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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Brass Bound Box, by Evelyn Raymond
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Brass Bound Box
+
+Author: Evelyn Raymond
+
+Illustrator: Diantha W. Horne
+
+Release Date: April 6, 2009 [EBook #28509]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BRASS BOUND BOX ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by D Alexander, Josephine Paolucci and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE BRASS BOUND BOX
+
+BY EVELYN RAYMOND
+
+AUTHOR OF "THE DOINGS OF NANCY," "MIXED PICKLES," "MY LADY BAREFOOT"
+
+ILLUSTRATED BY DIANTHA W. HORNE
+
+[Illustration]
+
+BOSTON DANA ESTES &
+COMPANY PUBLISHERS
+
+
+_Copyright, 1905_
+BY DANA ESTES & COMPANY
+
+_All rights reserved_
+
+THE BRASS BOUND BOX
+
+_COLONIAL PRESS
+Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co.
+Boston, Mass., U. S. A._
+
+[Illustration: "AT LAST IT WAS OUT"]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER                                  PAGE
+
+I. LEGACY AND LEGATEE                     11
+
+II. MASTER MONTGOMERY STURTEVANT          25
+
+III. WHY MONTY DID NOT GO A-FISHING       40
+
+IV. FOXES' GULLY                          50
+
+V. CHESTNUTS AND GOLD MINES               64
+
+VI. THE BRASS BOUND BOX                   82
+
+VII. THE GRIT OF MOSES JONES              95
+
+VIII. HAY-LOFT DREAMS                    110
+
+IX. SQUIRE PETTIJOHN                     126
+
+X. ALFARETTA'S PERPLEXITY                142
+
+XI. THE FACE IN THE DARKNESS             154
+
+XII. A STURTEVANT--PERFORCE              168
+
+XIII. BUT--STURTEVANT TO THE RESCUE      187
+
+XIV. ON A SATURDAY AFTERNOON             203
+
+XV. BY THE OLD STONE BRIDGE              220
+
+XVI. THE COTTAGE IN THE WOOD             234
+
+XVII. A SELF-ELECTED CONSTABLE           248
+
+XVIII. REUBEN SMITH, ACCESSORY           263
+
+XIX. WHAT THE MOON SAW IN THE CORNFIELD  278
+
+XX. UNINVITED GUESTS                     292
+
+XXI. A NEIGHBORLY TRICK OF THE WIND      310
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+                                                                       PAGE
+
+"AT LAST IT WAS OUT" (See page 81).                            Frontispiece
+
+"He now lay stretched upon his owner's lap as she still sat on
+  the floor"                                                             27
+
+"'I feel so queer every little spell, an' I must get home'"              97
+
+"There, all anxiety forgotten, they dreamed dreams and saw visions"     120
+
+"Ma'am Puss extracted her own supper in advance of the family's"        148
+
+"Already one pumpkin pie was half-devoured"                             230
+
+"But the late rising moon looked down upon a curious scene"             290
+
+"Each armed with a grinning Jack and somebody driving Whitey
+  as a snowy guide"                                                     324
+
+
+
+
+THE BRASS BOUND BOX
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+LEGACY AND LEGATEE
+
+
+Marsden was one of the few villages of our populous country yet left
+remote from any line of railway. The chief events of its quiet days were
+the morning and evening arrivals and departures of the mail-coach, whose
+driver still retained the almost obsolete custom of blowing a horn to
+signal his approach.
+
+All Marsden favored the horn, it was so convenient and so--so antique!
+which word typified the spirit of the place. For if modest Marsden had
+any pride, it was in its own unchanging attitude toward modern ways and
+methods. So, whenever Reuben Smith's trumpet was heard, the villagers
+knew it was time to leave their homes along the main street and repair
+to the "general store and post-office" for the mail, which was their
+strongest connecting link with the outside world.
+
+Occasionally, too, the coach brought a visitor to the village; though
+this was commonly in summer-time, when even its own stand-offishness
+could not wholly repel the "city boarder." After the leaves changed
+color, nobody went to and fro save those who "belonged," as the
+storekeeper, the milliner, and Squire Pettijohn, the lawyer; and it had
+been ten years, at least, since Reuben's four-in-hand was brought to a
+halt before Miss Eunice Maitland's gate. Now, on a windy day of late
+September, the two white horses and their two black companions were
+reined up there, while the trumpet gave a blast which startled the
+entire neighborhood.
+
+"My heart was in my mouth the minute I heard it!" declared the Widow
+Sprigg to a crony, later on; although this curious disarrangement of her
+anatomy did not prevent the good woman from being foremost at the gate
+to learn the cause of this salute, thus rudely anticipating her
+mistress's rights in the case. Therefore, it was upon a time-damaged,
+cap-frilled countenance that Katharine Maitland's dismayed glance fell
+as she sprang from the stage and inquired:
+
+"Are you my Aunt Eunice?"
+
+"Your--Aunt--Eunice! Thank my stars, I ain't aunt to nobody!" returned
+the widow, almost as much alarmed by the appearance of this strange
+maiden as she had been by the coachman's blast.
+
+"It is a matter of thankfulness," retorted the girl, pertly, and
+surveying the other with amused and critical eyes, which made Susanna
+Sprigg "squirm in her shoes."
+
+Reuben now slowly climbed down from his high seat, and removed from the
+rumble a great trunk, a suit-case, a parcel of books, and a dog-basket;
+and the stranger at once occupied herself in releasing from his confined
+quarters a pug so atrociously high-bred that Susanna instantly
+exclaimed:
+
+"My stars! That dog's so humbly he must ache!"
+
+Katharine would have given a crisp reply had not her attention been
+distracted by Reuben's movements, who was waiting to receive his fare,
+yet in such terror of the pug's snapping jaws that he was stepping up
+and down in a lively fashion, as he rescued one foot and then the other
+from his enemy's attack.
+
+"'Pears to blame _me_ for bein' shut up in that there basket, don't he?
+When anybody knows 'twasn't my fault at all. I hain't enj'yed the trip
+no more'n what he has, hearin' him yelp that continual, an' I must say I
+didn't expect, at my time o' life, to commence drivin' stage for dogs.
+Here, sis, is your change. Good day to ye, an' a good welcome, I hope."
+
+"Humph! You don't speak as if you really 'hoped' it, but quite the
+reverse!" returned Punch's mistress, more shrewdly than courteously.
+
+"Dreadful smart, ain't ye?" said Reuben, and drove away, putting his
+horn to his lips, and thereby drowning any further remarks which the
+stranger might have addressed to him.
+
+Lifting the ungainly brute in her arms, the girl now turned and surveyed
+the house beyond the gate, her heart far heavier with homesickness than
+seemed consistent with her outward, flippant bearing.
+
+What she saw was a wide, rambling frame house; wherever they showed
+between the clambering vines which encircled it, its clapboards
+glistening white and its shutters vividly green. The few leaves still
+left upon the vines were scarlet, while behind the low roof rose maples
+in the full glory of their autumn reds and yellows. The long front yard
+was green and well kept, and the borders beside the path were gay with
+chrysanthemums, though between these showed the frost-blackened foliage
+of tenderer plants. Upon the porch was a woman with a shawl over her
+head, apparently shivering in the wind which tossed the maple boughs,
+and awaiting an explanation of this arrival.
+
+"A pretty picture!" admitted Katharine, who fancied herself artistic,
+"but so lonesome it gives me the hypo! And that--that, I suppose, is my
+Aunt Eunice. Well, Punch, come on! Let's get it over with!"
+
+The Widow Sprigg had remained motionless, but keenly observant, and her
+thoughts were:
+
+"If that ain't a Maitland, I never knew the breed. And I reckon I do
+know it, bein's me an' my fam'ly has lived cheek by jowl with them an'
+their fam'ly since ever was. But which Maitland it is, or what in reason
+she's come for, beats me."
+
+Then, as the stranger walked coolly through the gateway, leaving her
+luggage on the sidewalk outside, Susanna sniffed, and remarked--for
+anybody to hear who chose:
+
+"What's that mean? Expect me to fetch an' carry for such a strappin'
+girl as that? Well, not if I know Susanna Sprigg, an' I think I do."
+
+Whereupon, the widow, long time "assistant" to her more affluent
+"neighbor," Miss Maitland, shrugged her shoulders at the wind and this
+absurd notion, and followed Kate. She wouldn't have missed the interview
+between that young person and her enforced hostess "for a farm," and yet
+she was extremely anxious concerning the trunk and the parcels. But
+curiosity prevailed over caution, and she was in time to hear the rather
+nervous inquiry:
+
+"Are you my Aunt Eunice--so called?"
+
+"I am Eunice Maitland, and though I am not aunt in reality to any one, I
+have been lovingly nicknamed 'aunt' by many of my kin. But no matter
+what our relationship, you are a Maitland, I am sure, and I am very glad
+to see you in Marsden. Come in, come in at once. The wind is chill, and
+you have had a long ride," responded the precise old gentlewoman,
+extending her hand to Katharine, and cordially attempting to draw the
+girl within the shelter of the great hall.
+
+But this hospitable attempt was rudely misunderstood by Punch, who
+snapped at the hand, and caused its owner to withdraw it hastily,
+saying: "It will be better to leave your dog outside."
+
+"Leave my dog outside! Leave Punch, my--my--my darling! Oh! I can't do
+that. He has been so tenderly brought up, and is so sensitive to the
+cold. He has really suffered on that dreadful ride."
+
+Miss Eunice frowned slightly, and merely remarking, "Very well, bring
+him in, though I caution you against Sir Philip. He is old and
+irritable," led the way through the wide hall into a sitting-room
+beyond, where a wood fire was burning on the hearth, and the furnishings
+were of the sort in vogue a hundred years ago. Even the disturbed young
+visitor thought she had never seen anything so charming as that simple
+interior, where everything was in keeping, and so spotlessly neat, and
+over which fell the cheerful radiance of the blazing logs.
+Unceremoniously dropping Punch, she clasped her hands in admiration,
+exclaiming:
+
+"Oh, how quaint! How interesting! How unlike anything I expected to
+see!"
+
+Although Miss Eunice was gratified by this tribute to her familiar
+surroundings, she fancied that its expression was overdone, and resented
+its seemingly patronizing insincerity. Placing a chair directly in the
+glow of the fire, she invited Katharine to take it, while she herself
+sat down on a straight-backed settle beyond.
+
+Sensitive to feel the lessening cordiality of her hostess's manner,
+Katharine hid her feeling behind an added flippancy, as she tossed her
+palms outward, in a manner wholly natural to herself, but which the
+house-mistress again fancied an affectation, and exclaimed: "Well!"
+
+"Well?" returned Miss Eunice, quietly but inquiringly.
+
+"Well, I suppose you're the legatee and I'm the legacy. I hope you won't
+be half as unwilling to accept me as I am to be left to you. If you are,
+there'll be some high times in Marsden."
+
+This mixture of frankness and bravado brought a second frown to Miss
+Maitland's fine face, but she said, quite courteously:
+
+"Kindly explain, my child, who you are, and to what I am indebted--"
+
+"For the nuisance of your legacy," interrupted the girl, excitedly, and,
+thrusting a sealed letter into the other's hand, drew back in her own
+chair and covered her face with her hands. Under all her self-confident
+manner her heart was throbbing painfully, and she felt as if she must
+get up and run away. Somewhere in the great forest through which Reuben
+had driven his coach lay an apparently deserted little cabin, which had
+attracted her by its overgrowth of woodbine--that hereabout seemed to
+envelop everything upon which it could clasp its tendrils--and whose
+memory now returned to her invitingly. Exiled from her own home, an
+alien here, such a spot as that would be a haven of refuge. She had not
+known exactly what was in the letter she had tossed Miss Maitland, but
+she had guessed sufficiently near to know its contents could not be
+flattering to herself. Beneath her hiding hands her cheeks were flushing
+with shame when she heard her name spoken with utmost gentleness and
+affection.
+
+"So you are John's only child! I should have known it without being
+told, only it is so many, many years since he left me, a wild little lad
+who found the old home too dull. He was not as close of kin as some
+others I have reared here, and he was but fifteen when he went away. But
+I have always loved him, and hoped for his return; and now--"
+
+"Oh, my stars!" inadvertently exclaimed the Widow Sprigg, thus
+disclosing the fact that she had been listening beyond the door.
+
+"And now, Susanna, I smell your bread scorching," went on the mistress
+as calmly as if the other had not betrayed herself. Then, when the
+kitchen door had been slammed by the retreating hand-maiden, with an
+emphasis that said as clearly as words that her mistress might go on and
+talk, and things might happen enough to turn a body's head, for all she,
+Susanna Sprigg, cared or noticed, so there! Miss Eunice left her own
+seat, and, going around to Katharine's, gently drew the hiding hands
+away from the troubled young face, and, putting the letter into them,
+said: "There, my dear, read it."
+
+"No, no! I can't! I won't! I hate it. I hate her, and
+all--all--belonging to her! I never want to see or hear of her again.
+And I won't stay. I see you don't want your legacy, and I'll go at once.
+I have ten dollars, I can live--"
+
+"Why, there's some mistake, little girl. This is from no 'her,' but--a
+message from the dead."
+
+The sudden break in the quiet old voice touched the listener more than
+the words, and she mechanically took the letter as she repeated:
+
+"A message from the dead? What can you mean?"
+
+"Read it and see."
+
+Then Katharine read what her idolized father had written many months
+before, when the knowledge of his own approaching death had come to him;
+and it seemed to her that it was his own voice saying:
+
+     "DEAR AUNT EUNICE:--For dear you are, notwithstanding all these
+     years of silence, during which your wild little lad has grown
+     into a busy, care-burdened man. That you heard of my first
+     marriage, and my wife's early death, leaving me with one little
+     girl--your legacy--I know; because that all happened before the
+     habit of our correspondence lapsed. But you may not know that
+     two years ago I married again, a widow with four little sons;
+     and though she has been the best of wives to me, she and my
+     darling Katharine have not been happy together. Kate is a
+     passionate, self-willed, but great-hearted child, so full of
+     romantically generous impulses that I long ago nicknamed her my
+     'Kitty Quixote.' Her stepmother's nature and temperament are of
+     quite another mold; and knowing what I have just learned
+     concerning my own health, I foresee nothing but misery for
+     these two, should they be left to live together without my
+     presence.
+
+     "So, since my motherless daughter is my most precious
+     possession and you have been my most devoted friend, I find it
+     the most natural thing in the world to bequeath my treasure to
+     my friend. If, for any reason unknown to me, you cannot accept
+     my legacy I have made other arrangements for Katharine's
+     future, which you can learn by applying to my lawyers, Messrs.
+     Brown and Brown, Blank Street, New York.
+
+     "My wife knows of this letter, and we have arranged that after
+     my death, should it occur, Kate is to remain with her for six
+     months, as a final test of their ability to live happily
+     together, and for the benefit of the schools in this city. At
+     the end of that time, if these two well-meaning but uncongenial
+     people decide that it is wisest to part, 'Kitty Quixote' will
+     be sent to you, to do with as you see fit. In any case, she
+     will be no pecuniary charge to any one; her own mother's little
+     fortune, with such a portion of mine as is justly hers, being
+     all-sufficient for ordinary needs.
+
+     "In loving remembrance of my boyhood, made happy by your care,
+     and in firm reliance upon your friendship, your troublesome
+     John bids you farewell."
+
+Katharine had expected to find the sealed letter she had been
+commissioned to deliver to Miss Maitland but a complaining missive from
+her stepmother, setting forth the girl's faults and failures with that
+accuracy of detail so characteristic of the "second Mrs. John." That
+lady's handwriting upon the envelope had helped her to this impression,
+yet so honest was she that she had not once thought of protesting or
+refusing to deliver it. The revulsion of feeling was now so strong that
+she could not restrain her tears, nor the impulse to throw herself
+headlong upon Aunt Eunice, crying wildly:
+
+"Oh, it's all true! But he loved me, my father loved me, bad as I am!
+And for his sake I wish--I wish I could be good. So folks, his folks,
+or--or anybody could stand it to live with me! But I can't. I've tried.
+I've tried ever so hard, yet the goodness gets down below and the
+badness stays on top, and then things go--smash!"
+
+Aunt Eunice waited a moment, then replaced Katharine in her chair,
+thinking what a child she still seemed, despite her fourteen years and
+her city training. Also, recalling with a thrill of pride that she
+herself, at fourteen years, had been the head of her own father's
+widowed home and a woman, by contrast. "Though I was reared in Marsden,"
+she complacently reflected, as she said:
+
+"I should be glad to hear whatever you choose to tell me, my dear, of
+your life. Especially, what caused the final break between you and Mrs.
+Maitland."
+
+"Why, it wasn't badness at all, that time! It was meant in kindness.
+Some other girls and I had fixed up a sort of house-picnic for
+washer-woman Biddy's children, who were all down with the measles, and
+just to amuse them I took stepmother's boys, the four young
+Snowballs--haven't they the absurdest name?--along; and she--she didn't
+like it. She said things. That I'd wilfully exposed them to danger,
+though I ought to be as careful of them as if they were my real
+brothers. And there I was trying to be, only she didn't understand.
+Then, another day, not long before, I coaxed some big boys who have a
+naphtha-launch to give the 'Balls a sail on it down the bay. The thing
+happened to explode, and, though nobody was hurt, she went on just
+terrible because I'd taken the children without asking her. How could I
+ask her when she was off shopping, or somewhere, just at the very moment
+the idea popped into my head? And nothing befell the little fellows
+except getting their clothes wet, and they always needed washing,
+anyway. The nice part of it was that they were scared into behaving
+themselves as they should for a whole week afterward, and she might have
+been pleased. But it was always like that. I'd have perfectly lovely
+plans for making everybody happy, all around, and they'd all end just
+the other way. So here I am. Mrs. John has cast me off; do you accept
+me?"
+
+"First, let me ask if you were accustomed to speak of your father's wife
+in that manner?"
+
+The girl was surprised by the other's tone, yet promptly answered:
+"Certainly. Everybody amongst father's artist friends called her either
+'the second Mrs. John,' or 'Stepmother.' Either one it happened. Why?"
+
+"It was most disrespectful."
+
+At this uncompromising reply, Kate stared, exclaiming: "Why, you're a
+truth-teller yourself, aren't you?"
+
+"I am. Did you not suppose so?" returned Miss Maitland, amused.
+
+"Well, you see, I've been told you were very agreeable, and most of the
+really agreeable people I know lie like the mischief."
+
+"Katharine!"
+
+"Fact. And I've got into more scrapes for telling the truth than for any
+other thing I've done, except being kind to the little Snowballs.
+But--hark! What's that? Punch--_Punch_--You flippety-cap woman! Stop!
+Stop! Stop!"
+
+An eruptive, agonized bark from the hall sent the girl thither at a
+bound, while Miss Eunice hastily followed, anxiously crying: "Philip!
+Sir _Philip Sidney_!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+MASTER MONTGOMERY STURTEVANT
+
+
+Wildly beating the air with a long-handled broom, her cap-frills flying,
+her spectacles awry, the Widow Sprigg was vainly endeavoring to restore
+peace between Punch, the newcomer, and Sir Philip Sidney, the venerable
+Angora cat which had hitherto "ruled the roost."
