The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1913-05-17
CHAPTER ~. fcontInued) /.

CHAPTER III. (contInued).
He did not speak a word and hi
neighbors could not have stated a
what moment he had sat down be
tween them. The friends OF Richar'
and Moncharmin thought that thi
skinny guest was an acquaintance o
DEFICIENCIES or Poligny's. while DE
bienne's and Poligny's friends be
lieyed that the cadaverous individual
belonged to Richard and Monchar
Minis party.
The result was that no request wa
mnde for an explanation.
MN. Debienue and Poligny. sitting
at the center OF the table, had no
seen the man with the deaths head
Suddenly he began to speak.
The ballet-girls are right" he said
The death of that poor Buquet Is per
haps not SO natural as people think
Debienne and Poligny gave start
lis 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 MN. Rich.
ard and Moncharmin; Poligny nut.
tered a few words or excuse to the
guests: and all four went into the
managers Office. leave M. Mon
charmin TO complete the story. In
his Memoirs. he says:
MN. Debienne and Poligny seemed
10 grow more and more excited. First,
they asked US II We knew tho man,
sitting at the end Of the table. who
had told them OF the death or 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
dramatically closed. They said this
so funnily that VIC began to laugh and
to ask II 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
hcsitated 10 tell us this curious story,
which our skeptical MINDS were GER
tainly not prepared to entertain. But
he announcement of the death OF Jo-
seph Buquet had served them as a
brutal reminder that. whenever they
had uIsregarded the ghosts wishes.
some disastrous event had brought
them TO q 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 q copy OF tho mem
orandum.book. The memorandum.
book ends with Clause 9S. 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. Poligny
n iplr M
similar TO that In our possession, ex-
cept that, at the end, It contained a
paragraph In red ink and In queer
handwriting This paragraph ran as
follows:
IS. 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 opera
ghost OF twenty thousand francs a
month
"ls this all? Does he not want
anything elser asked Richard. with
che greatest GOODNESS.
Yes. he does replied Poiigny.
",Box Five on the grand tier shall
be placed at the disposal OF the opera
ghost for every performance
When we saw this. there was moth
ing elsssNfof 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 this
charming little joke. which proved
that the old French sense OF humor
was never likely to become extinct
''Thereuro~ we all four left the Of
nee. pi,.ard and had never
.rrEh Hch ID our lives.