Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1884-03-20

| Shame OH churl with knightly bloodi
This the curse call from Heay'n,
BY the power to Zarah giv'n:
Ever Darrell'slove shall prove,
Woe and death TO BOTH
| Then, turning to the riyer-which, you
| must know, lima, rises every year, either
In the autumn or winter-Zarah added
"'List. ye river, rapid flowing,
To this curse my hate bestowlng;
Let the voice Of Gipsy's Weir
Scream that curse in Darrell's ear,
Till the waters, rising, rising,
Bring the bouuden sacri1cing-
Life for life for traitors deed;
When the floods are out, take heedi'
These last two lines were addressed to Sir
Ingelhard-that is, of course, to the House
of Darrell; and, having uttered them,
Zarah, before any one could prevent her,
plunged headlong into the weir, and dis
appeared"
"But," exclaimed lima, interruptiEg a
narrative which she had followed with
keen interest, ii with some inward amuse-
ment, "what can the four lines about Clip
sy's Weir meani"
"That no one has ever been able TO make
out. They are generally thought TO indi-
cate that the barrels will become extinct.
1t is said that the waters Of the Coalmere
have risen higher every year since that
date. l know as q fact that they have
risen higher each year within the last for
ty. Mamma, you know, would not follow
mere tradition
"But how could that re unless the rain
fall or the snowfall was heavier than in the,
year prcceding:"
"That is one Of the strangest parts Of
the whole affair."" returned Rose; shut
three years ago, for example, we had
very light autumn rainfall, and yet the
river rose nearly two feet above the rise OF
the year before, when il rained heavily
nearly every day throughout September.
A meteorologist who was staying here at
the time wrote TO the Times about it. The
year before last the river WIS so high that
the Hestons were afraid That the Mill
might be flooded; and last year, when, GER
tainly, the snow came down from the hills
terribly-for we had a rapid thaw in No
yember-the basement of the Mill was
flooded, and the licsions had TO take refuge
in the upper rooms Tor two or three days"
"There's u lot in the Cumberland STAR"
put in jamie, 'aOOut the extraordinary
phenomenon OF TIE rising OF The Coal
mere. III Is III ~ nuulbCI Vi ditN years ago.
l will show it 10 YOU, lima"
.Dut granted tic phenomenon" said
lima, "why should the yearly increase in
thc rising Of the water concern the WORK.
ing out OF the CURSE
Oh, you skeptc. How should knowy
But of the curse working in one way there
can be no Doubt" said Rose cmphatically.
s'Stay moment, lima: YOU can hear the
weir now"
Theywerc pas, sing through little wood,
and, as all stood still, they heard dis
tinctly the roar of falling water. lima
listened for a moment OF two. with parted
lips, and eyes into which far away lock
had come.
81 was thinking of Niagara" she said
softly at last, then added quickly, "Please
finish your story here, Rose. Ii we go OH,
we shall meet Roland, and l shall not have
the finish for an age"
The three girls sat down OH fallen tree
trunk, and Rose continued
"There is no doubt about this, lima,
that from Sir highlands time all the OAR
rells have been unfortunate in love. Sir
highlands wife died quietly; but then he
| did not love her, he hated her. 1t would
| take too long to tell you, but, when you 60
bHo NOuitt
| the old house-keeper will give you his
tory of all the love-afiairs OF the barrels
since Sir Ingehard; and there was always
swoe and death to both those who love- 1
wouldn't marry a Darrell, grand as they
are-not even the present one, who is the
handsomest Of handsome race"
"And dare-all, like the rest Of them"
added jamie.
sI'm coming to him." said Rose nodding
to lima. "The present DarrelPs father,
Sir Bertram, married a Howard, and they
were both drowned In yachting, when
their son Sir Philip was baby. Sir Ber-
trans father was shot in due! over .
loye-affair."
"They were bold to fall in love, If they
| believed in the curse" said lima.
al suppose they couldn't help IL.
am not great physiognomist; dare say
| you are. Look at their portraits and you
| will see that they all had strong passions.
| This one has, and no mistake, as you say
| across the water. i wouldn't have him
| hate me for something; 1 would almost
| rather he loved meY
"Hate you! That is supposlng YOU were
| q man." observed lima; "a gentleman
| would not visit vengeance on a woman"
al suppose not-a Darrell would not
and certainly Sir Philip would not"
al am awfully curious about him." said
/ lima; "but, first, L want to ask few
| questions about the past"
."I'm all attention." returned Rose.
"Then how was it Sir Ingelhard, who
was not too good for nything, did not turn
the Heston's out of the Mill after Zarah's
curse"
| "Wen, perhaps even lie thought he had
done enough wrong; or, more likely, his
superstitious fears prevented him. And
no Darrell has ever dreamed OF dlspos-
sessing the Hestons, though to this day
they hate the Lords Of the Manor as II
they were all Sir highlands. They were
like the Corscan Vendetta; gipsies have
| so much of that kind Of thing; no other
| people would think of carrying hatred
through generations. job is as glad as he
can be that Sir Philip is the last Of his
| race"
"still they have always been good ten.
ants" said Janie;" they pay their rent
steadily, and hurt nobody. But they have
never been favorites. The other tenants
VIII hardly speak TO them because they are
against the barrels, and partly for their
gypsy blood. job Is sdour'-looking man,
/ think"
"And Zeph looks ecrie," added Rose
"Well, lima, what nextV
"Why the curse said
"'whcn the foods are ont, take hcedr
That seems warning to the Darrells that
they may meet with death or disaster nj
rising OF the river. How has that been
worked outy'
! at never has been yet" answered Rose