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THE SPECTRE GUEST'S COMING.1

"АH! poor Waldrich," exclaimed Frederika to her mother, as they sat chatting in the warm room, by the window, while in the open street the rain came down in torrents. "Ah! if he were only not away. It was the finest weather in the world before; and now he is away it is the worst."

"A soldier must put up with everything," replied Frau Bantes; "and if you would become a soldier's wife, you must learn that a soldier belongs more to his sovereign than to his wife; to honour, more than love; to the camp, more than to home; and that when other men look forward to but one death, a soldier must look forward to a hundred; therefore, I should never be a soldier's wife.”

"Ah! but, mamma, don't you see how it rages aloft there; how black the heavens are? And do not you see the great hailstones between the rain-drops?"

At

Frau Bantes smiled; for there came an idea into her head, which at first she did not care to impart.2 length she said, "Frederika, do you know that to-day is the first Sunday in Advent, when3 the reign of the Spectre Guest begins? The evil power ever announces himself thus, in storm and rain."

"I would wager, mamma, that this will make all Herbesheim no little anxious. They will bolt and bar the doors, lest the long white visage should venture in."

At this very moment, Herr Bantes made his appearance 4 in the apartment, with loud, and somewhat strange laughter. Strange it was, because one could not very well tell whether it was involuntary or otherwise.

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Stupid stuff," and so forth,5 shouted Herr Bantes. Away into the kitchen, mamma, and bring the girls into

1 Visite imminente du revenant.

2 head, which impart ;' i.e., according to this construction, she did not care to impart her head: a janotisme, again. See page 285, note 5, and

page 14, note 5.

3 de l'Avent.-'when ;' see page 18, note io.

Simply, appeared.'

5 Tus de balivernes que tout cela.

some kind of order, else they will pitch the roast meat into the soup, the soup amid the vegetables, and the vegetables into the cream pot."

"What is wrong?" asked Frau Bantes, astonished.

"Don't you know that the whole town says the Spectre Guest has arrived? Two manufacturers came, breathless and dripping wet,2 across the street, to let me know what they had already heard said in more than ten places. I won't hear another word of such nonsense; so away to the kitchen. What an uproar they are keeping up! I put my head in to see what was the matter,3 and the silly wenches screamed out when they saw my black periwig, and made off, thinking that I was the Spectre Guest in proper person. 'Are you all mad?' said I. 'Ah, good gracious,' cried Kate, 'I will not deny, Herr Bantes, that I am horribly frightened; my knees are bending under me; and I have no reason to be ashamed, though I am engaged to Mat, the tiler. But now, I wish I had never seen Mat in all my days.' Then she began to cry; and when she went to dry her eyes, she let the panful of eggs fall upon the ground. Susanna sits in the chimney corner, and weeps behind her apron. The old simple Lena, although she is past her fiftieth year, was so confused, that she has well nigh cut off her finger with the kitchen knife.”

6

"Did I not say so, mamma?" said Frederika, laughing immoderately.

"Do bring them into order in the kitchen, mamma,'

1 Qu'est-ce qu'il y a donc ('What is the matter then')?

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2 et tout trempés (page 34, note 17); or, et trempés (or mouillés) jusqu'aux os, wet through'-'wet to the skin' (literally, to the bones).

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3what the cause of it was,' not to repeat, at so short an interval, the same expression as at note 1.

4 miséricorde; or, Dieu du ciel. 5 Recollect that nier, as well as douter, craindre, &c., governs the subjunctive. Besides, when nier (and also douter) is used with a negation, ne must be repeated in

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the subordinate proposition; and ne must be used likewise when nier (as well as douter) appears under the interrogative form. It may be remembered here that, with regard to the use of ne, nier (and douter) follows a rule just the reverse of that to which craindre is subjected (see page 37, note 15). Ex. :-Je crains qu'il ne vienne; je ne crains pas qu'il vienne; je nie (je doute) qu'il vienne; je ne nie pas (je ne doute pas) qu'il ne vienne. See, again, page 135, note 5.

6 qu'elle a failli (followed by the infinitive).

said Herr Bantes, "else the first devilry of the Spectre Guest, in Herbesheim, will make us fast all Sunday.' Frederika bounded away into the kitchen, exclaiming, "It shall not come to such a pass as that."1

"These are the fruits of superstition,” said Herr Bantes. "This is all they know, up and down, from the groom to the prime minister.

When I die I leave ten thousand guilders2 to maintain a teacher in the schools, to hammer reason into the people. What with their insane notions about goblins, devils, spectre guests, and so forth, the world has become no better than a great madhouse, and each separate country a den for slavery, wherein one-half of the people suffer extortion, while the other half are armed with musket and cannon to force obedience."

