.
Suddenly he began to speak.
"rhe ballet-girls are right" he said
The death OF that poor Buquet Is per-
haps not SO natural as people think.
Debienne and Pohgny gave start.
rs Buquet dead?" they cried.
"Yes," replied the man. or the
shadow Of a man, quietly. He was
found. this evening. hanging In the
third cellar, between farmhouse and
a scene from the Roi de Lahore"
The two managers. or rather ex-
managers. at once rose and stared
strangely at the speaker. At last
Debienne made sign to NM. Rich
ard and Moncharmin: PoIigny NUT
tered a few words OF excuse to the
guests; and all four went into the
managers office. leave NJ. Mon
charmin to complete the story. In
his Memoirs. he says:
NM. Debienne and Poligny seemed
TO grow more and more excited. First,
they asked us II we knew the man.
sitting at the end OF the table. who
had told them OF the death Of Joseph
Buquet: and, when we answered in
the negative, they looked still more
concerned. They took the master
keys from our hands. stared at them
for a moment and advised US TO have
new locks made, with the greatest
secrecy, for the rooms. closets and
presses that we might wish to have
Theoretically closed. They said this
so funnily that we began to laugh and
to ask n there were thieves at the
opera. They replied that there was
something worse. which was the
ghost They told us that they never
would have spoken to us OF the ghost
II they had not received formal or
ders from the ghost himself to ask
us to be pleasant to him. They had
hesitated to tell us this curious story.
which our skeptical minds were GER
tainly not prepared to entertain. But
.he announcement OF the death or Jo-
seph Buquet had served them as a
brutal reminder that. whenever they
had disregarded the ghosts wishes,
some disastrous event had brought
them to a sense OF their dependence
THE Joke became little tedious:
and Richard asked half-seriously and
half in jest:
But, after all. what does this ghost
Of yours want?'
M Poligny went to his desk and
returned with copy OF the mem
orandum-book The memorandum
book ends with Clause ss. which says
that the privilege can be withdrawn II
the manager infringes the conditions
stipulated. This is followed by the
conditions. which are four in number
"The copy produced by NJ. Poiigny
was written In black Ink and exactly
similar to that in our possession. ex
cept that, at the end, II contained 9
paragraph in red ink and In a queer
handwriting This paragraph ran al
follows:
"'5. Or II the manager. in any
month, delay for more than a fort
night the payment OF the allowance
which he shall make to the opers
ghost OF twenty thousand francs &
month
lis this all? Does he not wan
anything else?' asked Richard. witt
the greatest coolness.
"'Yes, he does. replied Poligny.
BOX Five on the grand tier shai
be placed at the disposal OF the opert
ghost for every performance
when we saw this. there was moth
ing else for us to do but to rise from
our chairs, shake our two predeces
sors warmly by the. hand and con
graduate them on thinking OF thii
charming little Joke. which proved
that the old French sense OF bumol
was never likely to become extinct.
''Thereupon we oil four left the OF
me-. Richard and had 'neve
A..shc' 30 muSh n our lives"