The Washington times., 1901-08-25


ed name moves me strangely. Like
Whit of forgotten scent. or tune OF oid
days heard once again. it brings crowd
ing to me a thousand memories which
else had rested on in the sleep OF years.
many of them perhaps never to awaken
more: but there be number OF them
whose siumber is light, which start up at
odd moments without any bidding. espe-
cially in the night hours, when dreams
are afoot and the mind, shut out from
the present. gets busying with the things
past which have sunk most deeply into
ii. Little wonder that the happenings of
that summer and autumn should have
made "A haunted house of my brain, and
that the name of Maitland should have
power to set it so astir. Yet so II Is,
and ! will take up pen and tell you why
II had been a year of tributation to us
from the very start. The terrible winter
floods. the loss of sheep and cattle. the
unfortunate lambing time. the long weeks
in early summer of drought and blasting
heat. then the heavy rains, and again the
rise of devastating waters: all these
brought matters to such pass that rum
itself-though never a word did he say
was staring my father in the face.
A cruel fate it had been that my father
had such a hard struggle to keep both
ends fairly meeting He had been brought
up as the son of a yeoman of standing;
had been allowed, as an only child. to
spend all he liked in reason, and to mar
nv. when he was barely twenty-one, with
the assurance that he was well able SO
to do and to rear his chiidren-f the
Lord Nilled to send him any-wlthoui
fear for bit or sup so long as he heipeo
to keep things together and to make the
farm continue its proper duty IL mao
been, indeed. a time of plenty, and now
and again of abundance; and, as sharers
in II, my sister and l had had an up
bringing which ill-prepared US Tor the
hard aud narrow living of later days. on
tho death of NV grandfather everything
vas changed. l was but a slip of lad
at the time. but well do I remember it.
1t was in the thick of the hop season
The old man had been to Warstone mar
ket as his weekly custom was, though
nv father now managed all business
dealings. My grandfather liked the NOISE
and hustle of the stockyard, and TO meet
there and at the market dinner at iie
Green Dragon. old familiar 1rlehds VIM
had bought and sold with him a genera
ton or more. 1t was one OF these inei''
as have been told, who, standing at the
hoteI window. beckoned TO him, and
pointing to the small crowd gathering
round Marston's Bank. gave him a look
and a nudge as hint that he should De
there. There had been heavy bank ran
,,ro some DAVIS before at Rochester, and
IT was not unnatural to think at the mo-
nent that Marston's was lettering 100
nv grandfather therefore hurried out
oil ha
credit-a matter of some e2.co0 II was
b,, a scare as he came to know later
In the day; but it had stirred his umor-
ops nature Instead of redepositing the
sum which he ought surely to have done,
he kept it in his possession; and he ac-
cented an invitation TO make one tnat
night at a dinner at the same hotel In
honor of the local member
Wandering round the quaint and WIND
ing streets to kill the time. he happened
on a curiosity shop. He had a liking ior
old odds and ends of all sorts; ana
looking in at the window, his eyes sud
denly fastened on a life-size bust Oh NIL
nerva. He knew not whose face 1t rep
resented: but 1t was SO startingly ike
the fair young wife he had lost years
agone, and for whose memory he had
tenderness most patehtic, that ne entered
the shop and straightway bought the
image. Ii was a whimsical fancy IN one
respect; but he never saw the incongrui-
~ of a Greek helmet surrounding the
,1a.cefuI s-irlish face which in his young
or DAVIS had been SO much to him: ne sa"
only the comely features, and they were
hers So it followed that he vas one Oh
the blithest of the guests round the Ia
HE that night; and at late hour' Dear
ing off his prize, he mounted his gis' a
uttle uusteadily il may have been, ana
headed for home.
IT was a dark and cloudy night anu
Though the way was long, 1t was iainii-
Tar TO man and horse alike. ana an "ouiu
have been well had not party Vi
drunken hop-pickers stopped the gig AZ
the black middle of Copston WOOD Two
of the men were UP in the gig ana rinihs
his pockets before the astonished traHeier
I'D IIft a finger. He struggled hard.
as became a Haynes, whatever ms age
~, his DAYS of strength were passed,
- A. tinsv rascals were all too much
,or him. Then they jumped to the
eyro,,nd and disappeared among the trees,
NV grandfather swearing after them
With never a half-penny in his pockets.
SLOWLY and miserably he drove home;
.rd NV father. anxiously waiting for
h,,, WAS told the sad story. Its effect
,nav he imagined Two thousand pounds
and twenty more in gold, all gone at a
.+rol,er IL was terrible. OF course the
,olice were informed of the robbery, my
father galloping hard TO Copston the mo-
mont he heard of il; but the constabies
ro1Jud our part are more fit to catch frogs
after shower than slippery gang OF
money-hfters; and from that day TO this
tho authors of that Midnight Outrage re-
main undiscovered.
One effect of the untoward incident was
TO apparently upset my grandfather
wits. on the following morning he was
too unwen to go to Warstone. as he had
intended; but quite early he called for his
purchase of the day before, and when
went up later to take him al egg and
rniIk-for he had had no food found
he had removed the paper covering and
,laced the bust on the manielpiece. He
was then sitting up in his dressing gown
apa rubbing his hands and chuckling in
WAY most uncanny. After handing
hack the glass. be looked at the bust
with the tenderest eyes. and asked my
opinion of it. Being but an ignorant boy
I asked in turn If it was meant for Joar
of Arc He smiled and rubbed his hands
again. saying maybe it was. but that
loan of Arc or Joan of anywhere else, II
was the very picture of nay grandmother
rest her soul!-and that was why he haf
bought IL. Then suddenly he put hi:
hand TO his heart and gave me an at
frighted look He had q weakness there
and | too felt some concern However
he was soon himself again. and once NOR
sazed fondiy up at the Minerva
81 nnL hDre lad. - be suddenly said