Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1895-09-07

quietness, and unable to help myself in
this terrible crisis might get help from
ono to whom my extremity was but an
opportunity.
walked up the aisle, and finding all
in darkness, the moon ut tho moment be-
ing obscured, felt my way as far rs Sir
Piers fiat monument and sat down upon
it. had boon there scarcely n minute
when faint sound, which seemed rather
a sigh or an audible shudder than any ar
ticulatc word, came ont of the darkness in
front of me. My great trouble had seemed
to make superstitious fears for the time
impossible, but at this sound I started
and trcmbled, and holding my breath felt
a cold shivcr run down my back. Notion
less pecred before me and yet could sec
nothing. All was gloom, the only distin-
guishable feature being the east window.
What was thatg A soft rustic as Of
ghostly garments moving in tho nislc was
succeeded by another sigh which made INC
rise from my seat, my hair stiifening.
Then / say the outline of the east window
growing brighter and brighter, and I
knew that the moon was about to shine
clear of the clouds and longcd to turn and
fly, yet did not dare to move.
Suddenly the light foil on the altar steps
and disclosed knecling form which
seemed to be partly turned toward me, as
thouSh watchihg me. Inc TACO could
not see-i1 was IN shauow-ahu i STOOD
transfixcd, gazing at the figure, half in
eupors'i'icus .error au" haii III Wohuer,
uhtii voice haa not hcafa ior years ana
yet should have known among thousand
said softly, "Francis!'
who calls me-" muttercd hoarsely,
knowing and yet disbelieving, hoping and
YET win n terrible lear az heart.
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enue" .o"n'u iiic .'iIoush 'hc hiooh,ish'
Is i.fetfohiiit 10 you hot know
,he' s'iu iiS io'o aSain an" ie'i upo" NY
prc'ls''
She had been firmly resolved all the
| time not to qui. her father, and on the
first opportunity had given the slip to her
company, while the horses were being sad
died ut Watney's farm Stealing back
! through the darkness, she had found the
house full of uproar and apparently occu-
pied by strange troopers. AghaSt and not
knowing what to do, she had bethought
herself of the church, and there taken
refuge On my first entrance she was
horribly alarmed. But rs walked up tho
aisle she recognized-so she has since told
me thousand times with pridc-my foot
step, though 1t had long been stranger
to her ear, and she had no thought at the
moment of seeing mo or hearing the joy
| full news brought.
And so my story is told. For what
passed then between Petrunilla and me
| lies between my wife and myself. And 1t
| Is an old, old story, and one which our
children have no need to learn, for they
have told IL, many of them for themselves,
| and their children are growing up 10 tell
| It. think in some odd corner of the house
there may still bc found n very ancient
! swallows nest, which young girls bring
ont and look at tcnderly, but for nv
sword knot fear it has been worn out
these 80 years. What matter, even though
it was velvet of Genoa? He that has the
| substance lacks not the shadow.
Inevcr saw my father again, nor learned
| accurately what passed ut Watney's farm
| after Petronilla was missed by her two
| COMPANIONS. but one man, whom could
Ill spare, was also missing on that night,
whose fate Is still something of q mys.
| tcrv. That was Martin Luther. I have
| always believed that he fell In desperate
encounter with my father, but no traces
| of the struggle or his body were ever
found. The track between Watnev's farm
| and Stratford. however. runs for n certain
distance nv the river. and at some point
on this road l think Martin must have
come up with the refugees, and failing
either 10 find Pe;ronilla with them or t.
get any satisfactory account of her must
have dung himself on my father and beer
foilcd and killed. The exact truth, have
said, was never known, though Baldwin
and talked over it again and again, ant
there were even some who said that
servant much resembling Martin Luther
was seen with my father In the low coun
tries not a month before his death. I put
no crcdence in this however, having goot
| reasons to think that tho poor fool-wht