Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1890-12-05

he not promised that cabman to return
some other evenings His soul, SO the
young man darkly expressed 1t, was al
| ready sold.
1t was on q Friday night, warm,
/ noonlit night, that he counted his money
| for the last time and sailed forth with
desperate frown to stake it at the house
with the barred shutters. He caught
glimpse of the eldest Miss Mills az he
| passed the parlor door. She was work
ing at some charity clothing, while he
he shuddered at the distance between
them, but he felt that he must taste of
| this forbidden knowledge, or remain In
| Uninterrupted and untried ignorance. He
approached the house circunspectly, and
on the opposite side of the street to that
| on which it stood He almost hoped
that he would find it gone, and that he
could even yet return to the Misses Mills
as unspotted as he had been when he first
met them.
! But the house was there, and the door
i ajar, with the glimpse of the lighted hall
| within. He crossed the streets and looked
about him fearfully, for it seemed to him
as if every window held some one who
watched him, who recognized his pur-
| pose Then he placed his hand upon
| the door, but at the same instant it
| opened from within, and two men laugh
ing and talking boisterously strobe out
past him.
This sudden interruption unsettled BTr.
| Powers, and he walked hastily around
| l. L - q. 10 Oh,
himself for his own lack of spirit, and
determined to make the attempt again,
and that this time nothing should balk
him. He took the money, which he had
changed into three $5-bills, in one hand
and walked boldly and rapidly to the
door. Young Mr.. Powers hesitated no
longer. His career was to begin at once,
and he was at last to start upon that fast,
fascinating life of which he had dreams
and which had been denied him.
He noticed-without mental comment,
for he was too greatly excited-that
there seemed to number of men ap-
preaching the place from many direc-
tons, but he did not care now If the
whole world saw him. He placed his
hand on the door knob and stood for an
instant III the strong light of the hall.
Then from behind him he heard a sud-
den rush of many feet, man showed
him aside and pushed past him, another
and another followed. He was hustled
aud shouldered out on to the sidewalk.
He heard terrified yell from some one
inside the building, the answer of many
excited voices, the crashing and break
ing of tables and chairs and the rattle of
hundreds of scattered ivory chips.
''What is it, oh, what is it?" he
grasped, turning to a man at his elbow.
ats raid" answered the man,
grimly ''The perlice have pulled it,"
s'The policel" Young Mr.. Powers
turned sick with fear, and there was left
to him but one idea-to escape. He
brushed past the man and through the
people, who came running up on every
side, and few at a racing pace toward
the boarding house kept by Mrs. Mills.
He felt the hand of an officer on his
shoulder at every step; he saw himself
maj ched through the public streets; he
pictured his name in all the papers, and
his irreproachabie family weeping on
their knees at the cell door.
He was painting and breathless when
he raced up the steps OF his boarding
house and looked fearfully over his
! shoulder. The street. was still and de-
serted and showed calmly and peacefully
in the moonlight. He had escaped, but
by so little-so very little. The hand
that held his latchkey fumbled with the
lock, and it was with start Of guilty
fear that he confronted the elder Miss
Mills, who came to open the door for
| him.
"Why, Mr.. Powers" she said sympa-
thetically in her gentle tones, twhat
can be the matter? you look so pale"
Young Mr.. Powers became conscious
that he still held the gambling fund, the
awful evidence of his guilty purpose, in
his hand. He never wanted to look at it
| again.
''Miss Mills" he said. ''nothing's the
matter. And, Miss Mills" he added
breathlessly, there's fifteen dollars. 1t
will take three waits to the seashore for