dress with both hands, by a frantic effort nearly succeeded in disrobing herself. Among the passengers consternation followed this wild outburst of passion. By gentle firmness and mild persuasion the special agent, who had now acquired more control over the prisoner than any one else, soothed her into tranquillity, when the ladies in the coach, many of them friends of long standing, kindly came forward, and furnished the needful articles of apparel to render her again presentable. After this she passed into a condition of com

plete quietude and passivity, apparently resigned for whatever fate might have in store. Thenceforward to the end of the trial she continued perfectly calm, giving no further trouble.

On arriving at their destination, the officers found that the United States commissioner was absent. They accordingly proceeded on to one of the large interior towns of the state,

"THE HUSBAND, SO TENDER AND TRUE."

105

where the sessions of the district court are held at stated intervals.

Within a couple of weeks the trial took place. Nearly all the influential people from the county of the Dunstons were present to plead for mercy in behalf of a beloved neighbor,

"The husband, so tender, and true, and faithful, that he would willingly have bared his own heart to the shaft to spare that of the wife, stood at her side to support her trembling form."

who had sinned, as they believed, from some lack of mental equilibrium hitherto unsuspected. So effective were these appeals, supported as they were by the ardent efforts of the officer who brought the crimes to light, and who in the present undertaking had the hearty concurrence of the postmaster

general, to whom the facts had been communicated, that the prisoner was permitted to plead guilty to a minor count in the indictment, involving a slight punishment only. The remaining counts were quashed.

The husband, so tender, and true, and faithful, that he would willingly have bared his own heart to the shaft to spare that of the wife, stood at her side to support her trembling form, as she rose to receive the sentence of the court, - a sight which so affected the judge, the jury, and the audience, that there was scarcely a dry eye in all that vast

concourse.

In the most feeling manner the judge addressed the prisoner, expressing profound sorrow that one in her position should be brought to such humiliation. He closed in substance thus: "I am glad to witness the devotion of your good husband, who stands by you unfalteringly in this dark hour. The cross is yours, the crown is his. If I had the power, I would open the doors of this court-room, and say, 'Go in peace;' but the law is above me, and I am its humble instruThe court sentences you to pay a fine of five hundred dollars, and to imprisonment for ten days."

Had it been allowable, Mr. Dunston would have shared the cell with his wife. As it was, he attended her as closely as the rules of the jail would permit. Meanwhile the prisoner beguiled the hours by knitting incessantly.

No motive ever appeared for these extraordinary robberies. When mental laws are better understood, perhaps philosophy will be able to explain the mystery.

OWARD the close of February, several years ago, the cars left one of our special agents, shortly after nightfall, at a wayside station, not far from the foot of the mountain ranges of Georgia. The railroad extended but few miles beyond, and was still in process of construction. As yet a clearing had hardly been made in the dense forests which stretched away in all directions, even for the frail shelter that served as depot. The objective point of the officer was a village. ten or eleven miles distant; "The broken-hearted wife was left day after day to the solitary companionship of sad and, until his hopes were thoughts and gloomy forebodings." suddenly dashed by the station agent, he supposed there would be no difficulty in proceeding on to his destination the same evening. He was informed, however, that the mail left in the morning, and that there was no chance for a passenger by the night train to reach town the same day, unless he had previously arranged

to have a conveyance sent over expressly to meet him. He received, moreover, the somewhat depressing information that there was no habitation in the neighborhood where a stranger could obtain lodging. The station-agent lived several miles away, his family were sick, and he had no horse. The rumble of the departing train had already died away in the distance, and the depot-master was about to close the shanty for the night, when a wrinkled but cheery face appeared at the

"Mounting the ox-wagon with half a dozen bright-faced children, they rode for an hour through the woods."

door, at the sight of which the stranger felt instinctively that the kindly old man would never turn a fellow-being away. Without waiting for persuasion or argument, he freely extended the hospitalities of his home. Mounting the ox-wagon with half a dozen bright-faced children, who kept their father company, they rode for an hour through the woods, in the light of the bright full moon, till they reached the plain but