The Morning herald., 1877-10-18

| WtbAA away, Dut COulUH w uOU0lO2 OF Ul0
sort, for, as very soon found out, my leg
was broke; and SO, there I lay through the
long night, in awful pain, and persisted
with cold. I was too weak and faint to
shout. and II could have done it. nobody
would have heard me- I knew that, 80 +
didn't try; for I should only have made
myself worse. >.
"How very dreadful r murmured Angus
ia, and she applied her handkerchief to her
face, as if to wipe away tears which she
had not the slightest intention to she'd
And then he went on to tell her, that
peasant passing along in the early morning
Of the following day, had heard his groans; !;
! help was got, and he was carried home, and
had narrowly escaped with his life; had
been months in recovering, and had only
now, at last, been able to drag himself so
far from his own cottage as to reach the
baronet's mansion. -,
"And look at me again" he concluded; !;
can emaciated cripple. The doctor says, I
shall limp all my life"
"And you were, presume, very poor in
pocket when this accident occurred to YOU 2"
Augusta inquired. ." 'O
AheVAAA " oAAAAAASS Wdc uAO IopAy.
"Oh if l had but known p sighed the
widow, looking more pityingly than ever on
tho man; and next asked him-"Wh Whatever
could you do in so dreadful an emergency ?"
II did nothing" was the answer, "but lie
week after week on my bed and groan.
How could L? But says to Margaret, says
I, Il don't mean to die this turn; and if
don't have everything as ought to have,
so long as am bad, it will be the worse for,
you when get well again, that's an.''"' 7,,
Then, as if feeling that he had spoken to,
his poor wife in the most proper manner,
and had desired nothing unreasonable, he
said, addressing Mrs. Camelford:
"f man can't support himself, we'll or
ill, it's his wife's place to support him, amt
itp' l...-,'".r y'..,,
Certainly !" was the reply to his ques-
ton.
81 should think SOP growled Burford.
"Else what does man marry forP"
Precisely !" said Augusta. And then
"And did your wife.
"She asked nae how it was to be done ?"
answered Adam, understanding what Au-
gusta had been about to say. eyes, she
asked me how it was to be donep and /
said, that was her business, only it must be
done; and it ,Uas done.'' O..
And SO this good husband was, as he
now expressed himself, perfectly satisfied.
The truth was, that Margaret Burford,
whose acquaintance we shall very shortly
make, had gone from house to house, and,
for her own sake, had obtained that aid
which was necessary to her husband, who
was too well known to be an object Of SYM
pathy to any. .Y
And Rosalie's purse-strings had been
drawn for Margaret Buford, although Mis-
tress Camelford knew it not To the latter
Lady, Margaret had no thought Of applying
for assistance, because she felt convinced it |
would have been refused.
There was short silence between these |
two; Mistress Camelford reflected for few
moments, and then said abruptly-"Why |
were you from your home on that cold and |
and dark January nighta"
The man hesitated, and leered with his
odd eyes curiously at his interrogator.
"Well, IL don't exactly remember
but"
Mistress Camelford looked him through
and through with her cold and piercing
gaze as next she said-"It was only because
you saw the man Of whom you have spoken
quitting our house 30 strangely and suspic-
iously, that you laid violent hands upon
him ?" u
Adam Burford leered more horribly than
ever. ....,. ...
"What else should he want with the
man" He asked his questioner in very
bullying tone with which the young widow
did not seem at all offended.
Only she looked harder than ever at the
man before her, and her thin lips parted
with meaning smile, and Burford's odd
eyes fell beneath her glance; and he was
growing nervous and restless in his present
company. d.
Mattress Camelford was not mistaken in
her thoughts Of this man, who had, in real
ity, Left his home on thatvery dark january
night, resolved to waylay any traveller whom
it might be his luck to encounter ~
The man whom Burford had caught de-
from window Of Sir Jonas Rath-
borne's mansion, would prove an easy VIC
tim, he thought, since that man, whoever
he might be, could have no lawful business
there, and so would readily yield his money, |
if only to purchase silence from his assail-
ant. I " D..
But we have seen how greatly, to his
cost. Adam Burford had been mistaken, and
that Gresham, when grappled with, had al
lowed no opportunity for parley. U 4
"And now let me ask why you have come
hithera" said Augusta. .c a i
"To see Sir Jonas Rathborne to tell him
that some young gentleman is in the habit
Of dropping from the windows Of his man |
sion On to the shoulders Of passers by; to
ask for some compensation for having been
crippled for life in trying to secure a fellow |
who ee<tainly gould be eftR nothius hcnssts