Year: 1879

half a dozen carriages were hurled down
a stoep embankment. The scene that sue
ceeded is, unhapplly, OF too copmon an
occurrence to need more than word of
reference here. Seven passengers were
killed outright; double that number
slightly or badly hurt; the remainder
escaping, as by miracle, with nothing
else than severe shock.


My friend was among the shaken. He
had been thrown clear off the debrSs on
to soft grassy spot, half-bank, half
hedge; emPhatically, has life was saved


But what followed it was that which
caused the suffering, that wrought the
terrible change in Jack.


In the darkness of that soft autumn
night he strove, foremost among those
who had been spared, to render such help
as was possible to the less fortunate.
When the official assistance came, and
fires were set blazing to give light, almost
his first care was to try and seek out his
dangerous fellow-traveler. In the con-
fusion, nobody was prepared, of course,
to listen to Jacks account of her, even
had he been prepared then to give it.
She was not, evidently, moving about
among the crowd; he assured himself of
that; but supposing her, like himself, to
have escaped injury (and he concluded
that this was likely, might she not, with
the stealttPnd cunning incidental to her
malady, be hiding, and by thus further
eluding detection, become, with her ho-
micidal mania, as dangerous to the COM
munity at large as some fierce, wild ami
NAL would be? The thought made him
shudder; he must lose no time in assur-
ing himself Of her fate.


AS soon as an approach to order could
be evolved out Of that awful chaos, he
had convinced himself that she was not
among the injured. Then he turned to
the dead. His eye fell upon several mu-
tilated and motionless forms, which had
been laid in an ominous low at the foot
of one part of the embankment. Hers
was not among them: he could find no
trace of her.


At tlength, as sickly dawn was begin
ming to make the search easier, he endeav-
ored to discover the spot where the carri-
age he had occupied had fallen, and to
retrace his steps (quite to the rear of the
train, by the way) to the place where he
found himself lying after the catastrophe.


By this time he had made known brief
ly to some officials that a woman was
missing who had been in the carriage
with him, and one or two of them followed
him in his quest, Presently he realized
pretty we'll where he had been thrown,
he all but identified the spot. Then he
scrambled through the hedge, and there
on the opposite side, on the sloping bank
of a ditch, he beheld, lying quite still,
her dark, unmistakable form.


He ran forward, and, bending over her
and looking down upon the marble, up
turned face, saw at a glance that there
was nothing dangerous about her now
those terrible eyes were closed forever!
Except for slight wound on one temple,
whence little blood had trickled, and
the distorted, but now rigidly closed
hand, which had been so lately at his
throat, she looked as calm and uniniured
as if she was merely sleeping, while death
had restored for a brief period much of
that beauty, the traces OF which struck
him when her veil was first lifted.


One Of the surgeons here came hurry
ing up in answer to summons.


"Good heavens!" he exclaimed, s'here
she is then, at last! Why. she must have
been in the train, how ON earth did she
m;nage it?''


"Who is shea" inquired Jack, earnest
ly, with a strange 1eturn Of the old mex
pl1cable sensation. Who is she? You
appear to know her. Pray tell me-"


"Oh, one of our inmates she got away
yesterday morning, no one knows how
was the answer.


"You are from Longmoor, then. How
long has she been there? What is her
twenty years, believe; long before my
time


s:And her name?"


"Upon my word, at this moment can
hardly went on the doctor, mechanical
" passing his fingers over one of the
pulseless wrists before him, and with
calm hesitation, which contrasted strong
ly with Jacks earnest, impetuous man
ner, II can hardly remember. 1 think
she was committed for the murder of her
own little girl. It was very sad case,
know. All! her name; I have it," went
on the doctor suddenly; her name was
Pallant-Rachel Pallant."


Jack sprang from the kneeling posture
in which he was, as If he had been shot.
Why, that was his own dead mothers
name! But pshaw! what of that.
Well, it was rather startling colnci-
dence; that was all! Aye but was it all!
Indeed no.


The inquest led to revelation. That
inquiry fully explained what had been
the nature of the influence which the
weird pale face and strange presence had
upon my friend.


The strong but subtle link which no
time or absence can vuite sunder existing
between mother and son had made itself
felt the instant those two satface to face,
tor the unhappy woman was indeed ne
other than jacks own mother


He had never been told; in fact it had
been carefully kept from him. Why 1un
the risk of cloudiug for life that bright
and happy temperament? He was only
four years old when the dreadful business
happened; hence he had scarcely known
mothers care-she was lost to him, to
the world, as completely as if she had
died. Nay, death would have been a
mercy by comparison, and it was gener-
ally assumed that she was dead; only a
few intimate friends knew the truth.


The poor lady's mind had given way
suddenly after the birth of child, which
did not live. Within week the hOmi-
cidal mania possessed her; by the merest
chance she had been prevented from COM
mitting some frightful outrage upon her
little boy, my poor friend Jack; and re-
straint not having been put upon her in
time-for her malady had hardly been
suspected. SO unlocked for was ito On