The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1869-12-02


The doctor looked at Mrs. Prebl'
with an anxious, questioning glance.
''It is the anniversary" she replied
to his unspoken inquiry-"the ami
versary of our loss"
"Ah, yes" said the doctor. "I re-
member"
eyes, it's another of those terrible
days" cried the banker, in a hollow
whisper. "Sit down, doctor, and
will tell you the whole story. 1 car
think of nothing else to-day, and am
almost wild with apprehension and
anxiety. Sit down.
DR.. Hutton drew up a chair and
seated himself, his face expressing the
double solicitude of friend and phys
ician.
"YOu knew us fourteen years ago
Doctor" said Mr.. Preble. awe lived
then where we do now, in a cottage
on the site of this great mansion
There were but three of us-HeleI
and /, and our three-year old Jessie
And it was fourteen years ago to-day
that our little Jessie was stolen from
u.s."
81 remember it," said the doctor
softly. "Yet might she not have been
lost, Mr.. PrebIe? She went out tC
play in the garden, if remember right
ly, and, was never seen by you again,
She might have strayed away"
$50 we thought for a whole year
doctor" interrupted the banker. awe
never dreamed that she had been
stolen. We searched everywhere fol
her, and offered immense rewards fol
her recovery. 1 employed detectives
but,all to no purpose. When our lit
tie 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."
"She must have found the gate open
and wandered out" suggested DR.
Hutton. "She might have strolled
down to the waters and been drowned.
The banker fixed his burning eyes
upon the physicians face, and whis
perpd:
81 said we never saw the poor child
again. I did not say we had not
heard of her. She was lost on the 9th
of August, 1854. For a year wt
thought her dead. But on the ami.
versary of our loss we received a writ
ten message concerning her."
"a message!" cried DR.. Hutton
starting.
"a mere scrawl-a single line in {
hand evidently disguised" said the
banker. "Here it is"
He produced dingy scrap of paper
from a drawer in the table, and hello
it up to the view of the physician
who read as follows:
-aAugust 9, 1855. Jessie, ha, ha
Jessie l''
DR.. Hutton looked, with puzzled
air, from the scrap of paper, which HI
turned over and over, to the Counte
nance of the banker.
81 can make nothing of this" HI
declared. "It is merely a date, will
the name of your lost daughter. 1
tells me nothing"
"NOr did it us, at first" said Mr.
Preble. "Then that name and tina
date, with the demon laugh connect
ing them, set us to thinking. Z
whole year we agOnized over tn
dreadful problem, and then we receiv
ed another message, which you shaI
see."
He thrust a second slip of paper
identical in shape and appearance
with the first, before the gaze of Dr.
Hutton, who read it aloud:
"August 9, 1856. Your Jessie still
liUes :"
The physician started, as if electri
fed.
"Ah! this is something definite
something decisive" he muttered. II
convinced you that your daughter wa
still living"
ayes, DOCTOR" said Mr.. Preble, "an,
every anniversary of that day ha
brought us some message. The dis
appearance of the child, mysterious a
it is, does not seem to me half S
strange as that the villain who too
her away could contrive to commun
cate with US every year since, and al
ways on a particular day-the ann
versary of that on which she wa
stoIen-withOut our. being able to di;
cover who he is. And a still create
wonder to me is what can be his mC
tive. It seems incredible. If it wa
stated in a novel many people woul
not believe it. But truth is strange
than felton,"
Mrs. Preble drew from her hui
bands breast pocket his note bOOl
opened it to the proper page, and pre-
sented it to the physician.
DIR. Hutton adjusted his spectacle
glanced over the page, and then slowl
read the group of entries aloud. TIL
entry the first year is as follows:
"August 9, 1855. Jessie, ha, ha
2 Jessie :"
/, And the next year it is
"August 9, 1856. Your Jessie ati
r lives :"
And the next
r "August 9, 1857. She is in goo
| hands !''
And the next
, "August 9, 1858. She is as ,0eU
L eUer :"
f And the next
"August 9, 1859. Iao,O her yeste
dayy''
And the next
e "August9, 1860. She's gro,0iug ra
/ idly :"
/ And the next
"August 9, 1861. She continues
r do t0eU!"
b, And the next
: "August 9, 1862. TIE seen h
o again ?"
s And the next
n "August 9, 1863. She's becoming
1UOnldR ~
e And the next
p "August 9, 1864. Your child
e thirteen! %
It And the next
n "August 9, 1865. She's JoUelier tn,
y eUer ?" -... .....
: And the next