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THE WEEKLY LEDGER: GAFFNEY, 8. 0., SEPTEMBER 20, 1895. ^ CtiPvmr.HT J19S ~ “All. hon'.'st ncv*'r ri?ia% ■ Copy me ht U9S "TEo^ovidence of my own i*yt.\s mi'l ews.” silence in the room was intense. “Yes, Mr. Moderator, my own unprej udiced observation. I myself have seen her in his room standing' near the window with his arm around her. This very day, since preparing these charges, in company with Capt. \Yixon, 1 found this couple in his class room alo.e\ ifthe girl was weeping and again and again crying in deep distress: ‘O.i, what shall I uo if you go away and leave me? What shall 1 do?'" lie paused impressively, and, turning to Grey, demanded: “Can you deny thi .. young man?” A dead silence followed; even Ids friend the prospector eyed the school master doubtfully. A deep flush dyed Grey's cheek. “The words are truly reported, the interpre tation and tone of delivery false as |, r- Jury.” His explanation hung tire. Wilders-broke the oppressive silence by -asking if he might question the minister. “No,” said Wixon. “Yes,” said K !- gerly, and Anally he was allowed to appear as Grey’s friend and adviser. He addressed Mr. Dodd. “What church do you belong-to, sir?" “That is no business of yours," was the sullen response. “Nevertheless,” interposed Gdgerly, “I think you should answer.” “Are you ashamed of it?” hotly con tinued Wilders. “Speak out. man. Arc you a regular parson? Got your certid- cate? No bogus, and all that kind of thing?” “Well, sir," stammered Dodd, in con fusion, “I am not what you would call an -ordained priest; we have uo sin h mummies in our church.” “What is your church?” “Well, the Hopkinsites. Our form- are based on the simple principles of the early disciples: to whom the .spirit of teaching is given, he goeth out in e the world and preacheth the truth." “That will do. I guessed as much,' sneered the prospector, as he took hi seat, while the moderator hastily asked what steps the board would take in t!u matter. “No immediate action,” said Kdgerly. “If Mr. Grey is guilty, he can resign his position without further scandal, as I understand the proceedin'-- of thi.- meeting art t< be k pit' •i-;..’ “That’s it,” interrupted Wixon; “the best possible, course he can pursue. No fuss. Called away on urgent private affairs. Work too much for his consti tution. Must have rest, and—" “But,” added Kdgerly. “if he is inno cent he is either the victim of unfortu nate circumstantial evidence or ot u j deliberate plot to ruin him. In that ; case, let him stay and tight it out." “Right you are, old boy,” cried the prospector, wringing Edgcrly's hand. “And you bet your bottom dollar, my man will stop to face the music.” The meeting was adjourned. CHAPTER V. A FRIEND IN NEED. “Milly, dear, leave the coffee on the stove and he off to bed. The pro fessor and I are going to hold a pow wow, and squaws are not wanted in the wigwam.” The scene was the interior of the prospector's cottage; the dramatic per sonae, Jack Wilders.his wife and Frank Grey; time, twenty-four hours after the events recorded in the last chapter. “Squaw, indeed, Mr. Impudence,” chirped the young wife, saucily. "I've a great mind to assert my woman's rights and sit up till midnight." “Do, dear,” said Wilders, “that's just, what I was driving at, I knew that the best way to keep you with us was to ask you to go.” “Then, to sustain my character for obstinacy, goodnight, Mr. Grey,” was the gay reply; but as the little woman's glance fell on the haggard face of her guest, her heart melted, and she added ! with mucli feeling: "I know all .lack's j secrets. Bear your trouble bravely, j We are your friends and what Jack wants you to do, is for the best. Trust him as you would a brother.” “Easy, easy, old lady, you're too ] fast; you'll spoil it all. Women in busi- I ness and hens in a garden - always the same trouble.” “You savage man, I leave you; but remember, if you fail to bring Mr. Grey to our way of thinking,! shall belie ve that all your boasted tact isonly st rong enough to impose upon an unprotected female, who hasn’t the courage to re bel.” “Ah!” the prospector mused, casting a proud, loving glance at the retreating figure of his wife. “Did you ever see such a