Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1886-07-10

| "Gone around by the Black Arch,
suppose, Milford answered. 'lt's quite
a curiosity, that Black Arch-at least, SC
the above ground people seem the think
Would you like to see it2"
~ must go back to the Others" said
Emmeline, hurriedly.
ave can meet them presently" said
Garrett, with the utmost composure.
Follow me, please. It's only few
rods"
He walked on, and Emmeline, after q
few moments's hesitation, reluctantly
followed
What else was there for her to do, but
to keep in sight of that faint yellow star,
where all else was hideous blackness9
But after she had walked quite a dis
lance through sinuous pathways. some of
which were scarcely wide enough to
admit of the passage of the human form,
she suddenly stopped.
II will go no further, she declared.
Garrett Milford looked around.
''Just as you please" said he, with q
sinister smile
Take me back to the mouth of the
mine" she cried. ''All this time you
have been leading me astray."
He leaned against the almost perpen-
dicular low wall of the mine, with folded
arms.
"Well," said he, "why should / not2
Didn't you lead me astray once, and laugh
at me, afterward, as if it were capital
joke2 Do you think there is no such
thing as retaliation in this world? Is
it pleasant sort of thing, this being
deceived and made game of, do you think,
Miss Emmcline Lathrop."
A deadly chill seemed to enfold the
girls heart. She gasped for breath. In
this sepulchral gloom, this terrible iso-
lation, what was to become of her? she
asked herself.
"Hush." he said, lifting his finger in a
listening attitude. "Do you hear that
creaking sound 1t is the chains of the
elevator going up. Your friends have
finished their survey. They are going
back again. Up to this time they have
not missed you. Yes, shriek-cry out
until you have strained your lungs to the
utmost. Do these black walls return you
any answer? And who is there to hear
you-the mules, champing their feed in
the furthemost sockets of these aisles2
Tie few Swedes working beyond, who
cannot understand word OF English ?
No, Miss Lathrop, you are at my mercy
at last. You amused yourself with my
anguish once; can play with your fears
now"
Il am not afraid of you !" cried Emme-
line, feigning a valor she was far from
feeling.
"You are' he retorted, sharply. II
see it your eyes, l hear it in your voice,
and it fills me W tn delight
"Why should be afraid! have done
you no harm, she asseverated.
"No harm.' he bitterly repeated.
''You have blighted my life! You have
ruined my future You have destroyed
you call no ha!ml"
She sunk on her knees, with wildly
clasped hands.
"Be mel full" she walled. ''Be gen.
erous. Take me to the mouth of the
mine! Signal them to return for mel"
II will not!' he said, savagely. "Does
the wolf give up the prey upon which his
teeth have already closed? Does death
give up it's victim9 have sworn to be
revenged, and will keep my world"
She turned and fled from him at the
top of her spe d, shrieking as she went :;
and, oh, Joy at the first turn of the black
pathway she met men, hurrying toward
her with torches.
She had been missed at last; they had
returned in quest of her
"Why did you allow yourself to get
separated from us?' asked they, reprocch-
fully
But she could not answer with sobs
and tears.
T-I thought was lost." she faltered.
81 was so frightened"
"Thcre was nothing to be frightened
about" said the superintendent "You
could not possibly have got lost. Garry
Milford is working there somewhere, and
he would have set you on the right path.
He is poor, love-crazed fellow, but he
would have been civil enough"
''Love-crazedm repeated one of the
ladies. GLOW very romantic"
Hes been disappointed, explained
the man, land he has never gotten over it.
He works when he feels like it, and when
he don't he lis at full length in the
straw we keep down here for the mules,
and stares at the roof of the mine"
Emmeline listened in silence; but if
an arrow had pier, ed it, the pain in her
heart could not have been keener.
Three weeks later she astonished all
her friends by accepting George Sisso
as an afanced husband.
II love him." she said, simply, "and
he loves me. If we are to be poor, we
sha at least be happy"