Pittston Gazette

              "lA \ Oldest Newspaper in the Wyoming Valley. PITTSTON, LUZERNE CO., PA., FRIDAY. FHBRU iRY 19, 1897. k Weekly Local and Family Journal. Itl.OO PEK TRi I IN AUVANO he had been Niua's tongue thrunt significantly into her cheek. ,896. By THt AUTMOR. iug from his grief, i aare say tms nne stationery will very shortly be in use for other things than friendly business." So she was a trifle startled when little Peter broke in, "Miss Bob, please, warm, write er answer ter dat dar note, 'case he—Marse Ben—say ef I don't fetch one back he gwine tan me erlive." tlon was too mucn ror mm. as ne got up and lifted her in bis arms he said: St 611 staying at homo is the last thing I care to do. I mast be at something all the time so I shall not have leisure to worry.""Who knows or oares?" Jack answered, almost sharply. "Nothing, I dare say. We both know that to oall Teddy a fool ia to flatter him." amused in the thought of making the. whole congregation gape aiid stare. When at last she sat down, it was in such wise as to leave room beside her for her adorer. It was wholly against the most rigid convention of the oooasion that any man Bhould sit beside a woman, but Mr. Topmark was unable to resist the tacit invitation of her glance. He plumped down upon the bard wooden seat so ponderously that a shiver ran through the gazing throng. From the door Jaok noted it and swore under his breath. But Miss Winfold, though she dropped her eyes and made a pretense of distress over the general tittering about her, said to her own heart: "Oh, the little fool! Isn't she doin beautifully just the thing I meant her to do?" ter ma " "I want a kiss of peaoe, mammy, to prove that I deserve it When I come back from town, yon shall bear if Miss The last words were in Rob's ear, too low for other hearing. She, too, Beemed not to hear them. She did not flush or turn away her head. Mam Liza, on her knees, unpacking the three big baskets, looked up to say quickly: "Honey, yander go ole Miss Payne an her two gals. You run an tell dem ter come eat wid ole marster. Mayby you don't 'members it, but dey wuz his bes' friends 'fore dee tooked an buyed dat place so fur way orost de creek." It is a psycho-physical fact that a gallant young fellow very deeply iu love with one woman caunot steel his heart utterly against another who is reasonably attractive. Before Timothy and Clover had covered two miles of the ten before them Jack was chatting gayly with his convoy and not by any means displeased with the estate wherein he foand himself. There was this excuse for him—Miss Winfold talked well after a chirpy, gossipylashion, wholly free of malice. Then, too, she had warm words of praise for Rob, the bravest, proudest little thing! If only she might, she would so gladly help and comfort her. "Bnt you know it isn't easy," she "Whoever thought ofyourbein nervous an fidgety like that?" Miss Winfold returned. "Mommer is, I know, an Dnole Ben—he's just the deareat old grumble all the timet By the war, I wonder— Isn't It just too ridicuioos the way he's makin a show of bimaelf, an poor Aunt Lonizy not two months In her grave?" "Why, how sharp you are! I didn't know yon were ever sarcastic," Miss Winfold said, with an engaging smile. "If you say snob things often, 1 shall begin to be afraid of you." "Oh, I reckon he was only joking about that," Bob said, unfolding the missive. Next minute her hand fell. 8he was laughing aloud in real and uncontrolled merriment "That is a quotation from Bob Mo- Qregor," Jack said. Alioe smiled and nodded. "I thought it sounded like her," she Baid. "Bnt don't you think it is—well, at least imprudent—for a girl to talk that way?" "It is natural, perhaps," Jack said, breathing hard. "Most men, I hear it said, bury their wits with their wives." "So he wants the pleasure of my company for the whole big meeting,'' she said, eying the sheet with disdainful amusement "What a monopolist he must think I am I And. oh, what a joke on Mrs. Winfold it is that he has asked me! I have a great mind to go with him, once, just to see how green she will turn." "I'll bring them," Rob said, darting away. Mr. Topmark tried to follow, but — she waved him baok, saying: "Eat your dinner, sir. I am going to hunt up 20 people." "In general, yes," Jack answered, making to rein in his horses not far from the women's dwor of the church, "but in this especial case I do not see how one oould refrain from speaking one's mind." "Yes, they seem to," Miss Winfold said, clambering heavily into the buggy. Some way the sight recalled to him Bob's light lift from the impulse of his hand, her dainty way of settling herself in exactly the right plaoe beside him, ber eager, ooaxing eyes, as she beld out her hands for the reins, saying, with soft mischief: self oonsoions over some of his flirtations, and no donbt thinks some one ii dying for him who really does not care the least bit in the world." CHAPTEB VI. "As ef you wa'n't takin my heart an appetite with yon!" he began in gallant protest "You ain't no business ter leave me. Tou know I jest come here fer the sake er talkin ter you. They ain't nothin else in the world would' make me wlllin ter lose mayby $25 wnth o'er Sunday trade"— Miss Winfold found the blind man alone in the wide hall. He turned his head at her knock, saying, with a pitiful little smile: Then she settled herself into a pone of severe devotion, head bowed, eyes fast on the hymn book. Through the window she had seen the Talbot carriage driving up. She meant Mrs. Talbot to be able to point with pride to the difference between her favorite and that flighty Rob, who Bat, regardless of time and place, pouring a flood of merry nonsense into Mr. Topmark's delighted ear. Miss Winfold thought she must be possessed. She had no comprehension of the agony, the gnawing pain at the heart, which made it necessary that Rob should laugh and chatter if she would save herself from shrieking. confided to Jack. The McGregors are such high, proud people. Mommer does not like Rob. But I—oh, I think there is nobody like her. She is so nice to me always I know she cannot mean any harm by the things she says that sound so rude an"— "Oh, I hope Rob will be here today 1" Miss Winfold said enthusiastically. "It is so sweet an touohin to see her hoverin around an watchin over her dear old father. What a pity tbey trouble themselves always to bring such a big dinner! Lots of people—everybody, in fact—would be so glad to have their "Oh, I am so glad yon say that I" Miss Winfold cried, making to fling her arms about Bob's neck. "Of course I wouldn't let Jack know it for the world. But, oh, Bob, I do love him better than anybody 1" A quick thought shot through her and brought the red to her faoe. Something whispered that thus she oould show Jack how little she cared for his treachery. It was treachery of the blackest sort Alice Winfold was truthful. She would never have come to Bob with her tale had there not been fact behind it No doubt Jack had hoped she wonld oome. Perhaps even now he was— Bat she would think no worse of him than she oould possibly help Be had been her friend, perhaps was still her friend. He was impulsive. It might be his oompassion had carried him too far. Yet she had not willfully appealed to his sympathies. No, she oould not aoquit him of deliberate trifling. How glad she was to remember that she had spoken as she did! Y et how her cheeks burned, remembering his warm clasp and the quick, delioious tremor it bad sent through her. 