Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1876-05-26


Heaven has given you in the one
gift he has Withdrawn.
If l could only be certain that she
was really lost, Henry, sobbed the
fair haired women. IF could only
have planted daises above her grave,
and counted her growing years in
heayen-but l cannot. She may be
in want-she may be i'll or suffering,
and so powerless to aid her.
There can be no doubt that she is
dead, Helen, soothed the husband.
Were it otherwise your ,brotherain-
law would long slncerhave commu-
nicated with you.
If | could only believe tiff l
could only ease this aching at my
heart, reiterated Helen. Do not
think me ungreatful, Henry, but. in
deed fcannot forget my little lost
Bertha.
At this moment Harry sat up on
the sofa, loudly claiming his mothers
attention; and DR.. Tracy went away
with the pleasant recollection that
Helen was smiling back to her boys
smiles. All! where was there ever
magnetism like the touch of achild's
hand to sooth the ache of head or
heart? @
The flaming crimson belt Of the
late sunset glowed suddenly above
the leshess October woods; the tall
trees that skirted the lonely road on
either side seemed to stand like
guant sentinels. DR. Tracy button
ed his oyercoat, one or two buttons
higher as he drove along the solitary
highway, and felt the raw, piercing
chill of the evening air; and all the
time he was thinking of Helen's
words. as .Hll.4 las Hillss.a
She was widow when he mar
ried her, this fair Saxon ebeauty-a
widow whom the death of her
handsome foreign swin6ler of a hus-
band had set free from a bond
age almost worse than slavery.
francesca Petroni died; but Paola
Petroni, his brother, lived, a dark,
designing man. Bertha, their infant
child, had been consigned by Fran
eesco's desire, to his brothers care,
during the illness that proved fatal
to him. All the Widows subse-
quent efforts to regain possession of
her little one were futile. ai
My dear sister-in-law, said the
Italian to her one day, when her.
entreaties had been most persist
ent, there is one way, and but one
way, for you to receive back Bertha.
And that is
To receive, me also-as your hus-
band! fs
Paolo Petroni never forgot nor
fOrgaye the rscoiling movement, the
look Of horror with which the En-
glish widow received his unwelcome
proposal. haas. - @
You will compel him to give my
little one to me, Henry, the poor
young mother had said, on the day
that made her for the second time
wife. But when Henry Tracy,
armed with all the force of the law !,
went to Milan to demand possession
of his little step-daughter, 10! Pao-
10 Petroni had utterly disappeared,
and Bertha with him. q la-s
b Search, inquiry and investigation
proved equally vain; and from that
day to this-a period of full six
years-neither DIR. Tracy nor his
wife have ever heard one word of
the little Italian infant whose smile
had been the first CLEAN of light
that had fallen across the tide of
poor Helen Petroni's foreign life.
= 1t was one of those strange, mex
plicable romances of real life that
we sometimes encounter amid the
most prosaic and commonplace sur
roundings, and supplied Dr. Tracy
with ample materials for thought as
he drove through the wild and DESC
late part of the country.ai.1a
Not . particularly pleasant spot,
this, at twilight, soliloquized the
doctor, leaning forward to catch
glimpse of a single ray of yellow
light that streamed from the win
dow of a cottage few rods further
on. They've lighted their candles,
| see, and it's high time they did,
too.
He sprang from his ph@ton and
entered the cottage without knock
ing.
1t presented no very inviting
scene. A ruinous floor, treacherous
and uncertain to the unwary foot
step; walls where masses of plaster
had fallen away, leaving the rough
laths exposed; and a fire place where
a few damp logs sputtered and
smoked, and did everything but
blaze up eheerfuliy. "A hard fea-
tured old crone, who was doing on
the hearth, started mp, and began to
courtesy as the doctor entered.
Well, Mrs. Hopper, and how is the
patientP
Quiet, sir-quiet, quiet.
laAnd the childP p
As peaceful as a lamb, bless its lit
tie heart. a.assia,9 2 3 et'a3d &
DIR. Tracy took up the candle and
strode across the room to q low bed
stead in the most distant corner,
where 3 human figure was ,dimly
outlined beneath torn and tattered
counterpane. Close beside it, with
shower of feecy, faxen ringlets
mingled with the black, disheYeled
locks of the PROSTATE woman, nest-
led a child who looked up into the
doctors eyes as he approached, with
innocent, wondering looks. sa o,,
nd gave her the drops at 4 o'clock,
whined the old woman, and she
hain't made no fuss since. would
not disturb her, for there's nothin'
SO refreshin' for sick folks as sleep.
Sleep! echoed DR.. Tracy, bending
to examine the averted face, my
COED soul, she's dead!
ll Deadl 'shrieked the old woman,
rushing across the foor-deadl
Come away, child, quick.
The little creature slid to the
ground with a composnre strangely
at variance with her age, and stood
alternately eyeing her two compan-
ions. r 81