+
+The pug, with a native curiosity almost as great as Susanna's own, had
+slipped from the sitting-room unobserved and had wandered to the warm
+kitchen where Sir Philip lay asleep on his cushion, unmindful of
+interlopers till an ugly black muzzle was poked into his ribs, and he
+found his natural enemy coolly ruffling his silken fur.
+
+Until then, Miss Eunice had boasted of her pet that he was as like his
+famous namesake as it was possible for any animal to be like any human
+being, and quoted concerning him that he was "sublimely mild, a spirit
+without spot." Indeed, Miss Maitland's beautiful "Angory" was one of
+the show animals of Marsden. He had been brought to his mistress by a
+returning traveller more years ago than most people remembered, and had
+continued to live his charmed and pampered life long after the ordinary
+age of his kind. With appetite always supplied with the best of food,
+his handsome body lodged luxuriously, it was small wonder that hitherto
+he had worn his aristocratic title with a gentleness befitting his
+historic prototype.
+
+Now, suddenly, the pent-up temper of his past broke out in one terrific
+burst; and he bit, scratched, tore, and yowled with all the ferocity of
+youth, while Punch, realizing that he had stirred up a bigger rumpus
+than even his mischievous spirit desired, vainly sought to elude his
+enemy's attacks.
+
+"Why, Philip! Sir Philip!" cried Miss Eunice, stooping to grasp her
+favorite's collar, and by his unlooked-for onrush against her own feet
+losing her balance and falling to the floor.
+
+"Punch! You bad, bad dog! There--you woman! Don't you dare--don't you
+dare to strike him with that awful broom! If he needs punishing--I'll
+punish him myself! Oh, what a horrid place, what horrid folks, what a
+perfectly fiendish cat!" shrieked Kate, folding both arms tight about
+the pug's fat, squirming body, and rushing out-of-doors with him. But by
+this time his courage had returned, and, wriggling himself free, he
+rushed back to the battle.
+
+[Illustration: "HE NOW LAY STRETCHED UPON HIS OWNER'S LAP AS SHE STILL
+SAT ON THE FLOOR"]
+
+Alas! that exciting affair was all over. Sir Philip's unwonted anger had
+proved too much for his strength, and, utterly exhausted, he now lay
+stretched upon his owner's lap as she still sat on the floor, stroking
+and caressing him most tenderly.
+
+Katharine had followed Punch back to the kitchen, and was as startled as
+he was proud at the sight before them. Cocking his square head on one
+side, curling his tail, wrinkling his nose, and protruding his pink
+tongue even more than usual, he regarded his fallen foe with such
+comical satisfaction that Katharine's alarm gave place to amusement, and
+she laughed aloud. But the laugh died as quickly as it had risen when
+Aunt Eunice looked up and said, reproachfully:
+
+"I fear it has killed him, poor fellow!"
+
+"Oh, no, no! A little bit of a scrap like that kill a cat? I thought
+they had nine lives, and such a trifle--Why, Punch is as fresh as a
+daisy, and that proud! Just look at him!" cried the girl. Yet her
+enthusiasm was dashed by the expression of deep sorrow on Miss
+Maitland's face, and there were real tears in the widow's eyes as she
+now advanced, broom in hand, though without apparent anger, to sweep
+Punch out of the room.
+
+Katharine was too surprised to protest, beyond quietly motioning the
+broom aside and lifting the now submissive pug to her shoulder, where he
+perched calmly contemplative of the disaster he had evoked.
+
+"There, Eunice, don't fret. What can't be cured must be endured, you
+know, and even a cat can't die but once. Only he was _such_ a cat! We
+sha'n't never see his like again, an'--Take care there, sis! Don't you
+know he always hated water?" exclaimed Susanna, resting upon her
+broom-handle, and bending above her anxious mistress till a dash from
+the dipper deluged both cat and lap.
+
+Yet now full of sympathy and regret Kate did not pause in her work of
+restoration, and either the bath did revive Sir Philip or he had been on
+the point of recovery, for he suddenly sprang up, shook his drenched
+head, and staggered toward his cushion on the hearth, where he lay down
+and proceeded to smooth his disordered fur.
+
+Then Kate put her arms around Miss Maitland and helped that lady to her
+feet, saying, earnestly:
+
+"Oh, I am so sorry, and I am so glad! but it will never happen again.
+Poor old Sir Philip won't be in a hurry to fight, and Punch never does
+if he can help it. Do you, you darling?" she finished to the perplexed
+dog, which she had unceremoniously dropped from her shoulder when she
+had rushed for the water.
+
+The pug gave a funny little wink of one intelligent eye, as if he fully
+understood; then slowly waddled across the rag-carpeted floor and curled
+himself up at a safe distance from Sir Philip, upon whom he kept a wary
+watch. But he was a weary dog by that time, and so glad of warmth and
+repose that he left even his own damaged coat to take care of itself for
+the present.
+
+However, if he was calm, the Widow Sprigg was no longer so. Kate had not
+only drenched the cat and his mistress, but she had left a large puddle
+in the very centre of Susanna's "new brea'th" of rag carpet, its owner
+now indignantly demanding to know if Miss Eunice "was goin' to put up
+with any such doin's? That wery brea'th that I cut an' sewed myself, out
+of my own rags, an' not a smitch of your'n in it, an' hadn't much more'n
+just got laid down ready for winter. An' if it had come to this that
+dogs and silly girls was to be took in an' done for, cats, or no cats,
+Angory or otherwise, she, for one, Susanna Sprigg, wasn't goin' to put
+up with it, an' so I tell you, an' give notice, according."
+
+During the delivery of this speech the widow's black eyes had glared
+through her spectacles so fiercely that the young visitor was alarmed,
+and said to Aunt Eunice, appealingly:
+
+"Oh, please don't let her go just because I've come! I'll not stay
+myself, to make such trouble, even if you'll have me--and you haven't
+said so yet. There's that boarding-school left--"
+
+Miss Maitland ignored the appeal, but looking through the window
+remarked to her irate assistant:
+
+"That luggage shouldn't be left on the sidewalk, Susanna. Get Moses to
+help you bring it in. If a tramp should happen to pass he might make off
+with it."
+
+By which quiet rejoinder Kate understood that she had been "accepted;"
+also that the house-mistress was not disturbed by the threat of her
+handmaid. Indeed, she discovered afterward that it was the widow's habit
+to threaten thus whenever her temper was a trifle ruffled; also, that
+nothing save death was apt to sever her relationship with the Maitland
+family, which she held far dearer than her own.
+
+"Tramps? Do you have tramps in this out-of-the-way village? I'm afraid
+of tramps, myself, and they're about the only things I am really afraid
+of," said Kate, following Aunt Eunice back into the sitting-room.
+
+"I never knew one to pass through Marsden, and I've lived here always;
+but Susanna has read of them and their depredations, and is constantly
+on the lookout for one. Except for the trouble between the cat and dog
+she wouldn't have left your things in the street a moment after she had
+satisfied her curiosity concerning you. But you will like Susanna when
+you have become accustomed to her. A better-hearted woman never lived."
+
+To this assurance the girl replied with a doubtful laugh and the words:
+
+"I never should have dreamed it;" then stationed herself at the window
+to watch the proceedings outside.
+
+The Widow Sprigg had vanished through a back kitchen and now appeared
+around the corner of the house, having in tow an elderly man, who
+followed her with evident reluctance. She had thrown on a "slat"
+sunbonnet, and pinned a red shawl about her shoulders, but had shaken
+her head so vigorously that the shawl had slipped down and the sunbonnet
+back, while the frills of her muslin cap waved blindingly before her
+spectacles.
+
+"Who is that? Is he 'Moses'? Does he live here?" asked Kate, laughing
+not only at the appearance but behavior of the two.
+
+"Yes. He is my hired man. His name is Moses Jones. He is not as old as
+he looks, and is one of our likeliest citizens. He's quite intelligent,
+and has even been mentioned for a constable--if Marsden should ever need
+one. If enough city people should come here to warrant such an office,"
+finished the lady, with unconscious sarcasm.
+
+Kate's head came around with a jerk. "Constable? That's a policeman,
+isn't it?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And is it only 'city people' who do wrong and need arresting? Because,
+you see, I'm a 'city' person myself, and resent that idea!" laughed the
+girl, mischievously. Yet the next instant she regretfully observed that
+she had again annoyed her dignified hostess.
+
+Indeed, the annoyance was so great that Miss Maitland's brow clouded,
+and her eye swept the stylishly garbed small figure at the window with
+renewed misgiving. She knew little of the latter-day young folks, with
+their study-sharpened intelligence, their habit of repartee, and their
+self-assumed equality with their elders. Such few of the Marsden lads
+and lasses as visited her belonged to the old-fashioned families, and
+were trained to strict habits of obedience, and "to speak when they were
+spoken to." They were supposed to have no opinions on any subject save
+such as were formed for them by their parents and guardians; and--well,
+they were altogether different from this alert, dark-eyed maiden, who
+had been in the house less than an hour, yet had already upset it to a
+degree!
+
+Kate's gaze had again returned to the scene without, and she had
+forgotten her momentary regret, as she observed, from time to time:
+
+"She's the funniest thing I ever saw, and he's funnier than she! He
+doesn't want to lift the trunk. No. She doesn't want him to. Yes, she
+does. She's getting mad. He won't do it her way. She won't do it his.
+They're both coming in and leaving it on the sidewalk. He's saying
+something to her and now she's faced about again. Maybe he said 'tramp,'
+because she's looking all up and down the street as if she were scared,
+and he's laughing. I guess he's laughing--he shakes as if he were, yet
+his face is as sober as ever. Now they're off! Here they come. But do
+look, Aunt Eunice, oh, do look! He's just barely lifting his end off the
+ground, and she's raised hers real high. She's doing the most of the
+work, I believe, yet he's crouching down as if he were half-crushed by
+the weight. The idea! He sha'n't do that! I won't let any woman be
+treated that way!"
+
+Out she sped, leaving all doors open and thus obliging Miss Maitland to
+close them after her or let the rooms be cooled by the inrush of wind.
+But her swift comprehension of the habits of the two household helpers,
+and her vivid description of their present movements, had so amused the
+lady that she also took up a point of observation, and was just in time
+to see Katharine indignantly push Moses' hand from the trunk-handle and
+seize it herself. It was evidently a heavier load than she had expected,
+for, at first, her end went down even lower than when Moses held it,
+yet she rallied instantly, and with all her might lifted it to a level
+with Susanna's, who was as instantly won by this action, and exclaimed,
+exultantly:
+
+"There, Moses Jones! What did I tell you? Ain't no heft in it, not a
+mite. Nobody but a man--a man--would make such a how-de-do over a trunk.
+Just a trunk!"
+
+The infinite scorn of words and manner provoked nothing further from her
+"shif'less" housemate than another silent chuckle, and a keen glance at
+Katharine from beneath his bushy eyebrows.
+
+Yet he did look a trifle ashamed when his mistress herself opened the
+hall door again to admit the trunk-bearers, and without more ado hurried
+back to the sidewalk and brought in the rest of the luggage. It was
+noticeable that he no longer stooped or affected fatigue; and that as
+soon as Susanna let go the trunk at the foot of the stairs he
+immediately shouldered it, like the lightest of parcels, and carried it
+swiftly above. Then, pausing at the top of the flight, he asked, in a
+brisk tone:
+
+"Which room, Eunice?"
+
+"The sitting-room chamber, Moses."
+
+Katharine listened, astonished, then exclaimed:
+
+"Why--I thought he was your 'hired man.' That's servant, isn't it?"
+
+"About the same thing, my dear," answered Miss Maitland, smiling ever
+so slightly, and quite conscious that Susanna's black eyes and keen ears
+were alert for her reply.
+
+"But he called you by your first name! just as if he were your brother,
+or--or--somebody."
+
+"There is little giving of titles in Marsden, Katharine, but that does
+not imply any lack of respect. Moses and Susanna and I were schoolmates
+together in the little red schoolhouse at the crossroads, and none of
+us--none of us--wish to forget it. The same old schoolhouse where your
+father learned his letters, and where you will go if you are happy
+enough with me to remain. Now, Widow Sprigg, let John's little girl see
+what sort of a supper you used to fix for him when he was hungry."
+
+All fancied slight at the term "servant" thus atoned for by the formal
+"Widow Sprigg," and her favor swiftly won by Kate's behavior with the
+trunk, the housekeeper departed in high good-humor, her cap-strings
+flying, spectacles pushed to the top of her head, and cheerily
+remarking:
+
+"So she shall, so she shall. I'll show her. For Johnny was the boy to
+eat an' enj'y his victuals. 'Twas a comfort to cook for him, he was that
+hearty. I'll have it ready in the jerk of a lamb's tail."
+
+Moses came down the stairs and went out "to do his chores," casting
+another keen glance at the stranger ascending them with Miss Maitland
+to the sitting-room chamber. For the girl's marked resemblance to a boy
+he had known and taken fishing many a time, he was inclined to like her;
+but because of the probable altered household life, and her swift
+perception of his whimsies, equally inclined to dislike; and he shifted
+the straw from one side of his mouth to the other, reflecting:
+
+"Well, it's more'n likely she an' Eunice won't gee. Eunice has raised
+six seven of her folkses' childern, an' I 'lowed she'd got done; but
+there ain't no accountin' for silly women--silly women. Get out, there,
+you! Strange that a body can't leave a gate open a single minute here in
+Marsden village, without somebody's stray cattle trespassin'. Get out, I
+say!"
+
+The plump white cow, which had obtruded its nose through the gateway,
+calmly withdrew it and proceeded on its way undisturbed by Moses'
+frantic gestures. Miss Maitland's was not the only dooryard in the
+village where grass was still abundant, and Whitey knew it.
+
+"That's old Mis' Sturtevant's critter again! She's no right to turn it
+loose to feed along the street, that-a-way. Course, she's set Monty to
+watch, an' he's gone off a-fishin'. That's as plain as a pike-staff.
+Pshaw! Folks so poor they can't feed their stawk hain't a right to keep
+any, I declare! When I get to be constable I'll straighten some things
+in Marsden township that's terrible crooked now; an' the very first one
+I'd complain of or arrest would be that lazy little stutterin' Monty
+Sturtevant!"
+
+"W-w-w-wo-would it?"
+
+The voice came from beneath the white lilac bush, but it seemed to come
+from the earth, and Katharine, at the just opened sitting-room chamber
+window, saw the whole affair, and laughed aloud.
+
+Her laughter startled the intruder as much as he had startled Moses, and
+he came out of hiding, demanding:
+
+"W-w-who's t-t-that? Aunt Eu-Eu-Eu-Eunice got comp-p-pany?"
+
+"Yes. But that's no concern of yours," snapped the hired man, "and you
+best go 'tend your cow;" finishing his advice with a threatening nod.
+
+"Oh, f-f-f-fudge! Wait till you get to _be_ co-co-constable, then shake
+your h-head. W-w-who is it, I say?"
+
+"I hain't been told, but I 'low she's some cousin forty-times-removed to
+Eunice, come to sponge a livin' out of us. But she needn't worry you
+none. She hain't come to your house to upset things."
+
+"G-g-glad of it!" returned this ungallant young Marsdenite. "But say,
+Un-un-uncle M-Mose."
+
+"Now, Monty, none o' that. I know what's afoot when any you boys begin
+to 'uncle' me, an' I say 'No.' I ain't goin' to give up my night's rest
+for a fishin'-trip. You hear me?"
+
+"B-b-but, Uncle Mose! I've got the b-ba-bai-bait all dug, and it'll be
+p-p-pr-prime for fishin'. Say, Uncle Mose, we haven't had a s-s-s-single
+speck o' fresh me-me-meat 't our house for a w-w-w-week!"
+
+"Montgomery Sturtevant! That ought to make you stutter an' choke! Eunice
+sent your grandma a pair o' pullets no longer ago 'n yesterday. You--"
+
+But Monty had already departed to summon his chums for an evening's
+sport. Well he and they knew that the shortest road to the hired man's
+heart was by the suggestion of hunger; and the surest way to secure
+parents' consent was the announcement:
+
+"Uncle Moses'll take us fishin', if you'll let us go."
+
+Moses again turned his face chore-ward; yet it was noticeable that he
+paused to examine his "tackle" before he fed the poultry, and that he
+softly whistled as he went about his work. He was even first at the
+rendezvous, on the old "eddy road;" and though others joined him there,
+Montgomery--at once his dearest delight and greatest torment--did not
+appear.
+
+Alas! at that moment the impecunious heir of all the Sturtevants was
+himself in anything but a whistling mood; and was thinking direful
+things concerning a girl with whom he had not yet exchanged a word.
+
+"The h-h-h-hateful young one! Un-un-uncle Mose said 'none o' my
+wor-r-ry,' an' that's all he k-k-knew! Plague take her! W-w-what she
+come to M-M-Ma-Marsden for an' drive me plumb cr-cr-craz-crazy!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+WHY MONTY DID NOT GO A-FISHING
+
+
+Montgomery's love of gossip was his own undoing. When, after the manner
+of Moses, worthy guide, the young angler had put his own fishing-tackle
+in order, he sought the dining-room, where supper awaited. For once he
+was on time, and received a word of commendation from his grandmother,
+which so elated him that he mentally reviewed the day's events for a bit
+of news with which to enliven her monotony. Then like a flash arose
+before him the picture of an unknown girl at Miss Maitland's window.
+This was something worth telling, indeed.
+
+With his mouth full of chicken, remnant of Eunice's pullets, he burst
+forth.
+
+"A-a-aunt Eunice's got comp'ny."
+
+The punctilious old lady opposite raised her thin hand, protesting: "My
+son, you should never attempt to talk when you are eating."
+
+Nothing abashed, the boy swallowed hastily and reiterated his statement.
+At which Madam Sturtevant exclaimed, with as much excitement of manner
+as she ever showed: "Company? Dear Eunice entertaining guests? Why, son,
+how did you learn that? Who are they, pray?"
+
+"D-d-didn't say 'g-guests.' She's a g-g-gir-rl. How I learned, I
+s-s-saw. With my own eyes. M-m-more chicken, g-gramma."
+
+"Yes, dear heart. It is delicious poultry, and so sweet of Eunice to
+remember us. We were always close friends, and she is still a lovely
+woman. So fresh and young looking. But then, Eunice never married nor
+was widowed, nor exchanged wealth for poverty, nor reared a--a
+grandson," concluded the dame, fixing a too thoughtful gaze upon
+Montgomery's freckled face, whose only aristocratic feature was a pair
+of exceptionally fine eyes. Her mind was already wandering back into
+that past which held so much more of interest to this decayed
+gentlewoman than the present; but, wriggling under her survey of
+himself, the lad reminded her that Miss Maitland had also had her
+trials, in that:
+
+"Un-un-uncle Mose s-says she's raised s-s-s-six sev--en other folks'
+ch-ch-ch-childern, anyhow."
+
+"Sixty-seven children! My dear, you must certainly have misunderstood.
+But no matter. Finish your food at once. Our duty is plain. I dislike
+going out, except on Sundays, and especially at evening, yet dear Eunice
+would think me most remiss if I delayed to pay my respects to any guest
+of hers. I am dressed sufficiently well for an informal visit, but--"
+here the old lady put on her glasses and critically regarded her
+grandson's attire, then remorselessly continued: "But you, my son, must
+take a bath and put on your best suit. As soon as possible; because the
+stranger will be tired and wish to retire early. Finished? That is well.
