A SCARED PARTY.

Patea Mail, Volume II, Issue 127, 28 June 1876, Page 2

A SCARED PARTY.

Some months since an Englishman named Atkinson bought a country place near Pithiviers in Franco. For many weeks thereafter, carpenters and masons were busily employed in repairing ami altering the chateau, and after their work had been completed, Mr Atkinson issued invitations for a large dinner party to all the most, prominent families in the neighbourhood. The guests arrived at six o’clock, and on taking their seats at the dinner table, noticed with surprise that there was not even one servant to be seen, Tim soup was first consumed in silent astonishment. When all had partaken of it, the host sounded a whistle, and, as if by magic the soup plates disappeared, and three magnificent silver platters, each containing a roast goose appeared. Little cries of terror were heard from the ladies. Mr Atkinson took no notice of his guests’ hut remarking that it was a very warm evening, whistled again, and the w! Ole ceiling disappeared; the host’s black coat vanished at the same moment leaving him clothed in a white suit. The guest’s alarmed, were about to rise from their chairs, when they found themselves, their chairs, and the table suddenly raised five feet above the floor. They, however, were soon lowered again to the floor, and all took refuge in hasty flight from the demoniac abode, A judicial investigation was instituted, and it was found that Mr Atkinson had been for ton years the chief machinist at the Covent Garden Theatre in London, where he had amassed a nice little fortune. The dinner was a little freak to indulge his fondness for his old pursuit.