'TU wring hit ruck, d—n him!" "My ears cannot tell me names, though they say my visitor is a lady and young. Come in, please. My daughter will soon be here. She has gone this morning to look at the crops for me." Alice will let herself be seen at church tomorrow with such an ill looking fellow as I am." "Jack, do be a good fellow. Let me show you how these horses ought to be driven. Of oourse I know ever so much better than you. People always do, yon see, about things that they have no concern with. When I set up for a philosopher—I shall one of these days—I mean to give my whole mind to discovering what it is that makes the wisdom of inexperience so very, very wise." "You had better go and save it," Rob broke in. "Here, Mam Liza! Give Mr., Topmark his dinner, quiokt Get the; best in the basket" Then to him: "Yon must go. I shall not talk to you anyt more, and I shall not go home with yon. Thank you for my ride in that beautiful' new rig. Thank you, too, for Jetting me. make people open their eyes so. But; don't wait It is not the least use." "I won't my young lady," Mr. Top-j mark muttered to himself. Then he said* aloud: "Ef you wa'n't—well, you. Miss Rob, I'd git mad as Tucker. I wouldn't! take what you jest now tole me from, nary 'nother livin woman. But tou oain't bluff me off. I tell you that right' now!" "I do not believe she thinks you the least bit ill looking," Mrs. Talbot said and straightway in her heart reproached herself for saying it It sounded like an indelioate betrayal of maiden preference. She was very tender in her thought of the girl upon whom her heart was set Though she bad little doubt that Alioe adored her son, nothing would have induced her to admit as much to anybody. She looked upon Alice as Jack's predestined savior from his own misleading inclination, but not for her right hand, soft and kindly and useful as it was, would she have betrayed to bim the thing of which Mrs. Winfold's water eyed confidences left her no manner of doubt "Truthful," Jack supplemented as the other paused. "You are right. She does mean no harm. She has grown up at ber father's elbow. She has his ideas in everything, especially in honor. It is pitiful to see what weight she carries. There must be a change soon, and—and when it comes can I count on your standing her friend, no matter what it may be?" "I wish yon all happiness with him," Bob said, shrinking a little from the embraoe and beginning to clip roses so lavishly that her visitor made protest. "The flowers will only wither if I leave them," she said. "That is why they bloom so well for me. I never let them waste their energies." "Oh, howdy, Mr. McGregor!" Alios said, shamed by the fine, transparent old faoe into something itke cordial heartiness. "It's me—Alioe Winfold. I haven't come to see Bob, at least I shall tell her sa Ma was tellin me this mornin about your weddin—she was there, yon know—an says you an your wife were the handsomest ooaple she ever saw. Then I jnst wanted to see you— an Bob, of coarse—so bad I said I was com in right over. An I shall tell Boh it was ou purpose to see you." company." "Yon forget the McGregor habit of hospitality," Jaok said, half smiling. "The old gentleman has few pleasures. One of the greatest is to know his own table is spread here at his chnrch and gathers 30 people about it Of oourse Rob will be here unless her father is ilL In that case she will sit beside him, reading the Bible and singing the old hymns that generations of McGregors have sung before her. And then be will pray. Nobody can pray like him. He has the finest soul. One look at him is better than a sermon." Then, of coarse, he bad let her drive bei fill, delighting no leas than herself in her knowledge of all the finer nioe points. She knew and loved horses as well as himself. Up to three years back she had had the best mount in the oounty. Nothing there oonld give dust to Lightlady, the Lightfoot mare out of Bounybel, that Rob had broken and trained herself into a pattern of eqnine virtues. A thief had oome in the night and stolen her from the pasture where she ran at grass. Rob bad got white and breathless a minute when the certainty of loss came to her, then broken into a laugh, saying as her color oame back: "An you love to give them away, you dear, generous thingl" Miss Winfold oooed, taking the sheaf of blossoms. In a little while she rode away, a figure of fun, with a small black boy up behind her, a basket of peaches upon one arm and the roses, safely bundled in paper, filling her lap. Rob took no beed whatever of Mrs. Talbot's entrance, bnt when the tap tap of a oane heralded her father she stepped lightly down the aisle, met him at the door, to which Jack Talbot had led him, and took him to his accustomed place in the pew next the pulpit. She sat down by him there, regardless of Mr. Topmark's imploring looks, his beckonings and wildly significant grimaces. She did noC even shake her head, bnt sat holding her father's band and now and then patting it softly until the sermon began. "Of oourse you can," Miss Winfold echoed, then shifted the talk so brightly and skillfully that iu a little while Jack had taken the further plunge of asking if be might hope to take her to church upon the morrow. "Sit down, my dear. I am glad truly yon have come, all the gladder that I cannot see yon," Mr. McGregor said, with a laugh more pitiful than tears. "But I saw you among the last things," be went on. "I remember it welL You were at the store with your mother— the chubbiest, neat little girl, with dimples all over her bands. Let me see. Are the dimples there still? Tea, every one," touching her plump band. "And I bear through my friend Talbot that you are the best daughter in the world. You know, I cannot quite agree to that, though he says his wife thinks so. I have a girl of my own. Aside from her you are no doubt the dearest girl in the world." Rob watobed her out of sight, singing gayly. Then she gave her father his dinner, talking to him throughout of their caller and sundry bits of gossip she bad let fall. Yes, Alice was rather nioe, Rob agreed, very nioe, considering her mother. She seldom talked scandal and was in the main truthful, things none could allege against Mrs. Winfold. But for all her popularity Rob thought she herself would not care to be like her. Popularity was very well, but to keep it one must efface oneself far mare than was agreeable. "How I wish I could say 'yes' right off," Miss Winfold returned airily. "But, oh, I daren't, not without askin momnier. She's let us fix to go, but we won't know until night whether or no there is preachin at her church. If there is, I may have to go there. You know what a Baptist she is an how striot they are. Maybe you'll be glad if I do have to go. I half believe you have asked me just because you were sorry, not that you really want me"— "He is a saint on earth," Miss Winfold said, gathering herself together far • carefully modest descent Jack held out both hands to her, but she touched barely one of them with the tips of her very tight kid gloves. The buggy was high swung. Her legs—she would have fainted at mention at them—were quite too short for the step it gave her, so she oame down so heavily upon her pet oorn she had much ado to keep from crying out in pain. Limply, her brows almost frowning, she managed to go inside and drop into a seat With a long relieved breath Jack went away and made one of