The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1902-04-25
"Whatever for!'
81 don't know. He often does.
suppose he finds it dull at home.
4 H. f<,23

suppose he finds 1T dull at home.
But where does he go tor
"Sometimes to the Wears TO smoke
a pipe; sometimes, l think, to the Blue
Pigeon; at least, he comes back and
retails all the village gossip, and he
could hardly be at ladies' tea fight at
that time of night
"No, hardly
And then we talked of other things,
not at all interesting to the reader.
Perhaps, indeed, we did not talk very
much; but we were very happy, and
quite forgot all about poor Basil sitting
alone in the library until the clock
struck eleven.
"By Jovc! l must 60"
81 had no idea it was so late" Alice
said.
When had lovers any idea how time
flies?
1t was raining hard, and Alice
wanted me to wait little.
:'If wait until it stops, there is a
good chance of my being here all night.
| shall 90 across the fields, and shall
be home in no time. Good night"
1t was not so easy to hurry with the
wind and rain driving against your
umbrella. should probably got along
quicker l,y the road, where the hedges
would have been some protection.
| Across the fields not tree broke the
force of the hurricane.
/ had accomplished about quarter
of the journey, and was approaching
stile, when out of the darkness figure
appeared on tue opposite side of it. l
closed my umbrella, to enable me to
get over the stile more easily, and
looked to see who it was.
He reached the stile first and got
over, and then, seeing me, gave a
shrek. staggered backward and fell
heavily to the ground.
Surprising that he had not noticed
me coming, and was startled. and in
stepping backward had fallen, rushed
toward him.
Il beg your pardon" said, holding
out my hand to help him up.
All the answer got was laugh,
more like drunken mans laugh than
anything else.
| bent over Lin.
"Uncle Fred!''
His eyes were fixed upon me, but
there was no recognition in them.
Uncle Fred, what is the NATTER"
An inarticulate string of sounds,
eliminating in hideous laugh, was
all l could get out Of him. Could he
be drunk? | had never seen him the
worse for drink in my life. He had
prol,aby been to Marshlands and per-
haps Basil, doing the honors in my
absence, had piled him too freely with
liquor. | stopped to get my arms un-
der him and help him up, but instead
Of letting me do so, he shrieked so ter
ribly that l was obliged to desist.
did not know what to do. 1t was
getting on for twelve o'clock; terri
bly, late hour for us country folk. He
would not let me help him, and he
seemed quite incapable of helping him;
SELF However, something must be
done, so started to run across the
fields toward the road where one or
two cottages were inhabited by men
who worked for me. They were in
bed, and l had some difficulty in arous-
ing them. AS we hurried back to the
stile, explained what had happened.
"Maybe he had been drinking, sir?"
II thought so at first,' answered.
"Mr. Penfold was never reckoned a
nervous man, was her
Not that | know Of
When we got to the stile my uncle
had gone.
"Got a bit better and gone home, l
expect said one
| was astonished; he seemed so help
less when left him. If he had gone
home, Alice would be frightened to
death, and would not know what to do
with him. | could not leave her like
this, and fearing that my uncle would
be Just as unreasonable about me at
home as in the fields, asked the two
men to come with me.
Lights were in several windows of
the house. Evidently he had gone
home.
| | knocked at the door, and Alice
opened it.
"Jack! Oh, thank Heaven you
lave CONF! Father has just come in,
nd he's mad am sure he's mad"
Il think he has been drinking,
A lice"
"Oh, no, it isn't that. am sure 1t
isn't drink. His lace is as white as
death, his teeth chatter. He keeps on
looking around, and says, over and
over again, I've seen him l asked
him who he had seen. 'Himn was all
he said, and stretched out his arms, as
if to keep some one away. Can we
send for the doctol!'
| asked one of the men to 20 down
to the villag" and bring the doctor up
at once; the other man took into the
house with me. Alice had reused the
two servants before | arrived, and the
| l,o