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Show All Met Death Within Year Superstition of Thirteen at Table, Though Not Absolutely Correct, Seemed to Be Verified. "The most interesting case of thirteen thir-teen at table occurs in the biography of Sir John Everett Millais, who one day unexpectedly found himself with twelve guests at his table, one of them being Matthew Arnold. A lady, discovering the fact, declared that she dared not remain after her painful pain-ful experience on a former occasion when thirteen were present. To appease ap-pease her the artist persuaded one of his sons to take his meal in another room. That son returned to the room at the close of dinner to hear Arnold say: 'The idea is that whoever leaves the table first will die within a year; so, with the permission of the ladies, we will cheat the fates for once. I and these fine strong lads (pointing to two of his fellow guests) will all rise together, and I think our united constitutions will be able to withstand with-stand the assault of the reaper.' Six months later Matthew Arnold, in the prime of life and apparently in the best of health, died suddenly of heart disease. Shortly afterward the second sec-ond of the three who had risen simultaneously simul-taneously from table came to a mysterious mys-terious end in New York, whither he had gone after a grievous disappointment disappoint-ment over a play which he had written. writ-ten. How he met his death will probably prob-ably never be known. He was found shot through the head, whether by his own hand or that of another, none was able to say, though murder was suspected. The third of the three made a voyage, for his health's sake, to Australia, and his friends thought that he at least would survive the fatal period. But he set out on the return journey on the Quetta, which foundered within the year, with all on board, on one of the New Guinea reefs. Such is the story, but, be it noted, there were not thirteen at dinner, din-ner, and the three who rose left a table at which only twelve had dined." |