The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1882-07-20
heard low chukle, and then wild,
hoarse voice chanting this rhyme:

hOar5e voice chantlng this rhyme:
81 am the god of the wind.
rule the storm,
CRY in the nj hit, l cry in the morn"
This was repeated over and over again,
each time wilder and wilder.
"What shall we do, sir? Can you not
devise some way to get him from the
roof ?" asked Miss Ashton in a whisper.
"Do return below, Miss Ashton; in
sist upon it; you can render no assist
ance, and will only expose yourself to
the night. / will endeavor to persuade
him to come in"
''Too late, sir, you are too late!'
shrieked the poor girl; "did you not hear
the fall? Oh, my dear grandmother"
Edward Harvey descended the stairs
rapidly, and, rushing out of the front
door, shouted for light. Lying upon
the paved court he found the mangled
form of the man he recognized as the
same he saw at his bedroom door.
"Who is he?" he asked Miss Ashton,
who stood beside him.
"My grandmother's brother, Albert
Hartwell. Is life quite extinct" she
asked, as she knelt beside the dead.
eyes, poor man, his days of suffering
are over" answered Harvey. els Mrs.
Ashton indeed your Grandmother
"No, not my own grandmother, but
as dear to me as if she was. My grand
father married Agnes Hartwell in his
old age, and this poor man is the present
Mrs. Ashton's brother. As you have no
doubt surmised, he was deranged, but
only periodically. Very strangely, when
the day or night was stormy his derange-
ment became uncomfortable. You heard
his cry to night before tea. That was
why grandfather appeared rude, doubt
less to you. We have excluded ourselves
from society in the endeavor to hide
from the world this sorrow. But the
sacrifice was nothing, we would give
all, everything, to have him with us
again"
els he dead. Rosa? Is my poor Attic
ted brother dead?" cried Mrs. Ashton,
as she threw herself down by the iuani-
mate form of him who in life was her
love and care.
They carried the body into the house
and placed it on cot. Edward Harvey
came and stood beside the bier, by the
side of Rosa Ashton, and then left the
room. Kind hands spread the winding
sheet over that wild, sad face, sadder in
life than in death, for now he rests, body
and mind.
Two days afterward Harvey babe sad
adieu to the ladies of Elmwood, having
remained to see the body of the poor
unhappy Albert Hartwell consigned to
the grave.
That night of terror was long remem-
bered by all at Elmwood, as a dark
epoch in the history of their lives.
"Ant yet," said Rosa Harvey, cal
though it was grandmother's dark night
and mine also, mine had bright morn
ing, for never did woman find so noble
husband as found in the dark watches
of that terrible night"
"And never was more precious wife
given to man than was given to me"
said Edward Harvey, as he sffectionately
stroked the bright hair of his beautiful
wife.
Yes, reader; they were married two
years after the night of terror, and now
old Elmwood has q master whose care
and pride it is to soothe the sorrow of
Rosa's grandmother, and indeed he hos
succeeded, for she says, looking lovingly
at the husband and wife:
Indeed, it was night of terror sent
by God as a blessing"