THE MYSTERY OF HADDON'S FERRY.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 151, 29 June 1887, Page 6

THE MYSTERY OF HADDON'S FERRY.

By E. D. E. N, Soutuworth.

CHAPTER XI.

Till-* BLACK MAGIC.

What could he 'gainst tho shook of nell? : Sin Walter Scott. , «« The scene that followed ! Oh, Heaven ! the scene that followed ! " When I saw the inhuman,savage clutchmy Lily with such ruthless violence that she shrank .and moaned under his talons, with a desperate bound I threw off the two mem who held me, sprang upon the beast, hurled ' him from his prey, and gathered her to any bosom. •< Ah, -poor, fluttering dove ! She had but an instant's respite. " With hue and cry they set upon me— Hiram Slaughter, the consbables, and the men of the house, whom they loudly called to their aid. Lily was torn from me. I was beaten down, overpowered and handcuffed as if I had been a convicted felon. " One of the women of the house was sent to our room to fetch Lily's hab and sack. Then these wore brought and pub on the pale, trembling child by one of the girls. Hiram Slaughter strode forward, seized his victim, and jerked her hand within his arm to lead her away. " Then she turned upon me such a look - oh ! such a look of heavenly love and trust, as, rising above all weakness, she said : " ' Take courage, dear husband. In ten days I shall be of age, and then no one will have a right to stay me, and I will come to you * for let them say what they will, I know that I am your own wedded wife.' "'Take that, you impudent jade!' roared Hiram Slaughter, striking her full upon the mouth wibh his open hand, and with such force thab her blood followed the blow. "I was maddened by tho sight. I struggled wibh my japbors, like the maniac that I was . I railsd on, Hiram Slaughter like any drunkard. Ah ! how futile were all my efforts ! "She held a white handkerchief to her wounded lips, to absorb the bloody and looked at me with eyes full of compassion. " Oh, how miserable and contemptible I seemed to myself, in my utter helplessness to help her. When I realised this, I shamed my manhood and wept. " Then her sweet voice spoko again -. "'Yet still be patient, dear Gabriel. What can they do to us, after all? They can bub torture or kill the body, and ' after that they have no more thab they can do,' They cannot separate our spirits even in this world ; they can never really part us, who aro one forever.' " As she spoke, from moment to moment she had to pause to put the white handkerchief to her bleeding lips. " ' Lily ! Oh, would Heaven I could die to save you, my love ! my love !' I cried out, in the extremity of my anguish. "'Live to bless mc, dear Gabriel, as I shall live to love you,' she earnestly answered. " Hiram Slaughter jerked her forward, shook her with violence, aud pushed her into the carriage. " I struggled frantically to loose my hands, to throw of) the men that held me and go to her rescue, bub all in vain. " 'Why don'b you arrest that savage monster for assault and babtery upon that delicate girl ?' I thundered into the ears of my captors. " ■ She is a minor in the hands of her guardian. She has rebelled agaiust his authority, and he has a lawful right to j chastise her. If she was a daughter of mine 1 would give her a good whipping, said one of the officers. ' "' You see we can't interfere. Besides, we, have got enough to do to take care of you,' added the other, who seemed to be a ' milder-mannered' man, "Meanwhile Hiram Slaughber had followed his white slave inbo the carriage, which'was* immediately driven off up the river road toward Alexandria. '.' Between the two constables I was led away unresistingly now, in the very collapse of despair. A sort of prison van awaited us on the road. We entered ib, and followed the first carriage. " Oh, my dear Gertrude, let mo hurry over this black page in my book of life. Guiltless as I was then, wiser as I have become now, 1 cannot look back upon it without shame and horror. "I was taken before a magistrate in Alexandria, where I met my accuser and the fair bride, whom I was accused of having abducted from the township of Wildeville, and illegally married in Alexandria. "Fortunately for my delicate Lily, it was at an hour of the forenoon when all the morning ' cases' had been disposed of, and the magistrate was alone in his office, except for the attendance of his clerk and one or two constables. "Our hearing was, therefore, comparatively private. ; .