the buzzing gossipers. "Oh, I don't want to bluff yon off! Ifj I did, I should not try words. Nothing! short of dynamite conld possibly da that," Rob said, smiling tranquilly, a» she walked away. She had still the sense, of being outside herself, of watching » double who laughed and jested and even] got a dnll amusement from Topmark's| antics what time her real self was in the depths of woe. She began to feel, too, that she must be rid of him at all) hazards. So she almost ran after Mrs. I Payne, who had been her mother's dear-' est friend, and, so long as they were, close neighbors,Rob's own especial prov-i idenoe. She was a big woman, with a placid, pinky faoe, almost without wrinkles,; under beautiful, white hair. Her two* daughters were tall and as thin as thai mother was plump, though they had the, same fine blue eyes and wholesome, sunny smile. As they shook hands with Mr. j McGregor he said a little anxiously: Much depends upon one's viewpoint While the dear lady thus took herself to task, her protegee was saying fretfully:"I, too, can amuse myself," Rob said very low. Then she said to Peter:' 'Go on to the kitchen while I write my note. It will not take long, just long enough for you to eat a watermelon. Mam Liza will give you one. Do you think you oare about it?" "I don't more than half believe Jack is oomin. Like as not that fool mother of his told him be must, an be ain't thC* sort to be driven. If be don't come, my cake is all dough. He's sure to be over at Roecoe, talkin with Rob McGregor"—She bad said to ber father that morning, in the faoe of ber gallant: "Daddy, don't think I care particularly to go with Mr. Topmark. On the oontrary, I'm afraid the ride will turn out a costly luxury when he comes to set a price on the tobacco this fall, but I do want dreadfully to make a lot of other women unoomfortable. Widows and maids of all ages will be setting caps at him today, and I intend he shall not so much as look wk one of them." "The fellow should be ashamed of himself. No artistic horse thief would ever have demeaned himself to take anything so ridiculously easy, but if he bad good taste in horseflesh Lightlady was a temptation. Nothing in the state bad better blood or action. If be was in a strait, he chose well. No doubt it's awfully unprincipled to say it, but if he was in danger I forgive him and hope he got away." Peter vanished like a shadow. Somehow the note took a long time, though when finished it was but a line. Rob scrawled it upon a scrap of paper, folded it narrowly and tied it in a cocked hat "What nonsense!" Jack Raid. "Of course I am sorry for myself, to think I have so few chances of taking you about and making you behave for a whole day." "Why, you told ma you had fixed it so Rob wouldn't never talk ter him no more. I listened at the door an heard you. Was that jest a lie ter pacify her erbout your leavin us all the work ter do?" Nina asked from the door where she stood watching the road from Luray. Alioe made a dart at her and pinched her sharply, crying out: To that Mr. McGregor answered, with a smile: "You do not need to be like her or anybody. Times have changed, I know, but you must never forget that the heiress of Rosooe is among those who set social regulations rather than those who perforce follow them.'' "Teddy Barton will likely say that is a true love knot," she said, with a low laugh. Then she sat holding it fast, thinking, thinking ever all the week bad brought Jack—Jack did love her after a oowardly fashion. He had fallen away from her because his mother did not like her. She did like Alice Winfold best of all the world. Anyway nothing concerning him could touoh her any more. She was grieved, half heartbroken indeed, but it was at finding him so much leas noble and manly than she bad thought, not through any feeling personal to herself. "Well, I must say this caps the climax," Rob said from the door back of them. ' 'Daddy! To think of your blossoming out into a gallant at tbis time of life! Alice, I shall like you awfully for a stepmother. Bat, oh, dear, bow surprised I ami I thought I bad tbis young man," laying a light hand on her father's bead, "so well trained I could trust him, even with the belle of the neighborhood." Not that his heart was in it He meant but to find out if Topmark's madness was widely bruited abroad. It did not surprise him greatly to see one and another nudge his elbow neighbor as be oame within earshot, but he was astonished to see smiles and significant winks, as though something amazingly funny bad just happened or was on the edge of happening. As he said it he leaned a thought toward her, a lazy laugh in his eyes. Miss Winfold answered it with a smile that showed all her pretty teeth. She bad hardly ever looked so well as at that precise minute As Jack's face came yet closer she gave him a dainty fillip across the cbeek, saying lightly: "Ah, hit. Mr. Impertinence! You are tho one that needs to be kept in order." "Now, ain't she jest the beat of all— brighter a heap 'n new money?" Mr. Topmark had said in the father's ear. "No, Miss Rob, honor bright, the trip shan't be wuth no mo' ter me 'n jest the pleasyer of it, that I oain't valyer in dollars an oents. But ef you'll help me git the wife I want when I come ter want her—why, give yon my word the ole gentleman here shall git twict the prioe fer what grows in the place that anybody else'll give." "Never mind, daughter. Yoa shall have a better than Lightlady as soon as ever Jack can find it for you," Mr. Mo- Gregor had said, and Rob had flung up her hands, saying, with a mischievous laugh : "Daddy, do you mean that? Oh, you can't! Surely you'll let me choose my own saddle horse. Remember, I may one day have to choose •'*— "At any rate, she does not follow them," Rob said, jumping up to fetob her father another bowl of cream. When he had finished it, she led bim to a couch, made bim lie down and read to him until be ought to have been fast asleep. Instead he grew restless. "Will you shut up, madam? Oh, I have the greatest mind to make mommer send you to Aunt Pink Graham's an make you stay there till after the big meetin. You are just so impudent an frisky there's no liviu with you." "So that girl of mine found you in, spit* of the crowd. I hope yon are going) to help me keep her in bounds today." "Never you mind about this girl. I remember her of old—the best bad1 ohild and worth any three good ones, that ever trod shoe leather," Susan, the. elder of the Payne girls, said heartily.; "I'm so glad, Unole Robert, to find hen just the same. It's refreshing to encounter anybody who dares to be nat-i uraL I don't think girls were meant to be like lumps of putty, ready and wait-, ing to be crushed in any crevice handy. "No, I don't like that Bort," Mr. Top-, mark interposed as gallantly as a mail might with his mouth full of cheese oake. Miss Payne looked him over from, head to foot, then said oarelessly: "I should think girls would scarcely; interest a gentleman of your age." Alice laughed brightly, falling easily in with Rob's whimaioal humor. But she would not take off ber hat and stay to dinner. "I must go in a minute," she said. "Mommer has ooeans of work laid out to da I just ran artay from it Come an give me some roses, Rob, by way of reward." "Think so?" Jack retorted, kissing her outright She drew away with a feint of pouting, but to the most casual eye it was plain she was not displeased and that be, albeit far from a shy youth, was far