Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1898-12-17
END OF A ROMANCE.

householders that it was time to lay il
their winters supply of coal. and ev-
erywhere up and down the wind swept
length of the city's residence streets
rattling coal troughs barred the pedes-
trian's path and discharged their black
torrents into Unsuitable sidewalk scut-
ties. Mrs. Matthew'S who lived on quiet
but highly select Prospect street, had
ordered ten tons of coal put into her
cellar, and the first instalment had ar
rived-a two ton load-got to the crest
of the steep narrow street by much
hard pulling on the part of the horses
and stentorian shouting on the part of
their Irish driver.
"Mr. Coal Manp' cried Mrs. Mat
thews from the up stairs bay window
'Be sure you close the coal scuttle when
you 90. Don't leave it open. 1t is so
large somebody might fall in."
"Yis, num-" assented the driver,
raising his grimy face and smiling in
the dazzling way that distinguishes
coal beavers and negroes. Then, with
perversity as sublimely unconscious
as that of inanimate objects themselves
he went away when he had finished his
task, leaving the iron lid of the scuttle
leaning against the side of the house.
Three or four minutes later small,
dapper, nicely dressed young man step
ped out of the street door next to the
Matthew'S and turned to make his final
adieus to a lady, slightly faded, but
still young, who had accompanied him
to the threshold. He backed away, bow
ing and holding his hat politely and
jauntily a few inches above his head
Just as the final THANK you; goodbyr
had escaped his lips and the door had
closed upon the lady the young man
whirled around, hovered for a fateful,
strenuous instant upon the yawning
edge of the coal hole and disappeared!
Mr.. Dennis Murphy, happening to turn
his head at the same moment and be-
holding the sudden ingulfment of the
young gentleman, uttered but the two
words, "Howly murtherr' and lashing
his steeds into clumsy, galloping flight
disappeared with terrific clatter down
the cobble paved hill
But Mr. Murphy was not the only
witness of the tragic disappearance of
the young man who had emerged from
so. Miss Minerva Matthews had stop
ped for a moment at the little table in
the bay window to get book of verse,
from which she wished to make quo
tation. At the precise moment, when
she laid her hand upon the volume, her
eyes, carelessly lifted after the unob-
servant manner of one in deep thought,
had beheld young man sink apparent
ly into the earth, directly in front of
the quiet, respectable house in which
she and her mother and her maiden aunt
kept themselves aloof from the world.
Miss Minerva did not scream. She
simply said, "Mother!" But the man
per in which she uttered that word was
infinitely more startling than any mar
ticulate outcry could possibly have
been.
Mrs. Matthews came scurrying out
Of her room with face as closely ap-
proximating an animated Interrogation
point as might well be.
Mother! A man has just fallen into
our coal scuttle!"
Mrs. Matthews gasped convulsively
and collapsed into chair. Twice she
tried to frame articulate words, but the
only choke and clinch and unclinch her
slender, transparent hands. If those
same delicate hands could have closed
just then upon the brawny throat of
Mr.. Dennis Murphy, they would have
left him little breath indeed tor protes-
tation.
Minerva saw that her mother was
practically helpless for the time being,
and that whatever was to be done in
the emergency must be done by herself.
Even at the height of the second story
she could hear the unwilling and un-
welcome intruder laundering and STUN
bling and rattling about in the dark coal
bin as he aimlessly sought some egress.
81 will go down to him, mother.
will explain!' she cried. "Oh, the care
lessness of that detestable coal man
Miss Minerva Matthews fled down
stairs as fast as she could go. But as
she opened the door at the head of the
cellar stairway she stopped for mo-
ment and shuddered from head to foot.
1t was like the initial plunge of the
swimmer into cold water. After that
the worst of the terrible shrinking was
over. She picked up her skirts and
darted down into the twilight of the
cellar.
The coal bin was a large one and was
boarded up to within a foot or two of
the beams overhead. There was verti-
cally sliding door in sections, two of
which-there were three of them-had
been dropped into place ere the arrival
of the coal. The big bin was therefore