The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1889-08-15

ling like leaf, and burying his face in
my lap, Q had never reliuquished my
seat), said 10 a hurry and imploring
whisper:
"'Save me from those two men They
did not see me. For the love of God
don't give me up to them You are good
and kind, and sorry for me, and you
have told me to pray 30 now l pray
God and pray you, don't, don't give me
up"
For an instant he remained motion
less, with his face buried in my lap, and
l really don't know what folly my wo-
manly impulse of intense sympathy
might not have tempted me to commit
had not at that instant caught sight OF
the knife which he still grasped tightly
in his hand. 1 shuddered as saw 1t, and
he must have felt me do 80, for, raising
his head quickly and putting his awful
face close to mine, he muttered tiercely
and half to himself, She doesen't look
true. Oh, il thought she would be-
tray me y
"Now, certainly, l thought, my last
hour had come but in spite OF my des-
peration, l managed to say calmly and
in an authoritative whisper:
Hush be quiet, or they will hear
you They will soon have passed, and
then you shall come home with me- cO
God = 1 thought, did the horsemen see
us pO
"He crouched down obediently like a
child, hiding his face on my knees; and
once more cried for divine assistance in
my awful need, and again my prayer
was answered, for on looking despair
ingly across the wood, / saw. within
thirty or forty yards of us, and behind
the unfortunate man on his knees, the
same two men who had passed by on
horse back. So they had seen us, and
help was at hand at last; they were
creeping toward us, and making signs tC
me not to move, so as to give them time
to approach. l leant, therefore, ovel
the wretched mt MAC, gently strokinG
his hair, and speaking soothingly to him
telling him for his life not to rise or show
himself, not TO move till the men were
gone. SO he knelt on, with his head
buried in my lap and trembling will
fear. / must confess that at this mo-
ment hated myself and felt very De
lilah, for the poor fellow began to STAN
mer forth few dsjointed words from
the Lords Prayer. But what-wha
could l do2
"And the men kept coming on silent
ly and stealthily, nearer, closer, till a
last one of them sprang forward ant
threw some kind of cloth over the mad
mans head, while his companion PLACED
gives upon his wrists, and then-then
saw the hideous knife fall harmlessly t.
the ground. know not to this day whel
it happened, but before I suppose) tn
the cloth had quite blinded the aston
ished maniac. and in the struggle tina
followed, he bit my hand nearly to tb
bone Il have the mark now, and alway
shall have it), but 80 excited was | tha
. | never even felt the wound till on m
way home | saw the blood.
at is not easy for me to describe wha
, felt when, after the keepers had un
covered the poor wretch's face, an
: were leading him away, cowed and mar
! acled (but not subdued), he looked with
eringy at me, and said between hi
I teeth
"'God's bitterest curses upon you, fO
| you cheated me with your prayers, an
lying words, and trusted you, and yo
/. betrayed me-
Then came string of imprecation
: in the midst of which the keepers hui
D ried him into a vehicle which was FOL
9 lowing and then drove away.
"My story IS done. How got hon
| know not; l was more dead than aliv
l and for weeks that awful face, those bi
!. ter curses AMI the cry--I trusted yo
D and you betrayed me !-haunted m
; and on every anniversary of that day
;, rise at the exact hour, and on my kne'
/ pray God to bless, protect and comfo
t him (should he still be living), and a
=? wretched beings like him, whose humal
Y ity il shattered and their lives-a livir
8 death r. W'ilhelmind Munster, IN Il
@ IVomdn'S World