and away the more embarrassed of the two. He sent the horses along at a mad rate, keeping silence till the town spirescamn in sight. Then he said humbly: "Miss Alice, I—I—oh, hang it all, I'm a cad, an idiot but—but please forgive ma I'm not quite myself today." "Husband," Jack bad broken in, laughing over the face she made, though she ran on as though be bad not spoken. "What's the laugh about?" be asked at tbe man next him. That person hardly turned tbe bead. His eyea were glued to the big road and the moving oloud of fresh dust that proclaimed a new arrival. One minute Jack looked too. Then be started and swore under his breath, for out of tbe dust cloud came first Mr. Topmark's high trotting bay horse; next bia new buggy, shining still with gloss of the shop; last of all Mr. Topmark himself, with Rob McGregor beaida him. "You are tired, too tired to read," be said. "Little daughter, was not your walk this morning too much for you? Go and lie down. I can amuse myself perfectly for a little while." "You mean, no livin with you." Nina snarled back, sticking a pin in her sister s plump arm. As that model young person set up a howl Mrs. Winfold interposed, but Nina sprang away, planted her back against tbe door and said defiantly: "You all better lemme 'lone. Ef you don't I'll go ter Aunt Pink's my own self an tell her bow mommer made me join tbe Baptis'es when I professed, 'cause Aunt Pink's a Baptis', an mommer thought may by ef I was, too, I'd git more money when she died. I'll tell her, too, how It was A1 wasn't let go ter the mo'ners' bench that time she was under seoh bard oonviction. 'Twas 'cause ef she had religion an oouldn't danoe mommer waa right shore she oouldn't never out Rob McGregor out with Jack Talbot. I believe Rob'll git him in spite of all your lyin. I've a great mind ter go there right now an tell her no matter what you said it wa'n't so." "Now, just listen I" Rob had retorted. "Daddy, I think Mr. Topmark is afraid of the big, grown up young ladies and is practicing his pretty speeches on me." She had lost ber friend, the friend who had made so large a part of life. That was harder than losing a hundred lovers. But she did not sigh over it She seemed indeed to herself to stand above and outside herself, looking curiously at the turmoil within an alien soul. With senses tensely alert, she noted the dips and wheelings of the humming birds about the honeysuckles and how delicately the red of the woodbine trumpets melted into the gold of their tips. The vines bad but sparse flowers. Rob broke a near cluster and thrust It in her hair, then walked lightly down the long ball and paused in the back door to hear Mam Lisa say : —"person to inherit my vast estate. What will you do then if you cannot trust me now? You know, people always show the Mst side of themselves, and, like my daddy, I never look under tbe surfaoe." Rob got up, twirling about on ber toes. His ear took note of all ber masking. "So this is what comes of falling in love with Miss Winfold!" she said mock tragically. "I am to be set aside, done without, as of no oonsequenoel Never mind, sir I You may need me yet Remember what Mam Liza says, 'Cow want her tail ag'iu in flytime.'" "No doubt, no doubt," her father had answered, laughing mildly. Yet he wax troubled. He did not like his daughter to be seen in such oompany, but to forbid it outright was a piece of rudeness he would not venture upon now that the matter had got so far. Of course there oould be no more to it than a piece of the ebullient folly normal to the estate of new widowerhood. Rob was so young, so whimsically full of pranks, it had no doubt seemed to her an excellent jest to go along with him. Doubtless other women would, as she said, pull caps for him now that he was said to be rich and growing yearly richer, but Rob—the thought was absurd. Only he must caution her against repeating her freak, though all her world must see that it was only a freak. "First you must eat some peaches," Rob said. "And tell your mother the White Heaths are nearly ripe. She must •end and get all she wants next week." "Yet you would venture upon a horse trade," Jack bad said, lifting bis eyea oommiseratingly, "when you know that even my father, the honest est man alive, admits that trading borsea is a mighty strain on snob qualities. In fact sometimes—say when he cornea borne with a beast worth about twioe tbe (me he rode away—I have my doubts if tbe strain is not a little too much even for him." "You have such lots. Why don't you ■ell some?" Miss Winfold asked inoautiously. At once Mr. McGregor sat very upright "Why, Jack, what can you be talkin about?" Miss Winfold returned, her eyes full of large, innocent wonder. Jack scarcely beard the long guffaw that went up from tbe gazing crowd. Somehow he reached the vehicle just as Mr. Topmark clambered heavily down from it Rob was making to follow him, her little foot lightly poised, both hands held out after a childlike fashion sbe had. Jack shouldered himself between ber aud her proper escort, took ber almost in bis arms and set her upon the ground. Tbe audacity of it half paralyzed Mr. Topmark. He began to scowl darkly, then broke into a wry grin, saying:CHAPTER IX. Though Jack had a wretched day of it oooling his hefels about town while he waited Miss Winfold's pleasure, there was no trace of it in his face when ho sat at tbe Winfoldsupper table, chat ting with the family. He was a just, clean minded fellow, ohivalric almost to tbe degree of quixotry. The Winfolds, he had reflected, were blameless in the derangement of bis plans. Tbey had known nothing of them. They could not suspect under what duress he was held. Besides it was part of the amends owed the dear mammy to do her bidding joyously, as though it was no task. It made bis heart sink to know he could not possibly see Rob alone for another whole day. All the samo, when he got up to leave, he reminded Mist* Winfold that she had not told him about the morrow. "We have not more than enough for ourselves and oar neighbors, black and white," be said. "And, Miss Alice, even if there were a great surplus, I should hate to think that the sale of it had maybe cheapened the price of some poor neighbor's wares." "Oh, wbat a wicked, wicked girl I" the father said, stroking her hair softly. Rob gave bis ear a dainty tweak and pushed him back among his pillows. "I have not seen you before since; your unspeakable loss, Mr. Topmark," Mrs. Payne interposed mildly. "So £ must say how I sympathize with you— so sudden and terrible and so entirelyunforeseen. Tour wife was, I think, 20D years younger than yourself." "Shut up!" Rob had cried. "I will not listen to treason, not against Colonel Talbot If it was bis ton now—but I won't be personal. You see, I have taken tbe oolonel's judgment, and be says Bonnybel's new little oolt Is finer than silk and going to be handsomer than Lightlady. So I shall train it up in the way it should go and ride Bonnybel until her baby is bridlewisei" "Lie there," she said. "To prove how wrong yon are I mean to go all over the place again. Here, Lion I Gnard, boy I On yonr life, take oare till I come baok." "My Lawd, liT Peter, 'pear lek ter me yon all at de sto' gut metty heap er business dis yere way in short Whnt took an fetobed you yere, rigged up dat erway, wusser'n er skeercrow?" Rob flushed deeply and gave Alioe an appealing glance. That young lady opened her eyes very wide, but said nothing, only rose and walked beside