Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1885-11-27

down, I remained at my post, moodily
doubling whether the trouble I had
taken was likely to BE Of much use to
me in the end. An hour or more
might have passed thus, when / was.
startled BY sudden stealthy sound
below. 20 rs
4 got up, and gliding into the pas
sage, looked over the head OF the
stairs. Fl sss az
'There, seen dilnly by the Pickering
gleam Of the candle which she held in
her hand, i recognized u anetl On;
her head she wore q loose hood the
color OF. her dress. Almost at the
moment the light was extinguislied
and ! heard the opening and closing OF
the house door. 81. = .. TES. 7.
was so surprised by her unexpect-
ed appearance that for an instant j
hesitated whether to alarm old Brown.
or to take the affair into my own
hands. Deciding on the latter course
as by far the better of the two, ]
snatched up my hat and hurried after
her. "a. E. S5,< 81. 'z S., 5 ,'f' \.
1t was darker than ever, and ais I
looked up the road I could Just dis.
Germ her figure some distance ahead OF
me. Then my misgivings vanished
like u dream. Tho instant before l
had suspected Their. was something
wrong; now ! was certain of it. She
had evidently q purpose in this expe-
dition Of which her uncle knew moth
ing, and determined to discover what
that purpose was. .f a
Mine was no easy task. T. dared
not let her get too far; ahead in adj
vance in the darkness, for fear of los
ing her altogether, and kept SO close
at her heels, that had she turned she
must have discovered me- Fortu-
nately, she never paused to lood back,
but kept straight on, and after follow
ing her for some. minutes, came in
sight OF the black tower of thechurch,
set stark against the night sky....>.g -,
She stopped at the churchy ard gate,
and was presently joined by d man
who had evidently been waiting for
her close by. could not see his face,
but he seemed to be of powerful build,
and in the very prime OF life. : Creep
ing blythe side Of the hedge that Dor
dered the road, I approached nearer
and nearer till Twas opposite to them,
and could hear every word. .. b., 1s....,
"Well, Janet" said the man, 'the
first and most important question,
my dear, is--have you brought the
moneyW ~ ~ }>2s.sr X, a. = - = q
mo" ,>,., =
"No? But you promised me You
would, and this is the third time
waited for it in order to take you to
London, where we can be married
without any fuss, and without any
ones being bit the wiser. begin to
think your body's bigger than your
heart, my girl. Beside, what the deuce
does it matter? The old man 8 money
will belong to you by-and-by, you
know; SO if it comes to that, you are
only helping yourself to your own,
and the sooner the better"
~ / saw Janet's head droop; she laid
her hand on his arm as if to deprecate
his anger. " 49, 49, 49,.
II would have brought it," she falter-.
ed, "but Icould not. Only have pa
thence, and wait till tomorrow. There s
! q stranger staying at uncle's, and /
was afraid he might hear me if i tried
to get it tonight" - -, .
"Ah!' what does the fellow want, l
wonder?" "
II don't know" answered Janet,
"but from what / saw OF him--and l
only noticed him q moment think
it is likely he's come about the rob-
bery?' 4
I had never taken my eyes off the
man, and watched him now as he
pulled out his handkerchief and wiped
his forehead with it. Perhaps the
heat was little too much for him.
"And, Oh, George" she continued,
earnestly, II am always troubled and
uneasy when 1 think of that. never
doubted you, but I knew you were
badly off when you first came to Our
place; indeed, you told me so yourself
!fyou remember. / don't know how
it is, either but I'm afraid uncle sus-
poets you, though he says nothing to
me about it. If you would only trust
me- dear, We might manage to send
the money back to the rector.
know you would never do such thing
again. It breaks my heart even to
think of it."
Poor Janet, Very much affected, put
her arms round bis neck and fairly
wept aloud. a had moved a step from
my covert, but my blood turned to
fever heat and my hand wandered, in
voluntarily to the. breast-pocket of
my coat and felt for, the weapon !
kept hidden there. For it needed not
the mans quick start, it needed not
the tears of the miserable girl to tell
me the whole truth. Here was the
church where the robbery was COM
mitted-and here, not q stones throw
away, smiling and unconcerned, was
the robber himself!
I drew back under the hedge to re-
gain my composure.@ In view OF this
new revelation, all minor sconsidera-
tions shrank to nothing in my mind,
and | swore then that Iwould capture
him at any risk. .#*} ~
I waited till they parted-till Janet
passed me and seemed to melt away
like vision in the darkness below,
and then prepa red to follow him, -. !
At first he kept to the middle of the
road. The idea occurred to me that
I might perhaps find out where he
lived and recover some of the stolen
property Meanwhile, Iiguessed who
he was. Janet had called him George,
and I readily identified him as q
notorious burglar named George Han
way, whoshad hitherto managed to
elude capture. It mattered not now;
his doom was sealed. ~ < 't't''s.f -. s.s.! a
After hall an hour walking he quick
ened his pace, and, striding briskly
along, led me on till we had left the
church some distance behind us. Be
fore long the road began to slope away;
the measured beat Of his feet grew
fainter, and judged that he had taken
to the open country. My s,lrn,ise
nr0ye correct lfnr. I a,rns, 81 q q ma Z q