The Bloomfield times. [volume] (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1867-187?, 1873-10-14
A Broken Snare.

HNOWARDS sunset on day in early
Il summer, traveller came into the
village of Mulgrave, and expressed an in
tention of staying there all night. He was
young man, passably handsome, with
brown hair and blue eyes. Captain
Drake, of the local hotel, welcomed him
almost as long-absent friend, for he him
self, in common with all Mulgrave, was
stagnating for want of incident. At first
sight, he thought the young man was the
first swallow of the coming summer for
him or, in other words, one of the select
and orderly visitors who were wont to pat
ronize him every year. He was the more
sure of this, because the stranger had the air
and manner that Captain Drake in his ex-
perience connected with leisure and good
society, and their customary concomitant,
money. When he learned that the young
man was only transient guest, and that he
had no baggage save a small satchel, and
that he had walked from the next town, the
captain felt SO aggrieved that, in his pique,
he, as it were, charged the offender with
being apeddler, politely varying that phrase
into " travelling agent" The young man,
who gave the name of Carlton, amended
this surmise. He made all the wares he
sold himself, and disposed of them chiefly
to n large wholesale establishment in New
York. His tools were all in the bag he
carried, and he could work at his trade
wherever he could find place to sit down,
or in case of need, even standing room.
Captain Drake thought that must be
handy business, aud wondered how much
he might net per diem.
"O," said Mr.. Carlton, half laughing,
" it is hard to say; the profits vary with the
quality of the wares, and the state of the
market Yours seems to be pretty little
village. / think will take walk and
look at it before dark" And he immediate,
ly acted upon his expressed intention.
Captain Drake shook his head. There was
lightness of demeanor, and an anxiety to
avoid questioning about the young man
that he suspected BODIED no good
Carlton walked up dusty hill, over
practicable stone-wall, through wilder
ness of barbelTy bushes and beds of savn,
through pine grove, and came out OH
hillside, upon a pretty green valley open
ing westward, with dark blue stream
coiling through it, one bend of which bath
ed the foot of the slope on which he stood.
AS he looked, young girl broke from
thicket of hazel bushes, and ran on towards
the river, springing over the obstacles IN
the way with the lightnesa Of deer. She
looked up once and gave him 1eeting
glance Of an exquisitely pretty face, in the
earliest bloom Of womanhood, with bright
dark eyes and brilliant coloH and then
disappeared into the covert again, leaving
him with strong wish to see tho face once
more.
An opportunity came sooner than ne
anticipated. The girl appeared again be-
low him, and was evidently about to cross
the river, which was not very wide here
although the water looked deep in places,
and the current was swift and strong
There was 10 bridge, but stepping stones
next to either bank, and plank laid from
one rock to another overa wide space in
the middle, to which sharp outstanding
stone midway served as pier. Carlton
walked slowly around the edge of the hill,
until he stood directly above the edge of
the ford. The girl reached it at the same
moment and sprang upon the plank. AS
she did so, Carlton uttered an almost in
voluntary exclamation, The plank had
been moved by some accident or mischief,
and, light as her step was, she had only
gone half way when it slipped and fell with
a heavy splash into the water. She had
looked back at his warning call, though
without needing it, and that looked show