The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1915-09-23
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uCI IOQCH q last evening, Out she
turned away with an awful look on her
face. wonder where l am and how many
miles lie between this and dear Preto1
Oh, my mother, my mother, it seems as
if Heaven had provided you with new
darling because you must lose the old, but
| know your heart is big enough for both,
and that shall be restored to you"
She had so little paper that she was
obliged to exercise wholesome restraint In
her literary labors, but at the next entry
she felt bound to develop the character of
Mainland to proclaim him anaccomplished
musician. The noontides she dreamed
away, but at night, save for her visits
to the dairy, in which hunger expelled
fears of darkness, she had most dis
tressing ideas. For instance, she wondered
if Uncle Ehphalet knew where she was,
and was Furnishing her by letting her
starve slowly within sight of plenty She
had been hidden for four days, and realized
that it was impossible to proceed without a
daily paper. She knew where paper and
ashes were put at the factory but not at the
house, but, alas! there were watchmen at
the factory, which complicated everything.
However, after drinking all the milk she
she snatched at what turned out to be the
Paris Herald, and felt her way down the
clif-side, looking forward to morning meal
and newspaper as she used to look for
ward to dance in the past days Of brick
houses and the best masters in German and
English
When the morning broke she woke with
start, wondering if anyone could trace her
by the absence of the travelling rugs, but as
they had been packed away in the steamer
boxes she felt that no one would think of
looking for them She drank her milk and
turned to the first page of the Paris Herald,
which contained her portrait and further
stated that Uncle Ehphalet offered thirty
thousand dollars for her return, while
twenty had been raised at home among her
mothers old friends there.
81 shall not accept that she decided
hastily.
This news was preceded by recapitula-
ton of the circumstances of her loss and an
account Of her letter and its reception. 1T
may be mere coincidence" the paper said
that the letter from the missing girl was
received at the same hour in the morning as
that of her disappearance. She finished her
breakfast at 8:I5 on the morning Of May
18th, and at the same hour on May 10Th
her mother, in taking the cover from the
butter dish on the table, found the follow
ing letter. The butler, trusted
servant long in Signor Riti's employ, swears
that the note was not in the butter dish
when he placed it on the table He had
left the room, returning to it because he
thought he heard footsteps; he found no one,
and concluded that the late tragedy in the
household had rendered him nervous. The
police are at a standstill, and the beautiful
missing girls family and friends are pros
trated. The Hdnappers have not COM
the ransom shall be paid, but he IS
causing placards to be posted in all Italian
cities to the effect that he will keep in
violate faith with them if they will restore
his grandniece. 1t is feared that the vii
lains who stole Margaretta Morris, see
ing the interest their crime has aroused,
are counting on public sympathy to in
crease the ransom"
GAS a business proposition, Margaretta
cried, "this is immense" but she added,
with an echo of Uncle Eliphalet, the Lord
knows, cannot decide how to get dear
Enrico the money now it's offered" The
sun shone into her cavern that day and
baked her through for an hour, during
which she pondered painfully and without
result as to how to get the reward. She
really suffered, and once in her discomfort
wondered that the milk wasn't I. missed every
morning. She dared not write until she
had arranged for the reward, lest it be dis
covered that the dairy was also a post-ofice
and so the dull days went on, and she longed
madly for her mother and for such minor
blessings as hair brush and bath tub
For nine days she had only milk, and hao
only washed her face, in the dark o. tht
moon, In the spring where the breakfast but.
ter was cooled. But she didn't intend going
home without the reward. One morning
she cried; it was raining, and she realized
that she ought to have an accomplice. She
comforted herself by writing in her diary
"Manru and Ferdinando have quarreleC
as to who shall 60 for the ransom and how il
shall be delivered. think Manru wants t.
swim in the Pretozi River at night and havu
it brought down to him at some given poin-
in waterproof box, but Ferdinando say
no one can swim in the Pretozi, that b
would be drowned at once. wish the,
would decide. They seem like gentlemen
not like peasants. wonder what they ar
beside villains"
, Then she laughed, and took up he