Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1869-11-23

~ kHOck resOubueu on SiuS-uOCT at
this juncture, an3 the next moment Dir.
Hutton, the family physician, for whom
Mrs. Preblc had sent, entered the room.
He was an old man, portly, in figure,
with white hair aud beard, but with a
fresh ndruddy complexion, q pair Of
shrcwd blue eyes, and with an exuberant
boyishness of man9es that sat well upon
him, He had a Iall heart and clear
head. lie approached the sofa, after
greeting the husband and wife, and lift
ed the thin restless hand Of the invalid,
feeling his pulse -
"Quite high fever" he said, after a
brief pause, worrying again, eh, Mr..
Preblc ? 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--'' ,au &.
"Not now. doctor" interposed the
banker. II cannot--must not--sleep, to-
| day! | need to be bread awake now, for
| cannot tell at any moment what the
next may bring forth, | am looking for
the elimination Of all my years of an
guish-for the crowning aguoy Of the
whole. Perhaps even now-=-Ah, what
was that? ..3..l 5,.r.,
He started up wildly and then, as the
sound that had disturbed him was not re-
peated, he sank back again on his cush-
ions, paid and painting. h
The doctor looked at Mrs. Preble with
an anxious, questioning glance. .as..
"lt is the anniversary" she replied to
his unspokcn inquiry-"the anniversary
OF our lass" f.t.l ,....
"Ah, yes" said the doclor. Il re-
me'nbcr." '- "'. ''
Yes, it's another of those terrible
days" cried the barker, in a helow
whisper. "Sit down, doctor, and / will
tell you the whole story. l can think of
nothing else to-day, and am almost wild
with apprehension and anxiety. SIT
down."
DR.. Hutton drew up chair and seated
himself, his face a1p.essing the double
solicitude Of a friend and physician.
"You knew us fourteen years ago,
DOCTOR" said Mr.. Preble. ave lived
then where we ID nov, in cottage on
the site Of this great mansion. There
we're but the three of us--Helen and l,
and our threc-year old Jessie. And it
was fourteen years ago to-day that our
little Jessie was stolen from u.s." dlH
"T remember it, "said the doctor softly.
|. "Yet might she not hove been lost, Mr..
Preble She went out to play in the gar
den, if remember rightly, and was nev
er seen by you again. She might have
strattd away" tt." ,'h' '.''''l''''.
$50 we thought fora Whole year, doc
tor" interrupted the banker. F"We ney-
er dreamed shat she had been stolen We
searched everywhere for her, and offered
immense rewards for her recovery. I
employed detectives, but all to no pur-
pose. When our little Jessie ran down
the steps into that fower-garden," and
he pointed to the front Of the house, ''as
if the earth had opened and swallowed
her up, we never saw her again" 'n' 2.
"She must have found the gate open,
and wandered out" suggested DR.. Hut
ton. ''She might have strollcd down to
the waters and been drowned"
The banker fixed his burning eyes up
on the physicians face, and whispered
81 said we never saw the poor child
again. did not say we had not heard
of her. She was lost on the 9th Of Au.
gust, 1854. For a year We thought her
dead. But on the anniversary of our
loss we received written message con.
cerning her."
"a message y cried DR.. Hutton, start.
ing. ven a ''5'~2 -'f p '''''l
III . Nm =. t. - d.
GA Mere scrawl--a single line in Q
hand evidently disguised" said the bank
er. "Here it is.'' '''p' ''i "S"
: He produced dingy scrap Of papel
from drawer in the table, and held j
up to the view Of the physician, who reat
as follows fs ' V"O'h' '
'AuguSt 0, 1855. Jessie, ha, ha |! Jessie"
: DR.. Hutton looked, with o puzzled air
0 from the scrap Of paper, which he turn
: ed over and over, to the countenance o.
the banker.
y ~ can make nothing of this" he de
|. clared "It is merely a date, with tn
:, name of your lost daughter. 1t tells m
: nothing" 'u@ ~ Y ' z
sNor did il us, at first,' said Mr.. Pre-
. bic. .sThetY .lsgt name and that date
Q with the dcmok laugh connecting them
sSt us to thinking aAa'wh5lee yearow
# a'aohized over Tie dreadful problem, an
y then VIC received another message. whic
h you shall see."
He thrust a second slip Of paper, iden