Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-05-15

yttictest rule ss
 CT cannot see it in that light. Tho girl was insulted and delayed on her way to work, and it is no more than fair play to make her the allowance"
 "Wen, just as you please" said Fell, "just as you please, Mir. Gusset."
 These partners disliked quarrel, no matter how widely they might differ. and it frequently happened that one of them sacrificed his feelings rather than provoke dispute, when he saw that the other had set his heart on any particular point or proposition. .]
 Accordingly, Mir Gusset blew the whis- tie communicating with the floor on which Edith Edwards was employed, and told the attendant that he wanted to zee Miss Edwards in the office.
 Edith came without delay. There was tumult of doubts and suspicious in her mind, but she maintained her customary composure by the supreme strength of her will power.
 "Miss Edwards" said Gusset, and his voice seemed to lose it's metallic ring for more musical tone, "we sent for you because did you an injustice a short time ago in telling you that you were half an hour late. have since learned from MT. Fell that the delay was no fault of yours, as you were stopped on the street by Clarence Carson, who, I under stand, insulted you grossly" "It was not quite as bad as that, sir" said Edith, her color deepening. "It is true was stopped by MT. Carson, but not insulted as badly as you say, because brave young man interfered in my be- half, and, believe, injured poor Mr. Car | son, who appeared to be intoxicated" "Do you know the young man who pro- tected you?" asked Robert Gusset.
 "No, but am anxious to thank him for his timely assistance"
 "Why, his name is Ned Newcomb, and he works in the steel mill, said MT. Fell.
 "Oh, then shall be nble to find him" |" said Edith, joyfully, "as my father works there."
 MT. Gusset was not entirely happy. He did not like the forgiving tone with which Edith regarded Carson, or the joy she manifested at the thought of being able to thank her deliverer. He consoled him. self, however, with the thought that as soon as he made his intentions known to Edith, there wonld be no room in her mind for any one else. But alas! how often men deceive themselves in this way.
 Edith did not appear to be affected by MT. Gussets magnanimity in telling her that, under the circumstances, he would not fine her half an hour for being late that morning, and she was about to re turn to her work upstairs when a tremen dous report, like the quick, sharp crash of thuI Yer, was heard, and the office tremblen 'olently, as if shaken by ar earthquake.
 MT. Gusset grew white with terror; MT Fell ran to the door, and Edith alone was calm.
 "What on earth can that be3" ex
 claimed MT. Gusset.
 Edith looked out of the office window
 which commanded view down tht
 street, and in the distance saw grea
 clouds of smoke, and ashes, and spark
 rising above the house-tops.
 Then the color fled from her cheeks
 and the strength from her limbs, ant
 her ips quivered nerveously, as sh,
 said:
 Ut is an explosion at the min!" The thought of her father at work il the casting.roon almost made her faint
 but presently her brave spirit asserted itself, and leaving the office, she hurrie. , down the street in the direction of tn , steel works, toward which an excited
 crowd was rushing.
 The tumult in the streets increased a 7, Edith approached the mill She coul, , hear the eager questions that passed iron , lip to lip, and the wild, uncertain answer , that were given. She heard a policeman
 hurriedly tell a reporter that "seven mel , were killed" and the thought of her fatt
 CT being numbered among the dead al most made her heart stand still. Presently there was a shrill alarm o
 fire, and great blaze shooting up to tn . clouds that chill January morning adde
 to the terror of the scene. A number c Q frame houses near the mill had caugh , fire from the shower of molten metal tha , descended upou their frail roofs from tn p explosion, and the most intense excit. ! ment prevailed.
 The approaches to the dismantled mi
 were blocked with people. Some wer ,, crying, others talking volubly and volur teering secondhand information, highl ! oolored Edith Edwards found it a diff a cult matter to push her way through th
 crowd at first, but she soon had plenty ( D assistance, as there were not many me n who could resist helping to make way fe , so fair a face.
 u When the shattered mill came in flu t view, great gap through the wa . showed where the explosion had spent i, 2. force, and the ponderous machinery witt
 in, as it lay strewn about in wild disorde a indicated the great power that had bee .. liberated in the momentary storm, b f which titanic bands of steel had bee n snapped in pieces as if they were fir
 flaxen threads, instead of the massive an I. mighty arms that actuated the great e o tablishment, in which thousands of toI were swung about like toys. !, Edith wrung her hands in anguish, an c looked eagerly about in the crowd. I'll ,I cries of the afflicted cut her heart. S1 e was awed by the extent of the catastr