Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1880-02-11
OLD ROGER BOSCAWAN.

1t was a stormy night ON bleak New
England coast. The wind and rain kept
driving piteously, and the white hungry
waves came laundering over the sand
hills and breaking in cataracts of foam
upon the desolate, rocky shore. In areom
of little cottage, built SO close to the sea
that some of the breakers, more aggres-
sive than the rest, seemed almost to
threaten to overwhelm it, old Roger
Boscawan sat smoking his pipe beside
the fire that roared UP the wide, old
fashioned chimney as if in defiance of the
tempest of wind and rain outside.
"Bless me! Leah, do you hear the
storm 90
eyes, father" -.
1t was strangely beautiful face that
looked up into the weather-beaten one of
the old man from the shadow of the pro-
jecting angle of the fireplace, and
strangely out of place 1t seemed among
the rough surroundings of the fisher
mans cabin. Large and lustrous were
the eyes of Oriental midnight darkness,
white-Edded and long-lashed. The fore
luxUriant hair was braided in heavy
and the mouth, sweet and expressive, and
parted in a SMILE Many people had
have a daughter equally unlike himself
and her brother.
6" / pity any craft that is out to-
night" the old man went on. 1' have
lived on this coast for more than fifty
wilder night than this
Leah did not answer. She had risen
from her seat, and crossing the
room, was looking out of the window
seaward She could see nothing through
the pane except the driving storm, and
the red, lurid lamp of the lighthouse,
but in the other direction could be dis
cerned few twinkling lights of the fish
ing village, and further down the town,
among its dark clump of evergreens, the
windows of Hallam Lodge were ablaze
with lights. Hallam Lodge was the
Oldest and grandest house for miles
around, and was owned by the man
whose name it bore, the direct descend
ant of Ralph Hallam, colonel In the
parliamentary armies, who had crossed
the ocean for his principles, and laid the
first stone of this new dwelling place
more than 200 years ago.
Suddenly the tramp of approaching
feet was heard through the storm out
side, and the next minute the door open
ed to admit Stephen, old Rogers son,
and three other men, who carried the in
sensible body of man between them.
He was fine, handsome fellow, this son
of the old fisherman, but utterly unlike
his sister, both in feature and in complex
ion, having a clear, ruddy skin, though
somewhat Drowned by exposure to the
weather; honest blue eyes, and curling
chestnut hair. He might have sat to an
artist for some old Morse vikings son.
but a tender look came into his face, and
his voice assumed q softer tone as he
spoke to the girl
1t is the young gentleman that they
say is soon going to marry Miss Edith
Hallam," he said, as they laid tlreuncon-
sclous man upon the warm hearthstone
before the fire.
ellis yacht struck on the rocks below
the lighthouse, and all hands were lost
but him. He has breath of life In him
yet, though, and we may pull him
through. Give me some of that rum out
of the closet, little sister,"
She did so In silence, and then, In
obedience to her brothers command. she
knelt down and began to chafe the wet,
white hands of the unconscious man,
while Stephen poured some of the warm
spirits down his throat.
She could not help admiring the hand
some face, SO still and pallid, supported
on her brother knee. The features were
regular and highbred, with dark, black
curls falling over the high, white fore
head. She was thinking, too, what
handsome hands they were, into which
she was trying to rub returning life
almost as small as her own-when sharp
knock came to the door, and young
lady, tall but stately, swept into the cabin
and knelt beside him.
&c / am his: cousin, and it is my right, :"
she said sweetly, yet decisively, as she
took the hands, to which the warmth of
life was slowly beginning to return, be-
tween her own.
Leah relinquished them at once, and
shrank to her position in the shadow of
the fireplace, with feeling in her breast
she had never known before This tall,
stately young Lady was Miss Edith Hal
lam, the heiress of the lodge, and she