The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1874-03-06

HAL OF ABOUT TWO anu twenty, AM
who had evidently been maryelously
Igood-looking.
"Oh, heavens! he is deadr'
Her clear, agonized voice was ring
ing in my ears as they led me bacl
into darkness Of the night. 1 felt :
bank note pressed into my hand a
entered the carriage once more.
doctor, you have done your best
it is not your fault that your efforts
have not been more successful. Re
member, you are pledged TO secrecy!'
The next moment 1 was whirline
swiftly through the November mid
night, with the strange, unquiet
feeling of one wakened suddenly
from a startling dream. Yet it was
no dream-alas! it was a startling
reality.
The carriage stopped at a cross
road near the village.
"Please to aight here, sir" sale
the driver. ''You are not far from
home"
1 obeyed, and stood listening ir
the middle of the road while the
noise of the carriage wheels died
away, losing its distinctness in the
shrek of the restless winds. And
the clock in the village church toll
ed out the hour of one.
Late as it was, however, my sur
gerry was still open and lighted up;
the servant from Haddenleigh Ball
had just ridden to the door.
of you please doctor, you are
wanted Immediately at the Hall.
The colonel said you were to ride
my horse, if yours were not already
saddled, and I can walk; so there
will be no time lost"
1 mechanically mounted the noble
animal that stood waiting for me,
and rode off, rather glad Of an op-
portunity to revolye in my mind the
singular adventure that had that
evening befallen me.
Haddenleigh stood little back
from the road, on a magnificent
knoll crowned with century old
chestnuts and beaches; and reach
ed the broad stone steps in about
half an hour, by dint of rapid rid
ing.
AS 1 entered the vestibule, Col
onel Hadden, who had been pacing
up and down the hall in a perfect
agony of impatience, came to meet
me.
'Is that you, DR.. Meller? 1 thought
you never would come. We're in a
pretty state of confusion here! Bur
glars in the house-my wife's set of
diamonds gone-nobody knows what
else-but old Hopkins left his sign
manual on one of the fellows. They
must be caught; they can't escape
far. For, you see"
eyes, but, Colonel Hadden-"
"Oh, aye-I understand-you
want to see your patient? It's Hop
kins, the butler; he got an ugly blow
on the left armand afterward my
wife went herself for DR.. Maynard
no offense, Meller, but he lives near
er than you but he was out. She
has just returned. 1 couldn't very
well leave Hopkins-and Mrs. Had
den is such a kind, good soul, she
insisted on going herself to fetch
Maynard
'But, my dear sir"
"Ah. truel Come along to Hop
kins' room"
Hopkins, the butler, was as vol
uble as his master, and ten times as
circumstantial; and by the time I
had set his broken forearm I was
pretty well in possession of all the
particulars of the attempted burg
larry of Haddenleigh.
And thinking of my midnight
patient whose life had ebbed out up
no the pile of straw, 1 felt strange
guiltiness as I listened to Colonel
Hadden's eager conjectures as to the
whereabouts of the desperadoes who
had fled.
"And now, doctor, you'll take a
glass of wine," said the hospitable
old gentleman, ushering me into his
library.
1t was brilliantly lighted, and warm
with the crimson glow of a genial
fire, before which, in a singularly
graceful attitude, sat a lady, wrap
ped in the gorgeous folds Of an In
dia shawl.
"My wife, doctor. Isabel, my love,
this is Doctor Meller."
We stood before one another in
silence. I could not speak, for I
knew that l was looking into the
startled agonized eyes of the woman
who had knelt scarcely an hour ago
by the dying couch in a desolate
eottage-Colonel Hadden's new wife,
of whose beauty 1 had heard SO
much.
The Colonel talked on, but 1 heard
not a word that he said. could
not but marvel at the wonderful
self-possession of the woman, who
smiled and looked grave, and said
eyes" and "no" just in the right
places.
"To be sure" the Colonel was say
ing as woke into a sort of con-
sciousmess of his voice, "the loss of
Isabeps diamonds is something ser
ious, but, of course, we shall recover