Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-11-14

preston il which doubt. anxiety, fear
and passionate CLEAN of widest
hope contc:Ged one with the otller-
would haun, the girl for many 4 day
TO come.
! ''Alicia.." gasped Lady Penlith.
/ Eyes. grandmother. it is quite true.
Alicia Leigh was really my mother.
A great wrong has been done you.
and the wrong is twenty years OLD.
Oh. forgive me. | know the p:tiful
story-kDrW it from beginning to end.
Tonight. grandmother dearest You
shall Lear the sequel; and. having
heard it, die happy
But Lady PenriUh sat mOtionless.
her gaze liked now, her gray lips I'M
closed. What strange thing-Heaven
help her.-Was about to be impaired
toL.ght? And yet-and yet was not
she forever heholding the dead Alicia
Leigh revealed in the melting depths
Of the tragic eyes of the living Alicia
PenTith? All, was not the ghost Of
the past perpetaally haunting her. per-
petUally reproducing her, from those
bea Utiful, sOrrOwful, beloved eyes?
''T1hat night-that dreadful summer
night. twenty years ago went ON
: Sir Rugs daughter. brea thlessly
'tAlicia Leigh was not drowned-did
not find a grave in the river bed, as
all the world has since believed.
Other poor creatures who-who have
been missing whose misfOr-
tune I mean has been similar to hers
} have never been see again, l know.
| My mother was saved by a miracle.
p, She sunk twice; the water would have
l dashed her down a third time, and
I she would never have risen again. had
she not clutched a fioati' Q plank
4 which was being borne along with the
t stream, and in this wise been merci-
/ fully washed against the lower bank
t in the meadows upon tie other side.
1 ''EXha listed, Reconstruction, she
knew not What to do, lying there upon
u the grass in her wet, drenched clothes,
t too weak yet to move alone, the night
t fast closing in AS the time went on
l. she grew stronger, was able to stand
:. up. She wrung the water from hel
garments and hair and then, with a
:, prayer that her strength might last
!, u fed blindly over the fields under cover
of the darkness and gained the high
. road beyond Garth, her one all-domi
. nant desire being to escape from Old
friars, and-and to hide herself from
. harm.
81 dc believe she was possessed Of
some dim, wild notion of trying tC
:. overtake my father, and of begging
- him to shield her from further DANCE"
= In reality. she scarcely knew what she
- was doing. A deadly fear had be
: wildered her. Still not a syllable
= from Lady Penrith. Alicia, resumins
- the tale. held her hand yet more
closely than before.
n "By and by, when she had left The
=. village several miles behind her, Whe1
=. she was nearly dead with cold ant
fatigue, and a clock over some lon'
country-house was striking one,
) carriers covered wagon came alnn;
~ the moonlit road, and the carrier him
u self, a niddle-aged, good-hearted man
asked her whether she was bound 20
" London; if so, he would be pleased t
take her on, he said.
IL "My mother struck with the notion
~ gratefully said Yes and continue
IL her fight in the carriers wagon Sh
q told him that she had met with
It grievous nishap and slipped into tn
river near the village of Garth. H
~ CONSIDERABLY accepted this statemen
rs Of hers and pressed no question on II
vi point She was much relieved t
eI ,,othi,7o n
Oldfriars or it's neighborhood, and tina
" twice a week he piled his calling be
III tween West Calne and London, a
which latter Dlace-in small hCus
W near Islington-he resided with hi
t. wife and children.
- tThey reached their journeys en-
l" about eight O'Clock next morning, an
e first of all-in order to find som
III breakfast. the good man declared
ne went straight to the carriers house
H. There Alicia Leigh was found to b
very i'll. Indeed, she had only jus
strength and forethought sufficient t
give her kind benefactor my father
I'll address in Normandy before the agon
of delrium seized her and all becam
5n a blank.
- . ''In q day or two afterward Sir Ru
-. was in LOndon-had travelled day an
-. night without stopping to rest, in hi
-, burning Impotence to get to the cal
- rier's house. He discovered tina
= Alicia Leigh was in the hands of tru
Samaritans; and those people at Is
~ lington, now become old, enjoy hi
~. bounty to this day.
n "He sat by Alicia's bedside an
bn listened to her terrible raving; and oh
he grandmother, dear! in his grief, hi
so rage, his passionate love, he-he swOr
he that the wrong should be avenged.
a. Here Lady Penrith's gray hea
er dropped slowly-slowly to her breast.
ri For twenty years, then, 1 hav
borne the burden of crime that wa
never actually committed, sh
sroaned. oh, Ruy! how cruel. NJ,
lie son, my son, how cruelr'
u When Alicia Leigh was pronounce,
= out of danger" continued Alicia Pen
II rith, more calmly and with infnit
IL tenderness now, my father came on
- night to Oldfriars, his mind made VI
7 his mode of Arrangement conceived.
- was that Of concealment. He woulC
be as silent as the grave. Oh. grand