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lewis m. grist, proprietor, j ^ii Jfiikpenlttnt Jfamilg ftepaptr: Jfor tjie ^romofion of tjjt political, jJocial, ^gricnltaral ant) Commercial Interests of % jJonlj). |tebms~$8.00 a teas, is advance. "VOL. 25. YORKVILLE, S. C., THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1879. NO. 7. fodrg. For the Yorkviile Enquirer. THE LOVEDTONE ?ONE. Time hath not power to bear away, Thine image from my heart; No scenes that mark life's onward way Can bid it hence depart. Yet while my soul with anguish riven, Mourn, loved one for thee, I raise my tearful eyes to Heaven, And joy that thou art free. i I miss thee from the band so dear, That gathers round our hearth, T ci*J11 tVi-cr Hoar rnioA tn hAfl.r A HOK7U own HUJ v?w? T W.wv . J Amid the household mirth; When gazing upon thy vacant chair, Thy form me thinks I see: Bnt start to find thou art not there Yet glad that thou art free. A thousand old familiar things, Within my childhood's home. Speaks of the cherished, absent one, Who never more shall come. I wake with mingled bliss and pain, Pond memories of thee ; But would I call thee back again ; No. I joy that thou art free. Amid earth's conflict, woe and care, When our dark path appears, 'Tie sweet to know thou cannot share, Our anguish and our tears ; >. That on thy head no more shall fall, The storms of life that we must see, Yes safely sheltered from them all. In that pure city: all God's own. For thou hast gained a brighter land, And death's cold stream is past? Thine are the joys at God's right hand, That shall forever last; A crown is on thy angel brow, Thine eye the King doth see. Thy home is with the seraphs now, And I hope to meet thee there. Written for the YorkviHe Enquirer. MISS CAREY'S BOX. BY AH OLD CONTRIBUTOR. CHAPTER XIII. Mildred, on recovering from her stupor, (which had been induced by some drug employed for the purpose, some little time before arriving at her destination) found herself lying on a couch, in a room where a light, dimly burning, revealed but one object, beyond the bare walls and windows, to her view. ,, . This object was a small, frightened looking woman, with a pale, piteous face, whose light eyes sought hers with an expression which seemed to invoke forbearance. She stood in a deprecating attitude, with her hands tightly clasped together, and, though she looked intently at the bewildered girl, neither moved nor spoke. Mildred, as her dazed senses slowly struggled back into life, encountered the fixed gaze; and seeing the singular attitude and expression of the person thus watching her, ^ a horrible suggestion presented itself to her mind?that she had been brought to a lunatic asylum, and that this, probably, was one of its occupants. A cold shudder ran through her. She felt afraid to move, and lay still, but trembling, while a sort of fascination impelled her to return her companion's gaze. Suddenly, the pale woman moved a step forward. The action aroused fresh terror in Mildred's mind, and with a slight shriek, she started up from her recumbent position, putting oat her hands with an involuntary gesture of self-defence. "Hush !" came in a warning whisper from the lips of the other. "You rausn't make a noise. I shan't harm you." "Where am I?" asked Mildred. "In our bouse?my brother's house. Don't talk loud, or he'll come. You must let me take care of you, and do everything I tell you. He'll believe?" Suddenly, a footstep, in the passage outside, warned them of an approach. Directly afterward the door opened and Dr. Carey entered. Mildred recognized him, without difficulty, as the person whom she had encountered at the Library, and instantly connected his identity with that of the one who had enticed her from her home; though his caution in keeping his face obscured from her view had prevented her, up to this moment, from obtaining a distinct view of his features. "Well, Miss Rathbone," he quietly remarked, as he approached her, "so you are yourself again, I see. We have had the pleasure of meeting before." Mildred looked at him without replying. Mingled fear and abhorrence filled her mind. But her firmness was beginning to re-assert itself, and was gradually overcoming the utter weakness and helplessness which had mastered her energies at first. "Do you feel better now ?" he asked. The ineffable coolness and audacity of the question, and the tone in which it was uttered, sent a burning thrill of indignation through her frame. "Who are you, and why have you brought me here?" she demanded, speaking with forced composure. She was resolved to maintain, as far as possible, a show of courage, no matter what fear and trepidation she really suffered. "I am your cousin, and my name is Joshua Carey. My object in bringing you here is of no consequence just yet. That can be explained at another time." "My cousin!" echoed Mildred, with scornful incredulity. "Certainly. I can easily prove it to you. Was uot your mother Ellen Siuclair?" "Yes," assented Mildred. "Well, her mother, old Mrs. Sinclair, was my aunt?my own aunt; my father's sister. She was a Carey, of County Cork. "I never heard of you before," said Mildred. "Perhaps not. I was very badly treated by your family," said Joshua. "However, that doesn't alter the relationship. I hope you are willing to accept it ?" "I know nothing about it," said Mildred. "If what you say is true, it would seem to entitle me to better