The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1872-12-27


bare feet about the mansion of which
she was the heiress, INDUCED and loved
by all? These thoughts came into my
head as for an instant she stood still,
near the angle of the broad landing
place, while in front Of her was the
great French window. filling up nearly
two.thirds of the width of the wide
passage, by which the oaken gallery was
an innovation, no doubt, but an I'M
provement OH the small.paned easement
of stained glass, through which the sun
had scarcely had power TO illumine
the old pictures that lined the walls,
which it had superseded.
"By heaven, she is lost!r was my hasty
exclamation, as, to my infinite horror,
saw Blanche turn from the staircase,
and deliberately yet quickly throw open
the tall French window. That very day,
lust after sunset, Sir Charles had in
sisted on my admiring the new view
from that west window, which COM
manded a bold sweep of the country,
sweeping mooorland and black pine
woods. rocky fort and the distant sea.
The window was at great height above
the ground, since from it one could
look down, sheer over the edge OF the
stone terrace on which the mansion
stood, to a rocky dell, where far below
Draw ing stream made music among the
boulders that fretted its waters into
foam. All this | remembered, at the
same instant that the dreadful truth
flashed upon me. Blanche was sleep
walker-her actions were prompted by
the strange semi.consciousness OF the
somnambulist-and from this terrible
slulnber that was not rest, her awaken
ing would be in another world. Nearer,
and nearer yet, she drew TO the giddy
verge, her eyes steadily fixed on vacan-
cy. She stood poised on the sill of the
open window, through which the bleak
night air rushed in, causing the candle
in her unconscious hand TO flare and
flicker. | dared not call, dared not
raise my voice, lest should startle her,
and precipitate the catastrophe that
seemed imminent. There was a chance,
though poor one, that she would close
the window and return TO her room, as
| had heard that sleep-walkers some.
times do, ignorant of the mortal peril
so nearly encountered.
Now she seemed 10 bend slightly for
ward, her slender figure actually over
hanging the abyss. a fall from such
height must be fatal. Bitterly blaming
myself for my own lack of prud snce,
in allowing things TO proceed TO this
pitch before | interfered, mustered all
my strength for one desperate bound,
sprang to her side, and caught the girls
falling weight in my arms at the very
moment when she stepped from the
window ledge. A second or two would
have made my hasty movement too
late; and as it was, well that Blanche
was light burden, and that | WAS &C.
tive and strong, or both might have fal.
len from that dizzy perch. Blanche.
abruptly awakened, broke the silence of
the house by an agonized scream, as of
mingled pain and terror, and for an in.
slant she struggled, while the candle.
stick dropped from her hand. The
candle was extinguished in its fall; but
| looked down and saw the tiny lumin-
ous spark of the burning wick falling,
falling through the midnight darkness,
and then heard the dull clang as the sill
yer candlestick reached the rocks below.
Blanche's shrieks had etfectuallly
aroused the household and before |
|
clasped in her mothers arms; while a
babel of voices rose DANGEROUSLY around
us, and conjectures, EXPLANATIONS of
horror or thankfulness, were uttered on
all hands, as visitors and servants came
successfully marrying to the spot whence
the cries had been heard. That the
! young heIress of the Trehernes was a
somnambullst was what TO one, not
even her own parents, knew, nor had
the poor frightened child herself the
least suspicion that this was the case;
but at any rate the incipient ghost sto
ries with reference to Bramshaw Hall
were now nipped in the bud, and the
most superstitiously disposed could
not doubt the connection between the
mysterious occurrences of which they
had whispered, and Blanche's unlucky
peculiarly. The candlestick, dinted
and battered, was found next morning
among the rocks below the terrace.
prefer to pass lightly over the deep
and feryent expressions of gratitude
and strong feeling which Sir Charles
and Lady Treherne acknowledged the
preservation of their only child; but |
remember to have redeemed and WINGED
excessively unu' the weight OF praises
undeserved, since any one else in my
place would surely have done as much,
and it rather annoyed me than other.
wise, that the company persisted in
! treating me rs a sort of hero during the
rest OF my stay, and in humoring and
deferring to me as it had been some
| great public bcnefactor The only ex
ception to this general conspiracy to
make much of an unworthy individual
was Blanche herself. My young cousin
seemed to avoid me since that eventiul
night; and of all the farewells that were
said when | returned home, the coolest
''good-by" was Branches own.
We sailed for India; and for four
years | went through the usual round
of Indian duties and amusements.
At the end of four years, my elder
brother, poor Tom, died, and my parents
pressed me to leave the army and come
home, the necessity for profession in
my case no longer existing. With some
regret | babe adieu to my former life
and its associations but, after all, there
is no great hardship in being the future
proprietor of an entailed estate like