The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1889-05-01

dark, toward thefurther end, through the
keyhole of which came faint light.
Here she stopped, and tried the latch Of
the door. 1t did not let her in.
Robert !" she called RobertV r
What is it, Bertha? cannot come
down again, and-I'd much rather be
alone"
" But want to speak TO you. o, Rob
ert, won't you LET me in?n
It's no use; l won't come down"
" No, yoa needn't nobody has sent
me for you, IL just wanted to see
you"
Well, here l am, and the door open
ed suddenly, so that the girl who was
leaning against it almost fell into the
room. She recovered herself, however,
and stood there looking at her brother
with pitiful eyes.
wish knew what to do she said,
and ended with long-drawn sigh
Z" know what to do" was the boys re-
joinder, and he set his mouth sternly, so
that there was in his face curious re-
semblance to the old man down stairs.
You won't do anything wrong, Rob
ert, know you won'tw she said, clasp
ing her hands. Pm sure father means
TO do everything forthe best Try not to
mindw
do try, have tried. but its no use
Think ! can't see? Father is mad be-
cause that money is coming 10 me, in
stead of him. wish Uncle George had
never left it to me l could have got
along without it; it only makes me
wretched all the time, the way father
treats me, and I'm tired of it"
But, dear Robert, Ievery one sees-I
mean" she added, checking herself
you have grandma and We, who love
you dearly. Don't that make up to you
for these little crosses Father, though
hei is so rough, loves you very dearly
he is proud of you, but something has
made him irritable of late, and"
Yes, ever since Uncle George died
and left me that money" said Robert.
and you know he has been making
Improvements on the farm. Perhaps he
has got into debt"
We'll, that's not my fault" said Rob
ert. Il believe in my soul you wish
that money had gone to him or you"
90, Robert ~
Forgive me, Bertha l know how
girls feel about such things, and it's only
natural that you should want to help ia
ther but tell you candidly, if | had
the money to-morrow, wouldn't lay
out cent on this miserable old place.
hate it, and rm tired of being treated
like n child of five years old. Ali my
faults and errors talked over, no matter
who is by. Pm not going to stand it any
longer. If he can't be reasonable, he
must get some one else besides me to vent
his spite on"
Oh, Robert, what are you sayingl"
Just what | mean. / won't stand it
It's bad enough TO be cooped up in this
old country place, and then to be tyran-
lied over from morning till night What
good does it do can't touch the money
till I'm of age, even if felt like giving
it all to him."
"If you only won't mind it, dear, I'll
do everything can to make you happy"
You're awfully kind, Bertha, and you
do everything you can now, but don't
you suppose l see how uncomfortable he
makes you feel all on my account Come,
you're shivering with cold. Take my
candle and go to bed Pve got another,
and Wen talk it all over some other
time"
Reluctantly Bertha obeyed, waiting
onle to kiss her brother goodnight.
When she reached her room she blew
out the candle, folded wrapper about
her, and. sat down in the little splint
rocker, to think
She felt as keenly as Robert did her
fathers injustice, but what could she do ? !
She had no mother TO 90 to, and her
grandmother was too loyal to her son to |
blame him in words. She could not talk |
to her father he would have turned upon
her as he had before, with the bitter
taunt that she encouraged her brother in
his idleness, and excused ali his short
comings.
The clock struck eleven and found her
still sitting up, trying to solve this prob !
lem, how TO keep her brother from any
rash act that he would regret in after life. |
Straining her ears TO listen, she thought |
she detected the creaking Of door.
Il rained hard now. She coald see the |
tops Of the trees moving in the wind,
dark as it was.
A sudden terror seized her. That GER
tainly was not the rain nor the wind but
the familiar clank OF the he heavy chain I
against the front door. She ran to her /
brothers roOm, her heart beating heayi- /
ly, called him, but no answer came.
Cropping her way to the bed, she felt over
it. Robert was not there-the bed had
not been touched.
She could have screamed for terror,
but she had learned, long before this, TO
master her impulses, and she crept down
stairs to find the front door unfastened.
Unheeding rain and wind, she ran out in
the darkness TO the gate, which was also
unfastened. Watch, the dog, was gone
he must have followed his young mas-
ter.
As loudly as she dared she called her
brothers name, and then, sure that he
was by this time out of hearing she ran
back TO the house, found shawl in the
hall closet, and left the house, shutting
the door behind her, softly.
The next train was due at half-past IL
O'Clock.
Robert must be waiting at the little
station in the woods, half mile away.
The rain beat heavily, the wind blew so
fiercely that she caught her breath with
difficulty. The path was hard TO keep.
Occasionally she staggered in among the
thick bushes on either side the narrow
foot-way, and once something bounded
across the road, but before she could give
way to fright, she field the cold nose of
Watch against her hand.
nt Iy.tch ,,b.-.. l. IloIo-.a o.