BLACK SPIRITS AND WHITE
Black Spirits & White
BY
RALPH ADAMS CRAM
CHICAGO
STONE & KIMBALL
MDCCCXCV
STONE AND KIMBALL
RED SPIRITS AND GRAY,
MINGLE, MINGLE, MINGLE,
YE THAT MINGLE MAY."
Contents
| PAGE | |
| NO. 252 RUE M. LE PRINCE | 3 |
| IN KROPFSBERG KEEP | 33 |
| THE WHITE VILLA | 55 |
| SISTER MADDELENA | 83 |
| NOTRE DAME DES EAUX | 115 |
| THE DEAD VALLEY | 133 |
| POSTSCRIPT | 151 |
No. 252 RUE M. LE PRINCE.
No. 252 Rue M. le Prince.
When in May, 1886, I found myself at last inParis, I naturally determined to throw myselfon the charity of an old chum of mine, EugeneMarie d'Ardeche, who had forsaken Boston ayear or more ago on receiving word of thedeath of an aunt who had left him such propertyas she possessed. I fancy this windfallsurprised him not a little, for the relations betweenthe aunt and nephew had never beencordial, judging from Eugene's remarks touchingthe lady, who was, it seems, a more orless wicked and witch-like old person, with apenchant for black magic, at least such wasthe common report.
Why she should leave all her property tod'Ardeche, no one could tell, unless it wasthat she felt his rather hobbledehoy tendencies[4]towards Buddhism and occultism mightsome day lead him to her own unhallowedheight of questionable illumination. To be sured'Ardeche reviled her as a bad old woman,being himself in that state of enthusiastic exaltationwhich sometimes accompanies a boyishfancy for occultism; but in spite of his distantand repellent attitude, Mlle. Blaye de Tartasmade him her sole heir, to the violent wrath ofa questionable old party known to infamy as theSar Torrevieja, the "King of the Sorcerers."This malevolent old portent, whose gray andcrafty face was often seen in the Rue M. lePrince during the life of Mlle. de Tartas had,it seems, fully expected to enjoy her smallwealth after her death; and when it appearedthat she had left him only the contents of thegloomy old house in the Quartier Latin, givingthe house itself and all else of which she diedpossessed to her nephew in America, the Sarproceeded to remove everything from the place,and then to curse