The Bloomfield times. [volume] (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1867-187?, 1871-07-25


grove. And then this sudden wealth
that had come to him-by speculation he
said. Poor Uncle John coming home
with his heart full of joyful anticipations
And how near she had come to being a
murderer's wife Now the task of bring
ing the murderer to justice devolved up
on her, and how terrible the task How
little proof she had Would any body
believe that what she had heard was any
thing more than the raving of an insane
woman
The wall paper had started off in one
place, and Syl moved the bed away from
it, taking care to make no noise, and then
pulled it up; there was faint dark stain
on the plastered wall She tore the pa
per off the whole length of the roll and
under it, spattered over the wall, almost
to the ceiling were stains of blood. Some
one had evidently tried to wash them out,
and finding that vain had papered over
them. A faintness and trembling seized
Syl when she saw them, and sudden
terror. To get away from that house,
never to see Derrick nor his aunt again
was all she cared for She dressed her.
self hastily, determining to get away be-
fore they were awake. When he saw the
torn paper, would not Derrick know why
she had gone? A sudden thought struck
her. She would show him that she
knew, and then, if it were true, he would
never come near her again.
Afterwards Syl thought that her brain
must have been turned by that dreadful
nights experience, or she should never
have done so wild thing, never have
had courage enongh to do it, after what
she had heard and saw. But then she
did not stop to think after the idea came
to her. She took a piece of charcoal
from the smouldering fire, and drew on the
plastering from which she had torn the
paper beside those dark-red stains, a
sketch-the edge of the pine grove, and
the old well. She could see them in the
window, and she drew them, even with
her rough materials, with almost startling
accuracy. The work had strange fas-
cination for her she put her whole soul
into it, exulting in her ability as she had
never done before. Was not her talent
of some use to her, in spite of Aunt
James sneers? Amidst the heap of
stones around the well she drew skull,
grinning and ghastly. Before she had
put the finishing touches to her picture
she heard footsteps overhead. She stole
out, unbarred the great front door softly,
and ran swiftly, breathlessly, without a
backward glance toward home.
The sun was shining brightly; there
were no trace of the storm save in the
drenched fields and muddy roads. Syl
had put on her ball attire of the night
before, and it was soon wet and dragged,
but she flew on never needing it, fancy
ing continually, in her terror, that she
heard footsteps following her, Derrick
Hurst's voice calling her
A mile away from home her path cross
cd the railroad track it ran over a steep
ascent that was hard to climb, and Syl
was forced to pause to take breath 1t
was well that she did so, for just then
puff of smoke through the trees told her
that train of cars was coming around
the curye--the morning train that was
due at Densboro, at seven o'clock. Her
eyes wandered carelessly along the track
as she waited, till suddenly they fell up
on something that made her spring for
ward with cry of alarm. Only few
rods from where she stood the track had
been torn up two or three yards, and
thrown down over the embankment! Her
frantic cries were unheard the train
came rushing along at lightning speed.
Syl shut her eyes. There came terri
BILE crash, and then cries of terror and
pain rang in her ears. All around her
crushed and mangled forms were lying;
one had fallen almost at her feet She
sank down beside it, with cry that
rang above all the others, when her eyes
fell on the upturned face. For it was
Stephen Lawrence's face
"You here, Syl !? you come down to
meet meY" he murmured, with CLEAN
of gladness in his eyes. "My darling
was sure you must be i'll or dead, from
your long silence l would not believe
that you were false to me- l could not
endure the suspense any longer, and so
| came down. Why didn't you write ?"
81 haven't heard from you for months,
stephen; only two or three times since
you went away! l thought it was you
who was FALSE" said Syl And then
there was no more time for explanations,
and Stephen had no more strength to
speak. Help had come from the village,
and they were caring for the sufferers, as
speedily as possible. But it seemed ages