Bob to the garden. She had got half across tfie orchard when tbe dog's deep baying recalled her. She turned and hurried toward the house, noting, in spite of her heavy heart, the oool, delicious shadow about it, the orioles flashing in and out of the leaves, tbe sifting sunshine falling in golden flecks upon the twisted grass and tbe untidy stretoh of gravel before the front door. "Bill mule, he fotcbed me ober de groun, but 1 s'pec' it's Miss Bob whar at de bottom er my comin," Peter said, with a grin. "I s'pec' dat er lub letter Marse Ben Topmark took an sont her by me. Lordy, I hopes de answer gwine tek long ernough fer me ter eat nodder watermillion." "Nina! Ob, yon little wretch!" Miss Winfold and her mother screeched in concert. But Nina only laughed more tauntingly than ever. "Yon wouldn't cry ef you oould see yourself, Al," she said, nodding judicially. "Lord, your nose looks like a humbly bee had stung it on both sides. Do stop! J ain't really anxious ter stop you from marryiu Jack. The Lord knows I wish you'd marry most anybody so I oould have a chanoe at things. But why ain't you like Unole Ben? Sence he fell in lore he's all ■miles an oandy. I git all I can eat whenever I see him." " Tea, poor Louisa. She was as good a wife as ever man had," Mr. TopmarfcyV"" said, reddening faintly. "Still, Mrs. Payne, I've near got over my grief. I'm that lonesome I don't mean ter be long withont somebody in her plaoe." As the preacher rose to give oat the opening hymn Mr. Topmark got np and moved across to his proper masculine sphere. He was the moral of grinning though sheepish delight Jack Talbot, ooming in with the other men, felt a raging desire to knock him down as they two met in the aisle. Teddy Barton, walking just behind Jack, gave oat a stifled snicker and dropped into a near seat, whispering loadly to his next neighbor: "Geel Circus ain't a patch in ter this fan. Wouldn't take $3.50 cash money fer the sight er Jack Talbot lookin cross eyed at ole Top an ole Top hisse'f actin the lovyer. Richest thing in seben counties. He's got it awfnl bad. Why, Miss Rob McGregor can make him mind jest like he was her little floe dawg. Nice girl, she is. Always did like her. 'Tween yon an me an the gatepost I could cut ole Top out"— "It looks like witch work—tbe way your flowers bloom," she said, glancing along the borders. "Everybody else's are all dried up. But wait a minute, Bob. I didn't come out for just tbe flowers. I—I want to ask you somethiu —somethiu important—that I can't mention to anybody else." There the matter had rested. All the talk oame back to young Talbot as be gathered up his reins and sent the sorrels away at a slapping paoe. Even if she had asked it be was far too wise to risk Miss Winfold's heavy hand over them. Intelligently docile, the creatures were full of subtle and sympathetic fire. They knew an alien touoh Sid resented it mightily. But for Rob they did their best, moving with a smooth, skimming stride, free of darts or pointing and M evenly as though there were one spirit in twin bodies. Today they felt their master's mood and were so skittish and restivo Miss Winfold began to scream, not aloud, but in faint Bpits and spurts. "They are, ain't they, rannin away!" she asked, clinging to his arm. "Now, see here, Jack, that ain't jest egzactly the fa-ar thing, but I cain't quarrel with you. You're so much er older man 'n me I'm bound ter treat you respectful ef you do git in my way." A minute of heavy silence, and then everybody began talking at once and very fast Under cover of it Mr. Top* mark shuffled away. As be shook np the bay trotter he gave a low, contemptuous whistle, saying to himself: "I'm glad I spit it oat Bat, Lord, how tbey looked, like I'd said I was er horse thief.. An fer jest nothin at alL Poor Louisa la as dead as ever she'll be." "Peter, yon can go now. The note is ready," Bob called from the piazza. The lad jumped as though be had been shot, took a strangling last gulp of red, juicy melon, then darted away, as grotesque a messenger as ever bore the decree of a human fate. "Thank you. I feel very much in plaoe just now," Jack said, keeping fast bold of Rob's hand. It was small and gloveless, neither white nor soft, but thrilling to tbo finger tips with the subtlest vital essence. Something in the touch of it set him all a-tremble. He was taken aback when it was drawn steadfastly from his clasp and dropped at its owner's side. A raffling wind blew from tbe orchard full of ripe, fruity soents and the tang of hedgerow flowers. Bob bared her brow to it and insensibly let it oomfort her. As she looked anxiously down the road she said under ber breath: "I wonder what else oan be ooming. If it is any fresh trouble, I think I must run away, or pappy will surely find me oat" "Why, Alice, 1 am tbe last person for serious matters, and if it's a secret please don't tell me," Rob said, with a half smile. "Not that I can't keep one, but some one else might not, and then the one who had trusted me might think I was the traitor." "Mommer must tell you," Miss Winfold said, blushing, but too faintly to be unbecoming. "Do stop oryin, Alice," Mrs. Winfold said fretfnlly. "Don't spoil your fortune like I did. Ef 1 hadn't got so mad I cried myself right ugly, you needn't of had Winfold fer your father. Dan'el Trisket was waitin on me then. He was oomin that day, an he neve? oome afterwards. I've tol4 brother of ten he owed me a heap. 'Twaa hint set me off bawlin, tellin me how tired\e was er seein me eround an sayin fer God's sake not ter let Trisket find out what a temper I had, as ef I er anybody could" help the tempers they was born with. But anyway I lost Trisket He jest couldn't abide ugly women"— Jack shook his head. "I hate to say it," he protested, "but I believe you are trying to get rid of mo so you can go with aomo other fellow." CHAPTER VIL CHAPTER X. "But you are the only one I oan tell," Alice said, dropping her eyea "You are my age an all that I—I can't talk about this with mommer. She wouldn't understand." Next day was Saturday, and Jack Talbot got up firmly resolved before night came to take his mother into his confidence, then go straight to Bob, for he found himself unreasonably in love, many fathoms beyond judgment or prudence. Life without ber was not worth living, worth having. He must woo her manfully and win ber even in spite of herself. "Where is Mr. McGregor?" Jack went on, standing obstinately close. If disappointment like death, loves a shining mark, it is easy to comprehend the thing which befell Mr. Topmark's refulgent head. But one customer rewarded his thrifty home ooming—a small lad, very black, very impish, clothed only in a shirt and sunshine. His errand was to buy S cents' worth of ooal oil, yet he lingered a good hour in talk and left Mr. Topmark with cold shivers playing np and down his spine. "Jest listen at him I" Mrs. Winfold said, with a smile thut showed all her yellow teeth. "It makes me laugh, Jack. The idearl As ef I wouldn't an Alice wouldn't he jest too glad ter have her go with yon wherever she goes at all. Though thar's preuchin at onr church, she may go with you ter tho Methodis' meetin an thanky inter tbo bargain. Not that I don't believe the Baptis' doctring jest as strong as ever, but other see's have got religion—yes, real religion. Yonr mother, now, is Methodis', an thar ain't no better woman nowhere"— "It must be somebody wanting land," she thought, still peering anxiously down the