Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 February 1892 — ZEYNAEL ZEGAL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ZEYNAEL ZEGAL

iir

BY HOMER P. BRANCH

[COPYRIGHTED by the author, 1800.] CHAPTER IV. THE BEAUTIFUL. PHANTOM. I mechanically sought the door, and watfetartled, indeed, upon suddenly encountering Burton, who was leisurely pacing up and down the north balcony. He noticed my astonishment, laughingly, and motioned me to be seated upon the balcony tailing. “Did you enjoy yourself?” he asked. “Yes, ” I replied, “I did; but whether I enjoyed a dream or a reality I cannot determine. Is this an enchanted house where a person is deluded into passing through all these things, or were those actually spirits gathered together on a festal occasion?” “Those were the shades of the people who once lived here,” replied Burton. “They were here to celebrate a popular family anniversary, add also to receive in becoming state a person, who, you have undoubtedly heard, is destined to work out an important mission in con■ectioh with the house. ” “That means me, I presume,” said L “But what,” I asked, “is this mission—this all mysterious mission—that I have heard referred to so many times within the past few hours?" “It has been ordained that others should acquaint you with the necessary information.” replied Burton. “Besides, the most mysterious part of the mission has been studiously kept secret from me. Everything will undoubtedly be made plain to you as you need to proceed. ” The glorious prospect of the waking day, as the sun’s great orb slowly crept out of the eastern void, fixed our attention and stayed our words for a spell, and we drank in the radiant effect in silence.

When the sun had crept up its length or so along the firmament, Burton arose and said that he must leave me for the day, as he had to go to a neighboring village on a business errand. He informed me that dinner would be ready for me at noon, and that if I got lonesome the old family library had a rich store of the wherewith to while away time. Then he wished me a pleasant morning and left me in charge of my mission.

For an hour or so I walked around the lonely old place. Sadly neglected had it been for years. Becoming tired at length of the dreadful dullness of the place, I sought the library, as Burton had directed. The door had been shut so long that it came open with difficulty, but finally yielded and I walked in. The room was filled with easy chairs, writing desks and various-sized bookcases. Opening one Of the latter, I drew forth a quaint little volume that had attracted my attention through the glass front, and opened it A small parcel fell to the floor. I picked this up to see what it contained. A large white rose, dried and pressed from having been in the book, and musty with age, was disclosed; but from it oven then issued a delicate fragrance that was charming to the sense The stem of this rose was uniquely attached by a small blue ribbon to a thick piece of pretty note pape, upon the opposite side of which were written some verses, headed with the words, “To Zeyna," and signed by Burton Arold. I was so curious as to read these verses. They were as follows;

Of all the flowers, dear, that grow the fertile sod. The fragrant white rose is, I know, Sweet as the smile of God; As sweet, %eyna, thy nature true, As sweet as thou, how few! Then take this rose and wear It where ’Twill catch the changing sheen That darts along thy raven hair. Or glances bright between The lashes of thy tender eyes And on thy fair cheek lies. Wear it love, where thy breath, twice s^eet. Can kiss its fragrant leaves; Look on’t, then think, my dear, to meet Me ’neath the hanging eaves Of the old rose-bower to-night, Prepared for secret flight. I fell to musing upon this little relic of Burton’s courtship, which had been cut short, so he had told me, by the death of Zeyna. But I was disturbed presently by a slight step upon the floor. Startled, I looked up. Angel of light 1 Dream of spiritual loveliness! Was heaven at hand, and was the queen thereof standing within the gates? Thus I, indeed, thought for the moment. I had Seen beauty before in this wonderful world, both upon the painter’s canvas and in reality; I have seen it since; I had seen it the night before among the apparitions of the spiritual revelry; but may the beings that people paradise be one-half so lovely as the radiant spirit maiden who stood so divinely there in that ancient and dusty library. My wildest, most indulged flights of imagination were eclipsed in that face and form. I knelt in an ecstasy of reverence in the presence. Majestic and queenly, with a slight halo about the head; long, loosely flowing tresses; a pale, sweet, pur - lace; tender, lustrous eyes, that seemed to melt the very soul with sympathy and rapture; a divinely perfect form, molded exquisitely within the transparent folds of a great zephyry mantle of pure white—thus stood the spirit before me! I endeavored to speak but the phantom placed a finger upon her lips and shook her head.

