The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1894-10-11


OF him--of which am by no means
confident-running away from a ghost,
on that road, wns surely beyond me.
While waiting for another fash I
tried, 'vainly, to reassure myself by
thinking the apparition was nothing
but q barked and bleached stump, and
even II ghost, only that of a young
woman, not of pirate or slugger or
headless horseman or some other in
herently dreadful creature. But how
earnestly wished II might be only .
stump!
The next flash came. It was not q
! stump, and 1t was not a ghost 1t was
womanl She had sunk down In q
sitting posture on a rock, with her
face In her hands. dismounted, went
! to her-dragging my unwilling horse
J along--and laid hand upon her
shoulder, whereupon she sprang up
! again and let out another of those
banshee yells. It was minute or two
before ] could restrain the horses
! frantic eagerness to go somewhere,
but when had hauled him up SO close
that he could touch his nose to her. he
did SO, and from that on seemed salts
(, fed to behave himself, being finally
convinced that she was simply another
human being. The noise Of the rain,
f, even when there was no thunder, was
! such that had to shout in the woman's
ear to make myself heard, and in that
gentle way sought to reassure her.
Don't be alarmed" said, II don't
intend to bite you"
Perhaps ! unconsciously put most
vehemence into those last two words;
at all events she affirmed afterward
they were all she heard, and naturally
she shrieked louder than before. But
when the lightning occurred again and
she saw me, her senses seemed to re-
turn, and in a little while l had her
calm enough to mount my horse, when
resumed my journey, trudging ahead
of the beast and leading him. By good
luck remembered hunters shelter
! in ravine crossed by the road, not
more than a quarter of mile from
, where met the woman, and to that
| directed my course, halting when we
reached the ravine, until the lighting
showed it to me. The shelter was
merely leaky roof of clapboards sup
ported by poles on forked saplings,
but 1t kept off most Of the rain, and
was welcome.
Having hitched the horse and put
the saddle on the ground, under the
roof, for the woman to sit on-clearly
explcining to her each step in the pro-
ceelings to spare her unnecessary
ALARM stood aloof in the darkness,
as far as the limited shelter would per-
NIT, and waited for her to commence
talking. OF course did not have to
wait long. AS soon as her fear was
dissipated she spoke freely enough;
and, well-her voice was that of
young woman, melodious and fresh;
her speech, the utterance Of a lady
Under pretense Of lighting a cigar,
with her permission, got good look
st her face, and found her decidedly
pretty; also obtained glimpse Of
her dress, and saw she had been hand
somely attircd, though her summer
fnery was now in q sadly bedraggled
condition.
II am ashamed to tell you how L
come to be in such plight" she said,
but do owe you an explanation in
return for your kindness, and doubt
less deserve even more punishment
than that for my folly. The fact is,
you see before you-or, more correctly,
you hear near you--the wretched re-
mains of wrecked elopement"
"An elopement Of one or two?"
"Only one is left, but there were
two"
Tell me about it, and you shall have
my sincerest sympathy"
"Oh! There's no sympa Thy deserved
/ was a goose, and I know it, now.
But have no objection to telling you,
particularly as we are in the dark. /
am stopping at the Royal. young
gentleman, also stopping there, paid
me great deal of attention, ani-for
lack Of anything better to do, sup
pose-I actually made myself believe
was in love with him, as he professed
to be with me. But papa-you don't
know how violent papa can be when
anything crosses him-papa said if the
nonsense between us was not stopped
he would break the young mans back
and sp--punish me. Well, it made me
mad to be talked to In that way, as II I
were only child in a pinafore, and as
for the young man, he was really
alarmed for his spine; SO we made up
our minds to run away and get mar
ried.
"It was the most foolish thing in the
world, as have been saying to myself
for two hours; but 1t was all papa's
fault. If he had not interfered, the
affair would have passed off as mere
ordinary summer firtation; but, of
course, when he put his oar in he
made mischief. thought it was
awfully romantic to elope; and so, this
afternoon, while was supposed to be
botanizing, was really scurrying
through the woods with Clarence, to
reach the point in the road where he
had told man to meet us with car
riage. But the man must have mis-
taken the road, or else we did; any
how, he did not appear, and we walked
on, and on, and on, until l was SO
tired was ready to drop. Finally,
i,,ef cot 1our hx, <ha ,nade;1o c-5