roadway. It was tbe time of year when would be tenants pestered them most men who wanted to begin fallowing for next year's wheat Sha oould not keep them from her father—it was bis province to say them yea or nay—yet they kept her on tenter books, fearing that by some incautious word they would topple down tbe beliefs she took such pains to establish and keep fast "Oh, daddy's comin in the carriagel" Mr. Topmark returned, with a leering wink that made Jack ache to throttle him and sent a hot, painful red into Rob's cheek. She had been very paleas pale almost as her old white frock that, in spite of its shabbiness, oould not mask her youthful graoe. But she had not tried to make herself in any degree fine, though she might reasonably have known herself the focus of all eyes. She wore the narrow brimmed black straw hat that had been her best for three years. There was a black ribbon, too, about her little waist and a fall of old thread lace at the neck of her gown. It left the round throat bare, though every other woman there had swathed herself to the ohin. "I'm sure I shall not understand either," Bob said, her smile broadening. "You may tell me if you choose. But I warn you it is no use." "Perhaps," Jack said, "but I think I can hold them, though if you are afraid, Miss Alice, I'll take you back. Your mother is behind in the barouche"— "Yon better hash. Ef yoa He that a-way whar Jack kin hear er ole Topknot either, it won't be good fer you," Teddy's gossip answered in his own sibilant key. "Er fool an blind'd know, Ted, Miss Rob never seen the day she'd eben step on you, not ef you got down ii| the path fer her ter walk on." "Yes, it is some use," Miss Winfold persisted. "It is. Oh, 1 shall never get it out it's about—Jack Talbot you know. He wants me to—to be engaged to him, an I don't know whether it would be right while he has to take care of tbe family, you know." "Yes, I know. Little Nineey begged so to come an see the big meetin crowd," Miss Winfold said, calming herself. "But go backt The ideart You know I ain't afraid, nor mommer ain't afraid for me when I have you to take care of me. Mommer thinks there'B nobody like yon, so good an kind, you know. An I don't hardly see myself what we will do when you—that is, if anything should ever take you away from ua-f' "Yon mean when you are taken away from me," Jack said, trying to speak lightly and failing miserably. It was ungrateful, no doubt, but today the Winfold appreciation grated upon his most sensitive nerve. Never before in his life had he been so glad to see Bethel church. The squat roof of it showed dry and brown amid the clustered trees of the churchyard, if indeed that could be oalled a churchyard which wholly laoked inclosure. It lay just upon the edge of the big road, which was here a dust} breadth of level graynees. The oaks and beeches and hickories all had a thick powdering over their abundant leaves. The trunks of them were studded with horseshoes, so set that one oalk formed a convenient bitching hook, for all the church folk rode, even those who lived but a half mile off. By consequenoe the shady, swinging limbs which made ideal tethering places were pre-empted soon after the congregation began to gather. But if you had put up your own horseshoe everybody respected and reoogniaed yonr prior claim to it. Fate had other uses for his day—fate that took the guise of his lady mother. Before be was half through breakfast she said, with a calm and smiling reasonableness that put contradiction out of the question: For Bad, the small darky, lived with his parents upon Roecoe plantation and was garrulously fall of Aunt Phemy and her powers. A random word here and there let the storekeeper know that there was belief among the blacks that she had "laid magio" against him wbichl had some way recoiled on his wife's innooent head. No cause was assigned,: yet his own oonsolonsness and what* should have been his conscience easily supplied one. Year in, year out, he hadJ bought their crops, weighing them toD his own profit and paying for them in, merchandise. It was in suoh traffic that) his prosperity was rooted. Even if he* bad dealt fairly it would have made himi rich. With long weight and scant measure the store was a veritable gold mine. "Then I don't see how he ever came near yon," Miss Winfold said, biting her lips. "But I've heard all that 6,000 times before. I wish you would shut up. I'm glad you didn't get Trisket, even if he was rich an had sense enough to die an let his children enjoy the money. Money ain't everything, not quite. Somebody said onoe before Colonel Talbot: 'Jack bad better oourt Mame Trisket She had such a lot of money.' And the ool#nel said; 'Yea, •be was a very nioe girl, but he would not want any money in bis family that had the taint of Murrell's gang back of it' An, though he said he didn't know it for truth, that MameTrisket's grandfather was a poor white an got rich so all at onoe folks couldn't help but think he was in with the old robber." Such retorts merely made Teddy smile. He was so much the artist in bis lying the bare exercise of his capacity was joy enough, and he had not really the least ill mind toward Rob. He thought indeed she looked distinctly oharming there, holding the old man's hand and watching him solicitously throughout the sermon. But Mrs. Winfold, who had come late and flustered to churob, oonfided to her seat mate before the minister had come to "second ly"That girl is doin all that fer jeit nothin but effeot, makin out like she keers so muoh fer her pore blind old father. As for my part I don't see how er man as well behaved as Mr. MoGreg or can bring hisself ter profane the house of God by settin that way on the women's sida" Bob was bending to clip an especially choioe rose. She snipped tbe stalk with a clean cut and got up steadily, tbe flower in ber hand, as she said, with a oareless acoent: "By all means be engaged to him. The family will be delighted. And as to taking oare of them, the debts anralmoat paid now. 1 reckon Jack will soon have a plaoe of bis own." "II Is odd, little daughter, but very kind people will try to profit by a neighbor's trouble," Mr. McGregor said often when he had put their offers aside. "They say you are too much burdened; that the place of mistress is too hard for you. But depend on it, dear child, such hardship is education, and so long as yon yourself do not complain I will have nobody ooming between us and our land. We love it, and it loves us. Eh, little girl? Besides, with our own people doing so well, why should we change?" "Thank you, ma'am, there is not," Jack said, with a bow. "So I may call it settled that you go with me, Miss Alice. Be sure you don't play mo false. And now good night all. " "Jack, dear, will you please call for Alice Winfold on your way to town today. I know you are going. You always do when the hands have holiday. And so I promised Alice that she should go with you. She wants a few things for the big meeting tomorrow." A very little later ho was driving home, not furiously, but with slaok reins, his head bare to the soft, cool night Somehow it reminded him of Rob's hand—so light, so vital, so fnll of thrilling rest. Ho loved her—ah, how he loved berl If Alioo Winfold would but stand friend to tbem, he might hope to bring his mother around That meant very much. Rob, he knew well, would never enter his family, any man's family, that did not give her cordial welcome. It was that most likely