+Strike the bell for Alfaretta."
+
+Though his plate was still heaped with the choice portions of the fowl,
+which his doting grandmother had preserved for him, and though he was
+still hungry, unlucky Monty sank back in his chair, a limp, crestfallen
+lad. With his dejected stare fixed upon her unrelenting face, he
+stammered forth:
+
+"B-b-but, g-g-gr-gramma! I'm goin' a-f-f-fishin'!"
+
+"Nonsense. Get ready immediately," said Madam, rising from table, and
+measuring out the supper portion of Alfaretta, the one small servant of
+a house which had once sheltered many.
+
+Then he also rose, but so languidly that "Alfy" stared, and, glancing
+toward his still full plate, inquired: "You sick?"
+
+"No, I ain't. I'm m-m-mad!"
+
+"At me?"
+
+"N-no. Y-y-yes. You're another of 'em. She's a g-g-girl. I've got to go
+s-s-s-see her! Just a p-p-plain girl!"
+
+The infinite scorn with which this reply was hurled at her touched
+Alfaretta's pride. Was she not, also, a girl? Said she, with intent to
+"get even" for some of his former toplofty remarks: "Oh! I thought you
+was goin' fishin' with Uncle Mose. I saw Bob Turner go past, quite a
+spell ago, and he was whistlin' like lightnin'. And I heard you say,
+more'n once, 't _you_ 'hadn't no man to boss you--you could do as you
+pleased."
+
+"So I can when--when g-g-gr-gramma ain't r-r-round," replied he, so
+meekly that Alfaretta relented. She had been intending to add the
+contents of Monty's plate to the less appetizing portion set out for
+herself, but now determined to put aside for a future luncheon whatever
+he had left. Food was never overabundant at the Madam's, and Alfaretta
+made it her business that none of what there was should ever go to
+waste.
+
+"Never mind, Monty. To-morrow ain't touched yet, an' there'll always be
+fish in the pool," comforted the little maid with real sympathy, for,
+despite the fact that he teased her continually, she loved him
+sincerely.
+
+But he merely banged the door behind him as he departed to his toilet,
+feeling himself the most abused of mortals. For if there was anything
+which this "last of the Sturtevants" hated worse than paying a visit it
+was taking a cold bath in a tub, an ordinary wooden wash-tub! To have
+both bath and visit imposed upon him in one fell hour, was an
+undreamed-of calamity.
+
+Therefore, it was a very different appearing youth from his ordinary
+merry self who was presented to Katharine in Miss Eunice's lamp-lighted
+sitting-room an hour later. In outward matters, also, a vastly improved
+one, since his rough denim blouse and overalls had been exchanged for a
+fairly modern suit, thoughtfully supplied him by wealthier relatives;
+his tangle of close-cropped curls brushed smooth, and his face freed
+from all spots save freckles.
+
+"Katharine, you may take Montgomery over to that little table where the
+photograph albums are, and show them to him. You and he should be good
+friends, as all the Sturtevants and Maitlands have been for generations
+before you," said Miss Eunice, after the presentation had been made, and
+during which ceremony Monty had wisely refrained from speech.
+
+"Come on, then, and I'm awfully glad to see you. I began to think there
+wasn't a single young person in this Marsden, for all I've seen so far
+have been gray-haired," said Kate, leading the way to the table, where a
+shaded lamp shed a pleasant radiance. But, having arrived there, she
+coolly pushed the albums aside, and remarked:
+
+"I hate looking at photographs. Don't you? They're commonly so
+inartistic. I'd much rather talk."
+
+By this time Monty was staring with wonder at this creature, who was one
+of the despised "girls," who had laughed at him from the window, and
+whose speech and appearance were so unlike those of all other girls he
+knew. She didn't act shy nor silly, nor drop her g's, nor pretend
+"politeness," nor wear her hair or clothes as they did. She was just as
+frank and unabashed as a boy among boys, and the visitor began to be
+glad that he had come. It would be something worth while telling at
+school to-morrow, that he had already made acquaintance with Aunt
+Eunice's unexpected company, and that she was real nice.
+
+Something of her charm vanished, however, when she ordered,
+peremptorily: "You begin."
+
+Now, although the boy outwardly made light of his own affliction, he was
+in reality extremely sensitive concerning it, and naturally he was not
+inclined to open conversation with this stranger whose own tongue was so
+glib. He, therefore, contented himself with turning his great blue eyes,
+fringed with such wonderful lashes, full upon her, and smiling
+beatifically. So cherubic was his expression, indeed, that at that
+instant Madam, chancing to turn her gaze that way, touched Miss
+Maitland's arm and directed that lady's attention toward him,
+whispering:
+
+"Isn't he lovely? Isn't he clear Sturtevant?"
+
+"Yes, he is Sturtevant, indeed," assented Aunt Eunice, but with a sigh
+that did not betoken satisfaction. "He has the Sturtevant vanity,
+Elinor, to the full. You should correct him of it at once. He's a fine
+lad--in some respects."
+
+It proved that Montgomery was to be corrected, and at once, though not
+by his indulgent guardian. It was Katharine's part to do that, as she
+opened her own dark eyes to their fullest, and exclaimed:
+
+"Well! You're the first boy I ever saw make goo-goo eyes! The very first
+boy. They're quite pretty, but I'd rather hear you talk than look at
+_them_. Tell me things. I've come to this village, and I've got to stay.
+I'm a legacy. I'm left to Aunt Eunice yonder, and she can keep me long
+as she likes. When she doesn't like, she can send me to boarding-school.
+I'm an orphan. I hope she _will_ like, because I love her already, only
+she's so correct I know I shall shock her a dozen times a day. I'm
+fourteen years old. My home was in Baltimore. I came on to New York
+yesterday with a friend of the second Mrs. John's--I mean, of Mrs.
+Maitland's--and stayed there last night. To-day I came on the train as
+far as it went, then in the stage with the queer driver blowing a horn.
+It was just like a story-book. This home, too, and everybody might be
+out of a story-book, all so unlike anything I ever saw. But, I beg your
+pardon. I've just thought that, though you seem to hear well enough,
+maybe you are dumb. Are you? Because if you are I can talk a little
+myself in the sign language."
+
+This was too much. Monty burst forth in self-defence, and to stop that
+running chatter of hers:
+
+"N-n-n-no! I-I-I-I--"
+
+Then silence. Katharine had never before met a person who stammered, and
+she was utterly astonished. At that moment, also, there was a lull in
+the animated conversation which the two old ladies opposite had hitherto
+kept up, so that Montgomery's loud yet uncertain protest fell like a
+bomb on the air.
+
+However, the silence was not to last. Katharine recovered from her
+surprise, and demanded, indignantly:
+
+"Why do you say 'I-I-I-I'? Are you mocking me? because if you are, I
+consider that more ungentlemanly than to make eyes."
+
+"No, Kate, Montgomery is unfortunate. He stutters. You should apologize.
+To jeer at the infirmity of others is the depth of ill-breeding,"
+interposed Miss Maitland, hastily crossing the room and laying a
+reproving hand upon the girl's shoulder. Then she continued, smiling
+affectionately upon the lad: "But we who all know and love Montgomery
+are sure that he will, in time, overcome his impediment. 'Tis only a
+matter of practice and patience."
+
+The boy made no reply, but sat with down-bent head and flushing face,
+wishing again, as when this dreadful visit was appointed him, that
+Katharine Maitland had never set foot in Marsden village. Longing, too,
+with a longing unspeakable, to retort upon her with a volubility and
+sharpness exceeding even her own. But all unconsciously his pride had
+received just the sting needed, and his angry thought, in which there
+was no halting stammer, was this:
+
+"I'll show her! I'll let her see a Sturtevant is as good as a Maitland
+any day! I ain't vain. She sha'n't say it. I have got nice eyes, folks
+all say so, and it's easier to talk with them than with my crooked old
+tongue. But I'll conquer it. I will. Then I'll show her what kind of a
+girl she is to dare--"
+
+To dare what?
+
+In all his previous ignominy there was naught compared with this. For
+here was Kate, remorseful, warm-hearted Kate, who never meant to give a
+single creature pain, yet was forever doing it, Kate--down upon her
+knees clasping Monty's neck with her arms, kissing and beseeching him
+"not to mind," exactly as she would have kissed the smallest of all the
+Snowballs, and not resenting it in the least because he did not
+instantly respond to her entreaties.
+
+Respond?
+
+For the space of several seconds it seemed to the lad that his head was
+whirling on his shoulders like a top. Then, with all the rudeness of
+his greater strength, he flung the demonstrative girl aside and rushed
+from the house. One idea alone was clear in his troubled brain: that he
+must get away from everything feminine and go where there were "men."
+The fishing-pool. Uncle Moses and the boys. The thought of them was
+refreshment, and put all other thoughts, of disobedience and its like,
+far from him. Striking out boldly, yet half-blindly through the dim
+light, he crossed Miss Maitland's orchard, took a short cut by way of
+the great forest--which he nor no other Marsden lad would ordinarily
+have entered alone after nightfall--on past the "deserted cottage" in
+the very heart of the wood, and then--oblivion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+FOXES' GULLY
+
+
+When next Montgomery opened his eyes his head lay on something soft, and
+he confusedly tried to understand what and where it was. But thought
+seemed difficult, and he closed his lids again, wondering what made him
+feel so weak, and drowsily deciding that he must be in his own bed and
+this the middle of the night.
+
+In one thing he was correct--it was the middle of the night; a later
+hour than the boy had ever been absent from home, even upon the most
+prolonged of fishing-trips. Yet the softness beneath his head was not
+that of a pillow in its case, but the lap of a white-frocked girl, who
+was holding him tenderly and sobbing as if her heart would break.
+
+"W-w-wh-where 'm I a-at? Who's a-c-c-cr-cry--in'?"
+
+"Oh, you darling boy! you didn't die, did you, after all! Oh, I'm so
+glad, so glad, so glad! And I thought I had killed you. I'd never
+killed anybody before, though stepmother said I'd tried. I mean I--I
+suppose I scared you some way, I don't see how, for the minute I was
+good to you and sorry, you ran away."
+
+Montgomery moved uneasily. He began to remember events distinctly; quite
+too distinctly, in fact. He had run away from that horrid girl, and he
+had forgotten the ravine beyond "deserted cottage." He had fallen down
+it and hit his head. He could recall the dreadful sensation of pitching
+forward into a seemingly bottomless pit, and shivered afresh at the
+memory.
+
+Feeling him shiver thus, Katharine drew her white skirts around his
+shoulders, and cossetted him as if he had been a baby. He tried to
+wriggle away from her on to the ground beyond, but this she sturdily
+prevented, and the late-rising moon cast its light just then upon a
+face, oddly set and determined for that of so young a girl.
+
+Finding himself helpless in that strange weakness, Monty ceased to
+wriggle, and demanded: "How y-y-y-you get here, a-a-a-nyway?"
+
+"Oh! I just followed. When you ran away I ran after."
+
+"A-a-a-aunt Eu-Eu-nice let you?"
+
+"I didn't stop to ask her permission. I saw I'd hurt your feelings, and
+I couldn't let you go without telling you I was sorry. But, you see, I
+never before knew anybody who stammered, and I didn't think how rude I
+was to mention it. Not till Aunt Eunice pointed it out. I do beg your
+pardon, sincerely. Will you forgive me?"
+
+It was not in the spirit of any Sturtevant, past or present, to decline
+an apology so sweetly and earnestly offered. Besides, that was as it
+should be. Humility was the correct attitude for insignificant girls
+toward such superior creatures as boys, and Monty waxed magnanimous,
+replying:
+
+"Oh, y-y-es! I'll f-f-forgive you. But I don't see. G-g-gir-ls can't run
+like boys."
+
+"Can't they, indeed? Well, you ran like a hare, and I just as fast.
+There was mighty little space between us, honey, and you may believe it.
+How else should I have known the way? I had to keep you in sight, of
+course. It was so fearfully dark in that forest that I nearly lost you
+once, but I could hear if I couldn't see; and it wasn't so bad when we
+got outside again. Yet whatever should make you, a boy--a boy!--go and
+hurl yourself over a precipice, when you knew all the time it was there,
+while I, a girl--a girl, if you please! who didn't know a thing about
+it--stopped short on the brink, amazes me. Explain it, won't you?"
+
+"Oh, f-f-f-fudge! Must be aw-aw-awful late. Moon don't rise now t-t-till
+'most m-m-morning," observed Montgomery, declining explanations, and
+wondering how she had perceived his distaste for girls. Besides, he was
+rapidly regaining strength, and now when he raised himself an
+inspiration came to him. The inspiration found voice in the words:
+
+"M-m-m-might's well be hung for a s-s-s-sheep as a l-l-l-lamb."
+
+The observation was apparently so senseless and Katharine's love of
+mimicry so strong that she couldn't help replying and laughing:
+"J-j-j-just as w-w-well. But where's the s-s-s-s-sheep and l-l-lamb in
+the case?"
+
+Montgomery did not now resent her imitation of his very tone. He even
+condescended to laugh back; then ungallantly remarked: "I wish y-y-you'd
+go h-h-home."
+
+"Meaning to Aunt Eunice's. That's exactly what I want to do. So let's be
+off."
+
+"I s-s-said y-you," corrected Master Sturtevant, rising and taking a few
+cautious steps to test the state of his legs. He found them usable,
+though rather wobbly about the knees, and would have started off across
+the ravine's bottom had not Katharine caught and held him. She was
+herself shivering violently, but only from the cold of an autumn
+midnight, against which her light summer dress was small protection. She
+ached from long sitting on the stony ground, and from holding the heavy
+shoulders of her companion. She was frightened by the lateness of the
+hour and the intense loneliness of the place; and she felt that she had
+sacrificed herself for just the very meanest boy who ever lived. Though
+she was not a girl who often cried, tears came then, and that worst of
+all feelings--homesickness--seized her and turned her faint.
+
+Poor Monty! Here was a situation, indeed, for a boy who despised girls!
+Yet also a boy who was a gentleman by birth; so that, while his first
+impulse was to run away, his second was to offer such comfort as he
+could.
+
+"W-w-what you cryin' for, a-a-anyway? I-I-I'm all right, I guess."
+
+"Well, if you are, I'm not. I'm just as anxious to go home as you are,
+only how can I? I don't know the way, and I'm afraid. I'm afraid of
+everything! Of that terrible forest, of Aunt Eunice's anger, of her
+refusing to keep me and sending me off to that boarding-school, of--Oh,
+dear! I wish I was back in Baltimore!"
+
+Never had the cold countenance of the second Mrs. John or those of the
+round little Snowballs seemed so humanly lovable to Katharine as they
+did at that moment, remembering them in her banishment.
+
+"F-f-fudge! Q-q-quit it! If we're goin' to get scolded for part, might's
+well b-b-be for the w-w-w-whole. 'Tain't far to the pool. We can go
+f-f-fishin', after all, if you behave. I th-th-thought you was good as a
+boy, an'--Will you?"
+
+Kate dried her eyes. She didn't enjoy grief, and the prospect of any
+novelty was delightful. She forgot that she was cold, that it was late
+and she was where she should not have been at such an hour, and
+exclaimed, with an eagerness equal to Montgomery's own:
+
+"Oh, let's! I never went fishing in my life!"
+
+"Come on, t-th-then!" cried the relieved lad, now readily taking her
+cold hand and setting off with all the speed he could attain.
+
+The moon was shining brilliantly, making every object as distinct as
+day, and to the city-reared girl the scene was like fairy-land. Her
+spirits rose to the highest, and none the less, it may be, because all
+the time she was conscious of a certain daring and danger in their
+escapade; and her pace more than outstripped Monty's as they crossed the
+short distance to the river, warming themselves by their own speed, and
+listening intently for the sound of voices which should have reached
+them long before.
+
+"Oh, I'm so delightfully goose-fleshy! This is the most thrilling
+adventure of my life! I begin to feel as if I were part of a story-book
+myself, like all the rest of Marsden!" said Kate, half-breathless with
+running, when her mate came to a sudden halt among the shadows of the
+trees beside the famous pool.
+
+"S-s-s-sh!" warned the other, leaning forward at the risk of a tumble
+into the still, deep water, listening and peering up and down the
+stream. Then, with disappointment depicted in every line of his
+suddenly weary body, he gloomily stammered: "Th-th-th-they've gone
+home!"
+
+There was nothing left but for themselves to follow; but surely, there
+were never fields so wide and rough as these over which Master
+Sturtevant now guided Katharine; herself, also, so tired from her day of
+travel and her night of adventure; and finally, feeling as if the
+stubble pierced every inch of her thin shoes, and that she could endure
+the discomfort no longer, she begged:
+
+"Oh! please do go by some road, and not on this grass any longer."
+
+"Huh! 'T-t-tain't grass. Oat-st-st-stubble," he explained, doggedly
+keeping on his way, which he knew was shorter, and for the further
+reason that he could rid himself of her at Miss Maitland's back garden
+fence. From there he meant to make his own rapid transit to his
+grandmother's low kitchen roof and through a window to his bed, as he
+fondly hoped, forgotten and unobserved. He didn't intend that any
+strange girl should throw all his plans agley, for she had done more
+than mischief enough already. Yet even as he spoke, he looked furtively
+around and was dismayed to see how white she was, and how big and
+troubled her dark eyes were. Fudge! They were even larger and finer than
+his own blue ones, yet she had not once seemed conscious of the fact.
+
+It was the Madam's opinion that "blood would tell," and the good blood
+of many past Sturtevants stirred now in their descendant's veins,
+rousing his unselfishness, and making him say:
+
+"F-f-fudge! You look b-b-beat out. I'll go the road, all right. I don't
+m-m-m-mind it--m-m-much, not much;" for even chivalry could not prevent
+this last truthful word of regret.
+
+So by the road they went; and by the road--retribution came. Nemesis in
+the form of Moses Jones; no longer in a mood to be "uncled" by any boy,
+not even Montgomery, and in his sternness grown almost unfamiliar. He
+was not alone. Two neighbors were with him, and, despite the fact that
+the moon was shining, all three men carried lighted lanterns. They were
+overcoated and muffled to a degree, and Moses' first action was to
+unfold a great shawl which he had carried on his shoulder, and wrap Kate
+in it. He did this in silence, not so much as asking "by your leave,"
+and not observing that he was smothering her at the same time. Then he
+took hold of her arm through the folds of the shawl, and, facing about,
+started back along the route he had come.
+
+They were well outside the village limits, and a weary tramp yet lay
+before them, the longer strides of the men taxing the fatigue of the
+children, till it seemed to them both as if they must fall by the way.
+That terrible silence, too, and the firm grip of her arm, made Kate
+wonder if Mr. Jones had suddenly become a constable in fact, and if she
+were the first victim to be arrested. Once she wriggled herself free
+from her captor's hand, only to find herself again secured and even more
+rigidly.
