New Oregon plaindealer. (New Oregon, Iowa) 1859-1866, 1860-01-27
NO. 24.
she said, see..,el to rest Oh Kate, and
SIC murmurc vacantly.


sic murmurc vacantly.
No h'pa! none. did you say?'
Mrs. Blakeley shook her head mourn-
fully. Her own heart was swelled to
bursting, that stony look, those rigid
lips, made her trcmble for the reason Of
her niece. s
NO hope!' whispered Kate, in those,
thrilling l'w tones, that are more elo-
guent than all the accents of despair,
oh, just Heavenr she exclaimed sud-
denly elevating her voice; and she rails
ed her cutstretched hands on high, wilt
thou sec this foul injustice donep
But here the pitch Of horror to which
the unfortunate girl had been woundup,
proved too much for frame already
weakened by preceding agitation, and
she suddenly fell back, rigid and paral-
yzed, in another fainting fit.
All that day, and part of the night,
Mrs Blakeley watched over her niece.
Toward midnight, the sufferer sank
to a slumber. On awaking in the mo
ing; wan and haggarl, she seemed ohl So
the shadow of her former self; but she
had gained composure; though in the :,
quivering lip, and the eye that filed un-
const iously with tears, might have been
read the agony of a breaking heart :
But though Mrs. Blakeley did notal.
low herself to hope, and thought it her
duty to bid her neice discard all expec-
tation of the prisoners pardon. she new
erthcless resolved to do every thing that
could be done to induce Col Watson to
save her brothers life or at least to ;
grant a respite until headquarters could
he heard from. Accordingly she spent
the hours Of the night after Kate-stu-
pifel alike by exhaustion and narcotics,
had sunk into slumber in writing to
Col. Watson. She also penned hasty
epistle to Major Lindsay, beseeching his
interpositi,n; for though Mrs Blakeley
was well aware Of his pretensions to the /,
hand Of her niece, she thought this no
time for morbid delicacy. These epist-
les being inlitel anl' conGded to the
hand Of ii trusty servant with orders to
spare neither whip nor spur until he
reached Col. Watson's quarters. Mrs.
blakeley, toward morning sought her
couch, almost exhausted, both physically
and mentally, as her unfortunate neice.
The morning broke in that once hap
py mansion, as on house of Death
The ,hutters were half closed, as if to
exclude the light and the servants stole
noislessly to and fro, speaking in whis-
pers scarcely above their breath. The
morning meal remained almost untouch-
ed Kate cou d eat nothing; and often
set down her tea cup, while her eyes
filed with tears. Mrs. Blakeley, spite
of all her self-control, was nervous and
trembling. The old butler who remain
ed in the room, often turned his back
and brush:l the honest tears from his
eyes; for, though unwilling to betray his
emotion, he was unable to prevent it,
Even Mrs. Blakeley's pet greyhound
seemed to know and participate in the
grief; for instead of rushing up to his
mistress boisterously, when she came
down stairs, as had been won't, he walk :
ell slowly and sadly toward her, looking
up appealingly into her face, as ifassur-
ing her Of his sympathy. The same
dull pantonime was gone through with
when Kate entered, and made her lip
.quivcr. f
Mrs. Blakeley had informed her neice
Of what she had done, and said that.
nothing now remained but to wait an
answer to her letters. Kate, however
he gsel that she might be allowed to 60
t, Col. W.tson's headquarters, to see
her father; and though Mrs. Blakeley
strove to dissuade her from this purpose
believing that the interview would only
harrow unnecessarily the feelings Of both
filial love prevailed, an Kate extorted
lingering consent that they should set
forth as soon as the heavy, numbering
carriage coull be prepared. .
(To BE coNTlNUED.)