The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1880-11-16
LooMF1EID PA, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1e, 1880

like to admit that Boyce had purposely
wrought shame to one who, if she was
beneath him in station, had been more
than his equal In honor until he had
met her. 1t was in no enviable state of
mind that Squire Everleigh alighted at
his door.
Boyce Everleigh reached London, and
with remarkable expedition purchased
his commission and Joined his regiment
England was then arming in hot haste
to defend the Sultan against the Gar
Within two months Boyce Everleigh
had left England to join the army in the
Crimea; but before he departed he found
time to make a hurried visit to Kent,
and meet the broom makers daughter.
When he parted from her he placed
letter in her hand, saying:
Bessie my own, if should never
live to return, you will take this to my
father, and ask him to open it in your
presence. Now good-by, darling" and
he kissed her, and jumping upon his
horse, was gone.
What ails the girl ?" said David
Strachan one day to his wife, "she does
not NOPE, nor does she complain, but
she is ready to attend prayer as the best
of us, and she seems so, earnest, too, tits
a strange thing for her who used to be
so wilful.'
" Harken, husband" said his sponse,
"if she has found grace we ought rather
to rejoice"
'And so we do" replied the broom
maker, "but yet 1 can't help feeling
surprise, Notwithstanding my gladness.
But the point which puzzles me is, if
she really has had change of heart,
why don't she talk of religion? That's
what don't understand"
His wife did not or could not answer
his question, SO the conversation was
dropped. 'Tis true David did give up
the theme, and he endeavored from time
to time to engage his daughter in relig-
ious conversation without any success.
She did not rudely repulse him, but she
evinced no inclination to listen to the
exhortations he proffed. She now rarely
left the house, and passed much of her
time in reading the newspapers and in
writing.
England and her allies were thunder
ing at the walls of Sebastopol, and
Bessie's heart beat painfully when she
ran her eyes over the list of casualties
which frequently appearedin in the papers.
Thus time wore on, and many heart
ached and sighed for the hour that
should restore the loved ones again to
their accustomed places. But there was
to be heavy and untold grief ere Eng
lands soldiers should march home
again, and Bessie was to have her hour
of sorrow.
When the ''Six Hundred" rode out
from under the Russian guns, Boyce
Everleigh's 3 steed came back riderless,
and the newspapers, giving an account
of that mad charge, paid glowing
tribute to Captain Everleigh, who was
numbered among the slain.
Before Boyce Everleigh left England
he provided Bessie with an ample sum
of money, and she had never used a
penny of 1t yet. Now she Immediately
formed a resolution as daring as it was
perilous. She would not and could not
believe Boyce Everleigh dead. She
would proceed to the Crimea herself,
and if her darling was really slain, she
would recover his body and bring it to
England, if prayers and supplication
and patient search could accomplish it.
Squire Everleigh had received the
news of his sons death with feelings of
the deepest anguish. His only child,
who had prattled so lovingly upon his
knee, was stricken down, and he was
left alone in his old age, with no heir to
his house. No wonder the poor old
squire wept But when he saw the
broom makers daughter enter his house
habited in the deepest mourning, and
present him package in the hand
writing of the son whose death he
mourned, the scalding tears coursed
down his cheeks, and his grief was too
strong for silence.
"And you, my child, what do you
here ?" he said. Do you come to
mingle your tears with a lonely old
man ?"
There was preternatural light in the
girls eyes that rendered her strangely
beautiful.
Read" she said.
The old Squire with trembling hands,