The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1881-04-08

shower of tears as / tore myself away,
burthened with no ends of rugs and com
forters to alleviate in some measure the
moral wet blanket she had thrown over
me,
was only just in time to catch Raven,
who hastily opened the door of the rail
way carriage.
Jump in, Jack jump in Half-a-
crown to the guard has secured this COM
partment for us all the way down; so we
shall have it to ourselves without fear of
interruption. Times up; You have run
it fine Fire away"
He flung in my bag and the several
rugs, &c, ard we entered. The guard
touched his hat and shut the door with
bang
''This door is unlocked, guard?' said |.
"Yes, sir side nearest the platform is
always unlocked. The other door is
locked"
He whistled, and the train started.
81 can't bear the idea of both doors
being locked" remarked to Raven.
'In case of accident it would be impos-
sible to escape fr6W the carriage"
at doesn't matter" he said, and then
relapsed into silence.
For about twenty minutes he remained
opposite to me, sometimes with his eyes
closed, sometimes with them fixed upon
me in most unpleasant manner. All
my endeavors to draw him into CONVEX
sation failed, and after a time | gave
them up and also relapsed into silence.
Suddenly he rose from his seat and
drew from the inside of his overcoat
long and pointed knife, which flashed
ominously in the lamplight
'Jack Lawson, we must both of us
die tonight" said he calmly and delib-
erately, without any excitement of man.
ner. 81 feel that the time has come for
both of us to quit this vale of tears"
eyes; l quite agree with you, Tom Ra-
ven, | replied-seeing what had hap
pened-in as calm a voice as his own.
81 have long thought that life was be-
coming very undesirable; and, to leave it
in your company, with you, my oldest
and warment friend, would be the most
agreeable thing to me that could hap
pen. But-yOu are not married, Tom?"
"Thank Heaven, MOI"
Remember, | am married; and, had
you given me notice of this wish of yours
before starting, would have made ar
rangements and have spoken to my wife
to prepare her. Have you made your
will, Tom?"
"No, l have not
Good Heaven, man, not made your
will Tom, it is absolutely necessary for
both of us to make our wills before we
die. l have not made mine, and should
not like to leave the world with the
chance of my wife and child having to go
to the workhouse OF be chargeable on
the parish after my death. You would
wish to leave your money to some one
in particulars it not SOP
"Of course / should like to leave my
money properly-of-course-yes! l
never thought of making my will"
you must also remember, Tom, that
it would never do to die deliberately, in
the way we both desire to die, without
leaving to the world our reason for the
act, You would not wish your name to
be by-word and the cause of derision
to any one, l am sure; and l am certain
l don't wish my own to be so. There
fore we must both draw out our reasons
for dying"
"Do you know, Jack, never thought
of that?"
"Well, then, first put your knife down
on the cushion there, and then we will
set to work. I've plenty of paper in my
bag and plenty of lead in my pencil,
and we've the whole night before u.s."
A tremble of my hand, a quiver of
my voice, would have been fatal, /
opened the bag and drew forth the
writing paper. The knife was on a
cushion at my side.
"Now, Tom, let us first state our rea-
sons to the world for wishing to die to-
night by our own hands. If you will
dictate to me your reasons, / will write
them down, and then we will revise and
correct them. After that, / will dictate
my own to you and You shall write
hem. We shall be able to do our work
we'll and quickly"
"Quite right, Jack; We ought to give
hem our reasons. How odd that never
thought of that Let me see; if | kill
you first, / might write the out after
wards"
"Ah, but who will write out mine?
Don't be selfish, there's a good chap!"
"To be sure! Well, are you ready?"
He began debating long and flowery
sentences. Now and again interrupted
lis flow of language to gain time. This
Sept him thoroughly occupied and in
crested, while the train sped on at ex-
press rate, He had nearly finished his
ong, rambling dictation, when, to my
nexpressible delight, | felt the speed of !
he train gradually slackeninp. / knew