Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1856-02-28

rushed into his arms, and, laying her head
upon his shoulder, wept like child.
"Oh, Basil Basil~ she sobbed, chow
much wrong you have endured in day"
III can forgive it all now, Nellie," he said,
taking her hand between his two hands, and
pressing his lips to her forehead.
"And me, too? and-and Tilford," she
added ina whisper.
"Yes, yes-all-," he replied; "and this
reminds me that Tilford is prisoner and"
"Not now," said the latter, close to his
side, "thanks to Currie's promptness. And
I see that Currie's sister has severed other
bonds that held me, besides the Regulators
halt"
He smiled significantly as he spoke, and
glanced at her hand, which still rested upon
Thornton's arm. A warm blush ovespread
her face; she drew her hand hastily away,
and beckoning to Tilford, passed out of ear
shot. The latter followed her, smiling pleas
antly, and, when she stopped and seemed to
hesitate how to begin the conference, he
frankly said
81 know what you would say, Nellie, and
will save you the trouble. You mean that
you were mistaken when you supposed that
you loved me, and that Thornton was really
the happy man he aspired to be, after all.
Is it not so?'
eyes" she replied; 'but you must not
suppose that II ..
90, no, I'll suppose nothing to disparage
YOU" he interrupted respectfully as might
be arraigncd upon the same charge"
"What do you mean?" she asked in sur
prise.
81 mean," he said, still smiling, 'sthat,
like yourself, was already thinking of re-
turn to my first love; and 1 hope to be for
given for my in6delity, only because en-
countered so great a temptation to wander"
~ shall not plead the same excuse, though
l see your vanity expects it," she replied,
with laugh of relief. "But who is this
first love-" who seems now to have become
the third?':
81 will ask her brother whether he would
like to be placed in the same category" TIL
ford said, recalling the blush to Nellie's
face. ....
"Lucy Thornton, it is? Well, give lie
your hand, and let us be mutually forgiven.
I have little doubt that you will be hap.
pier man with her than you could have been
with me-"
"And you are very sure that the same is
true of yourself and Basil ?"
"Perfectly sure" she replied archly.-
"But let us see what these men are going to
do with Rnltnn -
They approached the group about the fire,
accordingly, both we'll satisfied with the re-
suit of their brief conference The Regu-
lators had by this time, though Currie and
his younger brother, been informed Of the
main position of the evidence against Bolton.
Nellie had seen man answering his descrip-
tion spring over the fence at the time of the
theft; George was in the field adjoining, and
ascertained his identity, as we'll as the fact
that he was carrying package answering
certain description Ketchum identified this
as his money, and testified, also, to the pro-
liability that Bolton had seen him hide it;
Nellie had seen Thornton on the. other side
of the farm, so soon after the robbery that,
unless he had crossed the field where George
was, he could not have passed over the space
within the time, and George testified that,
on the contrary, he came down the fence con-
siderably to the north; and, finally, the
whole company knew that Bolton had come
hastily into the council-room, scarcely one
minute before Ketchum announced the theft.
"Will you confess, and tell US where the
money isl" The harsh voice of Bolton NUT
tered in reply, and then came the terrible
sounds of cruel and repeated stripes, min
gled with howls ofagony and rage. To these
succeeded screams of breaking courage, and,
before they could hurry out of hearing, the
strong mans voice had died into wall, far
more dreadful than any outburst of passion.
"This is too horrible" exclaimed Nellie,
with shudder. as there no way to pre-
vent such cruelty?"
"You have prevented it once toni ght,"
said Tilford, "and now you can guess what
you saved Thornton from. It is but justice,
after all, to give him the draught he mixed
for another"
"It may be So" she answered, "but it
rather seems cruelty to me-"
She placed her hand in Thornton's as she
spoke, and, with his assistance, bounded into
the saddle. The young men then mounted,
and few moments took them out Of hear
ing, and left the fierce band to administer,
unmolested, their own wild law. They took
the road to Thornton's and, as they turned
into the lane, the strong light which stream
ed through the wide-open door revealed the
figure of Lucy, standing upon the stile, gaz-
ing anxiously toward the grove. Tilford
spurred forward, leaving Nellie and Thorn
ton to follow at their leisure, and, dash
ing up to..the fence, sprang from his saddle
to the stile at her side.
"Where is Basil-where is my brother 2"
were her first anxious words.
"He is we'll and safe-he will be here i'm.
mediately," he hastily replied, and then,
grasping her hand, led her down from
the stile and continued ri have kept my
promise to you: now want you to make one
to me-"
"What is it ?" she asked, trembling with
mingled joy and fear