+
+As for poor Montgomery, the pain and confusion had returned, and he
+could think of nothing save that tormenting headache. His temple was
+swollen and throbbing, and the one idea he still retained was a longing
+for rest. It seemed to him that he had been hurried and tramping along
+ever since he was born. That never had he done a single thing besides
+lifting one heavy foot after another and planting each a bit farther
+along that glaring road. The lanterns bobbed about outrageously, as if
+they were trying to make him more dizzy still; and he scarcely knew when
+they entered the now deserted village street and came to a halt at Miss
+Maitland's gate.
+
+There, he fancied, some women rushed out and grabbed Katharine, for he
+dimly saw her borne away into the house where more dazzling lights were
+gleaming. To avoid their bewildering rays he closed his eyes a moment;
+and when he opened them again he found himself being carried swiftly
+homeward in Moses' strong arms. He being carried! like one of Mis'
+Turner's babies! More ignominy still. As if his having been coddled and
+wept over by a strange little girl hadn't been mortifying enough. But
+his own voice sounded queer to him as he tried to say, with
+unstammering distinctness and dignity:
+
+"You--needn't carry me n-n-none, Un-un-uncle Mose. What you doin' it
+for? Put me d-d-down!"
+
+The other two men had vanished, and there was nobody to hear Uncle
+Moses' tender, troubled answer:
+
+"Why, you poor little shaver, lie still. I don't know what's happened
+ye, nor what sort of scrape you've been in. You an' that t'other one,
+who's come to turn things topsyturvy. But betwixt the pair of you you've
+nigh druv two old women crazy, and set the whole village a-teeter. Just
+because I walked through it ringin' a bell an' cryin', like any
+respectable constable would have done if I'd been one, and this 'most
+makes me feel I am, just cryin': 'Child lost! Boy lost! Girl lost!' and
+a couple the neighborin' men j'inin' in the search, with our lanterns
+lit, sence we didn't know what sort of a hole or ditch you might fell
+into--"
+
+"F-F-Foxes' Gully!" exclaimed Montgomery, no longer resisting the relief
+of walking on somebody else's feet, so to speak.
+
+Uncle Moses stopped short, amazed and alarmed. "What? What's that you
+say?"
+
+"F-f-fell down it. An' she come to say she was s-s-s-sor-ry."
+
+"And wasn't killed? Well now, and forever after, I'll believe in
+guardeen angels! Fell down it an' wasn't killed! But what made ye?
+Hadn't you any sense? Why, there's been more'n a half-dozen cattle
+killed in that plaguey hollow sence I can remember. Yet you wasn't.
+Well, I'm glad of it," and though this seemed a very mild expression of
+his satisfaction, the sudden squeeze which Moses gave his burden
+emphasized it sufficiently.
+
+For a few minutes neither spoke again, then Monty suddenly asked: "How
+many you catch, Un-un-uncle Mose?"
+
+"Enough for breakfast. But I missed ye, sonny, I missed ye. An' I'm real
+glad you wasn't killed. As for that t'other one, I declare, I wish't she
+hadn't come. 'Peared like Eunice would lose her seventy senses,
+a-worryin' lest the child take cold or get hurt or somethin'. And there
+she has landed on her feet sound as a cat. Though speakin' of cats, Sir
+Philip has had the bout of his life, and he looks pretty peaked to me.
+But here we are to home, an' your grandma ain't likely to scold you none
+if you just mention to her 'Foxes' Gully.' 'Twas one of the Sturtevant
+calves got killed there, the very first off, an' she will remember. As
+for me, a respectable hired man, kep' out of my bed like this--why,
+sonny! Soon's you get over it I'll teach you a lesson you'll remember!"
+
+So, still grumbling and petting, Moses set his burden down in Madam
+Sturtevant's presence, and saw her open her lips to reprove her erring
+grandson, then as suddenly close them again and strain the boy to her
+heart, while her stately figure shook like an aspen. But Moses knew the
+lady's temperament of old, and how her alternate severity and indulgence
+had been bad for the child she idolized, and, fearing that severity
+might have the upper hand now, when it was least needed, he remained
+long enough to mention:
+
+"Nothin' much the matter with the little shaver, Madam, only he fell
+down Foxes' Gully, and is--he's sort of tuckered out."
+
+Then he quietly withdrew, and of Montgomery Sturtevant he had no further
+glimpse during what he himself termed "a consid'able spell."
+
+As for Katharine, she was sound asleep long before Moses returned from
+Madam Sturtevant's. To the anxiety and reproof with which she had been
+received, she had, fortunately, but little to say beyond the statement
+that, "I went to apologize, and I stayed to--to fish, I guess." The
+relief of being safe indoors again was all she realized, just then, and
+she submitted to being warmed, blanketed, and dosed with hot sage tea,
+with a meek humility that won her pardon.
+
+Indeed, when at last the dark curls rested on the pillow, and the
+childish face softened in slumber, she looked so like Aunt Eunice's lost
+"little John," that the lady stooped and kissed her for his sake. But
+she confided to the faithful Widow Sprigg, who had also watched and
+waited:
+
+"I'm afraid, Susanna, that our peaceful days are over. While she was out
+to-night, and I knew not where, and I was so troubled and anxious, I
+felt that it would be wrong, really wrong to burden myself with such a
+charge. For years her father left me ignorant of how his life was
+passing, and it seemed to me he had no right to impose the care of his
+daughter upon me, just because I had once tried to be good to him and he
+had once seemed to love me. And I knew it would be hard for you and
+Moses, too. We're all old together; and to rear another child--such an
+odd child, at that--I wonder, is it right?"
+
+Now it so chanced that old Susanna had been entirely won by the manner
+in which Kate had chosen to be undressed and tended by the servant
+rather than the statelier mistress. Also, in the old days when "Johnny"
+had been with them, though the aunt had loved she had, also, reproved
+him; but childless Susanna, whose own little son had died, simply loved
+and never reproved. She now answered, promptly:
+
+"Yes, Eunice Maitland, it's as right as right. She wouldn't have been
+sent if she hadn't been meant, would she? And she's the cut an' dried
+image of her own pa, bless him. Send her off? Course you'll do nothin'
+o' the kind. If you do, I'll leave, an' you can get somebody else to
+take my place. So there, that's my say-so, an' you're welcome to it."
+
+At the thought of Katharine's mobile little face being a "cut and dried
+image" of anybody Miss Eunice smiled, and her perplexity vanished--for
+the time, at least. Then, hearing the kitchen door unclose, she
+remarked:
+
+"Well, I hear Moses coming in, and we three old people must get to rest.
+I am surely obliged to you for the help and comfort you are to me,
+Susanna, and to Moses, too. We'll do the best we can, and day by day."
+
+"Certain, Eunice. That's the way to live, an' all's well 'at ends well,
+as we hope she will--this little orphant thrust upon us without no
+druther of our own, an' a bad beginnin' gen'ally makes a good ending;
+an' I 'low I'd best take one more peek into the sittin'-room chamber,
+afore I go to bed myself. Good night. Don't worry. I've fixed fish-cakes
+for breakfast."
+
+With which comforting assurance for the morrow, the Widow Sprigg took
+herself out of the room, and quiet fell upon the old home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+CHESTNUTS AND GOLD MINES
+
+
+"May I help? I think I could do that. It doesn't look hard," said
+Katharine, wandering into the kitchen where Susanna was seeding
+raisins--more raisins than the girl had ever seen together, save at a
+grocer's counter. "What are you doing it for?"
+
+"Fruit-cake. For Thanksgivin' an' Christmas. I ought to of done it long
+ago, but the weather kep' so warm, an' one thing another's hendered. I'm
+all behind with everything this fall, seems if. I've got to make my soft
+soap yet, and--Laws, child, what do you lug that humbly dog all round
+with you for? A beast as ugly favored as he is ought to do his own
+walkin', and would, if he belonged to me."
+
+"That's just why, I suppose. Because he 'belongs.' And because he isn't
+old. Not so very. He isn't gray, anyway."
+
+The Widow Sprigg looked over her spectacles and saw such a dejected face
+that she immediately suggested caraway cookies. A delicacy which had
+used to bring smiles to "Johnny's" countenance, even after he had
+suffered that worst of all boyish trials,--a "lickin',"--and if there
+was anything in heredity should restore cheer to the heart of "Johnny's"
+daughter.
+
+"No, thank you. But I'd like to help. I shall--shall burst if I don't do
+something mighty soon," said Kate, excitedly. "I am hungry, but it's for
+folks, not cookies. And why do you make cake for Christmas now when it's
+forever and ever before it will come?"
+
+"'Tain't so much for Christmas. Marsden folks don't set no great store
+by any other holiday than Thanksgivin'. Another why is that fruit-cake
+ain't fit to put in a body's mouth afore it's six seven months old at
+the least. This here won't be worth shucks, but Eunice says better late
+'n never, an' if it ain't ripe then t'will be for Easter. We never used
+to hear tell of Easter, here in Marsden, till late years. Though Madam,
+she always kep' it. She's met with a change of heart, however, sence she
+became a Sturtevant, an' I'd ruther you wouldn't mention it, as comin'
+from me, but--" here Susanna leaned forward and whispered,
+sibilantly--"they say she used to be a Catholic when she was a girl!
+Nobody lays it up ag'in her, an' folks pertend they've forgot it; and if
+there is a good Christian goin', I 'low it's Madam Elinor Sturtevant.
+Your Aunt Eunice--though she ain't your real aunt at all, only third
+cousin once removed--she was promised to Schuyler Sturtevant, Madam's
+husband's brother, but he was killed out on a fox-hunt, an' she ain't
+never married nobody sence. That's one why she an' Madam are such good
+friends, most like sisters; as they would have been hadn't things turned
+out different. But there, my suz! Don't stan' there lookin' so wishful.
+Put the dog in the lean-to an' shut the door. There's a strong air comes
+through it an' I feel it, settin' still. Then you can tie my check apern
+over your white frock. Don't you never wear no other kind of clothes,
+Katy? 'Cause I don't know who'll do your washin' an' ironin', if you
+don't."
+
+Having finished a certain portion of the raisins, Susanna rose, washed
+her hands and tied the apron around Katharine's neck, bringing the
+strings forward under the arms with such firmness that the band choked
+the girl, and made a puffy blouse of the gingham. The whole arrangement
+was so uncomfortable that it was promptly taken off and hung upon its
+nail.
+
+"I can't endure that, you know. If I must wear an apron, like a coon,
+I'll have one that fits. Why do I need it, anyway? This dress is only
+white piqué, and wears like iron. I heard stepmother say so when she
+gave it to the dressmaker. She never bought me anything but piqués and
+ducks and things that would stand wearing without tearing. I mean--May
+I do this many?"
+
+Susanna fairly snatched the dish away and shook her helper's fingers
+free from the cluster of raisins she had lifted, exclaiming:
+
+"Why, I am surprised at you, Katharine Maitland! You takin' a bath every
+mornin', in cold water, too, an' keepin' yourself so tidy all the time,
+to go an' stun raisins after handlin' a dog! Wash 'em, an' clean your
+nails with this pin, an' tie that apern back--loose if you want--but
+wear it you must, or I won't be responsible for no smutch you get on
+you. Here's your basin for the hull ones; an' here's an earthen bowl for
+them 'at's done, an' a penknife to do 'em with. I declare! It's more
+work to get you ready to 'help' than 'twould be to do it all myself."
+
+Katharine's spirits rose. Though she blushed at the reprimand for
+untidiness, a kind of reproof she seldom deserved, she was so accustomed
+to corrections that she scarcely listened to any, and sprang to a seat
+on the end of the great table with an outburst of rollicking "rag-time"
+song.
+
+Safe to say that that sort of music had never before been heard within
+the dignified walls of that old mansion, and though Susanna was
+delighted to see "Johnny's girl" happy again, she was, also, somewhat
+shocked.
+
+"Why--why, Katy! What's that you're saying? Don't sound like reg'lar
+English. Not like 'Old Lang Syne,' nor 'The Old Oaken Bucket,' nor
+'Send Round the Bowl,'--nor--My suz, child! What be you doin'?"
+
+"Just, 'Sendin' Round the Bowl,' since you like it!" cried Kate,
+hilariously spinning the receptacle which had been given her for the
+"stunned raisins" across the table to where Susanna sat; then adding,
+mischievously, "And that's the first time that I knew that 'Old Lang
+Syne' was good English; I thought it was Scotch. As for 'rag-time,' all
+papa's friends said I could do it excellently well. You see, I was
+brought up with the coons and can mimic them easily. And you should see
+me do a cake-walk. I will after I've helped you awhile."
+
+Susanna looked rather foolish at being herself set right. She had never
+aspired to much literary knowledge, but she did know that the words
+Katharine had sung were senseless, though they might sound funny. To
+cover her annoyance she demanded, rather crisply:
+
+"What do you mean by 'coon' and 'duck'? Your pa always had odd notions,
+but I never 'lowed his daughter'd be raised with coons and ducks and
+animals of that natur'. I give him credit for some sense, even if he did
+paint pictures for a living."
+
+Katharine's eyes flashed, then softened till they were on the verge of
+tears, and she announced with a finality that brooked no contradiction:
+
+"My father was the sensiblest, cleverest, dearest gentleman that ever
+lived. If I didn't come 'up' as I was 'brought' it wasn't his fault. And
+I'd rather not talk about him--not yet. Not to-day. 'Coons' are the
+colored people. Baltimore's full of them. They're our servants.
+Stepmother says they're worthless, nowadays, and I know she was always
+changing them. But they're the only kind we have down there. We couldn't
+get nice white ones like you. Why--what's the matter?"
+
+The Widow Sprigg had risen very suddenly. Her face had flushed and a
+glitter come into the eyes behind the big spectacles, while her lips had
+closed with a sort of cluck. Leaning across the table, she demanded:
+
+"Give me that bowl, please. I don't need no more your help."
+
+Katharine extended the bowl, as desired, her own face clouding again at
+sight of the other's darkened one. And she fairly jumped as the
+housekeeper asked:
+
+"Where's the raisins?"
+
+"Oh! the raisins? Why--I hadn't begun yet. I ate the few I seeded. I'll
+begin now. I can work right smart if I try."
+
+"Huh! go clean yourself an' clear out. I like to have my kitchen to
+myself."
+
+Kate leaped from the table, having that odd homesickness stealing over
+her again, and as much to dispel her own gloom as to keep her word,
+which she never broke if she could possibly help it, she cake-walked
+down the long kitchen with the gravest of faces and the most ludicrous
+of gestures. Down and back, down and back, head thrown sidewise over her
+shoulder, body bent at an angle which threatened a tumble backwards, and
+her feet alternately tossing the engulfing apron high on this side, then
+on that, and now become utterly oblivious of Susanna in her earnestness
+to distinguish herself--the girl seemed the absurdest creature it had
+ever been the housekeeper's lot to see.
+
+She still felt insulted by Katharine's term of "servant," but could not
+repress a smile, and turned into the pantry to hide that telltale
+weakness.
+
+Looking in through that same pantry window, his mouth agape, his eyes
+twinkling, was her housemate and natural enemy, Moses. Hitherto he had
+taken slight notice of the small new member of the household, and Kate
+had been rather afraid of him. It would, therefore, be killing two birds
+with one stone, or punishing two annoying people at one time, to pair
+them off together, thought Susanna, remarking:
+
+"Well, Mr. Jones, when you get done staring at the monkey-shines of that
+young one you can just take her in charge a spell. Goin' to the
+wood-lot, ain't ye?"
+
+"You know I be. Said so at breakfast, didn't I? Silly women always do
+have to have idees druv into their heads, like nails, 'fore they can
+clinch 'em. Eunice 'lowed that we'd ought to have a lot more small
+sticks chopped," answered the man who managed the estate but was
+presumably managed himself by Miss Maitland. He had his axe over his
+shoulder, and had merely stopped at the pantry window, kept open for his
+benefit, to take a drink from the pail of buttermilk which stood there.
+
+"Well, Eunice has gone down to Madam's. And I've no time to bother, and
+you'll have to take her 'long with ye. If she ain't under somebody's eye
+no tellin' what'll happen. Harm of some kind, sure's you're born."
+
+Moses was about to retort and decline, but a second glance at the child,
+who had now finished her cake-walk and was listening to her elders,
+reminded him that, as yet, he had heard no details of that night's
+escapade when his beloved Monty had so wonderfully come out safe from
+peril of death. This had been some days before, and rumor had it that
+the lad was still confined a prisoner in his chamber. Whether because of
+real illness or for punishment, nobody knew, nor dared anybody question
+the dignified Madam. Eunice had heard the rumor that morning and had
+immediately gone to see her friend and offer her own service as nurse,
+should nursing be necessary. Therefore, it was more to please himself
+than oblige Susanna, that he called through the window:
+
+"Sissy, do you like chestnuts?"
+
+"Oh, I love them! Why? And please, please don't call me 'Sissy.' It
+makes me feel so silly. My name is Katharine Maitland, though at home--"
+there came a little catch in her throat, which nobody else
+observed--"they used to call me 'Kitty Quixote,'" answered the girl,
+running to the window, and looking through the half-closed blind to the
+hired man.
+
+"Hm-m. Ke-ho-ta. Kehota? Kee-ho-tee? Why, I thought I knew the Maitland
+family, root an' branch, twists an' turns an' ramifications, but I never
+heerd tell of a Keehotey amongst 'em. Not even 'mongst their wives'
+folks, nuther. Your own ma was a Woodley, and your pa's second was a
+Snowball, Eunice says, so how happens--"
+
+"Oh, you dear, funny old fellow! Quixote wasn't any of our folks, but a
+fiction-y man, who was always doing chivalrous things in the wrong
+place, or where there was no occasion, as papa said--just like me. Wait
+till I come, please. I'll put on my hat and jacket and be back in a
+minute. For I've guessed what you mean about liking chestnuts. I'm to go
+to the wood-lot with you and gather them for myself. And I never,
+never, never in all my life gathered chestnuts! I've just bought them
+from the stands."
+
+Away she flew, leaving Susanna rather doubtful of the success of her
+intended punishment. From present appearances Katharine was going to
+enjoy a morning in the woods with Moses far better than she would have
+done in the kitchen seeding raisins.
+
+"An' she must have et as much as two whole bunches, even in that little
+spell. So, after all, it's a good thing for the cake, 'lowin' 't we want
+to have it rich in fruit, that she is goin'. But Eunice will have to see
+about her clothes. The idee! Wearin' white every day same as if it was
+Sunday in the summer-time. She told Eunice that her stepmother thought
+white was the sensiblest, for it would wash and bile, and she always
+needed bilin'. But she looks real peart, and sort of different set-up
+from Marsden girls in that little blue flannel suit she wore to come in.
+Dress an' coat an' hat all the same color, an' fittin' her's if she'd
+been run into 'em, yet easy-loose, too, an' not a bit of trimming on
+anything," continued Widow Sprigg with herself, having none other
+present with whom to commune; and, as Katharine reappeared, garbed in
+the same blue coat and hat, with her short dainty skirts showing below
+the coat and her face now glowing with anticipation, remarking aloud:
+"Well, your step-ma may not have been any great shakes for
+pleasantness, but she did manage to make you look real neat."
+
+"Oh, she had beautiful taste! Everybody said that. When she was dressed
+to go out herself she always looked so just right that nobody could tell
+what at all she wore; and that, papa said, was the perfection of
+dressing. Indeed, do you suppose that my father, an artist, could have
+married a person who would offend his eye all the time? Why, what is
+that for, Susanna?"