treatment than I have received at your hands. How dare you bring me away from my guardian's house by force?" "It was not by force?it was by strategy," said Joshua, with a villainous approach to a smile. "I did not offer you any rudeness, did I?" Mildred turned impatiently from him, stamping her foot The sense of being in his power was too irritating, too humiliating, to be patiently endured. Then, again, the uncertainty of his designs upon her filled her with dread. He must have some sinister motive for his conduct "Why have you brought me here?" she asked again, turning almost fiercely upon him. "I have a right to know ?" "As I said before, that is of no consequence," he replied with unruffled composure. "How long am I to be kept here?" "That I cannot positively say. It depends wholly upon circumstances." "You will be forced to restore me to ray home," she indignantly rejoined. "Do you think the outrage you have committed will be allowed to go unpunished ?" "Not if it is found out," he coolly rejoined. "But it will be my special care to guard against such a contingency." "Do you suppose such an act can escape detection ?" Every one, in a few hours' time, will be searching for me. I know that my guardian will not rest until he has found me," said poor Mildred, trying hard to keep down the swelling in her throat, as the thought of that dear, kind guardian, and all the loved circle at home, nearly overmastered her. "Your guardian will do all he can, I have no doubt," said Dr. Carey. "But he must be an uncommonly clever fellow if he proves a match for me. Clarissa," he sharply continued, turning to his sister with a suddenness that made her shrink and start, "did you get the room ready, as I ordered you ?" "Yes," faltered Clarissa, almost below her breath. "Then take Miss Rathbone to it at once. It is getting late, and, no doubt, she feels the need of repose." "You need not take the trouble to prepare a room for me," said Mildred. "I shall not close my eyes while in this house." "Then I am afraid you will keep them open a long time," said Dr. Carey. "At all events, you will allow me to conduct you to your room. You may put it to its intended use or not, as you please." "I prefer to remain here," said Mildred, unwilling to face new dangers. ' itU/NM/v! T?v>! T nAtil^ wirmif if 11 CI C 1 liJ|/UOO! U1U A VVU1U ilV/w |/v*uitv a v? Come, my fair cousin, resistance, I assure you, will be vain. Be convinced, when I warn you that it will only entail upon you a rigor of treatment which I am very unwilling to exercise. Yield implicitly to my wishes, and you have no personal hardships to fear. I promise you that you will be kindly treated, and my sister, here?to whom, by the way, I have neglected to introduce you?will devote herself to your service. She knows what is expected of her, and will, I venture to say, not fail in her duty." The poor little woman seemed to understand the threat conveyed in this concluding sentence. Mildred, convinced of the utter impracticability of offering, at least for the present, any effectual opposition to her captor's will, hesitated but a moment longer, and then silently yielded herself to his guidance. She was conducted by the pair?or, I should rather say, by the worthy Joshua, his sister following his lead in mute submission?into an apartment at some distance from the first, the way to it being through a passage, and a sort of little open porch at the rear of the house. This apartment was furnished with tolerable comfort as a bed-room, though its appearance seemed dingy and inhospitable enough after the luxurious appointments of her spacious chamber in her guardian's house. "I am afraid," said Joshua, setting upon a table a lighted candle he had brought with them, "that I cannot offer you as handsome quarters as you have doubtless been accust.o hut von must take the will for the ?' ? > ? deed. Here I shall leave you, hoping you will eojoy a good night's rest, and hoping, also, that the morning will find you in some degree reconciled to your change of life. Is there anything that you wish done for you before retiring ? If so, my sister is at your service." "I do not intend to retire," replied Mildred. "I wish only to be left alone." "Very good. Clarissa, we will now leave our young cousin to herself. Good-night, ma belle cousinc," he added, offering his hand, which Mildred disdainfully refused to accept. "You won't be friendly yet, I see! Well, well, I hope a friendly feeling will be established between us before long. Once more? good-night! Come, Clarissa." Mildred made no response to his parting salutation. And as he left the room with his meek attendant, she heard the key of the door, which he closed after him, softly turned in the lock. A moment more, and the echo of their retreating footsteps had died away. Left alone, she had leisure to reflect upon the situation in which she found herelf. It was certainly a perplexing one, and the very uncertainty which hung over her fate, rendered it as alarming as it was perplexing. The more she revolved it in her mind, the more i utterly at a loss she felt to account, in any way, for Dr. Carey's conduot. If he was really her cousin, as he claimed to be, why had he forced acquaintanceship upon her in so startling and unprecedented a manner? That some motive must exist for the violence he had practiced upon her, seemed clearly probable ; but what this motive could be, she was unable to