e dancing tow

he child

and feelings

years ar

EY W

with a darker, more gloomily prophetical cast of countenance than ever, and seemed to be giving some unwelcome advice to Mr. Rutledge, who, saying briefly, "I cannot disappoint her no

a fiery, powerful thing as she, rushed sickeningly over me, but I never for a moment entertained the idea of giving up. If I had been ten times surer than I was, that I should be thrown within the first half mile, I should have rejected with scorn the advice of Mrs. Roberts, who now came forward and favored me with her views on the subject of

as impatient to be

and that trembled visibly; then, with a voice that w

ternoon it is! I w

Michael and gave him some order that sent him rapidly toward the stable, while Thomas was summoned to hold the horses, and telling me to wait a moment, Mr. Rutledge hurried into the house. I di

at creature she's to ride; and if you'll forgive me for being so plain, you may ha

bear with more from you, than from almost any one else; but you must remember, there is such a thing

the dizzy height, or get the reins fairly in my grasp, she was off with an eager bound that showed how great had been her impatience at the delay. I kept my seat-more I did not attempt to do, as at a tearing pace she

estive touch on the left rein had anything to do with influencing her decision. And on we flew, Michael clattering behind us. It was a pretty clear straight road, b

minutes he added, "keep a steady rein, don't pull suddenly or hard, but just firm.

fter all I was; and under these influences, something like composure began to return to my startled nerves and something like strength to tighten my hold upon the reins. Still we were tearing onward, Michael now left far behind, and th

pull up a little. Keep a steady rein till we get there. Let Madge kn

degree, her frantic pace, checked perhaps by the new determination o

efore we reached the brow of the hill, Madge had quieted to a walk. I was as white as a ghost, and shook all over, but my companion was conside

, to realize that I was out for the purpose of enjoying myself, or before

t; I could laugh and talk then, could see that the sky was clear and sunny, and the country we were crossing, the very prettiest and most picturesque imaginable; could feel the wind blowing fresh against my face, as we galloped rapidly over the open road; or lis

, and a clear light in his eye, made him almost handsome; and for the time, it was easy for me to forget the differences of age and circumstances; it was an involuntary thing to look upon him as the companion whom most I liked of all I had ever found; the readiest, the keenest, the kindest; one who understood me, h

bodily shape and presence, the places and characters he chose to recall. Whether it was a sunrise among the Alps, or a scene in a French café, it was equally distinct and life-like; I saw the glittering of the sharp cloud piercing icy peaks, as, one by one, they caught the rosy sunlight; or, the men and women in their foreign dress and eager manner, lived and spoke before me, gesticulated, rattled off their voluble absurdities, and vanished from the scene, to give place to pictures of quiet English villages, with sunny meadows and long green lanes, grey churches and mossy gravesto

ude of interest. I should grow positively garrulous if you were with me much. I must send you away!

ng. Ah! please!" I exclaimed, as he pointed to the rapidly sinking

before we reach it,

e's a

again, if you are not 'goo

it of it; and that's the best piece of road we've seen yet. I co

erriment about his mouth, that quite recalled the crayon sketch in my trunk. He was a good horseman, and no attitude could have been more advantageous to him than his present one, sitting easily and gracefully on his fine horse, and indicating with a turn

know, for we drove there the other day; and it isn't more than two miles fur

ound to see how near Mr. Rutledge might be; but what was my chagrin on finding myself alone, Michael

our master

back,

you s

of the village, and that he's going to ge

overtake hi

iles further to go, and the horses are

th Michael's arguments seemed equally inv

ck to the village? Think quick,

as he could, no doubt, but v

use, "yes, Miss, there is another; but it's but a wild

said, with an impat

ff through Hemlock Hollow. It's a lonesome road, though, Miss, and ther

t you know the way, and th

hought he

try it; and keep as n

ight of me; but I cared very little for his guardianship, or indeed for any other circumstance or occur