+
+While Katharine had been discussing her stepmother, the widow had been
+filling a quaint, old-fashioned, tight covered basket with caraway
+cookies and a red apple. The basket had a wreath of flowers painted on
+its sides and another on its cover. It was carried by two slender
+handles, and was unlike any which Kate had ever seen.
+
+"There, deary, that is a lunch to eat whilst you're in the woods; crisp
+air makes a body hungry. Moses'll show you where the spring is, and
+there's a gourd dipper hangs by it to drink out of. But take dreadful
+care the basket. It was your own pa's meetin' one."
+
+"My father's 'meeting one.' What was that? and how fearfully old it must
+be. 'Cause he ran away when he was a little boy, only a year or so older
+than I am now."
+
+"He was old enough to have had more sense, and so're you. A
+'meetin'-basket' was a basket to take to meetin', course. What else you
+suppose? We didn't have two three hours betwixt times, them days. We
+went in the morning and stayed till the afternoon service was over. We
+took our dinners with us an' et 'em on the graves in the graveyard back
+the church. Moses an' Eunice an' me gen'ally took all we needed in the
+big willow, but the childern liked their own by themselves. They used to
+eat in the hollow below the graveyard, and if any of 'em got too noisy,
+or played games wasn't Sabbath ones, one the deacons or head men would
+go down an' stop 'em. Oh, childern was raised right in them days, an'
+grown folks, too!"
+
+This was all very interesting, and Katharine received the old round
+basket, which her dead father's boyish hands must have treated gently,
+indeed, to have left it so well preserved, with a reverent feeling that
+he must be there and see her. She hoped he did. She wanted him to know
+that she was back in his old home, following the haunts which he had
+loved, knowing the very same people who had cared for him. She wondered,
+as many an older person has wondered, if he did know, and she put the
+question eagerly to Susanna, who was herself so old and should,
+therefore, be so wise.
+
+"Oh, Widow Sprigg! Do you believe he can see me, does know, is glad? Do
+you suppose that right now, while I hold this basket, his basket, up
+high toward the sky, careful and loving and not afraid, he is looking
+down and loving, too? _Do_ you?"
+
+Susanna pushed her spectacles very high, indeed, that she might better
+observe this strange child who now confronted her with gleaming eyes and
+that exalted expression; and the face startled her. She was not much
+used to children, and this one was of a sort so novel that she made one
+uncomfortable. She'd have given "Johnny's girl" the old egg-basket
+instead of this "meeting" one, could she have foreseen results. But she
+could and did bring the girl out of the clouds with the exclamation:
+
+"My suz! You're enough to give a body the creeps. All I meant was that
+Johnny was a good boy and took care. If you want to be like him you'll
+take care, too. When he didn't take care, it was Moses' business to lick
+him, an' if you keep him much longer at that lane gate, he'll feel like
+lickin' you, too. So, off with you."
+
+Katharine lowered the basket. Also, lowered her gaze from the ceiling it
+had seemed to pierce till it rested on the old woman's face. What she
+saw there was something very different from what the harsh words had
+suggested, and, with an impulse of affection, she threw her arms, basket
+and all, about Susanna's neck and kissed her ecstatically.
+
+Poor Widow Sprigg caught her breath and gasped it back again before her
+surprise allowed her to say: "There, there, deary, run along. Don't
+keep Moses waitin' a minute longer. He'll be terrible cross. Yes, you
+can take Punchy. I'd ruther you'd take him 'an not, for Sir Philip looks
+peakeder 'n ever to-day. The very sight o' that humbly dog 'pears to
+make him sick. After you've et your cookies you can put your chestnuts
+in the basket to fetch 'em home--if you get any."
+
+Moses had lost his patience, as was to be expected, but he soon regained
+good nature while Katharine related to him all that her father had once
+told her of the famous Don Quixote for whom he had nicknamed her. Then,
+in turn, he pointed out to her the old meeting-house and graveyard, long
+since disused, where the Marsdenites had repaired to take their Sunday
+lunch.
+
+"But it was so--so funny! So absurd, so sort of--of ghastly, wasn't it?
+But what a perfectly glorious place for a hallowe'en party--if there was
+anybody to give a party to. I wish there was somebody to play with,
+Uncle Moses."
+
+Moses ignored the wish. He was not anxious that Katharine should enlarge
+her acquaintance, which would mean more trouble for all concerned. He
+merely continued to discourse upon the ancient customs, of how not only
+did the people bring their dinners to the church, but the mothers their
+babies, with rocking-chairs furnished galore by the congregation, and
+ranged in the roomy vestibule. There the mothers could sway their
+offspring gently to and fro without losing their own religious
+privileges or disturbing anybody.
+
+Kate listened in silence till a bend of the road hid the meeting-house
+from view, then exclaimed:
+
+"I can see the whole picture. I mean to paint it when I grow up. But I
+shall give the babies cherubic faces, like the old masters, because I
+suppose most of them are angels now. I hope they know I'm thinking about
+them, and I wonder if papa sees any of them there, up in heaven. What do
+you think?"
+
+Even as Susanna had done, the hired man stared at Katharine, saying:
+
+"I think--I don't know what I do think! I think I know some of them
+babies that grew up to be anything but angels. If they'd been made into
+angels a little earlier in their lives 'twould ha' been better for
+Marsden, an' I shouldn't feel it my painful duty to 'rest 'em when I get
+to be constable--if ever I'm elected," and then Moses sighed so
+profoundly that Katharine's thoughts flew from this old-time
+reminiscence to the present day's ambitions. Slipping her hand softly
+into the one of his that swung at his side, she gave it a little
+squeeze, and asked:
+
+"Do you awfully want to be a constable? Just awfully, Uncle Mose?"
+
+There was so much of sympathy in the small face at his elbow that Mr.
+Jones was caught unawares.
+
+"Well, 'Kitty Keehoty,' wild horses wouldn't have drug it out of me to
+anybody else; but I don't mind lettin' on to you, just you, that I'd
+admire to be one. I'd like it real well. But, that's nuther here nor
+there. Likin' things an' havin' 'em is as different as chalk an' cheese.
+An' here we be to the woods. The best chestnut-trees is yender, the best
+shellbarks t'other way. 'Tain't time for hickories yet, not till a
+heavier frost comes, but chestnuts you've got to get early if you get
+any at all. The squirrels an' boys are smart round this way. Why, 'most
+every year they gather Eunice's nuts off her own trees, then march up to
+her front door an' sell 'em to her. Fact. An' the silly woman only
+laughs an' says she don't begrudge 'em a little pocket-money. An' she
+don't need. Eunice is real forehanded, Eunice is; and does seem 't the
+more she gives away the more comes in. Now, I'll cut a saplin'-pole an'
+thrash a tree for you. Then, whilst I'm choppin' down in that clump of
+pines over there, you can be pickin' up nuts. Make up your mind to prick
+your fingers with the burrs. A body has to fight for most anything worth
+while."
+
+"Oh, if I only had somebody to pick them up with me!" sighed Kate, as
+she fell to work. Then her thoughts travelled far afield, for a
+delightful notion had taken possession of her, and her young brain was
+teeming with a scheme so great it was--well, it was fully worthy of
+itself.
+
+Almost unconsciously she gathered the fallen chestnuts, scarcely
+realizing the novelty of the task so absorbed was she in her sudden
+Quixotic project. Yet, as she groped among the brown leaves at the foot
+of her tree, her fingers came in contact with something wholly different
+from chestnuts or their thorny burrs. It was hard as a stone, yet it
+wasn't a stone. It was half-buried in the leaf-mold and moss, though the
+rain of the previous night had washed it free in one corner.
+
+That corner glistened so that it dazzled the digger's eyes, and she
+exclaimed aloud:
+
+"Oh, I've found a gold mine! Right here in Aunt Eunice's woods. I must
+get this great piece of gold out and take it to her. And I won't tell
+anybody, not anybody, not even Uncle Moses, till I've told her. For
+whatever is in her woods must be hers, of course."
+
+Away went the last great scheme, which had been wholly connected with
+Mr. Jones and his aspirations for town office; and up rose another far
+more gigantic, by which everybody who was poor, "everybody in the whole
+wide world," should benefit. For, of course, the mine was to be
+inexhaustible, and Aunt Eunice would be able to give away money
+hereafter without stint or measure.
+
+If only she could get out that first great shining lump of gold!
+
+And at last it was out, yet, after all, no gold whatever. Something
+almost as splendid, though, since this was a mystery. A mystery with a
+capital M! For if there were no mystery in the matter why should anybody
+hide that strangely shaped, glittering brass bound box beneath a
+chestnut-tree?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE BRASS BOUND BOX
+
+
+A moment later Kate had sped through the wood to the spot where Moses
+was chopping, exclaiming:
+
+"Oh, Mr. Jones, I've got to go home, back to Aunt Eunice's right away,
+quick. Is there a shorter way than we came, or can I find that by
+myself? Please tell me, quick, quick!"
+
+Moses paused in his work and looked at the girl in great surprise. None
+of his fishing-mates, if given such a chance as she had, would have gone
+home till driven there; for the chestnuts had rattled out of their burrs
+at a fine rate when he had threshed the trees, and it was impossible
+that she should have gathered all or even many.
+
+"Why, little Keehoty! Tired a'ready? An' I was plannin', by an' by, to
+make a speck of fire in a safe place I know an' roast some the nuts.
+Ever et hot roast chestnuts out in the woods?"
+
+"No, no, never! Oh, dear! I'd like to. It--it makes me terribly hungry
+to hear you speak of them, but--I must go home. Something has happened.
+Something so important, I must, I must. Is there a shorter way? And if I
+go by myself shall I meet a tramp?"
+
+"'Tramp!' Bosh! That's Susanna's foolishness put into your head a'ready.
+I only wish I could see a tramp, just to know the breed. But what is it
+so important, if you please?"
+
+"I can't tell you."
+
+Moses whistled. "That's plump spoke, anyhow. Why can't ye? Are you sick?
+Got a pain anywheres? Pep'mints are good for the stummick-ache, an' I
+always carry a few in my pocket. See?" said the kindly old man, pulling
+forth a paper bag and alluringly displaying its pink and white contents.
+
+But to his further surprise Katharine declined the "pep'mints" and
+indignantly denied the stomach ache, declaring that she must go home and
+at once, and asking "which way first."
+
+"Foller your nose, I reckon," retorted Mr. Jones, rather testily. He had
+enjoyed the tale of Don Quixote, had taken a sudden fancy to Katharine,
+had discovered that she knew "Oh, lots and lots more of stories just as
+delightful," and had intended to do a small amount of chopping that day,
+but a large amount of resting. The forest was in a glory of color, the
+air was "mild as midsummer," and in his capacious pocket he had brought
+his "tackle." His axe would furnish a couple of rods, and Katharine
+should have her first lesson at angling in the near-by brook, where
+trout were plentiful, it mattering little to this embryo constable what
+the game laws were; and it would have amazed him to learn that had he
+been in office he would have had to fine himself as the first, chief,
+and habitual trespasser. Now all this pleasant prospect was altered, and
+Moses "never liked to have his 'rangements upsot."
+
+"Nor do I. Oh, dear! The more you talk the more I want to stay, and the
+very more I mustn't. Good-by, I'm going. You can have the caraway cakes
+and the red apple, and please, please take care my father's
+'meetin'-basket.'"
+
+But he laid a detaining hand upon her arm, and demanded:
+
+"First tell me what you've got under your jacket!"
+
+At her mention of the "meeting-basket" he had glanced across to the
+chestnut-trees and had seen that precious receptacle carefully hung upon
+a low branch out of harm's way. Yet here was the girl, hiding something
+beneath her long blue coat, and acting as if she had great ado to keep
+it there. It must have been a heavy, slippery something, because all the
+while she talked she kept hitching it up and clenching it till her
+knuckles turned white under the strain.
+
+"I can't tell you, please," was the exasperating reply, as she wriggled
+her arm free and set off at a swift pace.
+
+Again Moses whistled, but now in disappointment rather than surprise. He
+would have stoutly denied that he, a man, was possessed of curiosity
+such as he attributed wholly to "silly women," yet it is certain that he
+suddenly found the beautiful forest a disagreeable place, and reflected
+that it was his duty to follow the young stranger.
+
+"She's queer actin', at the best, an' sharp as a razor; but what caper
+she's up to now beats me. Eunice ain't to home, an' Susanna never had
+sense. If there's anything goin' on there'd ought to be a man 'round
+with some sort of judgment in his head. Don't know what need there is
+for more small wood bein' cut, anyway. We've got two woodsheds full of
+kindlin' a'ready, besides the big ones of cord-wood for the reg'lar
+fires. We could stand a siege an' not suffer, though Eunice never does
+feel content 'less she's got fuel enough ahead to last two years. Hm-m.
+It's gettin' too hot to chop, anyway. Must be Indian summer comin' on,
+though I claim 'tain't due till November. Susanna, now, _she_ says
+October, an' Eunice, _she_ calls that warm spell we always have the
+first the winter an Indian summer. Seems if there was as many Indian
+summers as there was folks, most, but I don't care. It's somethin' or
+other warm enough to-day, an' I'll go home. I can set in the barn an'
+sort apples. That won't be a heatin' job, an' 'll give me a chance to
+have an eye on things. Oh, hum! I wish Monty would happen along.
+Strange! how I miss that worthless, stutterin', big-hearted little
+shaver! I wouldn't offer to take _him_ fishin' more'n once without bein'
+took up on my word."
+
+His cogitations at an end, his belongings secured, and his little-used
+axe again over his shoulder, Moses went down to the chestnut-tree and
+secured the "meeting-basket." But he was surprised to see how the leaves
+at the foot of it had been scattered about, and that there was a hole in
+the ground itself. There was also in this hole the imprint of something
+square and solid, for the moist leaf-mold still retained the shape of
+the brass bound box, and heaped at one side were the nuts Kate had
+collected ready to put in the basket when once it should be empty.
+
+"Must ha' been somethin' 'important,' sure enough, or she'd never have
+left them nuts. Well, I guess I can store 'em in my pockets, an' I'll
+coax her secret, whatever 'tis, out of her by givin' them back to her,"
+mused this incurious man.
+
+As fast as she could, and keeping an occasional glance upon certain
+trees she remembered, Kate made her way back through the wood. But it
+seemed confusing now and the ground rough. Coming in she had thought the
+ferns and fallen branches "mighty pretty," but going out they hindered
+her. The box, too, was heavy and difficult to hold, though as soon as
+she was out of sight of Moses she took it from beneath her coat and
+balanced it upon her arm. Then she laughed at her own precaution,
+thinking how foolish she had been to hide it, for, of course, he would
+know about it eventually.
+
+"Only it is Aunt Eunice's, and I want her to see it first of all. I
+wonder what is in it. And I wish it wasn't quite so heavy. Can it be
+filled with gold? or diamonds, maybe. Oh, if it were diamonds--think!
+Oh, dear! there goes my shoe-string untied again, and it trips me up so.
+I must stop and tie it and see if I am going right. Seems as if I ought
+to see that old church by this time, yet the trees are just as thick as
+ever--or thicker. Now, old string, I'll knot you so tight you'll bother
+me no more till I go to bed."
+
+Placing the strangely fashioned box or casket carefully on a large
+stone, Katharine flung herself down to tie her shoe. Which, having done,
+and finding her position restful, it was natural that her imagination
+should dwell upon the treasure she had found; and once at her
+day-dreams, Kate was very apt to forget other things. Nor did she rouse
+from her reverie till somebody close at hand demanded:
+
+"I-I-I say! W-w-what's that?"
+
+Instantly upon her feet she faced the intruder, vainly trying to hide
+with her short skirts the glittering casket, as she demanded, in return:
+
+"How dare you come upon a person that way? Why--you might have
+frightened me into a fit. I don't like to be scared."
+
+"Oh, f-f-fudge! I saw you if you d-d-didn't see me. What is t-t-that?"
+
+Katharine coolly sat down upon the casket and thus effectually screened
+it from view. "I thought you were sick, or--or shut up. Aunt Eunice went
+to see if you needed nursing."
+
+Montgomery sat down beside her. The small boulder upon which she had
+placed the box was round, and it was difficult to maintain one's
+position upon it without slipping. Doubly difficult if one were perched
+upon a sharp-angled cube, and one's piqué skirt was stiffly starched. He
+comprehended the situation and meant to be upon the spot when the
+slipping occurred. He really didn't care very much to know what she was
+hiding, but was grateful for a chance to tease somebody.
+
+During the few days of his retirement he had not enjoyed that privilege.
+The fact was that it was Alfaretta, not he, who had been ill; and that
+he had been promoted--or degraded--to her position in the household. It
+all depended upon the point of view; his grandmother maintaining that he
+should feel proud to have the chance of serving her, who was unable, or
+unaccustomed to serving herself, and he feeling that to be tied up in a
+girl's pinafore and with bared arms set to washing dishes, peeling
+potatoes, and scrubbing floors was a disgrace. In vain did the stately
+old gentlewoman show him by her example that one could cook and clean
+and still be dignified; her grandson remained unconvinced and
+rebellious. He didn't believe that poor Alfaretta was sick. He knew she
+was shamming just to get out of her work and make him do it for her. And
+as for his being set to carry trays to a bound-out girl from the
+almshouse--that was the bitterest drop in his cup of woe. He had been
+sternly prohibited from "hectoring" the little maid, and the prohibition
+sat heavily upon him. So heavily, indeed, that no matter who had crossed
+his path when he was again liberated, that person was doomed to suffer
+what Alfy had been spared.
+
+That person proved to be "Kitty Quixote," never more worthy of her name
+than as she sat in the forest dreaming marvellous dreams of the future;
+of wrongs to be righted, of poverty banished, and all dependent upon the
+unknown contents of a brass bound box. Under other circumstances she
+would have rejoiced to see Montgomery, as the only young creature of her
+own species yet met in Marsden, but not with this wonderful mystery upon
+her mind. When he had appropriated a full half of her boulder,
+uninvited, she waited a moment, then icily inquired:
+
+"Where are you going?"
+
+"N-n-n-nowhere."
+
+"That's a good place. When?"
+
+"Oh, b-b-bime-by," answered the lad, with easy indifference.
+
+"You might be late," suggested Katharine, sweetly, yet inwardly longing
+to mimic his stammering speech.
+
+Then, all at once, she began to slide. There had been no perceptible
+movement on Montgomery's part. Assuming an indifference as great as his
+own, Katharine had leaned forward to inspect her second shoe-string, and
+afterward attempting to regain her former uprightness, felt, instead,
+that she was slipping downward. She landed angrily upon her feet, and,
+facing about, she upbraided him as a "rude, unmannerly boy."
+
+However, the mischief was done, her secret was out. Monty forgot his
+desire to "plague her" in his surprised curiosity. Bending over the box
+he examined it critically, and finally announced:
+
+"T-t-that's the most b-b-beautifullest thing I ever saw. W-where'd you
+get it?"
+
+"Found it. But it isn't mine. It's Aunt Eunice's, and I think you are
+horrid mean. I didn't want a person should know anything about it till I
+could put it into her own hands, and then you went and came. Now the
+whole charm of it is gone. Oh, dear!"
