A Ghost in Court [pp. 569-571]

A GHffOST IN COUR T.
and soul, to his friend's best interests, lend
him any cash he needed (so as to obviate the
necessity of changing the foreign money), attend him whithersoever he went, and, in fine,
become his perpetual solace, monitor, and
guard.
To prevent the possibility of his motives
being misinterpreted, the worthy Auguier
took occasion to exhibit to his friend a casket, in which was visible much gold and
silver coin, besides a jewel or two of some
value.
The friendship thus happily inaugurated
grew and strengthened, until Mirabel came
to the prudent resolution of intrusting the
whole treasure to the custody of his friend,
and appointed a place and time for that purpose.
On the way to the rendezvous, Mirabel
met with an acquaintance, Gaspard Deleuil,
whom-Auguier being already in sight-Mirabel requested to wait for him at the side of
a thicket; then, going forward, he handed to
the trusty Auguier two sealed bags, one of
them secured with a red ribbon, the other
with a blue, and received in return an instrument conceived in the following satisfactory
terms:
"I acknowledge myself indebted to Honor6 Mirabel twenty thousand livres, which I
promise to pay on demand, acquitting him,
moreover, of forty livres which he owes me.
Done at Marseilles, this seventh of September.
(Signed) "Louis AUGUIER."
This little matter settled, Mirabel rejoined Deleuil, and next day departed for his
native village. After starring it there for a
few weeks, the man of wealth revisited Marseilles, and, having passed a jovial evening
with his friend and banker, Auguier, was on
his way home, when, at a dark part of the
road, he was set upon by a powerful ruffian,
who dealt him several blows with some sharp
weapon, flung him to the ground, and escaped. Fortunately, the wounds proved superficial.
This incident begat a certain suspicion in
the mind of Mirabel. As soon as he was
able, he repaired to Marseilles, and demanded
of Auguier the return of his money, or liquidation of the bond. His friend expressed
his extreme surprise. What an extraordinary
application was here! Money! What money? He indignantly denied the whole transaction. Mirabel must be mad.
To establish his sanity, and, at the same
time, refresh the memory of his friend, Mirabel without further ceremony appealed to the
law, and, in due course, the lieutenant-criminal, with his officer, made his appearance at
the house of Auguier, to conduct the perquisition. Search being made on the premises,
no money was found; but there were discovered two bags and a red ribbon, which were
identified by Mirabel as those which he had
delivered to his friend.
The account given by the latter differed,
in some material particulars, from that of
Mirabel. He had enjoyed, indeed, some casual acquaintance with that gentleman. They
had dined together, once, at his (Auguier's)
house. He had accepted the hospitality of
Monsieur Mirabel, as often, at a tavern. He
had advanced that gentleman a crown. Mirabel had spoken of a ghost and money, and
had talked of placing the latter in his charge.
At present he had, however, limited his confidence to the deposit of two empty bags and
a red ribbon. All the other allegations he
indignantly denied.
Deeply impressed with the marvellous
history, the lieutenant-criminal decided that
the matter should be sifted to the bottom.
The process continued.
Magdalene Paret deposed that Mirabel
had called on her one day, looking pale and
agitated, and declared that he had been holding converse with an apparition, which had
revealed to him the situation of some buried
treasure. She was present when the parcel,
apparently containing money, was found; and
she remembered Mirabel stating, subsequently, that he had placed it for safety in the
hands of Auguier.
Gaspard Deleuil repeated the narrative
told by Mirabel of the ghost and the gold,
adding that he had met him on the 7th
of September, near the Porte des Fain6ants
(Idlers' Gate), carrying two bags; that he
saw him hand them over to a man who appeared to be waiting for him, and saw him
receive in return a piece of paper; and that,
on rejoining him, Mirabel stated that he had
intrusted to Auguier some newly-found treasure, taking his acknowledgment for the
same.
Frangois Fourniere, the third witness,
confirmed the story of the spectre and the
money, as related by Mirabel, who appeared
deeply stricken by the extraordinary favor
shown him in this supernatural visitation.
