The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1886-03-24
ESCAPED FROM DEATH.

1onll give him up, Nelly-to please
ne!
Now, Paul, you are unreasonable"
pouted Nelly Vane, with her pretty head on
one side, and her little hands busy at the knot
of blue ribbon that hung from her throat.
+" Charlie has always ridden and walked ont
with inches just like brother"
= That makes no difference"
" But think it does make difference.
don't care to have my betrothed wife
escorted round the village by auy other
cavalier than myself; it makes people
talk"
e thought you did not care for idle Cos
sip, Paul Osborne"
Neither do I, when it is unproyoked
and fonndationless but in this case"
You nro determined to be yexed with
me, Paul ?"
" Am l 7" He put his hand lightly under
her chin, and turned the fair, girlish face
up to his. Nelly, would do much more
than that to please my little wife"
. am not your wife yet"
9 But you will be, my darling, in the
course of another month";"
e" Perhaps I shall-perhaps shall not"
Now, Nelly"
6 The fact is, Paul Osborne" said Miss
Vane, tossing her auburn curls, :" 1 am be-
ginning to be tired of all the criticism and
fault-fnding, and-and---"
"Ncllyl"
He stood looking down upon her with a
mingled expression of grief and surprise
the color mounted to her cheek, but she
never glanced up nor spoke.
Nelly, tell me you are not in earnest.n
Still there was no answer; the pretty
head was resolutely bent down and the blue
eyes averted. He waited moment or two.
but in vain, and then spoke in quite an
altered voice:
:" Goodnight, Eleanor it is getting
damp, and the evening dews are chilly"
" Goodnight"
She turned and went into the house he
watched her retreatng figure until the door
had closed, then turned slowly away. Was
it possible that his fair idol was but dross
after all
As for our hayward little Nelly, her low
er's foostep had scarcely died away on the
elastic turf before she had begun very sim
cerely to repent her fit of caprice.
I'll run out and call to him. was her
first determination, but it was too late the
hawthorn bush by the gate nodded its crests
of foliage, and the crckets chirped uound
the lonely spot-he was gone. 'Never
mind, she murmured, under her breath
1 shall see him tomorrow, and it will be
all right"
Tomorrow, and it will be all right !"
Alb, how often that formula of words is ap-
Piled to the sore aching of the human
heart! how often, like apples of Sodom, it
crumbles into ashes, and the heart still
aches on II is surer to believe that when
life'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 brother,
10y of thirteen. wi--z-.s. -a--'4-step,
mending his fishing tackle with intent earn
estness, have you seen Paul to-day 2''
Paul Osborne? Yes. lie went out in
little boat, rowing, at five o'clock this
morning. believe he was bound for
Archer's Point, fishing"
"W Will he be back soon, do you sup.
pose P"
John glanced critically up at the sun, and
then down at the beach, whore the tide was
beginning to creep up in little foamy
fringes.
In about half an hour, guess. The
Point isn't very safe spot after three in
the afternoon"
Eleanor put on her broad brimrled hat,
threw light Shetland shawl over her
shoulders, and went down the terraced
steps.
/" I'll be at the Dig Rock to meet him.
she thought. Surely that will be enough
of flag of truce !"
And the dimples came out on her cheeks,
and the violet deepened in her eyes, as she
pictured to herself Paul Osborne's delight
and surprise at seeing her, oil alone, at the
Big Rock, waving her handkerchief to him.
1t was lonely spot, precipitous and
shelving, with nm abrupt stretch of rock
down toward the sen, and bits of sparkling
beach here and there, with pools of salt
water mirroring the sky between. The
Big Rock itself leaned toward the water,
huge mass of glittering crag, with just
one spot sufficiently level for human fig
ure 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 tho sun from
her eyes with one hand, aud looking out
over the blue, sparkling expanse of the sea
for the one little black speck TINT was to
represent her lovers home returning boat.
g / could sec it quicker from the beach
below" she thought, swinging herself from
her dangerous perch, and tripping down
the steep and narrow path to the bit OF
smooth, shingly shore beneath, which OK
tended out into the sea in the shape of an
irregular crescent.
But the sun went down, leaving its pur-
pie stain upon the restless waves, and the
low wind noaned like the voice of some
homeless kelpie, and still no bark appear
ed. AT length Nelly rose up, with sigh
90 / must go now. The tide will be in
presently, and"
She stopped, cold chill of horror creep
ing through her veins-the tide was in.
Absorbed by her own thoughts, she had
neglected to notice the fight of time, the
slow upcreepiDg of the noiseless wayes /;
and now she was hemmed in, as it were, by
the watery walls of a living sepulcher. The
narrow space-only about three feet square
upon which she stood was momentarily
growing more circumscribed.
Help! help! For Heavens sake,
help!"
All in vain was the despairing cry-the
thunder of the rising tide, as it began to
lash the rocks and boom through the hol-
lows, 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 that awaited her.
If could only have asked Paul to for
give me before died-if could have told
Paul how sorry was !"
That was the one thought that seemed to