Turning out of the room, and beckoning me to follow, she flitted down the hall, through several bare rooms, then into a small office in a wing of the building. Here she stopped by the side of a narrow door which she motioned me to open. It led us into a vault, set in the side of which was a rusty iron box, with its door partly ajar. The phantom signified a desire to have this opened, and with the aid of an iron bar that 1 found upon the floor I pried the door back.. A roll of parchment fell out. I started to open this, but she shook her head, and placing her finger against the dark side of the vault, traced, in pale phosphorescent letters, that faded away almost as fast as she wrote, this sentence: “My intrusting to you this paper is a part of your preordained fate; it is a part of your mission here; do not open it until you are well acquainted with the object of the mission. ” With this she bowed her thanks and vanished. CHAPTEK V. THE INVESTIGATORSI hurried hack out of the vault, for it was a cold, dismal pl&ce, and locking iu my traveling valise the document intrusted to me, soughs the open air just u Una to see a posed of men ride up on

horseback. They were all booted and spurred, and wore broad slouch hats, after the accepted Louisiana fashion. They were also armed with carbines and pistols, and were determined-looking men. They rode directly up to the front door, and seemed greatly abashed to see a live person upon V[>e premises. The leader, who introduced himself as the sheriff and the rest as all officers of the parish, from the parish capital, asked me if I was the man of the house. I replied that I was simply a visitor at the villa, and that I knew of no living head of the establishment They inquired as to how long I had been there, and if I had noticed anything out of the way about the place. I answered that I had arrived but the night before and that nothing particularly bad had occurred as yot. Then a long conversation ensued, in which I learned that several of the officers were heavy land owners and that they were so unfortunate as to be in possession of many acres adjoining the Montinni estate, which land could not be sold for a penny on account of its nearness to the villa, which jvas generally bolievedto be a cursed and haunted place. They said that they would like to search the house to see for themselves if any supernatural agoacies infested it, and if there were any noticeable grounds for the wild reports current throughout the community, if I would grant them permission. This I did, as 1 had no authority or inclination to do otherwise. We all entered the houso together, the sheriff and myself leading. We had hardly got half way down the hall when the gentleman who bore the distinction of being parish clerk felt his carbine eluding his grasp, and, almost overwhelmed with amazement and fear, saw it leave his shoulder and retire swiftly to the door, where it seemed to be held by an invisible somebody standing on guard. As he was too frightened to speak, and as the others did not notice the mishap a panic was avoided. On they trudged through the rooms, inspecting each closely; then through the cellar vaults, but no trace of ghost did we find, although as one of the officers remarked, it was gloomy enough to breed ghosts by the hundreds. Upstairs, on one side of the hall, the rooms were all locked. The sheriff fe.t a curiosity to look into these. Taking a Skeleton key from his pocket ho tried the first one ©f the doors. The key turned iD the lock and he was just pulling the door open when a strong light flashed from within, blinding all for a moment, during which time the door was closed, locked and the key thrust back into the Sheriff's hand by, to them, an invisible agency, but to me the agency appeared dist'nctly in the fair form of the phantom lady, who, pointing to the row of doors, gave a warning look. Turning to the officers I told them that the just enacted revelation was sufficient evidence that, those doors were not to be opened at the present time, and that perhaps it would not be well to persist in the investigation. And they seemed to agree with me, judging from their blanched faces.

Ah, human bravery and cowardice! how often dost thou live side by side in one heart! These seven men, four of whom were veterans of two wars and distinguished for their bravery in battle, there in that room where there was no danger at all, stood pale as the specters themselves, silent as statues, trembling, speechless, in abject fear. 1 watched them curiously for a moment. Presently faint rappirgs sounded on all the locked doors, and a dense vapor , began to obscure the hallway. One man let his carbine drop to a rest upon the floor, and at the noise thus made .every honorable officer started as if'awajcened from a troub'ed sleep, and in concert, as if inspired with a sudden madness, they gave a wild, crazy yell and fled down the stairs and down into the outer air as if the legions of Tophet had been let loose at their heels. Panic-stricken, they hurrieUly mounted and spurred their astonished animals to their full powers of speed down the road. Thus men otherwise brave and perhaps heroic are sometimes frightened out of their wits by one little supernatural sign. It is natural that this should be; so you and I are not surprised, and hold them in no contempt for it Soon nothing could be seen of the investigators but the cloud of dust their precipitate flight had stirred up, and I turned into the house and repaired to the dining-room, where I found a good lunch spread for me. Having eaten to my satisfaction, I concluded that I would spend the rest of the day sauntering about the fields and looking at the country.

