Rocky Ford enterprise., 1899-01-26

Great heavens! Was 1t an accident,
or do you mean she committed sui
cide?"
Suicide, ay, that's what they called
tt didn't remember the word until
ye mentioned it-'suicide while In
state of trumpery insanity was the
jury's verdick. For nigh on six months
afore poor little Helen came into the
wurrld her mother was hopeless
ijiot. that ought to have been locked
up safe in a 'sylum, us ought to know
we'll"
Great heavens! And this was kept
from me-intentionally kept by that
wretched old woman who flaunts her
religion"
Charity an religion begins at home
with wan O. her kind. II she had
tolld you. the chances are yed have
sloped off an left on her hands n
burthen she hated an had fretted
against sore for the last eighteen year.
She saw her chance and didn't let II
slip. Who'd be after blamin' her. when
ye come to think OF it,"
1.-THE madness was inherited-in the
family, mean?" asked, with sullen
bitterness.
''No. 1t wasn't. Sorry Casey ever
heard of bein' took that way before or
since"
What was the cause OF lit"
Sorrow. treachery, cruelty, an
wrong. them was the cause Of it
wrong such as 'ud drive women o my
kind by degrees to the whisky bottle
49, . 4.,tl Ix,,t ,x.Ht ty,
summers day. turned poor Nora Casey
from n light-hearted sunny lass into,
as I've already tould ye. broodin'
hopeless ijiot!"
Tell me all about 1t; nothing must
be kept back from me now. What was
the mothers story? Quick!"
"Aisy. aisy. I'll tell 1t ye soon
enough" demonstrated Molly sooth-
ingly. squatting herself on the ground.
her hands clasping her knees. Nora
was the ould vans only daughter. an
the youngest O. the family: when the
boys all went their ways she had to
remain at home. She was me nurse
child, and as purity a girl as ye'd care
- to meet in days walk, and as like
her daughter us two peas, only brighter
an more winnIn' in her ways, an
never wild that broodin' heavy look
Miss Helen often had. She was let
grow up Jest as yer wife was. with no
more eddication or care or lookin' after
than II she was thrown on the wurrld
without a sowl of her own. She used
to wander about the mountains all day
long. and in course of time met n
scoundrel.
"He had come In grand yacht that
anchored In the bay. Every day he
used to meet her somewhere or other.
an soon won her heart. for he was
handsome an elegant. like no wan
she'd never met before. Ono day he
touId her to meet him next night at
IL O'Clock In St. Brigid's ruined church
beyond the point below. an that he
would have n minister to marry them.
making her swear she was to tell no
wan, for II It was known he was about
to marry poor girl he'd be ruined for
life. But after a few, months he said
he was to come In for a large fortune
and be his own master. an then he'd
bring her to his home in England an
introduce her to his people.
Poor Nora believed him and went
to the abbey. where sure enough there
was n minister all in white ready to
make them wan. She kept the saycret
safe. poor sowl. an, when the cowld
rain and the bleak wind came. he sailed
away in his yacht. an after he'd been
a couple of months gone news came
wan day from Droomleague that he
had been married over in England to
some grand lady with lot OF money
the week before. But Miss Nora only
laughed when she heard II, an didn't
seem in the laist put out. though
watched her close, suspectin' there was
somethin' between them, though moi
the cruel truth. Heaven knows.
well. Just three days after we heart
the rumor, n letter came to Miss Nora
enclosin' a check for fifty pounds. ant
tellin' her that the marriage up at tht
old church hadn't been rale one at ali
that the minister was only his vale
dressed up, as he'd dare say she'd sus
pected all along. An he was morta
sorry he had to give her up; but hare
necessity obliged him to marry hi.
present wife, to whom he had beer
engaged for the last two years, an
he begged her pardon an wished hei
we'll an would never forget or cease tt
love his dear mountain maid. THAI
was all.
when she'd read It an understood
It at last. she went ragin' through tn,
house like a madwoman. the letter II
her hands; an when her mother read 4
too nm lpnrnt tha cruel story for the
first time, she just opened her hall
door, an wild her own hard hands
thrust the poor maddened craythurt
out into the cowld night; an bade heI
never cross the doorstep OF the house