Staunton vindicator and general advertiser. (Staunton, Augusta County, Va.) 1858-1860, 1859-09-09
atliisttllaneo,ls.
From Harper's Magazine. ]
THE JUDGES DAUGHTER.
CONCLUDED.

CONCLUDED.
War was declared-that was manifest
The young man was John Bromley, grand
son Of the father Of Mrs. Cameron, cousin
Of Kate, and tie first of that family who
had ever been seen in the house Of tue Cam
erons He now interposed, with some con.
fusion indeed, but politely:
! accident makes necessary, Mr.. Came.
ron, what | had intended to defer until a
more suspicious time, when our presen
hostile aspect might be somewhat changed
But doubtless"
Explanation is unnecessary, Sir. ]
have requested you to leave the house
oblige me by sparing me the trouble Of en-
forcing my request"
''Stop a minute, John, | will go with
youp
Mr.. Cameron looked at his daughter
calmly, half smiling at the spirit which be
! in fact admired.
''And where do you propose to go? To
Stephen Bromley's? fancy you will net
find welcome there
II don't care where, father. I love
John Bromley, and I will 60 with him to
the worlds end''
land leave me, Kate 7"
There was look Of pain mingled with
the sternness in her fathers face, and it
melted her. The next instant they two
were alone, and she lay folded in her fa-
theirs arms But the charmed bond that
had held that father and daughter together
was injured. We cannot pause to relate
how it was bruised more and more, and f.
nally broken. It was enough that Kate
was determined to conquer her father, and
all the evidence he furnished her that John
Bromley was an abandoned character, un-
fit for her to love, but served to convince
her Of her fathers injustice: and after a
succession Of violent scenes, the end came,
and she disappeared.
He made no search for her His heart
was we'll nigh broken His home was abb
solutely desolate. He devoted himself to
his profession, went upon the bench, studi-
ed, labored, strove day by day, year after
year, to forget, and in part succeeded.
Nevertheless there were times when the
memory of the past came over him like a
food, tearing up the strong barriers he had
builded to keep them back, sweeping over
his soul, and laying it waste and desolate
Sometimes, in the solemn nights, he would
remember the beloved wife of his early
years, and would weep bitterly in his lone
some room Oftener still, his radiant daugh-
ter would appear before him in all her
young loneliness, and he would shudder as
he thought what might now be her fate,
abandoned to the tender mercies of cruel
| world
And so years rolled on, and he grew old
fast: and when Kate Cameron should have
been twenty five her father was premature
| " old, and his mind was broken by his sor-
rows.
And when she threw back her vail and
looked at him; when their met once, only
one instant, and he saw all the horrible
scene before him, it was not strange that
reason for the time departed. It was only
strange that any life remained.
1t is astonishing what command men
may obtain over their features. He sat in
the chair, leaning back listlessly, waiting
the coming in of the verdict, and no one
would have dreamed that he was more than
ordinarily interested in what was going on,
! The night crept slowly on. The day
was approaching; and still no verdict.
The clerk had fallen asleep; the consta-
bles sat noading on the steps that led up to
the bench; the counsel had gone out, and
were solacing themselves at neighboring
hotel with cigars and punch. discussing the
| trial and the news of the time, with an &C.
casional joke and story by way Of enliven.
ment. The candles had burned down, and
the long wicks obscured the light, so that it
was difficult to see across the courtroom. -
The low hum of conversation had given
place to profound silence, and now all was
hushed, as if the same repose that blessed
others, guilty or innocent. was blessing
the prisoner and the court alike.
, But an observer, had there been one
would have been startled at the scene which
the courtroom now presented in all thu
stiffness.
! The Judge, from letting his gray eye rove