River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1877-05-31
THE wARDER's DAUGHTER.

lildl sue Was Dtdulllui- lcI ldlleI Was a
warder in prison. Among the prison
9rs was one at the registering of whose
name at his entrance Marion had been
present, and something in his youthful
though sullen face attracted her pitifuI
glance He had stolen repeatedly from
his benefactor, and finally had admitted
into the house in the nighttime gang OF
burglars, who had secured considerable
booty and made off with il in safety,
save one, after severely pounding the pro-
prietor of the house This one who was
not able to escape betrayed the compile
ity of the young man in The affair He
was tried, convicted and sentenced.
There was no redeeming feature appar-
emily to the story, but somehow the face
haunted the girls gentle thoughts. Per
haps it was because she had Young
brother who was a wild lad, wandering
Just now in disgrace, no one knew
whittier, and all the more tenderly loved
by Marion because of his sad ways.
One day as she leaned on the window
sill, looking with a wistful sadness into
the yard at the prisoners, one of them
looked up, and, changed as he was in
every wan. thin feature, she knew again
the black sullen eyes that yet were some
how like an angry, obstinate child's.
Her glance followed him as though
fascinated, and rs he passed from sight
she sighed softly and went to look at the
prison record for the poor lads name.
1t was Aymer Preston.
The next she knew of him he was in
the sick ward
For few weeks she saw him there,
but the gloomy eyes never softened, only
gazed straight before them from the hol-
low sockets, or hid themselves obstinate
ly behind the wasted lids.
lie never spoke, he scarcely ate; and
the prison physician told Marion that he
was dying of sheer inanition.
ats my opinion he's trying to starve
himself to death, he said.
Marion drew near the sick lad
She bent over him and spoke with gen.
tie firmness.
But she might as well have talked to
the wall, for all sign he gave of having
heard.
Marion left the ward with a shocked
and anxious face.
4" Let me know if there is any change,
or you think of anything that | can do"
she then SAID TO the doctor.
But at dusk the doctor was called away
by serious illness in his own family, and
near midnight the assistant, going his
rounds, found Amyer Preston dead in
bed.
ats either make believe or heart break,
DIR. Putney said, harply, when word
was brought him, and he ordered that
Preston's body should be kept wrapped
in blankets and not removed till he saw
it.
The order was obeyed, but when three
days saw no change in the form, DIR.
Putney having meanwhile examined it,
it was removed to the dissecting room.
Marion Hydc's window commanded a
view of his mysterious and horror-i nspir-
ing apartment As she stood at her win
dow that night she thought, with a vague
thrill of pain. of the one cold, still tenant
of that terrible room.
She was not a timid, superstitious crea-
ture, nor by any means given TO nervous
ness; so when she saw the window Of the
dissecting-room slowly lifted, and a
gaunt, wild face appear at the opening,
instead of screaming or running away, she
stood still She knew that her heart was
throbbing wildly, but she knew also that
ii was no phantom she looked upon. Doc
tor Putney had been right all the time.
Aymer Preston was not dead, and thus he
was making one wild effort for liberty
Marion Hyde stood and watched him.
She could not call out just then if he
had been the most desperate and hard
ened criminal within those walls. Be
sides, the poor wretch was only mOcking
himself. He could not escape even now
except by a miracle. She saw him stop
presently beside window, which opened
into an upper hall, and after long effort
raise it and slowly drag himself through.
Obeying an impulse which she could
not at the moment control, Marion softly
opened her door and passed out without
her crutch for fear of the noise. She
reached the hall just as this poor, wasted
creature after brief rest, was urging his
half paralyzed limbs to renewed effort.
At the sight of her he gasped and dropped
in a swOon, and Marion hurried to his
side. She dared not leave him, so she
waited, rubbing his cold hands between
her tender palms, till at last he opened
his eyes and she made him comprehend
that she wanted him to come with her.
Il won't go back to prison." he whis-
pered between his set teeth.
"You need not" she said, simply, and
led him to her own chamber.
There was positively no other place
that was safe from the strict search that
she knew would be instituted as soon as
he was discovered to be missing. She
procured him some garments which had
belonged to her brother, and she got him
such food as would be safe for him to eat
after his long fast.
He regarded all her movements with
the incredulous wonderment of child.
"What has been the matter with me2"
he asked, after a while. II could not
stir any more than though | was dead,
but knew all that was going on about
me. Ugh it was frightful waiting there
in the dissecting room. / believe it was
only the horror of it helped me to break
the frightful SPELL"
Il suppose you were in sort of
trance" Marion said, thoughtfully.
''What are you going to do with meln
he asked again.
al don't know, / am sure she said,
with a sigh; "but You are safe here till |
can Think
81 don't expect you to believe me, but
| am as innocent of the crime for which /
was brought here as you are"
Guilty or innocent, | pity you, you
are so young"
Concealing him till the hue and cry
were over, Marion struggled him through
the gates in woman's dress and with a
basket of solid clothes And so the mys-
terry of Aymer Preston's escape remained
a mystery.
The years moved on. Marion was
twenty-five Her father was dead. Her
idolized brother had persisted in brawl.
She was alone in the world; an invalid,
living on the merest pittance earned
with her needle hut the same sweet