-,;, " Hham Slaughter %vas as wily as he was *wrocious. . All his violence disappeared in the.presence of the magistrate. He sat on a side bench near the official table, with Lily deeply veiled beside him. His arm was around her waist. He seemed to hold her more as a pet than' a prisoner. He told his story with the greatest exaggeration, yet with the utmost coolness. By his statement I was. made to appear bhemosb unprincipled knave, and my wife the most infatuated .fool on the face of "the earth. From that ■ start, the magistrate, was biassed against .me..;. a«v, " When my turn came, I told my own story and Lily's in our justification, but .without effect. If justice and humanity were on*our side, law and the magistrate seemed clearly on our antagonist's. "Altera brief examination, Lily,'my .bride, was given into the custody of her guardian, and I was committed to gaol to await the acbion of the Sheriff of Wildeville. • ■•■' '■■ . -II '"Lily fainted aud was borne away in .an unconscious condition by her grandfather, ' " I was taken off to prison, and for the ■first time in all my life I saw the inside of -a gaol, and as a prisoner. , '' , " " I - keenly felt' the degradation thab had fallen upon me; but oh ! how much more keenly the horrors that awaited my helpless wife. I was utterly overwhelmed and prostrated by , anguish and despair. I supposed- bhat Hiram Slaughter had taken Lily back to Wildevilie. With a desperate: effort I aroused myself at lengbh to write'to my poor mother inclosing a letter-to Lily, which I begged her to try -to forward'secretly, and to geb an answer if 'she could. "I sent off this double letter, bub before there was time to get a reply the sheriff's officers came from Wildeville with warrants and carried me back,.thither to answer to. 1 the charge of; having abducted a minor. -Gertrude! when I was committed to the ; Alfixjindria gaoL my hair and beard were "golden red. A week later, when T was token "put" to be conveyed- to they were silver white." '"' ; "And, that was the black magic that turned-thegoldto silver?", said the young girl, compassionately,. ' , .' ■ ':,"'; " I. was, ihy child. To go on : The day after. 1-was:, committed to the Wildeville prison, my poor mother'came to see me. She looked pale and worn with sorrow and anxiety. She eviderity controlled her feelirig for-the sake'of comforting nic; but when she s_iW,'"frriih~ the"change that had passed over me, What a berrible ordeal I had gone through even already, she was quite overcome with emotion' for a time; after which sh&-ttlUed t svi_£oiently to tell me that

she had received my letter, bub had failed j in h,er efforts to have its inclosed note con- 4 veyed to Lily. ■■;?. _ " Lily, she told me, was ill at Hill lop House/and that Dr Woddeiburu was attending her. I was nob at all surprised to I hear this ; bub I was nob the less afflicted at the tale* My mother had brought some comfort in the form of clean linen-clothing', to help to render my imprisonmcub a little more endurable. She bold me further, for my encouragement, that she would take care of our place; and tho.hired man, John Young, could manage the ferry very well, until my release ; for she seemed to have no doubt that I should bo acquitted. " My mother stayed until ib was time to close the prison doors for the night, and then she commended me to the care ot Heaven, and departed. She visited me every day for the few days that I remained in the Wildeville gaol. "The court was sitting, and there were bub few cases on the docket. I was, therefore, soon brought to trial. I had the best counsel I could produce, bub it availed me little ; for though justice and humanity were clearly on my side, the law of tho land and the prejudices of rank seemed against me. The trial was very short. I was arrainged on the Monday following my arrival at Wildeville, audi was convicted and sentenced on Tuesday. The penalty of my so-called felony was two years' imprisonment, with hard labour, in the State Penitentiary at .Richmond. 1 was carried down the nexb day. My heartbroken mother stayed with me as much as she could, accompanying me down to the city, and never leaving me until the doors of tho prison had closed upon me. Even then she took a room in tho neighbourhood, that she might be near me, and visit me as often as she might be permitted to do so, which was only once a month. . " I was not pub to very hard labour, for I 'happened to be the only educated prisoner in the penitentiary at the time; so I was assigned to duty in the warden's office, whero I did nine-tenths of tho work for which he received the salary ; but it was light for mo in comparison with other prison labour. Nevertheless, I did not rejoice at it, neither