Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1878-01-03
CHAPTER II.

Before Mrs. Forester could find voice to
utter the question which trembled on her lips,
it was asked and answered for her.
"Why, where's Birdie?" cried Albert.
This was his pet name for his baby sister, and
the one by which she generally called her.
SELF Little Helen, rushing forward, threw
herself, breathless and sobbing, into her moth
er's arms.
"Oh! mamma, Adas gone. We looked
everywhere, and she's lost papa looked, too" !"
With a blanched face and quivering lips,
Mrs. Forester turned toward her husband for
confirmation of this statement. She read in
the expression of his countenance that the
little girls words were only too true.
my dearest Emily" he hurriedly exclaim.
ed, cIasping her cold hands in his; "trust Inc,
every effort shall be made to recover our
child. She must have strayed off while the
others were not attending to her, and lost her.
self in some nook or hollow which we have
not yet been able to find. I only returned to
see these others safely home, and am going
back Immediately to renew the search; but
first l must procure assistance from the
hotel"
Juanita, who was crying bitterly, stole to
Mrs. Forester's side. 81 turned my back but
for moment" she faltered through her tears,
"but for one single moment, while [ went to
gather some ferns. They were such large
ones, and Helen asked me to get them for her
to bring to you and We left the little one
sitting on a stone, not dozen yards of.
When l looked again, she was gone"
The landlady had come up with the party
in time to hear this account. She now COM
menced to heap reproaches and abuse on the
poor girl, who was the picture Of remorse aud
grief, and without suffering her to reply, hur-
ried her off towards the house. The others
followed-a melancholy procession; Mrs.
Forester, scarcely able to walk, supported by
her husbands arm. The latter only paused
to see her within doors, and charging Albert
to remain with her and attend to her wants,
hastened off to enter upon fresh quest, &C.
companied by Mr. Cobb and several more
who had volunteered their services. Every
body about the place knew and admired the
winning, rkeyed child, and sympathized in
the parents anxiety and distress.
Weariy the hours of that wretched night
dragged themselves along. Mrs. Forester,
far too miserable to seek even an instant's re-
pose, watched by the bedside Of Helen, who,
missing her darling companion and bedfel.
low, had cried herself to sleep; while Albert,
who had insisted on sharing his vigil, nodded
uueasily in chair, and finally, overcome by
the weariness which he strove in vain to re.
sist, slumbered as profoundly as though he
were on a couch Of down. Daylight came,
but brought with it no relief to the suffering
of suspense. A little before breakfast time
the ex ploring party returned, tired and dis
heartened. They had found no traces of the
lost child, but one-a little shoe, stained with
damp, which Mr.. Forester had picked up in
the dewy grass on the outskirts of the wood
This discovery gave them no clue, for they
sought in vain for the print of footsteps
around. The grass was thick, and the ground
beneath it too hard to retain the impression
of any but a heavy weight. The search had
been extended for miles in every direction
even to the banks Of rough, wild stream
that, brawling over rocky bed, fell foaming
into deep, still pool below; spot so far
distant from the little ones starting point
that it was hardly within the bounds of pos
sibility for her to have reached it, yet the
fathers heart had stood still with dreadful
fear as he looked over into the waters gloomy
depths. This fear he did not breathe to his
wife, and she never knew that it had entered
his mind yet it was scarcel y more agonzing
than her own doubts and dread. She, poor
lady, was well.nigh distracted with grief
She sat with the poor little discolored shoe IN