Eagle River Democrat. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1893-1896, 1896-06-01
HER ONB ERROR.
OR
tt FISHERMAN'S BRIDE.
CHAPTER LIV.
A CATASTROPHE.

Chaunce.
Every means that occurred to them
had been adopted, no expense or
trouble spared no difficulty for a
moment checked the ardor Of their
inquiry-yet without result.
The time which had elapsed was so
great; the objects and persons SO
changed among which Agnes sought a
clue; that it was, in fact, little less
strange to her than to Aaron, to
whom all was new.
AS day by day passed, finding them
no nearer the object of their inquiry,
the mans eagerness and hope waned
the buoyant, anxious anticipation
which had hurried him so confidently
to the enterprise, began to desert him.
:'It is useless, / fear," he said; cut
terly hopeless and vain. A mystery
shrouds the whole of that pitiful
story, and will ever shroud it to the
end of time. am doomed to go to
my grave lone, heart-broken, erring
man"
Then Agnes, whose Iong-suffering life
had taught her patience and faith,
would speak words of comfort, and
try to inspire him with a conviction,
which, she declared, had never left her,
that all would one day yet come right.
Again and again he made her tell
him of those old times when she work.
ed with poor Nelly in the garnet; of
their many hardships and trials, of
her despair and suffering, and resig-
nation at the last; of her sweet, sim
pie patient measuring of his memory.
N Ill 1c4o l. |,
hour, and seem to draw comfort and
ease from it; but of his child he never
spoke, nor would encourage her by a
single hint to talk of it.
. It was a sitting summer night; the
very earth seemed to lie PROSTATE be-
meath the heavy burden of the heated
atmosphere, which in the crowded
town streets-as busting and full OF
life as at noonday--seemed aggra-
waited and surcharged by the glitter
ing rows of brilliant gas, the heavy
perfumes, the cries and shouts of dis
sipated roysterers issuing from the
various haunts, and the clash and
cang and rattle of gay carriages dash
ing from the doors of theatres, ball,
opera, or bal masque, or arriving at
Sembly of the "evening"
At one OF the principal concert
rooms a large crowd of lockers on
encountered the side door. In vain
had the vigilant police warned off, re-
peatedly, the restless loiterers. Dis
perse for time, they might, but as
certainly to resume their old places
within the next five minutes. 44,x~.
1t was not the audience whose gay
equipages thronged the principal en-
trance which formed the attraction.
One parsonage alone was evidently
the magnet by which all eyes III that
increasing crowd were attracted.
'tIIere she cones!"
''No, it amt
(Which is her carriage?"
'"That with the blue hammer
cloth"
She'll be out in minute"
eyes; she never keeps her horses"
''Now then!"
"That's the mother"
"a mur4nur rang along the crowd;
giving occasion for the police to exert
a little authority A middle-aged
lady in mourning was handed by q
gray haired attendant to the carriage;
as she took her seat within, a young
lady appeared at the door, her ex-
quisite dress lightly covered by q long
cloak Of black lace, from the hood of
which her classical face looked forth
crowned by the folds of her glorious
hair, like the queenly moon when she
rides supreme amid the rack of mid
night clouds.
One hand held bouquet Of rare
flowers which with caressing action
she held to her lips, the other glove
rested lightly on the arm OF a small
eiaborately-d dressed foreigner, who
looked up to her much as if he con-
Quoted a goddess.
At sight of her a loud cheer broke
from the assembled crowd;it was TAX
en- up and re-echoed by those beyond.
All eyes were fixed upon the grac-
ious figure which so gently and kindly
acknowledged the greeting, and the
shouts were repeated.
The horses of the carriage, which
the first noise had startled, at this
dashed wildly off amid the cries Of the
populace. The coachman vainly
strove to pull them in; he had lost all
command over them. They continued
their reckless course headlong along
the street, and, to the horror of all
beholders, turning sharply around the
corner, approached, at breakneck
speed, the massive iron gates which
now closed the thoroughfare that way
"They will smash it to pieces!'
"She will be killed."
So ran the shouts, while men stood
aloof, and in horror awaited the ca
tastrophe.
The lady within, meanwhile, sat
pale and motionless. ),
e'My mother! save my mother,
cried the agonized voice, which had
but now been raised to charm an
ecstatic audience. ooh, in mercy save
her! fortune he shall have, who will
but save my mother"
=, They heard but who dared tempt
the danger? Breathless, men stood
aloof and, in Mortified silence awaited
the catastrophe, while Ida, distraught5,
maddened, would have thrown herself