should I have complained if I had been pub to the severest toil, for I was past complaining, as I was past enjoying then. My wife, my liberty, my good name had all boon wrested from me, and all minor conditions of good or evil were unfelt. "The term of my imprisonment commenced on my thirtieth birthday, the fatal fifteenth of July, just fifteen years after I had first meb tho child Lily ; the day, also, upon which sho became of age, when she had vowed to come to mo and be my wife as suro as she bliould live, Sho lived '. but, alas ! she was at the point of death with a low fever, and much more likely to cross tho dark river thaai to take any other journey. I had no means of hearing from her, since no letters of mine could reach her in her guarded seclusion, ovon if I had been permitted to write before the end of the month, which, of course, I. was not. "On tho first of Angus., tho regular visiting day, my poor mother came to see me. 1 then intrusted a letter to her, and begged her to journey back to Wildeville and inquire about my Lily, find out whether she were living or dead, aud try, if sho were living, to get that letter conveyed to her hands. "My dear mother started on her mission. What would she not have done for her imprisoned son ? She was gone a . wook ; and ab the end of that timo she reburned. She could not visit me until tho next regular visiting day, on the firsb of .- September; but she sought an interview , with bhe prison-chaplain, through whose kindness I at length received news of Lily ■ — bitter sweet. ; " She had recovered from her clangorous i illness, thank Heaven! but sho had been : taken away from Hill Top House, by General Slaughter, and no one knew, or even ' surmised, whither they had gone. This was the sum and substance of the intelligence brought from Wildeville by my , mother, and given me by the kind-hearted chaplain. " My poor mother never ceased in her efforts to get me pardoned out; but wo had i a stern martinet for a governor, and he had lately entered upon his office ; so there was [ no hope for me but in outliving my term . of imprisonment. One weary month foti lowed another and brought the winter. " Christmas is a time when all travellers like to be at home- I thought General r Slaughter would be no exception to tho rule, so in Christmas week I sent my j mother up to Wildeville again to inquire ; concerning Lily.. She returned in time to visib me on the first of January, with the i perplexing news that General- Slaughter I and his ward were still absent, in what part - no one knew. " The winter passed away. My mother visited me every month, and. brought me b also such comforts as the prison rules or the 1 warden's indulgence would allow me to re , ceive. , "Early in the spring my mother went 1 again on a pilgrimage to Wildeville ; but returned, as before, with the disappointing - information that General Slaughter and his ward had not returned,-arid had nob been 3 heard from by anybody bub Oxman, his i overseer, who declined to reveal his where)* i abouts. While my mother was at the ferry, f she arranged with our assistant ferry-man, 3 John, to glean all the information concernr ing the ' Slaughter House,' as Hill Top Hall s now began to be called, and to get the b village schoolmaster to write a letter at fc John's dictation, once a month to convey I the intelligence to us. This was bo save bho 1 trouble and expense of her quarterly visibs b to Wildeville, as well as to-obtain more 3 frequent news. " Our ferry-man did his duty, and kept i us posbed as to bhe exisbence of ' no news' ; whatever. j "So the spring ripened into summer, I and -brought the fourteenth of July, the day before the anniversary of my entrance ■ into tho penitentiary, half the term of my • imprisonment; and every day would make i the coming year shorter, and bring me • nearer to tne day of release. "But where was my Lily? How was i she ? What was she doing ? She know of • course that I was a prisoner ; but / knew that if she were free, she would hasten to s Richmond, share the humble home of my : mother, and'wibh her visit mo every month during the term of my .■■.confinement. Her i failure to do this kept me on bhe rack of anxiety, and my greatest longing _ for ■ liberty was for her sake, that I might constitute myself a detective for the discovery of, her abode, and a deliverer for the emancipation of herself. "On the evening of this 'fourteenth of i July, the. warden brought, mo a great piece , of news .