The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1880-09-25
..If She VIII ahs VIII ,nn may len.ra 80.


that until we reached what was the only
really serious obstacle to our drive.
There Is a dip III the road, at the bot
tom of which runs a brook, with broad.
level meadows on the other side In
summer time, or even in ordinary
weather, it is just bit Of beck that a
child might jump over; but when the
floods are out will be "A roaring torrent in
half an hours time with the moss water
/ coming down from the moors. | felt
/ Just little uneasy about it, but nothing
to speak of; we had to cross bv a wooden
bridge that had done duty for a good
many years III storm and sunshine. only
/ 1t did not come into my head what n
/ bother it would be if the bridge should
/ have been carried away, and we should
have TO so back to Morbeck after all
Just as we came to the beck the horses
SHE'D and stopped, in spite of all the
! coachman could do to soothe or URGE
them. SO at last says be to the lad who
was beside him:
Jump down, Jem, and see if the
/ bridge is all right"
Down got Jem, and hunted about for
a while Ill the darkness; but all OF a sud
! den the mist lifted on the other side of
| the bcck-which was roaring down in
/ speat by them-amd there was woman
all in white reckoning under big oak
/ tree; SO he cried out:
- | say, missus."
She made no answer, but kept on that
waving of her hand, and Jem cried out
again:
. say, missus, can we cross that
bridge?"
In another moment he was up beside
the coaclman, saying, $50 on, George;
| can't hear what she says, but she mods
and lseckons to say it's all right, " and we
drove on. | can't tell you how it hap
pencd exactly, my dear boy, but Just us
we got to the middle Of the bridge, there
was horrible crash and crackle, and we
were all struggling for dear life in that
hlll-torrent. | managed to get one of
the doors open, and dragged Lucy,
drenched and insensible, on to the wreck
| OF the carriage, and between us we got
her to shore. Both the horses were
killed, partly by drowning in their traces,
partly by kicking each other to death in
their agony ! fancy; but George, Jcm
! and | managed to rig up a sort Of litter,
and make the best of our way back, with
Lucy on 1t, to Morbeck Hall. We got
her III, and the womcnkind put her TO
bed, and the doctor was brought; but it
was too late. Apart from the shock and
the cold, she had some injury to the
spine, | believe, and she died Just ut
midnight, without ever moment of con
sciOusness.
/ leave you to imagine what | suffered
/ 10 L
my darling's wedding morning-an now
they were streakiug her for the grave !!
[ could do nothing but sit dazed in the
library, thinking of what might have
been and what was; but my reveric was
interrupted by old Mrs. Partridge, the
housekecper, who came III for instrlc-
tons. After ! had said all that / thought
necessary, | noticed that she fingered as
if 10th to go, but [ thought little of it,
till She half muttcrcd as she reluctantly
turned the handle of the door
"Ah, poor lamb, | knew how it would
be when [ heard her speak Of the Broad
Terrace"
This reused me to curiosity. "What
do You mean, Mrs. Partridge 2" | said.
What is there against the Broad Ter
racc?"
She turned and looked at me with a
gaze half sceptical, half-apologetica rs she
said:
"Do you mean to tell me, strand
you halt a Gedgc, as a body may say
that you ncyerheard of the Cold Hand of
Morbcck? Did you never hear of Mis-
tress Alicia, then, her whose portrait
hangs over the mantle-piece in the oak
drawing-room?'
There rose before my minds eyes Il
picture at which had often gazed with a
strange underlined feeling of pleasure,
pain, and pity combined. The face was
that of Il proud and lovely woman; but
it bore the expression of ono who had
passed through some terrible agony,
! which had hardened instead Of softened
her nature | answered that | knew it
well, but not of any story especially
connected with it. "And what has that
to do with-what did You call it p the
Cold Hand of MorbecB p said |, rs there
came over me, with rush of uncXplain-
/ ed apprehension, that strange assertion
of poor Lucy's, just after we had started
ON our ill-Omened drive.
D." Well, sir, its longish story, but
I'll tell it to you as | had it from those
who had the right to know; though the
family didn't much care to have it talked
about but they're all dead and gone
now, all dead and gone And you were
nearest to my young lady, for | don't
/ count that Mrs. Postlethwayte, with her
/ naughty, prying ways. As if | didn't
! know how the house ought TO bcmanaged
! who had lived here, girl and wo-
man, for better than forty years. Ii WAS
in the old troubles, sir, before the As,
and then, as yesterday, there was naught
4 but an heiress to Morbcck, Mistress
/ Alicia. She was a great beauty, they
|. tell me, and her fathers idol, and half
the young gentleman in the country
were ready to cross swords for her smile.
/ Amongst all her sIlitors, the only one
whom she seemed to favor was her cous-
I in, Mr.. Arthur Gedge, and Captain
+. Won Loom, an officer in the queens
! guards, who had seen her first at the
county ball, and danced with her half
the evening; they were both handsome
young fellows, and folks said they had
fought about her next morning, but
nothing serious had come of it, and no
body could say which she favored, or il
she had a fancy, it was thought to be
for her cousin.
"You know, sir, there were a great
many of the gentry here obouts who
would have liked to see the old Stuarts
get their own again, but the Gedges ha,
always kept to themselves, and had never
been suspected of plotting or the like
You know all about the retreat from
81, I. l