Page:Blackwood's Magazine volume 027.djvu/236

 The Headsman,

[Feb.

cheerfully shouted the relieved Pro- fessor, but the door was not unclo- sed. Again he called, but vainly ay before. Then, starting from his chair, he opened the door, but discoverd no one. The students, who also fan- cied they had heard a gentle knock, looked at each other in silent amaze- ment; and the warm-hearted Pro- fessor, unable to reason down his boding fears, determined to seek Ju- lius at his lodgings, and requested one of the students to accompany him.

He knew the street, but not the house, in which the young man resi- ded ; and as soon as they had enter- ed the street, their attention was ex- cited by a tumultuous assemblage of people at no great distance. Hasten- ing to the spot, the Professor ascer- tained from a bystander that the crowd had been collected by the loud report of a gun or pistol in the apartments of a student. Struck w ith an appalling presentiment, the Pro- fessor and his companion forced a passage to the house-door, and were admitted by the landlord, to whom the former was well knoAvn. " Tell me !" exclaimed the Professor, gasp- ing with terror and suspense " Is it Julius Arenbourg ?"

" Alas ! it is indeed," replied the other. " Follow me up stairs, and you shall see him."

They found the body of the ill- fated youth extended on the bed, and a pistol near him, the ball of which had gone through his heart. His fine features, although somewhat contracted by the peculiar action of a gun-shot wound, still retained much of their bland and melancholy cha-' racter. The landlord and his family wept as they related that Julius, who was their favourite lodger, had re- turned home after the execution with hurried steps, and a countenance of death-like paleness. Without speak- ing to the children, as was his wont, he had locked the door of his apart- ment, where he remained several hours, and then hastened with some letters to the post-office. In a few minutes after his return, the fatal shot summoned them to his room,

where they found him dying and speechless. " But 1 had nearly for- gotten," concluded the landlord, " that he left upon his table a letter addressed to Professor N."

The worthy man opened the letter with a trembling hand, and, in a voice husky with emotion, read the con- tents to his companion.

" ^rom you, my dear Professor, and from my younger friends, al- though but friends "of yesterday, I venture to solicit the last kindness which human sympathy can offer. If, as I dare to hope, I have some hold upon your good opinion, you will not refuse to see my remains in- terred with as much decency as the magistrates will permit. In iny purse will be found enough to meet the amount of this and every other claim upon me.

" I have yet another boon to ask, and one of vital moment to my un- happy relatives. I have prepared them to expect intelligence of my death by fever; and surely my re- quest, that the subjoined notice of my decease may be inserted in the papers of Metz and Strasbourg, will not be disregarded by those whose kindness taught me the value of ex- istence when I had no alternative but to resign it.

" That those earthly blessings, which were denied to me and mine, may be abundantly vouchsafed to you, is the fervent prayer of the un- happy JULIUS.

" Died of fever, at, in Ger- many, Julius Florian Laroche, a in tive of Champagne, aged 22."

" Alas !" exclaimed the deeply-af- fected Professor, " the mystery is solved, and my suspicions were too well founded. Sad indeed was thy destiny, my Julius, and sacred shall be thy last wishes I"

Kissing the cold brow of the de- ceased, he hung over his remains in silent sorrow, and breathed a fervent prayer for mercy to the suicide ; then giving brief directions for the fune- ral, the Professor and his friend paced slowly homeward, in silence and iu tears,