Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1859-04-16
Sclctt Gale.
A WOMAN OF NERVE.

now snE GOT OCT or sCRAPG.
\ tall, slender figure, with brown hair fall
ing over the shoulders, aud a pale, resolute
face, clad in a long flowing, dressing gown,
and holding light high abeys its head and
looking steadily DOWN at me, as ! ascended d
the stairs-ths was what ! saw as | went up
TO my room in the Spread Eagle Inn, Grace
church street, on the night o! the 18th OF
september, lsIS, Us am Christian
stopped short and looked at the fgure,
as it was looking at me. | had not been
drinking, was not walking in my sleep, and
more than all, knew the face and form
6ut what, in the name of common sense, was
a young lady doing 10 the passage of an old
inn at that hour, alone, and in such dress
She blushed scarlet as drew near, and wrap,
ped her dressing gown more closely around
her but the next moment she was as pale as
before, and spoke to me eagerly and hurried
IL, but in very low voice.
Sir are you the landlord Of this inn :"
Il am not, madam"
"Do you know where he is ?"
clown stairs in the coffee room, ! think
But what is the matter? Are you i'll Has
anything gone wrong ?'
tience. and looked me full in the face. Fine
eyes she had--blue and sof. in genersl-but
now they were blazing
Don't stop to ask questions, sir Bring
him here at once aud come back with him
yourself. Bring pistols, if you have them
60 you hear? And run for your lfe-foI
your life !" she added, leaning over the
bannistsrs, aud speaking in the same low
hurried tone.
| was away in an instant, though | knew
no more Of my errand than the man in the
moon. But should like TO see the man whs
would not have done the same. Apart from
the fact that she was claiming my aid and
protection, there was something in the ring
oil the voice, low as il was, and the fash OF
tie eye, that warned me she was not to be
triaad with. She would have made a good
general, had she been a man, and, | wager
my head, not soldier would have dared 10
retreat, had she spoken as she did to me that
night. But before finish my story, l must
begin it. ON but blundering fellow. My
vile always says, if mistake can be made, |
am sure to make it and ] believe | was
going to tell You about tho landlords coming
before, | said what he had come for. Now,
then, will commence the thing rightly.
The Spread Eagle Inn, which is still stand.
ing, and may be seen any day, by the curious
traveller, is clumsy, ill,lighted house, situat-
eu III the heart oil the city, yet keeping all its
oddities, which were just 10 the fashion some
two or three hundred years ago. 1t is built
around court yard, shut in by gates, across
which galleries are thrown, from one door to
the other, with the paved yard below. 1t has
balustrades and staircases containing sufli.
cient oak to build half modern house with ;
and deep window seats and big, queer shaped
gloomy rooms, and odd little closets, and
landing places and passages, carpets, chairs,
and pictures that Mrs, Noah might have KEEP
house with in the ark, 10 say nothing of the
curious old china on the side. boards, and the
wine glasses aud dscanters to match. To an
Englishman, it offers the snuggest of homes,
and the roast beef and mutton there are un-
exc ptionable while the waiter is as civil
and as steady as If he had been breathing the
atmosphere Of the old place for years. 1t
makes one feel respectable" merely to live
there for time ; and !, who had been a wild
enough college lad, found myself SOLDERING
down day BY day, as pored over my manu-.