+
+Montgomery ignored her unflattering remarks, and, lifting the casket,
+exclaimed:
+
+"H-h-h-heavy! H-h-heavier 'n lead. What you s-s-s-suppose is in it?
+Where'd you find it? W-w-w-when?"
+
+Since secrecy was no longer possible, Kate was only too glad to tell
+everything, and now all desire for teasing had left the listener. He was
+even ashamed that he had forced the girl from the rock, though glad of
+the result, and in another instant both tongues were busy with
+speculation concerning the astonishing find.
+
+"It's so queer. It has no opening that I can see, for this broad band
+around the middle looks perfectly smooth, as if it were all in one
+piece. The band won't slip down nor up. The corners, the brass tips,
+don't budge. It's a perfect cube--let's measure. Yes. Just as big one
+way as another. The wood is as fine as satin and looks as if it had been
+polished to the last degree. Do you suppose it is brass or gold that
+trims it? And where, where did it come from? The earth on it was so
+fresh I don't believe that it had been buried but a little while, and
+oh, I'm just wild to know all about it. Come on. Let's go home. You may
+carry it part of the time. But don't drop it. Don't, for your life!"
+chattered the girl, placing the box in Monty's outstretched palms and
+anxiously regarding his manner of holding it.
+
+His face was a study. Boys, in general, are supposed to be intensely
+practical and less gifted with imagination than girls, but this is a
+mistake. Youth is the time for air-castle building, and whether it be
+lad or lass who "dreams" there is but little difference. Poor Monty!
+Unable to put his soaring thoughts into speech as his companion so
+readily could, he had to be content with just thinking them. But as he
+turned his beautiful eyes upon her she understood all that he would have
+said and clapped her hands, crying ecstatically:
+
+"Oh, I'm so glad! You're one can make-believe everything lovely, too! I
+see it. What fun we'll have! Let's begin at once. We're in the enchanted
+forest. We've been enchanted ourselves. But the fairy king has come and
+shown us where to find the magic treasure that will unlock the whole
+world for us and make us back into the real prince and princess that we
+are all the time, though other people don't know it. He has given us the
+magic box with the key in it, only he has forgotten to tell us how to
+open it. We are on our way now to the Wise Woman. The Wise Woman lives
+in the stone castle beyond the forest, and she will show us how to open
+the box and to use the key. Because the box was hers once, before she
+gave it to the fairy king to keep for us. She knew that one day we
+should come into the forest and that all would happen that has happened.
+That's what makes her the Wise Woman. She has lived a long, long time.
+So long that her hair is quite gray and there are wrinkles around her
+eyes. But the eyes are still clear and gentle and there is a pretty pink
+color in her cheeks. She wears a soft gray gown with an old-fashioned
+kerchief crossed over her breast, and sometimes, most always, there is a
+flower thrust into the lace kerchief. Her hands are white and slender
+and blue veined, but they look old, and her voice is sweet and gentle
+like her eyes. Yet sometimes--sometimes, when other people who are not
+at all wise but very troublesome come before the Wise One and displease
+her, a little sharp fire gets into the eyes and a sour little tang into
+the voice, and then the Troublesome One wishes she hadn't come!"
+
+They had been walking swiftly toward the village, for to Montgomery
+every step of the way was so familiar that he need not look for
+landmarks, and his eyes had remained fixed in fascination upon the
+girl's radiant face as she spun this fairy-tale without stop or
+hesitation. It had been as real to him as to her, but now there came
+over him a disappointment even more real. Pausing abruptly on the path,
+he burst forth, indignantly:
+
+"Oh, f-f-f-fudge! That Wise Woman's nobody but Aunt Eu-Eu-Eu-nice!"
+
+At the same moment something heavy crashed through the underbrush, and a
+man fell sprawling at their feet.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE GRIT OF MOSES JONES
+
+
+An axe flew gleaming through the air and Montgomery vanished, the brass
+bound box with him.
+
+Katharine was too startled to move, and stood listening to the
+distressing, almost blood-curdling groans which issued from the man's
+lips, as, for a moment, he lay face downward before her. Then she
+recognized the apparel of Moses Jones and bent over him pityingly.
+
+"Why, Uncle Mose! What is the matter?"
+
+For only answer more groans, which presently began to thrill her with an
+unspeakable terror. What made him do that? What had befallen him? Was he
+dying, and she alone with him, there in the strange forest? The thought
+was torture, and, nerving herself to the task, she laid her hand upon
+him, though her repugnance to the act was a fresh torment. It had always
+been one of the girl's peculiarities that she could not bear to touch
+any ailing thing. She would wait upon people who were ill most
+cheerfully, even eagerly, but she hated to come in personal contact with
+them. It had been so even in the case of her father whom she idolized,
+and had been one of the small items in stepmother's list against her.
+But she had heard so much upon the subject then, and of its enormity,
+that she had set herself to overcome the failing, since failing it was.
+And had poor Moses known it, she would almost rather have borne his pain
+herself than to have helped him turn upon his back as she did. To do
+more for him than this was impossible, and again she besought him to say
+how he was hurt.
+
+Finally, he opened his eyes and glanced about him, then angrily shook
+his fist toward a projecting tree-root which had been hidden from his
+sight by a group of ferns and over which he had stumbled.
+
+"That's it! That's the mis'able thing 'at done it!" he cried, then
+groaned again, but weakly. The pain had suddenly become so severe as to
+turn him faint while the brilliant branches overhead began to dance and
+sway before his dizzy sight as no wind could make them do. "I--I'm
+gettin' light-headed. Help me up, Keehoty. I'm broke. I'm broke all to
+smash. My leg--my side--oh, oh, ouch!"
+
+[Illustration: "'I FEEL SO QUEER EVERY LITTLE SPELL, AN' I MUST GET
+HOME'"]
+
+His increasing pallor frightened Katharine till pity overcame
+repugnance, and with a strength unknown before she clasped her arms
+about his neck and struggled to lift him to his feet, all the while
+protesting: "You mustn't be broken! You can't be. Just a little crooked
+root like that and a big man like you. Not quite so hard, please! Not
+quite so tight! 'Cause you're pulling me down instead of me you up.
+There, that's better!"
+
+Susanna had often declared that Moses was "just like ary other man,
+scared to death if even his little toe ached," and it was true that he
+was so unused to illness that his few attacks of it had always
+frightened him. Yet now he realized that something far worse than
+ordinary had befallen, and that he must rally his grit and his strength
+together. With an heroic effort he got upon his feet--or foot, for one
+was useless, and braced himself against the tree-trunk beside them.
+
+"Now, sissy, go find an' fetch my axe that got flung off my shoulder
+when I stumbled. I didn't think when I brought it to chop with 'twould
+prove a crutch for broken bones. Oh, I wish we wasn't so far from home.
+I wish you'd kep' in the right road an' not come flarrickin' clear off
+here out the beaten track."
+
+"Why--isn't this the right, the shortest way back?" asked Katharine,
+surprised.
+
+"No, 'tain't. I s'pose all trees look alike to city gals, but don't stop
+to gabble. Find the axe. Pick up your basket. I feel so queer every
+little spell, an' I must get home. That shin-bone's broke, true as
+preachin', an' six seven my ribs, by the feel of 'em, for my foot
+wobbles 'round as if it was hung on a string, an' my side! The axe,
+Keehoty, the axe!"
+
+She found and brought it, weeping bitterly. She had never felt so sorry
+for anybody as for this brave old fellow who was now forcing himself to
+overcome his own misery for the sake of others. For when she begged him
+to stay still where he was and let her run to the village and bring
+somebody to help he vigorously refused.
+
+"Scare the hull community just 'cause I was fool enough to tumble down
+and crack my leg? Me, an old woodman, that'd ought to have some sense.
+An' Eunice! Why, 'twould scare Eunice out of a year's growth to see me
+fetched home 'stead of walkin' there on my own pins. Half a loaf's
+better'n no loaf, an' one leg's better'n none. As for my plaguey old
+ribs--they can take care themselves. But once we get there you just clip
+it to the doctor's an' have him come 'round an' patch me up. He'll have
+to do it so's I can be workin' reg'lar, 'cause I'm the only man there
+is. Besides, town meetin's comin' on, an'--My sake! I'm beat!"
+
+Beaten he was into the silence which he had dreaded, wherein he realized
+his own agony. He had kept talking to prevent thinking, but had now
+passed beyond that. By nods and glances he directed Kate along the
+shortest way, but it seemed to the sufferer as if the familiar big stone
+house grew steadily more distant rather than nearer.
+
+Katharine never forgot that walk. To her, also, the distance seemed
+interminable, and the firm clutch of his hand upon her shoulder for its
+support almost to break her own bones. His face, when she now and then
+glanced toward it, was pallid with suffering, but his lips were grimly
+shut, defying his own misery. As he shaved only once a week, on Sunday
+morning, his half-grown stubble of beard enhanced his pallor, but did
+not add to his beauty; and Katharine, reared among city folks who made
+such "Sunday habits" their every-day ones, felt something like disgust.
+
+"I'm awful sorry for him, but--but he looks horrid. And he hurts me,
+too. Oh, I wish we had never come into this dreadful forest, pretty as
+it is; but, joy! there's a house. We'll be in the village soon and at
+home. What will Aunt Eunice say? And where did that mean boy go?"
+
+As Katharine's thoughts ran on this wise they were steadily though
+slowly passing over the rough ground of the wood to the smoother fields
+beyond; and as they came in sight of the Maitland barns, there was
+Montgomery peeping around a corner and on the lookout for somebody. His
+release from confinement at home had been the result of Aunt Eunice's
+call, he having been permitted to walk home with her, and to spend the
+day with Katharine. Alfaretta was recovered and able to do her own
+dish-washing, and on the Monday the boy must return to school. So Madam
+had made him array himself once more in his best attire and had duly
+instructed him how young gentlemen of the Sturtevant race should conduct
+themselves toward young ladies of the Maitland family.
+
+Arrived at the stone mansion, Susanna had promptly sent the boy to the
+woods to hunt up his playmate, if he desired her, and in any case to
+remind Moses that he had gone off without killing the chicken for
+dinner.
+
+"You tell him to come right straight back here an' do it now, if he
+wants a bite to eat. I ain't never wrung a fowl's neck nor chopped off
+her head, nor Eunice hain't, nuther, an' we ain't a-goin' to begin at
+our time o' life. Killin' poultry or pigs, ary one, is man's work an'
+not woman's, an' so say to him 't if he wants his dinner he can come
+kill it. He's gettin' so forgetful lately 't he can't remember nothin'
+'cept fishin', an' though he took his axe along I 'low he'll do more
+threshin' nut-trees for that young one than choppin'; an' you remember,
+Montgomery Sturtevant, that you've got on your Sunday clothes; and no
+matter if your rich city relations do give 'em to you without no trouble
+to you nor your grandma, 'at you ought to take care of 'em and keep 'em
+clean. Don't go climbin' trees with 'em on, but just pick up what's on
+the ground an' you'll eat enough then, fat white worms an' all, to make
+you sick. Katy, she can give you part her cookies, but don't you get
+carryin' on with her little basket, 'cause it was her pa's, an' she's
+goin' to set great store by it. Tell him it's half-past nine if it's a
+minute, an' them old fowls what we're killin' off first is ruther tough.
+I ought to have her in the pot right now, an' there she ain't caught
+yet, runnin' 'round the hen-yard at loose ends, an' I'll try to catch
+her an' that'll help, an--My suz! if that boy ain't half 'crost the
+pastur' an' me not done talkin' to him. The sassy thing! If I'd had my
+way makin' this world there wouldn't have been nobody in it 'cept girls,
+an' them grown up and come to their gumption. But that hen--I'll try
+catch her or she'll never be caught."
+
+Which was very true; as also the fact that before the garrulous
+housekeeper had more than suggested "chicken" and "chestnuts,"
+Montgomery had vanished to set them in train. After all, there might be
+compensations, he thought, for a day wasted upon a girl's society. There
+still seemed to linger upon his palate the flavor of Aunt Eunice's
+pullets, from which he had been despoiled by his first enforced call
+upon her ward, and though he had regretfully heard Susanna say "chicken"
+without the plural "s," he knew that, being himself "company," he would
+get his full share of the fowl, which he trusted might be a large one.
+
+Which explains his presence in the wood and his lingering in the
+barn-yard now, where he could command a first view of any person issuing
+from the forest on the shortest way home. He had retreated here after
+what he had supposed was a robber had fallen at his feet, and at the
+cost of a breathless run had preserved the mysterious brass bound box
+from theft. He had now safely hidden it in the hay-mow, and awaited
+Kate's return to tell her where. It had been almost beyond his power to
+keep the secret from Miss Maitland, even thus long, but loyalty to the
+discoverer had restrained him. And at last there she was coming across
+the pasture, Uncle Moses with her; and what was most astonishing, the
+pair were leaning upon one another in an intimacy which made Montgomery
+feel rather jealous.
+
+"F-f-f-fudge! I didn't know he liked g-g-girls! He's got his hand on her
+s-s-shoulder, an' my, how they do just c-c-cr-creep! Even the pug dog
+just bare w-w-waddles, like he's tuckered out," remarked the watching
+lad to Sir Philip, who had taken advantage of the day's warmth to visit
+the mouse-infested barn and now lay sunning himself on its southern
+threshold.
+
+But at the name of dog the Angora sniffed the air and withdrew with
+dignity to his throne indoors. He had already learned that Punch knew a
+good cushion when he saw it; and, though early provided with one for
+himself, preferred the satin couch of Sir Philip to the carpet-covered
+one which Susanna declared "plenty good enough for ary dog humbly as
+that one." If Punch secured the cushion first he was not easily
+dislodged, and since his one great battle the Angora shrank from
+contest. Evidently Sir Philip judged discretion better than valor, and
+the behavior of the two animals afforded the family much amusement.
+
+Thus deserted of all society save his own thoughts, Monty fixed a keener
+attention upon the slowly advancing pair, and presently exclaimed:
+
+"F-f-fudge! Somethin's happened. Uncle Mose's leanin' on her; she's a
+h-h-helpin' him! She's a w-w-w-wav-in' to me like blazes! That's no
+'how-de-do' salute, that's a 'come r-r-right here' one! He's got his
+axe, looks like, an's l-l-leanin' on it. F-fudge! I bet he's chopped his
+foot 'stead of a t-t-tree!"
+
+Monty's legs flew up and down like the rapidly revolving spokes of a
+wheel as he hurried toward the man and girl. But after one hasty glance
+at the feet of Mr. Jones, and seeing no blood on either, he knew that
+whatever was amiss it was not what he had fancied. Without a word he
+seized the axe from its owner's trembling hand and placed his own
+sturdy little shoulder in its place. Katharine was not crying now, but
+her anxiety altered her appearance strangely, and Moses was wholly past
+speech. Every nerve of his tortured body was strained to reach a spot
+where he could sink down and yield to the dreadful weakness which
+assailed him. Even the hard floor of the barn seemed a paradise of rest,
+and he fixed his eyes upon the wide doorway with a last effort of his
+will.
+
+He did reach it, but there both will and consciousness gave way to the
+strain of the last hour, though the story of his pluck and endurance was
+to make him more highly respected in his native town than he had ever
+been before.
+
+When he sank down fainting the children loosed their hold on either
+side, Montgomery standing still in a frightened wonder, but Kate
+hastening indoors for help. Rushing breathlessly into the sitting-room
+where Miss Eunice was quietly arranging some yellow 'mums in a quaint
+glass jar, she caught the lady's hand with a vehemence which sent the
+flowers in one direction, the pretty jar in another.
+
+"Oh, Aunt Eunice! Come quick, 'cause now he truly must be dead, after
+all. Quick, quick!"
+
+"Katharine--my dear! Why will you do such startling things? My precious
+jar that has held flowers for us these generations just rescued from
+destruction! And the poor flowers themselves--"
+
+"Oh, don't bother! Please, please come. There's only Monty out there,
+and I--I did what I could, but he's dead, anyway."
+
+"Dead, child? Sir Philip dead?" asked Miss Maitland, her thoughts
+instantly reverting to the only ailing member of the household.
+
+"No, Aunt Eunice, but a person, a man--Uncle Moses."
+
+Then, indeed, did Eunice's own hand tremble so that she set the jar she
+had just preserved back on the mantel while her face paled in distress.
+But she caught the girl's guiding hand firmly in her own, called to
+Susanna in the kitchen, and on the brief journey to the "further barn"
+learned the main facts of the affair.
+
+Two hours later Katharine and Montgomery sat down in the kitchen to a
+dinner of bread and milk, while over the rest of the house hung a
+strange silence which made even its former quietude seem noisy by
+contrast. Aunt Eunice had gone to lie down, being greatly shaken by the
+sad accident, which, while being much less tragic than the death
+Katharine had reported, was trouble sufficiently serious. In the kitchen
+chamber above, Moses' own room, they could hear Susanna softly stepping
+about in list slippers, only the jar of the floor beams betraying her
+movements, and occasionally a muffled voice, strangely unlike the gruff
+tones of the hired man, would float down to them. Sir Philip lay purring
+himself to sleep, after a strenuous season of unrest, during which
+nobody had had time to protect him from mischievous Punch. As for the
+latter, he had been fatigued by his trip to and from the forest, as well
+as his manoeuvres with the Angora, and now took his own rest by
+sleeping with one eye open.
+
+The children themselves were weary. Katharine from the excitement of the
+morning, and Montgomery from physical exercise. He had never done so
+many useful things in his life as he had crowded into the space of two
+short hours. It was he who had summoned the doctor, run back and forth
+between that gentleman's office and Miss Maitland's house, carried a
+plain statement of facts to Madam Sturtevant, as well as a highly
+furbished one to every householder between the two mansions, and had
+manfully attended to Mr. Jones's noon "chores." He had, indeed, already
+a wild ambition to be engaged in the hired man's place, since the doctor
+said that that sufferer would be laid up in bed for at least three
+months.
+
+"I'd r-r-rather do chores any day than go to s-s-school," he announced
+to his companion, swallowing a large bit of bread at the same time, and
+thereby causing that young person to tilt her nose upwards,
+disdainfully.
+
+"You ought to be as nice in your manners out here alone with me as you
+would be in the real dining-room with Aunt Eunice and grown-up company,"
+she reproved, daintily balancing her own spoon with an ease which the
+other would scarcely admit to himself that he admired.
+
+"F-f-fudge. You ain't c-c-com--pany no more. You belong, don't you?"
+
+"I--I guess so. I begin to hope so, for this is the most delightfully
+happening place I ever was in. Though I never was in, to stay, but one
+other. First you fell over a precipice, and then I found a nest of
+little turkeys all dead, out in the black currant-bushes, Susanna says
+they are, that had stolen themselves--whatever that is. Then that
+mystery of a brass bound box; and now Uncle Moses breaking his bones,
+and so much going on. But--Montgomery Sturtevant! That box! What did
+become of it? Would we dare, do you suppose we might go back to the
+woods and find it? It was all your fault. If I hadn't let you carry
+it--All this about poor Uncle Moses has put it out of my mind, but now
+it comes back and it's more important than he is. I'm sure of it. We
+must find it. Come, quick!"
