Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-05-29

brood thought had destroyed. An cyl
for an eye with these destroyers of m.
innocent birds; l will drive them from tn,
mountain. As the hawk swooped dow
upon my dove, Leontine leapt upon it
seized it, and carried it, mangled anc
bloody, from the hut. l picked up my
dove and held it close to me, its flutterinl
heart beating against my own. Presently
released it, and the bird flew into the
dove-cote. Then l notice that shelf il
the hut had been thrown down by Leon
tine; the articles it held were strewn upor
the ground. Ipicked them up, and among
them was the Bible, with silver clasps, il
which Mauvain's name and mine and
Evangelines were written by my mother
The clasp had been loosened and the leaves
disordered by the shock. sat at my table
with the intention of arranging the leaves
and fixing the clasps.
81 have mentioned that when | first
found the Bible in my mothers hut,
noticed that some of the leaves stuck to
gether, as l supposed from damp. My idea
was not correct; the leaves had been pur
posely gummed together, and 1 now dis
covered that this had been done for the
purpose of concealing sheets of thin paper
covered with small fine writing This must
have escaped my mothers notice, and
might never have been discovered by me
but for the murderous fight of the hawk
| after my innocent white dove.
"What was l about to discover?
81 carefully examined every page of the
Bible, and succeeded in extracting ten Of
these sheets, covered on both sides with
fine writing. 1t was not difficult to judge
that the writer had written in secrecy, and
at intervals of time, for there were occa.
sionally sudden breaks in the manuscript,
as though she had been interrupted sud.
denly and unexpected, and was fearful Of
being discovered. | transcribe here what
read in those pages so strangely discov.
cred
"' can endure this suspense no longer
it is fourteen days since l saw Marguerite.
How often have | counted them, day after
day! How often have l counted the
hours which make up each day! To.
morrow she will come, 1 am told, and ]
wait and wait, and watch the clock, and
tomorrow comes, but does not bring Mar.
guerite. Again l am told Marguerite will
come tomorrow, and again I wait and
watch and count the minutes, and bless the
sunlight that brings tomorrow, and run te
the door hundred times, thinking / hea'
Marguerites footsteps only to be dis
appointed. Why does she keep away from
me? 1 loved her always-she is sister
mother, all in the world to me ! Why
does she not come :? O, why does she no,
come? am SO afraid of not being able tc
remember all that passes that think te
myself l will write it down, and ther
Marguerite can read it, and as she reads
can interrupt her and tell her things
have forgotten. And she will kiss me and
hold me in her arms, and / shall be happy
once more. II she would come now, this
minute calling outside, "Clarice Clarice p
Hark Do I really hear her? No, it is
fancy.
"' 1 do not want any person to see this
but Marguerite, and if she were here this
minute l would tear it up, as have torn
up letters written to her which were never
sent What was the use of writing letters
when Marguerite was coming? But she
does not come, and am in despair. What
has happened to her? Il she dead AND
our cruel master-where is he? All,
hope not with Marguerite, tormenting her.
torturing her, as he has done to both of us
since our dear fathers death. Father
why did you deliver us over to this hare
man, whose only aim has been to make III
wretched? But you did not know-no
you could not have known.
"' Another week has gone by, and
have not seen Marguerite. l get nc
opportunity to write. Again and agar
have l commenced, and been interrupted
What am l writing | am asked. Nothing
l reply; and then the gentleman who beg
me call him Harold asks to look at The
paper, and tear it into thousand piece.
and will not let him see. Child, he say.
with smile, you have no need to tear i
up; if you gave me an open letter, telling
me to keep it for a year and not look at it
should obey you. 1 do not believe him
Why? No one could treat me with greater
respect. He speaks to me as if ! were ;
princess. But am not princess. 1 an
only poor dancing-girl, and L want my
sister Marguerite l am obliged to keel
my writing secret. Not because of thi:
gentleman or his friends, but because O.
the woman who attends me, and who
watches me, as | have discovered, whef
she supposes 1 am not on my guard
What have you there, my dear! she asks
tell her an old letter, and she mods anG
mods and smiles. Are people who are
always smiling when you are in trouble
, deceitful? This woman is, know, for
/ have detected her searching my clothes il
the middle of the night, when she believed
was asleep. This makes me all the NOR,
anxious to write and keep it from her.
have gone to sleep with the paper in my
hand tight, and in the morning, when
woke, have not been able to read word
So have discovered way. My dear ole
testament, with the silver clasps, that my
beloved father gave me I will write wha
l care to write and conceal it between tn,
pages. She will never find it there.
(1'o be continued.
|
WHERE THE Cold WAVES CONE FROM
Meteorological observations have now be
come so extended that evidence is rapidly
accommodating to enable us to determine
positively the source of the cold eria
waves which sweep across our country dur