Mexico weekly ledger., 1882-06-22

| hSAH VIC StcdlHSu OuWdfu. NO
more stoppings until we reached
Washington now. no more Interrupt
tions, excepting the signal blows for
curves and roads. l was almost
breathlessly still, watching Buck, who,
it seemed to me, had not moved a
muscle, Or turned an eye from his
''lookout'' since he kissed the tails
maniac rings. zts@s5sz <fzE*5 :
II found the cottage darkened,"
he resumed, abruptly, after We had
rumbled across the viaduct. "There
was no light to welcome me, like
there had always been, and-and,
Nat, my wife was gone. 1 found on
the parlor table a note that first set
my blood ON fire, then turned my
heart to stone. As near as / can re-
member, it was something like this :
| "tBuck, dear, forgive me! My life has
been so lonesome since marrying you, and
the temptation SO great, that have con-
sented to 90 with Carol. am not all
wicked; l couldn't help it; forgive mel"
II thought it all over as a dream,
Nat. Poor little thing! she didn't
see much Of me for love-making,
that fact. Then some sort of de-
mon caused me to write on the back
of the note a horrible curse upon the
pair, and pinned it to the table top
with my penknife.
Turning around 1 found little
Dolly standing in the doorway, cry
ing. She had been looking every
where in vain for mamma. At least
this treasure was left to me. All,
Nat, it was this precious charge that
saved me from going straight to the
dogs! n.....
II closed the cottage, resigned
from my engine, and brought Dolly
off here to live. I'd saved a little
sum. A year went by. Then came
another eventful night-a night as sad
to me as ever human being knew.
The wind howled a gale; the snow
was deep, and piling fast. Dolly
came running to me, crying, loudly:
'Papa-oh papa-there's some
body laying on the track. It's wo-
wan. I can't pull her off; and the
st. Louis express is coming!'
''Nat, I reached the track, 1 think
at two big leaps. In nanother moment
l had grasped up female, who was
half in the snow; and just in
time, for this same engine-No. l.
went whizzing past. When 1 laid
her on the lounge, Mat, it was my
little lost wife! What coming back
Oh, how different she looked! saw
death in her delicate face and form
always delicate, as I said before.
She opened her eyes and called out,
in voice that seems to dwell in my
ears now!
sBuck-oh, Buck, dear! is it you
at last?'
| 'sThen, as / stood dumb and
trembling, she told her pitifal story.
Carol Conrad had come to her with
a letter from her father, who was in
| New York, saying that he was dying
and wanted her by his side. Little
Dolly was at friends house, three
miles back in the country. No time
could be lost. She went with Cenrad;
Not until they were beyond Philadel'
phia did she learn, from his own lips
the dastardly ruse.
"The letter was forgery. The
hasty note of explanation she had 1ef1
for me was adroitly exchanged for the
one l found-another base forgery
She was now blasted in my sight, hs
told her. Soon her name would b.
banded in slanderous gossip. Hat
she not better go with him, and le
the devotion repay for the trick? Sht
spurned the wretch, and called on th'
train conductor to protect her, con
tinuing her way to New York.
''Here she found her father truly
dead. He had sruptured an artery il
excitement over speculation failur,
that cost him every dollar of his fort
une. She was then without kindred
without money, and her few earl.
friends scattered and lost. She man
aged to make her way back; but nj
: one could tell her where / was. Sh,
found Conrad's forgery with my bit
ter curse en- the back of it. 1t mus
l have driven her insane.
"God meant that I should kno,
j these truths before she died In he
wandering search for me, she ha'
come almost to mysEery door unknew
D ingly. Right there she had resolve,
to die-to die by throwing hersel
Iunder the st. Louis night express
Consumption did its work soon, ,adde'
I to that nights exposure. I laid he
, in her grave, Nat, and my heart wit
g her.
r ''That was five years ago. I wen
e back o. the road and got engine Nc
n l.. Dolly is q big girl now. An
n every time 1 run this train out, you
I 4 find her by the track with lantern
: rain, snow or starlight, Nat,-waitin
to her me blow. .and to see that there
: nobody On the rails. I And she dir
: : the lantern for kiss, you know.
4 Engineers, like sailors, have som
q little superstition: and sometime