Was It A Warning?

drunk , or whether he had a touch of delirium tremens that night , nobody could ever tell . He ancl his fireman Avere both dead poor fellows . It was only known that he bad rushed the train through at fill' speed ) disregarding all signals from the conductorand stopping at no station .

, But as for the thirty odd miles , from St . A . to J . I ., there were none but small stations where the express stopped only when signaled , I think no one suspected any harm until they reached M ., Avhcre they should have stoppedand from there to destruction

, had only been a brief ten minutes ' ride . There were belf a dozen killed and Avounded on the express ; on mine , one of the brakemen was badly hurt , and Brooks Vane could not be found .

" Can't be found , man , " I said to my informant—" Avhat do you mean ?" "That ' s what I mean , sir . The men on your train have searched everywhere , ancl they can ' t find a trace of him , even . " It was odd , to say the least . It was

now broad daylight , and I could not conceive how any search should have failed to find him . I got up , lame and sore , but still able to move about , and went out . The house Avas only a little way from the scene of the accident . The dead and wounded had been moved away , and men

Avere busy moving the debris and clearing the track . The express train was a very heavy one , and mine , though freight , comparatively light , since I . had but few cars . My engine had been tbroAvn completely from the trackover the low bankinto a

, , Avet marshy meadow lying alongside the road . The smokestack was half buried in the mud . I walked around it , searching carefully , but there Avas no sign of my unfortunate fireman . I looked for him as long as I Avas able , and then dragged

myself back to the house . , from Avhence I dispatched the farmer ' s son to B ., with a telegraphic message , to be sent to my wife , apprising her of my safety , and begging her to see that all knowledge of the accident was kept from poor Vane's Avife , ancl directed him to Avait for a reply .

He returned in the afternoon Avith a message from my Avife : " Viola says Brooks' body is buried iu the marsh , under the smokestack of the Amoskeag . Search for it there . "EMMA DEANE . "

Viola Avas Brooks' Avife . I Avas confounded . I had not intimated to my wif ' u that the body was missing , though , ot course , she knew from the wording ot my dispatch that he must be dead or badly hurt . I knew that an account of the accident had been telegraphed to N ., but I

doubted if this fact had been mentioned . However , it Avas evident they knew it , but IIOAV Mrs . Vane should know more than that I could not understand . I walked out again to the 2 'lace Avhere the engine lay . Men were already at Avork

Avith a derrick trying to raise it . It was many hours before their efforts were successful . When at last they accomplished their task , under the smokestack was found the body of Brooks Vane ! There is little more to tell . You Avere

at his funeral , and you . know hoov hard his poor wife took his loss , and how she faded and pined , and ere long followed him with her babe to the " farther shore . " The little I have to tell you is the reason ni ) ' Avife sent that mysterious telegram . All that nig ht on which the accident happened , Mrs . Vane lay in a half stupormy wife Avas sitting up Avith her—rousing

but once between three and four in the morning—just about the time her husband must have been killed , when she started up with a shriek that rang through the house crying : " 0 Brooks ! Brooks ! don't go ; " and then she fell back moaning "deaddead , "

, and seemed to realize nothing more . No one then knew anything of the accident ; but Avhen the news came , not long after , every precaution Avas used to keep it from her . It Avas not until just before my telegram had been receivedthat she

, seemed to evince any consciousness of Avhat Avas passing around her . At that time she opened her eyes calmly , looking steadily into the face of my wife , who sat beside her , and speaking in low even tones : " They can't find my husbandMrs .

, Deane . Telegraph to Mr . Deane to have them look in the marsh , under the smokestack of the ' Amoskeag ; ' they will find him there . " She didn't speak again all day . How she knew her husband was dead or where

he Avas , I cannot tell . "There are stranger things in heaven and earth , Horatio , Than are dreamed of in your philosophy . "