woman? Nature made her, and broke the mold.” "Have you seen Wixon, Kdgerly and the others?” Grey asked, too anxious to bandy compliments. “Seen them! I’ve been running about all day, like a candidate, who wants to save his country by taking office." “Well?” “Well, the whole concern boiled down to facts means that Wixon holds | two bowers and the joker, an’ you arc 1 euchred.” “But his charge is so utterly, wildly I f or( i in this tlx. If you stay hero you may dear yourself,but you will never be able to relieve that young girl’s character of the stigma east upon it. Ill-natured people will say that where there is lire there must be smoke. A He that’s half a lie is always the worst to fight, as that poet that Milly’s so sweet on, says.” “I see all this,” Grey groaned. “Well, the alternative is to fling up the sponge. Just quit and leave the game in Wixon's hands.” “What! That would be to confess our indiscretion. If the very children are gossiping about us—” “Gammon! There isn’t a man, wom an or child in the city has said one word about her, except those as Wixon had at the meeting last night. There isn't a living soul in the city as guesses t he purpose of the meeting. The captain played his cards uncom- - monly smart, lie didn’t'want no in vestigation. lie just wanted to get rid ] of you; and, if he had not left this i chance for you, lie would have had no ! price to pay you oil with.” “And he offers?” “He don't shoot straight at the mark. He insinuates that if you will resign ! and leave these parts, he will keep everything as secret as the grave.” “But how can he? Who could curb the tongue of that woman Clarkson, for instance?” “He can. That I know. He's got a hold on her that ’nil shut her mouth as tight as a squirrel trap.” “And Susan Green?” “Her father's Wixon’s private prop erty. lie never uses no tools he can’t dull or sharpen as lie wants to. That sham parson is his, body and soul, and the lubber Holbrook is already shipped ! off to Chicago.” “And Mr. Kdgcrlv?” , r <»ing away; you e we ri* idu'i •rful. yes t he paii i the roubl a you hi luted And you t lionght •y of a long fan- hid o f you— kind so much, El sic?” t!i Kii'se day, im ; of : but neither color; his head will . i .lit of his jl j ;C'.=ik h 1 / & \ \ . cv ' v J f “TRUST HIM AS YOU WOIT.D A nUOTHKB.’ Wixon me t- 11 .1 ’! 1. '.ever fear, gerlv’s all if t lie ni; -lit school, absurd. Surely the child's nge might have, protected her—” “Hold hard, Grey. You forget Mu ' a bouncing slip of a girl sixteen years old.” “What!" the aclioolmaHtci s eyes flashed fire. “Have yon a shadow of (toubt In your mind concerning my in nocence?” “That you are aitting in this room; that yon have just tulcen my Millie’s brain. You a. right.” “And myf what will they s: y?" “That you were bought off — sold them—got your pile and skipped.” “Then I muxt leave behind me the reputation of a villain?" “As I said before, you must either sink yourself, or sacrifice the girl. ’ For a time there was silence. The young man sat watching the clouds of smoke that rose from his companion's pipe, as though in them he would read his fate. In imagination he saw the the sweet,innocent, childish face with the brown hair clustering round it, the sad look of those pensive eyes, the trembling movement of that beautiful lip—and he held his hand out to Wild ers and said: “Jark, I irill go!” “Spoken like a white man,” cried the prospector. “Now we can go ahead with full steam on an’ no danger sig nals out.” Long and earnestly they talked till the first shrill scream of a steam w’ . 1st 1c roused the miners from their sleep and called them to another day’s duties when they were but half rested from yesterday’s. “Stay a minute,” Wilders said, as his guest rose to leave. “Millie wants mo to give you this.” He handed the young man a bulky, sealed envelope, which he took from a table-drawer. “Just a woman’s whim — nothing worth mentioning—but she said you were to keep it in your pocket, an’ not open it till you were a day’s journey from Oretown.” (1 rev’s face was shadowed as he stood fingering the little parcel. “Guess it’s some of those furze-flow ers,” the prospector added unblush- ingly. “Females is awful tender hearted, an’ chock full o’ nonsense- kind o’ forget-me-nots