The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-03-20

two three times to the White Lion, the |
public house at the corner of the street, AMI |
drank his ale at the bar, instead of allowing |
the pot man to bring it for him, s-had
hitherto been the case. 1 took the liberty of
saying-for was quite old enough to be his
mother-that hoped this last would not grow
into a habit which might lead to harm, wnen,
to my surprise, he burst out crying, aud cried
so bitterly that l thought he would go into
Mysteries. l tried to soothe him, aud to ok
his hand in mine--he had soft aud deli
cate hand, too; but he rose, aud, mastering
himself by a great effort, went up to his
room. In the morning he apologized for dis
turbing me by his absurd ways; he had hal
bad news from home, he said. OF course.
l told him not to think any more of such
trife; but in my own mind 1 wondered
where he got the letters from which had so
upset him, as l was quite certain
the postnan had not been near nv
house all day. All this tune 1 had heard
no more of the situation he expected;
but soon after, the same stranger called
again-Mr. Brown, 1 mean. He called very
late one night, aud went straight up to
Lewis roo,1, came down in a very short
time, and left without word, as before As
l bad admitted him, L had fair chance of
confirming my opinion; he was warder,
was sure. He was a tall, big bearded, big
whiskered aud mustached man, who stood
very square when he spoke to you, as sol
dier does; weather-browned, as all the Port
land wsrders are, and with a certain quick,
watchful look of the eye, which they all ac-
quire very soon.
The next morning brought heavy fall of
rain, with gusts of wind from the sea; and
on taking up Mr.. Lewis breakfast, l noticed
that he looked excited, if not wild, and |
feared he had taken cold. l told him SO, but
be said-"No. The fact is, Mrs. Gerran,
must now tell you little secret; am mar
ried, and l expect my wife from town to-
'Indeed !" exclaimed, for had never
dreamed of such a thing.
Yes he went on, ''she is coming this
evening, and | am a little worried to think
what an unpleasant ride she will have"
''She certainly will, poor thing" said;
but will do my best to make her comforta-
BILE, Mr.. Lewis.
81 know you viii, he replied. 81 thank
you heartily, Mrs. Gerran. We rely on you
very much"
/ left him his breakfast, and went down.
stairs, considerably astonished by what |
had heard. The weather grew worse during
the day, and by night it was little short of a
tempest. l often thought of the poor young
woman who was coming all the way from
London on such a night; and what made it
worse was that could not offer to go and
meet her, for, strange TO say, Mr.. LIE Wis did
not know by what train she would come, or
whether she would travel by the Great West
ern or the Southwestern line. 1t blew harder
and harder; the furious blasts of wind swept
through our little street, and drove the ram
before it, so as almost to blind you, if you
tried to face it. There was not a gaslight
which was not blown out, aud l need not
say the sky was pitch dark. On such nights
/ always sit and think of my poor husband,
and A..f thn. oh
on the dreadful sea; and | can hear nothing,
attend to nothing but the bowling of the
storm. SO il was no wonder that the pot
man knocked two or three times when he
brought Mr.. Lewis beer before heard him;
and when / opened the door it was almost
blown out of my hand by the force of the
wind.
1T is terrible night, Robert, said, for
he was very civil young man, and had been
at the White Lion for years.
1T is, indeed, ma'am, he said; "there's
sea on tonight that's a-hying over the Chesil
Bank like yeast. They've been firing artil-
lery on the island; but, except now aud then
in lull, you couldn't hear the guns.
Firing l said; firing! What is that
for, Robert?"
"More conviets is off, a'am, was his an-
swer "and hear there is some fellow of
consequence among EN-. Poor chap He's
sure to be caught such night as this, IL he
hasn't tumbled over the face of cliff
already"
bade him good night, and closed the door,
still sadder in my mind than had previously
been. 1t always made me sorrowful when 1
heard of the poor convicts trying to escape.
Whatever their faults may have been, liberty
is sweet to all of us. and very few of them
ever succeeded in getting awsy-hardly any,
although many a one had lost his life in try
ing. took the beer up TO Mr.. Lewis room,
and tapping at his door, said, as / generally
did, ''Here is your beer, Mr.. Lewis aud, as
usual, the door was opened, and he took it
from me. Instead of having his lamp burn
ing, as was his custom, his room was in COM
plete darkness, 80 that / could hardly
see him, to give him the jug, and in the
gloom he seemed TO look stouter
and taller than usual He did not speak,
whereas he generally had little joke; hut
now he took the jug in silence. 1 fingered
for moment; but finding that he did not
speak, was going down stairs, when thought
of his wife. Mr.. Lewis had almost closed the
door, when 1 said how anxious felt about
her getting safely in through the storm, when
to my amazement he replied, without open
ing the door more than few inches; 81
am much obliged for your kindness, Mrs
Gerran, but my wife has been in for this
hour past" / was never so astonished in
my life. / had made two or three little
preparations to comfort her, and felt hurt
that should not have been informed of her
arrival. eyes" he continued, ''she came
when the wind was roaring SO loudly that you
did not hear her knock. let her in; and as
thing she could do was to lie down at once. !"
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