The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1894-10-23

that Grimsby chap" cried the fishwife
before mentioned eth drive her clean
daft. Conscience sake, Audrey, don t
tell her that y
During the period we are dealing with
education at Port st. Bede was at a
woefully low ebb Not 30 people in the
whole thorp could write their names
or recognize them when penned Few
could read anything but print F" Fewer
still were able to puzzle out written
characters Among this community An
drew Copley was reolSoned q fine
soholard, " aud by virtue Of this roputa-
ton his services were in frequent do.
mand by those who, having passing
need of the Farming, Glanced 60 DO In
the bad books Of the rector or tho Yves
leyan minister.
With tho "gamnor'a" injunction
echoing in his ears, Andrew stole quick
| ly toward tho cottage occupied by Hilda
Kollett and her widowed mother.
q" Miss Kellott, Port ST. Bodo anid
he, furtively scanning the aupersorip
ton. ITS fro that scamp, rs ! live.
An now, holilSe, aho'll ha'o mo 10 read
it TO her. . Slaokoning his pace, he add
cd grimly: "Shall tell't TO hor--shall
II It'll kill her, say they, an they 'ro
right-it will -
He stuffed tho letter into his jacket
pocket long before he came abreast Of
the cottage Rapping tattoo on this
door, he lifted the latch, and--as was
the custom-walked straight in. A
slim, fair haired girl peeped into the
room from a side door. ooh, it's you,
Andrew, +" she said, coming forward.
AYE, it's me. cam just to ask how
your mother is today
'She's piece better this morn, but
she rested i'll last night. Nellie an me
sat up wi her most all night, but she's
dropped off asleep now. TAX a chair,
Andrew.
Andrew perched himself ON the edge
of the nearest rush bottomed chair and
fumbled hesitatingly with his cap be-
tween his knees. II was doom by the
Trawlers' when the letters came, +" he
said after a strained interval. 'There
was one for ye, Hilda, an l made free
to say I'd bring it. Here tits"
Il VI uBA anu 1lllOel . CJOS
ened as she stretched out her hand
''Then it's fro Ben, isn't it, Andrew"
tits the Grimsby mark, replied
Andrew shortly.
'Then it must be fro Ben. He said
he'd let me know as soon as the brig
got back to Grimsby. An how / trem-
bled for him all through that storm O.
Mondayl But he's safe-this shows he's
safe, Andrew" A plaintive look of
alarm crept into her blue eyes as An
drew, never answering, kept his gaze
clamped to the floor "This shows he's
safep' she repeated quaveringly.
''P'raps that letter may contradict 1t
all, but there was deal O. nasty talk
about the Vampire-as how she's gone
doom i the
"Read it to me, I" cried Hilda, thrust
ing the missive into his hands. "Ye
know l can t mysen Read it, Andrew.
Taking firm grip of his lips, Andrew
opened the letter and glanced at the
signature tits moan fro him." he
said "It's wrote by Peter Worsley, the
skipper O. the Vampire "
"Not fro Benz exclaimed Hilda
TREMENDOUSLY He ism 't-dead?"
Andrew nodded. Drowned he
murmured husl1ily.
Clutching at her throat, Hilda sank
into a chair and hid her face i'll her
palms. Presently she looked up, her
lips pallid, her eyelids scarlet. II can
bear it now, Andrew, she said. Read
it all to me- F."
The caligraphy of the Vampires mas
ter must have been all but illegiblo,
judging from the difficulty Andrew had
In deciphering it. He read slowly, hum
ming and having through the whole
epistle Here is the gist of it, In the re-
cent heavy gales the Vampire-a crazy,
undermanned timber ship--had sprung
leak, her crew being eventually com
PEELED to abandon the laundering vessel
and take to the longboat. Their perilous
case was little bettered thereby, for
twice the boat had been capsized. When
she was righted the second time, only
four of the sailors succeeded In scram-
bling into her. OF the two men missing,
the mate, Ben Webb, was one. The sur
vivors were picked up on the following
day and landed at Grimsby. 1t was in
fulfllment of pledge made at the out
set of their peril and in fateful antici-
patton of its outcome that Captain Wor-
sley now broke the sad news TO the dead
mans sweetheart
Even iii the intensity of her grief
Hilda had thought Of her mothers much
needed slumber and not a cry escaped
her lips Andrew, the big, clumsy, soft
hearted general, saw that no sympathy
of his could soothe her distress. She
must just ''fret her dole. +" And so he
left her with her sorrow.
81 had to dot he muttered, strid-
ing backward IAN it's better that
nor t'other-it's better !" Fervently he
added, "God send she doesn't let any
body else read itp'
He might have been at peace ON that
score. To Hilda the skipper letter was
as the last words Of her drowned lover
IA sacred thing, not lightly to be fin
gered or spoken Of. Size packed it away
with the sundIy ribbons, gloves and
cheap gewgaws Ben had given her, to
be treasured with them throughout this
side of time.
They who best know the Port St
Bede folk will least accuse them Of
want of heart Out of sheer mercy for
the girl they avoided all allusion to
Ben Webb and on her side Hilda kept
her woe to herself The blow was for
her shoulders alone and she bore its
smart bravely. Besides she and her
mother had to live and net making and
mending must be attended to, even
though the heart may ache, and the eyes
blister with unshed tears
SO two years went by. Then, her
mother having been laid to her last long
rest under the gnarled elms in the
churchyard, Hilda went to live with
her sister, Abel Moxon, the cooper's
wife. At this juncture hoping that
time had salved her wound, Andrew
Copley made bold to offer her all an
honest man can offer the woman he
loyes-his name, his home, his big
steadfast heart. His insight was at
fault, for she would have none of them.
In all simplicity she told him that her
love lay dead with him who slept in the
deep seas. She chose to share the lot OF
no man to whom she could not give her
self heartily, wholly.
II knaw We like me, Andrew, " she
said frankly 1--WE al'ays knawn it, an
thank you. If ever come to think /
that other way, an if ! see ye're L the
same mind still, I'll speak first Don t
ask me any more, Andrew I'll speak
first. "
Henoeforth, as before, they were
friends-close, firm friends--but no fur
Their. Season after season Andrew sailed
off in his yawl for the whitefshing ON
the Dogger, returning each time with
brain afame for the sight of her. And
! she met him with mere smile and hand
/ shake. in her ewes no token of change