Daily Kennebec journal., 1876-02-28

..Why lip said Mallory, laziiy'
...Oh I have an engagement al tnilt
hour she replied, bending her head
lt,Ie that he might not see the color
creeping mp. >,,,
asked.
..At 5 o'clock in the morning, and on
foot? Not a step. That hour in the after
noon, behind pair of bays, would suit
me very we'll" Young Vary thought it
would suit him too.
VERY well. Mr.. Mallory. If you will
come at tomorrow, l shall have my bul-
rushes and be back in good season."
"We'n not fall" said Mallroy." And
to that end, assure this company that 1t
is the witching hour of night, when the
sweetest sound the ear can hear is the
slamming of the big house door. And
with that they all departed.
AS O'Clock in the morning came, MISS
Alice, with her shears hanging at her side,
and her hat tied on, was looking up ana
down the road impatiently. She quite
forgot her freak with the. old clock, the
night before. 1T is very indecorus way
to serve me-" she cried. Ten minutes
past s.! And shall not wait another mo-
ment will have my bulrushes, Mallory
or no Mallory. And if am little late,
| don't care it will seem as though body
were not so very anxious, and l don /
know-l'm afraid-rm really afraid was
gushing last night, and do so despise a
gusher And he may only want to engage
me TO watch with old Miss Steeres, the
night she takes ether for that operation! y
And thereat the little body was Off for
Lenders lake, with precious small idea OF
the exact whereabouts of that pretty sheet
'Ive tongue in my head, suppose,
said she.
AS Miss Alice continued, her ideas grew
still less. She feared she would lose her
way, and not be back at all she wished
she had waited for Mallory; but she plod-
ded on after her best sense of locality, tore
her gown with briars, lost her veil, broke
her parasol, came near breaking her
ankle, and at II o'clock by her watch, sat
down and cried-hot, bitten by flies. tired
out and lost.
When she had finisheg crying. she
looked up, and there, glstening double
through her tears, lay Lenders lake, blue
as sapphire, in the hollow of the hills. Her
courage came back at once. If she could
not keep her appointment, she could show
by the bulrushes that she had intended to.
She forgot fatigue, and was off for the
edge OF the lake, not so easily reached
after all, and with triumphant handful
of the brown velvel wands and of great
blue flags, was presently homeward bound,
having found the highway. and staying
only to ask at the door of little hut for
a cup of water
Nobody answered the rap; the door was
open-she pushed it wider and peeped in
but started back at the sound of groan,
and quick sharp sob, a perfect storm OF
sobs. A moment Miss Alice hesitated;
but she was no coward where pain was
concerned she took heart Of grace and
and walked in, and found the brown old
berry woman with her little boy. her
grandchild, bleeding to death in her arms.
"Oh," she exclaimed, II never knew
you lived here. What is the matter?
How did he do it"
"With the axe ! with the axe! just
now "cried the woman. land / cant
leave him, and he IL die-oh, he'll die!
"Oh, no, mol" said Alice. "What have
you donep Only cold water? Let me see.
Lay him down. Get towel;' for she re-
membered still her school lessons in
physiology, And, before the woman knew
what had happened, Alice had rugged a
a tourniquet with the handle of hair
brush, and was checking in some degree
the flow of blood with which the boys vi
tality was ebbing. "Now don't let it slip,
and I'll run and find the doctor, if l drop.
Perhaps some team will overtake me.
Don't despair-the child shan't die; and
she kissed the brown old woman, and
plunged out, eager as though it were her
own little brother. II know just where
the doctor is," she called back.
She knew nothing of the land she only
knew where he had been. "She's gone
to Lenders lake with Mr. Mallory" Aunt
Huldah had said, looking up and down the
road, a vague idea that her looking would
excuse the culprit-"for bulrushes, l
heard them say"
The doctors ejaculation would have
Mortified Aunt Huldah if she had heard
it; but. bidding her good morning, he had
turned about, determined to have nothing
more to do with Miss Alice Truesdel.
And then sort of rage had flashed up
and swept over him, and he vowed to
himself that he would reduce the little
rebel. and sprang into his chaise and urged
his horse to run. And that was the way
1t chanced that, less than ten minutes af-
ter Alice left the hut, she saw something
rolling up the highway enveloped in as
thick cloud as ever ancient god travelled
in; and he saw little object flying down
to meet him, curls and ribbons streaming
behind, disheveled to the last degree, and
with only breath enough left to say, as he
leaped from the chaise: 'Dont stop He's
dying! Back there-the hut ~
DR.. Fowle did stop, long enough to take
the little body and lit her into the chaise.
and spring up beside her. who's dy-
ingp said he, lnly--"Mallory ?"
MALLORY! y gasped Miss Alice, in amaze
ment ''And if it was she said, the old
spirit uppermost as soon as he could speak
again for her scalded lungs and throat
''what would you do ?"
LET him die p exclaimed the doctor.
at would be nothing to me if you did,"
she said, touching the horse with the whip
herself. "But you would be ndictable at
common law"
"Nothing to you! What did you mean.
then Who's dying?
mot Mr.. Mallory-to my knowledge,
that is. ] haven't seen him to day. A
child here in the woods"