ther foot-path nor fence on either side; it was just a way hewn down and cleared for one wagon to pass. Lying in a hollow, it was always damper, and colder, and darker, than anywhere else, and as I pressed on, I

that I shall not mind the dark, and after that Mr. Rutledge will be with us. He will not be angry, I know; there was t

ed out my attenda

re we are out

ngth of it, Miss," gasped the pa

ark so fast, you must whip up,

for the last three hours; and though I'm as anxious to ge

ejected looks. Melancholy had mark

ry long before we reach the village, and then you shall

rapidly had night descended, and so effectually did the thick trees shut out what of light might have been still left in the sky. I again called to Michael, who again was

aid, "that this is the right road? Are

was two years ago, but he thought he knew it; it didn'

s I realized that I must depend on myself, for he knew no more about the road than I did

t the road to terminate? Does it come directly out on the tur

hat the road didn't open right into the turnpike, after all. Perhaps it didn't, though; it

I had a general idea of where the village lay, and that we were going toward it. So cheering up my attendant as well as I could, and suiting my pace to hi

f our troubles-here's an opening in the woods.

et down the bars that retarded our progress. Ah, yes! This w

to me a ploughed field; but Michael being positive that there was a beaten road along it, I submitted to his judgment. By and by, we came t

light of the moon, yet low in the east. I had no way but to trust to Michael, and I tried to do it without any misgivings, as he seemed so confident; but

on we're in a dreadful fix! I know

rd in an agony of apprehension,

able groan, and seem

s fast as ever we

"for between letting down, and putting up bars, and crossing back

, at a loss to tell on which side we had come in, and if there was a wagon track, it was too dark to see it. I made a strong effort to command myself, and said concisely, "The best way, Michael, is for me to ride along the fence here, and s

was quite open and unobscured. But the uncertain light, the similarity of one pair of bars, and one side of the common to another, completely baffled me, and I was as much bewildered as Michael himself. I tried, ho

ss horrors that night and solitude always bring to those who brave them for the first, crowded so upon me, that I would rather have ridden into certain danger, than have waited there another moment; and I dashed across the common, toward the dark woods that skirted it. I halted and called as loudly as I could, but no answer came. Then riding

uttered a cry of despair. Startled by it, and by the sudden relaxing of the reins, the horse gave a bound forward, and dashed terrified into the woods. That I was not unseated, is the strangest part of all my strange adventure; but conscious of nothing, save an agonized fear of losing this my only living companion, I clung tightly to her neck, as brushing against the overhanging boughs, and swaying from side to side of the narrow road, she tore onward in her headlong race. Of the length of time that passed before, spent with fatigue and shuddering in every limb, she paused suddenly before a fallen tree that blo

n instant here! But it was hopeless; with her feet planted in the earth, and eyes dilated with terror, she refused to move. A groan of misery escaped me as this last hope was cut off; I tied the bridle to a low branch, and sitting down upon the fallen tree, buried my face in my hands, in hopeless, stupefied desp

half a mile, even with the certainty of help before me; and I doubted whether, if the horse could have been coaxed over the cruel obstacle that stopped her course, I could have mounted her again. I was bound, helpless, hopeless! My exaggerate

nd hope beh

with intensest gaze, freezing me with horror. And with a sort of mockery, the words that h

es to set

him c

true

d in the fitful blast: this was my answer-this was all the help my appeals would gain. With a cry of anguish, I cast myself down upon the earth, and sent to heaven such a prayer as only despair and mortal terror can wring from the heart. Not as people pray at home, morning and evening, with Death at worst a distant enemy, and Terror and Temptation just so many words; not as people pray from duty, or from habit, or out of re

ful hours that passed over me, but Fear and Excitement did; and these terrible enemies only woke, when a sound that was not brawl of stream or roar of wind, profaned the ghastly solitude. It was a sound far fainter and less appalling than those I had been listening to, unmoved, so long, but it roused the keenest terror. Far down the road, I first caught it, so low that it might have been the falling of a nut the high wind had shaken from its tree; again, this time nearer, and the leaves rustle, and a