The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1880-10-28

4
mined upon a course of action. She
resolved that she would be turned out
of doors before she would consent to go
to the opera with an antediluvian relic,
who waited for her in the parlor. She
called her father back and told him
her determination. The result was
that the proud, young beauty was
promptly elected through the hall
door; for she it was who had passed
George Adolphus as he wandered in
search of his level.
George Adolphus followed swiftly on
after the young lady; hardly knowing
why he did so, feeling irresistibly drawn
by some unaccountable presentment
that all was not we'll with her. In few
moments he came up with her and fol-
owed at little distance, watching her
movements with the keenest interest.
But Maud was so intent upon some
purpose which lay deep hidden in her
heart that she did not notice him. The
street now began to be deserted, but
still the restless girl kept walking rap
idly on. At length a small foot-bridg &c
across the canal was reached. The girl
passed; was her purpose Il desperate
one? George Adolphus asked himself
this question and many more besides
as he fingered in the shadows close be-
hind her.
Murmuring something to the effect
that the heaving, white-crested pillows
which rolled at her feet would soon en-
brace her and free her from her
wretchedness, Maud began to take
down her hair.
"Going to swim - asked a voice be-
hind her.
She turned and beheld IL stranger
standing close at her hand. At first
she could not utter a word Presently,
however: she said, i'll tones that be-
trayed her intense excitement.
"Oh, sir, do not thwart my purpose,
I desire to put an end to my trouble-I
wish to sleep beneath the wave"
''There isn't any wave there" said
George Adolphus. "rhe canals dry.
You'll break your neck if you jump off
this bridge"
'But I want to find a grave in the
restless deep. want the blue pillows
to fold me in everlasting slumber,
where the sca-weeds grow in sunless
gloom
"But I tell you, my dear lady. there
isn't any restless deep anywhere
around here. You'd better put it off
till the canal opens. Here you are
talking about sleeping beneath the bill
lows. When the water won't be let on
in a month yet. And, besides, if you
want to be folded in everlasting slum-
Der, it would be wise for you to jump
into we'll. You'd have a sure thing
then,"
F'That would be horrible!!" exclaimed
Maud with a shudder.
eyes," replied George Adolphus; "it
would spoil the we'll.
Maud felt that George Adolphus was
right. True, he did not appear to en-
ter very much into tile tragic spirit of
the situation. He ought to have
dropped upon his knees and implored
her to forget her trouble and sip lit
tie longer the nectar of life. He ought
to have pictured to her imagination a
fair-haired girl lying with pallid face
and marble form in the silent bosom
of the canal, where the dolphin sports
unseen and the mermaids comb their
locks in shadowy solitude. But he did
nothing of the sort. He told her to go
home and practice in the cistern.
Maud thought the matter over for y
moment, then bursting into tears she
wrung the hand of our hero and ran
swiftly home.
George Adolphus stood upon the
bridge and watched Maud till she was
out of sight. AS he stood there, Won
dering what it was that weighed so
heavily upon the mind ofthis fair young
girl, he saw something glittering at his
feet. He stopped and eagerly picked
it up. It was golden hairpin of pc
culiar pattern. 1t occurred to him at
once that it must have been lost by the
girl when she took down her hair. He
put it in his trousers pocket, thinking
that it would be handy thirg to pawn
for breakfast. The more he tried to
forget about this fair girl, and the pre-
vlous circumstance under which he
had met her, the more persistently
they rose before him. Presently he
found himself laying plans to find out
more about her, and then it dawned
upon him that he was in love. He
then tenderly removed the hair-pin
from his trousers pocket and placed it
next his heart. It was now getting very
late, and the police were beginning to
glance suspiciously at our hero, and so
he turned into a more retired street and
determined to search for cheap lodg-
ing place.
vi.
Old Mr.. Muggleton, whom we left at
the residence of Maud's father, wended
his way homeward, filled with bitter