conjecture. He had spoken of having been badly treated by her family. Could it be, that an unworthy desire for revenge had prompted him to visit their conduct toward him upon her, their sole reraain ?J a' i: i..! <i ir __ lug ana uuuiieuuiug represtjuiuuvt; i 11 bo, he must be base indeed. She well believed that she could hope for no clemency at his hauds. Something in his countenance too clearly indicated his character, to leave room for a belief that any efforts on her part could move him to grant her prayers; and she proudly resolved that she would never degrade herself by offering a petition, only to meet with the mortification of a refusal. The hope was high in her heart that her guardian would instantly take such steps for her recovery, as must surely prove successful. She well knew that he would leave no means untried, to that end, and it seemed to her as if so bold an outrage could hardly escape detection. She comforted herself with this hope, as best she could, while the weary hours of the night dragged on. She could count the chimes from a neighboring church tower, which kept her advised of the progress of time. Her watch, by some unusual accident, she did not have about her, having left it on her dressing table at home. A little before dawn, the candle (only a short piece) which had been left burning, flickered and went out, leaving her in the dark. In this ghostly ?????? silence and gloom, her fears began to return, but she struggled bravely with them, resolutely putting aside all the uncomfortable suggestions and presentiments which kept occuring to her mind. It need scarcely be said that sleep was a stranger to her eyes. At length daylight came, and she began to be on the alert for the appearance of some one coming to announce her deliverance, which, she persuaded herself, must be close at hand. With ears strained to catch the slightest sound, she listened intently, but heard only faint murmurs from'the streets without. Outlook from her prison there was none. The windows, of which there were two, were securely closed and fastened in such a manner as to baffle her endeavors to open them. At length she heard the key turned in the door. She started up with a heart beating with expectancy, but sank back disappointed, as only Miss Carey appeared, with a tray containing some breakfast in her handB. "Won't you have this ?" she meekly asked, as she approached the table. " No, I thank yon," coldly replied Mildred. "I would not touch a morsel in this house on any account." "My dear cousin !" exclaimed Joshua's voice in the passage, "it distresses me to hear you utter such a sentiment, for if you carry out that resolve, starvation must be the result." Mildred deigned no rejoinder, but silently waved a gesture of dismissal to Miss Carey, who" stood irresolute, with the tray in her hands. "Leave the breakfast, Clarissa," said her brother, peeping through the doorway. "Our cousin will feel the need of sustenance after a while." Clarissa, with an appealing look ai; Mildred, set the tray on the table and hurried out; and again the door was locked and a complete silence ensued. "Great heavens!" cried Mildred at length, as she rose from her chair and commenced restlessly to pace the floor, "can it be possible X' X ^ ^ ^ J *r? VlAWO tllfi Mill 1 HLU UUUII1CU IU icuiaiu iisie, uuubi rale of these dreadful people? Will no one come to my aid ? Oh! if I could open but one of these windows, I might find some way of escape, or at least attract the notice of some passer-by." She tried with all her force (as she hud already done) to lift one of the sashes; but they were tightly nailed, and even had she broken one of the panes, the shutters were made equally fast with wooden bars. She guessed, and rightly, that this apartment had been designed for her prison, even before she had been brought to it. The day wore on, but brought no sign of relief. Mildred's distress of mind continually iucreased, and hope began to wane in her breast, as the slow hours crept by, each one appearing like an age in duration. Faint with hunger, she was at length forced to break her resolution not to partake of the unwelcome hospitality offered her. Indeed, she felt that it was expedient to keep up her strength, as far as lay in her power. Night came again, and from sheer weariness she was obliged to close her eyes. But her sleep was fitful and uneasy, and she only lay upon the bed with her clothing on, being afraid to undress. Day after day now passed, and brought no change. At regular hours her meals were served to her, Miss Carey always bringing them, and Joshua accompanying her to the door, in order to open it for her, and re lock it after her exit. No words ever passed on these occasions, between Mildred and Clarissa. And if Joshua addressed the former, she replied in the briefest possible manner, being desirous to avoid all intercourse with so detested an individual. At length, one morning, Clarissa came alone, and Mildred immediately detected unusual nervousness and trepidation in her manner. "Hush !" she said, with the little warning gesture she had used on their first meeting. A very unnecessary caution, as Mildred had no intention of speaking. Putting down her burden, she returned to the door, closed it, and then approaching the prisoner, whispered hurriedly, close to her ear? "My brother had to go out a little way on particular business. Won't be back for half an hour." Mildred half