The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1882-12-15

duu sauueV SuOry 10 tell, my nus
bands letter said, had not Garth seen
in time the dagger an Indian would
have sent home in another second to
Ffrenchs heart He turned aside the
blow it was too late to beat dowr.
And, apropns of this, Garth tells cur
ious experience of his that day, which
L have no time now to repeat, but
which Garth himself shall tell you
some day when we are sitting together
under the dear old beeches
"When gave this to Ethel to read
she turned a little pale and her lips
quiveled, but neither of us spoke
word
"ln the early spring Marjorie went
home to the stern, loving old father.
81 could not tell you of my sorrow,
do you think can tell you of my Joy,
when my husband, bronzed and safe
and strong, stood by me one midsum-
mer twilight by the cradle of our first
born SOM
"ln the first days of autumn Ethel
tfrench left us, with her husband, for
her happy home.
"Basil had pleaded, with masterful
tenderness, that his leave was short.
'And can do without you, Ethel? he
said.
$50 one September morning she stood
beside him in gray Tregarthen Church,
and the trustful hand in his dld not
tremble while the solemn words were
said that gave them to each other.
| Inst bpfnra tba,, 1oft 80 ~, ,,.a ...z..
sitting together here one golden twi
light, Garth told us the story of his
strange experience In the fight below
Lucknow.
=" Certainly the last place. he said
as he drew near the end of his story,
and the last time in the universe. when
1t would seem natural for man to be-
come conscious of woman's near
presence; and yet I declare to YOU.
Dora, that in the midst of all that roar
and tumult,and fire and blood, felt an
utter certain consciousness that woman
whom | had never known, but whose
fine and delicate individuality made it.
self keenly felt by me, was following
me in our mad charges from point to
point keeping always at my right
hand.
"I had no time to think of this, |
tell you. had only time to feel it;
and feel il l did with such intensity
that l dared not for my life look beside
me lest l should see woman there in
the midst of that struggling hell
'tfrench had beer fighting near
me; but l had fallen somewhat behind
him in the last forward rush, and had
no more thought or memory of him
than OF anything else. But Just as /
had seen what l had fancied thin
place in the Sepoy column, and was
rushing wildly toward it, shouting to
my men to follow, | felt a sort of numb
GOODNESS thrill through me from head
to foot; and. at the same second,
womans voice, clear and agonized,
shrieked beside me. "Tregarthen !
Garth Tregarthen, look to your friend,
and, without will of my own, l rushed
forward and to the left just in time to
turn aside that dagger from Ftrenchs
heart, and send the black who held it
bleeding to the earth and from that
moment | had no more sense of a
womans presence near me than | have
ever had at any other possible place
and time.
at was fully IA year later that we
were obliged, on business connected
with my grandfather's estate, to take a
journey into Scotland; and Garth.
whose imperfectly healed wound still
furnished him with a pretext for fol.
lowing us wherever we went, on the
plea of needing to be taken care of,
accompanied us. The night after our
arrival begged him to be my escort
In the three miles over to Maiorie'.
home.
'We were shown into the drawing
room, where Marjories maid told us
her mistress would Immediately Join us.
We had not waited five minutes, when
Garth, with strange look | had never
seen before on his frank and merry
face, rose and began to pace the draw
ing room with long, nervous strides.
Dora, he said, suddenly pausing
before me, do you know that believe
I'm going clean daft A? Ever since we
struck into the approach to this house,
and tenfold more strongly since we've
been in it, | have felt that woman at
my right hand, and l could swear that
in another moment her voice
"He did not finish the sentence.
"a Joyous cry from Marjorie rang
through the garden window, as she
came flying up the broad path.
s.Nou blessed nor. rrono,,l -, ~ i
cried; and springing over the low sill
on the way to my outstretched arms,
stood suddenly still, almost crouching,
staring at Garth with whitening
face.
"lIe had clutched my arm with
pressure that was pain, and his face
was almost as white as hers.
Dora, he gasped, i told von
should hear it. That is the voice that
cried to me before the walls of Luck
now"
"And then Marjorie, shivering from
head to foot, crossed the room and
stood awed before him.
i saw you there, she said, and
warned you to turn to save your friend.
~" a'S 'hllh iISSdIlnell,
After that, what formal presentation
was possible? Before we left her that
night, we had talked of the matter to
its strange end from its stranger be
ginning. Marjorie told us how that
first afternoon of her illness had always
stood out in her memory, sharp and
clear, from the delirious dreams that
tlll Al Il
was not dream, but 'seeing'-a con.
tirmatlon of what had been to her all
her life a dread terror, unconfessed
even to me, ler dearest friend that on
her had descended the terrible gift of
the second sight, which from unrecord-
ed times had belonged to one of the
Douglas women of each generation.
She had hoped, as time wore on and
we never alluded to it, that it might
have bppn aftar oil l,,, o L