The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1894-02-08
THE STOLEN BRIDE.
"Thc kirk was lit at even-tde;
The taper glimmered fayre;


And dame and knight were there.
They sought her bath in ha' and tower;
The ladye was not seen; .ttsi
She's DER the border and ava ~
WI Jock O Hazeldean."
Everything was ready for Erminie
Yorkes 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 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-ofhonor, 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 was.
An hour before, when they first came
to the house, she had started down to
the conservatory, and they had been
waiting expectantly 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 one
was discovered.
There was no great carved chest she
could have hidden herself like Lord
Lovers fated bride.
1t was not likely she had left the
d house, for the rain had been pouring
down in floods for the last forty min
utes, with flashes of binding lightning,
and with deafening 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 one the guests departed; the
clergyman went home, and the bride
maids followed the others
The groom, Duncan Trevlyn, remain
stricken parents.
Three days passed by, and still the
mystery was unsolycd.
There were plenty Of guesses and
suggestions, as there always are in
such or similar cases.
And one of these was that she had
fled with another and q more recent
lover
md ho
else had seen her in the company of
such young fellow the evening after
she so strangely disappeared.
1t was only a rumor, emanatlng 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 few
had rather believe bad than good!
But this cruel rumor was totally dis
credited among those who had known
Erminie Yorie 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 Trevlyn.
He was far too noble himself, and too
loyal-hearted, to ever imagine ill 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 soon
forgotten.
: At the end Of three days the I'm.
known fate of the missing bride was nc
longer discussed in the club rooms and
.at the afternoon teas She was hardly
| NV h.
had been her nearest and dearest.
Later sensations had crowded hel
from the memory and the gossip of the
villagers.
The newest topic of engrossing inter
est was a supernatural apparitior
l which haunted a certain deserted man
+ sion Of the place
1t Ia clothed in long, white gar
2 mcnt Ike a shroud. Its face is ghostly
, pale; and its hair is like the yellow
: simmer of a harvest moon. 1t sing
and shrieks, and laughs and sobs, ant
raves and prays, all the night through,
; was the description of it written by tn
0 poetic reporter of the local paper.
. "Nonsense"' exclaimed one of tn
S villagers. Somebody always starts
s bloOd-curdiing ghost story about ever,
T.. house which has been unoccupied TO
f few years, more especially If the las
:, tenant has been an eccentric and misel
y ly recluse, as old Nate Camerole was
II You're about right there" said Dun
o can Trevlyn, And there have alread
S been dozen tales of the kind toll
: about the Camerole house during tn
: half dozen years since old Nate
= death"
@ ''Trevlyn doesn't believe anything h
Il hears, and only half he sees" sneere
a another-a big, angular, ungainly youn
J. man, with the lean, hungry visage an
u the little, closely-set eyes of fox.
}, He had been scorned, but import
IL nate sutton of beautiful Ermnie York,
and 1t was he who originated the repol
Of her fight with the new lover. Hi
knowing smiles, and meaning shrug
l. and cunning insinuations, had pr
e claimed far more than any distinct a
V sertion of his coward lips.
= Duncan Trevlyn knew this-or, {
n least, he suspected it very strongly.
- There would be no occasion for III
. . belief If there were no evil-minde
u persons to coin and circulate falls
q hoods" Trevlyn retorted hotly.
y A malicious smile glittered in IIorat
II Ninccnts crafty, foX-like eyes.
o "Oh, we all understand that" l
s drawled with an iDsolent shrug. &C
h course it's pleasanter to accuse som
a body of falsehCod than it is to belle,
n anything which hurts ones vanity.
!" fellow would rather say almost an
" thing than admit that his sw .ethea
IS has Tilted him and run off with anot
l. er."
n The insulting words had scarcely pas
l. cd his lips before Duncan Trcvly
"a lad seized him by the collar and w.
shaking him as a terrier shakes a ia
You curriSh wretch If Won eyer IN,