The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1871-11-24

looking mali, who rose hastily to hi
feet, and with savage scowl walkee
RAPIDLY away.
"This made my heart beat violent
ly, and there was an ill-dcfned some
thing that frightened me, so much sc
thatwhen Alvina laughingly threw
her arms around my waist, saying
she had caught NE, made the ex-
cuse that l was not we'll, and begged
to return to the house imm ediately
"Any whim of mine was sure to be
speedily gratifed, so without a word
Alvina turned around, and we re-
traced our steps slowly toward the
house, but not with the buoyancy of
spirits with which we had left it.
The rest of the day wo spent
within doors. Alvina showed me
her newest dresses, and tried them
on for me, and in short, we enjoyed
ourselves hugely. After a time we
become wcarlcd Of this, so we roamcd
around the house, examining various
articles of interest. When we were
in the library, Alvina lowered her
voice. and pointing to Hume and
Smollett's History of England, that
ia several volumes lined one of the
shelves, told me that in those books
there were niEe thousand dollars
concealed.
II gave little start Of surprise.
cit had been paid to her father
the very day he went away; not hav-
ing time to carry it downtown to
the bank, he hid it away in the books
thinkinglt would be perfectly safe
till bis return.
"Just as she was telling me this,
a knock came at the door; one Of the
servants entered, and requested per-
mission for herself and the rest of the
domestics to visit Stuyvesant's farm
on the east side of the island, in or
der to be present at the marriage Of
her sister.
"Alvina hesitated. Seeing a
shade Of Disappointment cross the girls
face, I quickly said We would have
nice cosy evening all 30 ourselves.
Reluc uctantly the consent was given,
and the girl departed with many
curtesy and thank you.
"We partook Of an early tea, and
to while away the evening, sat down
to game Of backgammon. AS we
did so we heard the sound of carriage
wheels rapidly approa ching: listening
attentively, We soon heard it in the
avenue leading to the house, and in
few seconds, stop before the door,
This, it must he confessed, some.
what alarmed US, but, summing up
courage, we clasped hands, and went
together to answer the knock at the
door. It was only the coachman of
the Dusenbury's, who lived on the
Boston Road, with the message, that
Miss Dusenbury had been thrown
from her horse and severely injured,
and requesting Alvina's presence at
her bedside.
'co refuse was out Of the ques-
tion, SO with many apologies aud
kisses, she started, leaving me in
the old house alone. It was very
dull and lonely. 1 tried to read but
could not, so in sheer weariness, I
stretched myself upon the sofa to
think. Every sound came to me
with painful distinctness, the mourn
full whistling of the wind through the
trees filed me with an indiscribable
terror, and I lay with palpitating
heart, scarcely daring to breathe.
Il must have fallen asleep, for l
know l experie nced the sensational
oppression of nightmare, and awoke
with start, to see the tall burly
figure Of a man bending over me He
had black mask upon his face, and
pistol in his hand. I tried to
scream, but could not; my tongue
refused its office. I could only gaze
upon the ruffain IN mute and
terrible surprise.
"'Now, missile. said the man,
roughly, you want to scream, that's
what you want to do, but it's of no
use. There's no one within hearing
and if there was, it may be you had
better not, and he glanced ominously
at his pistol.
".What do you want?' I faltered.
"'Not much. Only tho swag.
So come, git up, my lady-bird, and
tell me whore it is kept
"Tremblinsly I obeyed. There
was certain something IN his look