, 1880-07-16

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pleasure-swinging on the gate. Lock
ing down the road spied : man ccm
ing along. l few TO the house, and
satisfied that he WAS coming in, | ran tC
Sarah. Selling her dress with both
hands, exclaimed;
40 Sarah, there is a dreadful looking
man coming into the house i"
Sarah picked up the poker and walked
to the door, while J., initiating her ex
ample, picked up a stick Of wood. Sud.
denly Sarah cried, .rL,..
"You little goose It is Bill Nc.
Carly !" -.,.... ...,.. .
Sure enough, it was Sarah's beau.
Her mother was very sick, and McCarty
was sent to bring Sarah home immedi-
ately.
Here was dilemma Sarah didn't
want to leave ME, and unless she started
home then, she might not see her mother
alive, 1t was nearly time for the rest
Of the folks to come home, sol managed
to raise courage enough to say that |
was willing to remain alone. ...... /.
In a few minutes Sarah was off, and |
was left in possession Of our great house
which never seemed so large to me be-
FORE, I tried to read but it was impos-
sible; all the murder stories had ever
heard came to my mind. | remembered
that none of our doors could BE- locked.
Papa, Who had a few strange ideas, de-
clared locks were a nuisance. | felt
that was doomed .!.''!"
I went out to the yard, and, to my
disnlay, discovered that the sky was
overcast and storm near at hand. I
could see the rain coming; faster and
faster it came; it was soon at the house
Oh, how it did rainw a lo ".'
On each side Of our yarl was a
brook, pretty and peaceable in pleasant
weather, but very little rain trans
formed them both into raging torrents.
AS stood at the window l saw FIRST
one bridge and then the other swept Off 1
l knew now that / must stay alone all
night ~ would be impossible for my
brothers and sisters to get home. - io
Travellers, or as Sarah called them,
"trampers,7 often stopped at our house
over night, as there was no public house
near To my horror, l saw one of them
coming across the field. Should I hide ;
No, that was not to be thought Of.
Without stopping to knock, the great
rough man walked in. a,h -, -,
"Can l stay here all night n
I dared not refuse him, SO as firmly
as l could, answered. ~
i"Yes." ~ ~-'l "PtJ
He seemed surprised OF seeing no one
but myself and questioned me much. |
told him nay brother was upstairs writ
ing; that we two were alone This was
the first thing that entered my head to
tell him. Such villainous countenance
as that man had: rs go ''
His hair was cut close to his head,
leaving his huge ears in bold relief.
eyes, and a brutal
completed his general expression
Of ferocity. rc rry rrr0yl
Bedtime came, and I directed the
man to room upstairs in the servants
department. !; not the A"up-stairs" where
l had said my brother was. Now that
there was real danger, II was calm and
I fastened the door that
led upstairs with my embroidery scis-
sors, which happened to bein my pocket,
30 as to guard against surprise, and hur-
riedly collecting our silverware, carried
it to mammals room and hid it IN the
bed No one would have supposed the
bed had been disturbed. / was elated
at my ingenuity. U mW y"
\ l then hunted up what few jewels the
girls possessed, and placing them, with
what money ! could find, in box, /
tied them in my pocket. After doing
this 1 stole down stairs, and removed
my scissors from the door. These scis-
sors were counted among my most val
liable treasures 1 had had them many
years, and was not disposed to lose them
now. tiHy1
/ expected the man would only wait
till he thought l and my fictitious
brother were asleep, and would then
search the house for valuables, and
finish by killing me- Only one plan for
escape that originated seemed feasible.
l determined to wait. till / heard my
lodger in the room below, and then wrap
myself in papa's shawl and jump out Of
the window. was not kept in sus-