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Show mm ss ) m WTER PRICHARD PATGN SYNOPSIS. 5 I grow tired of my work ns n collet Instructor nml buy a New KnKl.iml farm ?n eight I Inspect my farm and po lo Hoard at Pert Temple's, licit helps me to rare R carpenter ami r farmer. Hard fuier, the carpenter, estimates the repairs md changes necessary on tile house. Mike, roniniences plowing. I start to prune tho jrclmrd treo. Hard Cider builds hook-rases hook-rases around the twin fireplaces. Mrs. Temp!" lures Mrs. PilHg for me as a housekeeper, and announces the coming f a rtM hoard-T from New York. b When a bachelor, who be- X J lieves himself impervious to X 3 lovely woman's wiles, reaches A d the age when he begins to think A 0 that marriage is the better state A J of life for man and then meets X 5 one of those lovely women he X 0 performs In a manner highly X !) amusing to folks already mar- X X rled- swwwvS. vN. "s. v"v -v a. jn. a. a A CHAPTER V Continued. "Sure." said Mike, "you'll pit it right ret. But I was goiu' to put me cauliflowers cauli-flowers there." I paid "friiid Morrtssy" for the town! as the far-off noou whistle rtt flab City blew, nml took my lunch lowti to the brook while the soraper rattled off down the road. The brook reminded me of the pool I was going to build, and the pool of i vague dream, last night of the new boarder, and then, with the patuess of a "well-made" play the boarder herself her-self entered, as It were. That is. I beard the buggy coming, and the voice i'f Bert. I lay down tlat behind the tall weeds and grasses, and remained hidden till the buggy had passed. Then I finished my leach, and lay for a quarter of an hour lazily regarding regard-ing the sky, a great blue sky with cloud ships Coating at anchor In Its Jepths, while the indescribable fra-jrauce fra-jrauce of May iu moist places tilled viy nostrils and a song sparrow prac-.iced prac-.iced in the alders. As I got up to return fo my work, I saw suddenly (hat tit? old apple trees iu my orchard nere showing pink just a frail hint fit it In the veil of young green. A preat cumulus cloud piled up like a Himalayan peak in the west beyond i:iv mouse-gray dwelling. To the left, the new lawn was shiny brown, and as I climbed the slopes the smell of it came to me. Out still farther to the left my land was already staked in rows of packed earth, neatly. The scene was beautiful to my eyes, and the Imagined beauty of tomorrow made me' almost run through the orchard to le.-ue my'lunch basket iu the kitchen and get my tools for the afternoon's work. At five o'clock, as Joe was leaving leav-ing the garden, and Mike had pone to the barn to milk the cows, I, too, put np my tools, resolved to enjoy an tour's loaf my first since I bought the farm! I scrubbed my hands and face at the kitchen sink In a tin basin which recalled my childhood, took a long draft from the tin dipper, filled my pipe, and strolled down through, the h'lldlng orchard . toward the brook. The 6ong -sparrow was still singing. The cloud' ships Were still riding at an--(hor. : Even with my pipe in my mouth I could, smell the odor of moist places in May, Walking beside the' brook, I suddenly found the green spears of an Iris plant amid the grasses. I had scarcely goue six paces when 1 heard the crackle of footsteps on dead, 'wigs somewhere ahead of me, and a iioment later the vague form of a woman was visible making her way Braid the Impeding dead branches. 1 ''odd still. She did not see me till plie. was' close vup.' Then she gave a ilight start and said, "I beg your par-Sun. par-Sun. I trust I am not trespassing." I looked at her, while my pipe bowl as hot In my. calloused haud.: She as scarce, more than a girl, I fancied, Pale , and unmistakably not of this country world. I cannot say how she was dressed, save that she wore no hat nd looked white and cool. But I saw Nmt she had very blue eyes on each iue of a decidedly tilted nose, and these eyes were unmistakably the kind which twinkle. "Trespassing Is a relative term," 'aid I, after this, I fear, rather rudely prolonged scrutiny. "You talk like 'lull's Rhetoric,' " 'ie smiled, with a quick, glance -at the Incongruity of my clothes. V' ' ' "Naturally," I replied. "It was the textbook I formerly Used ; with my 'lasses." There was a little upward gurgle W laughter from' the girl. ."Clearness,; force and elegance, wasn't that the freat triumvirate?" she said. I ccy.ioHT an oooeufOAv. tw&e & CO. "Something ke that, I believe," said I. "I am trying to forget." "And are those pines yours to for-K't for-K't In? It should be easy. I was walking out