I guess—but take of them for the little woman’s sake.” “I will,’’Grey replied in tearful tones, “and may God reward you both for all you have done for me.” “Goin’to Chicago for a visit, be thee?" asked honest Mrs. Whitford at break fast. “Hast thee volks down i’ those parts?” “No, Mrs. Whitford,” Grey replied, “I have no business: my father and mother died when I was a lad, and I have never known other relatives.” “P'raps,” interrupted the corporal, jocularly, “wo shall see you tripping hack with a trim little wife hanging on to your arm.” “No, Mr. Whitford; I never yet spoke one word of love to living woman," Grey declared in slow, impressive tones. “Lord, but I pity your bad taste," grinned tho corporal. "Why, when I was a lad in the royal marines, I—" “Howd thy tongue, mon,” Mrs. Whit- interjccled. “Dtmnn thee see going to Chicago on a vacation, and be off without any painful betrayal of emotion. But this was not to be. Tho last book was packed, tho last, belonging put away, the last long, lingering lookout of the window at the lake, now a big plain of snow, fringed by the pine-clad hills, the last - Ah, what was that? The door opened and Elsie Whitford confronted him. A child! Good heavens, it seemed as if in a night she had grown into glori ous womanhood. As she stood there in tho strength of her young beauty the scales fell from the eyes of the unhappy man, and he knew he loved. Oh, how he longed to take her in his arms and tell her all he felt; hut. between her and him was a chasm he dared not cross—not yet—but who knew what the future might bring foi th? She seemed very quiet and self-pos sessed—not a bit the e!uotion-tos:,od Elsie he had pictured to l. nn.elf. Look ing round the room at his corded boxes, she said very quietly: “You are going to leave us for good, Mr. Grey, you are not coming back’to Oretown ?” "Yes, Elsie, I am have guessed rightly." Tho words and tom but she read in his parting cost him. “On account of the troubl at?” she asked. “Yes.” “I guessed as much, to spare me the misc well! Ah, that was kind to the very last.” “Shall you miss ni< Manlike he was disappointed at her equanimity, though he had so much dreaded any ebullition of feeling. “Good-by, Elsb!” “Good-by, Mr. Grey!” And that was all their parting, for at that moment the prospector drove to the door in his buggy to take Frank Grey to the depot. The prospector's horse was just such an animal as he might be expected to own—a quick, rough Indian pony, with legs as clean as a deer's, whi h was by no means inclined to let the grass grow under his feet, but Wilders was afterwards wont to de- { clare that it was the longest mile he overdrove, for his companion was more inconsolable than a widow' at the loss of her first husband. As the steamer Idlewihl palled out of the bay Grey sat gazing on the re treating land, wondering whether ever again he would see tho,a inhospitable shores. His heart was full of bitterness. Why bad things gone so wr;n<;'? Well, ve.i. If had after all been if IF *v 4 in .. •. to Klsf \ ' r '•<!. but who would have expected such a child ns she was to have grown into a woman in one single night? Then lie took from his pocket the package that Wilders had given him. There was a spell of sentiment over him now, and the dried gorsc flowers would be a consolation, conveying many pleasant memories; but. when the envelope was torn open no yellow buds were there, only ten twenty-dol- lar bills wrapped in tissue paper and a letter in Sirs. Wilders’ neat hand writing. “Use this trifle without compunction. It is a free gift from your loving friends, Jack and Millie.” Then was added in the big, rough, scrawl of the prospector: “Don’t return this little pile. No man goes back on my Millie's wishes and calls me friend J. W.” “Now, God bless their noble hearts!” murmured Grey, us tears of deep emo tion coursed down his cheeks. month, Mrs. Whitford, and pay in ad vance,” Elsie heard a voice say, as she entered her foster-mother's house one afternoon. “Toiinc to pay, zer, when we ha’ ad dled it: vor it be a’most as bad to pay aforehand as not at all.” “The word of the righteous is his bond,“snuffedthe stranger, whom Elsie WHITFORD CONFRONTED HIM. bad no difficulty in recognizing as Dodd, the Hopkinsite. TO