Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1886-04-29

idol was but dress after all?
AS for our wayward little Nelly, her
lovers footsteps had scarcely died away
on the elastic turf before she had be-
gun very sincerely to repent her fit of
caprice.
I'll run out to call him. was her
first determination, but 1t was too late;
the hawthorne bush by the gate nod
ded it's crests of foliage, and the crick-
cts chirped around the lonely spot-he
was gone. Never mind she murmur-
ed under her breath; I shall see him
tomorrow, and it will be all right.
Tomorrow, and it will be all right!
All, how often that formula Of words is
applied to the sore aching of the hu-
man heartl how often, like apples of
Sodom, it crumbles into ashes, and the
heart still aches on! 1t is surer to be-
lieve that when hfe's day is over there
shall indeed come tomorrow when
it will be all right.
The long August hours ebbed slowly
away, but still Paul Osborne came not.
John, said Nelly to her little broth
er, boy of thirteen, who sat on the
door step, mending his fishing tackle
with intent earnestness, have you seen
Paul today?'
Paul Osborne? Yes. He went out
IN little boat, rowing at five o'clock
this morning. | believe he was bound
for Archer's Point, fishing.
Will he be back soon, do you sup
pose"
John glanced critically up at the
sun, and then down at the beach, where
the tide was beginning to creep UP in
little foamy fringos.
In about half an hour, l guess. The
Point isn't very safe spot after three
, IN tle AFTERNOON.
Eleanor put on her broad brimmed
hat, threw light Shetland shawl over
her shoulders and went down the ter.
raced steps,
I'll be at the Big Rock to meet him
she thought. Surely that will be
enough of a flag of truce
And the limples came out on her
cheeks, and the violet dcepened in her
eyes, as she pictured to herself Paul
Osborne's delight and surprise at see
ing her, all alone, at the Biz Rock,
waving her handkerchief to him.
1t was lonely spot, procipitous and
shelving, with an abrupt sketch of rock
down toward the sea, and bit ofspark.
ling beach here and there, with pools
of salt water mirroring the sky between.
The Big Rock itself leaned toward the
water, huge mass Of shttering crag
with just one spot sufficiently level for
a human figure to stand on--a spot
almost impossible to reach; but Nelly
was light and agile, and had often
achieved the perilous ascent.
She sat there long, shading the sun
! from her ewes with one hrnd looking
out over the blue, sparkling expanse of
the sea for the one little black speck
that was to represent her lovers home
returning boat.
4 could see it quicker from the beach
below she thought, swinging herself
lightly from her dangerous perch, and
tripping down the steep and narrow
path to the bit Of smooth, shining shore
beneath, which extended olt into the
sea in the shape Of an irregular cres-
cent.
But the. sun went down, leaving its
purple stain upon the restless waves,
and the low wind fnoaned like the
voice of some homeless kelpie, and still
no bark appeared. At length Nelly
rose up, with a sigh.
4 must go now. The tide will be in
presently, and
She stopped, a cold chill Of horror
creeping through her velns-the tide
was in. Absorbed by her own thoughts
she had neglected to notice the flight
of time, the slow creeping of the noise
less waves and now she was hemmed
in, as it were, by the watery wall of a
living sepulcher. The narrow space
only about three feet square-upon
which she stood was momentarlly
growing more circumscribed.
Help help! For Heaven's sake
help?'
All in vain was the despairing cry
the thunder of the rising tide, as it be-
gan to lash the rocks and boom thro'
billows, drowned her feeble tones.--
And Nelly knelt down with clasped
hands, and tried to pray, but her brain
seemed to reel and give way before the
prospect of the horrible solitary death