Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1897-07-24

Mr.. Wilmot for little extension of
the time, that she might look about
for lodgings but was harshly re-
fused. Oak Cottage, he said, was
already rented, and the new tenant
would arrive on the 25th Of June.
He did not keep houses to shelter
people who could not pay for them.
Edna turned away from his pres
ence full of fierce rebellion. It all
looked so cruelty unjust to her. The
rich, childless old man refusing them
SO little out of his great plentitude.
Refusing them the heritage her faith
er had labored for so faithfully, and
for which she knew the last dollar
had been paid. 1t is little wonder
that, thinking over their wrongs,she
should cry secretly, "Oh, that Gods
judgment might fall upon him !"
A little atterward, when she had
prayed earnestly for strength, she
asked for Ralph Wilmot mercy in
stead of judgment, but tor all that,
though she forgave him, she could
not forget. And this fair June
morning she took her way across
the blossoming clover fields, to the
distant village, with bitterness in her
heart. Her pale cheek flushed hec-
tic crimson with the violent haste of
her step, and her dark eye burned
bright with the smouldering passion
within.
She could not stop to smell the
sweet clover, or listen to the tender
voices of the robins in the tall trees;
it would be so much time taken from
her work, and she must improve
every moment now. The murmur
of running water broke on her ear.
She must cross Stony Brook, wild
little stream that divided the mead
ow lands from the high hills on
which the village was situated.
Absorbed in her own painful re.
flections, she did not look up until
she was close upon the frail bridge
spanning the stream at this point,
two old rotton planks only, and the
recent heavy rains had swelled the
brook to the proportions Of river.
1t flowed on over the rocks. snow
white, and broke into thousand
spray wreaths, making the frail
bridge tremble and shake like a reed.
She looked up just as she was set.
ting foot on the planks, and, stimuli
taneously, frenzied cry for help
rang out on the air.
Edna saw it misunderstood it all
at glance. She saw the swift rush
| of that human figure downward saw
the agonized expression ofthe wrink-
led face, framed in by masses of long
white hair, and pleading for saliva
tion with its filmy eyes. And look
ing down to see where the waters
had covered it all up from her sight
Edna Fairleigh knew that Ralph
Wilmot's life was at her mercy! Her
heart stood still. Every faculty was
swallowed up in the one fearful
thought that swept through her
mind 1t was the twenty-third of
June. If he died that day Oak Cot
tage would be theirs!
An old man, unloving, unloved,
misery, cruel, and curse to the
world! There would be none to
weep for him, none to sink down
stricken at his death. The tempta-
tion assailed her with mighty force,
her brain whirled, she tottered and
would have fallen, but for the fran
tic clutch she made at the stunted
willow by her side.
A moment only, and then with a
| gigantic effort, she cast out the foul
impulse. She would do what she
could, God helping her.
The bank was steep and rough,
| but Edna had been brought up in
the country, where agility is foster
| ed. She ran directly down and
| stepped into the water. The strong
parpose within hardened her wo-
mans nerves to steel; she put fear
away from her, and thought only Of
saving the man who had so oppress-
ed her family. His snowy hair
floated upon the surface she rush
ed toward it, swayed almost off her
feet by the mad plunging of the cur
rent. She caught him by the arm;
he felt the touch and grasped her
convulsively, clinging to her gar
ments, and drawing her under the
water to be dashed fercely against
the sharp rocks.
Still, she did not relinquish her
hold on him. The tide swept them
On together. With that fearful clog
upon her strength, she felt that her
condition was hopeless. Ifshe should
strike him off she could save her
self. She cast away the suggestion
With utter loathipg. She uttered q
prayer for her mother, her sight
grew dim, her strength was weak
ness, she was submitting to her fate.
Suddenly she felt the smart cut from
tree branch against her face, and
with last frantic effort SHE clutch
ed at it as she was borne along be-
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