Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1894-06-14

toward me. Certainly this time he
would take my life, and prayed God
1t might be done quickly but, mol l
must suffer still more. He knelt down
and put his face so close to mine that
L could feel his hot breath. l was like
one petrified. Ny blood seemed
frozen in my veins, and had the cold
steel been pressed to my throat, should
not have felt single pang. My whole
being seemed held by some terrible
power. At last, he arose from his
knees and, going to one of the win
dows, blew n whistle three times. This
is all that remember. My conscious.
ness must have forsaken me.
When ! again opened my eyes, the
bright light was streaming through
the blinds AT first, / had only va
! que remembrance of what seemed to
me dreadful nightmare, but gradu-
ally the whole scene of the night be-
fore came clearly to my mind and n
terror seized me. My children were
my first thought. | sprang quickly
from my bed, but fell heavily to the
floor in dead faint. The strain had
I
| lay unconscious, only feeling burn
ing pain Ill my head; but through
Gods mercy | was given back to my
husband and children-for not hair
of my little BARNS dear heads had
been touched on that horrible night.
The subject of the masked robber
was never mentioned until my health
was fully restored One day [ was in
my boudoir, idly lounging, when my
husband came i'll and, seating himself
on the sofa by my side, took n small
piece of paper from his pocket-book.
1t looked like the hy-leaf of book,
and was covered with writing in lead
pencil. He handed it to me, saying,
81 think, little woman, you are strong
enough to read this. "
1t was as follows:
81 have come here tonight with
band of robbers intending to steal and,
if necessary, to murder. While taking
the jewels from your caslet, | came
across n ring. That ring saved you.
| looked upon your face and flood
of recolections came over me. You
need never fear. / love YOU still.
Bad as [ am, the thought of your pure
soul has never left me, and although
ani 9 robber, the memory of you has
kept my hands clean from blood. |
shall always keep watch over you,--
shall always protect you. J. g."
SO the mystery was solved, and the
robber, who had robbed me of nothing,
was my old lover Your uncle tried to
search him out but in vain, and it was
not until many years after that,
having been invited to spend
few days with some relatives of my
husbands, in the western part of New
York State, L agtin heard of John
Graham.
One morning at my cousins sug-
gestion, we walked over to the
picturesque old churchyard. We
strolled in and out among the graves;
stopping now and then to read the
quaint inscriptions. A simple gray
stone, on which was hanging small
wreath of immortelles, attracted my
notice. l stopped to see what might
might be written on it, and then |
read the name "John Graham. Died
on the Eve of New Year Day, 1S-.
] poloNCt VI iuc DtopIt' oOu resi- HE
soul. | asked my cousin if she knew
who this John Graham was? And she
sold me that some twenty years before
q man with peddler'a pack had come
into the town. His wares were good,
and he sold great many. AS he trav
eled from house to house, staying, MS
was the custom in those times, first
with one family, then with another,
he became very popular, and was in.
duced to take his small capi.
tai and open store. He
gave his name as John Gray, and
he was so self-denying, and did SO many
deeds of charity, that the country folk
almost canonized him as saint.
| Their shrewl minds soon discovered
in him no common peddler, and when
at his death an old envelope was found
next his heart, with the name John
Graham III woman's hand, and inside,
a lock of yellow hair, carefully folded
in paper, on the oltside of which is
written, my guiding star" the curl
osity of the good people was Mt its
height. Your uncle and could have
solved the problem, but we carefully
guarded the secret, and to this day
the village gossips wonder who John
Graham" could have been. | have
never known how he happened to fall
into such state of degradation as to
become robber, but firmly believe
that by his after life he made full
atonement for his sins. A New Year
Eve never passes but that ] think of
John Graham, and you will not won
der that it is SO, for it was fateful
time in his sad life. | felt as though
it were almost Il supernatural coinci-
dence that it should have been also
the time of his death. Romance.