Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-01-14

II was a bitter disappointment 70 be
obliged to postpone her marriage, and
she felt that in justice to her betrothed
she must put an end to the engagement
for she must no longer work for herself
mo longer set aside for her own uses
every hard-earned shilling that could be
spared from the daily needs. The widow
and the fatherlcss had suffered by her
want of caution, and for them she must
toll increasingly until the debt was paid.
Then poor Katie began TO calculate
how much she might save in the course
of the year by dint of denying herself
and striving to procure some employment
for her evenings; but her heart sank as
she comprehended that years must
elapse before the task she set herself
could be accomplished; and the tears,
that were more difficult to bring from
her eyes than Miriam's, fell in large, hot
drops on the clasped hands lying in her
lap. Only last night she had been SO
happy, SO hopeful, picturing to herself
the pleasure of her betrothed at her re-
turn, and the JOY that would light up the
sunken eyes of the widow when the pre-
cious trust was rendered up and her
nieces rewarded with a loving kiss.
Only last night SO happy, and now
Katie slid off the chair on her knees, and
gradually found comfort. The neighbor-
ing clocks sounded midnight, and then
unconscious of the lapse of time, till
up in the bed, starting about her, with a
curiously vacant look In her blue orbs.
Was she going to be i'll? At the pros
mi 49, al To mi taa
Katie's reyiving spirits sank again, and
she rose and approached her sister to
question her. But Miriam, who had also
risen, brushed passed her without ap-
pearing to hear the afectionate inquiry,
and STOPPING over the trunk that had
contained the notes began searching in
over, mutteIing to herself the while,
until she found small packet, not un-
like the lost one in size and shape, and
wrapping her waterproof tightly round
her walked straight up to the window,
which she flung open.
Katie's heart almost ceased to beat, for
she saw that the young girl was in a
state of somnambulism, and a dim con-
ception of what might have occurred on
the previous night began to steal into
her mind. Unconscious of her terrified
sisters grasp on her skirts Miriam
climbed out of the window, and, still fol
lowed by Katie, fearlessly made her way
along the parapet to where there stood a
fiower.pot containing withered shrub
and few handfuls of mold. Over this
she stopped, taking out the plant, to
which the dry earth firmly adhered, and
carefully depositing the packet beneath
a a m I'M igf ra-
turned to her own room in the same way
that she had quilted it, crept into bed
again and slept soundly for some hours
1t wss not till the day had dawned
that Katie could nerve herself to repeat
this exploit; and then it was on her
hands and knees that she crawled along
the gutter and selling the flower-pot
brought it back with her. Oh, ecstacy!
the mystery was solved--there had been
no robbery Miriam herself had been
the dark figure at the window--it was
she who, her dreams peFturbed by some
dread of losing the money, had risen
from her bed and hid it in this strange
and unsupported hiding.place.
1t would have been difficult to make
her believe that she had done this but
for the proof of it that her rejoicing sis
ter put before her but she could remem-
Der now that at some time or other she
had heard or read of prisoner conceal
ing some documents in this manner; and
the incident forgotten in waking moments
must have been recalled and acted upon
by the teeming brain during the visions
Of the night.
The sisters last morning in London
was busy one, for the recovery of the
money had to be signified to the police !;
and so many were eager to congratulate
Katie and stare at Miriam as the heroine
of strange adventure that the work Of
packing went on amid many Interrupt
tons. But if the early train was lost
there was later one; and when the con-
CALCULATIONS had been civilly acknowl-
edged of those who had stood aloof in
the hour of distress, and the truer SYM
patty of Irish Nora gratefully rewarded,
Katie and Miriam babe adieu to London.
There was much to ask and to tell
when they reached home; but it was not
until the precious trust had been safely
given up to its owner and Katie sat with
her hand firmly clasped in those of her
betrothed that she told the tale of the
lost money and how unexpectedly it had
been recoyered.--Cassel Magazine.