Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1888-12-20
CHAPTER XII.
THE SALE OF THE COTTAGE.
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When the old woman came home with
the boy. the story which she had to tell
surpassed all her yarns Of salt sea expert
ence, She told her tale nightly in exchange
for glasses of strong drink. And even
Cuddy. the boy. was in request, and sold
his information for mugs of beer
After the first laughter. which was like
an explosion, or great thunder storm,
one of those during which the rain water
rattles and states fall off the roof; a uni
veSsal burst of laughter when all the men
ran together laughing their loudest. hold
ing eech other up. loosing neckties. pump
ing on the apoplectic. and encouraging
each other to fresh hlarity by pointing to
Nan the bride. the question naturally
arose II anything should be done to mark
their sense Of the attempted crime by those
In authority A most grievous and In
tolerable thing 1t was. indeed. that
young woman should be violently kid
nap4d and carried away like sailor by a
press gang; forced to ride thirty miles
and more on winters night across the
cold and rainy fells; married willy nilly
in the morning without church or parson,
and this when she had not once, but many
times. refused so much as to listen to pro
posals of marriage from the man. All
we're agreed that this was thing not to
be permitted Yet. what could be done?
To run away with girl of her own free
will and accord. and when she would
marry the man but for wickedness of
guardians. is different thing; many
maiden has fed across the Border with her
lover, amidst the sympathy of her friends
But in this case it was like the carrying
away of the Sabine women. and no words
could be found by the moralists too strong
to condemn the act.
While everybody talked about 1t, that
Is to say. for whole week, there was SO
much Indignation that If Mathew had ap
peared it would have gone hard with him
among the men. to say nothing of the
women. who would think of no punish
ment too bad for him The townsfolk
talked of ducking in the river, of pillory
and stocks. and confess that the thought
of Mathew in the pillory was not disagree
able to me. Yet. considering the way of
the world. perhaps. If he had been young
handsome. and of pleasant speech. he
might have been forgiven the attempted
abduction. on the plea of love inordinate
One man. we know, may steal horse
but then he must be comedy and gener-
ous-while another, If he Is churlish ard
harsh. is clapped into jan for looking over
hedge While. however, they talked.
af Eoy, 4 1<. far
three or four weeks. leaving his private
affairs neglected; and no one knew where
he was in hiding
We had. however, a visit from Barbara.
She came. she said. not out of any love to
me or my mother, who had used words so
injurious as regards herself. but to express
her adherence of the crime which her
unhappy brother had attempted, and
her thankfulness that this madness
of his was defeated She said that
she knew nothing whatever of him;
where he was or what he was doing; but
she hoped that when he returned he would
be in better frame OF mind. and feel the
remorse which ought to follow such an
action As for the pretended marriage
with the old woman, she said that was a
thing not to be considered seriously MY
mother received her excuses coldly. and
she presently went away. after another
attempt to discover whether knew any
thing fresh about 1.-THE boy" She desired
to know. she said, not out of curiosity,
because she was not curious person. as
everybody knew. but because she feared
that ! might. by representing the late
affair in its worst light. bring about q
hostile feeling and even a conflict between
her brother and the boy. which could not
fail Of being disastrous to the latter My
mother treasured her on this point. be-
cause. she said Mathew was already we'll
acquainted with Ralph's cane. and. having
shown SO much bravery In the late affair.
which took two men to carry of one
woman would now most certainly