The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1892-01-27
UNDER A CLOUD.


lam Agnes Grey or at least that was
my name when, one bright summer day,
the sky as blue as though there never
could be smother cloud in it, 1 came home
across the fields from Nellie HObarts
wedding. Very sweet she looked in her
bridal dress. and very fond the gentle
man to whom she had given her hand
seemed to be Of her. The church was
decked with flowers and not one OF those
who sat .here but wished the young erea-
ture well and as she stepped out from
the shadow of the painted windows into
the clear, golden, out-of-door light, l
thought Of the old rhyme
Happy Is the bride
Whom the sun shines on
and thought that she looked ike one Of
those fair saints the old masters were so
fond Of painting, blue-eyed and blonde,
and with eyes ike those of smiling ba-
bies.
1 thought Of something else, also, as I
suppose every girl who had been to that
wedding did, could one but know the
truth. l wondered whether il would ever
be my turn to stand where Nellie stood
that day, and what manner Of man my
bridegroom would be; for bad never
vet seen any one I could fancy giving
myself to, almost body and soul, as a wife
must. was making a picture Of him
for myself, Ike a goose, when my foot
caught in the grass, where some boys had
tied ii, and down I fell, twisting my an
kle and hurting my head, 50 that for
time knew nothing.
At last I felt some one lift me off the
ground, and opened my eyes 10 see that
It was a great, swarthy, black-eyed girl of
seventeen or so-a girl with a careless
look about her dress which was not lady
ike Bot she had the voice and manner
of lady, and she asked me very kindly
if were much hurt snd seeing that I
was, picked me up in her strong arms
and carried me through a garden gate
and into a little parlor, where she laid
me on a sofa and bathed my head with
rose water, and told me to keep up my
courage, for % Gideon had gone for doc
tor
That name told me where I was. I was
under a roof that 1 never thought would
shelter me, no matter what would come
to pass. I would have risen and gone
away i'll could have stirred from the odd
old sofa for this was Gideon Lees old
homestead and here dwelt the children
Of the man who, sixteen years before,
had been hung for the murder of my In
Gle Matthew.
was but baby when it all happened
but I could remember how the who le
village was astir in search of the missing
man, and how body was found, at last,
in the heart of Aleott's woods and how
the facts that there had been q quarrel
between Gideon Lee and Uncle Matthew,
and that Gideon Lee owed the latter mon-
ey and how they were last seen togeth-
er quarreling in Gideons garden, where
bloody handkerchief marked VI. G.
was found soon after, and brought Gid
con to the glllows.
Perhaps hearing the story afterward
from my grandfather made me fancy
remembered it; but, at all events, the
name that l had learned to hate was that
of Gideon Lee. And now it was the child
born on the day Of her mothers death
the very day on which the father met
his awful fate-who lifted me from the
ground-dusky Madge Lee, who had new.
er found a playmate nor a friend in the
town, because of the ban upon her faith,
er's name, and Gideon, the son, who bad
been old enough TO understand it all the
time. who came in with old DR.. Humph-
ries soon after
They were not poor people. The
house was a substantial one and there
were more books and pictures aud tokens
ofrefnement within than country homes
generally boast Of But even the farm
hands spoke contemptuously ofthe -son
of the man who was hung and the ser
wants. who were hired by Madge Lee
were not natives Of the place.
And here was l, Matthew Gray's owr
niece. living under the roof, and likely tS
be there for some time, for the doctor
forbade my removal.
81 must 90 home-I must 60 away from
this house :" said angrily and feverish
Iy.
And Madge Lee, looking down on m'
as an Indian princess might, with he
dark eyes aglow. said IN bitter voice
~Never fear, Miss Grey, we'll not murde
your and somehow absshed me, haught,
as l was.
Grandpa was away from home, or
think even the risk Of my life would no
have kept him from taking me home
and grew i'll and delirious, and Madg
Lee nursed me as sister might, and Gid
con WIS kinder than brother. he rea'
to me; he brought me cooling drink
made Of fruits after some Oriental recips
which he possessed he found swee
flowers dripping with dew in the wood,
and he sang, as l never heard anyon
sing before, those Scottish ballads tbs
are loyeher than any other music eve
written, to my mind and it ended i
my loving them