The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-08-21

him, substantial man, independent of
everybody? Aut the job must OF course
fall to a poor fellow without sixpence
and alone in the world. Her parents will
reward me well, she said. There is some
thing in that. Who knows then? Out of
the seraDe may arise turn of good for
tune BE that as it may, help the poor
thing | must. To draw back from fell
low-creature in the hour of need?
Never"
His task done, he collected his tools,
shouldefed his ladder, and quilted the
church. Just then the convent clock
struck nine.
Three hours good in which to make up
my mind" he thought, having decided to
undertake the championship, yet seeking
loophole for escape. The more and
more he pondered, the more desperate
seemed the enterprise. Nothing easier,
certes, than for him TO be at the appointed
spot with a ladder. But how would she
contrive to escape? A criminal condemned
to the guillotine might as we'll try to elude
his jailers as Carmelite sister to regain
her freedom. So, at least, it seemed to
him.
The night was calm and beautiful, yet
superstitious mind might have read evil
augury in the heavy clouds yelling the
moon from time to time, their dense, pur-
ply black masses so strangely contrasted
with the piercing, silvery radiance. Never
was moonlight more brilliant, never shad-
ows more gloomy. Bodeful, too, sounded
the shrill cries OF the night owl fitting
from tree to tree and the melancholy
splash OF the stream watering the convent
gardens, now much swollen with spring
II.
| ing mood; even the breeze stirring the
| pine leaves sounded like human sigh.
Between the out houses and the wall
| stretched vast drying-ground, where
| fluttered newly-washed clothes hung out
to dry; on the fruit bushes and shrubs
ALSO with somewhat weird effect, lay long
white garments. The timid might easily
| conjure up a world of ghosts here, the
clothes taking grotesquely human forms
as the night wind swayed them gently to
and fro.
With calculation and an ingenuity only
called forth of despair, the fugitive had
chosen for her purpose the one night Of
| the year offering combination of favora-
bic circumstances. Not only was the en-
tire household worn out with fatigue; not
only did the process of housekeeping and
renovation necessitate the opening OF
the great spring washing, when the clothes
remained out of doors all night, afforded
an additional chance of escape.
Even were some vigilant eye upon the
| drying-ground, amid the changing lights
| and shadows and the phantasmagoria of
white specters, as the long garments in
deed looked. a stealthy figure could easily
elude observation And almost superhu-
man was the dexterity and absolute noise
| lessness with which this one had contrived
10 get so far, having safely stolen from the
cell shared with a companion fortunately
for her, the heaviest sleeper of the whole
community 70 glide through a newly
white-washed corridor, every window Of
which stood wide open, to descend side
staircase appropriated to the use of the lay
sisters, to boldly cross their dormitory
where all six lay snoring in company, take
down from the door the key of the kitch-
en-, thence enter the garden-all this
seemed miraculous now it was done. But
| it had been done!
With beating heart she paused for a
| moment, at first too widely thankful to go
| on, too passionately exultant to realize
I how much still remained to be accom-
plished. Murmuring a childish little
| prayer, raising her rosary to her lips, she
| crossed the drying ground, taking care to
| hide herself between the rows of white
linen. Timid as a hare with the pack at
| its heels, cOursing as fawn within near
| approach OF it's pursuers, her pulse afire
and breath held close, she fastened to-
ward the meeting place. Inthe lightning
| ike transit, for she flew rather than ran,
| 4 thousand apprehensions distracted her
mind. The passage OF the garden occupied
| q few minutes only, vet every instant of
10
step Of the way q mile laboriouslv trod-
| den, and, with electric swiftness one
agonized question arose after another.
| Would the counted-on deliverer, indeed,
he there? Would the last, most hazard
Gus feat be accomplished? Aud that hor-
rible wall once surmounted, should she
reach haven of safety? The nearer her
goal, the more delusive and chimerical
| seemed her hopes. Oh, no! Such over
| Joy could not, could-not be-
The moon was suddenly hid as she
reached the meeting-place, and that
blessed observation made the rest easy
Her trembling fingers felt the rungs of the
| ladder, low whisper from above encour-
aged her to climb. Gently, vet firmly,
she is then supported by one pair of arms,
| while by another the ladder is deity
| lifted and readiusted for the descent. The
lilIcC ECI uOMu III Safety anu bil6 llRub vi Il
lantern now reveals to the sobbing, too
thankful girl that her second deliverer is
/ a woman.
'My landlady, the Mere AIichon-
| Jeanne Marie, exclaimed the young man
in a low voice. II could not manage
things alone, and she has a good heart.
| She pitied you! But quick Let us make
| haste TO hide ourselves and form plan"
The three hurried on for few hundred
| yards, then struck into a by-road, where
they soon reached a road-maker's hut,
now dark and deserted. Behind stretched
a pine wood in which cuttings had been
made, and here, amid the fallen trunks
and chips, the rustic paladin concealed
i his ladder.
Now, Jeanne Marie" he said, you
take the sister inside and change her
clothes while l keep watch. When you
are ready call me, and we will consider
what is best to do next."
There leave off crying and praying,
my DEAR" cried the rough, warm-hearted
peasant woman. Ellie has thought of
/ everything. Here's my best Sunday gown,
jacket and hood (you'Il think of me when
you get home, know; put this basket
| on your arm. / packed in bit of cheese,
bread and some cherries to eat on the
way. Pm poor woman, but never vet
] did kind deed without being rewarded
! twice over. Now, if any one guesses that
-. =