The herald., 1896-12-20

But SERVER was deformed-a hunch-
| back-and the pain he sometimes expe-
| rienced as he labored was go terrible
that but for the fair-haired child who
wandered over the fields while he toiled
he would have fled from the spot in dis
! gust.
Tom Flowers never knew what poor
| SERVER suffered for the sake of his child,
| or do not think he would have laughed
| and said to the villagers when he chanc-
ed among them: Il don't think the devil
could scare my baby now that she has
| looked at SERVER all the time"
But SERVER toiled on; ); for Nina's sake
! he kept telling himself-to save her
from the hardships her worthless father
would impose upon her if he, Server,
was gone.
one day when SERVER had been at the
cabin two years they brought Tom
Flowers home dead. SERVER was not
without the proper awe in the presence
! of death, but (and his conscience chided
him more than once) he felt load lift
ed from him when they buried Nina S
father over in the village burying-
ground by the side of Mary. his wife.
Tom Flowers had asked to be buried
there.
All, though we are ofttmes forgetful
when we are we'll and happy of the ones
that are true and faithful to us, in pain,
and sickness and death we turn from all
| the world to them and them alone. valu-
ing the truest things of life as we should
value them when it is, alas, too late. The
villagers thought of this perhaps, but as
! the dead man was in his way a favorite,
| few expressed themselves.
| And now eight years had passed since
Tom Flowers death, and in all that time
| SERVER had watched over and cared for
I little Nina with the jealous care of a
| mother. His industry had brought them
| many little comforts and a few luXuries,
among which was a number of musty
volumes of poetry and fiction that he
| had purchased at private auctions in the
| town. Nina, from hearing SERVER read
them, began reading them herself, and
soon the characters represented stood
| out before her as friends whom she loved
| or people whom she hated. She peopled
| the pines with these children of her
| brain, and conversed with them as she
wandered along the golden brown isles
beneath the dark green roof that almost
| effectually cut off the skylight from
| view, and reminded one of some pillared
| temple.
At the age of 13, Nina, or SERVER
| little girl" as she was called by all the
villagers, gave promise of great beauty,
| though as she wound her way through
the pines to the spring for fresh water
| she thought to take SERVER, she looked
more like a wood-nymph than an ordin-
! ary being. Her fair, flushed face, sur
rounded with frame of clustering curls
and her quaint scarlet frock gave a
bright touch of cOlOring to the sombe1
green of the pines and reminded one OF
| some bright -plumaged bird as she flash
ed through the trees.
| She was asking herself the question
! that she had often asked before-"wht
was SERVER, and what was she to him p
| when a stinging blow upon hel
| shoulder took away her breath, and
] caused her to fall forward to the ground
Her wild scream followed the report Of
a heavily gun, and when SERVER
| breathless and wild with excitement
| found her, the white, mortified face of {
| young man bent over her. The frai
| arm of the hunchbeck, seemingly with
| the strength Of giant, tossed him bach
as he screamed: You! will kill you!'
The young man, already shocked t
the uttermost, stood terrified before
what he took to be an idiot or maniac
| for such seemed poor, undone SERVER, a.
the time. He tried to explain, but il
vain. Servier caught the girl in hi.
arms and made a step forward only tt
| fall heavily with his burden to the
ground. He made three more fruitles!
efforts. rase ~
Nina continued to moan, and blood
was oozing from her clothes, and Harry
Merton, the unfortunate huntsman, re