Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1874-03-26

to place her hand upon his heart.
With cry of terror she sprang tC
her feet, her hand stained with blood
for from his side small stream welled
up slowly.
He is dead, and has been murdered
NO.
1t was almost a whisper, and the
heavy lids raised from the dark ewes
eyes filled with anguish, but vel
strangely dark and fascinating.
Thank God, there is yet hope; be
quiet, sir, L implOre you, and will aid
you all in my power exclaimed
Leone, and drawing her habit around
her, she ran rapidly few PAGES down
the road to where it was crossed by a
small stream, and saturating her hand
kerchief returned, and without hesita-
ton drew aside the clothing and placed
1t upon the wound-a small bullet
wound i'm the left side over the heart.
You must keep perfectly quiet, and
l will soon return she said softly,
hardly knowing whether she was
heard or not, and then in an instant she
was in her saddle, dashing at her ut.
most speed towards the nearest farm.
I house.
Ddshing like the wind I'D to the
door, and startling quiet Farmer Jes-
snp and his family nearly out of their
wits. Leone cried:
Mr.. Jessup, let your son ride at once
TO DIR. Wells and tell him a gentleman
lies danger Ously hurt on the roadside
near Hillside Spring; tell him to come
tnere at once, and you, Mr.. Jessup,
please come on with your carriage, and
Drlng all that you think necessary
Every one in the country knew and
loved Leone Lightfoot, and rapidly
her orders were obeyed; observing
which, she wheeled her foaming horse,
ana AGAIN sped away on her return to
the wounded stranger.
There he lay just as she had left him.
but groaning slightly, and each instant
dampening the blOod-stained handker-
chief; the girl awaited the coming of
| the surgeon.
| Would they never come? she
thought; but at length, when it SEEM
ed hours instead of minutes, the sound
of wheels broke on her ear, and the
next instant the surgeon drove up at a
rapid pace.
You are noble woman, Miss Light
foot, ard if this man lives he owes It to
you,' said the good old physician, as he
approached and knelt beside the pros
trate form.
But will he live, doctor?'
For some minutes no reply was given
by the man OF science, who carefully
probed and examined the wound, but
then he said slowly:
1T is a serious injury-ha here /
have the ball; yes, hope he will live;;'
and DIR. Wells took from the wound q
small bullet, while he continued:
Now he needs the most careful nurs-
ihg.'
He shall have it. Thank God, here
comes Mr.. Jessup,' and Immediately
after the carriage drove up, and telling
the doctor to come on with the wound
ed stranger to her brothers house.
Leone again mounted her horse and
rode on to have all ia readiness for his
arrival.
1t was week before the stranger was
sufficiently recovered to tell his story
regarding the aOund that had so near
! iy proved fatal to him, and then by
CAREFUL nursing, he informed Leone,
who had been untiring in her devoted
care of him, that his name was CIar-
ence Ainslie-was an Englishman, who
nearly a year before had come to
America, and, purchasing a few acres
OF land in the West, made it his Lome.
He also stated that business had call
ed him to New York; and that while
enjoying horseback ride he had been
suddenly fired upon, was thrown to the
ground, and had an indistiuct remem-
brance that some one was robbing him,
for his watch, pocket-book and all the
valuables he had about him were gone.
That Clarence Ainslie was no ordi-
nary man, Leone Lightfoot knew when
she saw him lying by the roadside, but
that he would ever possess the power
to control her life she had not believed.
But so it was, for each day proved to
her that she had met her beau ideal;
and yet was he for her? Might he not
already have loved? Might he not al
ready have married?
The thought chilled her very heart.
And yet when she Saw the dark fasci-
mating eyes turned upon her with ad-
niration, and read-Or hoped she did
therein a deeper, holier feeling, Leone
felt happy, and begged to be a very
slave and become a mere automaton to |
the caprice of Clarence Ainslie.
Now Arthur LightfOOt and his pret-
ty wife looked upon the matter in a
different light, for, though hospitable
in the extreme to the stranger guest,
they looked upon him as poor Eng
lish emigrant, pretty Western farmer,
and did not like the idea that he should
control the heart of Leone, for they
were not blind to her devotion to the
wounded man.
Still they could not but admire the
courteous manner of their stranger
guest, when after six weeks he suffi-
GENTLY recovered to join them in the
parlor and at dinner.
That he had been reared q gentleman
was evident, and that he had Travelled
and seen something of the world was
also evident, as was also that Mr.. and
Mrs. Lightfoot had never seen q hand
somer man, they were ready TO admit;
but that Leone, the belle, the heiress,
the most lovely woman of the day,
should marry an unknown and poor
Englishman-bah! the idea, even, wast
ridiculous!
When the trunk of Clarence Ainslie
he had sent for it as soon '
as he was able to speak-Mrs. Light I
foot paced around it for half an hour in
the vain endeavor to find something
plebeian about it; but the trunk was q |
good one, English make, and bore on {
It simply the Letters, &C. A, England"
With disappointed look the inquisi- {
tive little woman ordered it sent to the
sick mans room, and sought her cham
Der. Z
Arthur, Leone really loves that I
man, and what will become I
Of it all? 4
1T is Leone's ropance, little wife;
she will recover from it; few tears at I
parting, hard riding for her poor horse,
D few sentimental songs, and all will I
be over l.
But, Arthur, suppose it should not
be; suppose he SHOULD love her; for you {
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