that had lain back of her repnlse of him. It was hard, but some way—so blind is young love—her obstinate pride seemed to him tho finest heroism. It was lovo or nothing with her. No buffeting of fato would over be hard enough to mako her take a rich husband or one in any way not to her mind. For part of Rob's eccentricity was that she preferred to be out of the fashion rather than to spend her time making over her few scant frocks. Mrs. Winfold said it did seem to her the greatest pieoe of laziness—the way Rob McGregor was always three years behind the style. But Rob never looked at anything from the Winfold standpoint Besides her abundant leisure, which that model woman bemoaned as a snare of satan, was not, after all, so very abundant. "But mammy," Jack protested, "I bad planned to have a holiday myself. Going to town is not tn°°b fun, not even with Miss Alice for oompany." "It is not that so much. I know he'd give me everything heart oould wish. I had better tell you all of it," Miss Winfold said, with a bashful smile. "Yon see, he came to see me, an mommer was away, so we got to talkin about—well, about ourselves. An then he took my hand an said he—he loved me; never bad loved anybody else; would I be engaged to him? Then he broke out: 'Maybe I haven't got the right to ask If, You don't know, weak a young fellow can be nor bow be lets himself get entangled. But you are my salvation. Say you'U have me after awhile. But—but don't tell anybody I have asked you, not for six months yet ' Wasn't that a strange way to ta)*?" "Jack, I am ashamed of you. Such a dear girl, the very nicest in the neighborhood, and so dependent!" Mrs. Talbot said in a grieved voice. 4 'Poor child! You know she has no brotber." So Rob had been nerved to persist in her brave and loving nntrath. Today her heart misgave her strongly. Love, faith, everything, seemed slipping away from her. Yet she had a wild inclination to langb, to sbont aloud. And she did langh oonsnmedly when, as she reached the rough stone steps before the porch, she saw little Peter Smith getting down from a tall, sleek mule. Be was black and impish looking, with bushy hair wrapped in a hundred little tails that stood out about his head and gave his faoe the look of being framed in caterpillars. His ragged straw bat made a halo back of the tails, and his thin black neck was lost in the collar of a man's shirt, very stiff and daxslingly white. Trousers that almost matched the shirt In size were gallowsed quite under the armpits and bad been patched to the degree of high art. In spite of drawing up there was a big roll of them above each ankle. The left foot was bare, except for a broken spur tied on with twine. Tbe right bad been thrust into a woman's ragged shoe. Yet all his riches might not avail to save him from the enemy walking and working in darkness. As the boy t "Umphl But the poor child's mother has, and he is in town half tbe time now," Jaok said ungraciously. Mrs. Talbot's mouth hardened as she said: "I've heard all that too/' Mrs. Winfold said stiffly. "Nina, do you reokoq we can live at home ef Jack should hapD pen not ter oome?" lad away Mr. Topmark set his tei The seat mate was devout, bat human, and she owed Mrs. Winfold a day la the social harvest of disagreeable speeches. Behind her fan she whispered loudly in that lady's astounded ear: mattering: "Dead man conjure, eh? Rob read to her father for hours each day, or upon fine ones led him abroad to refresh himself with sunshine and sweet air. Nor was the burden of their scant affairs by any means so light as it looked from the outside. She kept up faithfully to the blind man her fiction of prosperity, and success in it meant standing always between him and the outer world. The decadence of their fortunes touched her nearly. For all her bravery, her own ragged horse furnishings and the shabby old oarriage in which sometimes she rode abroad were engines of torture. Yet every year or so, when her father insisted that the vehicle be refurbished, she acquiesced dutifully, made a pretense of sending it away, and six weeks later had it driven to the door, smelling of the fresh varnish she herself had brushed over it, with cushions beaten to puffy lightness and straps and tassels set in new planes. Then the blind man said, with a little laugh: that ole hag— I must set Teddy an some more boys at her. They'll fix her so she won't never hurt me ergin. Wisht •he didn't live at Roscoe, though. S'pose Miss Rob found it out? Lord, the fool I am erboot that gal I I little thought how things would turn the nigh* I"— "I do not forget Mr. Topmark. But, Jack, you must admit it can hardly be pleasant to a delicate girl like Alice to go about with him now that—that he is making himself so foolishly, so intolerably, conspicuous by bis infatuation for that poor, flighty girL If be marries ber—they say be will—heaven help poor Mrs. Winfold to bear it" "Well, hardly," Nina said, with an acoent of aggravating oonviotion. "But there he is. Put on your tbiok blue veil, Al, an do behave your prettiest But, la, ef you do rope Jack in, I oain't help but be sorry fer him." "Why, a little while baok it looked like your brother would be sittin there, too, an fer just the same reason—to be by that vixen of a Rob McGregor." Topmarkl The thought of him was ridiculous profanation. At the most he could onlyfuintly annoy and harass Rob before Jack could put himself in the place which would authorize him to protoct her. Tho man might as well think to mate with a star in heaven. And Jack grew hot under the collar thinking that any lip could link his love's name with that of the bald, greedy eyed storekeeper. The basket meeting with which the "protracted effort" of Bethel church always began was easily the leading social event of a Walnut Creek summer. Still Mrs. Winfold had not meant to be there, oertainly not after she knew that Alice would be safe for the day in the bosom of the Talbot family. A dinner creditable to her housewifery and her daughters meant the spending of time and substance for whioh she saw no use. But at the last minute Nina had demanded to be brought; hence her mother's late arrival and ignorance of her brother's fall into Rob's snare. Something in the glass fronted letter box nailed to one pillar of the porch eaught his eye. Topmark's was not a post office. The nearest one, indeed, was Ave miles off, and folks who went to it of set purpose had a neighborly habit of bringing whatever lay in wait there for any near resident and dropping it in the box as they rode home past the store. So Mr. Topmark was not surprised to see a scrawled envelope inside the box, yet when he had got it oat and opened it his hands Bhook eagerly as he read: "Ef you ain't the very best boy in the world I" Mrs. Winfold said a little later, shaking Jack's hand. "I do hope this ain't no trouble. My poor child has been mostcryin. So afraid it might be. But I said you was too much like your dear, good mother ter mind doin little things fer us, that haven't got nobody rightly ter call on." ''Very, but hardly so strange as your telling me about it," Rob said, waving ber rose idly to and fro. "At least," she went on, "it seems to me had any one spoken so to me I should think a great many times before repeating what "He won't marry ber—be sure of that!" Jack said furiously, getting to hiB feet. "I'll give tbe Winfolds that much oomfort. And, further, if he goes philandering after Rob McGregor again, I'll wring