started up, with an eager hope that this announcement might be intended as an encouragement to her to attempt an escape. But this hope was speedily quelled, as her informant continued? "We are locked up, all thesame. It would be no use trying to get out. I'm kept shut ud. as much as vou are. But I can eet a chance to say a few words to you now, while he is out. Won't you trust me ? Indeed, I'm your friend." Mildred looked doubtfully at her ; but something in the poor little woman's piteous glance touched her, and seemed to offer a corroboration of the assertion just made. "If you are my friend," she said, languidly, "I do not see that your friendship can be of much service to me, if you are a prisoner too." . "Hush!" said Clarissa again. "He may come in at any moment. We must be very careful, you know ! He can hear aud see, I believe, when he is a couple of blocks off." "He must be a monster, I think," said ivmareu. "He is, ray dear. He's horribly wicked," : said Clarissa, with energy. "There's nothing he's not capable of." "Even of murdering me, I suppose?" questioned Mildred, with an involuntary shudder. "Oh ! my dear, he wouldn't do that. He'd be afraid of his own neck, you know. But I dare say nothing short of such a fear would restrain him. He'd murder me directly, if he ventured to, I don't doubt. He hates me. But he knows I'm in his power, and he thinks I am a fool. Maybe I am. But I'm not quite as much of one as he fancies, and, please God, I may foil him yet. I've got some brains, and one of these days I may be able to turn them to account. I wrote the letter to Sir Roxwell, my dear." "What letter?" asked Mildred, half inclined to share Joshua's uncomplimentary opinion of his sister's intellect. "Oh ! I forgot?of course you don't know. A letter to Sir Roxwell Seabury, whom my brother has completely under his thumb, informing him of your existence. I'd give anything if the property could be yours." "Who is Sir Roxwell Seabury? I don't understand what you are talking about," rejoined Mildred, more and more puzzled. "Don't you know ? He has your grand mamma'3 place in Kent, you know. He was the next heir, your dear mamma being dead. I knew your mamma very well, my dear. She was very good to me, aad was very beautiful and sweet. For her sake I'd like to do you a service." Joshua's approach interrupted the colloquy at this point; but Mildred had heard enough to furnish a variation to her usual dismal train of thought, and to make her desirous of learning more. Whether Dr. Carey, about this time, began to be struck by a change in her looks for the worse, and thought that continual soli tude might have too pernicious an effect upon her, she could not tell; but, at all events, he soon after proposed that his sister should bear her company for a part of each day, and she was glad to accept the proposition. There was now ample opportunity for Clarissa to tell her all she was anxious to know, and it was not long before she was put in possession of the facts which the reader is already acquainted with, at least so far as her informant's knowledge oftherii went She was now fully convinced of the sincerity of the latter, in her expressions of good will and anxiety to help her; and it was some encouragemen t to her to find that she had at least the sympathy of one person, in her trying situation, though of her ability to aid her she had but a faint hope. "Joshua little knows," said Clarissa, "that I have in my keeping some papers which will be of the utmost importance to you, in case you make your escape while Sir Roxwell is still alive and in his sound mind. These are the letter and certificates your dear mother wished sent on to my aunt, which he got from that foolish parson on the vessel, and which I?poor half-witted body as he thinks me?managed afterwards to get from him. And where do you think I keep them ? Why, in my work-box?the last place in the world he'd ever dream of searching for anything." "Not a very safe place, I imagine," said Mildred. "My dear, you don't know. I've got a ~ -i> L Lii I false Dottom to it?maae it myseu, 01 a mt 01 wood, and covered it with a silk lining cut off an old parasol. The papers are all between the real bottom and the false one. I won't offer to give them into your keeping, because I think they are safer where they are." "I am quite willing to have you keep them," said Mildred. "They are not likely ever to be of use to me, in the way you think of." "They may, my dear, when you least expect it. We must keep up our courage, you and I?we can't tell what happy chance may occur to favor our escape. And it would make Joshua so furious to see you in possession of the estate ! It would do my heart good to have him justly punished for his wickedness. Mildred sighed. She had begun to consider this a very hopeless prospect. Her despondency was still farther deepened when, about six weeks after her cajiture, she was suddenly forewarned of an unexpected move. Joshua, unwilling to remain away longer from the: vicinity of Sir Roxwell and the property ho coveted, decided to return to England. Mildred's heart would have been lightened,, could she have dared to hope for rescue on the journey; but her jailer's vigilance was too keen, and his plans too well laid, to adrait of such a chance. They traveled privately, both ladies being kept entirely screened from general observation ; and when a change of conveyance was necessary, it was