The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-11-25
Shs's really char,s,-

& >
And last year it is .s4s :. 3,s ~
| "AgausHs0 lss4TslKp fsnaHi Is at
% And %akas sHa &s lSs. so Eo;isy il '. 1I't,s ,s' so
The phyaiciAR 1oQksd mp and RIed1 1h;s
thoaghHpl geze .spon the borrowed hus-
band and wife. y, f1o,r ys.s9 A.! 2 -, p
"HowAdid;. thsss. messages come TO
you?" he demanded, - -
."1'S .5p'varis5ly T. By X r.; replied Mr. Mr.;
sometimes to the ofiioel"
'And yon have never seen their au-
thor2"
"Neverr'
"The last of them is dated, see, a
year ago to-dayr"
| eyes, yes," faltered the banker, "and
the time has come for another message.
This is the 9th Of August, 1861"
II see" said DR.. Hutton. "And this
is the secret of your terrible excitement!
You are expecting to receive to-day
another of these strange messagesl''
There was brief silence. Mrs. Pre-
ble's hand huttered in its task. and her
face grew very pale. The banker breath
ed gaspingly. The physician regarded
them both in friendly sympathy.
1--WE shall hear of her again to-day"
said Mr.. Preble; ''and what will the
message be?"
The mother averted her face. Her
brave heart faltered as that question
echoed in her soul.
"The writer of these letters is unQues-
tionably the abductor of your child!"
said Or. Hutton. ''Have you any suspi-
cion as to his identity?"
"Not the slightest" said Mr.. Preble.
| Ia, 1<>1 IL r..
many years, but We cannot guess who he
is"
'1hink. "said the doctor. "Have you
no enemy7 do not mean people with
whom you are not friendly-every stir
ring man has plenty of thesc-but o
downright enemy Is thero no man
whom you knew in the East who hated
you? No one against whom you were
called upon to testify-no ono whom you
possibly injured?"
The banker shook his head. He had
asked himself nll these questions repeat
edly.
II have no such enemy, DOCTOR" he
answered with sincerity Of voice and
manner.
"And Mrs. Preble?" suggested the
doctor, turning to her. "Have you no
rejected suitor who might be revengeful
enough to desolnte your homer"
"No," said the lady. II was married
early. Morton was my first lover!'
''This is strange-very strangel" NUT
tered the doctor. "You are not conscious
Of having an enemy in the world, and
yet you have an enemy-a hidden foe-a
hend in human form-who is working
out against you q fearful hatred! And
you have not the slightest suspicion as
to whom he is?"
''Not the slightest. declared the banker.
"Not the slightest" echoed Mrs. Pre-
BILE. "My husband had a step-brother
who might have been capable Of this in
famy-but he is dead"
"The handwriting is not familiar?"
'No. It is merely n rude scrawl, as
you see," said tho banker. .It suggests
nothing-except that it is evidently dis
guisedr'
Again there was n profound silence.
''Our child is seventeen years old now, "
OF length murmured Mrs. Preble. her
voice trembling. "She is on the thresL-
old of womanhood. No doubt, during
all these years, she has yearned for us,
wherever she may be, as we have yearned
for her!
"But where is she?" asked the ply
sician-and now his voice was broken by
his deep sympathy with the agonized
parents. "Where can she be?"
"Heaven only knows" answered the
mother. Perhaps in San Francisco
perhaps in some rude hut in the interior
with some obscure farmer, and under a
name that is not hers / think her alb
ductor would have carried her to some
lonely region of the interior, among the
valleys and mountains. Yet I never see
q young girl in the streets without turn
ing to look at her I never hear girlish
voice without listening eagerly, half fam
cying that it mny prove the voice of my
lost Jessie!'
"Oh, plying heavenl" sighed DR.. Hut
ton, dashing flood of tears from his
eyes. 'Will this long agony never be
over?"
"We hope 30, and even believe so, :"
answered Mrs. Preble, with the frmness
of an unfaltering trust in Gods mercy.
"The last message we received from our
enemy seems to point to some kind of a
change"
''True," assented DR.. Hutton, looking
at the message in question. "It is un-
like the others. It says that his reward
| is ut hand He means either TINT he in