Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1865-10-12

The next day proved one of determined
ceascless wet. We had intended carrying
the Judgement to be made with Mr.. Gregor,
into N that morning, but as well iron
the weather as at Parks's suggestion /
} was deferred till the succeeding day. |
would be well, he said, to give all the sill
yer a thorough cleaning before it was lai(
by, and he could do that in a few hour.
easily.
Notwithstanding the heavy rain Parks
repaired to NJ to give the authorize:
a description Of the peddler (Which he go
first accurately from me and Susan), anC
to try and ascertain if he had any other:
connected with him, for he strenuoust
maintained that the fellow wasn't single
handed i'll whatever he was after, but mus
be one of a gang 1t was midday before
/ the butler returned, and when he did h(
called at once for Susan, to tell her that he
had met a messenger on his way, from hel
home lit was about five miles distant, al
the foot of a neghboring mountain), will
the intelligence that her mother was dying
-" Almost off," he said, 'Susy, she was
and that she implored you, for the love oi
God, to go to her, not to lose a moment
for his word was she was just on the hinges.
The announcement of this sad impending
catastrophe affected the poor girl, as may
be supposed, with the greatest sorrow; the
house resounded with her sobs and means
We made her up with all the coats and
muflers she could wear; Parks assured
her that he'd look after every thing Of her
work that was necessary, and with sym
pathetic tears Aunt Osborne aid | saw heI
| off upon her mournful erraud
For the remaining hours Of daylight my
aunt and Parks were busted over the differ
ent articles Of silver that were being pack.
ed into a large platcchest, in preparation
| for their removal on the succeeding day.
and we were, think, a little later than us
ual at dinner in consequence We had
| scarcely dined, | know, when we were con-
siderably startled by a loud, impetuous, and
| inCesant knocking at the door, and we
were astOLlshed when the angry claimant
| for admission turned out to be Susan back
again. | saw that Parks looked greatly
! disconcerted--in fact, quite agitated on
! her entrance while, without ceremony,
not even restrained by the presence of, or
a feeling Of respect for her mistress, she
assaled him with extreme bitterness for
what she termed " his sending her off in
the wet upon FOOLS errand Nothing i'll
! life, ma'am, the matter with her | met
| Tom, that's my brother, coming forenenst
me down the hill, and she never was better
You had purpose in it,you old black thief
YOU" she exclaimed in rage, /" don't be-
! lieve you ever met any one who told you
| she was i'll Come, tell US who was it.,
now? What was he like? Oh, have had
| talk about you since, | can tell you no
! - ; b, rr;,. Al
! yet longer onset than | have attempted to
describe, and that no interruption or remou-
| STRANGE on our part could stop, by bursting
into tears. cautiously watched Park 5
countenancc during this stormy scene. At
! first he seemed frightened, but that soon
! yielded TO an expression Of pent-up fury
| that Mortified me by its violence before
nor since | never saw any thing so ficndish,
4 wild CLEAN shot from his eyes, and they
! glared like a cats in the dark; large drops
gathered Oh his dark forehead: his hcaving
chest emitted gasps like the ominous growl-
ing OF an angry beast while his white
teeth were pressed down into the thick un-
der p until the blood came | thought at
the moment that he would have done some
fearful deed on the spot. had heard Of
his once before being similarly excited and
that those who witnessed it said they
wouldn't like to have hard in aggrava-
ting blacky;" but had no idea Of the reality
Aunt Osborne insisted on Susan'S going
early TO bed She dosed her with hot drinks
and other cold preventatives, for the poor
girl had been thoroughly saturated from
the rain.
For a long time after tea that evening
we sat silently at our work in the drawing
room. could think Of nothing but the ter
rible face Of the black felt that it would
be painfully impressed upon me as long as
lived. ! was silent, too for at least dur
ing this day, if not before a kind of unde-
| fined apprehension that | scarce liked to
express had been creeping over me that
Parks was man not to be trusted. Now,
! since dinner, the vague feeling had gather
! ed strength phantom, so to speak, sud
denly assumed bodily form and yet the
sickcning alarm that the idea gave rise to
was such that tried to dismiss it from my
! thoughts as altogether groundlcss, but
could not Even silence about it now was
becoming oppressive. looked up from my
work; my dear companion at the other side
| Of the table was at some embroidery that
seemed to try her sight too much as she
!
Of troubled anxiety disturbed that usually
sweet, serene face.
Aunt" said, suddenly, "did it ever at
all occur to you" and hesitated to try and
shape my unpleasant thought in less un-
pleasant words, that that-Parks is not
worthy Of the trust you Iepose in him :"
! What makes you say 50 ?" she replied
hurriedly, dropping the workfrom her hand
and looking nervously up at me.
can hardly tell you" rejoined d"
don't like what have seen for days back
| can't help suspecting something wrong,
though don't we'll know what, about this
matter Of Susan's but what influences Inc
most now is the awful look he had at the
time at dinner that she attacked him. You
did not see it, but | never can forget it
and tell you hat, aunt" | continued, at
has pressed strongly On nay mind more than
once to-day that, in the priests note, the
covert alluson was to him"
well, but yon know, Parks being a
Protestant might have biased his mind even
if he die refer to him
ooh, depend upon ii" rejoined, relig-
ion, one way or the other. had nothing tc
do with it,
Ny aunt seemed lost in thought for few
= H.. i l,4.t