-an unexpected stroke of good for-. • tune. Ho told me 'that I was tpb'e pardoned ' out.'; that the pardon was to take effect the next morning, when, afber some formalities, i I should be set ab liberty. Oh, the joy that i filled my heart! ' For the moment, every ill i was forgotten but that I should be free in i the -morning.'• My poor mother's exertions, petitions,' 1 arid representations, like, seed i sown and.'forgotten, had produced a harvest i of success .when ,we least expected it. It i seems that even the stern martinet,' Governor— —— i had perceived the injustice arid tyranny of my incarceration, and released ; me as soon as he prudently could—at the • close of my first, year of imprisonment. With the warden's permission 1 sent for my mother, and saw her alone in- the warden's : parlour and told her the joyous news,and we rejoiced together. " We made arrangements for our depar- • ture for Wildeville bhe nexb day. She > undertook to pack up all her own effects 1 and such of mine as remained in her posl session; and also to bring me a new suit > of clothes and a wig, for I had not escaped • the convict's degradation of the shaved .. head, I hM nothing of my owr in the

prison bub-"a few religious books, and these I preferred to donate to bhe prison library. ,*• "It was labe when my mother took leave of me, bhe happiest leave-taking we had enjoyed for many a .month. "Irebired to my cell,and was locked in as usual for the night. I went to bed, or rather I stretched myself upon my hard cob pallet, but I could not sleep. Although in a prison cell, I was too happy and too much excited to sleep ; for the next morning I should ho. free—free to go forth into the world again —free to seek my Lily. Did I doubt thab I should find her? Oh, no! I was too full of delight to doubt anything. I believed in all blessed possibilities. I should find my Lily, would let the ferry, and I would take her and my dear mother, and we would go' away to some distant pleasant land, whereour troubles had never been heard of by other people, and where our sorrows would be forgotten by ourselves. In my exaltation of hope I felt just as sure, that all this would happen as that to-morrow's sun would rise. Full of the. c happy thoughts, I could not sleep. I lay in a deUghtful ■reverie, gazing through the little grated window of my cell, ga_ing out upon the starlit.ky above and its reflection in the clear bosom of the James below. I heard the prison clock strike every hour until midnight. When it struck twelve I exclaimed aloud : '"This is the day - the blessed day— bhat gives me liberty.' " Ib really seemed to me then as if I had been in prison nearly all my life, and this was the first day of freedom. I lay in a happy half-traneo until I heard the clock strike one. " Now, my dearest Gerbrude, what next followed was so strange, so mysterious, so incredible, indeed, that if it had not been corroborated by subsequent circumstances I could not have believed it then, nor could I ask you to believe it now." The ferry-man dropped his head upon his chest, and'fell into a deep, trance-like reverie, that lasted until Gertrude, whose intense curiosity rendered her impatient of delay, roused him by asking : "Dear grandpa, what was it that happened to you on the night of the fourteenth of July '!" CHAPTER XII. " A VISION PASSED BEFORE ME." Can this he death? Thore's bloom upon her check. But now I sec it is no livinp hue. Put a atra'njjo huclic. like the unnatural red, W'liioli Autumn plants upon tho perished leaf, It is tho sa mo! Oh God! that I should dread To look upon the same! t Bykon. " It was the morning of the fifteenth, child. It. wtis after ono o'clock, Gertrude. Cull ib a dream, vision, hallucination, anything you please ; but I was wide awake, vividly wide awake when it happened. " T. had hoard the clock strike one while I lay gazing out through the littlo grated window upon the cool night scene—the clear, star-lit sky reflected on tho broad, . dark river ; and then 1 closed my eyes and ; lay in a delightful reverie, thinking of the morning just conic, when I should bo free ; , of tho days soon coming, when I should be , re-united with Lily ; and in the midst of this delightful day-dreaming I heard a sofb, clear voice murmur in my ear : ' Gabriel!' " Tho voico thrilled my soul, for it was tho voice of my beloved. But the next • instant a tender awe fell upon mo asl opened my eyes and inquired, as if in . doubt: , "' Who called me f "I listened intently, bub there was no : reply. I gazed abound, but there was no > one visible—nothirig (fb.be seen but thp - bare, walls of my six by eight prison-cell, and tho little grated window in the wall, • against which my narrow cot stood. Yeb I , knew thab I had not dreamed or imagined , that voice. I knew that I had heard it! I , closed my eyes again, and lay intently , listening; breathlessly expectant; yet, . withal, strangely awed and calmed, the • voice spoke again, sweet, soft, low, clear, I and close to my ear. " 'Gabriel, I come,' • "I lifted my eyelids suddenly and [ glanced around. Nothing was to be seen t but the white-washed walls of my cell, ■ dimly visible in the faint light of tho little i grated window. 