The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1883-02-17


She had wcariei hoaven with her pray
ers, but all without avail.
Slowly now the great sun went down.
Slowly the last red rim was hid behind
the greenwood. Thirty seconds more
and his soul would be with his God. The
color did not forsale his cheeks. The
dark rings Of hair lay upon warm brow.
1t was his purpose to die as martyrs and
bravo men die. What was life that he
should cling to it? He almost felt the
air pulsate with the first heavy roll of
the death-knell. But no sound came.
Still facing tho soldiers with his clear
gray eyes upon them, he waited. The
crimson banners in the west were paling
to pink. The kline hnd ceased their low
ing, and had been gathered into tho
brick-yards.
All nature had sounded her curfew;
but old ia per was silent!
The bell ringer, with hiR gray head
yet barred, had traversed half the dis
tance that lay between his cottage and
the uncovered tower. when form went
fitting past him, with pale, shadowy
robes floating around it, and hair that
the low western lights tonched and tinted
US Il with halo.
"Ah, Huldah, Huldahl" the old man
muttored; chow swift she flies! I will
come soon. dear. My work is almost
DONE" Hullah was the good wife. who
had gone from him III her early woman
hood, and fcr whom he had mourned all
his long life. But the fleeting form was
not Huldah's it was Lily De We're, hur-
RED by q stldden and desperate purpose
toward the cathedral.
so help me God. curfcw shall not
ring tonight! Cromwell and his dra-
goons come this way. Olce more I will
kneel at his feet and plead"
She entered the ruined arch. She
wrenched from its fastenings the carved
and worm. eaten door that barred tho
way to the tower. She assembled with
flying and frenzied feet the steps; her
heart lifted up to God for Richards de-
liverance from peril. The bats flew out
and shook the dust OF centuries from the
black carvings. AS she went up she
caught glimpses Of the interior of the
great building, with its groined roof, it's
chevrons and clustered columns, it's pic
tured saint and carved image of the Vir-
gin, which the in pillages of ages had been
spared to be dealt with by time. the
most relentless vanquisher OF all.
Her breath WIS coming short and gasp
ing. She saw through al open space
old Jasper cross the road at the foot Of
the tower. Oh, how far! The seconds
were treasures which Cromwell, with all
his blood bought commonwealth, could
just above her, with its great 1,Iazen
mouth and wicked tongue, the bell
hung.
A worm eaten block for step, and
one small, white hand had cIasped itself
above the clapper-the other prepared
Mt tho tremble, to rise and clasp its mate
and the feet to swing ott--and thus she
waited. Jasper was old and slow, but
he was sure, and it came at last. A faint
quiver, and the young feet swung from
their lest, and the tender hands clasped
for more than their precious life the
writhing thing. There was grooming
and creaking ut the pulleys above, and
! then the strokes came heavy and strong.
Jaspers hand had not forgot its cum
nlng, nor his arm its strength. The
tonder, soft form was swung and dashed,
to and fro. But she clung to- and car
esssed the cold, cruel thing. Let one
stroke ccnc, and thousand might fol-
low-for its fatal work would be done.
She wreathed her white hands about it,
SO that at every pull of the great ropes
it crushed INTO the flesh. It tore her.
and wounded and bruised; but there in
the solemn twilight the brave woman
swung and fought with the curfew; and
God gave her victory.
The old bcll-ringer said to himself;
"Ayc, Huldah, my wo k Is done. The
pulleys are getting too heavy for my old
arms. My ears, too, have failed me. I
dinna hear one stroke of tho cnrfew,
Dear old bell, it is my ears that havo
gone false, and not thou. Farewell, old
iriend."
And just beyond the worn pavement n
shadowy form again went fitting past
him. There were drops of blood upon
tho white garments, and the face was
like the face Of ono who walked III her
sleep, and tho hands hung wounded and
p,werlesB at her side.
Cromwell paused with his horsomen
under the dismantled maypole before tho
villnge green. He saw tho man who
was to dc at sunset standing up in the
dusky alr, tall as a king and beautiful
as Absulom. He gazed with knitted
brow and angry eye; but his lips did
give ntterance to the quick command
that trembled on them, for a girl came
flying toward him. Pikeman and archer
stepped aside to lot her pass. She threw
herself upon the turf at his horses feet;
she lifted her bleeding and tortured
hands to his gaze, and once moro poured
out her prayer for the lite Of her lover;
with trembling lips she told him why
Richard still lived--why the curfew had
not sounded.
Lady Maud, looking out of her latticed
window ut the castle, saw thegreat Pro
tcc.or dismouut, lit the fainting form
i'll his arms and bear her to her lover.
She saw the guards release the prisoner,
and she heard the shouts of JOY at his
dchverance; then she welcomed the night
that shut tho scene out from her envious
eye and sculptured her in its gloom.
At the next matin bell Old Jasper
died, and ut curfew toll he was laid
beside tho vito who had died in his
youth, but the memory of whom mad
been with him always.