The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1876-02-10

And he may only want-may only want
to engage me TO watch with old Miss
Steeres the night she takes ether foI
that operation!n And thereat the little
body was off for Lenders bake, with
precious small idea Of the exact where.
;ibouts of that pretty sheet. AI've got
q tongue in my head, | suppese," 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 plodded on after her best sense
of locality, tore her gown with briers,
lost her veil, broke her parasol, came
near breaking her ankle, and at eleven
O'Clock by her watclfsat down and cried
hot, bitten by flies, tired out, and
lost.
When she had finished crying, she
looked up, and there, glistening 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 IA
tigue, and was off for the edge of the
lake, not so easily reached, after all,
and with a triumphant handful of the
brown velvet 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. i.faf- ..
Nobody answered her rap; the door
was 0pen-she pushed it wider, and
peered in, but started back at the sound
of a groan, and a quick, sharp sob,
perfect storm of sobs. 4 moment Miss
Alice hesitated; but she was no coward
where pain was concerned; she took
heart of grace and walked in, and found
the brown old berry-wOman with her
little boy, her grandchild, bleeding to
death in her arms. "Oh," she exclaim-
ed, 81 never knew you lived here. What
is the matter? How did he do it?''
"With the ak! with the AK! just
nowi" cried the woman. "And | can't
stop it, and Pm all alone. and l can't
leave him, and he'll die-oh, he'll diel"
"Oh, no, mol" said Alice. "What
have you done? Only cold water? Let
me see. Lay him down. Get a towel -
for she remembered still her school les
sons in physiology. And before the
woman knew what had happened, Alice
had rugged tourniquetwith the handle
of a hair-brush, and-waS checking in
some degree the flow of blood with
which the boys vitality was ebbing.
" Now don't let it slip, and I'll run and
find the doctor, if drop. Perhaps some
team will overtake me. Don't despair
the child sha'n't die - and she kissed
the brown old woman, and plunged out,
eager as though it were her own little
brother. 81 know just where the doe
tor is" she called back.
She knew nothing of the kind; she
only knew where ne had been. "She's
gone to Lenders Lake with Mr.. NAL
lory," Aunt Huldah had said, looking
up and down the road, with vague
idea that her looking would excuse the
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
more to do with Miss Alice
Truesdell. 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 a run.
And that was the way it chanced that,
less than ten minutes after Alice left the
hut, she saw something rolling up the
enveloped in as thick cloud
as ever an ancient god Travelled in; and
he saw a 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,
" Don't stop! He's dying! Back there
the hut!n . 'r
DIR, Fowle did stop, long enough to
take the little body and lift her into the
chaise, and spring up beside her.
"Who's dying?'' said he, sternly-
''Mallory?n ..... .....-...
MALLORY" gasped Miss Alice in
"And if it was" she said,
the old spirit uppermost, as soon as she
could speak again for her scalded lungs
and throat, "what would you dO?"
"Let him die!" exclaimed the doctor.
alt would be nothing to me if you.
did," she said, touching the horse with
the whip herself. "But you would be
indictable at common law"
Nothing to you! What did you
mean, then? Who's dying?"
''Not Mr.. Mallory-to my knowledge,
that is. | haven't seen him to-day. A
child here in the woods"
The doctor urged the horse himself,
bending forward, his gaze fixed before
him, and not uttering another syllable.
Aren't you ever going to speak to
me againr' said Alice at last. 81
meant to be back at eleven"
He turned and saw the fears just
ready to gush, and as he gazed perhaps
they extinguished the flame of his
wrath. Somehow-he never knew how
any more than Alice did-the next mo-
ment the reins were under his feet, his
arms were about her, and the tears were
being crowded back by kisses.
'Aren't you glad put the clock for
ward? Aren't you glad | came out here
for bulrushes?" whispered Alice, as they
suddenly drew up at the little hut.
''Oh, God bless you, doctor, and God
bless hertz cried the voice of the old
woman from within. "He's alive yet,
and you've come in the very nick of
time! !''-Hdrper' Bazar.
-.| ..-' ---- tr.
The - CreeDingo of Rails,