1 called aloud. Nothing . was jfco be heard but tho weird sighinc of the wind. I now began to perceive that - nothing would respond to me, while all my 1 senses were open and on tho alert; thus I j closed my eyes for tho last time and kept i them closed, waiting in breathless awe for . what miyht next happen. , " Tho heavenly voice breathed onco more, . low, clear, llute-iike : " ' Husband, I am here.' \ " Lily! Love ! Wife !' 1 aspirated, faint between delight and awe. - " The'sweet voice spoke no more ; but as 5 if my of it had evoked the vi--3 _ion,this is what appeared before my sealed eyes: " A soft, white light, that dilated and b brightened until its radiance filled tho cell; b and this radiance seemed to proceed, from r the form of my Lily, who stood in the a midst of it, her face beaming with celestial i beauty, her brows contracted with a wreath 3 of orange blossoms, her hair, silver in tho . sunshine and golden in. the shade, flowing over her shoulders, her form enveloped as ■ in a silvery mist in bridal robe and veil. " As I gazed in an ecstasy of rapture that 1 caught away my breath and stopped my 3 pulse, the celestial vision faded away, the b radiant light paled, the cell grew dark, and f I lapsed into a state of complete uncon--3 sciousness. 3 "lb seemed to mo only the next instant 3 that I was aroused by a violent shaking from a strong arm and calling from a loud voice. t I started up, bewildered, to see one of the ' turnkeys standing over me and the sun shining broadly through the little grated window, and throwing a small square of ', golden light, checked with black lines, on \ the floor. It seemed to mo that, only a • second before, I had lain in the midst of a . heavenly vision at one o'clock in the morn- , ing, and now I lay staring at the stupid face of the turnkey in the full glare of day. I i was so confounded that I could not speak. f " And what the deuce is the matter with ' you ? Are you sick V Has the doctor given , you opium that you sleep so long and wake • so dull ? Get up ! The prisoners are all i forming to go to breakfast!" exclaimed • the man. ; " I sprang off my hard cot pallet, doused • my head and face from the stone jugof water ; that stood on the floor, and followed my ■ guard, to join the lino of convicts on their • march to the prison eating-room. But.my mind was s6 completely absorbed with the : thought of the vision I had seen that I s could think of nothing else, nob even of my . freedom just at hand. [ "Immediately after breakfast I was ; summoned to the warden's ofßee, where I , found the sheriff" waiting for me with the ; governor's pardon in hi 9 hand. He read ; the document to me, aud then warmly i shook me by the hand, coiigr&tidatihg ipe , upon my deliverance, iand going so far blip . of his official routine as to say that he i believed it to bo an act of justice that , ought to have been done a year before, when the injustice of my conviction and . senbence by the Wildeville Court had been perpetrated, "Ithanked the »toeriff cordially for his kind words, but-told him, at the same time, ■ that I knew the ffreat wrong which had i been done me cowl never be righted in i this world. •"<'■>' "While we were "till speaking, my poor mother was shown Into the office, bearing a ■ large bundle in her hand. She greeted i every one with a smile as she took the chair the warden placed before her. The sheriff i congratulated her also.; but instead of ani swering him, she buret into tears and wept. 1 I knew what was passing in her mirid ; for, i after the first shock of delight* a*ttne*pw«

tedly recovered freedom, 1 felt that she, j like myself, was overshadowed by the reflection bhab we should always under | the reproach of my conviction and imprisonment, however undeserved ib might be, and certainly was. • "We waited until some, legal forms passed between the warden and the sheriff, and then 1 was informed thab 1 was at liberty to depart. "My mother handed me the bundle that she had brought, and I took it and retired to change my prison uniform for a citizen's dress."

