Year: 1877

siou, you HaFc stltleu tndl question your
SELF" Correct, Mr.. Candidate" came
voice like clap OF thunder, and l woke
up just in time to save myself from fall
ing out of the chair, and to hear the iden-
tcal words beloved by the village pas
tor, who was giving some candidate of
divinity some hints on the subject of the
Interpretation of the Old Testament


The charm was broken, the Rudeshei-
mer had no longer a taste, the soothing
buzz of the gossiping villagers sounded
dizzy, sick.


called the waiter and asked to be shown
to my room. He lighted candle and
conducted me upstairs.


"Up, up, we went, from flight to fight,
from passage to passage, round countless
corners, and down interminable ways--a
very labyrinth of house, as it seemed to
me in my confused brain; convenient
enough for ghosts and goblins. but horri.
bly, bewilderiDg to person less richly en-
dowed with the bump of locality. At last
we turned into a little alley, off which
three doors opened, one at the end and
one on either side. The end-room was to
be mine. AS l stopped to put the key In
the lock, the shadow of the waiter be-
hind me seemed to 60 through some fam
tastic movement on the wall. Turning
hastily. caught the man in the very act
Of crossing himself.


"Are you devote or are you offering me
delicately-put insult because didn't give
you enough Trinkgeld ?" | thought to my
self, as l looked him full in the face.
"Have you seen the devil, that you
cross yourself ?" said, aloud. after mo.
ment's pause. ,,.. ,a.
Excuse me, sir" he replied, consider
ably confused. "It is the custom OF the
country" ..r


THE custom Of the country ?" repeat
ed, inquiringly.


"Yes, to cross ones self in the presence
of the dead" 80 s,
As he said these words, the door
yielded to the pressure of my hand and q
cold draught of wind issued forth, putting
out the light, sweeping along through the
passage-way, rafting all the windows,
| and shaking all the doors. as if it bore some
impatient spirit that was striving to escape
| from the house and join the storm out
side. think the waiter was frightened.


know was. Hurriedly asking me TO
| stand still until he could get light, he


left me. and was alone in the darknes.
As is usual under such circumstances,
my heart Immediately issued challenge


to my watch to decide which could make
| the best time and the most noise. Thump!
thump!-tick tick ! tick !-thump! tick
tick thump! lon went the race, the
watch steadiest and holding its own, the


heart putting on squirt and getting ahead !.
whenever the singular words of the abb
sent waiter turned mp in my mind The
result was still in suspense when the light
made its appearance. 9 io ai
The waiter had entirely recovered his
equanimity. and, as If desirous of removing
the feeling OF distrust that / must have
shown in my face, he at once began to
converse volubly-asking If the room was


warm enough, If he should call me in the
morning. if l would like my coffee brought
to my room-running through, in short,
| the whole list of questions a waiter may


ask without actually overstepping the


bounds of officiousness. ~.
II his object was, as now believe it to


have been, to prevent a recurrence to the
episode that proceed the going out of the
candle, he was no diplomatist. An in
distinct idea that the Rubesheimer must


have gone to my head began to dawn up
on me. and l was to anxious to be rid of
him to do more than curtly answer his rap
| idly put interrogbtories.


Good night. Sleep well," he said at
last, backing out OF the door.


Thanks"


The key turned in the lock, and I sat
upon the bed with feeling of reliet
| SO great that it entirely oyerpowered all
previous sensations,


How long sat there in the semi-com-


atose state of complete bodily and mental


prostration, cannot say. 1t must have


been long time, for the candle was burn
ed half down before could rouse myself


to undress. / started up suddenly, feel
ing strange and chilled, and stared nerv-


ously about the room with the impression


that some one was secretly watching me.
The room was bare-so large that the fee


BILE light of the candle was spent before it
could penetrate the darkness and reach
the corners so bare that the little German


bed seemed like an oasis in q desert of
plank flooring. There was no place for


person to hide, and yet felt that there


we're eyes following me when / moved,
gaziug fixedly on me when was still. /
| looked under the bed nothing there. l
opened a closet door, and found only some
soiled clothes piled up in the corner.
pressed my face against the window pane.
The storm was raging fiercely. and the
night was black as ink; but no eyes


looked in upon me from the darkness. As


| turned back into the room holding the
light above my head, as one does when


looking about dark chamber, l noticed


for the first time that picture hung over


the bed. / should have passed it by with


sweep of the candle had not my eyes


been caught and brought to an instantan-


eous check by something that met them


there. 1t was the check q person feels


when, in the course of an ordinary con-


versation, he Is suddenly conscious that


he has used exactly the same words, un-
der exactly the same circumstances, and
received exactly the same reply, on some
previous occasion, which he cannot for his
lite remember; it was the start he expe-
| riences when, IN moment of abstraction
he happens to look in a mirror, and sur
prises in the reflection of his own face
some strange expression, instantly gone.
that he cannot define or recall, but that
casts a momentary shadow over the soul.
had looked at the picture, l could not
have told its subject yet could no m IRE
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