effected with so much precaution that detec tion, even had a friend been at hand, would have been almost an impossibility. They reached England, and Mildred, in the new quarters assigned her, found herself treated in precisely the same manner as before, and with as little prospect of escape. CHAPTER XIV. Months went by. Mildred remained a prisoner, with no change in her condition, and the time of her release seemed as indefinite and far off as before. Farther, even, perhaps, for Sir Roxwell's health had improved, and his longed-for possessions again receded from Joshua's grasp. It was strange that Mildred managed to keep up her couroge, but she did. Amid the discomfort, perplexity, and possible peril of her situation, she nevertheless resolutely cherished a glimmer of hope. She was tempted, occasionally, almost to wish for Sir Roxwell's death, as she had reason to believe that that event would secure her deliverance from captivity; but she always put the suggestion with horror from her mind. As to his property, she was totally indifferent to the chances, such as they were, of her ever falling heir to it. And in these chances she did not put any faith, though Clarissa, poor little soul, set great store by them. "To see you rich, ray dear, and Joshua foiled in his wicked schemes, would be the happiness of my life," she often said, when discussing Mildred's prospects with her. Such discussions were very freely carried on, for Joshua put no barrier to their intercourse. He believed that his half-witted sister could do him no harm by her chatter. And, indeed, so long as he held Mildred so securely in his power, it mattered little how much she knew of what Clarissa could impart. He had his plans laid in such a raanuer that her release, whenever he should consider it expedient to permit it, should not affect his safety. But he had not quite made up his mind yet, whether he ever would permit it or not. It was now full a year and a half since Mildred had been made a prisoner. Anxiety and close confinement (for she was only permitted to take the air, under Joshua's supervision, for a little while each evening, after dark) had told sadly upon her looks, though her general health was tolerably good. Her once rounded cheek had sunk and her features sharpened in their outline, and the former cheeiful, smiling expression of her eyes and lips, had given place to a look of quiet sorrow, which, beautiful as she still was, invested that beauty with a pathos indescribably touching. Nothing but a resolute spirit and a persevering hope, could have sustained her through the ordeal she was enduring. These, combined with an unwavering faith in the mercy of Providence, bore her on through those dark and melancholy days. Her bark was indeed drifting upon an unknown sea, with no land in sight. And her jailer?had he no pity? None. Relentless as steel, he kept only hjs own avaricious ends in view, and cared not what rav ages his cruelty made on the young life he was blighting. But his punishment was not far off. Clarissa came in to Mildred one day full of excitement "We are to be moved again," she announced, "and this time I don't know where. That wretch" (by this she of course meant her beloved brother) "won't tell me." "Why are we to be moved?" asked Mildred. "I rather fancy, from something he let drop, that he has begun to think this place not safe. I don't know how far we are to move from Sir Roxwell Seabury, but I suppose we are to go still farther. Perhaps somebody is on your track, my dear, and Joshua has got frightened. I hope it may be so 1" Mildred knew not whether to hope or to tear. JLhis move might bode only increased evil. At all events, being powerless to object, she could but obey the orders given her to prepare for an immediate departure. That night a close traveling carriage was brought to the door. Dr. Carey, thoroughly armed, himself officiated as coachman; and having fastened his two charges in the conveyance, by means of a padlock which he had attached to one of the doors, the other being nailed up, he mounted the box and drove away. It was a dark, rainy night Heavy clouds obscured the sky, and the wind sighed mournfully through the trees of a thick wood into which they entered. The road was very lonely, and oftentimes barely wide enough for the carriage to pass along. The dripping boughs, swaying across its course, flapped in Joshua's face and threatened to remove his hat, seriously to his inconvenience, and curses "not loud, but deep," frequently escaped his lips. He found the journey, encompassed with these difficulties, a more trying one than he had anticipated. Their destination was an old, dingy house in the thickest part of this wood, miles distant from any habitation. It had formerly been the headquarters of a hunters' club, but had long since fallen into disuse. Only one out of its three rooms was habitable; the other portions of its roof and walls affording free access to the wind and rain. It was near daylight when they approached the spot Joshua, finding from some land marks which he recognized, or rather ran against, that their journey, which had necessarily been conducted at a snail's pace, was near its end, heaved a sigh of relief. Villainy must suffer discomfort once in a while; and he had unquestionably passed a very uncomfortable night. A few rods more, and the front door would be reached. On they crept?the homes' feet splashing in a hap hazard