The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1878-03-21

men availed not, Mr.. Arlingford 60
offended, and cried, "Let her please
herself, Pensle. Ring and order San
to bring the carriage round"
Dora swallowed a cup Of tea, ant
choked down a morsel Of bread, anC
then she went back to her room TO pu
on her hat.
Locking the trunks took but few
moments.
She flung herself upon a chair and
wept silently, feeling to be the most
desolate and friendless being on the
face of the earth.
What should she do in Londonp
Go to her fathers lawyer, and tell
him she did not want to marry Walter
GRAY, then live alone In such lodgings
as the remnant of her fortune could
afford her.
All it was indeed, a terrible mistake,
that clause i'm the will.
But In the midst of her musings stole
sound that filled her once more with
awe.
The swish Of garment, the rustling
of paper, just as it aroused her last
night.
Dora gazed about her like one bereft
of reason.
The large, old Bible lay quiet enough
and closed exactly where she had
placed it-no living thing was in the
room but herself.
And then she saw the whole mystery.
The window was partly open, and
slight puff of wind had blown out the
crisp white curtains in the room; then
receding, had sucked them outward
through the aperture, while the imprs-
oned air, running up the blind, had
caused the tissue-paper hanging at the
top to rustic.
There came another puff, the trail OF
the curtain over the carpet, the rustic
of the paper hanging.
Dora sat gazing at the window, her
face, in Its astounding thankfulness,
study for an artist.
AT this moment Penelope came in.
She had evidently been weeping.
1.-THE carriage is ready, deal cousin,
sighed she, tremulously.
Dora passed her hand over her fore
head, then, facing her rival, asked, In
a hurried tone, "Were you up any time
last night, Miss Arlihgford?"
eyes," answered Penelope, In sur
prise. "About four o'clock last night
| rose and shut my window. The wind
was rising"
"Did you hear u cock crow as you did
SOP"
Eyes, l did. Why do you ask, dear ?
Stay! know why! You were fright
ened by hearing a board creak behind
your bed. l should have told you about
that board; how stupid Of me !"
81 heard board creak," said Dora,
scarcely believing her own ears.
eyes, 1t ought to be fastened down.
1t runs the whole breadth of the house,
and when tread on one end of it in
my room, the other end creaks In this.
Listenw
She ran along the passage, shutting
the door after her, and in moment the
veritable creaking commenced, accom-
panied by the clicking of the latch of
the door, which had SO petrified Dora.
When the young lady returned, the
expression of her cousins features was
so nightly altered that she exclaimed,
"Why, my darling girl, l do think you
wanted to leave us because you thought |
the house was haunted"
"Per-perhaps-yes, faltered Dora,
wistfully gazing at her.
"You poor little darling" murmured |
Penelope, in a voice of deep compassion,
and she took Dora's unresisting hand |
in hers, "Why would you not tell me
Don't you know, Dora," and smile
played around her lips, "that we ought
to love each other dearly? We are
both going to marry Walter Cray,
and be the closest sort of cousins"
care there two Walter Crays?" ejac-
luated Dora.
"What!" cried Penelope, her counte-
nance slowly crimsoning as the situa-
tion burst upon her; "did you-imag-
inc"
She never completed the sentence,
but snatched up the poor, tried little
orphan to her bosom, strained her there,
and covered her fearful, smiling face
with kisses, which were fully returned.
But Dora never revealed the whole of
her terrible mistake.