Indiana American. [volume] (Brookville, Ind.) 1833-1861, 1854-12-08

Heavens blessing. to the Hall myself,
and see Sir John, tomorrow he shall
hear the truth, for-And so Grace
fell asleep
Roger, when he went to bed, came
to similar conclusions. He would
speak up boldly, that he would, with
out fear or favor. Ben's most season
able bounty, however to be questioned
on the point Of right, made him feel
entirely Independent both Of baliffs
and squires, and he had now no ankle
ties, but rather hopes, about to-mor-
row. He was as good as they with
money in his pocket; so he'd down to
the Hall, and face the baronet himself,
and blow his bailiif out o. water: that
should be his business by noon. An
other odd idea, too, possessed him,
and he could not sleep at night for
thinking of it. it was foolish fancy,
but the dream might have put it in
his head: what If one or other of
those honey-jars, so flung here and
there among the rushes, were in fact
another sort of "Savings-bank"-a
crock Of gold? 1t was a thrilling
thought-his very dream, too; and
the lot of shillings, and the swawl, ay,
and the inquest, and the rumors how
that Mrs. Quarles had come to her
end unfairly, and no boards found
and the honey-pots missing. Hal at
any rate he'd have a search tomorrow.
No bugbear now should hinder him !;
moneys money; he'd ask no questions
how it got there. His own bit of gar
den lay the nearest to Pike Island,
and who knows but Ben might have
slung ascrock this way? 1t wouldn't
do TO ask him though--for Burke
might look himself and get the crock,
was Rogers last and selfish thought
before he fell asleep.
AS to Mrs. Acton, she, poor woman,
had her own thoughts, fearful ones
about that shawl, and Ben's mysterious
adventure. No cloudy love of man.
mon had overspread her mind, to hide
from it the hideousness of murder; in
her eyes blood was terrible, and not
the less so that it covered gold. She
at the inquest-be sure
she. was there among the gossips-the
facts, so little taken notice Of till now,
the keys in the cupboard, where the
were not, and how Johna-
than Floyd had seen something on the
lake, and the marks Of mans hand
on the throat; and God forgive her
for saying so, but Mr.. Jennings was a
little whitc-faced man. How wrong
vast of Roger to have burnt that
shawl how dull Of Ben not 10 have
suspected something but then the
good fellow suspects nobody, and,.I
dare say, doesn't know my thoughts,
now. But Roger does, more shame
for him; or why burn the shawl?-
Ali thought she, with all the gossip
in her breast, if L could only
have taken it to the Hall myself, what
a stir should have caused. Yes, she
would have reaped mighty field of
glory by originating such a whirlwind
of inquiries and surmises. Even now
so attractive was the mares nest, she
would go to the Hall by morning and
tell Sir John himsolf all about the
burnt shawl, and Pike Island, and the
galli-. And so she fell fast
asleep.
With respect to Ben, Tom and Rov-
er, wellmatched triad, as any Isis,
Horus, and Nepthys, they all flung
themselves promiscuously on the hard
floor beside the hearth, "basked at the
FIRE their hairy strength" and soon
were snoring away beautiful in con-
cert, base, tenor and treble, like
leash of glee-singers. No thoughts
them, either of mammon or
SO long before the meditative
trio upstairs, they had set a good ex-
ample, and fallen asleep.