way through the mire, and the rain pouring down more persistently than ever upon them, their driver, and their load?when crack! went the sharp report of a pistol through the bushes, and the next instant their heads were seized by two mounted men who rode out of ambush and placed themselves as a barrier to their progress. The frightened animals plunged and reared ; Joshua uttered a fierce imprecation, and drawing his pistol, unhesitatingly fired. But his shot missed its aim, and before he could repeat it with better effect, he was seized and disarmed by one of the men, the other in the mean time busying himself in unbuckling the harness and removing the horses from the vehicle. Clarissa had uttered, on the first alarm, a shriek of terror; but Mildred's heart beat high with hope. "Hush I" she cried, pressing her companion'" rm. "They are probably robbers?they .tnt money, and won't hurt us. Perhaps they will help us to escape." Upon this suggestion Clarissa, letting down the window, put her head out, regardless of the rain, and commenced loudly to cry, "Holnl hnlnf nponlfl. whnfiver von are 1 ?~*r ?r o t?i?? / We are prisoners! Help us, and you will get your reward." "Will you bold your tongue, crazy fool," savagely exclaimed Joshua ; but the robbers, if such they were, apparently paid no attention to her cries. With much coolness and deliberation, they proceeded to bind Joshua, all resistance on his part to this unpleasant proceeding proving futile; and this being accomplished, they next advanced for the purpose of investigating, with the aid of a dark lantern, the interior of the vehicle. Mildred's momentary hope died away in a thrill of fear as she perceived the ruffianly, forbidding visage of the one upon whom the light first fell. He shook and pulled at the locked door, wondering why it did not come open. "What's here? A padlock?" he exclaimed, as he bent to discover the reason of its resistance to his efforts. "A queer notion that, to be sure! See here, Bob, we can't be mistaken," he continued to his comrade, who came to his aid. "They're traveling with locked doors. It must be the?" The remainder of the suggestion was uttered in a whisper. "We're locked in," explained Clarissa. "Do, for mercy's sake, my good kind souls, ? . a in let ub out i "Hold your tongue, I say," cried her brother, hoarse with rage, "or you shall suffer for it." "You hold yours, and let the woman alone," ordered one of the men. "We'll attend to her. What! there be two of 'em in here," he added as he espied Mildred, who had not uttered a word, but sat quietly in her corner of the carriage. She was very pale, and trembled a little, but gave no other sign of alarm. She was thinking how she might possibly be able to turn this contretemps to her own and her companion's advantage. "Young lady," said the second one, not disrespectfully, "we don't mean to do you any harm, provided you offer no resistance. We never hurt women if we can help it. But we want what's concealed in this coach." "You can search it if you please," rejoined MiUmu) "f dn nrtt holipuo vrm will find IfXUUI^Ut * UW uwv J ?? lei* ? anything valuable, however." "We'll soon make sure of that With your leave, we'll help you to alight," said the first, who was much the most roughly spoken of the two. "The women can't stand in the rain, Tom," interposed his comrade. "They'll get drenched to the skin." "Take 'em into the shanty, then. I'll wait here with the team and the driver." "You had better be careful how you attempt to offer me any violence, fellow," Mildred overheard Dr. Carey say, as she and Clarissa were hurried by the polite robber, who took an arm of each, toward the house. "You will suffer severely for it." The individual addressed answered by a scornful laugh. But any farther reply, if indeed, a farther reply was vouchsafed, was lost to Mildred's ears, for speedily reaching the front door of the lonely and forlorn looking abode, whose aspect, now dimly discernible in the gradually increasing light, thrilled her with fear, they entered and found themselves sheltered from the storm, if from no other and greater perils. "My good, kind man," recommenced poor Clarissa, whose teeth were chattering with cold and fright, "if you'll only have pity and rescue us, you shall be handsomely rewarded. You shall, indeed. That man out there is a brute?a fiend?a devil. Yes, he is, indeed. And if you'll get us out of his power, I tell you you will never repent it. Speak to him, Mildred, my dear?tell him I'm speaking the truth." Mildred, bv a sudden imDulse. resolved to stake her chances of deliverance on one bold venture? "Did you ever hear of Mildred Rathbone, the girl who was stolen away from her guardian's house in San Francisco, California, eighteen months ago ?" she hurriedly asked, lowering her voice as if dreading that Joshua might overhear. "Mildred Rathbone," he slowly echoed, looking half incredulously at her. think? I'm not sure?I recall the name. But she is dead. I've read about the case you mean, though I ain't so certain of the name." "I am she I I swear that I am," said Mildred, who was now trembling so from excite; raent that she could scarcely stand. "Save ! me, and restore me to my friends, and I can safely promise yon a handsome reward." Whatever reply the man might have offered, was interrupted, or rather forestalled, by a shout from his companion without. "Bob 1 Bob! ain't you going to come back to help