first to
reach the spot where a little girl, just gliding in through the door,
had been struck on the forehead by the glass, which had cut a deep
gash, and stunned her into insensibility. The blood flowed instantly
from the wound, and covered her face, which presented a shocking
appearance. As I lifted her from the floor, upon which she had fallen,
Morgan, into whose very soul the piercing cry of his child had
penetrated, stood by my side, and grappled his arms around her
insensible form, uttering as he did so heart-touching moans and
lamentations.

"What's the matter? Oh, what's the matter?" It was a woman's voice,
speaking in frightened tones.

"It's nothing! Just go out, will you, Ann?" I heard the landlord say.

But his wife--it was Mrs. Slade--having heard the shrieks of pain and
terror uttered by Morgan's child, had come running into the
bar-room--heeded not his words, but pressed forward into the little
group that stood around the bleeding girl.

"Run for Doctor Green, Frank," she cried in an imperative voice, the
moment her eyes rested on the little one's bloody face.

Frank came around from behind the bar, in obedience to the word; but
his father gave a partial countermand, and he stood still. Upon
observing which, his mother repeated the order, even more emphatically.

"Why don't you jump, you young rascal!" exclaimed Harvey Green. "The
child may be dead before the doctor can get here."

Frank hesitated no longer, but disappeared instantly through the door.

"Poor, poor child!" almost sobbed Mrs. Slade, as she lifted the
insensible form from my arms. "How did it happen? Who struck her?"

"Who? Curse him! Who but Simon Slade?" answered Joe Morgan, through his
clenched teeth.

The look of anguish, mingled with bitter reproach, instantly thrown
upon the landlord by his wife, can hardly be forgotten by any who saw
it that night.

"Oh, Simon! Simon! And has it come to this already?" What a world of
bitter memories, and sad forebodings of evil, did that little sentence
express. "To this already"--Ah! In the downward way, how rapidly the
steps do tread--how fast the progress!

"Bring me a basin of water, and a towel, quickly!" she now exclaimed.

The water was brought, and in a little while the face of the child lay
pure and as white as snow against her bosom. The wound from which the
blood had flowed so freely was found on the upper part of the forehead,
a little to the side, and extending several i