While Herr Bantes ran on after this fashion, thundering, and roaring, and pacing up and down the apartment, and stopping occasionally, the book-keeper slipped softly in. "It is all true, Herr Bantes."

"What is all true?"

"He is here.

He has put up at the Black Cross.” "Who is here? Who has put up at the Black Cross?" "The Spectre Guest."

"Stuff! Are you, who are a reasonable man, going to Lelieve all that the old women tell you?”

"But my eyes are no old women.

I went to the Black Cross out of curiosity; the clerk of the court was, so to speak, my conductor. We took a glass of liquor together as a pretext; then he sat down."

"Who sat down?"

"I knew him on the spot! 4 The host appeared to know him too; for when it 5 went out of the door, he

1 Les choses n'en viendront pas là (or, à ce point); or, Nous n'en viendrons pas la. See page 59, note 6

2 florins (monnaie hollandaise et allemande).

What with;' turn, 'With

all.'

4 sur-le-champ.

5 the spectre; the use of 'it,' here, after using he' and 'him so much before, to designate the same person, though adopted for avoiding ambiguity, has something very awkward about it.

looked at the clerk, as much as to say, 'that means no good.'

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"Tol-de-rol-lol!' "> 2

"The gate-keeper knew him at the gate, and made off upon the instant to the lieutenant of police. He told us all about it as we came out of the Black Cross together." "The gate-keeper is a superstitious ass. He should be ashamed in his very soul."

3

A

4

"It is all very well; but permit me to observe, that, if it be not the Spectre Guest, it is his twin brother. pale face; in raven black from head to heel; a figure some four or five ells long; a triple chain of gold across his breast; diamonds sparkling on his fingers; a handsome equipage; extra post-horses,'

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Herr Bantes' countenance assumed an expression in which disbelief and astonishment struggled for the mastery. At length he burst into an immoderate fit of laughter, and exclaimed: "It appears, then, that the devil carries on his jokes among us exactly on the first Sunday in Advent?"

66

Aye, and exactly during divine service, too," said the book-keeper; "just as the people were struggling through the streets, while the wind and rain were at the worst.'

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"What is the stranger called?" inquired Herr Bantes. "I do not know," replied the book-keeper; "but name or no name, it is all the same.6 At one time he is the Earl of Graves; at another,7 Count Altenkrenz. Is it not altogether ominous, too, that he should stop at the Black Cross, of all other places?"

"The name appears made for him on purpose."

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Herr Bantes remained silent and thoughtful; then drew his hand over his face, and said: "It is all chance. wonderful concurrence of circumstances. Let us not think of it. A Spectre Guest, forsooth! Stuff! Mere accident,

1 comme pour (p. 129, n. 14) lui dire (or, d'un air qui semblait dire): je n'en augure rien de bon (or, rien qui vaille).

2 Tra-lari-déra !

3 Tout cela est bel et bon; or, Il fait bon vous entendre parler

ainsi.

4 'something like.'

5

au fort (or, au plus fort) du vent et de la pluie.

6 all one.

7

At one time'
other,' Tantôt. . . . tantôt.

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at an

I say; a droll joke! Exactly on Advent Sunday, in horrible weather; long, black, pale; diamond rings on his fingers, and then his equipage. I would not believe a word of it, book-keeper, if you were not a reasonable man. It is not so bad.1 You heard the story of the Spectre Guest; saw a stranger who had black clothes on; when whoo! your unbridled imagination plays you false,3 and supplies all that is wanting."

Thus matters remained. Herr Bantes was not to be persuaded.-(MISS MITFORD, Country Stories.)

TOWN versus COUNTRY.4

HAVING sent his comrade off, William Howe, leaving his steeds quietly browsing by the wayside, bent his steps. towards home. Susan advanced rapidly to meet him; and in a few seconds, the brother and sister were in each other's arms; and, after most affectionate greetings, they sat down, by mutual consent, upon a piece of felled timber which lay upon the bank, the lane on one side being bounded by an old coppice, and began to ask each other the thousand questions so interesting to the children of one house who have been long parted.

6

Seldom, surely, has the rough and rugged bark of an unhewed elm had the honour of supporting so perfect an exquisite. Jem Hathaway, the exciseman, had in nothing exaggerated the magnificence of our young Londoner. From shoes which looked as if they had come from Paris in the ambassador's bag, to the curled head, and the whiskered and mustachio'd countenance, (for the hat, which should have been the crown of the finery, was wanting-probably, in consequence of the recent over

1 Voici (page 97, note 8) tout simplement la chose.

2 crac (in a second!' before you could say Jack Robinson,' whoo!').

3 vous abuse.

4 Procès entre la Ville et la Cam5 élégant. Londonnien (but London' is

pagne.

Londres).

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