Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1893-12-08

uoHtlulL Win Nna ConIAINlAy OF the hEHNo-
yard. was not to his liking. Bis heart
went pit-a-pat, not FOR the adored object
az his side, bnt because Of certain noises
which the wind made among the bushes
in the cemetery, and he also fancied there
were footsteps behind him. His repressed
fears controlled his tongue. upon which
q proposal Of marriage hung suspended,
although Mary preesed closer to his side
IS they walked rapidly along.
As for the thoughts that were passing
through the shapely headof Mary Mt the
time. the lady has since said that she
knew from Williams actions that he
wanted to propose, and she frankly I'd
mits that he would have been accepted
on the spot. since she entertained the
idea that she would have been aban-
doned IN the horrible place IL she had re-
fused. On such little things do the piy-
OTIS Of a life sometimes swing.
William was long in drawing his cour-
age to the sticking point. At length he
drew in a long breath, and TREMENDOUSLY
uttering the name that Byron and Burns
loved so fondly-"Mary"-was about to
declare himself and ask for her hand, but
ut that critical moment the disturbed
eyes of both were drawn 70 the cemetery
by the light Of the dark lantern. They
suddenly stopped in q palsy Of fear. And
such a horrible sight as they saw!
The face Of a corpse protruding from
the grave, every frightful feature ex-
posed in the light Of the dark lantern!
Mary shrieked and fell in a dead faint.
Williams knees smote together, and his
hair arose in abject fright. Another in
slant and his legs, which were growing
too weak to support him, would have
given way and brought him to the
ground, but Elary's shrek, in the total
eclipse Of his senses sounding like the
yelp of a pursuing fiend, galvanized him
into the strength Of terror, and no flew
down the road like the shadow Of u scud-
ding cloud. S~crambling over the fence,
for a cross cut 10 his home, his coattails
were gripped from behind by the stout
silver Of q rail, and thinking that the
iiend had him he tainted dead away and
hung there for an hour. Recovering his
senses later, he staggered to the house
and to bed, where he remained a very
sick man for two weeks.
The shrek paralyzed the young doc
tors for but amoment. They scrambled
hastily out of the grave. One Of them
seized the dark lantern and closed the
slide, and then both Of them stood silent,
drawing quick breaths. Not a sound was
heard. II was a place remote from
houses, and they were satisfied that even
such a piercing shrek would convey no
alarm.
cit must have como from the road"
whispered one to the other.
"Let us search" was the brief reply.
The body Of the girl was found, and
the young physicians, regardless Of their
own safety and at no little risk Of their
lives in cas- of discovery, set at work to
bring the girl out Of her deathlike swoon.
Il vas no easy task to allay her fears.
They did everything that men could do
to reassure the frightened girl, and grad
ually she became self possessed and
begged to be taken home. She was toe
weak to walk. The team was brought
around, and she was carefully and ten
derby assisted to a seat. DR.. x wa be-
side her, and reaching down the dark Ian
tern to his companion, who stood in the
road, he said, leave it."
The other understood, and without hes
itation proceeded to renter the corpse
and hide the tools in the adjoining
woods. He said afterward that he made
q better job at fashioning the mound
than the sexton had. At any rate, it was
never known that the grave had been
disturbed.
During the drive to Mary's home, as
DR.. x subsequently informed his com.
panion, he told some Of tho most III
genious lies on record. II was quite by
accident that they discovered her in the
road as they were driving home after a
consultation case, he had gravely in
formed her, and he gave her the particu-
lars Of the case, shrewdly avoiding any
inquiry as to what caused her to be
stretched in the middle Of the road in a
dead faint alone.
He promised to visit her next day, and
he kept his promise. And feeling inter.
ested in the case he kept on coming
when she was quite well, until finally
n day, on quitting the house, Mary
went with him in a carriage after whose
rolling wheels a gay wedding party
pitched old slippers, amid the laughter
OF the young and the benedictions Of the
old.-Detroit News.