“Poor little dear, she had started to see us, maybe, and got lost in the smoke, so she couldn’t find the way. Then she went out of her head with uneasiness, but no doubt she will be just like her own sweet self in the morning. Do you think we ought to send word to her gran’ther that she’s safe, Sam?”
“Well, p’r’aps, to-morrow,” replied her husband, adding apprehensively: “You cain’t expect nobody to ride nine miles to Stony Ledge to-night in sech a snowstorm as is coming up now!”
“No, I reckon not,” she returned placidly, for she could not urge him to forsake the blazing open fire and homely cheer of the kitchen to encounter such a storm, even to allay Grandfather Groves’ anxiety. Goody was a splendid housewife, and Sam an appreciative husband, though he did rile her sometimes by what she called “his shif’less, percrasterinating ways!”
But they did not have to wait till morning to find out the news, for presently a belated wayfarer happened in, craving shelter for the night; and then, over the apples and cider, and fresh gingerbread and pipes, he told them the story of the awful tragedy at Stony Ledge.
They listened open-mouthed, with bated breath, to every word, their ruddy cheeks paling with horror.
Now they understood why dear little Eva had been wandering crazed in the woods, driven mad by the awful consequence of her sin.
For like others, they could not doubt that she was guilty, with the difference that a great pity surged up in their hearts for the erring girl.
“She was so young, and Ludington was a handsome, smooth-spoken young scamp—not but we thought he was all right till now. You remember how soon he cured your rheumatiz last winter, wife?” said Sam.
“Yes, and I said I would never call in that drunken old Binks again, long’s I could git Ludington,” she replied, adding, with a long sigh: “He was very pretty spoken, to be sure, but now I think he was a wolf in sheep’s clothing, for who else could have wronged sweet little Eva?”
“’Tis to be hoped that her folks in New York will never find out the truth, and turn her out so onmarciful as her gran’ther did!” observed the guest, who inclined to the side of mercy.