St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-06-25

"a my expedition. nv heart
-ank within me at the idea Of ventntI, I,,s,
out into the night with no other mr.
rector insn the little child waiting h.
Ss, 1ut : nerved my self TO perform "A :.
uusS ieit bad iallen across my path.
anu sAoe up my mind to ret as became
n -o.uie's Whe-iearlessly. had about
thiIty sovereigns IL my possession. at
U uaTi#Htui -; 's,--s.s a.. lie ..fs.
feqnired ~ nearly as ! could ia French
n.3ney, paced /: carefully 10 !. =nau
bag, 1hieh hs1s or by rrM. Dce..s-
ing myself in a dark bonnet and tray-
elliBg cloak, descended quietly to INV
apartment, without giving intimation
of my departure to any one. The child
stood precisely as had left him, with
the light falling on his pale face. and
Lis i:G%;s;ias i:SG%;sas i0uSeiy locked in one anoth-
eT. ] told him | was ready to start,
and walked to the table by which had
been sitting to get the letter the woman
had written, and which had caused me
so much anxiety.
The boy then approached me, and
taking my hand in his cold ones, said,
in whisper, as his piteOus eyes filled
with tears:
MADAME, the gentleman bade me
say to you for the love of heaven, and
the sake of your dead mother, bring the
money"
showed him the little sack 1 car
ried under my cloak, and he was salts
fed; we then left the hotel silently,
scarcely noticed by the servants busted
about the entrance hall. Once out in
the open air, seemed to breathe more
freely, but my heart was too heavy for
speaking, and we pursued eur way in
silence.
The noise of the traffic, the lights of
shops streaming across our path, and
the number of foot passengers passing
and repassing US, bewildered me at
first, all unaceustomed as l was to
walking through the streets so late
but we passed steadily on through the
ever changing crowd and people seem
ed too intent on their own business to
take much heed of two way farers like
ourselves. After time we turned into
Il less frequented part of the town, and
the lights became less brilliant and the
streets more deserted. Suddenly the
boy stopped, and seemed uncertain as
to which road he should take. He
paused moment, then turning to me,
said:
"Madame, fear l have missed my
way little; but my mother told me
she would give some directions in her
letter. Will madame give it me that
may right myself?"
Without thinking, l handed him his
mothers letter; and standing beneath
a neighboring lamp, he read over slow
ly the directions contained in the note !;
then holding it still open in his hand,
he resumed his walk, referring to it
every now and then, as though still in
doubt as to our whereabouts. There
was certain mysterious quiet about
the neighborhood we were in that prey
ed upon my spirits-a certain silence l
could not fathom, and my courage began
to flag strangely as we continued our
lonely road. experienced sensation
of intense relief, therefore, wheh my
young guide stopped suddenly before a
tall dark house in quiet street, and 1
listened eagerly for an answer to his
gentle tap at the closed door. A voice
from within asked softly, in French,
''HOw fares it my son 2" and in Eng
lish the boy answered, "Safely and
fairly open the door," The door was
then unbarred and opened without the
least noise, just wide enough to admit
US, and we entered a hall lighted by a
small lamp held by tall woman poorly
clad. The flickering flame of the lamp
gave forth SO dim light that could
not distinguish her features, and she
spoke in voice scarcely above whis-
per. l inquired eagerly for my broth
| al no fn hnn IN
him at once. She shook her head sadly,
and then said:
"Ah, madame, your coming may do
great things for him /; you will be able to
ease the poor mind that runs on nothing
but money, money, day and night with
out ceasing."
She barred the door by which we had
entered, and then preceded me up a
broken staircase, the boy following us
with the feeble oil lamp. The house
sounded hollow, and our footsteps ech-
Oed drearily as we went. Presently we
stopped before the door of a room
which / imagine to have been at the
back of the house, and the woman, en-
tering first, beckoned me to follow her
In one corner of a large, almost emp
ty apartment was bed, shrouded by
thick dark curtains in the crate low
charcoal fire was burning. l made al
once for the corner where the bed was,
and was about to undraw the curtains
which concealed from my view the poor
boy l had come so mysteriously to visit
Suddenly from behind me cloth was
tied tightly ever the whole of my face
strange burning sense of suffocatior
oveIspread my senses, and remember
nothing more; all was silence, dark.
ness, hideous blank, until l awOke in
my bedroom at the Hotel de L., witt
my head aching strangely, and a be-
numbed sensation pervading my whole
fran,o. Ny rrresid, an English uoct0l
with whom l was slightly acquainted
and another doctor who was a stranger
, to me, were anxiously watching for my
return to consciousness. 1t was quite
light, and the sun was shining into th'
t room. AS one by one the events of thu
preceding night rose before my mind,
. was utterly at loss to imagine how
3 had been rescued from that horrible
f house and brought back to the hotel IL
d, safety.
The story was soon told. The nigh
! porter, coming on duty at o'clock, ha'
= found me lying on the steps leading t
G the side door of the hotel, which open
}. ed into an unfrequented passage O
e street. Finding / was unconscious, h
d had summoned the day porter, who wa
: waiting for him, to render assistance
d and this man knowing me by sigh
e identified me as lady staying at th
J. hotel. He at once reused the house
d My maid (who was waiting up for mt
n wondering and alarmed at my prolong
e ed absence) speedily procured the sci
K vices of two medical men from the ad
= Joining neighborhood, and they ha