“Oh! that ain’t no brute’s voice, I tell you! it’s more like some dead man’s soul.”
“I say! perhaps it’s Jacques Ledru, as died a week ago!”
“Ain’t it more like to be the ghost of Mère Lucas, who was so ugly when she was living? Perhaps she’s bent on tormenting us still.”
To set their minds at rest, Cézarine was on the point of resuming her tirade, when the gawky youth, whose eyes were fixed on the door, uttered a horrible yell and fell from the bench, thereby causing Andromaque to fall upon him.
“What is it? what’s the matter?” cried the terrified peasants in chorus.
The tall youth, who had not the strength to speak, pointed to the door; then hid his face in his hands. All the villagers looked at the place at which he pointed: the door was thrown open, disclosing in the doorway a white phantom of extraordinary size, whose eyes flashed fire.
At that horrible sight, all the women uttered heart-rending shrieks and tumbled over one another in their haste to get away from the door. Most of the men did the same, shouting: “Let’s get out of this!” But, as they could not escape by the door, where the phantom stood on guard, they pushed one another toward the end of the room; and in the hurly-burly, chairs and benches were overturned, as well as the table that held the lamp, which fell to the floor and was extinguished. The sudden darkness added to the general alarm; those who had not seen the lamp fall thought that the phantom had caused that terrifying obscurity by his mere presence; the shrieks redoubled; it was impossible to see, they fell over one another, and everyone thought that it was the devil falling upon him. To add still more to their terror the phantom uttered blood-curdling grunts and piteous groans.
The confusion lasted several minutes, the peasants shrieking in terror and offering up prayers. Mademoiselle Cézarine alone was not heard to bewail her fate, although she too had fallen, with the tall youth. The latter had the courage to look toward the door, where he saw the gleaming-eyed phantom.
“It’s still there!” he said under his breath; “it don’t go away!”
Whereupon Mademoiselle Cézarine was heard to say in a stifled voice: