The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1889-10-16
THE SECOND MEETING.

i
fectly natural that Howard Bigony should
marry pretty Maud Harvey, although
Howard was only the telegraph operator
/ at Hopedale Junction, with small saEa-
~ as his sole dependence, and Maud was
the only child of Archibald Harvey, who
was President of the Hopedaie and Bury
vile f. r, and the richest man in all
that country round
But then if it had not been for the tel
egraph operators presence of mind and
bravery, the railroad President would
have had no daughter TO marry any
BODY
1t happered in this wise There was a
picnic in the big grove about the Harvey
mansion, and the elite Of Hopedale were
there, paying homage to Maud. in honor
Of whose seventeenth birthday the picnic
had been given.
The fair hostess was the centre of
gay throng of gallants, who We'd with
each other to secure her smiles.
She seemed TO be most favorably i'm
pressed with Herbert Fitzmaurice, a re-
cent arrival in Hopedale-
He was a swarthy, keen-eyed, thin-lip-
ped fellow, and although he came from
no one knew where, the fact that ne had
an expensive suit of apartments at the
Eagle Hotel, and snug amount at the
HopedaIe National Bank, which he spent
layishly. was with most people recon-
mendation enough, and be had no diff
Guilty in entering the best circles of socie-
/ ty.
From the first he paid assiduous court
to Maud Harvey, and to-day he was her
shadow.
The heiress seemed to like his homage
! and when he proposed row on the
lake, she gladly consented,
I Accordingly they embarked together
in little rowboat, but as It receded FROM
the shore, Maud's father called out to
them from the bank:
Lookout for the lam The currents
swift, and il you get caught in it nothing
can save you.n
The voyagers made the careful parent
laughing response, and Fitzmaurice
bent himself to the oars
He had been planning all the after
noon hog to get Maud off by herself,
for ne had firmly resolved 10 bring mat
tiers to crisis and ask her to be his
WIFE
lie had urgent reasons for doing this,
but he kept them to himself
He accordingly rowed straight to the
middle Of the lake, and then dropping
the oars, leaned forward 20 that his dark
eyes met those of the beautiful girl re-
clining in the stern
He was shrewd enough to approach
the subject nearest his heart with caution,
and this took much time
At last he reached the critical point,
and seizing her hand, he declared his
passion.
Now, although Maud had always liked
the handsome strangers homage. she
had never thought of him as possible
husband, and his vehement, burning
words frightened her.
IL she stammered, Withdrawing
her hand, and looking about her with
frightened eyes
She was too tender-hearted to wish to
wound him with curt refusal, and she
hesitated for some excuse to turn the
subject.
As she looked about her the excuse
presented itself
Needless Of their surroundings, they
had allowed the boat to drift so that al
ready it vas in the swirl current, rushing
on toward the dam.
See she cried, starting up. " We
are nearing the dam . The oars, Mr..
Fitzmaurice.
With a muttered curse at being baked,
Fazmaurice glanced about him. recog-
nized their danger, and hastily shipped
the oars.
He bent TO them with viii, and one
Of them snapped short off.
With a cry-of dismay he dropped the
other, and it, too, was caught in the cur
rent and swept away.
He could plainly hear the thunder of
the falls, and every moment their danger
increased. Now. Fitxmaurice had no
idea Of sacrificing his precious life, even
to save the girl to whom he had just de
clared his love.
He was good swimmer, and, throw
ing off his coat, he leaped into the lake,
and struck out for the shore, which he
reached in safety Then hurrying to the
hotel, he got together his baggage, settled
no his account with the bank, and left
Hopedale forever.
Maud, finding herself deserted, set up
a piteous, wailing scream. and the cry Of
distress was heard by Howard Bigony,
who was at work in the ssuffy little tele-
graph Office opposite the big dam.
He looked through the open window,
saw Maud's peril, rushed out. Ieaped into
little boat that he kept moored ts the
ank, and pulled toward her with all
bspeed.
When he reached the drifting boat it
was 50 close to the brink Of the dam that
be saw it would be utterly impossible to
return to the shore.
Ahead Of them was a large, pointed
rock, which stood in the very centre Of
the dam, and oEerhung its edge.
Courage, Miss Harvey he cried, as
he lifted the frightened girl into his own
boat.
Then dropping one oar, and using the
other as q rudder, he steered the boat
toward the rock
When the crash came, he seized Maud
in his arms and leaped for the rock
He landed Upon it all right. but it was
wet and slippery, and il was only with
a - 4.