The herald., 1896-02-23


recklessness was responsible; neither did
/. the father, with his frail health and dreamy.
ways, guess Of the sacrifice his daughter
was making.
Was she dreaming? What was the noise
which had awakened her from a troubled
doze? heavy. dull sound. coming at
intervals, neither thunder nor wind. Jean rose
and looked out; the night. or rather early
morning, was stormy, the sea running In
big, white, tearing bilows; but above their
roar came the strange noise from the east
, ward, between Brimley and Lymton. In
that direction a smokelike haze hung heavy
and dark. Slipping on her clothes she ran
| downstairs. looking in at her father as she
/ passed TO make sure he had not been dis
turbed As she unbarred the heavy hall
door and passed into the garden the clock
struck four. She ran down to the path and
out onto the downs. where the wind caught
her dress, whirling it around her, and played
mad pranks with her hair. She paused TO
listen. Yes: surely the dull crashing sound
came from Rinmore way. On height, .
mile from the vicarage, she stopped gasp
ing for breath, after her rapid climb and
fight with the buffeting wind; the rollings
laundering noise had gradually died away,
but over Rinmore the mist still hung like
a poll; yet while she stood waiting for
fresh courage to struggle on, it, too, began
slowly to lift. She became able to discern
landmarks; she could see Coney Green and
Squire Haylings, but she could not find
Gray Crag; and where was Lodon's farm
and Golden Cliff? The mist rolled back
more and more, leaving everything clear and
distinct Then she saw the sea was beating
right up to the Ivy Rocks, which-she
rubbed her eyes and looked again-had stood
but last night good ile'inland. Yes, the
waves were seething and tossing good
1000 yards further inward than their usual
boundary, and the land for a mile beyond
H. s,,,., L. -txAxA
farm lands and buildings had lately stood.
She realized then what had occurred--it
was a land slip as had not been known be-
fore on all that sliding coast within the
memory of living man; the cracks and noise
which had aroused her were the rendering
Of tree roots, the fall of rocks and tons OF
solid earth.
She sped on on the wings OF the wind,
keeping to the high ground above Rinmore.
There were collected most of the fisher folk
"a scared. frightened group OF men and
women, yet thankful enough that their own
humble cots stood safe, since only Farmer
Lodon's farm and buildings had occupied
the treacherous acres. An old fisherman
told Jean how they had been aroused in
the small hours of the morning by the sound
of sliding land; how their own houses had
shaken and household goods rocked; and
how they had rushed out to see Rinmoro
Point below one heaving, moving mass, the
whole slipping forward to the sea.
at was an awful sight, Miss Jean! We
thought the end of the world were upon
us. Farmer Lodon. he stuck to his house;
Elspeth and Ann, the maids, had just time
to save themselves, but more dead than
alive with fright they be, poor things. They
say Mr.. Lodon had papers and such like
to save, he hndered too long, and the
house fell while we cried to him to come,
and then it all went down into the sea
together. The assures and rents in the
ground were so yawning wide we could
not get to help them, and all the time the
earth a-shaking and a-trembling, one never
knowing where it would open next. 1 saw
the roof fall on Farmer Lodon; house.
land and dead man went down together
into the sea, with the poor dumb beasts
along. Mr.. Lcdon were a hard man, and no
particular friend of mine, but 'twere an
awful ending. l beg pardon, miss, l clean
forgot as you were to have been his wife
at least so folks said-you will forgive me
for a-talking, miss?"
While all the country around was talk
ing of the Rinmore land slip, and people
were Rocking from far and near to see the
strange sight and to shudder over the fate
of the unfortunate farmer, Jean was lying
between life and death. The miserable
weeks of strain she had undergone and the
awful climax at the end had been too
much for even her strong young frame.
Brain fever had laid her low; then during
her wild delrium father and brother
had learned something of what she had
suffered and endured. At last the weary
time of watching and anxiety was over,
and Jean began slowly to recover.
During the crisis of her illness Captain
Hayling had haunted the hause, and when,
white and wan, she was at last brought
downstairs to lie on the couch by the
parlor window, he was there waiting to
greet her. He knelt beside her, stroking
the thin little hand which lay in his, so
weak and helpless. There were tears of
in the strong mans eyes,
answering the tears of weakness which at
sight of him had gathered in hers, she
knew not why.
81 know all, jean" he had whispered:
edo not try to tell me yet. Oh, Jean,
thought YOU had meant to slip clean away
from lis. but, thank heaven, we have you
safe again." and Jean had sunk back on
her pillows, content and happy. But when
she was well enough to be carried out on
to the downs to breath the fresh, life-giving
air, Captain Hayling, sitting beside her.
ready to talk or read to her, as she wished.
placing a letter on her knee, he told her
how he had returned from Scotland on the
of the landslip, and knowing moth
ing of her approaching marriage, had joined
a rescuing party in an attempt to give
Farmer Lodon aid by sea; he told her how,
among the falling crags, they had come on
the farmers manned and broken body, toss
ing on the waves. In the dead mans hand
that paper, Jims letter. had been tightly
The Captain had drawn it from
the lifeless fingers, and all water washed
and stained as it was, had been able to read
it, and gathered it's compromising nature.
The letter now lay, crumpled and torn, on
jeans knee; the letter to retain which
Farmer Lodon had given his life! It would
work no more mischief. for the Captain
took it again. and, with spark~from his
tinder box, reduced it to ashes.
Jean, Jean" he said, as he watched the
last scrap fame and die. 81 should have
known without your ravngs-in which you
betrayed all your secrets-that you had
promised to wed that wretched man through
So sure should / have been
that would have stopped you at the church
door itself, and taken you away by force
had need been! With that letter in my
hands, I saw at once how he had worked
his will! But. oh! Jean, if the slip had
come day later. and I had been delayed
in Scotland, 1 should have lost you, and
then what would there have been left in
life for ?'-Household Words.
Fads OF Rich Women.
Women of leisure are not often idle. Mrs.
Fred Cebhard and her lively team of ged-