Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1875-12-24

ture Of woe. 'Why can't you, let me con
fort you ?"
Sac paused, and looked at him in will
startled way. Then she came forward al
laid her c Id hand in his, and said, Just a
statue might, ''Whel you fad Georg
ma" she was silent moment-"I can
have any other comfort - ried Constanc
bursting into tears, the first she had shed
II am doing all CAR" said Clarence.
81 am spending my own fortune as freel.
as am spending yours in the effort. Sh
is aim vt lis dear to ma AS to you. Blu:
Constance, if y ~ o lily marry me becaus
| find Ge"rgina-''
I'D mt. don't, don't - she cried, will
averted face an I hands. "It is wicked
Oh, it is cruel Where is she Clarence.
nowf In what misery my little darling
may be! o., Clirei.ce, who knows how
she suffers ~
''Great Godl AS if I did not think of ii
every hour in the day!' cried Clarence
walking up ard d 'wn the room and then
All SeAy iSiApaAONltlS HUI tlC CullCCtSu
himself, and aided. ''sst being away from
YOU For the rest, you may l,e sure that
those who have her do not injure her, il
raj som is their end"
''Ransom y she cried. ''Give them any
thing ! all my III, ney. all hers! Only let
me have her again can work, | can
work, 'Cl renee" she cried, eagerly, the
tears flt shing like sparks. and holding out
her little wasted hands. II never did,
know, but il d ,esn't follow that can't
can give muse lessons, eau take sew.
ing, can keep b nrders, OH, can X, out
to srrvice-any thing, any thing, if she is
only spared to int -
"There will never be any need of that
Constance, while l can work for you,
whether you will give me the right or not, -
said Clarence, modify. But keep up
your courage. dear; I've no more doubt
that We shall have her back again than
that am standing here. 1t would be
something out Of the order of the universe
for such 4 wrong to be. Oh yes; as SOC. II
as they think the interest has sufficiently
abated for hem to do it with safety to
themselves, you may feel certain that they
will begin to treat; and the moment any
can be made by which they
Can get the money, and we can get the
child, it will be done.''
But Oh, what a crime, Clarence I" she
cried, aghast. "Do you think there can
be snch dreadful people i'll the world Oh,
what blessing it will he." she exclaimed
again, consistently, it there really are |!
If they only have her and keep her for ne,
and she is not lying &C the bottom of a
wharf, or tossing betwe the rocks at the
mouth of that dreadful river, or wander
ing hungry and abused ronnd those dark,
foul streets down there, will give tltm
all have a. d my eternal gratitude. o.,
Clarence, how rely on you -
But day after day passed, and no over
ture came from the abductors of the little
3 RI, if there were any. The cherries
April had blnssomed into May, and June
followed with her leaf and bloom; but there
was no bloom or brightness for Mrs. Strang-
man. She came in every evening from
all day long in the streets for
hidden to decent women, from climbing
broken stairs and searching damp cellars,
from questioning every child she met, from
peenn under wharves and looking over
docks, from talking with sailors, beggars,
from haunting the back ward
If stat ely houses where little tatterdpma-
lions crept with baskets of broken ford
aud every evening just little harder and
colder and more desperate than she was
the day before. GOA, what an outraged
she cried, wragng her ha ds rs she wal
I'd her room what an "u rage! Am /
going to believe there is God in tie world
who could prevent it? What have l done
to deserve it? never did = ,ul wrong
not even those who wrnnged me! What
happy thing! If she were dead, it would
be lrifling-I shon|d only havs lost her!
hut alive-and don't know where-clff-
ID and kicked and hungry-nh, who c,ull
tHio'4 ~ S"CcV d EtlPt! w udU HeIIjS tNey
would be! AMI they must be fiends,' she
cried. Ito have robbed me OF my child; and
they are capable Of m king her endure
every thing. don't see a beggar.gi,l in
The streets, barefooted, gged, with her
sme red face, her ,incombed elf-locks, that
[ don't think my own my be in just as
bad plight-and then She loved her clean
white clothes s. know she is crying for
me now. o., my darling, my darling, if
you were dead you would come and tell
mel But you are some~ here, suffering
t"rtures; you are lying aud crying for your
NJ ,ther!' And then Mrs. Strangman
would spend the night in lbs and tears.
Sometimes Mrs. Strangman and Clar-
ence went through all the low streets and
purlieus for more than half the night; for
Clarence fancied u mothers instinct might
point out what neither he nor the prize
fighters could detect. She saw dreadful
sights-but she never saw Georgina.
''What an evil worli!' she exclaimed,
and hidin. her face az she
cluug to Clarence. ''And you pretend that
God lives in 1t! Oh, it's inpos ,ible 1t
never, never can be while such things are
done!' And her heart grew as hard az
Pharaoh's. "And my little girl will grow
up among such creatures, will b. like them,
will he one of them !" she shrek ID. when
she was at home. ''Oh, let me curse the
day ever saw the light, and die ~
AS it became more and more unlikely
that little Georgina would ever cross her
m Jther's threshold again, Mrs. Strangman
began to feel an increasing resentment,
too, against her own family. The old Bit
tprness of her feeling, when she found
what it was into which they had forced
her. returned and red Dubled: here was the