The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1874-04-03

E
happen sometimes"
He was so heartily concerned, so evi-
IDENTIFY uneasy, that, as a matter ofcouFse
his wife cheered him up by assuming a
bright courage that she was far from
feeling She lighted candle and held
out her hand. He understood the ges-
ture. r-.
"God bless them :" he said, and fol-
lowed her up stairs 10 where their chill
dren slept, TO give their little sleeping
faces farewell kiss.
As he stood by their bed he heard the
horse coming up to the door-the half
hour had passed too quickly; but an
other thought struck him at the last
moment.
Don't leave that money down stairs
all night, Kate; put it in my dressing
room; or; stay, put it yonder"-and he
pointed to a door partly overhung with
a curtain-"that's the safest room in the
house. Goodby, my darling; will tele-
graph in the morning in time for the
postman to bring the message. If I'm
not back tomorrow, get Allen and his
wife to sleep in the house. God bless
you, good-by!'
Another moment and lie was gone,
and Jane and her mistress looked two
very lonely and deserted females indeed,
as they stood peering out into the dark
ness, listening to the wheels.
"Come, Jane, this will never do, said
her mistress at last wiping some rain
drops of another nature from her face.
"Iet us see that all the doors and win
dows are FAST Get your supper, and
come and tell when you are ready for
bed"
Then she herself re-entered the study
and sat down 20 collect her thoughts
somewhat after the hurry and turmoil of
of the last half-hour.
This illness of her father-in-law;
would he relent at the last, and let her
husband share his property with his
other children? Differences arising out
of John Furgusson's marriage with a
dowerless woman, fomented by petty
family jealousies, strengthened by the
independent attitude the young man had
assumed-such differences had been, af-
ter all, the heaviest grief of Mrs. Fer
gusson's married life. And now she
wondered and. pondered on them, till
the clock on the chimney-pieee struck
the hour of ten and startled her out of
her meditations.
"This is the night" she thought, "for
winding that time-piece up" and she
sought among the ornaments for the key.
In her search she found something she
had not expected-this letter, not in an
envelope, slipped behind the time-piece,
most likely, as soon as read:
"DEAR SIR: The sum you name in
your letter of the 9th, that is, 970, will
be remitted to you in the form you re-
quest on Monday, the 10th inst The
receipt of Mr.. Holland will be quite
sufficient We beg TO remain yours obe-
diently,
CIVILIAN AND FREDK MATHERs,
Managers of the Fordham Savings Bank"
"Oh, john, you careless man" muir
INJURED his wife: "and, yet you say you
never leave anything about! This is the
10th, so that's been lying there three
days, I suppose. Pm very glad Sarah
has been out most of the time!'
"If You please, I'M, I'm going upstairs
now as soon as I've cleared these things
away" said Jane, entering with a re-
spectfully aggrieved air, 'fand glad |
shall be to get to bed; for what with the
night being so rough, and master his go
in off so suddint, feel all queer-like,
and as if 1 had the cold shivers runnin'
down the spine of my back"
When the servant left the room Mrs.
Ferguson remembered her husbands in
junction, took the bags of money from
the desk, and carried them to the room
he had desired, there locking them Sc
curely in small closet or safe.
This done, she went and stole her
youngest born, Ruth, from her little cot
and carried her off to her own bed. A
lingering goodnight over her darling
Rosie, the six-year-old daughter, whose
sweet tender young face looked wonder
fully like her mothers, and soon Kate
Ferguson was sleeping by her child, with
her husbands likeness under her pillow,
and prayer for his quick return filling
even her sleeping thoughts.
II.
1t seemed to the mistress of the house
that she had slept so long that morning
must be near, when she awoke with an
inexplicable feeling of fright-a feeling
of something, or some one, near her.
"What is it?" she cried, starting up
in the bed, and instinctiveiy catching
the sleeping child in her arms. No an
swer
Only distinct sound of breathing,
and then a movement like hand feel
ing along the wall-toacards her.
She began to tremble violently; moth
ing but the presence of the child on her
painting bosom saved her from fainting.
"Who is it?" she cried, her voice so
shaking and hollow that it awakened
Ruth, who clung to her sleepy and
scared.
This time she had answer.
'We will do no harm," voice spoke
out of the darkness, off you give up that
money you've got;" and then, before
Mrs. Ferguson could muster courage and
breath to speak, another voice, out of the
room apparently, added in a rough un-
dertone, "And tell her to look sharp
about it, toop
"1too Of them! o God help mel" she
whispered to herself, and Ruth began to
break into screams and sobs.
"Keep.that brat quiet angrily NUT
tered the voice on the landing, "and don't
keep US here all night"
Now surely, if ever a woman was in a
miserable plight, Mrs. Ferguson was that
woman. Not house nearer than the
Hollands, a full quarter of mile off;
No soul Holx0 Aa- Co. To-o h.