The record-union., 1893-05-06

ing hoots, and as they rapidly drew near
er she recognized Kelpie's familiar steps.
Thank God he is safe homen' she said,
and lest her husband should be displeased
to nnd her sitting up 1or him she hast
ened to her room and lighted a candle.
The horse mad stopped opposite the
house and David had had time to dis
mount, but he had not opened the gate.
Some one might he OBTAINING him there;
yet there was no sound OF voices to be
heard, only kelpie impatiently striking
the ground with one of his fore feet.
Alison looked out of the window, but
could see nothing for the high wall, and
as several minutes passed and still her
! husband did not come, and the horse
stamped with increasing impotence, she
slipped down stairs, out of doors, and
across the garden to the gale. So deadly
a fear lay upon her spirit that when she
flung the gate open and saw helpie
standing rlderless on the dusky highway
she ielt no surprise, only an assurance that
Sandie's vision was about to come true.
'Oh, kelpie, lad, your masters no far
to seek!' she said as she led the trembling,
sweating beast towards the stableyarCi.
Then, without calling up any of the men,
Just as she was, with uncovered head,
Alison Galbraith sped through the dusk
and silence of the summer night.
The steep brae by Sir Even Camp
BELLS gates!" she said to herself as she
ran, and when the dark frs and high
wall bounding the park came in sight
her limbs almost gave way beneath her.
Then she reached the great iron gates be-
tween the granite pillars, and in the twi-
light she caught sight through their bars
OF the black avenue within, and heard the
wind Sign in the boughs. Alison pressed
her hands to her heart, and urged herself
Cn. Now q bat cut its zigZag flight
through the air and startled her, the
white scut of a frightened rabbit shone
out i'll the dusk as it flashed across her
path i'll search of q friendly burrow, and
Her echoing steps woke many a Sleep
ing bird and set it huttering wiCh fear.
The next turn i'll the road would bring
her to the foot of the hill, and to some
thing that she dared not name that she
knew was waiting for her there. She
closed her eyes Tor an instant as she
rounded the curve OF the road and
clenched her hands; then the soft silence
of the summer night was broken by q
wailing cry, and Alison Galbraith Ieil
senseless on the dead body of her hus-
band.
David was sober that night, but as he
rode through the mirk lanes the old hor-
ror had overtaken him. He thought that
he heard horseman following hard upon
him and clapped spurs to his beast and
galloped down the hill. at the foot OF
which kelpie slipped on rolling stone
threw his rider heavily to the ground,
and he neither spoke nor moved again.
Alison Galbraith did not long survive
her husband. and her death took place
without Sandie having any intimation of
its approach. He never had vision or
prophetic foresight again after his father
died. The weird gift departed from him
with his weakly childhood, and he grew
up robust and stout, thriving and COM
monplace as his forebears. Sandie is
even better farmer than his father be-
fore him, and is in a fair way to solve the
problem how to make two blades Of
wheat grow where only one had grown
before. lie has married a wife practical
and matter-of-fact as himself, and their
sons and daughters are as gulltless of
imagination as they are Of any touch of
the uncanny. The burly Lowland far
mer can never be induced to speak of the
second sight, even to his most intimate
friends. In the early days of their mar
ried life his young wife ventured to ask
him about the visions OF his childhood, of
which she had heard but he silenced her
with such severity that she did not again
dare to approach the subject, and she will
never know whether the stories of her
husbands uncauny childhood are wild
legends or plain truth.-Cornhill Maga-
zine.