The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1879-08-13

Sne uuSt uldITy hlleS. 1 ue olu peoPAS
pulled against her at first, but at last
Norah, with her smiles and pretty ways
won over Father Tom-who won over the
old people, till at last they said that il
Miles would 60 for a while to the black
pits of Pennsylvania and earn the money
and buy house and a bit Of land, he
should marry her.
He paused, and for time there was 81
lence. Shawn looked thoug ghtfully into thu
fire; 1 lay back in my easy chair and
carelessly watched the smoke which curled
from my cigar, and as did so seemed tc
hear again the wildly plaintive voice of the
girl as I had heard it before that night:
81 have called my love but he still sleeps on,
And Lis lips are IS cold as clay;"
and as the words of the song passed through
my mind, theyi seemed to tell me the sequel
of the story.
"Another case OF disastrous true love,
I said, turning to Shawn; and when he
looked puzzled, l added, she died, and she
is mourning him"
"Yes, yer honor, he died but if that was
all he did We would forgive him. What
broke the poor colleen's heart was that he
should forget her when he got to the strange
land, and marry another colleen at the
time he should have married her; after
that it was but right that he should die"
"Did he write and tell her he was mar
ried?"
"Write? no, nor till he was dead either.
Here was the poor colleen watching and
waiting for him for two whole years and
wondering what could keep him; but few
months ago Owen Macgrath, boy who had
gone away from the village long ago on ac-
CONT OF Norah refusing to marry him,
came back again and told Nora that Miles
was dead and asked her to marry him. He
had made lots of money and was ready to
take house Ind hit OF land and to buy up
cattle if she would but say the word to
him."
"Well?
"Well, yer honor, Nora first shook her
head and said that now Miles was dead
twas as we'll for her to die too. At this Owen
spoke or and asked where was the use OF
grieving 80, since for many months before
his death Miles had been a married man
Well, when Owen said this, Nora never
spoke single word, but her teeth set and
her lips and face were white and cold as
clay, and ever since that day she has been
so strange in her ways that some think she's
not right at all. On moonlight nights she
creeps out OF the house and walks by the
sea, singing them strange old songs; then
she looks out as if expecting him 10 come
to her-and right or wrong, she'll never
look at another man!'
As Shawn finished the hall clock chinied
five; the last spark faded from my cigar;
the turf fell low in the CRATE; so went to
bed to think over the story alone.
During the three days which followed
this midnight adventure, ,Storport was visited
by deluge of rain, but on the fourth
morning / looked from my window to find
the earth basked in summer sunshine. The
sky was vault of throbbing blue, hecked
here and there with waves of summer cloud,
the stretches of sand grew golden in the sHn
rays, while the saturated hills were bright
rs if from the smiling of the sky. The sight
revivifed me, and as soon as my breakfast
was over I whistled up my dogs and
strolled out into the air.
How bright and beautiful everything
looked after the heavy rain! The ground
was spongy to the tread the dew still lay
heavily upon the heather and long grass
but the sun seemed to be sucking up the
moisture from the bog. Everybody seemed
to be out that day; and most people were
busy. Old men drove heavily laden
donkeys along the muddy road young
girls carried their creels of turf across the
bog; and by the roadside, close to where l
stood, the turf-cutters were busy.
I stood for while and watched them at
their work, and when l turned to 60 saw
for the first time that l had not been alone.
Not many yards from me stood 4 figure
watching the turf-cutters too.
A young man, with high boots. felt hat
cooked rakishly over one eye, and a vest
composed OF all the colors of the rainbow.
When the turf-cutters, pausing suddenly in
their work, gazed at him with wonder in
their eyes, he gave peculiar smile and
asked if they could tell where one Nora
OConnell lived; he was stranger here and
brought her news from the States! In a
moment dozen fingers were outstretched
to point him on, and the stranger, again
smiling strangely to himself, walked away.
| stood for time and watched him 20,
then too sauntered on. / turned off from
the road, crossed the bog, and made direct
for the seashore.
Ihad been walking there for some quarter
of an hour, when suddenly huge shadow
was flung across my path, and looking up
again beheld the stranger. His hat was
pushed back now, and l saw for the first
time that his face was handsome. His
cheeks were bronzed and weather-beaten,
but his features were finely formed, and on
his head clustered a mass of curling chest
nut hair. He was flushed as ifwith excite
ment; he cast me hurried glance and
disappeared.
Five minutes after, as I still stood Won
dering at the strange behavior of the man,
my ears were greeted with shrek which
pierced to my very heart. Running in the
direction from whence the sound proceeded,
| reached the top of. a neighboring sand
hill, and gazing into the valley below me l
again beheld the stranger. This time his
head was bare-his arms were outstretched,
and he held upon his breast the half-fainting
form of the lovely girl whom had last be-
held in the moonlight. While | stood hesi-
tating as to the utility OF descending, saw
the girl gently withdraw herself from his
arms, then clasping her hands around his
neck, fall sobbing on his breast.
"Well, Shawn, what's the news" asked
that night when Shawn rushed excitedly
into my room. For a time he could tell
me nothing, but by dint of few we'll ap-
piled questions soon extracted from him
the whole story. 1t amounted to this : that
after working for two years like galley
slave, in the black pits Of Pennsylvania
with nothing bnt the thought of Nora to
help him on, Miles Doughty found himself
with enough money to warrant his coming
home; that he was about to return to Stor.
port, when unfortunately, the day before
his intended departure, q shaft in the coal.
pit fell upon him and he was left for dead
that for many months he lay ill, but as soor
rs he was fit to travel he started for home
Arrived in Storport he was astonished tc
find that no one knew him, and ne was about
TO pass himself off as friend of his own
when the news of his reported death anc
termined to make himself known at once.
"And God help the villain that told hel
he was married." concluded Shawn, fol
he swears he'll kill him as soon as Norah-
God bless her!-comes out O. the feve
that she's in tonight"
Just three months after that night, fount
myself sitting in the hut where Moral
! O'Connell dwelt. The cabin was illumin