Litchfield enquirer., 1860-10-04
could have thrashed him on the spot. C In louoi Iorr.r in loua2N nd cho 4urnad

In vain I sought to fathom them, and arrive at some conclusion whether or no the subject interested her with special force "The eyes remained fixed, till I blunder. ed out the old saw, Tom judges others by , himself"
 "Then the eyes turned to Tom, and he plead guilty by his looks and blushes, and averted eyes and forced laugh. , "By heaven," thought I, "what would } not give for Tom's chance now The sconn. drel is winning his way by it." "Jerry, is Tom in love?"
 "The nayete of the question, the correct ness of it, tie very simplicity of the thing 7 was irresistible, and I could not repress smile, that grew into broad laugh. "Tom joined in, and we made the woods ring with our merriment |" say, Tom, isn't that your whip lying back yonder ih the road?" "Confound it, yes; the cord has broke; / and he rode back after it. Jerry, whom does Tom love?" said she turning to me.
 "You," said 1 bluntly.
 Why, of course; but who is he in love with, mean"
 '" It was curious way to get at it. Could : l be justified? It was not asking what l had intended, but it was getting at it in an other way, and just as we'll perhaps. It was, at all events, asking Toms question for him, and it saved me tue embarrassment of putting it for my own. I determined this in an instant.
 "Sarah, could you love Tom we'll enough to marry him?"
 "l! Jerry, what do you mean?"
 Suppose Tom wants you to be his wife, will you marry him?"
 " don't know-I can't tell never thought of such thing. You don't think he has any such idea do you!"
 That was my answer It was enough as far as it went, but I was no better off than before. She did not love Tom, or she would never have answered thus. But did she love me? Would she marry me? Would she not receive the idea in the same way?
 |" 1 looked back. Tom was on the ground had picked up his whip. and had one foot in the st;rrup ready to mount again. gulped down my heart that was up in my mouth, and spoke out:
 Sarah will you marry mel"
 Philip, she turned her eyes again to- wards me-those large brown eyes, those holy eyes--and blessed me with their unGt- tcrably glorious gaze. To my dying hour l shall not forget that gaze; to all eternity it will remain in my soul. She looked at me one look; and whether it Was pity, sur prise, sorrow or love, cannot tell yoa that filed them and overflowed toward me from out their ilamcasurable depths; but, Philip, it was the last light of those eyes ever saw tile last, the last.
 Is there anything left in that bow?- Thank you. Just d glasssal. You will not take any? Then by your leave, l will finish it. My story is nearly ended, and vii! not keep you up much longer.
 "We had not noticed, so absorbed had we bcel ir car pleasant talk. that black cloud lad arisen in the west aud obScured the sun, and covered the entire sky; and even the sultry air had not called our atten- tion to the coming storm.
 As she looked at me, even as she fixed her eyes on mine, a flash, binding and fierce, fell on the top of pine tree by the roadside, not fifty yards from us, and the crash of the thunder shook the foundation of the hills
 For moment all was dazzling, burning blazing light; then sight was gone, and a momentary darkness settled on our eyes- The horses crouched to the ground in terror, and Sarah bowed her head as if in the pres ence of God.
 A this was the work of an instant, and the next Toms horse sprnng by us on fn- rious gallop, dragging Tom by the stirrup. He had been in the act of mounting when the flash came, and his horse sweryed and jumped so that his foot caught, and he was dragged with his head on the ground.
 There was point in the road about fif- ty yards ahead, where it diyi,:ed into two The one was carriage track, which wound down the road by easy desccnts; the other was a foot path, which was short precipi- tous cut to a point on the carriage road, nearly a quarter Of a mile below.
 Calling to Sarah to keep back and wait, drove the spurs into my horse and went down the steep path. Locking back, saw her following, her horse making tremendous speed. She kept the carriage road, follow ing on after Tom, and pressed on, thinking to intercept his horse below.
 My pace Was terrible. l could hear them laundering down the track above I looked down, and saw gully before ne full eighteen feet wide, and as many deep.
 A great horse was that black horse, Caesar, and he took the gully at flying leap that landed us far over it, and mo- ment later 1 was at the point where the roads again met, but only in time to see the other two horses go by at furious pace, Sarah's abreast of the grey, and she reach ing her hand out bravely trying to grasp the flying rein, as her horse went leap for leap with him.
 To ride close behind them was worse than useless in such case. It would but serve to increase their speed; so l fell back doz- en rods watching the end. "At the foot of the mountain the river ran broad and deep, spanned by the bridge at the narrowest point. To reach the bridge, the road took short turn up the stream, directly on the bank.
 Con swept the gray and black horse, side by side, down the hill side, not fifty leaps along the level ground, and then came the r turn.
 ], "She was on the off side. At the turn she pressed ahead half length and refined 5 her horse across the gray's shoulder, if pos sible to turn him towards the bridge. "It was all over in an instant. The gray : was the heavier horse. He pressed hel 3 close, the black horse yielded, gave way to ], wards the fence, stumbled, and the fence, g T light rail- broke with crash, and they went