Volume I Part 37 (1/2)
”Oh! mon Dieu! why, this is horrible, monsieur le docteur,” said Honorine; ”it's a regular ghost story.”
”Pray go on, monsieur,” said Agathe; ”it interests me deeply; but you haven't told us who it was that was murdered. Was it a man or a woman?”
”It was a man, mademoiselle, a young man, who was found dead in that ravine. How it happened has never been known, nor were the a.s.sa.s.sins ever discovered.”
”Was it somebody who lived hereabout?”
”No, for no one recognized him; and the strangest thing was that he had not been robbed; they found a gold watch on him and a large amount of money.”
”But perhaps the miscreants who committed the crime heard someone coming, and, being afraid of being captured, ran away before they had had time to rob their victim.”
”The result is that they have set up a cross on that spot, and that the villagers make a long detour rather than go through the ravine at night, for they are sure that they would meet the ghost.”
”Bah! turlututu! that's a pretty story!” said Pere Ledrux, showing his face at the door of the salon. ”What's this, doctor! are you telling these ladies all these old stories so that they'll be afraid to come here to live? Why, it's all fiddle-faddle. I've been through the ravine lots of times at night, right by the cross, and I never met anybody, not the first hobgoblin! The old women say to each other over the fire: 'What can we think up to give us a good fright?' And they invent those old nurse's tales!”
”I am simply telling what everyone says, Ledrux; I am informing these ladies concerning the _chronique_ of the place, nothing more.”
”The colic of the place don't know what it's saying; anybody can walk anywhere in our neighborhood at all hours; there ain't any danger.--I'll go and take a look at the hens; I think there's one of 'em bothering the others.”
”Mesdames,” continued the doctor when the peasant had gone, ”I hope that you do not think me capable of trying to frighten you; for I should be delighted to have you come here to live.”
”We think it so little, monsieur, that we beg you to continue your story; it gives us the greatest pleasure to listen to you.”
The doctor rose to bow again to the ladies; then resumed his seat, blew his nose and continued:
”You see, while I don't pretend to be very strong-minded, I don't believe in ghosts, for the reason that I never saw one; if I had seen one, I should believe in them; and in that regard my opinion coincides with that of my brother Desire Beaub.i.+.c.hon, professor of bookkeeping in Paris,--a very learned man, of whom you ladies may have heard?”
”No, monsieur, never.”
”Nature swarms with curious facts, which the most learned are not always able to explain; and from Apollonius of Tyana, the greatest magician of ancient times, down to Cagliostro, who also was able to evoke the devil, many people, who were not fools by any means, have believed in ghosts.
For my part, I declare that I should much rather believe everything than nothing!--I return to the Tower.
”The property is quite extensive, in addition to the buildings, wherein a large number of people can be accommodated, for it is like a small chateau--there are more than twelve sleeping-rooms. Then there are the garden and a small park--about twelve acres in all. I believe that the price asked was fifty thousand francs, but as I have had the honor to tell you, they could find no purchaser; the nearness of the cross in the ravine, and all the stories that were in circulation frightened the ladies who came to see the property. So that there was great surprise throughout the region when the notary at Noisy-le-Grand said to his neighbors one morning: 'the Tower is sold!'
”The news flew from mouth to mouth: 'the Tower is sold!'
”'Bah! it isn't possible!'
”'Yes, it's a fact; monsieur le notaire himself told it.'
”'Well, to whom is it sold?'
”'To Monsieur Paul.'
”'Paul who? Paul what?'
”To all such questions the notary, upon whom secrecy had been enjoined, answered:
”'To Monsieur Paul; the purchaser has given no other name, but he pays cash for the property, and is at liberty to take possession whenever he chooses.'