Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1869-11-26

'Look up, Morton-always look up!"
she again enj0iucd upon the invalid. -
/ ''Duriug all these fourteen years Of agony
! have not once .lOnbtol either the good
ness or the Justice of Heaven. Blessed
are they that mourn for they shall be
comforted' I believe that we shall yet
rejoice more keenly than We have mourned,
and that We shall come to glorious day
of joy beyond all this long night of sor-
row -
The face Of the invalid lighted up with
an answering glow. and he murmured
"Glorious faith My wife, you are in
deed blessed comforter Perhaps, after
all, you are right !"
a knock resounded on a side-door at
this juncture, and the next moment DR..
Hutton, the family physician, for whom
Mrs. Pre5le had sent, entered the room.
He was an old man, portly in figure,
with white hair and beard, but with fresh
and rudy complexion, pair of shrewd
blue eyes. and with an exuberant boyish-
ness of manner that sat we'll upon him.
| He had d kind heart and clear head
| He approached the sofa, after greeting the
husband and wife, aud lifted the thin
restless hand Of the invalid, feeling bis
pulse.
''Quite high fever" he said, after a
brief pause. "Worrying again, Ell, MIR.
Preble You are wearing yourself out
Medicine will do you no good so long as
your mind is in its present condition. [
must give you an opiate-'
Not now, DOCTOR" interposed the bank
er. 81 cannot-must not sleep to day I
need to be broad awake now, for cannot
bring forth. I am looking for the culmi-
nation of all my years of angaish--for the
crowniDg agony of the whole. Perhaps
even now All, what was that %
He started up wildly, and then, as the
sound that disturbed him was not repeat
ed, he sank back again on his cushion, pal
lid and painting
The doctor looked at Mrs. Preble with
an anxious, questioning glance.
SIT is the anniversary" she replied to
his unsroken inquiry anniversary of
our loss.'
"Ah. yes" said the doctor. 81 remem-
ber'
Eyes, it's another of those terrible
days." cried the banker, in hollow whis-
per. ''Sit down. doctor, and I will tell
you the whole story. I can think of moth ;:
ing else to-day, and am almost wild with
apprehension and anxiety. Sit down.
DR.. Hutton drew up chair and seated
himself, his face expressing the double
sOlicitude Of friend and physician.
''You knew US fourteen years ago, doc
tor" said Mr. Prebla eve lived then
where we do now, in cottage on the site
of this great mansion. There were but
three Of us-Belen and I, and our three
year old Jessie. And it was fourteen years
ago to-day that our little Jessie was stolen
from US.
II remember it," said the doctor softly.
Yet might she not have been lost Mr.
Prehle ? She went cat to play in the gar
den. il remember rightly, and was never
seen by you again. She might have stray
ed away"
50 we thought for whole year, doc
tor" interrupted the banker. ave never
dreamed that she had been stolen. We
searched every where fer her, and offered
immense rewards for her recovery. [ en-
ployed detectives, bnt all 10 no purpose.
When oar little Jessie ran down the steps
into tina: flower garden" and he pointed
to the front OF the house, as if the earth
had opened and swallowed her up, we new
err saw her again"
:" She must have found the gate open,
and wandered OFT, suggested DR.. Hutton.
"Shc rnight have strolIed down to tho va
ters and been drowneI.'
The banker fixed lis burning eyes upon
the physician face, and whispered
6 I said we never saw tie poor child
again. I did aot say We bad not heard Of
her. She was lost on the > h of August,
1854. For year We thought her dead.
But on the anniversary Of our loss we re
celved O written message concerning her"
"A message - cried Dr. Hutton, start
ing.
ga mere scrawl-a single line in hand
Il ho
Here it ia.''
He produced q dingy scrap Of paper
from q drawer in the table, and held it up
to the view Of the physician, who read as
follows
August 9, 1855 Jessie, la, ha ! JESSIE"
DIR. Hutton looked with a puzzled air,
from the scrap of paper, which he turned
over and over, to the cCUntenance of the
banker.
81 can make nothing OF this" he de-
clared. 8" 1t is merely a date, with the
name OF your lost daughter. It tells me
nothing"
"Nor did it US, at first" said Mr.. Pre-
bic. d" Then that name and that date,
with the demon laugh connecting them,
set Us to thinking A whole year we ago
nized over the dreadful problem, ana then
we received another message, which you
shall soc"
He thrust second slip Of paper, identi- |
cal in shape AID Appearance with the first, !
before the gaze Of DIR. Hutton, who read
it aloud
Aug st 9. 1856. To'r Jessie $tiH loes."
Tie physician started, as if electrified
III . this il something delinite-some-
thing decisive" he mutteIed. cit con-
vince: you that Your daughter was still
living"
Eyes, doctor, said BIZ, preble, land |
every anniversary of that day has brought |
Us some message. The disappearance of
the child, mysterious as lis, does not seem
to NE half SO strange as that the Villain |
who took her away couid contrive to COM
municate with us every year since, and al |
ways on particular day-the anniversary
Of that on which she was stolen-without |
our being able to discover who he is And |
a still greater wonder to he is what can be |
bis motive. i seems incredible. IF it |
was stated in 3 novel many people would
not believe it. But truth isstranger than |
felton,"
Mrs. Preble drew from her husbands
his notebook, opened it to