Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1879-02-07

scorched fragments of the will were
still scattered upon the hearthstono;
when he had passed downstairs she
gathered them up hastily and hid them
away.
al wouldn't have thought Carrie set
so much by old lady Parrott," said Mrs.
Stare TO DIR. Gilbert after having been
over to cOndole in neighbOrly fashion.
Though felt q sight more like offer
ing congratulations" she confessed.
"She sat there with sort of absent
look in her eyes, and when you spoke
to her it was as if her mind had been
playing truant a thousand miles away.
If she'd poisoned the old lady she
couldn't have looked more wretched.
I've heard say that moneys mighty un-
settling Maybe they've told you that
there amt any will TO be foundp SO
Mrs. Fame shares her grandfather's
means with all those hussies, who
haven't a right to a red cent"
"They have told me nothing" said
the doctor, who was puzzled himself by
Carries mood.
"You were very fond of Miss Par
rottP'' he ventured to say when they
met again.
mo" answered Carrie honestly and
briefly, rs if the subject were dismissed.
"Was it the near neighborhood of
! DEATH he asked himself, (Which lent
| her that distraught air, that frozen, inn
| passive gaze, as if the objects of to-day
passed before the retina without inn
pressing themselves upon it, or had the
prospect of sudden possession wrought
the spellp'
Whatever the cause, she grew daily
more reserved and absorbed; one
needed to address her twice before
! claiming her attention. A deep unnat-
ural color burned upon her cheeks or
! left them white as snow; her ewes grew
hollow and glittering, and a month
from the date of Miss PARROTS death
MIR. Gilbert found her in high fever.
"The King shall have his own
again" she muttered, looking into his
face with no answering recognition.
Z" 1t was all our own, you know-no
harm done. o, those ugly beadsl How
| big they've grown! as big as cannon
balls! They will crush me to death;
don't let them! Pick them up-one,
two, three-slippery things! pick them
up. How it blazed, tool pretty bon
fire, by my life! Mammals grand
fathers. There they come again, those
beads, yellow as gold. Take them
away; they're like milestone about
my reck. don't want them; | want
nothing-only sleep"
Poor childr' thought the doctor;
"good fortune has worked her ill.,
Miss Carrie, will you drink this-for
meP"
For you? a cup of cold poison? o,
DR.. Gilbertr' with n CLEAN of intelli-
gence, quickly fading away. Would
the woman he loves have done so if it
had been her great-grandfather's
Would he have loved her Just the same?
just bit of paper to make all this coil!
If tell Aunt Parrott when she wakes
she will see her mistake and do better.
How cold she is-Aunt Parrot, speak!
speak! speak! O, the beads If / tell
him he will hate me, despise men'
And so day after day, with occasional
CLEANS of consciousness, with confused
mutterings and references to some har-
assng care, at which DR.. Gilbert could
only guess, the fever ragged, till one
morning she lay upon her pillow weak
as an infant, but sane.
"Where is my mother?" she asked
Ine nurse, IeeDly.
"Your ma is taking a nap; we won't
wake her yet. Can you taste little
wine, think?"
cam l very ill?'
"pm afeard you be, miss" returned
her indiscreet attendant. "Your ma
hasn't had her clothes off.
~ am better?
mot that | know of; l amt one of
them as thinks it best to hide the truth
from the patient. Who knows but
body may have something to do or say
before the great changer And then,
betwiXt the saddle and the ground, if
mercy's asked mercy's found;' and we
all needs it,
"Am going to die?" gasped Carrie,
making wild effort, as if she would
move away from the Destroyer's grasp.
" Hush, child! not to-day, not to-day.
Drink the wine, and you'll feel better.
You won't 60 to-day, reckon
mot to-day? Shall l die soon-to-
morrow"
"Who knows? Your symptoms may
mend all at once. Don't fret; you'll
not leave us to-day; the doctor himself
said as much"
Carrie lay so still upon the pillow, like
marble image of Silence, that Mrs. !
Wilful thought that she had been |
asleep, when she spoke again: elf l |
am going-to die-sOon, must see DR.. |
Gilbert. Make haste, please"
Was it the mist of death or illness
through which Carrie saw DR.. Gilbert
that gave his countenance that ghastly
hue, his eyes that melting tenderness, |
a. ItflI hxrt
put out her hand as he approached, and |
smiled family, as if the effort were too
great for repetition. "You would have |
saved me-if you could" she said. 81
thank you; you have always been so
kind-nobody was ever so kind to me-"
"Who could help being kind TO youP
have been only kind to myself. am
afraid did not so much think of you in
my kindness as of myself"
But when the secrets of all hearts |
are opened" she pursued" when the
secrets of all hearts are opened, you
might feel sorry to find was not so !
good as you thought-not worth your |
kindness; and could not bear that you
should have hard thoughts of me-
Hard thoughts of you Carrier" re-
peated DR.. Gilbert, with a quiver in his |
tone and great sob in his throat. 81
shall never have any but the sweetest,
tenderest thoughts of you, of whom
am not worthy to think at all"
"You fancy so now; wait till you hear
my story. | must make it short, am
so tired! But that dreadful money is
not ours at all. How much wrong-do-
ing it has caused! You must tell |
mamma. Aunt Parrott had left me
only string of gold beads-so L
burned the will! She gave it me to
read; meant to have told her, but in
the morning she was gone. And then
her nieces seemed so hard couldn't
tell them, and the secret grew so big
could scarcely drag about with it,"