+
+Katharine pushed back from the table and; sprang to her feet, her
+weariness forgotten in this fresh anxiety.
+
+But Monty was neither anxious nor excited; at least, not about the box,
+though he held it scarcely less important than she did. He was busy
+over a "sum" in mental arithmetic, a branch of study he little favored,
+though it had now come to assume considerable importance to him. Yet the
+problem was beyond his capacity, though this keen-witted girl might
+solve it. He'd try her. Therefore, still gurgling his milk, he
+spluttered:
+
+"S-s-s-ay, Katy! if a man, if a m-m-man can earn a dollar a day doin'
+c-c-chores, all the c-c-chores, how much can a boy earn doin'
+h-h-ha-half of 'em?"
+
+"Not a single cent, if I had to pay him, and he were such a boy as you.
+A boy so mean he'd take a brass bound box out of a girl's hands and lose
+it for her, and then wouldn't budge to go get it. You do try me so,
+Montgomery! And there's one thing I know. That is, that if I had the
+management of you I'd break you of that detestable habit of stuttering,
+or know the reason why. It's all nonsense. You can talk as well as
+anybody else, only you're too lazy. Now, will you come?"
+
+To her surprise and to her shame, also, he neither resented her sharp
+speech nor her reply to his money question. Leaning forward, his blue
+eyes took on an earnestness which effectually dispelled all notion of
+vanity in their possessor, demanding:
+
+"C-c-c-could you do it? C-c-can you? _W-w-w-wi-will you?_"
+
+"Yes, I might, could, would, and should--if you'd go find my brass bound
+box!"
+
+"Cross your heart, honest Injun, h-h-hope to d-d-die?"
+
+"No. Neither one. Just plain 'Yes.' I know a way. I've read all about it
+in the Cyclopedia in the big bookcase. I hunted it up right away, that
+first day after the first night when I--I mocked you. I made up my mind
+then, and I never unmake minds, that if you'd be decent I'd cure you.
+It's nothing but a dreadful bad habit, anyway, and easy done. But not
+until you find my--the--Aunt Eunice's brass bound box."
+
+He was gone and back in a flash.
+
+Katharine, starting to follow, paused in the middle of the floor,
+arrested by the sight of him standing in one doorway with the glittering
+casket in his hands, and of Miss Maitland in another staring at that
+which he held as if she saw a ghost.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+HAY-LOFT DREAMS
+
+
+All the pretty pink color which had hitherto tinged the lady's cheek had
+vanished, and she visibly trembled, so that Katharine darted forward to
+her support. But Aunt Eunice raised her hand protestingly, and tottered
+forward to the nearest chair. With dry, white lips, she asked in a voice
+so low it could barely be heard:
+
+"Montgomery Sturtevant, where--where did you find _that_?"
+
+Her appearance alarmed both the children, who fancied she, also, was
+about to faint as Moses had done, yet she did not fall nor did her gaze
+waver; and impelled by its sternness to make reply, Monty finally
+stammered:
+
+"H-h-h-hay-m-m-ow."
+
+"Hay-mow! Impossible!" returned Miss Maitland, becoming a bit more
+natural in appearance, while Kate indignantly turned upon her playmate,
+demanding and denying:
+
+"How dare you? He didn't. 'Twas I--under a tree in your own big forest.
+I dug it up and fetched it--he fetched--there wasn't a hay-mow anywhere
+near it. Oh, Aunt Eunice, it's the Magic Treasure. It holds the key to
+all the world--to all the good things in the world, anyway. And you're
+the wonderful Wise Woman will open it and let us use the gold and
+diamonds and precious stones to make all the poor people rich and glad.
+'Tis yours, I know, and quick, quick!"
+
+With a bound she seized the box from Monty's hands and brought it to the
+disturbed lady, who, when the girl would have placed it on her lap,
+recoiled as from some venomous thing.
+
+"No, no! Don't bring it to me. I wouldn't touch it. It has wrought evil
+already, and so great--"
+
+Then she abruptly paused and steadfastly regarded the quaint old casket
+which, as Katharine had discovered, seemed to have neither lock nor
+fastening, and was in itself a marvellous piece of mechanism. As she
+gazed her thought was busy as painful, but out of the chaos one idea at
+last grew clear: The Brass Bound Box must be safely hidden and none must
+know that it had ever been found. To hide it she would have to touch it,
+no matter how unwillingly. But the secret of its existence must be kept,
+although that secret was already in the possession of these two others.
+
+She called them to her and held out her hands now for the box. They
+approached her with a sort of awe, for there was that still in her face
+which altered its ordinary kindliness. Not that it was unkind, for there
+was even more than usual sweetness in the glance she gave Montgomery,
+yet he felt as if he had been guilty of some terrible sin without in the
+least knowing what or why.
+
+"Children, you are young to be asked to promise so serious a thing as I
+now ask you, but you must promise it, and you must keep your word. Will
+you?"
+
+"I never broke my word in my life, Aunt Eunice! I wouldn't begin now
+after I've grown to be such a big girl," said Katharine, promptly. "But
+it's honest to tell you I hate promises, and I never feel so tempted to
+lie as when I've made one. I'd rather not promise, if you please; and I
+guess--I guess I'd rather not hear any secret. I'll go out and let you
+tell it to Monty alone."
+
+Montgomery shot out a restraining hand and clutched her vanishing
+skirts, while a faint smile stole to Miss Maitland's lips at this
+evidence of moral cowardice. The boy felt, and with justice, that it was
+"Kitty Quixote" who had got him into this scrape, with her wild woodland
+adventures and her fairy-tales, and that it was but fair she should
+share in it.
+
+"Unfortunately, you already know it. What you must promise is--that you
+will never, never speak of this box or its strange reappearance to any
+person, young or old. I shall put it out of sight where it will not be
+easily found again, and then forget it. You must forget it, too. You are
+Sturtevant and Maitland, descendants of honorable men and women, and for
+the sake of your forebears you must hide this thing."
+
+It was all so solemn that Katharine shivered, yet could not help
+wondering a little. "Forebears"--that meant dead people; and how could
+it harm people already dead to have that box found, even supposing it to
+be full of poisons or other dreadful stuff, as she now began to imagine?
+
+Now, if Kate merely shivered and speculated, poor Montgomery was in an
+ague. When he fixed his great eyes upon Aunt Eunice's face they were so
+full of terror that she pitied him, and tried to comfort, saying:
+
+"Don't look so frightened, dear. It's only to keep from speaking of what
+has happened this morning. That's easy, isn't it? Besides, you are so
+young you will not remember long. Other things will drive it from your
+minds. At least, I trust so. In any case, you are in honor bound."
+
+With that she rose as if to dismiss them, and went away toward the
+seldom used west wing of the great house, carrying the box with her. Her
+step was no longer uncertain, but firm and decided. A terrible situation
+had suddenly confronted her, and made, for a moment, even her clear
+judgment dim; but she had swiftly weighed the consequences, pro and
+con, and had settled the wisest course to follow.
+
+Left alone, these young "descendants of honorable men and women"
+regarded one another in dismay; and Montgomery was the first to speak,
+crying out with all the intensity words could express:
+
+"Oh, ain't it a-a-aw-ful!"
+
+"Huh! I don't see anything 'awful' about it, 'cept your hanging on to me
+and making me stay whether or no. That was a dirty mean trick--keeping
+me here when I might have got away without hearing."
+
+"Y-y-you knew it a'ready. An' it _was_ in the h-h-h-hay-mow. I'd hid it
+there the min-ute I g-g-got to the barn, waitin' for y-y-you. But come
+out there n-now. I've got s-s-s-somethin' to tell you," said the unhappy
+lad, far too disturbed to resent her sharpness. At which she became
+instantly regretful, and slipped her arm consolingly within his, as they
+walked toward the great barn, which had from the first seemed to the
+city girl the most delightful of structures.
+
+It was further proof of Monty's dejection that he did not jerk his arm
+away, nor would he have cared at all who saw him thus being petted by a
+"girl." However, once arrived at the great sun-lighted doorway, and
+secure even from Susanna's ears, the trouble came out.
+
+"Oh, w-w-what shall I do? I've told it all over t-t-town, a'ready, an'
+it's no s-s-se--cret at all!"
+
+Katharine stuck her arms akimbo and stared mercilessly at the abject
+creature before her, who seemed to droop and wilt under her gaze as if
+he were sinking through the hay-strewn floor.
+
+"You told it?" she repeated, indignantly.
+
+Monty nodded mournful acquiescence.
+
+"Then you--you--you ought to be set washing dishes again, and kept at it
+for the rest of your life. So there."
+
+One blue eye was raised a trifle in surprise. How in the world had she
+known that? He didn't remember mentioning the cause of his recent
+retirement from public life, indeed, he was positive that this had been
+a "secret" really worth keeping. However, it didn't matter now. Nothing
+mattered except that he, who came of such "honorable" people, had
+betrayed his friends.
+
+"W-w-what'll happen, s'pose?"
+
+"I don't know," answered Kate, slowly. "Something dreadful ought. For
+before it was Aunt Eunice's secret the box was my secret, too. I was the
+first who should have told it, and only to her. You had no right to
+speak of it till I gave you leave."
+
+"Un-un-uncle Mose broke his bones, and I h-h-had to go 'round, didn't I?
+An' when I told about him the o-o-other j-j-j-just slipped out itself.
+T-t-t-that's all."
+
+"Humph! 'All!' And more mischief done than you or I can guess, maybe.
+For though I can't imagine why Aunt Eunice should be so overcome and
+anxious at sight of just a box, there must be some good reason. She has
+seen that box before and it doesn't suggest pleasant memories to her.
+That's plain. She would have been glad if it had never been found, and
+all my pretty romance about treasure and helping people turns out just
+horrid. I wish I had never gone to that wood, then things wouldn't have
+happened. The box would have stayed in its hole, I wouldn't have hurried
+home with it by the long wrong way and met you, and poor Uncle Moses
+wouldn't have followed nor fallen over that root. Aunt Eunice would have
+been like the saying, 'Where ignorance is bliss,' and wouldn't have been
+worried so, and we shouldn't have been forbidden to tell things that I
+wouldn't have cared to tell, if I hadn't been forbidden. And, oh, dear!
+What a terrible hard world it is! and what a lovely old barn! I
+think--Do you suppose I could climb up that hay-mow? Susanna's sure
+there are hens' nests 'stolen' up there, and she needs the eggs. I wish
+we could find them. I wish we could do something--anything that is
+pleasant and so helps us to 'forget,' as Aunt Eunice wished us to do.
+But I guess I can't climb much. I never had a chance to try."
+
+"I'll s-s-show you!" cried the lad, eagerly, and delighted to think
+there was something in which he could excel this clever city girl. With
+a bound he had risen from the floor, where both had sat during the last
+of their talk, had promptly spit upon his palms and rubbed them
+together, then leaped to catch an upright beam. "Shinnying" up to the
+slippery mow with real agility, he there paused and regarded Katharine
+with an expression of great pride. But instead of admiration her mobile
+countenance expressed only disgust, and to his question, "H-h-how's
+that?" she retorted: "Nasty, dirty thing! You go wash your hands before
+you touch a single one of our eggs!"
+
+"'O-o-our' eggs!" repeated Monty, scornfully, to hide his own chagrin.
+"H-h-how long since th-th-they were 'ours'?"
+
+"Oh, dear! Do come down and wash, and let's quit quarrelling. Seems as
+if we never could agree about things, yet we must. We've got to be
+friends if we have to keep Aunt Eunice's secret, for even though you did
+tell it before it was hers you needn't make it worse and speak of it
+again. If anybody asks you about it now, all you must do is to keep
+perfectly still. Not say a word. Let them think what they please, but
+don't you talk. Now, isn't there any other way to go upon the hay
+except by that beam? The Widow Sprigg said she was going up there
+herself soon as she got time, and I'm sure she doesn't do what you did."
+
+"C-c-couldn't do it with--out," asserted the climber, referring to the
+moistening operation.
+
+"I mean she would never 'shinny' up a straight, slivery beam."
+
+"Huh! I s'pose there's a l-l-lad-der, do for g-g-girls," asserted
+Montgomery, indifferently.
+
+"Then show it to me and I'll begin to teach you how not to stammer."
+
+He looked at her sharply, but there was such perfect sincerity in her
+face that he accepted her promise joyfully, and led her to the rear of
+the barn where a rude but strong ladder led from the "bay" at the bottom
+to the top of the hay, almost touching the roof. Jumping from the higher
+board floor of the barn into this bay Montgomery ran nimbly up the
+perpendicular ladder, which was so straight it seemed fairly to tilt
+backwards, like an overerect person, and Katharine followed as best she
+might. She was afraid but determined, and, though the slippery blades of
+the dried grass fell over the rounds of the ladder, making foothold
+difficult, she managed to reach the level beneath the eaves and was
+pulled over into safety by the boy.
+
+"Isn't this delightful? I was never in such a lovely place before, so
+smelly and sweet and warm. I don't wonder hens like it up here, though
+it's scarey coming up. Don't you think so?" she asked, looking around
+upon the lofty mow with curious gaze.
+
+"S-s-scarey? Pooh! That's 'cause you're a girl. G-g-g-irls wasn't made
+to climb. B-boys were. I can climb first-rate. Yes, sir. I c-c-can climb
+anything. I can cl-cl-climb any tree in Aunt Eu-Eu-Eunice's woods. I can
+climb any tree in Deacon Meakin's woods. I--I can climb all the trees in
+Sq-Sq-Squ-Squire Petti--john's woods, top the mountain. I can climb any
+tree in the whole w-w-world! I c-c-co-could climb the church steeple!"
+
+Katharine listened to this boastful statement with interest. She not
+only believed it, but had observed that as Montgomery neared his climax
+his stammering became less pronounced. This coincided with the
+Cyclopedia and suggested the first lesson she should give. But she had
+herself "climbed" to this height for another matter besides instruction.
+To descend with a quantity of fresh eggs for Susanna's depleted larder
+would be to bring one ray of sunshine into that darkened house. For as
+the widow had pertinently inquired of the hired man, only the night
+before, "How can a body cook good victuals without ingrejunce? An'
+what's the greatest ingrejunce in punkin pies if it ain't eggs? Or cake,
+uther?" to which Moses had jocularly replied: "It might be punkin or
+flour." And again, Susanna: "My suz! But you air smart, ain't ye? Well,
+eggs I haven't, an' eggs I shall an' must. An' up that loft I go,
+tromple or no tromple the hay, an' before the sun sets another time on
+this deceivin' world."
+
+Therefore, eggs Katharine would obtain and then instruct; and,
+announcing this decision, Montgomery did his best to aid her in the
+search. Nor was it unsuccessful. There were three nests, safely placed
+beneath the eaves where their builders had supposed in their hen-minds
+that no human being would ever come, while another adventurous fowl had
+lazily scooped a hole in the very centre of the mow and deposited her
+eggs. In any case, eggs there were in abundance, and, having filled
+Montgomery's pockets and Kate's hat with them, they took their own
+well-earned rest upon the fragrant hay beneath the slatted window.
+
+Sunshine and air came through it, and the song of birds in the trees;
+and beyond another distant wide-opened shutter they could see the roofs
+of village homes and the spire of the church which Monty felt he could
+so easily climb. There, all anxiety forgotten, they dreamed dreams and
+saw visions; and in each and all they were both to be good and great and
+world beneficent.
+
+[Illustration: "THERE, ALL ANXIETY FORGOTTEN, THEY DREAMED DREAMS AND
+SAW VISIONS"]
+
+"I shall be a great artist some day. As great as my father, or maybe, if
+one could be--even greater. Because, you see, poor papa had to work for
+money, not for love of his art. I've heard him say so, time and time
+again. When he wanted to paint great pictures he had to paint mean
+little ones, such as common persons liked and would buy. 'Pot boilers'
+he called them, because they brought the cash, the 'fuel,' to keep the
+'pot' a-boiling. Course, we had to have clothes and a house and things
+to eat, and nobody to buy them except papa darling. Maybe, up in heaven,
+he is painting his 'great picture' now. What do you suppose?" asked
+Katharine, gazing through the slats at the blue sky overhead.
+
+"I d-d-don't know much about heaven. I never had time to think.
+T-t-t-th-there's always so much doin'," answered Monty. Yet, following
+Katharine's rapturous gaze skyward, his own blue eyes had filled with
+dreamy speculation, and he began to picture to himself the wonders of
+that world beyond Marsden village which he meant sometime to find.
+
+"B-b-but I'll tell you somethin', Katy Maitland. I'm not goin' to stay
+here always. I'm goin' to be a big man and--and do things," he observed,
+after a prolonged meditation.
+
+"How big? What things?"
+
+"Oh! Big as they g-g-grow. Big as the postmaster. B-b-big as
+Sq-Sq-Squ-Squire Petti--john. I'm goin' to be either a s-s-sailor,
+or--maybe P-P-Pr-President."
+
+"If you're President you'll be a--a, what is it they call them?
+Politicalers, I guess," returned the girl.
+
+"P-p-p-pol-er-tic--ian," corrected Montgomery, with stuttering
+eagerness.
+
+Katharine accepted the correction without comment, though her lips
+twitched and her eyes twinkled; and after a pause she continued:
+"Politicians can do things. They can get folks elected. Anybody to
+anything. Plain storekeepers to be postmasters; postmasters to be
+Senators; Senators to be Presidents; and--and hired men to be
+constables. Can't they?"
+
+"Y-y-yes. Why?"
+
+Katharine sat upright so suddenly that her hat rolled over and the eggs
+spilled from it. However, the hay was soft, and no harm was done, nor
+was her enthusiasm cooled by a trifle of that sort. Clasping her hands
+ecstatically, she exclaimed:
+
+"We must do it! You and I must get Uncle Moses Jones elected constable.
+Now, while he's sick, for a surprise. Won't that be grand?"
+
+"Grand!" assented Montgomery, with such eagerness that he forgot to trip
+in his speech. Then doubt and stammering returned together. "W-w-we
+c-c-c-couldn't."
+
+"Yes, we could, if we had any s-s-sp-spunk!" retorted Katharine,
+heartlessly. "Folks have to be little politicians before they are big
+ones, I suppose, just like children before they are grown-ups. Well,
+you're a little politician now, a teeny tiny one, and it will be just
+splendid practice for you to get a village constable elected. I believe
+that although Uncle Moses and even Aunt Eunice speak so proudly of that
+office, that it isn't as great as some others. I don't know, and I
+wouldn't care at all except for him. But we must do it. I've heard him
+talking with Widow Sprigg how that now the 'law was changed,' 'town
+meeting' was no 'great shakes' any more, for the Presidents and
+constables all got mixed in together till a 'body couldn't tell t'other
+from which.' For his part he'd 'ruther be 'lected in the spring when
+crops was growin' an' tramps a-trampin', though if he was forced into
+it, better one time than never,' and a lot more funny grumble. She told
+him not to worry, that he'd never be 'forced,' much as he'd like it.
+I've decided that he must be elected, and without any 'forcing,' and
+I've the splendidest plan you ever heard. First, I'll give you a lesson.
+Then I'll tell you, else you'll believe I'm forgetting my promise. I'm
+not. I'm only considering the best way to begin. Well, Montgomery
+Sturtevant, that bad habit of yours comes from laziness and nervousness.