liK CONTI N UK I» NEXT WEEK. how thy foolish clnvcr reddens Elsie's cheeks." Then turning to tho girl, she added; “Gan thee host finished thy meal, my dear, gel thco to thy room an’ fettle it oop a Mt. 01 ’ull be wl’ yo presently." Grey seized on Elsie’s absence us a good opportunity to finish packing, for he was haunted with a painful dread of arousing her suspicions of his per manent departurr, feeling sure flint n htntfin yours onawnrs that question,” long furewell would bo so hfrd for tliu said fhe prospeutor with digu%. door oMH—»yo, «nd fhr Mw, too: n I tartlets yon. Now telf the worst," wborras If Ml pins Kid not fkfl !w my fry, job I wrttar fhs pwrtwro erf CHAPTER VI. A MOONLIGHT RAMBLE. “Then I will take your room for a HEART DISEASE! Fluttering, No Appetite, Could Not Sleep, Wind on Stomach. “For a long time I had a terrible pain at my heart, which fluttered al most incessantly. I had no appetite and could not sleep. I would be com pelled to sit up in bed and belch gas from my stomach until I thought that every minute would be my last. There was a feelling of oppression about my heart, and I was afraid to draw a full breath. I could not sweep a room without resting. My hus band induced me to try Dr. Miles’ Heart Cure and am happy to say it has cured me. I now have a sjjlendid appetite and sleep well. Its effect was truly marvelous.” MRS. HARRY E. STARR, rottsvillc, Pa. Dr. Miles Heart Cure Is sold on a positive guarantee that tho lirst bott le will heneiit. All druggists sell it at *1, 0 bottles for $5, or it will bo sent, prepaid, on roccipt of prico by the Dr. Miles Medical Co , Elkhart, lad. GAFFNEY CITY RAILWAY CO, Carroll & Co., Lessee. The following schedule in effect March (5. ISfio. Leave Gaffney (Lipscomb’s Hotel) 8:80 a. in. arriving Cooper-Limestone Institute 8 : lf> a. m. Returning Leave Cooper-Limestone Institute 2:1”) p. m. arrive at Gaffney 2:2.”) p. m. The Gaffney City Land and Improvement Company ) Offer for Sale Building Lots in this Flourishing OI Town, r y Also Farms near by and in reach of the schools of Limestone Springs and of this place in lots of from 30 to UK) acres on liberal time rates. Also Agricultural Lands to rent for farm purposes. For full particulars apply to MOSES WOOD, Agent. N. B.—All trespassing on lands of this Company cutting and removing timber, fishing or hunting are forbidden under penalty of law. Guns! Guns! Pistols and Cartridges, Gun Caps and Shells, Rubber and Leather Belting, Hubs, Spokes and Rims, Iron of all Kinds, Sisal Ropes. In fact we have a good assortment of Hardware, Smith Hardware Co. Our Store IS NOW UNDERGOING REPAIRS but will be completed in about two weeks at which time we will open the most complete stock of Fall and Winter Good: EARTHOU ES Are wonderful demoralizing agents. But, as they are only of a few moments duration, the consternation and fran tic effects on the people are soon over. But such a quake as has occurred at the Company Store in low prices, and is being repeated daily and every hour in the dayis never forgotten. It’s rumbling noise is heard alike by town and country, and its vibrations have crossed county and State lines. People are amazed at our bargains and ask are we going to fail or are we sell ing bankrupt stock. There are secrets to all business and we are going to tell ours. It is in buying! We have have a resident buyer in New York whose business it is to shop the markets daily for bargains. We make bold the asser tion that many lines of goods we buy and retail for a profit for less than our competitors pay. We know we can save you 25 per cent, on clothing, and similar amounts on many other things. Don’t forget our grand FALL OPEN ING on Saturday, Sept. 23eh. Special bargains on that day we cannot make you on any other. We expect one thousand children at our penny distribution at 1 2 o’clock on that day. Come early and avoid the rush. Store Gaffney Co. Tlxis ic'o for WILKINS BROS .vivrvoi lOjviExiNrr Woo It. FINEST and BEST iVIVI > Ever shown in Gaffney. Wait for the announcement of our Fall Open ing in THE LEDGER. That are made. And we sell them at prices to suit the times. We invite your inspection when in need of anything in onr line. Carroll & Carpenter. CARROLL, CARPENTER & HUMPHRIES.