The Sweetwater enterprise. (Sweetwater, Tenn.) 1869-187?, 1870-12-01

ocNhA VI ao AAbCASct hha Ahc Bal lAHB
ling Of the horses bells, al it stopped a
the door Of the hotel Cold and mufled
passengers, for We were some 1000 o.
5000 feet above thelevel of the sea, cam
into the DON and partook Of various
drinks; but they soon cleared out again
The horses had been changed; and, with
a great deal Of smacking Of whips, and
loud pealing Of the bell, the huge dill.
gence pursued its onward road to Italy
The pale faced golden haired child
still sat quietly in the dark corner. Once
or twice the tired head sank upon the
little shoulder, and for a moment or two
he dropped asleep. Then he would
wake up again and stare at the unkind
door, which at no opening brought him
relief.
After the diligence had been gone some
twenty minutes, and Laura had got into
a state Of 6dgets which threatened to
pass all control, the landlord and head
waiter came into the room, looked at the
little boy, and then talked together vol
ubly in a whisper, and shook their heads
in a mysterious manner. Then the land
lord advanced straight to where wewere
sitting.
"A thousand pardons for asking the
question, but do monsieur and madame
know of the little gentleman yonder?"
mo, nothing; beyond that monsieur
and madame passed the little gentleman
and his father as they assembled the
pass"
as monsieur aware that tho father is
an Enghshmanf"
Well, monsieur had guessed az much,
but could not say more.
'Wen, it is very strange. It ia some
time since these two arrived. The faith
er engaged q room and ordered supper.
The father had said his luggage would
be deposited by the diligence; but the
diligence has come and gone, and
though particular inquiries were made,
the conductor was quite sure there was
no luggage, such as had been described,
to be deposited at this hotel.
There must surely have been some
mistake"
"Not possible. The authorities are
very particular in these cases. And
where is Monsieur la perez"
"Gone to sleep in his chamber, prob
ably" / suggested.
but not at all. It is empty, There
is nothing whatever in it. In fact the
gentleman was seen to leave the hotel
the moment after he had ordered supper
and give instructions about the baggage
and had not returned"
Laura was watching the uncomplain-
ing child. The large blue eyes were di-
rected toward us, as if guessing hat he
was the subject # our conversation. She
could not restrain herself any longer;
and she rose from her seat and went up
to the child. He shranka little, /
thought, as she approached, but there
was something about her face hat speed
ly reassmed him. y
"You are a little English boy, are you
not?' she said, as she sat down beside
him.
He murmered Eyes" But l could
SEQ a working in the little white throat;
the poor, tired, mannikin was striving
bravely to keep down his tears.
"You want your supper, do You notH"
asked Laura, as with one hand she
stroked the golden curls. "You are very
tired Epd ought to have your supper
and gostcbed. Where is yoqr papa2
Was noS$hat your papa who brought
you here?'7
eyes, my papa brought me here; and
he said we were to have something to
eat; and l YVES to wait quietly till he came
back. Very quietly, he told me, and he
should be back"
"Would you not like to have your
at once?" said Laura. "Your
papa is taking a longer walk than he in
tended, and he will be very sorry that
you should be 30 hungry. Shall I not
ask that gentleman pointing to the
landlord, who came up to the table-"to
you something to eat at once2"
"No, thank you; l must wait for my
Entreatiea and coaxing were all in
vain; and Laura, fearful of distressing
him still more, left him alone and resum-
cd her seat by me.
Nearly another hour passed away.
Laura insisted on remaining in the
room, and we ~listlessly studied the Liv-
res DIES Etrangers.
BY and by the silence Of the dark
corner wa broken. The courage of the
gallant little mite had given way; he was
sobbing as if his heart would break.
Laura had him in her arms in o mo-
ment.
ooh, papa! papa!" he cried in his Bit
agony; ooh, papa! papal how could
you leave me so long alonel Oh, papal
come back, come back"
Above his low sad wall I heard the
sound OF persons entering the hotel, and
then there was a busy hum of voices.
and in o minute or two afterwards the
landlord, with a strange expression in
his face, looked in at the door and beck
oned to me. I hastily left the room.
at the entrance OF the hotel, /
found the walters and other people
gathered. Three peasants had justcome
in, bringing with them something they
had found-something which lay in a
.isfigured heap on the ground.
They had found the body Of q man, /
was quickly told, at the bottom of a low
cliff, about q quarter of a mile from the
hotel. Then they uncovered the face
and | at once recognized the man Laura
and I had passed on the ascent. Then,
a cold shiver crept over me, 1 heard a
cry within the room l had left.
"Ay papa has come back, l know he
and before any of us could inter-
tere, the door Of the salle-a-manger was
open, and the pallid weeping
child tOttered ont followed hastily NV