The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-11-19


sigh don't know that l shall ever go
to New York, O. elsewhere, again. with
out YOU"
Well. we'll, there yo- ere again. I tell
you, you must go wfee you Please and
when you please 1t Will only be a little
While now anyway until we are abe to
| return to New York for good"
When q telegram came some months
afterwards announcing the serious Illness
of Margaret's mother, Mrs. Raresfoyd
showed a strange unw1lIlngness to leave
her husband. On his repeated urEIngs
she a tlast departed for New York. leav-
ing her child with it's father
The Illness was a tedi JUS ono, but there
was recovery and Margaret, after much
longer stay than usual, prepared to re-
| turn to the West
One day Mr.. Cadger. of Cadger &
Sharp. a leading advertiser IN the Echo.
meeting Ned IN the s.raet cried out in
his usual effusive way:
Hello, Beresford! l have p message
! for you You can't guess what 1t is?
No. Well, had the pleasure Of meeting
Mrs. Beresford when I was East. She
desired lie to say that they are all we'll
down there, and that she Is likely any
day TO return to Swift city
| MANY thanks, Caeger."
Don't mention 1t. my boy The lady
was looking splenGialy. And, by the
way, If my eyes were as sharp as they
were twenty years ago, I'd swear that I
i saw Beck on the same train Yes. sir; I'd
| swear it. I was on the Jersey Midland.
l was on my way to Philadelphia But I
suppose 1 must be mistaken, since the
| fellow didn't seem to recognize either
! Mrs. Ieresford or myself"
! 20! yes, you must be mistaken. Beck
is trying to find the source of the Nile
about this time, if I am not mistaken"
| said Ned smilingly. But he became con-
| scious of g sharp, throbbtng pain at elch
| temple as his friend passed up the street
| Looking over his mail on his return to
his office, he found a letter fl ON his wife
| which relatsd her meeting with Mr Cad
| ger. while on her way to visit Ned's cous-
In. a Miss Nelly Canton, ct Trenton, with
whom, as GIRL she had gone to school,
aud saying that she would leave for home
! before the letter had reached Ned.
The proud heart of the editor of the
Eche would never acknowledge TIE elEef
/ which that letter brought with it, and
when a telegram reached him late in the
evening saying that she had left on the
! Overland that afternoon. he found him
self fairly overjoyed. But alas for the
transstery nature of human happiness.
The awful intelligence came two la S
later that the Overland Express had been
wrecked few miles outside of Chic ago,
bankment; that fire had broken out ard
that men, women and children had been
crushed to DEATH drowned or consumed
In the flames, very few Of the passenger
escaping without more or less injury.
a special train carried Ned cut of Swift
City that night and after many weary
hours of travel he reached the scene of
the disaster. In the interval the press
agencies announced that Mrs E. H Ber-
esford. Of Swift City. was among the
missing. A pai thy burned scarf, soma
broken packages and bundles bearing her
name, were all the traces that could he
found of the unfortunate lady The con-
ductor had d record of transportation
Issued 20 the Swift City Echo. In favor of
Mrs. Beresford, and a trunk. con aiming
Wearing apparel, which belonged to hor,
was found in the baggage car The most
exhaustive search, however, failed to dis-
cover any part of the remains or any
other clue which could decide just the
form In which death had overtaken her.
1t was said that a lady answering her
description was seen being assisted away
from the wreck by a tail gentleman.
There was no confirmation to be had of
the statement, and, moreover, at least
two Of the ladies who had been saved
from the wreck, suffering more or less
injury, might have beeh the person re-
ferred to-
VIZ:
Bel esford was compelled to return.
heart-soro and disconsofate, toshfs moth
erIess BARN IN the West. Never; had life
presented so grim a yisage to him. His
lot was cast among comparative stran-
gers. He was surrounded on all sides by
men whose. pursuit of wealth might be
Hkened to a stampede Of Wild cattle en-
ene of the surrounding ranges-nen VITA
most CT whom friendship was name,
or. worse yet, the mere pitfaN by which
others monetary undoiug might be &C.
complished. Even his calling, of which
he was once SO proud, involved such con-
eessions to expediency as to have hur-
ried him forward to a condition of partial
unbeiief in his OWN honor Politics he
found to be pursuit of lucre carried On
IN one or other of its most fgnoble forms.
AS the months went by. little Madge
showed plainly the loss of a mothers
watchful care. Day by day she ran to
the window Of her nursery and returned
only to ask If her mamma would ever
come home. There was, too. some ILL
natured talk about the small insurance
which existed on Mrs. Beresford's life,
and the local agent of the company was
heard to say that it would be difficult to
prove death in that case. Still Berasford
chung ncbly to his work. Seams of sor-
row and anxiety married his once conIeIy
there threads of white. His step was less
elastic and his manner abb upt and pre-
occupied. Margaret grew more and more
III the likeness of her mother. The de-
naands of her education led to the child
being intrustsd to the Sisters of st.
Joseph, and each succeeding Sunday
evening found the father trying to as
suage his SORROW In the sunshine of her
innocent prattle.
But the specter of death was once more
to visit at his hearth. All that remained
to warm his furnishing nature WIS to be
wrested from him. And when the mes
sage came to him of the grievous iHress
of his child. it found him but IL prepared
pended over him.
He was left bat little mound Of Garth,
on which he planted a slender tree which
bore each succeeding year its burden Of
white roses
The friend of hts boyhood. Father Car
DIAN, conforted him by prayer and COM
partnership But Ned, too, s.ckened, and
the warnings of his doctors that he
should seek milder climate passed I'M
needed. Strong man as he still, was hts
dreams Of rest ever returned to the shade
of the little rose tree,
One evening, amid a quiet which rarely
marked the publishing ef1ce OF the Echo,
the telegraph editor appFpaeh the desk
of his chief and quietly ldiaI on. It a dis
patch which heSfhad re5afYed some few
minutes before. BeresfoFd passed quietly
out into the gentle moonlight, leavt lgs no
word behind him. The dispatch was aft
forwards found upon his desk. 1t solved
the deep mystery of three human lives.
1t told of a tragedy wherein woman
had become in the brief compass of a