The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1891-03-04

When | could speak without shivering
told them my name and where l lived.
81 shouldn't have come into the
woods" ended. GIVE been told not to,
but was running after the rabbit to see
where he lived, and / ran on and on and
forgot"
why, pop" exclaimed the girl, tits
Mr.. Harvey's little girl"
sob, yes" said the man, II know
squire Harvey"
please, sir" asked, "are you the
hunterT'
AYE, Is'pose So" answered the man,
"leastways, l hunt most of the time"
"Then," said, beginning to cry again
"then I'm far from home, way at the
other side of the woods" had heard
of the hunters cabin. "Oh," went on,
"what will they say athome? They will
be so frightened What shall 1 do?"
Tho man went to the window and
looked out.
THE storm is ragin'," he said, and in
deed we could hear it.
81 tell ye, little gal, you'll have to
wait till lnornin'. No one could ever git
! felt dreadfully, careless as was. |
knew how they would suffer at home,
and yet there was no help for it.
| cried and sobbed, and after while
the girl carried me up tho little riclSety
pair of stairs TO her own tiny room.
There were only two rooms up stairs
the girls where l was taken, and her
fathers. It was poor little room. but
quite clean, and the bed was very, very
narrow.
"There," said tho kind hearted girl,
tuclSing up my little body under the
warm quilt II reckon I'll have to sleep
on the floor; I've got some bedclothes
down stairs put away, SO I'll git 'em
out. Now, I'll just leave youthe candle,
and I'll be up in an hour or two
Then she went away, and left me alone
in the strange little room. l looked
about me as lay, 1t all seemed so odd
and my head felt so queer, and now and
then cold sliver would run up and
down my body.
/ couldn't sleep; my eyes were wide
open.
There was an old rag carpet on tho
floor, andsover in the corner funny old
fashioned chest Of drawers and d poor
little table on which the candle stood,
and one worn out chair.
Bang! bang! went the shuttersl Oh.
how the wind howled, and then would
come the sudden, fearful crashes of
thunder that seemed directly above my
bed!
trembled so that my teeth chartered.
| should have been very warm, for the
coverings on the bed were thick and
plenty, but still felt very, very cold
and shiyered dreadfully. It was silent
except for the noise OF the raging storm
without
was frightened up there, all alone, in
that strange place.
Tho candle fickered and made ugly
shadows on the wall, and, oh! l wished
that the girl would come up stairs. |
thought of papa and Maria, and longed
for the day to como that they might
know was safe and sound
And presently knew nothing, for
few moments, it seemed to me.
Bangl bang! went tho shutters again.
| sat up, wide awake, with dreadful
terror in my heart.
In the moment that had slept had
dreamed of the old woman in the blanket
was not cold now; I seemed to be
burning up, and tried to call out.
wanted some one to come to me; / was
so afraid, what with the storm and my
dream and the strange, lonely place.
My voice seemed very faint and weak,
so erawled from the bed, and it was
hard to move. The candle was still
pickering on the table, and cast but
dim light into the little passageway.
reached the stairs, but all seemed 81
lent below. Nothing was to be heard
but the rumbling of the thunder and
nothing was to be seen, but-what was
that?
There, there in the corner!
Something white, bent over, and, yes,
a blanket, u great yellow blanket. cover
ing it up!
had left the door ajar and faint
ray from the candlelight rested upon
the old woman! The old woman in the
blrsketi l only remember screaming
out loud, ms Robbie screamed little
while ago.
One bright morning opened my eyes,
and was surprised to find myself in my
own bed, and in my own pretty room at
home.
| felt too tired to speak, and just
closed my eyes and tried to remember
what had happened.
Presently heard voices.
Poor little dearl' Maria was saying.
I'm so glad the fever has gone. Master
has been 30 worried. This morning he
went to the village for the first time
since Miss Jane was brought home with
the fever"
"Oh, yes" replied another voice, a
voice had heard in my dream, and in
deed it was the voice of the hunters
daughter. "She's all right now,
reckon"
"Tell me-" said Maria. Tell me
again, just how it came on"
"Well, you see," answered the girl, II
had put her in bed safely, and then
went down and got pops tea. 1t was
btCAhiih <nibph ~ -
fetched out the pillows and blanket that
l was agoin' to make my bed Of on the
floor, and took 'em up stairs, and stood
them in tho passageway, and then ]
went down again to finish bit Of mend
ing, while pop read the paper. All on
sudden we heard u dreadful scream, and
when we ran up the stairs we found the
poor little gal laying in the passageway
moanin' and tearin' in the fever. Then,
next morning, pop came over and told
you, and the little thing was fetched
home"
"And very good and kind you have
been, my dear, and we are very CRATE
full" said Maria.
Then it all came back to me, my
dream, my waking and stealing out to
the head Of the stairway, and my vision
of the terrible old woman in the blanket
standing in the corner.
astonished them and frightened them
both very much by suddenly sitting bolt
upright in bed.
t1Nhof did Won eav1', aaoarlv aakad