The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1879-10-02

as was possible to the less fortunate.
| When the official assistance came, and
fires were set blazing to give light, almost
his first care was to try and seek out his
dangerous fellow-traveler. In the con-
fusion, nobody was prepared, Of course,
to listen to Jacks account of her, even
had he been prepared then to give it.
She was not, evidently, moving about
among the crowd; he assured himself of
that; but supposing her, like himself, to
have escaped injury (and he concluded
that this was likely, might she not, with
the stealth and cunning incidental to her
malady, be hiding, and by thus further
eluding detection, become, with her ho-
micidal mania, as dangerous to the COM
munity at large rs some fierce, wild ami
NAL would be? The thought made him
shudder; he must lose no time in assur-
| ing himself of her fate.
| AS soon as an approach to order could
| be evolved out of that awful chaos, he
had convinced himself that she was not
among the injured. Then he turned to
the dead. His eye fell upon several mu-
tilated and motionlcss forms, which had
been laid IN an ominous low at the foot
OF ono part of the embankment. Hers
was not among them: he could find no
trace Of her.
At length, as Il sickly dawn was begin
ming to make the search easier, he endeav-
| ored to discover the spot where the carri-
age he had occupied had fallen, and to
rctracc his steps (quite to the rear of the
train, by the way) to the place where he
found himself lying after the catastrophe.
By this time he had made known brief
ly to some officials that woman was
missing who had been in tho carriage
with him, and one or two Of them followed
him in his quest, Presently he realized
pretty we'll where he had been thrown
he all but identified the spot. Then he
scrambled through the hedge, and there
on the opposite side, on the sloping bank
| of ditch, he behcld, lying quite still,
her dark, unmistakablc form.
lie ran forward, and, bending over her
and looking down upon the marble, up
turned face, saw at a glance that there
was nothing dangerous about her now
! those terrible eyes were closed forever
| Except for slight wound on one temple,
whence little blood had trickled, and
the distorted, but now rigidly closed
hand, which had been so lately ut his
throat, she looked as calm and uniniured
as it she was merely sleeping, while death
bad restored for a brief period much of
that beauty, the traces Of which struck
him when her veil was first lifted.
One of the surgeons here came hurry
! ing up in answer to summons.
"Good heavens!" he exclaimed, .shcu
she is then, ut last! Why, she must have
been in the train, how ON earth did she
manage it?''
"Who is shea" inquired Jack, earnest
ly, with strange return of the old mex.
pllcablc sensation. Who is she? You
appear to know her. Pray tell me.''
"Oh, one of our inmates; she got away
yesterday morning, no one knows how
was the answer.
''You arc from Longmoor, then. How
long has she been there? What is her
"Oh, she has been there upward of
twenty years, l believe; long before my
timc'
'And her namc?"
"Upon my word, at this moment can
hardly" went on the doctor, mechanical
ly passing his fingers over one of the
pulselcss wrists before him, and with a
calm hesitation, which contrasted strong
ly with Jacks earnest, impetuous man
ner, II can hardly remember. l think
she was committed for the murder of her
own little girl. 1t was very sad case, |
know. All! her name; have it," went
Oh the doctor suddenly; her name was
Pallant-Rachel Pallant."
Jack sprang from the kneeling posture
i'll which he was, rs If he had been shot
Why, that was his own dead mothers
name! But pshaw! what of that
Well, it was rather startling colnci.
dence; that was all! Aye but was it all
Indeed no.
The inquest led to revelation. Tha,
inquiry fully explained what haA been
the nature Of the influence which the
weird pale face and strange presence had
upon my friend.
The strong but subtle link which nc
time or absence can vuitc sundcr existing
between mother and son had made itself
felt the instant those two sat face to face
tor the unhappy woman was indeed nc
other than Jacks own mother!
He had never been told; in fact it had
been carefully kept from him. Why 1un
the risk of cloudiug for life that bright
and happy temperament? He was only
four years old when the dreadful business
happcned; hence he had scarcely known
a mothers care-shc was lost to him, tc
the world, as completely as if she had
died. Nay, death would have been a
mercy by comparison, and it was gener.
ally assumed that she was dead; only q
few intimate friends knew the truth.
The poor lady's mind had given way
suddenly after the birth of child, which
did not live. Within a week the homi-
cidal mania possessed her; by the mercst
chance she had been prevented from com.
uniting some frightful outrage upon he1
little boy, my poor friend Jack; and re.
straint not having been put upon her in
tlmc-tor her malady had hardly been
suspected. SO unlocked for was its an.
pcarance-she consummated her deadly
propensity upon her eldest child, a girl
fifteen years of agc-killcd her, in a
word, as she lay asleep.
And here, after a lapse of twenty years
was the climax and end Of the tragedy
as dreadful; as anything that had gone
before. The order for release, when il
came, brought with it as much suffering
Ito all but one) as had the order for cap
tlvity. No wonder that Jack was an al
tered man. have never seen a smile or
his face since though I trust that time
with its healing influence, may at last
soften the blow.
An Astounding Discovery.
From the London Athenmum.
onrrocr0r1o.>t hos