Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1900-10-10
mean by-etc.. etc.

mean by-etc., etc.
But he was not going to nut up wifi
SUCH scandaiotls treatment. He. sboul,
cause an inquiry to be made: he sborl,
write to The Times; he should-in short
ne behaved like q true Englishman i.
adverse circumstances. and poured fort,
ABUSE like water. Others followed
some angry, some silent, all cold ani
miserable Astout woman in black wht
mad been sent for to a dying child wa.
weeping aloud; dazed man with bounf
up head and terrified wife We're bounced
upon Immediately by expectant friend.
and borne off with yoluble sympathy.
one or two people slightly hurt were
helped out after the others. The train
was emptiea at last. Aurelia was moi
there. Charles went down the length Of
the train, looking into each carriage. and
then came back, answering Ralnb's
glance with shake of the head. The
man in black, who seemed to have been
watching him, came up.
Have all come back by this trainp''
Charles asked.
"All, sir, except"-and he hesitated-
except few. The doctor who went
has not returned, and the guard saws
there were some Of the passengers badly
hurt-that he would not allow to be
moved from the farm when the train
came for them. The engine driver and
one or two others were"-
Charles made a sign to him to be si-
lent. ~ ~ %
Glow far is itY he asked.
Twenty miles, SIR"
Are the roads practicablep'
mo, sir. At least they would be yerv
uncertain once you got into the lanes"
I'VE can walk along the line" said
Ralph. That must be clear. Let us
start at once"
could not the station master send ,,s
down on an engineer asked Charles
I'VE would pay well for it."
The police inspector shook his head.
but Charles went off to inquire never
theless, and he followed him. Thought
him very pushing, inquisitive kind of
person. have always had great dis
like to the idle curiosity which is con-
tinually prying into the concerns of
others. Ralph and walked up and
down, up and down the now deserted
platform. i spoke to him once or twice,
but he hardly answered, and after a
time gaveit up and we paced in silence.
AT last Charles returned. His request
for an engine had been refused, but a
further relay of workmen was being sent
down the line in a couple of hours time.
and he had obtained leave for himself
and us to go with them. After two
long, mterminable hours of that ever
lasting pacing we found ourselves in an
open truck, full of worlnmen, steaming
slowly out of the station. At the last
moment the man in black jumped in and
accompanied us.
The pace may have been great, but to
us 1t seemed exasperatingly slow, and in
the open truck the cold was piercing.
The workmen, who laughed and talked
among themselves, appeared to take no
notice of it; but saw that Charles was
shivering, and presently he made his
brother light his pipe and began to
smoke hard himself.
RalphNs pipe, however, went out un-
needed in his fingers. He sat quite still,
With his back against the side of the
truck, his eyes fized upon the gray hori.
lion. Once he turned suddenly to his
brother and said, as if unable to keer
silence on what was in his mind:
"What was her object?"
Charles shook his head.
"They were hers already!' he went on.
She would have had them all. If she
had had debts I would have paid them.
what could her object have been?' And
seemingly, without expec,aAe 49,,
relapsed into silence.
We had left the suburbs now, and
were passing through lonely country.
Here and there village of struggling
cottages met the eye, clustering round
their little church. In places the hedge
rows alone marked the lie of the hidden
lanes; in others men were digging out
the roads through drifts of snow, and
carts and horses were struggling pain
fully along.
In one place little walking funeral
was laboring across the fields from n
lonely cottage in the direction of the
church, high on the hill, the bell Of
which was tolling through the quiet air.
The sound reached us as we passed, and
seemed to accompany us on our way.
heard the men talking among themselves
that there had been no snow storm like
to this for thirty years, and as they spoke
some Of them began shading their eyes
and trying to look in the direction in
which we were going.
We had now reached low waste of |
uninclosed land, with sedge and gorse
prichng up everywhere through the
snow, and with long lines Of pollards
marking the bed Of frozen stream.
Near the line was deserted brick kiln.
surrounded by long, uneven mounds and
ridges of ice, with three poplars mount
ing guard over it. Flights Of rocks
hung over the barren ground and
wheeled in the air with discordant
clamor as we passed-the only living
moving things in the utter desolation of
the scene. As looked there was an ex-
clamation from one of the workmen and
the engine began to slacken. We were
there at last.
CHAPTER XIII.