On his pressing for a sight of the treasure,
Mirabel took the witness to his chamber, and,
removing some bricks from the chimney, displayed a large bag filled with gold- coin.
Having afterward heard of Auguier's alleged
dishonesty, the witness reproached him with
it, when he became deadly pale, and entreated that the subject might be dropped.
Other witnesses deposed to the sudden
intimacy, more noticeable on account of their
difference of station, that had sprung up between Mirabel and Auguier, dating from the
period of the discovery of the gold. Sundry
experts bore testimony to the resemblance of
the writing of the receipt, signed "Louis Auguier," to the autograph of the latter.
The ghost and Mirabel carried the day.
In fact, it was a mere walk over the course.
The lieutenant-criminal, entirely with them,
decreed that Auguier should be arrested, and
submitted to the "question."
Appeal, however, was made to the Parliament of Aix, and the matter began to excite
considerable notice. Persons were found to
censure the ready credence given by the lieutenant-criminal to the story of the ghost,
and, the case coming to hearing, an able advocate of the day buckled on his armor to do
battle with the shade.
Is it credible (he asked) that a spirit
should quit the repose of another world expressly to inform Monsieur de Mirabel, a gentleman with whose existence it seems to
have had no previous acquaintance, of the
hiding-place of this treasure? How officious
must be the nature of that ghost which
should select, in a caprice, a man it did not
personally know, to enrich him with a treasure, for the due enjoyment of which his social position made him so unfit? How slight
must be the prescience of a spirit that could
not foresee that Mirabel would be deprived of
his treasure by the first knavd he had the
misfortune to trust! There could be no such
spirit, be assured.
If there were no spectre, there was, according to all human probability, no gold;.
and, if no gold, no ground for the accusation
of Auguier.
Descending to earthly reasoning, was it iikely that Mirabel should intrust to Auguier a
treasure of whose actual value he knew nothing, or that he should take in return a receipt
he had not seen the giver write? How was
it, pray, that the woman Paret and Gaspard Deleuil demanded no share in the treasure so discovered? Were these excellent persons superior to the common weaknesses of humanitycuriosity, and the lust of gain? The witness
Paret certainly saw the discovery of a parcel;
but the rest of her evidence was hearsay.
The witness Deleuil saw the exchange of bags
and paper; but all the rest-spectre includedwas hearsay. And when the witness Fournibre
declared that Auguier, being taxed with robbery, turned deadly pale, Auguier frankly-nays
proudly-confessed it, stricken as that honorable burgher was with horror at a charge so
foul and unexpected! The climax of injustice was surely reached when this respected,
estimable, substantial merchant of France's
proudest sea-mart, was, on the uncorroborated
word of a ghost (for to this it must be traced),
submitted to'the torture. In criminal, even
more than in civil cases, that which seems
repugnant to probability is reputed false.
Let a hundred witnesses testify to that which
is contrary to nature and the light of reason, their evidence is worthless and vain.
Take, as example, the famous tradition which
gives an additional interest to the noble
house of Lusignan, and say that certain persons swore that the fairy Melusina, who had
the tail of a serpent, and bathed every Saturday in a marble cellar, had revealed a treasure
to some weak idiot, who was immediately
robbed of it by another. What would be
thought of a judge who should, on such testimony, condemn the accused? Is it on such
a fairy fable that Auguier, the just, the respected family-father, the loyal patriot, must
be adjudged guilty? Never! Such justice
might be found at Cathay, might prevail in
the yet undiscovered islands of the Eastern
Archipelago, but in France-no! There remained, in short, but one manifest duty to
the court, namely, to acquit, with all honor,
this much-abused man, and to render him
such noble compensation as the injuries he
had suffered deserved.
It was now, however, the phantom's innings. Turning on the court the night-side
of Nature, the spectre's advocate pointed out
that the gist of Auguier's defence consisted
of a narrow and senseless satire upon supernatural visitations, involving a most unauthorized assumption that such things did
never occur. Was it intended to contradict
holy writ? To deny a truth attested by
570
[MAY 25,