The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1882-05-17

had TO be repeated and explained to
the girl, she declaring that she had
no memory ofseeing US in her room
or knowledge of our being there
She looked as serene and indifferent
as usual, and said she barricaded the
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 notice strange ways
about our new girl-things that had
been Of no account before now told
against her; yet, when all was sum
med up, we could only say she was
romantic, and had perhaps been edu-
Gated above her station and so gave
herself airs. and she really did &C.
complish her work in most salts
factory manner.
"Just little cracked, father would
say of her, shut good girl in the
main: I'd like to know what you
women folks would do without her2"
sit 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 her own
way, and let her alone. She was
such u quiet little woman, with soft,
gray eyes that seemed to implore
your forbearance, and her breakfast
rolls of u Sunday morning were the
best we had ever tasted; then, as to
fried chicken, and "angels on horse
back" the Virginia name for fricase-
ed oysters, well, she could have taught
Delmonico to cook those dishesl
One day a carriage containing two
gentlemen, one of them evidently a
physician, stopped moment at our
house to inquire which of the three
roads led to the ferry near, and while
father was telling them they were
halted directly in front ofthe kitch-
en- window where I stood with Nellie
watching her moke 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 n bow, she darted from the
kitchen and fled upstairs. Thinking
she had been taken suddenly i'll, I
finished her work for her; but an
hour later when mother went to her
room, it was empty! Nellie was gone.
She had taken nothing of ours, her
wages had never been drawn, and
she had vanished as completely as if
she had never existed, so that it SEEM
ed as if Providence had indeed recall
ed her in the same mysterious way
that she came.
Was this the end? Yes, it was the
end of Nellie's service with US; but
one day, couple of weeks after, the
same carriage that had stopped at
our gate, with the same two men
that had been in it beforehand one
of them physician-came crawling
slowly back again, mud bespattered
and road worn, and between the two
men, shackled and manackled, the
clothes torn from her poor bruised
limbs, sat our Nellie, raving luna
tic, snarling at all who approached
her. She did not know US, and the
doctor would not allow us TO go near
her.
"She is the most dangerous lunatic
in the asylum at Alexandria," he
said, "and the worse criminal. Why
that woman burned five persons to
death in their beds, and strangled
her own child l had no idea she
was here, or l would have inquired
for her that day. We were on an
other trail altogether, and if she had
stayed quietly here it is doubtful if
we had ever known of it until you
had all had been murdered in your
sleepl
But he could not persuade US that
this wild eyed creature, rending at
her own flesh, and filling the air
with her shrieks and curses, was our
gentle. quiet Nellie until we hoard