there In the road, and I spied the brook over the wall and climbed through the briers to walk beside be-side it, because It was trying so hard to talk to me. That was wrong of me, perhaps, but I never could resist a brook nor pine trees. They are such nice old men." "Why, then," I asked, "are the little virgin birches always running away from them?" Her eyes contracted a second, and then twinkled. "The birches plague them." she replied. "How do they plague them?" I demanded. de-manded. "Pull their pine needles when they are asleep, of course," she answered. "Thank you for letting me walk here." "Not at all," said I, "it is always a pleasure to entertain a true naturalist." natural-ist." She smiled and made to pass on. I stood a little aside. In silence. And in that moment of silence suddenly, from near at hand, from somewhere In these very pines, there rang out the golden throb of a hermit thrush so close that the grace notes of his song were audible, cool and liquid and lovely. love-ly. The suddenness, the nearness, the wilducss of this song made It indescribably inde-scribably thrilling, and the girl and I both stood rigid, breathless, peering into the gloom of the pines. Again the call rang out, but a little farther away this time, more plaintive, more fairylike fairy-like with distance. She took a step as if to follow, and instinctively I put out my hand, grasping her arm to restrain re-strain her. So we stood anil waited, while from farther still, evidently from the tamaracks in the corner of my lot, came the ellin clarion. The singer I Put .Out My Hand to Restrain Her. was a good one; his' attack was (lawless, (law-less, and he scattered his triplets with Mozartian ease and precision. Still we waited, in silence, but he did not sing again. Then in a kind of wonder the girl turned her face to mine, and in a kind of wonder I realized that I was still holding her arm. She appeared as unconscious of It as I, till I let my hand fall. Then she colored a little, smiled a little, and said, "What was it? I never heard anything so beautiful." beauti-ful." "A hermit thrush," I answered. "Thoreau once described his ong as 'cool bars of melody from the everlasting ever-lasting morning or evening.' I think that expresses it as well as words can." "I have always wonted to hear a hermit," she said wistfully. "And, oh, it' is lovelier than I dreamed! I am going now before I get too jealous of you for having one all your own." "Don't go!" I said impulsively. "The hermit has never snug for me. That song must have been In your honor." The moment when I stood holding her arm, the moment when she had turned her wondering, eager face to mine, had been very pleasant. It was dusk now in the pines, and, looking westward, the low sun was making daggers of light between the trees. My ghost that "! had brought up from the pump Suddenly walked again,. . but .walked In flesh and blood, with blue eyes and tilted " nose. I was undeniably undeni-ably affected. My voice ;mu'st have' betrayed it as I repeated, "Don't go!" "But 1 fear It is time for my supper," sup-per," she said, with a little nervous laugh. "The thrush has evidently gone for his." "Birds eat early," said . "They have to, because they get up so early after that worm." Her laugh was once more an up-gushlng up-gushlng gurgle. The tenseness was broken. I found myself walking by her side through the maples, and pointing point-ing out my house. She clapped her hands ecstatically. "Oh," she cried, "they made the front door out of a highboy! How Jolly! Is it as nice Inside?" "It's going to he nicer," said I. "I'll peep through the windows," she smiled. I led her to my new south door, proudly showing my new lawn and the terrace, and telling her where the roses were lo be, and the sundial, and dilating di-lating on the work my own hands had done. With a silly, boyish enthusiasm, I even displayed the calluses and Invited In-vited her to feel of them, which she did as one humors a child, while I thrilled quite as childishly at the touch of her finger tips. Then we peeped through the glass doors. The low sun was streaming in through the west window nod disclosed the old oak beam across the ceiling. Hard Cider had erected the frame of the bookcase and double settle, which would perfectly per-fectly match the mantels as soon as the molding was on. One side of the settle faced toward one smoky old lire-place, lire-place, the other toward the second. "Two fireplaces! What luxury!" "You see," said I, "when I get tired of reading philosophy at the east fireplace, fire-place, I'll just come around the corner and read 'Alice in