me?" With some muttered words, the robber hastily made his exit, banging the house door after him; and the two women were left alone. "Suppose we creep out the back way and hide ?" suggested Clarissa, feebly. "No?no. Where could we hide, that they would not find us?" rejoined Mildred impatiently, for a suggestion so childish angered her, in that moment of excitement and danger; but almost directly repenting of her hasty tone, she spoke gently to the poor little trembling woman, and tried to utter some hopeful words. "And my box ! Oh ! Mildred, my dear, my box!" cried Clarissa, wringing her hands. "They might break it open?might destroy those papers?" "The papers?" echoed Mildred. "Have xi iii o rri you ilibiii wiiu you t xiieu mere 10 a uuauuo? we can prove to them?" "Yes, yes; I'll run back and get them. May I ? shall I ? hadn't I better, my dear?" "No, no?better keep still," said Mildred, detaining her. "We can do no good by going back. I don't tbink they will hurt your box." An interval of silence ensued. Peeping through a broken shutter, Mildred could see that the carriage was being searched by tL 3 two robbers, while Joshua, with pinioned arms, sat on a fallen tree close by, and looked moodily on. "By ? I I believe we've been duped after all," she heard the rough robber say, iin a loud, angry tone. It's the wrong ps.rty, Bob." The pair retired to a little distance and conversed inaudibly. The moments seemed like hours to the expectant girl, who would have given anything to be able to listen to the colloquy, on the result of which her fate probably bung. Never, since her imprisonment, had she passed moments of keener anxiety and dread. "Joshua will catch his death out there in the rain," murmured Clarissa, in a more placid tone than she had yet spoken in. The remark and the manner of its utterance, roused in Mildred's mind, in the midst of her distress, a feeling of amusement, and she broke into a hysterical laugh, which was very near being followed by an outbreak of nervous tears. "Oh 1 my dear, how can you?" began Clarissa, reproachfully. But she was interrupted by an unexpected and startling sounds A signal whistle, distant but clear, rang through the woods, and was immediately responded to by another, loud and shrill, from the two robbers close at hand. At the same moment, these last started up, and rushed off. One, however, turned back directly, hurried Joshua into the carriage, secured the door, and then disappeared in pursuit of his comrade. "Thank God, they didn't fetch him in here!" exclaimed Clarissa. "What do you suppose can be the matter ?" "It is some of their confederates coming to join them, I suppose," said Mildred. "We have fallen in with a band of robbers." "Mercy! What will become of us!" cried Clarissa. "Hark! was that a shot ? Oh ! listen, listen, Mildred ! They are firing pistols again!" Several successive reports, rapidly following each other, gave notice that a conflict of some kind was going on. Yells and cries were also faintly heard in the distance. Then these mingled sounds ceased, and all was still. With a wildly beating heart, tightly clasped hands, and lips from whioh every trace of color had fled, Mildred stood in an agony of suspense, too overwrought to speak, or notice the half incoherent questions and exclamations of her companion. How was all this to end ? Perhaps some worse fate even than that to which habit had partially reconciled her, might be in store for her. "Suppose they don't come back at all," suggested Clarissa, at length. "We'll have to go off by ourselves, won't we ? I have no I 1 ? - 1-- x xt. J >f douDt we can maae our way out 01 toe woou. "We must stay under shelter for the present," replied Mildred. The rain was pouring down in torrents, and the wind had increased to a tempest Suddenly the figure of a horseman, galloping towards the house, became visible. This was neither of the two men whom they had already encountered ; but, in all probability, one of their confederates, as he went to work with a business-like air, as soon as he had alighted, to harness the patient drenched horses once more to the carriage; and having completed this with great dispatch, he hastily entered the house. "Ladies, I must ask you to accompany me," he said, civilly; "we are now about to proceed on our journey." H\Ta* fkai1 /tovmorm " tiai/1 nub IU biioib vanoaiu iuixuiuuj shrinking back; while Clarissa exclaimed, "He'll murder us if you put us in there 1" "No fear of that," was the reply. "We have a guard, and will keep watch on him. Come, I must beg you to be quick; time presses!" Remonstrance would have been useless, and the unwilling pair, not knowing whither they were now to be conducted, were obliged to follow the directions of this new leader, and re-enter the vehicle which had brought them to the spot Joshua scowled savagely at them as they did so, but said not a word. The man fastened his own horse behind the carriage, mounted the box, and drove off. A turn in the road brooght them in sight of another traveling carriage evidently in the custody of more of the band. This was, in fact, a mail-coach, the very one for which the robbers who had captured their party had k--? I?'? ? 