" When I had done this I returned to the warden's office, where my mother sbdl waited for me. Wo then took leave of tho officers and left bhe prison. "A carriage was waiting for usatthe gates with a largo trunk, containing all our effects, strapped behind it, " ' I have taken two places in the stagecoach that leaves at nine this morning, and it is now only half-past eight. We have plenty of time to drive to the office j and get them,' said my mother, as the carriage started. " I pressed her hand, but said nothing ; my thought.*! were still absorbed in the vision I had seen, to the exclusion of all other subjects. "In due time we reached the stage office and got into our scabs in the coach. Every other seat was baken. It was crowded wibh passengers,,men, women and children, chiefly tourists, escaping from the heat of the city bo the shades of the forests and the coolness of the mountains. Happily, they were all strangers to lis. Three days of laborious travel - changing horses every eight hours at the way-stations or post-houses, as they were then called, stopping three times a day for meals, and sometimes losing old passengers and gaining new ones—brought us ab lengbh bo Wildevilde late in the evening of the third day. "There ,vere few loiterers at bhat hour around the village inn ; yeb it was gratifying to see the genuine pleasure with which they greeted my unexpected return. Ib was evident that my old neighbours looked upon my imprisonment more as an unmerited martyrdom than as a disgraceful punishment. " Wo did nob linger there to receive the somewhat mixed contlolements and congratulations of our friends, but procured the use of the tavern hack and its driver, and set out on our road to Wildeville. It _ was the same carriage, the same driver, and the same road over which I had travelled little more than a year before with my bride. Then we were going a way together, a happy and expectant bride and bridegroom ; now 1" was returning a pardoned convict! "After two -hours' ride we reached the ferry, at the foot of bhe Eagle's Roosb Cliff, and I gob oub of the hack, and blew the horn, and gave the familiar call: •'' Boat !" "'All right!' came booming across the river in response. Meanwhile, Zebedce, the driver, took off our trunk, and set it on the ground, received the money for the use of tho carriage from me, bowed, re-mounted his seat, and drove oil'on his return road, for the hour was late, and he was anxious to got home. " We -tood on the brink of the river. "lb was very dark ; it was like the ideal river of death ; the towering black mountains hid all tho horizon, and the few stars that twinkled at an immeasurable height in tho zenith were but dimly reflected in the dark waters beneath. But as we stood and watched we saw a light leave the opposite shore, and we knew that our boat was coming. The light steadily approached us, and soon we heard the welcome dip of oars ; and soon afterward tho boat was pushed ashore, and our faithful John stood upon ib, saying: " 'Here I am at your service,gentlemen,' and he held the lantern up to see who his passengers might be but dropped it in amazement as he met my eyes, and exclaimed : " 'Greab Heaven, Mr Haddoi. !" " 'Help mo bo pub the brunk in the boat, John,' I said, us calmly as I could speak in reply. . , "He obeyed me, greeting my mother wibh a bow as he passed her. * " When we were all in the boat, and John had taken the oars pushed it from tho shore, and wa. rowing us rapidly over the river, I spoko : " You did not expect me, John ?' " ' Who—l, sir ? No, sir—no more than anybody else did ; bub I am powerful glad to see you, sir, all the same, as everybody else will. I tell you what, Mr Haddon, it was a good thing for old Slaughter that the men about here didn't know as much while he was in the neighbourhood as they know now, for if thoy hiul, they'd have burnt down his old .Slaughter House over his head. But they didn't know anything about it until after he had gone away, and taken Miss Lily with him. Then the servants' tongues were lot loose, and the way thoy did taik would ha' made an oyster's hair stand on end. We found out all the black-hearted old beast done to Miss Lily, sir, begging your pardon.' " ' Where is ' Miss Lily ' now ?' I inquired, anxiously. "'Lord knows, sir! The old savage took her away near twelve months ago, aud nobody knows where they are. But I tell you what, sir, it would be dangerous for that old brute to como back here, and maybe he knows it. Why, lor, sir, Mr Haddon, you would only have to give a hint to have a hundred determined