Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1890-05-09


going rapidly on her check.
Manage it9 OF course you could. A
child could manage it"
'l'vc great mind to try" SAID Sophy,
drawing quick breath.
Nine O'Clock, of starry August night
the night of the ball at Swamp Basin
and IL shadow, stealing softly down
the butternut shaded walk, which was
not the shadow of tree or bough Sophy
Allcrton had succeeded in creeping out
of the house without disturbing Uncle
Joshua Halcs conscience sweet slum-
bers
"There" cried Sophy to herself, be-
fore she had reached the big white pine
tree at the Cross Roads. 81 forgot to
blow out my candle, and it's too late to
go back now. But it's all right; it will
burn down to the socket and 20 out.
And, after nil, it will be no very great
waste, for the candle was only an inch
long"
And so Sophy kept on her way tc
where Lizzie Larkspur and Albert Bates
--that young lady's sturdy cavalier
were awaiting her coming, not without
impotence.
We'll, the ball was a grand affair, as
country balls 90, with plenty of lights,
bunting, evergreen boughs, and iiddles
Sophy had never danced SO much mt one
time in all her life before; and all was
going "merry as Il marriage bell, )" when
standing by the door, tanning herself
after II quadrillc, she heard IL man, who
had ridden up on horseback, say some
thing to another man about Il ''big fire.
up toward Lees Valley
"Firc!' cried Sophy, eagerly. "What
fire. Where is it?"
The man could not exactly say. He
was II stranger in these parts. But as
he rode through the little settlement OF
lonely farmhouse being just burned to
the ground, and its only tenant, Il solitary
old man, burned to death.
Every drop OF blood in Sophy Alcr
tons veins seemed to CONCEAL to ice us
she listened to this unconscious mcsscn-
ger of evil tidings. Poor, helpless I'm
Gle Joshua. And the candle she had so
carclessly left burning. At once her
mind reverted to every possibility OF
evil; she could see the rcd shafts of lurid
flame rising upward; the clouds oil
smoke; she could hear Uncle Joshun'a
unavailing cries for help, and it was all
through her wild, wicked folly
She looked around for Lizzie and AL
bert; they were whirling through the
maZes OF Il polka nj the other side of the
floor.
81 can't wait for thcm," she muir
INJURED, unconscious that she was speak
ing aloud, and catching up the shawl
that lay nearest, she muilled herself in
its folds, and set Off, all alone, through
the starry dark of the summer morning.
For it was wcll-niyh on to three O'clock
by this time.
And. through all the slrging confusion
of her thoughts, one horrible reflection
rose up constantly. If Uncle joshua
dear, kind Uncle Joshua, who was the
only father she had ever known-luy dead
in the ashes OF the burned farmhouse,
what better was she, Sophy Allcrton,
than Il nurdcressi
II was only about five miles, and Sophy,
like most country girls, was IL good
walker, but the last mile, after she had
passed the old stone church, with its
square tower, sceaird actually ntcrmina-
bic.
Hush! Footsteps No need 10 shrinl;
behind the tall growth OF elder bushes
that skirted the road, for i'll another sec
ond she recognized the round -shouldercd
figure and slouching gait of Obadiah Car
stairs.
"Wall, YUM" quoth that parsonage.
"Dest if l didn't think You was IL ghost
Been to the ball, ch?"
She caught his arm. "Tcll me, Oba-
diah-thc fire."
''.Ius: come from there" said Obadiah.
"All burned to the ground, and Eliakim
lI;,wlcY only just saved. He would go
back artcr that old leather money bag o.
his N. Serve him right to let him burn,
| say ii he was so sot on it"
Sophy caught for breath "Then ii
was not orr housed"
''ionr house. No, not bya long chalk
1. was Eliakim IIawlcy's, down by the
Valley postofiicr. And you was afcerdI
it was yourn, eh, poor child? No, no;
yo;ir house is all safe enough. Coin
home. ch? WALL" with chucklc.
"young folks will be young folks, and |
won't tell your uncle nothin' about IT.
Sophy colorcd an angry and mortified
scarlet.
81 shall tcil him myself, said she.
And when Uncle Joshua opened lis
kindly blue eyes on the soft light of the
summer dawn, his niece was knecling
sobbing by his bedside.
"Why, Sophy, child?" cried Uncle
Joshua, scarcely certain that lie was no;
yet wandering in the mazcs of dream.
Whats the trouble?'
And Sophie confessed all to him-her
temptation, her fault, the horrible hours
OF remorse she had endured, her relief
and gratitude when she learned ut last
that God had been more mcrciful to her
than she deserved.
son, uncle" she sobbed, "I will
never, never attempt to deceive you
again, if you will only forgive me this
once"