Wonderland' at the west chimney nook." "Double fireplaces twin fireplaces twin (ires! That's it. Twin Fires! That ought to be the name of your house." "You're right!" I cried, delighted. "I've never been able to think of a name. That's the Inevitable one that's l-'laubert's one right word. You must come to my christening party and break a bottle of wine on the hearth." She smiled wistfully, as she turned away from the window. "I must surely sure-ly go to supper," she said. "C'Joodby, and thank you for your wonderful concert." con-cert." We walked to the road, but to my surprise she did not turn toward the village but toward Bert's. A sudden light came. "Are you the broken-down boarder?" I cried. The gurgle welled up. and the blue eyes twinkled, but she made no reply. "Just for that." said I, "I won't carry back Mrs. Bert's basket." As we entered the Temples' yard. Mrs. Bert stood iu the kitcheu door. "Well, you two seem to have got acquainted," ac-quainted," she remarked in a matter-of-fact tone. "Miss Goodwin, this is Mr. Upton I told you about. Mr. Upton, Up-ton, this is Miss Goodwin I told you about." - "Mrs. Temple." said I, "you are another. an-other. You didn't tell me." "Young man," she retorted, "Where's my basket?" "I left it behind on purpose," said I. "Then you'll hev ter come home to yer dinner tomorrow," she said. "Well, I'm willing." I answered. j "I guess you be," said she. At supper she returned to the theme, which appeared to -amuse her endlessly. "Miss Goodwin," she said, "I want ter warn you thet Mr. Upton's terrible afraid somebody's goin' ter advise him how ter build his garden. He's a regular man." I replied quickly: "Your warning -is too late," said I; "Miss Goodwin has already begun by naming piy place." "You.' can change the name, . you know,"'' -the gir! smiled. "How can IV" I answered, with great sternness. "It's the right one." Whereupon I went up to my work, and listened to the sounds of soft singing sing-ing In the room across the hall. CHAPTER VI. The Ghost of Rome. "Stella Goodwin." "It's rather a pretty name," I thought, as I read It on the flyleaf of a volume she had left in Mrs. Bert's sitting room. The volume itself amused me Chamberlain's "Foundations of the Nineteenth Century." Cen-tury." Fancy coming to the country for a rest, and reading Chamberlain, most restless because most provocative of books! I was idly turning the leaves when (here was a rustle on the stairs, and Miss Stella t.oodwin entered en-tered with a cheerful "Good morning." "See here," said I, "what are you doing with tliis book, if you are oil for a rest? Xliis is no book for a nervous wreck to be reading." "Who said 1 was a nervous wreck?" she answered. "I'm just tired, that's all. I guess it's really spring fever. I saw a spear of real grass iu Central park, and ran away." "From what?" I asked. "From the dictionary," she replied. "The which?" said I. "The dictionary. Would you like me to sing you a song of the things that begin with "hy?" She laughed again, and began to I chant In burlesque Gregorian, "Hyo-potamus, "Hyo-potamus, hyoseapular, hyoscine, Hyo-scy Hyo-scy a m ae, hy oscy a mine, H yoscya m us " "Stop!" I cried. "You will have me hypnotized. See, I'm on the "hy's' myself! my-self! Please explain not sing." "Well," she laughed, "you see It's this way. 1 have to eat, drink, and try to be merry, or tomorrow I die, so to postpone tomorrow I am working on a new dictionary. Somebody has to work on dictionaries, you know, and justify the pronunciation of America to man. I'm sort of learned, in a mild, harmless, anti-militant way. It Isn't fair to keep the truth from you I have a degree in philology! My doctor's doc-tor's thesis was published by the press of my kind university, at $1.50 per copy, of which as many as seventeen were sold, and I'm still paying up the money I borrowed while preparing it. I stood the dictionary pretty well down to the 'hy's,' and then one day something some-thing snapped Inside of me, and I began be-gan to cry. That wouldn't have been so bad. if I hadn't made the mistake of crying on a sheet of manuscript by a learned professor, about Hyoscya-mus Hyoscya-mus (which is a genus of dicotyledonous dicotyledo-nous gaumpetalous plants), and the ink ran. Then I knew I should have to take a rest iu the cause of English, pure and well defined, eo here I am. The doctor tells me I must live out of doors and saw wood." Do you think Miss Stella Good- A win is toomuch of a highbrow A to make a first rate wife? Or A are highbrows just as human as X the rest of us once they've tast- X ed real life? X (TO BE CONTINUED.) |