Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1884-11-22

I y
there came up a bad storm, one o
those early spring storms, will
thunder and hail and other elemen
tai disturbances attached.
In the midst then of this appro
pirate tragedy music, there tottered
to Alicia's door an old man. One
arm hung helpless, his limbs trem.
bled he seemed very harmless and
weak. But Alicia remembered hel
husbands words. She gave him
the shelter he begged for, in the
barn only, although her gentle
heart smOte her. This was at four
in the afternoon. AT eight in the
evening, the storm having settled
down upon the lonely land, the
lonely farmhouse, and the two
lonely women, the old man appear
ed again at the kitchen door. He
was old and chilled and hungty.
Alicia's heart smote her so hard
this time that she opened the door.
She babe the old man enter. She
gave him food. She sent him up
the ladder to the attic, for, in spite
of the cousins in Beacon street, this
was the simple "lift'' in the coun-
try house, and then she and Hetty
took away the ladder in pride and
security. The old man was safe,
thank Heaven, and so were she and
Hetty and the money-bOX.
But the thought of the money
box worried her. She looked un-
der the bed to see if it were all
right. There is something in the
mere act of looking under the bed
that is disorganizing to the femi-
nine mind. After Alicia had look
ed, she began To feel a trifie timo-
rOus. She went out and listened at
the ladder-hold. The old man snor-
ed. That sound should certainly
have encouraged her, but it didn't.
The combination of snoring
man in the house, a stranger, even
though manned and halt, and q
money-box under the bed, of all
places, and storm raging, and
alack and alas broken promise
to ones husband this combination
was very disagreeable.
Moved by an irresistible impulse,
Alicia took from drawer pistol
belonging to her husband. She
had found it accidentally but a few
days before in an old trunk OF his
filed with bachelor belongings.
She was glad now that she had
moved it down from the attic,
where the old trunk stood in one
corner and the old man snored in
another. The sight of the pistol
did not perhaps restore her courage,
as she had hoped 1t would, for she
put it back with shudder, threw Il
hasty glance around the rooms, and
with a shrug at her own fears went
to the window, pulled up the shade
and looked out. The moon was
struggling through the clouds; the
long line of roads leading past the
house up to distant hill shone out
white from between the dark fences
on either side. Up the hill, quar-
ter Of mile distant, there was
moving spot-sOme belated neigh
bor on his way to the village prob
ably. Alicia felt comforted. She
wondered, idly, who it might be.
Squire Roberts, perhaps, coming
from Widow Hobart's. There was
little doubt that that would be a
match, though how widow could
ever remarry! She shuddered, then
thought of Nathan, and smiled.
Alicia stood at the window TO
watch the neighbor pass. She had
taken down her hair, and it fell in
a long jet braid down her back. She
looked very young and girlish, and
as she stood she hummed to hel-
sef-partly by way Of keeping up
her rising courage, l dare say-the
quaint words of the cid Scotch-En-
gIish, and which Nathan, being
Scotch himself, was fond of:
He gave his bridle-rein shake,
Aud turned him on the shore
With, Adieu for evermore, my love,
Adieu for everInore. 2.
By the way, the spot on the hill
side was=growing nearer and clear
er. 1t was not Squire Roberts,
after all, but men on hOrse-back-I
three Of them. The woman's coun- |
try curiosity was piqued. Eques-
trians on a Massachusetts highway |
at nine p. III. were as unusual a
sight AS hobgoblins. AS the riders
came nearer she saw they were |
muffied in long black eloaks. A
moonbeam struck across
their faces. Great heavens They
were masked.
For second there was
wild confusion in Alicia's mind.
The money-boX, the lonely house!
These men had come TO rob the
county in her husbands absence.
Could she resist them All!