CHAPTEK VI. THE OLD NEGRO’S STORV About a hal f mile above the house there was a shady valley with a slight bluff upon one side. This had attracted m'y attention, and after I had eaten my lunch I started forthwith to explore in that direction. At the edge of this valley I noticed a little, badly weather-beaten shanty, upon a stool in front of which an aged negro was sitting, playing snatches of jigs and tournabouts on a dilapidated old banjo I took it into my head to interview the o’d man, and stepping up to him accosted him with, “Hell, uncle!” Never shall I forget the amazed look of that patriarch as he started up in response to my salute. He then stopped his twanging banjo and sat as one dumb, for a moment; then jumping up, ran to me and clasping both arms about me, cried between sobs and laughter; “Lor’ bress y’ Massa Man’l, dey tol* me yq’ wus dead an’burried in d’ grabe ya’d down dah, an’ Ise dun kep yo’ grabe green fur fefteen yeah!” That I who had been born and reared in the North, and knew but litt e of the glory of owning slaves, should be addressed as “Massa, ” was queer enough; but to be thus warmly fawned upon Ly a strange darky, ana earnestly told that my grave had been kept green for fifteen years, was startling indeed. Of coui se, I immediately saw that the venerable black had simply made a mistake in identity. As he insisted on continuing to go into ecstasies over me and to allude to me as his “own good Massa Man’l,” I had to shake him away and explain to him his error. He seemed very reluctant to accept the truth and was really disappointed. After I had convinced him that I was not his deceased master come to life, no matter how closely I might resemble that gentleman, we had a long talk concerning the Villa Montinni. I learned from him that his master had been one of the younger El Muzas; also that the El Muzas, and another family, the El Zegals, who had been in partnership with the Montinnis, and had made their home at the villa for many years, were Spaniards of Moorish ancestry, descendants of princes of the Alhambra, and were very proud of the purity of their lineage. The old negro's views of the haunted house were queer. He held the idea that all the doors, pieces of furniture, etc., were animated with life and could move around just as they choie. He had seen

them mov® back out of the way, exchange places, etc., but did not seem to understand the fact that they were manipulated by invisible hands. His common negro instinct gave him a terror of ghosts, but notwithstanding this he had frequently ventured into the old i ouse in the day time. Only once had ho tehe'.d a spiritual manifestation, and then he fell down upon his face and prayed for mercy, for he thought that his time to perish had come; but his fear had turned to rapture when he beheld the fair face of the phantom lady fixed in the air beTore him. He thought she was an angel come to take him to the promised blessedness. “I tell yo’ wat it am. massa,” he said, “when I seed dat spirit lady I knowed as ’twuz de Senorita El Zegal—Zeyna wuz ’er fust name—as died wid 'er heart breaked kos de ol' folks parted her frum de chap she lub. Y’ sec de chap’s mudder, as wuz a El Mu?a, an’ married a Englishman, wuz dezurted by 'er husban’ an’ de folks wouldn't bo ieb in de legwality ob do marriage, so dey wouldn t lot de son court de gal. De las’ time de chap cotr d get to see 'er lie don’ gib ’er a big w’ito rose an’ a papah wid somethin’ writ on it, an’ aftah he went away sho read de writin' an’ kiss de rose an’ cried. 1 knowed dat it wuz forbid dat dey see each udder aftah dat. Ben de young lady as wuz lubbod by ebrybody took sick an’ died an' wuz laid away. I digged de grabo. I knowed jis whar dat young chap pick dat w’lto rose, an’ I good an’ dig up de bush an’ sot it out on do head ob de grabe, for I knowed dat de young lady wuz a angol an’ would look down from hebben an be glad an’ like ol’ Ben for puttin’dat rosebush dah. YY hen I seed ’er face in de haunted house 1 thought dat my time to go had come an’ dat she had come to lead mo up to hebben. But laws! massa, I hab libbed foah yoah since dat time! She jis don’ han’ me a noospapah an’ say: ‘lf a gemmen eberrome to yo’ frum dis house dat puts yo’ in min’ ob somebody dat am dead an’ dat yo' used to like to serve, han’ dis papah to him for it has news in what he as udders wi I be concerned.’ An’ don sho don’ vanished. ” Another point had come in my destined work 1 knew that I was the person to whom the nowspaper in question was 10 bo given. “Ben,” 1 said, “do you remember that I came from the haunted house, and that you mistook me for a person whom you once delighted to servo? That paper is forme. You must let me see it by all means. It may do a power of good. ” [to be continued.l