The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1893-11-18
THE STOLEN BRIDE
@.The kirk was lit at cven-tide;
The taner glimmered fayra:

And dame and knight were there.
They sought her bath in ha' and tower;
The ladye was not seen;
She's DER the border and AVA
Wi Jock O H~azeldean."
Everything was ready for Erminie
Yorke's bridal.
There on the dainty bed in her pretty
chamber was the dress Of glistening
white satin, the long, wide veil of
snowy tulle, as fine as cobweb. the
orange wreath and bouquet and all the
| details Of a perfect toilet.
In the parlOr below the guests had
assembled, the clergyman had arrived
and the groom was waiting with I'M
concealed Impotence for the coming of
| his bride.
let some one go and hurry her up
a bit" said her father.
It was the mother who went to her
chamber.
The maid-of-honor, pale with fear,
met her at the door. Inside, the brides
maids were huddled together like
frightened doves.
The bride was not there, and none OF
them knew where she q
An hour before, when they first came
to the house, she had started down to
the conservatory, and they had been
waiting e~xpectantly for her ever since.
One of them had been down to the
conservatory, but she was not there.
Where, then, was the loved, the
loving, the happy bride?
They searched the house from cellar
to garnet, but no trace of the lost n
was discovered.
THnvn rync M rvsr0f On xyn1 01nSf che
could have hidden herself like Lord
LoveIs fated bride.
1t was not likely she had left the
house, for the rain had been pouring
down in floods for the last forty min
utes, with flashes of binding lightning,
and with dcafening thunder peals.
Where, then, could their darling be?
Moment after moment elapsed, but
there was no answer to that agonized
question.
Had the earth opened and swallowed
her up in its deepest depths, she could
not have vanished more utterly.
One by n the guests departed; the
clergyman went home, and the bride
maids followed the others.
The groom, Duncan Trevlyn, remain
ed the long night through with the
stricken parents.
Three days passed by, and still the
mystery was unsOlved.
There were plenty Of guesses and
suppositions, as there always are in
such or similar cases.
And one of these was that she had
fled with another and a more recent
lover.
Somebody had heard that somebody
else had seen her in the company of
such q young fellow the evening after
she so strangely disappeared.
1t was only a rumor, emanating no
doubt from some person who had been
an enemy Of the lovely girl; but there
were enough ready to believe it.
So many people are always ready to
believe evil of another, and not a few
had rather believe bad than good!
But this cruel rumor was totally dis
credited among those who had known
Erminie Yorke best, and who had
loved her most.
And it would have scarcely been safe
for anybody to repeat it in the pres
ence Of Duncan Treviyn.
He was far too noble himself, and too
loyal-hearted, to ever imagine i'll of the
fair girl whom he had chosen as his
wife.
MY darling is dead" was what he
said, and what he thought.
The dead and the missing are soo
forgotten.
At the end of three days the un-
known fate Of the missing bride was 10
longer discussed in the club rooms and
at the afternoon teas She was hardly
remembered more, except by those who
had been her nearest and dearest.
Tkon e@~~n%s~o, loI 1uDrrvl,J 1Dr
from the memory and the gossip of the
villagers.
The newest topic of e~ngrossing inter-
est was a supernatural apparitlon
which haunted q certain deserted nan
sion Of the place.
1t is clothed in q long, white gar
pale; and it's hair is like the yellow
simmer of a harvest moon. 1t sings
and shrieks, and laughs and sobs, and
raves and prays, all the night through
was the description of it written by the
poetic reporter of the local paper.
"Nonsense!' exclaimed one Of the
villagers. Somebody always starts a
blood-curdling ghost story about every
house which has been unoccupied for
q few years, more especially if the last
SLAu - bSSA S CASCAllIS uul lllSCl-
ly recluse, as old Nate Camerole was"
You're about right there said Dun
can Trevlyn. And there have already
been a dozen tales of the kind told
about the Camerole house during the
half a dozen years since old Mates
! DEATH"
"Trevlyn doesn't believe anything he
hears, and only half he SEES" sneered
another-a big, angular, ungainly young
man, with the lean, hungry visage and
the little, closely-set eyes Of a fox.
He had been a Scorned, but importu-
nate sutton of beautiful Erminie Yorke.
and it was he who originated the report
Of her flight with the new lover. His
knowing smiles, and meaning shrugs.
and cunning ~insinuations, had pro-
claimed far more than any distinct as
sertion Of his coward lips.
Duncan Trevlyn knew this-or, at
least, he suspected it very strongly.
'"There would be no occasion for un-
belief if there were no evil-minded
persons to coin and circulate false
hoods" Trevlyn retorted hetly.
A malicious smile glittered in Horace
Vinccnt's crafty, fox-like eyes.
"Oh, W. all understand that" he
drawled with an iDsolent shrug. "Of
course it's p~leasanter to accuse some
body Of falsehCod than it is to believe
anything which hurts ones vanity. A
fellow would rather say almost any
thing than admit that his sw aetheart
has Tilted him and run OF with anotl-
err
.The insulting words had scarcely pass.
ed his lips before Duncan Trcvlyn
had seized him by the collar and was
shaking him as a terrier shakes a rat.
tY0ue I,rrish wrefGhi if Won auoa. daro