men ab your heels to go and burn the Slaughter House over old Slaughter's head, and him in it. Why, sir, the heart of bhe country rages against him for what he done to Miss Lily and you.' "As my faithful helper delivered himself of this tirade the boat" touched the shore, and we landed. I was ' home again.' " John secured the boat, and then helped me to carry the trunk up to the house, my mother preceding us.' ' " The dogs broke out into a fury of barking, but as soon as Jthey recognised us they apologised and fawned in the most abject and aifecbionate manner. We took our devoted old Jess by surprise, but found her as much rejoiced as astonished at our unexpected arrival at home. " She prepared for us a good supper and comfortable beds; and in about an hour from our entrance into the house we had been refreshed by a wash and a meal, and we stretched our wearied frames on our beds, for bhe first time in four nights. Conquered by extreme bodily fatigue, I slept until late in the morning. My mother also had slepb well, bub had risen early. " This was Sunday morning. I told my .mother at breakfast that I would go to church with her bhab day, bub o n bhe next day, Monday, I should commence my search for Lily. I went with her to bho Old Red Sandstone Church ab the mouth of the Whirl, and engaged wibh all my heart in the services bhere. Afber the benediction was given and we had lefb bhe church, we were pleased to sco the number of our friends who came around us in the churchyard with greetings of welcome and congratulation. It seemed that I had lost no ground at all in the esteem and affection of our neighbours, who all regarded my condemnation as a great persecution rather than a just penalty. "We returned home much encouraged by the confidences of our friends. " The next morning I arose early, intending to commence my investigations ab Hill Top Hall, and ab Wildeville, in order, if possible, to. obtain a clue that I might follow to a successful termination. " While I was dressing there came over the river the sound of a ferry-horn, followed by the usual cry of: "'.Boat!' ~,',,, " Knowing that John was on duty, I gave myself no trouble about this, bub proceeded wibh my toilet. I had not quite finished, however, when John came in, and said : " 'I'm afraid I shall have to ask your help, sir. The party on other side have

two carriages and six horses, trunks and boxes, so that we shall ha\e to take over the greab Hab-bpat. ■ . "Very well, John, Ivill.jom youina moment;' 1 said, as I hurriedly finished dressing and followed him down bo the feiT> VVe"oongoboub the flat-boat and got he- afioat. As we neared the opposite shore we perceived thab the carriages stood- the one' behind the other, at the base o the Eagle's Roost Cliff. The foremost cai nage waf black, and drawn by black The hindmost carriage we could not see distinctly. As we touched the we saw that the two coachmen on «**»*« were in deep mourning; then thab the foremost carriage contained two male passengers, also in deep mourning; hnauy that the hindmost carriage was i-ea ly- " A HEARSE WITH A COFFIN IN IT . "The sight struck cold to my heart, notwithstanding that a funeral party was not so very unusual a fare to take across the ferry. , , v ~ _ "John stepped on shore and told the coachman that the boat was ready, ihe coachman nodded gravely and drove down, upon the flat-boat. , , i ■■• ;: U.„ "The hearse followed slowly in the same direction. Then two mounted grooms in deep mourning paced their horses soberly on to the boat. ■■ " When all was ready, we pushed on from the shore. I gazed around upon the party ; but the attendants, the two coachmen, and the two grooms were all strangers to me. . , , "I glanced at the carnage; but the gentleman within it had pulled down the curtains, so that I could not identify or even see him. "Then I had to give all my attention to the oars. It was a heavy and laborious ferriage. We were about twice the usual time in crossing the river; but we reached the home shore at last. " The carriage was the first to leave the ferry-boat, and take the road up the mountain pass. " The hearse was about to follow, when I went to the side of it, and inquired of the driver : " ' Whose body lies within there ?' He pointed to the coffin, indicating that I might read the inscription. " Very reverently I looked in the side of the hearse, and read the inscription on the silver plate. I read-oh, heaven of heavens ! —I read : LILY, ONLY DATJCHTER OK ALLA.T AN'B KLLA VALE. 8081-r july 15, 18 - ; "I fell as if struck by lightning." (To be Continued.)