The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1869-04-09

He roughly chafod with SNOW her lOnds
and face, but no soon saw that sevdrer
measures must b ttricd; that The lothargy
was too deep She dimly felt the hereo
friction, for she moaned aud seemed 20
shrink from II, n wordiess request te-be
left alone,
Russell bad forgotten the cold for him
self: the snow swept by him unheeded.-
Again he lifted her in his arms and stepped
out into the snow, letting her stand beside
him, then trying to make her fight her way
on, knowing that Il sic could once be
aroused she was saved.
AT first she fell down hopelessly sank in
intimately, with no wish TO stir. But in a
moment his ceaseless efforts had some ef-
feet. and he could compel her TO use her
muscles slightly, though her head dropped
in al unknowing stupor.
Russell felt that he had never suffered be-
fore. He Thought the pain II sorrows OF
all his life were crowded into that one night.
By slow degrees almost hopelessly slow.
consciousnessan horrible suffering return
his fnce was pale and sick as he Knew
! the egonies she endured, But pain was
the signal of life, and not now would he
despair.
Al last she looked at him with recogniz-
ing eyes, aud when everything else had fail
cd, love reached the fountain OF crimson,
and sent a wayo of its red to her face,
Weak, suffering, she roclined, upon hls
arm, unable 10 move or 70 speak. Could
he keep the life he had saved through n
much longer journey.
When ne left the city there were a few
houses scattered by the roadside for two or
three miles. The dim glimmer OF their
| lights he had seen. but since then be had
| noticed nothing it was q waste through
which he was riding, with no lamp Of hope
held out TO him. Aud the delicate girl, but
half re~suscitatod, he thought oh, how
many miles before safety.
An half hour passed, and through Rus
sells brave soulhad already darted the first
doubt. Human endurance could not last
forever. and il was moro than he could 10
10 preserva the feeble life he had recalled.
In another half hour ice and cold might
conauer him. He would die with her, he
could not live when that dear was beneath
tho sod.
A quarter of a mile further on, and he
saw through the storm a dark object by the
roadside. II was a building ofsome kind,
and il could shelter them. He turned his
horses heads that way, aud plungedthrough
the snow TO the door. There WAS no door
il was q d~ismantled log hut, with its door
and its one little window broken out,
BUTT was better than the fury without,
and in another 1--WE minutes Alice WAS shell
tered from the wind. With painful and
patient fumbling he succeeded in fastening
the buffalo skin in front of the doorway
thus forming an insufficient barrier. The
he drew from his pocket his cigar case an(
| ~. .ANz. - ltwlNTan nTan nf Nha lnNfal
looked eagerly round the room in the flick
erinp light. That glance told him tina
thoro was an immense fireplace At one sidl
of the hut, and divine light streamed int
! his soul at the sight
, As his horses had dragged his cutter 4
3 the house, the runner had grated over tn
top rail ofa fence, and tho unseen post haI
! nearly upset the light cutter.
The white fingered fair-faced Englishmal
worked with q power that was more hk
fury, and when at last n ruddy blaze 1eN
mp the broad chimney, tears ofioy ~actuall
hoated from his eyes.
/, Exhausted, happy, he knelt at the feet Q
Q Alice, and with his hco in her hands. Wit
: that r~eviving warmth came n little G
strength to her weary soul. She leane
7 forward, a smile upon her lips, and in be
] eyes, and murmured:
at was heaven itself who sent you hero
Robert"
| Two hours later, = gray dawn was strue
7 Cling through the clouds; q broad strip
blue encircled the west; the wind moane
d in lower tones. The old hut was golde
: with the wood-fro, IL threw its mdianc
over the two horses that had been led il
Y and stood mild and grateful In a corner
staring at the FIRE.
Renovated, though weak, with n haT
Q piness beyond words, warm in heart, AliC
Malcom greeted her w~cdding-day. Sh
J. had told her story to Robert-the story {
her-desertion in tile snow. Az the storI
bad come on moro furiously, her driyel
/ whom she believed trustworthy announce
% his intention Of returning.
4 She had discovered that he was in
/, aomi-intoxicated state, Int she refused /
e return, and he would not 60 q step further
b and had cut the traces, and mounting on
Of the horses left her TO her fate.
She did not know, when she spoke, TN
o a mile back, within a few miles Of III
city, no lay frozen to death, the eddyiu
snow drifting over his body. He la
: found a fate which his mistress Ina
1 escaped.
+ Backward, through n vista of hapI
4 years, looked Russell aud his wife 10 IN
3 night of horror in Canada, when peril 7
yoaled to them the full depth Of their deY
tion-the infnitude of their love.