The Land Claim — page 106: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

102 THE LAND-CLAIM. inexhaustible torrents, driyen aside in sheets occasionally, by some fitful gusts of wind. 7 To sleep, under such circumstances, was to Mrs. Wyman really impossible; and she continued to watch and wait, roaming uneasily about the house, and indulging her imagina- tion in vagaries of the most extraordinary nature. What if Silas had eloped with that innocent-looking young thing? She had heard of such cases, and even where the. man had lived for a long time on the most affectionate terms with his wife; and she presumed the wife was just as unpre- pared for such an event as she was at that moment. Young girls could be so deceitful sometimes! And shé called to mind several instances of profound deception practiced by the gweetest-looking young rogues. To be sure, Silas had not seemed to pay her any attention; but then if folks want to be sly about such things, of course they can be. What a fool she should think herself, if she had let a pretty face blind: her eyes to artful qualities. But no; Alicia was simple and affectionate—more so than any one she ever knew. What if these virtues were only assumed, and she should prove to have the bad traits of her father? Well, it would not always be night, and when morning came she should know what to think of this strange desertion. : Or what if some accident had happened to Alicia, and the poor child was dead or dying, and exposed to the storm? What if some of thdse spiteful squaws from the trading-post . had seen her all alone, and taken revenge on her by murder- ing her, as that terrible Ka-shaw would haye done? What if Silas had been coming home in the storm and been killed by lightning? or the horse gone wrong in the dark, and fallen over the river-bank with wagon and master. Yes, that was the most likely thing, after all. It was probable that Alicia might have returned as far as the J udge’s, and stayed there to tea; and Silas might have met her, and took her in the wagon, and both were killed! At this climax to her apprehensions, Mrs. Wyman gave up to a hearty fit of crying, after which, being much exhausted, she threw herself on the parlor lounge, and toward morning fell off into a doze. At the first streak of day she was dis- turbed by a hasty and noisy summons at the doer. Thinking comiiclooks. com