Dodge City times., 1882-05-04

land we crept to the door and listened,
and we heard As plain as il spoken in
our presence these words. in a man 5
gruif voice:
IN burn ye all in Your beds vet as
sure as We have souls to be sayedr'
This was followed by the pleading
tones of woman-not Nellie's voice.
however,
"Oh. don't. don't. don't. We are
inn cent. indeed. We are-'
The indescribable pathos Of the sob
bing voice terrified us so that We went
after father. who had remained skep-
tically in his room; he was angry and
thumped vigorously on Nellie's door,
but it was some time before it was
opened. Then we discovered that every
article of furniture in the room was ar
ranged to form a pyramidal barricade
in front of the entrance. Nellie her
self, sleepy and rubbing her ewes, thrust
out a head tied up in an old white
apron.
what is it?" she asked hastily,
with frightened look: thieves-mur-
der"
"Let us in." said father. applying his
shoulder to the door. which was only
opened crack; but Nellie had no idea
of letting us in, and resisted with such
ferocity that mother undertook to
soothe her, and gained by strategy what
we could not effect by force.
There was not soul in the room and
the window was nailed down. There
was no possible hiding-place or means
Of egress, and there was nothing for us
to do but to quietly retire, leaving Nell
lie to resume her slumbers. which we
had so rudely broken. Understand it
We could not, and it was all the more
mysterious when the next day the whole
thing had to be repeated and explained
to the girl, she declaring that she had
no memory of seeing us in her room or
knowledge of our being there. She
looked as serene and Indifferent as usu-
al, and said she barricaded her door
and nailed her window down through
fear Of burglars.
We had no reason to suspect that the
girl did not speak the truth; Yet We
were so conscious of mystery about
the whole affair that it made us nervous
and uncomfortable, and we began to no.
tice strange ways about our new girl
things that had been of no account be-
fore now told against her; yet. when all
was summed up. we could only say that
she was romantic. and had perhaps been
educated above her station. and so gave
herself airs, and she really did accom-
plish her work in a most satisfactory
manner.
I,,~ 1,ttIa o,-a.l-aI - Co.
say of her, ''but a good girl in the main;
I'd like to know what you women folks
would do without her?'
"It does seem as if Providence had
sent her," said mother, meekly; she likes
to make believe she is an echo OF father
sometimes.
Several times Nellie did treat us to
what father called ''circus perform
ance' in her room, but as no harm came
of it we concluded that she was merely
enjoying herself in ner own way, and
let her alone. She was such a quiet lit
tie woman, with soft gray eyes that
seemed to implore your forbearance.
and her breakfast rolls of Sunday morn
ing were the best we hal ever tasted;
then as to fried chicken, and '.angels on
horseback," the Virginia name for fric-
aseed oysters, WELL she could have
taught Delmcnico TO cook those dishes!
One day carriage containing two
gentlemen, one Of them evidently a
physician. stopped moment AT our
house to inquire which cf the three roads
led to ferry rear, and while father was
telling them they were halted directly
in front of the kitchen window where
stood with Nellie, watching her make
a fancy dressing for some baked pork.
was noticing how long and slim her
fingers were, as she worked up the mass
of spiced bread, when. as suddenly As if
shot from a bow. She darted from the