4Va m(taw nn/1 nao. utwu ijrmg m wan , auu uio untu ouu |wsengere, unable make a successful resistance, had been forced to yield themselves and what* ever valuables they possessed, into the hands of the assailants. The plan of the latter was to conduct their prisoners, by a roundabout way, to a distant point, while one of their number went off in an opposite direction with the booty, and then leave them to shift for themselves. They accordingly went forward, one carriage preceding the other, and their guard, six in number, riding in a line on either side. The quiet and usually unfrequented wood, seldom traveled except by this coach, (which carried the mail from a small country town some miles distant, to a certain railroad st&> tion just beyond its borders,) or an occasional traveler on horseback or foot, was destined, on this day, to be the scene of still farther adventures. The violence of the storm had driven another traveling party from the highroad to seek shelter, such as it was, within the wood, where, at least, they found a partial refuge from the wind. This party consisted of a Col. Mansfield and his wife, an elderly couple on their way to Canterbury, with a son and a nephew, a young daughter and her friend, and four other gentlemen, who were traveling in the same direction, and had joined them on the way. All of the gentlemen were armed (a fortunate circumstance, as it afterwards proved) and had, moreover, to support them, two stout riders similarly ' equipped. "Any one would think," one of the ladies had laughingly remarked, "that we were traveling in fear of our lives. But the only danger that threatens us today is the fury of the elements, against which pistols and dirks are no safeguards." "One never knows what sort of fellows may be prowling abont the road," said young Mansfield. "In fact, I have been informed that some suspicious characters have been tracked in this direction lately;" "It would be rather amusing to meet some of them, wouldn't it f asked Miss Mansfield's friend. "It would be fun to have an adventure to write about to mamma." "Oh 1 Lena, don't say that?the very idea of robbers, or anything of that sort, terrifies me to death," was the reply of the young lady to whom the question was addressed, "i nave no fancy for dangerous adventures." "My sister was not cut out for a heroine, Miss Lena," said Mr. Mansfield. "The character, I think, would suit you infinitely better." At this instant, the driver of the other carriage pulled up his horses, and turning round, remarked to one of the gentlemen inside? "There's a queer-looking party coming yonder, sir. Better be on your guard." "It's Dick Low and his gang," quickly added one of the footmen, in a tone of great excitement. "I know 'em well by sight They've been and captured the mail, I'm blest if they ain't 1" "And another party along with the stage passengers," continued the driver. A hasty consultation ensued. It was decided to leave the carriage with the ladies in it, and Col. Mansfield to protect them, while all the other men should advance in a body to the rescue of the prisoners. The robbers, perceiving their hostile intentions, and desiring only to escape, instantly scattered in various directions, but only two of them got off unhurt; the hone of one, stumbling over a root, flung him headforemost to the ground, and he, with the one who was acting as driver for the carriage which contained Mildred and her companions, was immediately taken into custody. A well directed shot brought the fifth to theground, and another shot broke the arm of the sixth, who, however, managed to elude capture. I he one who was shot down was found to have been instantly killed. Mildred's nerves, wound up to a pitch of intensity too high to sustain itself, had at last given way, and she lay unconscious, with her head against Clarissa's shoulder. The latter, believing her to be dead, and overcome by the combined terrors of the situation, uttered piercing shrieks, which Boon brought everybody flocking around them. Young Mansfield, seeing that Joshua was bound, was about to release him, but Clarissa vehemently interposed. "He's a thief and a villain, the worst of 'cm all," she energetically exclaimed. "We're bis prisoners, and this poor girl was stolen by him from her family, months and months ago. I can prove it all to you, no matter what he says." "She's an escaped lunatic?don't listen to her," said Joshua, attempting to laugh; but a look from one to the others of the party decided Mr. Mansfield, and he said, quietly, that he would wait and investigate the case. Just then the young lady whom they had called Lena, came up and pressed forward to obtain a sight of Mildred's face. "Good heavens!" she cried, "is it?can it be possible? Yes, it is she?it is Mildred Ratnbone! Oh I if Frank was only here," [conclusion next week.] How Not to Get Local News.?He came into our office, and after paying his subscription, said: "I guess vou can stop sending my paper; I've iust subscribed for a Daner I need more." "Just so," we returned. He pulled the paper out of his pocket and handea it to us for inspection. It was a Philadelphia publication, being neatly printed, ornamented with a handsomely engraved head and containing about forty-eight columns of reading matter. "A very fair looking paper," said we. "Yes," said he. "But, my dear sir, do you find much news concerning our county in it ?" "No, he didn't know that he had found _ tt any. "Do you find anything about our State V* "No, he never did." And yet he needed that sheet much more than he did his county paper. Such men are blessings to our community. What enterprise would nourish without them I