Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1891-12-04

Ttluct uuSCbllSN VI do. We -N"N " 49,
cidedly wet and mud-bespattere gen
tleman. whose raiment steamed in the
glorious blaze aud crackle Of the pine
logs, as he sat there holding out his
hands to the genial warmth.
How had he gained an entrauceI Had
l carelessly neglected to bolt the big
door after Mrs. Gludge's departure' Yes,
must have done so--and that was a
proof of how utterly unfit was to be
left by myself. For a second stood
there quailing and quaklng, my heart
humping like trip-hammer and cold
sweat breaking out upon my forehead,
before l decided what to do.
had never seen a bank burglar, to
be sure, but l was pretty certain thsi
gentleman could not belong to that race.
And | did not think he acted like any
other scoundrel who was fleeing from
the rigors of the law. He must be tho
English gentleman gone wong in his
head, who had escaped" from stephen.
sons.
was alone in the house with M
MAC. And at the idea my heart beat
more violently than ever, and the cold
drops grew colder on my brow
With a sudden instinct decided that
there was nothing for it but flight. The
worst feature Of the case was that |
could not get out of the house DE it re.
membered that Peter had taken away
the key of the back kitchen door in hiI
pocket without passing directly through
the room where the escaped lunatic sat
basking before the fire. This, however,
must be faced; there was no remedy for
it, md with one blind rush precipitated
myself through the room, tumbling over
the cat aud scatteringa shower OF but
ternuts as went and darted headlong
through the door, with an involuntary
shrek that might have rent the ceiling,
if ceilings were rent iu that way, except
in the pages OF romance.
Directly into the arms of--Jac%, my
own brother Jack, VINO was coming in
from the van with light valise in one
hand and dripping carriage robe il thc
other.
"Hallool" bawled Jack, staggering
under the blow of my very unexpected
appearance. ''Why-what the i declare
if it isn't Ruth
"Ob, Jack! oh, jack" l screamed,
clutchins at him like the downing maa
at the proverbial straw.
"Where are all the folks! Wnas
have you done with Carlc.on?' h. de-
manded. But paid no heel to his in-
terrogatories.
"Come, Jack" cried, come quick
lyl The escaped lunaticl Hes rigat
there in the keeping room! Ga, Jack,
I do hope you've got your regolv1r!'
"Whatl" roared Jack. "An escaped
lunaticl Where the deuce has he come
from? Has he hurt Carletonl"
He made a spring toward the keeping
room. in whose door stool the tall, pale
man, straining his eyes out into the
night.
"Where is hel" shouted Jack.
"Wheres whol" said the escaped lula-
tic, in a pleasant, slightly drawing
voice. at wssn'ta he 1t va; n she
And she cleared the floor in single
bound. and-Ol, Lam sure beg "a thou
sand pardons"-as he caught sight OF
me. "Bat please, what is the matterF
Ia a second my mental vision became
as clear as crystal. saw it all, and
envied Priscilla, the cat, because [ could
not vanish under the china cupboard as
she did, and be gone. [ could orly
blush anl hang my head, and stamneT
out incohereat apologies ami the lalga-
ter Of JACK aud tn; polite apologies OF
the friend wlo ne had unexpectedly
brought fIom Montreal with him, anl
whose coming had been announced, a
it seemel, by the very letter Mrs. Glud &c
had lost.
That's all. There is no sequel to my
story. In real life have found that
stories seldom do have sequels. l had
had a dreadful fright, aud they all
laughed at me at first, anlmade excuses
for me and petted me afterward aud said
"Poor Little Ruth Father declared
that he would never risk suca thin :
again, and discharged Peter on the spot
but Peter came back to his WORK the
next day, just as usual. as he is here
still. Mr.. Carleton was very Dic'
and apologctic for coming in VITA
ont knocking, to dry himself, while
Jack was leading the horse to tn
barn, but he has not ye
fallen in love with me. as a.
orthodox hero ougat to do. Tle genu'
ine escaped lunatic was cl2turel nea-
Stephensons aud takea to Moltreil,
under the impression that he was the
Govern General, going to take posses
sion of his vice-regercy. Aud just hall
an hour after we had settled down tC
the cracking of butternuts that night,
merry group, sepulchral knocking
sounded at the door, aud Mrs. Gluige':
voice was heard proclaiming:
"If you please, miss, I've come tC