Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1882-02-17

him, offered TO help@ When all was
ready, they crept along tho western side
of the house with little difficulty. But
when they reached The corner, they
went down like plahks. They tried
again and again, and then came back
into the house tired and disheartened.
The short afternoon had passed; the
early darkness made the terror OF the
storm more awful. Maud still strained
her eyes through the deepening gloom.
The storm Mt that moment was at its
height. Clutching The window-frame
tightly with her fingers, she pressed her
dilatcd eyes against the pane, and saw
with speechless horror the roof Of tho
large barn swept off as IL il had been pa
per. 1t was all the more terrible be-
cause not sound of the falling timbcrs
could be heard above the ceaseless roar
ing OF the wind HNFNt
IL was an awful night. No one
thought of sleeping. They clustered to-
gether about the fire in silent terror.
From time TO time Mr.. Little spoke re-
assuringly. There was no danger for
themselves, he said; the house was firm
ly built; large beams passed diagonally
from floor to ceiling through the parti-
tion walls; 1t was not possible that they
could give way. But the awed hearts
were not easily assured. Maud alone
had no thoughts for herself or the safety
of the house. She had seen the roofless
barn, and she strove to picture the fate
of Thornton and the two men with him,
without food, without fire, with no roof
to shelter them, and perhaps crushed by
fa a II hal ,.l-
to see the extent of the disaster. She
told no one of the sight which she had
witnessed. Only she and Little knew
what had happened. All that was best
in her came to the surface that long, ago.
nizing night Never again could she si-
lence her better, nobler self. Very base
and contemplate seemed all her
wiles, her caprices, her coquetries. 1t
had been her wild folly that had placed
Thornton in this danger. If she had not
delayed the men they could have re-
turned to the house before it was too
late. If he were alive when morning
dawned he should know how bitterly she
had repented.
She remembered how she had trifled
with him when once, the summer be-
fore, he had told her that he loved her
more than he had ever loved any thing
before or ever could again. She had
not meant to drive him away from her;
she had only meant to tease him for q
little. But he had taken it all in earn
est, and now, of course, he had ceased
to think of her except to despise her
If he had continued TO love her, would
he have been so long silent? She lit
tie knew that the man who was all sim
cerity could not understand the insin-
cere.
He would never care for her now, of
course, and she loved him with all the
force of her strong, ungoverned heart.
After that night of agony she could nev-
er he the same.
The pale daylight dawned upon her
white face. The wind died slowly down,
The ruin of the night was revealed to the
weary watchers. lnui $780,
Three men came slowly up the hill,
tired, hungry, half-frozen, but safe.
They had made a comparatively warm
nest for themselves in the hay, where
they had passed the sleepless night.
The part of the barn which sheltered
them and the cattle and horses had been
uninjured, and not man or beast had
been hurt by the falling beams.
Mrs. Wellington could not be induced
to remain an unnecessary moment in the
terrible place, and late in the after
noon the subdued party were in the cars
returning 10 Boston. Thornton con-
fessed that it was the most rmccmfort-
able night he had ever passed, but that
he would cheerfully have undergone far
greater hardships for the reward that it
brought him. Before they reached the
city he had learned of the agony which
the nights suspense had been to Maud,
and she had acknowledged her love for
him in answer to the passionate reitera-
ton of his devotion to her. And this
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