his neck, d—n him, the blear eyed old brute!" As swiftly as Jack and Miss Winfold had oome they were far from the first upon the ground. Men stood clustered in twenties, in thirties even, about in the shadiest spots, talking, laughing uproariously and giving each other resounding slaps on the back, slaps so vigorous and hearty, indeed, noise of them penetrated the ohuroh itself, where the women, young and old, sat as eagerly at gossip. "Jack, my son! O-oo! To think you can speak so to your own poor mother!" Mrs. Talbot moaned, dropping ber face in ber hands. "Oh, my heart is broken. I did not think you ever"— Jack muttered something hardly articulate and sat down, nervously twirl* ing his straw hat. Miss Winfold trotted in, demure in a thick veil, whose meshes, however, could not hide her beaming smile as sho asked after "dear Mrs. Talbot" As the road turned the corner of Roscoe bounds Jack started and sat suddenly upright Rapid hoofs, a shadowy figure, dashitt by him in the flickering moonshine. That was not wonderful. What astonished him was that the rider was mounted upon Bonnybel and led ner lusty colt, haltered and trotting beside. "My part is done. Now you do yours same way. The bear with er painter's hide." He came toward her as though be were a hundred years old, dropped bis bat upon the ground, pushed back bis The minute service ended, she made for him, saying in her meekest voioe, from which ahe tried vainly to keep a tearful shake: "Mammy, mammy, do forgive me! I was a scoundrel, a villain of tbe deepest dye, to wound you so!" Jack cried, kneeling and slipping bis arms penitently about her. She let ber head drop on his shoulder. There were tears on her cheek. Sight of them swept away Jaok's last figment of resistance. He laid his head on ber knee as be had done back in tbe dark days when first they had struggled together to save their maintenance, saying very low: "Precious mammy, you must not cry! Don't, please! Smile at me onoe, and I'll go to the north pole if you say I must." Teddy Barton was at church, the oenter of a group nearest the roadway. Teddy was beautiful to behold—as ne himself phrased it, "got up regardless." His white linen suit was stiff and spotless and aooented to dazzling splendor by a sky blue necktie and bright red socks, abundantly visible above low, white shoes. His straw hat, too, bad a flamboyant ribbon of red, white and blue. He swung it above bis head and made a deep bow as Jaok drove past with Miss Winfold at his elbow, then nudged his next neighbor and broke into a atrial laugh, gasping out as he writhed: After be had read it three times be gave a long whistle; then said, half aloud: "In that case, my frien ba'r, I better be fixin ter do er little scratchin fer myself. With the ole mar' an the colt gone thar ain't er thing she could raise er dollar on. The niggers own the stook they work. Them waz ole Allen's mules ter the carriage terday. I do hope she'll hear reason, but I'm mighty 'fraid ahe won't Anyway, I better have Lawyer Howell right here on the spot" enormous surplus of sleeve and held out to her • note in a cream laid envelope with a red and gold B upon tbe flap of it. "I most jealous of your mother, Jack. I believe Alice loves her more'n she does me," Mrs. Winfold chirped. "Next time, darling, you must have • brand new eg ui dak a, for. after all. Nina smothered a giggle and gasped out, "Well, tbut ain't surprisin." CHAPTER VIII. equipage is truly the test of gentility. If shabby, it stamps you either a niggard or a pretender. Olothea hardly matter, so they be clean and suitable and not vulgarly fine." "Rmthur T—I hnrw von are well this beau-ti-fui day. Why didn't yon bnnn them dear little angel children with yon ter church?" Betwixt lovo, rebellion and wonder Jack had littole sleep that night Ho got up so pale and hollow eyed even Miss "How you does, Miss Rob, an how's de ole marster?" he asked mournfully. "Please, marm, tell Marse Ben I ain't fergot ter ax yon dat, say ef I does fergit he gwine whup «je, an ef I don't he grfine gimme er feeshin hook." "Ob, pshaw! What have I said?" Mrs. Winfold exnlaimed in affected oonfusion. "Huh, I bad other fish ter fry!" Mr. Topmark said airily, trotting after Rob aa she led ber father to the thick shade where Uncle Allen and Mam Lisa awaited them with the dinner baskets. When the old man began to ask: "Daughter, where are the Talbots? Maybe they can spare us Jack"— Mr. Topmark broke in with an oily smirk: "Oh, la, Sis Sarah's got the whole Talbot gang by the nose, but ef you want things done, sub—why, I ain't gone nowhar, an you may take me for security in any amount —yes, any) No harm shan't oome ter Misa Rob now ner never ef aba'U listen "Nothing out of taste, I am sure," Jack returned. "Gome, Miss Alice. Had we not better be going?" Winfold solicitously remarked his ill looks. Maybe they had better not go to ohuroh, after all, she said. No; she would not riind—that is, not very much —though Ninesy—little angel—had just insisted that sister must wear the new hat first Still, if Jack was too ill to en- Joy the day, she could not think of dragging him through the heat— Memory of such speech gave an edge he did not dream of to Mr. Topmark's leering, significant laugh. But she stood very upright and walked toward the church door between the two men. When she reached the step, each put out a hand to help her. She ignored both, sprang lightly upon the big stone, stepped inside and walked almost the length of the aisle, with Mr. Topmark making strenuous efforts to fan her over her ■boulder. Usually she slipped into the •■at wDut wc. Todav sJba was fltttoelx. "Yes, I have got to buy a new hat an that does take so long," Miss Winfold began. "I'll see to it you get that fishing book, Peter," Rob said, twirling tbe missive between thumb and finger. Sbe had no thought that it related to aught aave the resnlt of the inquiries Mr. Topmark had volunteered to make. Far from taking his visit to berself, she had set it to oompunotion for past neglect awakened by present sorrow. Now ber wind (Mid; "Ife Topmark la reoover- As the sun dipped and the shadows grew long and black across the grass he sat wrapped in deep thougbt, his eyes hardly noting the waning of the day. He gave a great start indeed. Then Luley crept up to him, holding baby Jinney by the hand and with Annie tagging to her frock. "There is no 'must' about it, Jaok," •be said, still brokenly. "Son, I forget sometimes that you are a man now, with f-friends and plans that are not mine." Nina burst in angrily, "You know momnier said 1 should have the next hat that wasn't out of the store." "Oh, my, ef this ain't jest the riohest thing! Never did see sech er figger danced at big meetin befo'. Why, it's reg'lar ladies' change." 'He wants me to—to be engaged to htm " bad bean ss'd Still, If yon want mj opinion, it is that yon may do whatever Jack wlahaa. J dan say ha lt —tbldly "Poor Ninesyl I forgot she was not to know. I have bungled dreadfully. We meant to surprise the girl," Miss Winfold said. Jack was too eager to be off fnr ihoutrht of anything else, but it Jaok cut short ber protestations. "I am well enough," he said. "A little overstrained maybe—this is the anxious tirn» ahont tbft oron. vou know—but Jack might possibly have withstood !)ia mother's opposition. Her resigna- "It's ao lonesome without mother!" |h»wUL "Pa.I come ter ask mightn't "What can be meaar Mia Winfold aaked. noddiaa UnvmA Tftttr* CtafteMd: fun* nmr\