The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1882-09-07

SuTduSely Seutlts Iltl NOlCO was NOi y
low and had in it subtle inner music
: which went right to the hearers heart.
, l cannot set forth in words the pas
sion of tenderness with which Ranger
thought of his new charge. When he
went on the common he left her locked
up in the house with doll or picture
book. So passed couple Of months.
One cold, wet, windy August night,
a night when nature seemed shudder-
ingly to realize the impending desola-
tion of the end, Ranger lay asleep
in the room adjoining the one oc-
cupied by Kate. He was sound
sleeper. Suddenly, however, he was
awakened by some one shaking him
violently. He started up to see Kate
standing by his side, She carried a
light in her hand, and her gold hair
'''o all unbound. There was a look in
tfFr66 tffF 6f6et aryes tEtk EGSk Of protest and in
finite horror-the look of an animal
about to undergo some torture from
which it knows there is no escape.
"What are you doing, Kate?" he
asked; /" has anything frightened you p"
She placed the light on the table and
her fingers began working in one an
other. Then she said, in tone of
voice scarcely louder than whisper:
L am going to scream"
She had scarcely uttered the words
when she flung back her head and
stretched out her hands, while from
her lips there broke shrek so terri
BILE, so unearthly, as to make the blood
of any one who heard it turn cold. 1t
was cry which seemed to rend the
sense of hearing. 1t was so wild, so
unlike anything ever heard before,
that it suggested some new agony of
body and soul-a fresh discovery in the
realms of torture.
Fortunately, there was no cottage
within a mile Of Rangers. He came
near her, but she sprang at him like a
wild thing, her eyes flashing, her lips
drawn back and showing her cleaning
teeth. At length breath failing, she
fell to the ground, where she lay cow
erins as if she expected every moment
to feel the stroke of rod. 1t was clear
that she was liable to these terrible
and dangerous outbreaks of insanity.
Before morning she was taken with
another wild fit Of screaming, after
which she grew strangely quiet, and
then fell asleep,
When she awoke she was again the
gentle, trusting, childlike Kate.
What if such fit should take her
in the daytime?" thought Ranger,
and he shuddered.
Every day she seemed to cling more
and more to her protector, whom only
she and the old woman loved.
Often, for hours together, he would
hold her slight form clasped against
his heart, as if she had been his child,
her bright head leaning upon his
shoulder. He told her fairy tales and
simple rhymes, of which she liked the
sound; but most of all she delighted
in hearing him play. He was seen
less and less at the Three jolly Boys,
and became still more unpopular.
Then people grew curious to know
how and where he spent his evenings.
One evening a man stole to his cot
tage door. 1t was closed, but the man
thought he could hear Ranger talking
to himself; he was telling Kate q story.
For four months the patient search
had been made for the escaped mad
girl, but with no good result. 1t often
happens that when we have searched
long and diligently for some object,
and have at last given it up as lost for
ever, we come upon it by accident
when there is no thought of it in our
minds.
So CHANGED it with DR.. Prince,
slrewd, hard, mplacable-loolling man.
lie had quite given up the hope of
finding his escaped patient, when fate
led him to the very place where she
was. The doctor, who enjoyed bodily
exercise, was returning on foot one
evening to the asylum. His way Law
over the common. lie had counted on
Il moonlight walk, but instead of MOON
light fog fell over everything
a fog, too, that wetted- one like
rain. DIR. Prince was perplexed to
know what course he should take when
to the left Of him he spied a CLEAN of
light, which proceeded from Rangers
cottage. The doctor gave thanks for
it, and, pushing open the gate, stood
in the little garden, which, because of
the season, smelt then only of decay.
y pest on these November fogs."
thought the doctor, before rapping at
the door. Then he stood there ar
rested by what he heard from within.
though what he heard was simply
mans voice saying
Well, when the good fairy saw how
sad little Alice was, V ith no books. no
pretty pictures, no nice dresses, and no
dolls"
Then a girls voice, questioningly:
" Didn't she have any dolls 2"
Then the man again: ".No: no dolls
at al, not one"
Then the girl: "Did she have any
music?"
"No; no music, either"
Then she must have been a very
sad little girl !"
SO she was; but let me tell you
what the good fairy did"
1t must be sher' calculated DIR,
Prince. 81 should know that voice
anywhere. Run to earth at last, nv
dear"
Without more delay he knocked on
the cottage door. The man left off
talking, and said Hush ?! in low
tone OF voice; then feet moved across
the hoor and a door shut. Then the
door that led from the garden into the
slttlng-room was opened by Rainger.
81 have lost my way most honelesslv