The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1913-02-21
CHAPTER I.
Is 1t the Ghost?

1t was the evening on which NM.
Debienne and Poligny the managers
OF the opera, were giving last gala
performance to mark their retirement.
Suddenly the dressing-room OF La
Sorelli, one of the principal dancers,
was invaded by half-a-dozen young
ladies of the ballet. They rushed in
amid great confusion, some giving
vent to forced laughter, others to
cries of terror SorelH, who wished
10 be alone for a moment to run
through" the speech which she was to
make to the resigning managers,
looked around angrily at the mad and
tumultuous crowd. 1t was little
Jammes who gave the explanation in
a trembling voice:
Its the ghost." And she locked
the door.
Have you seen him."
AS plainly as | see you now" said
little Jammes.
Thereupon little CRY added;
IF that's the ghost he's very
ugly"
oh, yes!" cried the chorus of bal
let-girls
And they all began to talk togeth-
er. The ghost had appeared to them
in the shape of gentleman in dress
clothes, who had suddenly stood be-
fore them in the passage. He seemed
to have come straight through the
wall
For several months there had been
nothing discussed at the opera but
this ghost in dress-clothes who staIked
about the building, from top to bot
tom, like shadow, who spoke to no.
body, and who vanished as soon as
he was seen. The dress-suit had a
popularity of its own. 1t covered a
skeleton. At least, so the baIlet-girls
said
The idea OF the skeleton came from
the description of the ghost given by
Joseph Buquet, the chief scene-shifter
He had run up against the ghost on
the little staircase, by the footiights,
which leads to the cellars"
He is extraordinarily thin and his
dress coat hangs on a skeleton frame
His eyes are SO deep that you can
hardly see the fixed pupils. His nose
is so little worth talking about that
you can't see it side-face; and the
absence of that nose is a horrible
thing to look at"
This chief scene-shifter was a seri-
Gus, sober, steady man, very slow at
imagining things. And then, one after
the other, there came series of in
cidents so curious that the shrewdest
people began to feel uneasy
For instance, fireman is a brave
fellow! Well, the fireman, who had
gone to make round of inspection in
the cellars and who had ventured a
little farther than usual, suddenly re-
appeared on the stage, pale, trembling
and practically tainted IL the arms
of the mother of Jamnes. And why?
Because he had seen coming toward
him, at the level of his head, but with
out body attached to &c, a head OF
fire.
The fireman's name was Pampfn.
TO retIrn to the evening in ques-
ton.
Sorelli, steaIthily, with the tip of
her pink right thumb-nail made a St
Andrews cross on the wooden ring
which adorned the fourth finger of
her left hand. She said to the little
ballet girls:
Come, children, pull yourselves to-
gether! l dare say no one has ever
seen the ghost
Gabriel saw him, too" said
Jammes Only yesterday"
Gabriel, the chorus-master?"
Why, yes, didn't you know? Ga-
briel was in the stage manager Of
flee. Suddenly the door opened and
the Persian entered. You know the
Persian has the evil eye"
AOn, yes" answered the little bal
letgtrls in chorus.
And you know how superstitious
Gabriel is continued Jammes How
ever, he is always polite. Well, the
moment the Persian appeared in the
doorway, Gabriel gave one jump from
his chair to the lock OF the cupboard,
so as to touch iron, He rushed out
OF the office like a mailman, slipped
on the staircase and came down the
whole of the first flight on his back.
l was just passing with mother. We
picked him up. Then he told US he