McCook weekly tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 188?-1886, 1884-01-24

creeping upon her was that he anC
young Vavasour had met and quarreled
Perhaps fought and injured one another
fatally. In these dread moments Of
suspense the mind is apt to conjure up
far-fetched and unlikely thoughts.
81 asked him to 60 around that way
she replied, in timid tone. 81 wanted
him to leave note for me at the dress
makers.
Old Mr.. Watkyn sank into a chair,
putting his hands before his troubled
face. 81 see it ALL" he breathed
family. "He must have fallen down
the Scar"
Alison uttered scream of horror.
"Deceived by the mist, he must have
walked too near the edge" continued
the old man. "Heaven grant that it
may not be 80, but l fear it. Was he
mad, to attempt to cross the plateau on
such night?''
Catching up his hat, Mr.. Watkyn
went out swiftly. Mrs. Reece grabbed
her daughters hands. They were icy
cold.
"Alison, what passed between you
and Thomas last nightp"
'sDon't ask me, mother. Let me fol-
low Mr.. Watkyn. / cannot rest. in
doors. Oh, it cannot, cannot be as he
fears!" -..-.
"Not one step until you tell me what
passed. said the mother firmly.
''There's more in all this than meets
the eye."
"He asked me to-give up talking to
MIR. Vavasour.
"And you refused. Well?r
''He told me must choose between
them," continued Alison, bursting into
tears. "Oh, mother, il was all my fol-
iy, all my temper; he could not see
that, and when he went away he said
he went for good"
Mrs. Reece drew in her thin lips
sternly. She was thinking.
tAnd what does it mean about your
giving him note for the dressmaker?
1 do not understand. You had nothing
to write about
The girl had got her hands free and
flung them before her face to deaden
the sobs. But Mrs. Reece was a reso-
lutte mother at times, and she extorted
the confession. Alison had improvised
the note and sent Thomas around the
long way to deliver it, and so keep him
from passing by the willow walk.
"Oh, child, child" moaned the dis
mayed woman. elf he has indeed fall
en- over The Scar it is you who have
given him his DEATH"
And it proved to be so. In taking the
two miles round between the cottage
and the farm q high and perpendicu-
lar precipice, called the Scar, had to be
passed. The lakeland, or plateau on
the top was wide and a perfectly safe
road by daylight, since 3 traveller could
keep as far from the unprotected edge
as he pleased, but On dark night, or
in q thick fog it was most dangerous.
Thomas Watkyn must have drawn near !
the edge unwittlngly and fallen over it.
There he lay, on the sharp rock, when
the poor father and others went to look
for him, his death-like face upturned
toward the blue sky.
"Speak to me, Thomas, speak to |
mep" walled Alison quite beside her
self with, remorse and grief, as she
knelt by him, wringing her hands.
''Oh, Thomas, speak to meP loved |
you all the while.''
But Thomas neither spoke nor moved.
The voice that had nothing but tender
words was silent now; the heart she
had so grieved might never beat in sor-
row or Joy again.
No person had seen or spoken with
him after quitting her the previous
night save the dressmaker, little indus
rious Miss Ford. She had answered
he knock herself, she related, and he
put the note into her hands, saying,
Miss Reece had asked him to leave 1t
npassing. What thick mist it is that
las come on" he remarked to her in
lis pleasant, chatty way. '.Aye, it is
indeed, sir" she answered, and shut
Ter door as he walked away.
For many weeks Allison Reece lay i'll
With brain fever, lowering between life
md death. Some people said it was
he shock that made her i'll and took
Ter senses away; others thought that
he must have loved the poor young
nan to distraction; no enc, save her
mother, knew it was the memory of her
asst interview with him, and the schem-
ng to send him on the route that led to
lis accident that had well nigh killed
Ter. But the young are str ne in their
enacity of life. And she grew better
y slow degrees.
One warm April afternoon, when the
winter months had given place to
pring, Alison, leaning on the arm of
Ter mother, went to sit on the porch.
The was very feeble yet. 1t was the
rst she had sat there since that memo
able evening with her Inflated lover.
here she renamed, thinking and
roaming. They could not persuade
er to come in, and so wrapped her in
warm shawl.
Sunset came on, and was almost as
eautiful, curious, perhaps, that it
hould be so, as the one he and she had t
7atched together nearly six months be-
IRE. The brilliant beams shone like l
,olten gold in the glowing west, the {