Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-12-27
PEGGY NoWLAN.

herself In a smoky looking room, dimly
lighted by a single dipped candle of the
smallest size. The walls were partly COW
cred with decayed paper, that hung of,
here and there, In tatters. There were a
| few broken chairs standing in different
places, and in the middle of the apartment
a table that had once been of decent mold,
but that now bore the appearance of long
and hard service, supporting on its
dropping leaves a number of drinking
glasses, some broken and others capsized,
while their Stops of liquor remained
fresh around them. Peggy was seated with
her back to the wall she felt her head
supported by some one who occasionally
bathed her temples with liquid which, by
the odor it sent forth, could not be other
than whisky /; and if she had been an anna
pottheen. "My God, where am ?" look.
ing confusedly around, was her exclama-
ton. '.You're in safe hands, Peggy Now
| LAM" she was answered in the tones of a
| woman's voice, an I'm glad to hear you
spake at last"
Turning her head she observed the per-
son who had been attending her. The
woman was tall and finely. featured, about
| ~, anu uE6sS6u pItbtl III CudIdItCi
| with the room and its furniture that is,
| having none of the homely attire of the
country upon her, but wearing gay, Haunt.
ing costume, or rather the remains of such
and there was about her air and manner
bold confidence, accompanied by an author
itative look from her large black eyes, that
told character in which the mild timidity
of woman existed not. Yet she smiled on
Peggy, and her smile was beautiful and fas-
cinating "How do you know me, good
woman?" again questioned our heroine, for
we believe she is such. sob, jist by
chance, afther manner, miss onct, when
| went down to your country to see Cos
sip o my own, the neighbors pointed you
out TO me as the contest colleen to be seen
far an wide; an so, Miss Peggy, fear
nothing:" for Peggy, as she looked about
her, and at the woman, did show some ter
ror .'an' I'm glad in the heart to see any
one from your part, where there's some
kind people, friends o mine an for their
sakes, an the sake O. the ould black hills
you cum from, show me the man that daares
look crooked at you"
This speech was accompanied by such
softness of manner, that Peggy's nervous
ness lessened. She gained confidence from
the presence Of one of her own sex look
ing SO kindly on her, and though years
had been busy with her fine features, look
ing so handsome too. Her next question
was, naturally, request to be informed
how she came into her present situation.
You were brought here jist to save your
life answered the woman :" son o mine
coming along the road from Dublin, saw the
coach tumble down he waited to give it
helping hand up again and when 1T druy
away" "And has it gone off, and
left me behind?' interrupted Peggy, in
great distress. "Of thruth, ay has it,
my dear" 81" What then am to do?-"
"Why, only stay where you are,
wild me, until the day, and you're
welcome to the cover O. tn ould roof, an
whatever comfort I can give you; ard
when the day comes we'll look out for you,
Peggy, a room. But, as was saying, when
the coach dhruv off again, my son was for
hurrying home, when he heard some one
moaning inside O. the ditch an he went
into the field, an there was a man lying,
list coming to his senses an you near him.
widout any sense at all an when the man
got better, my son knew. him for an old
acquaintance and then they minded you,
and tuck you up between them; an sure
here YOU are to the FORE" sit is abso-
lutely necessary / should continue my jour
ney tonight" said Peggy. ''H you're
for Dublin, child, you can hardly go it's
thing friend can't hear of. Peggy re-
fiected for moment. Her usual caution
now told her, what her first suspicious had
suggested, that, in some way or other, the
house was an improper one, and perhaps
that good-nature had not been the only
motive in conveying her to it, The woman's
last words seemed to show particular de-
termination that she should remain. 1t
would be imprudent, then, to express
design to 60 away she might
be detained by force. Nor would
she suffer herself to become affected
by her fears, lest she might incapacitate
herself for escaping by stealth. Prompted
bv growing suspicion, she stole her hand
to fler bosom to search for her purse it
was gone and Peggy became confirmed in
her calculations, though not more appar-
emily shaken by her fears i" I mad a small
hand basket" she said, q containing few
little articles, and my money for the road
it's lost, of course, and am left pennies
if go to the spot where the coach fell,
| maybe I could find it." "We can go TO-
geLner, sara Jne Wotuau, II YOU aiO opio
to walk SO far" Peggy had made the pro-
| posal not in hopes of recovering anything,
but that she might be afforded chance OF
walking away if, indeed, the story OF the
coach having driven on proved to be true.
| Now, however, she was, IN consistency,
| obliged to accept the attention OF her
officious protector and the woman and
| she walked to the road along narrow,
| wild lane, on each side of which few old
| decayed trees and bushes shook their leaf
less branches in the wintry wind, while the
| footing was broken and niry, and over.
grown by weeds and long grass. 1t seemed
to have been winding avenue to the house
she had left, once planted with rows OF
trees, when the mansion was better ten.
anted and in better repair, but which mad
disappeared from time to time beneath the
ak or the saw of the marauder.
| Arrived at the spot required, she COM
menced seemingly careful search but,
finding nothing, returned at the continued
| urgency of the woman, who linked her
closely. to the house they had quilted. Ere
| Peggy re-entered she took survey OF the
fabric it was, like everything around it
and within it, ruin. she could see that
it had been good slated house, two stories
high, but that in different places the states
were now wanting; indeed she trod, near
the threshold, upon their fragments, mixed
with other rubbish. Some of the windows
were bricked up, some stuffed through
their shattered panes with wisps of straw
and old rags and of the lower ones, the
shutters, which were, however, attached to
the wall, outside strong iron bars. hung off
their hinges, and tapped in the blast
Again entering the room in which she
had first found herself, two men appeared
seated. Peggy, in something like the re-
currence of bad dream, thought she recog.
nlzed in one of them the air and figure OF
the person who, on late and fearful occa-
sion, had stood so near her in the Fol-
Dhuiv. But as she did not feel herself en-.
titled to draw any certain deductions from
feature, complexion, or even dress,
Peggy, after o moments faltering pause,
struggled to assure herself that this mis-.