Mexico weekly ledger., 1877-02-01

be brave" Those were the very
words of Arabella's letter that had been
haunting me for a month, ringing in
my ears their racking mockery, till of
their syllables my soul was sick.
/ felt myself seized with sudden en-
nifty against this girl who had re-
peated them. But there was little
time in which to indulge my animoisty.
Some one sprang down the stairway
from the summer-house that had been
Miss Reeds object of interest upon the
bluff-a servent from the hotel to sum-
mon her to her aunt; and she babe me
good-by at once.
Such was her haste, I hardly could
persuade her to let me accompany her
across the lawn.
"Next time we meet" 7 said, as she
flew along softly by my side, "I shall
beg you to explain to me an expression,
certainly the most foreign and the most
unsentimentai that | v have heard
ascribed either to a frivolous watering
place or to the sad sea-Waves.'"
l uttered this sentence with precisely
the sarcastic iciness of tone which q SEN
sitiFe girl, who has just departed a little
from the ordinary routine of talk with
astranger, would be most likely to hate.
And | had the satisfaction of perceiving
a panied look cross her face. 1t was
replaced, however, Immediately, as we
reached the piazza, by q friendly smile,
a quick "good-morning," and she was
gone.
The fancy ball was the event of the
week. In every detail of pleasure and
magnifcence it was pronounced q sue
cess. To me il was q brilliant bore,
not even eniivened by the presence of
"the girl in the red jacket" Where
had she been-unsought and unmissed
through all the dazzling hours of the
ball? | was just about mentally inquir-
ing, when Ali and sprang from our
eHairs, aroused by the most piercing
E6hraeks that eve broke from a woman's
Dead silence followed; then a rush
ct footsteps down the passage; and then
againthose heartrending cries. At the
next moment MINIS voice at our door:
Alfred! Robert! are you there? are
gonup?" and, rs we hastily withdrew
the bolt, herself, pale as a ghost.
Come with me, both of you," she
gasped.
We followed her along the hall
where, at the head of the stairway, |
saw Miss Reed apparently trying to calm
q frightened group of people startled
from their rooms, half disrobed like
ourselves-and turned into a narrow
entry, where, at sound of Alf's voice,
Mrs. Colt cautiously opened a door,and,
ordering Mimi authoritatively to retire,
admitted us to an interior which ex-
planned at q glance the source of those
thrilling shrieks.
In the midst of the apartment, STROUD
ed ina night dress bearing evidence of
3 struggle, like the tossed bed beyond,
stood b Slender woman, with her out
Estretched arms held fast by two men,
between whom, her head bowed upon
her breast and her face hidden by
dropping hair, she was swaying herself
to and fro in the lull of d frantic parox-
ysm.
Before Mrs. Colt had time to explain
how she had herself been summoned to
this scene, the roman lifted her head,
gazed at us stupidity for a minute, and
then, with a darling glance of recogni-
ton, an individualizing intelligence, d.
rected solely, as | felt in every nerve of
my body, against me, dashed herself
away from the unguarded men and
ieaped like a tigress at my throat. A
brief conflict there was, such as | trust
in its faintest resemblance Ishall never
know o. see again. When at last we
flung the poor creature on the pillow,
she lay like one dead.
A vague interval followed. ALI, l
believe, vas binding up my bleeding
wrist. Then / perceived that Miss Reed
had entered the room, and that, with
soothing little movements and low
voiced lulling accents, such as mothers
use to tired babes, she was leaning over
the bed.
This dangerous maniac, then, was
the "invalid aunt " of Helen Reed.
The hotel had its resident physician,
but on that night he was not to be
found; and, when it was proposed to
send to the village for medical assist
ance, Miss Reed interposed.
If It were possible, she said, to return
to New York at once, this was her most
urgent wish: to be at home again d.
rectly, before another fit of excitement
should occur, and under the care of
their W physician, who understood
the case by experience of years, and
would deal best, she thought, with this
new phase, so dreadful, so distressing,
SO unexplained. Could we assist her to
accomplish this?
Mrs. Colt acquiesced in the propriety
of Immediate removal. She offered to
accompany Miss Reed to New York
but it was decided, as the patient be-
came more and more quietly composed,
that they would be sufficiently protected
by ALT and myself.
The journey was accomplished in
safety, although my assistance was OF
little avail, for my presence seemed to
excite the maniac, so that at last [ did
not venture to appear in her sight.
just as we were abou: reaching New
York, Miss Reed called me to her, and
said,