The Wingham Times, 1885-09-25, Page 3elide
By the Gate.
BY JAUBS 1iBRaY BBN8EI. �wr
%Light over my ehouldor I saw the mann,
The thin half-airele was fighting there •
Like a golden strand of my darling'@ hair
In the rose scented, otar.ltt air of June;
And, gazing upward, I breathed a prayer.
" Fold her about with happiness, L ird—
Dry bright -haired, brown -o} ed, beautiful maid ;
And make me more meet for her love," 1 prayed,
While the irloon like a bit of golden (lord
There in tbo heaveue above me etayed.
And that little prayer of my heart— Ah, mo t
I think Gad heard it and gave her the beet,
The happiness wrapt in immortal rest ;
She Wraps fn her beauty so quietly
With p-aetd palma clasped onher pulseloes breast.
Now as I stand here and look at the ,icy
A lone bird ohirpo in the tree by the gate,
While I lomysolitudo pray and wait;
And the night -wind paean a mo gently by
As tho full moon rises up round and lata.
Go, wind of the night, unto those who weep!
Bear thein, 1 pray you, the message I send ;
Say that the sorrow-touohed heart of a friend
Speaks as he etande where the , hadows are deep
Hero by the gate where the tree.branobee bend.
One by one fade out the lights in the town
AB wu have seen lights in our lives grow dim ;
Soft nn the air floats the sound of a hymn,
And the snowball Bowers drop theirpetalsdown,
.And the dew drips over thB !thee' brim.
Then I turn away from the gate once more, '
Away from the brook as ii Howe and falls,
Prom the bird that hides in the tree and calls
A faint farewell. when I open the door
And meat the silence that stands in these hallo.
A TERRIBLE TRAGEDY.
By the Author of "TIIE FLOWER GALL,'.'
"LOVELY LADY LYNutn1ST," SCC , SCC.
CHAPTER II.-(CONTINDED. )
" Then It is more serious than I thought,"
the old, woman said slowly. "Some one
should speak to the child."
Yoe, yes," buret out Tom eagerly ;
" that's what I come to see you about. I
am such a blundering fool, 1 should epoil
everything ; and she'd never forgive m• if I
doubted her ; and, though she doesn't love
me," the poor lad went on, unconscious that
he was betraying his own secret, "she
would hate me then ; and I couldn't bear
that ! But it breaks my heart to hear Meg
and the other girls talking of her ae they do
' —and, oh, Mrs. Lane, she likes you—Dolly,
I mean --and I know, if you'd give her a
bit of advice ; she'd Iieten to reason ; she
has no one to toll her or to warn her 1 And
then I'm frightened about old Adam. if
be should get to hear anything, there wonld
be murder and no mistake, for he worships
Dolly ; and if he thought any harm had
cone to her through the Captian, he'd as
soon ohoot him as look at him."
" Well," said the widow, with a slight
shiver, caueed by Tome energetic speech,
" 1'11 make a little excuse and comp up to
the forge this evening ; and then, If I can
get Dolly by herself, I'll put her on her
guard."
" And you'll be very careful what you
say ?" urged Tom. " Dolly ie so proud,
/and -- and '—with a gulp—" I dare say she
is a bit fond of the Captain—leastways, be's
handsome enough and soft•spoken enough
to turn a lassie's head.
" Leave me to go my own gait, lad," the
good woman answered, nodding wisely.
And Tom having thus far accomplished his'
errand successfully, was fain, with many
expressions of gratitude, to take his leave.
The old clock in St. Jude's tower was
etriking six es widow Lane put up the shut-
ters of her front parlor, called by courtesy
a shop, with unusual punctuality ; and
then, equipping herself in her bonnet and
shawl, ane turned the key in the street -door,
and set her face towards Adam Jarvis's
forge, In her hand she carried a lock
which needed some repairing, and which
would serve as a pretext for her visit to the
blacksmith's.
Fortune however favoured her in an un-
expected manner, for half way down the
straggling street she saw, tripping along
towards her, pretty Dolly Jarvis herself.
She wore a crimson kilted skirt, and in-
stead of the rusty velveteen bodice, she had
a black scarf with a woven border of gold
crossed on her bosom, with one end thrown
coquettishly over her left shoulder, while,
in place of the old straw hat, her head was
covered with a closely -fitting hood -to
match tho skirt—and from which the wavy
chestnut hair peeped out, forming little ton.
drils on her smooth fair brow. A very
graceful quaint liitlo figure she looked, mak-
0
heard my father Bay tbere had been Braith• oaa a weak point with him ; but the old And then one day there had come the tin. THOW BANK11 ABBBWIWIrE.B.
and A scapegrace-wi d Bet they were, though 1' "Ab, uin 1 What ie thin 1" ho (potion- becoming eo reat,tbat be reit, do something lheTrlek by wiiek a Bankrupt Merchant
*
"generous and open•handeu, to give em: ed, turning no a bare document frim amid to extricate himself, that be must rouse Elate J WCen 7housyuq O.
11ars.d
wafter at the Tall long .,even before that, a, gentleman was not to be thus molified. welcome knowledge that hie diffiooltios were
there due
"What did they do to get ltuch a bad
name)" Dolly questioned interestedly.
" Well, you see, they wera what they
called Royalists—they took the aide pf the
Kiang when the man Cromwell wanted to
get the crown from him ; and no wonder,
for ho wail not of much account, I've heard
tell—and they drank and fought and gam-
bled and cheated and made love to all the
pretty girls they came across ; they didn't
care whether they broke their hearts or not,
or what lies they told, or what promises
thea made, so long as they amused them-
selves. There wasn't a girl in the country-
side, gentle or simple, who hadn't cause to
rue the day rho made the acquaintance of
a Braithwaite, There was one Sir henry
Braithwaite, who actually ran away with
his neighbour's wife, and another who starv-
ed his own wife to oath because he fell in
love with and wanted to marry another
lady ; and they thought nothing of robbing
and killing any one who tried to prevent
their wrong -doing.'
Tne widow was drawing pretty freely
upon her imagination, noticing all the
while, with secret satisfaction, that Dolly
was listening with wide-open eyes expres-
sive of surprise and incredulity,
"They couldn't all have been so, bad, '
she said softly, whon her companion paused,
more for want of breath than because she
had exhausted her category of the sins of
the lireithwaitee. "There's Sir Ralph
now ; I never heard that he robbed any
one, or, in fact, did any harm at all, and 1;'m
sure Captain Braithwaite is — "
Bat here Dolly paused, coloring deeply
as she met Mrs. Lane's scrutinising gaze.
"Oh, Sir Ralph has grown steady with
eget" she said, finding that Dolly made no
attempt to finish the sentence. " I dare say
he was wild enough'in hie youth; and, as
for the Captain, what's bred in the bone is
sure to .come out ;