+Pure laziness, pure nervousness," she added, with emphasis.
+
+"D-d-don't neither!" denied the stammerer, indignantly. "Ain't got no
+nerves. G-gr-gramma says so, and she knows. She's older 'n you, an'
+she's got 'em worst kind. Always gets 'em when I play the f-f-fiddle."
+
+"Maybe there are two kinds of nerves. She doesn't stammer. Besides
+the Cyclopedia said so, and it tells the truth. Here. Put this
+pebble in your mouth. It's a nice smooth round one. I picked it
+up in the garden and washed it clean. You put it in and then say
+just--as--slow--as--slow: 'Betsy Bobbins baked a batch of biscuit.'
+After you learn to say it slow, without once stammering, then you begin
+to say it faster. Either that or any other jingle that's difficult
+without tripping. 'She sells sea-shells,' or, 'Peter Piper.' Why don't
+you put the pebble in?"
+
+"I don't want t-to. You're mocking me!"
+
+"There! I knew you needn't if you really wouldn't. When you are a little
+angry or in real earnest you can talk well. Listen to me and think if
+I'm not in earnest myself, since I took the trouble to copy all this for
+you."
+
+Thereupon, from the little pocket of her blouse, which had held the
+pebble, the teacher took a folded paper, closely covered with her
+neatest script, and read therefrom paragraphs which alternately plunged
+her pupil into despair or exalted him to extravagant delight. And the
+fortunate result of this first lesson was that when it was ended
+Montgomery had repeated an entire sentence with reasonable smoothness.
+But he had accomplished this without the pebble and with almost
+interminable pauses between words.
+
+"Yet you did it, you did it!" cried Katharine, exultantly; "and now for
+a reward you shall hear the most glorious plan I ever thought out.
+Listen to me, Mr. President-that-is-to-be!"
+
+So Montgomery listened in astonishment, doubt, and delight, after his
+habit of mind; yet also, because of her zeal in his cure, with
+unquestioning allegiance. In any case, it was a scheme that would have
+appealed to him irresistibly and was one full worthy of the brain of
+"Kitty Quixote," so that he was fast outstripping even her ingenuity in
+the matter of detail, when the sudden call of Widow Sprigg fell like a
+dash of cold water upon their glowing spirits:
+
+"Montgomery Sturtevant! You come right down out that mow this minute!
+Here's Squire Pettijohn after you!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+SQUIRE PETTIJOHN
+
+
+Katharine should have grown familiar, by this time, with Monty's
+spasmodic disappearances, but this last was the most amazing of all. It
+seemed that at the sound of "Pettijohn" the hay had opened and swallowed
+him. There had been no other summons and she had heard only a faint
+swish of something sliding, then found herself alone.
+
+"But he'll come back, of course," she reflected, "after he's seen that
+gentleman. Must have been somebody he liked or he wouldn't have hurried
+so. Anyway, I don't mind being here a little while by myself to think
+things out all clear, and a hay-mow is the loveliest place in the world
+for dreaming."
+
+It proved such in reality for Katharine, who, burrowing herself a fresh,
+chair-like "nest" in the sweet-scented hay, laid her head back and fixed
+her gaze upon the clouds floating above the slatted window. Soon her
+lids dropped and she fell fast asleep.
+
+When she awoke the loft was dusky in twilight and she was very cold. The
+wind had risen, and little tufts of the hay about her blew here and
+there, clinging to her clothing and lodging among her short curls.
+Montgomery had not returned, and after lying still a moment longer, till
+she was fully awake, she grew frightened, thinking:
+
+"I never heard such a moaning and whistling as the wind does make up
+here. I wonder if it is always so in a barn, and how I am to get down.
+It was hard enough coming up, but in the dark, like this, and I not
+remembering just where that ladder was; and if I don't find it--what
+shall I do? Yet how silly to be afraid of things, a big girl like me;
+and how impolite of that boy to go away and forget me. No matter how
+much he likes Squire Pettijohn, he shouldn't forget his manners;
+especially since it is I, not that gentleman, who is going to cure him
+of stuttering. And what a stupid I am not to call him! If he's forgotten
+I must remind him."
+
+With that she crept as near the edge of the mow as she dared, and
+shouted: "Montgomery! Monty Sturtevant! Boy! Come back and help me
+down!"
+
+While she listened for a reply she thought of the eggs she had collected
+for Susanna, and crawled back to find her hat and them. The hat she
+slipped over her head, its elastic band clasping her throat, and the
+eggs she stored within her blouse. They were heavy and made it sag
+inconveniently, but she could soon get rid of them if only that wretched
+little Sturtevant boy would come back. She must try again!
+
+"Mon-ty! _Mont--gom--ery!_"
+
+Nothing save the wind soughing dismally among the rafters responded to
+her call, uttered with her loudest voice, and a fresh shiver of fear
+crept over her. Then she rallied, growing angry, which, under the
+circumstances, was the best thing that could have happened. Her
+indignation made her half-forget her terror so that she could plan her
+descent with something like courage.
+
+"Let me think. I noticed that the top of that straight little ladder
+came high above the hay, almost to the roof in one place. I'd better get
+on my stomach and just crawl along, ever so slowly and carefully, till I
+find it. But--hark! Oh, joy!"
+
+From somewhere in the darkness below a familiar yelp and whine sounded
+faintly. The roaring of the wind almost drowned it, yet she recognized
+that Punch had traced and followed her. She had always loved him, but
+never had he been so adorable as at that moment. His unseen presence
+comforted her so that she called back to him quite cheerfully:
+
+"Yes, you precious, beautiful dog! Mistress is up here. She's coming!
+Wait for her, darling, darling fellow!"
+
+It is possible that the ugly-favored little animal appreciated this
+flattery, or he may have had troubles of his own which needed
+comforting. Since his arrival at Marsden, life had not been all
+chop-bones for him any more than it had been all catnip for Sir Philip,
+and the short, gay bark with which he now responded to his mistress' cry
+proved their mutual satisfaction.
+
+At last, Katharine's cautious passage came to a pause as her fingers
+touched the ladder, but she realized that a misstep would send her over
+that precipice of hay into the bay below, which now seemed a gulf of
+unfathomable depth. Inch by inch, with greater prudence than she had
+ever exercised, she moved onward in the gloom, now become almost
+impenetrable, till she got one foot upon a round of the ladder.
+
+"That's good. But I guess I'd see better if I closed my eyes, and I must
+go down it backwards. Now I've both feet on and--dear me! How far it is
+between steps. Why don't people put their rounds closer together, so
+they wouldn't be so hard to climb? I was never on a ladder before except
+a step one, and that not often, and--But I'll manage."
+
+Manage she did and very well, until she had nearly reached the bottom.
+Then, pushing her foot downward where one of the rounds had been broken
+out, it found nothing to rest upon though she stretched it to her
+utmost, and all at once everything seemed to give way and she fell
+backwards. Fortunately, the distance was so slight and the bay so
+carpeted with hay that no serious harm resulted; and when a cold wet
+nose was thrust into her face she sprang to her feet, catching Punch in
+her arms and in her great relief caressing him till he rebelled and
+wriggled himself free.
+
+The wind did not roar so loudly down there, and, presently, she could
+hear things; the sound of somebody moving about on the barn floor, the
+opening and shutting of feed-boxes and stalls, the swish of fodder
+forked to the cows in the shed beyond, and could also see the gleam of
+lantern-light as it was carried to and fro.
+
+"Hello!" cried Katharine, hurrying to the square window through which
+she and Montgomery had leaped into the deep bay, but whose lower frame
+even was so far above her head that she could only touch it by
+stretching her arms to their utmost. She had thought it a big jump then
+and had not considered how she was to return, but now the full
+difficulty of the situation presented itself, and her heart sank.
+
+"Oh, Punchy, dearest! I guess this is a good deal like Susanna's saying,
+'out of the frying-pan into the fire.' Off the hay-mow into the bay. I
+don't see why folks build barns such ways. Why don't they have just
+regular straight floors and things? Wait, pet. Don't rub against my
+ankles so hard, you nearly knock me over. The man'll come back in a
+minute and help us up. I don't see how you ever got down here unless you
+fell down. Hello! Man! _Man!_ Hel--lo! HELP!"
+
+The lantern glimmer appeared once more, but at the extreme end of the
+building, and seemed rapidly receding. Then there came the sound of a
+heavy door slammed forcibly against the wind, the rasp of a bolt in its
+lock, and Katharine knew that she had not been heard, and that she had
+been shut up alone in the great, desolate place.
+
+It was not liking for Squire Pettijohn which had caused Montgomery to
+vanish when called to meet him. Quite the reverse. The name of that man
+of mighty girth and stature struck terror into the soul of every young
+Marsdenite. He was a person of fierce temper and a propensity for
+managing his neighbors' affairs, especially the affairs of his youthful
+neighbors. Report said that his wealth equalled his temper, and that the
+two together made most of the villagers stand in awe of him is certain.
+It was his boast that he represented the cause of law and order in his
+native town, and he often wondered how it had gotten along before he was
+born, or how it would manage when he was dead.
+
+That day he had come home from attending court and found the community
+in a ferment. It would have been excited even by the news of Moses'
+accident and pluck, but the tidings of treasure-finding, scattered
+broadcast by Montgomery during the morning's errands, had stirred its
+profoundest depths.
+
+When the lawyer tied his horse at the post-office, he was greeted by
+statements as various as many. "Miss Maitland has discovered a gold mine
+on her property;" "Monty Sturtevant has dug up buried treasure in
+Eunice's woods;" "'Johnny' Maitland's girl has been sent home to fetch
+Eunice a box of diamonds;" and "There's been gold found right here in
+Marsden township."
+
+These were but the beginnings of the garbled reports which a
+gossip-loving lad had originated; yet all pointed to one and the same
+thing,--Marsden would now become famous. So that more than ever Squire
+Pettijohn felt it good to be a great man in the right place. In all the
+newspaper notices which would follow, his name, also, would appear, and
+notoriety was what he coveted.
+
+Having listened to one and all versions with fierce attention, he
+repaired to his dinner and consumed it in a silence which his observant
+wife knew betokened affairs of unusual weight. But it was not until he
+finished his dessert and pushed back from table that he informed her:
+
+"I am going to Eunice's. Vast wealth has been found upon her premises,
+and she needs me. Deny me to all smaller clients until further notice."
+
+Then, assuming his Sunday attire and stiffest stock, he set pompously
+forth down the tree-bordered street, caning a stray dog here, there
+reprimanding a boy who might be playing "hookey,"--though was not,--and
+shaking his fist at old Whitey, taking her accustomed stroll in and out
+of inviting dooryards. Yet when he came to the wider yard before the
+stone house something of his complaisance left him. "He and Eunice
+Maitland had never hitched." She was always perfectly courteous, and
+never failed to attend the sewing-meetings of the church when they were
+held at his house, and she had even been heard to say that she had "a
+great respect for Mrs. Pettijohn." She might have put a peculiar
+emphasis upon the "Mrs.," but then, everybody has his or her tricks of
+speech which mean nothing.
+
+There was no door-bell at The Maples, but a polished brass knocker
+announced the arrival of any visitor; and it seemed to the worried Widow
+Sprigg as if that "plaguey knocker had done nothin' but whack the hull
+endurin' time sence Moses got hurt. I wonder who 'tis this time!"
+
+Consequently, the door was opened with more impatience than courtesy as
+it now heralded the arrival of the Squire, who was for passing at once
+into the hall had not something in Susanna's manner caused him to
+hesitate.
+
+"Miss Maitland. Is she at home? Will you present my card to her and say
+that I have called in person--in person--"
+
+"Don't see how you could have called any other way," answered the
+greatly tried housekeeper, remembering him rather as "little Jimmy
+Pettijohn," whom her own mother had used to feed and befriend, than as
+the important personage he had since become.
+
+"Ah, Susanna, my good woman, you were always facetious! I would like to
+see your mistress. Please announce me to her and conduct me to the
+drawing-room."
+
+It was a mistaken tone and the widow hesitated at no rudeness which
+would protect the beloved "friend" with whom she dwelt, and whom it was
+her privilege to openly call by the familiar title of "Eunice," which
+this "Jimmy" dared not do save behind the lady's back.
+
+"We hain't got no drawin'-room here, an' Eunice ain't seein' no more
+folks to-day, not if I can help it. I'm sure she won't see no men folks,
+anyway. We've been overrun with them, a'ready, just 'cause Moses has
+broke his leg and a few his ribs. Accidents happen to anybody if they're
+keerless, an' he admits he was. But he's as comfortable as can be
+expected, thank ye, and good day."
+
+"But, Susanna, not so fast. I came to offer my services in regard to
+this--er--gold mine which the little Baltimore girl has discovered."
+
+"W-h-a-t?" gasped the widow in utter amazement. Had the man taken leave
+of his senses?
+
+"The gold mine, or--or hidden treasure--or casket of diamonds,--reports
+vary; yet all agree in the fact that extraordinary wealth has been
+unearthed in the old Maitland woods. Of course, Eunice being unused to
+the management of large affairs and only a woman--a woman--she would
+appreciate the help of an experienced man. I trust my advice may prove
+of benefit to her."
+
+The Widow Sprigg listened with an attention that would have been
+flattering had not her face evinced her incredulity. As it was, she
+stood for a brief time, staring over her spectacles at the big man, as
+if gazing at some curiosity, then she laughed, scornfully:
+
+"Why, Squire, upon my word I'm sorry for ye! Though I don't know who
+'twas 'at made a fool of ye, but fool you have been made, and no
+mistake. Such a balderdash as that! Why, man alive, don't you s'pose if
+anything worth findin' had been found on Eunice's property she'd ha'
+told me the first one? An' me an' her livin' like sisters, so to speak,
+even sence I growed up, savin' the spell whilst Mr. Sprigg, he was
+alive. Two years I spent in my own house 't Mr. Sprigg he built, on his
+own piece of woodland 'j'inin' hers, and she buyin' it off me soon's he
+departed. The prettiest little house in the hull township, 'tis, too,
+an' where I 'xpect to end my days if I outlive her, which I hope I
+won't. An' her needin' business 'advice,' indeed! When there ain't a man
+in Marsden, let alone all the women, can hold a candle to her for
+gumption an' clear-headedness. An' her sayin' to me then, 'Susanna, it
+will do you more good to sell to me an' put your money out to int'rest
+'an to have a lot of wuthless land on your hands, an' you shall keep the
+little cottage for your own as long as you live.' So we done it, an' she
+paid me more'n the market price; an' has left me the house all
+untouched, with my own furniture in it, an' me goin' out there twicet a
+year for spring an' fall cleanin,' an' even leavin' the kitchen-bedroom
+bed made up, case I get the hypo an' feel like bein' by myself a spell."
+
+"I know, I know, Susanna. I've heard of Eunice's generosity to you, and
+of your whimsical retention of an empty house. You ought to let it to
+some decent tenant and get some benefit of it. Upon second thoughts, I
+would advise you to sell it. Now that this treasure has been found you
+might realize well on it. I--Why, I don't know but I might be induced to
+take it off your hands myself, just to do a friendly deed to an old
+schoolmate."
+
+Squire Pettijohn had managed to stem the tide of her garrulity long
+enough to interpose this speech of his own, and to act upon an idea
+which had just occurred to him. The value of the old Maitland forest
+would leap to fabulous height if the rumor that gold had been discovered
+there proved true. But he did not intend to offer much for the "deserted
+cabin," convenient though it might be to the possible mine, upon the
+strength of a mere rumor, and even though the chance existed of the same
+vein of wealth extending even so far. He would first get confirmation of
+the story from Miss Maitland's own lips and would then act with his eyes
+open.
+
+He was not succeeding very well in his errand of "neighborly kindness,"
+for Susanna still held the door so nearly closed that he could not force
+an entrance, even though he kept his foot firmly in the aperture. The
+woman still regarded him with a pitying amusement; yet gradually
+curiosity got the better of her common sense, which told her that he was
+the victim of some hoax, and she inquired:
+
+"Who told you such a yarn, Squire?"
+
+"Please admit me. I am not accustomed to being kept on people's
+thresholds when I take time out of my busy life to call upon them; and
+no one person in especial told me. The talk is in everybody's mouth, and
+the whole village has gone wild over the matter."
+
+"But it must have had some sort o' beginnin'. Wild goose gabble like
+that don't spring full-fledged out the ground, I know. Who--started the
+ridic'lous business?" persisted the housekeeper, almost unconsciously
+opening the door somewhat wider.
+
+Squire Pettijohn improved this opportunity and made his way into the
+hall before she remembered that she had not intended to admit him. In
+any case, she instantly reflected he shouldn't see her mistress, whom he
+had had the impertinence to speak of as "Eunice."
+
+But her reflection came too late. Miss Maitland was already descending
+the wide stairs, and had paused at the half-way landing, to observe who
+was this latest visitor of the many who had called to ask for Moses.
+Called, also, it may be, to learn something further concerning the
+interesting "treasure."
+
+But none save this gentleman had ventured to speak to her of what was,
+in reality, her own affair, and she had not encouraged inquirers to
+remain. Privacy had never seemed so desirable to her as on that fateful
+morning nor so difficult to maintain; and though there was no rudeness,
+her neighbors went away with the feeling that:
+
+"Eunice Maitland's just as proud and reserved as ever. Moses' trouble
+and her own great fortune don't make a bit of difference, and she makes
+you feel, without saying a word, that your room is better than your
+company; and that she'll keep her own counsel in this matter as she has
+always done in smaller ones."
+
+"Good afternoon, Miss Eunice! Accept my hearty congratulations!" cried
+Squire Pettijohn, pushing eagerly forward to the foot of the stairs, and
+bowing to her descending.
+
+"Good afternoon, Squire Pettijohn. You are very kind to come and inquire
+for my poor friend, Mr. Jones. I am glad to tell you that the doctor
+says he will do very well, but sorry to add that he will be a prisoner
+indoors for a long time. Is Mrs. Pettijohn quite well?"
+
+So speaking, and with the manner of one who has expected but one kind of
+interest in affairs at The Maples, yet knowing perfectly well that the
+Squire would never have troubled himself about a "hired man's"
+misfortunes, Aunt Eunice walked with her visitor toward the door. She
+was puzzled by his presence, but did not enjoy it, and was herself going
+just then to read the _Weekly Journal_ to her injured helper. She did
+not take the hint given by the Squire's pause beside the sitting-room
+door, and moved gently forward to the outer entrance, as if to terminate
+the interview.
+
+"Make my regards to your good wife, Squire, and thank her for sending to
+inquire. Moses is much touched and gratified by the good-will of his
+neighbors, and has had many calls already. But doctor says he should
+see nobody except ourselves for the present. Good afternoon."
+
+They had now reached the doorway and Susanna stood at one side, keenly
+observant of the other two, and suddenly breaking into their talk with
+the exclamation:
+
+"Well, Eunice! What do you think's sent Jimmy Pettijohn a-visitin' _us_?
+Not none of Moses' troubles, but to hear about the 'gold mine' was found
+in the big woods this mornin'! Did you ever hear the beat?"
+
+"A gold mine? Surely, he knows how absurd such an idea would be,"
+answered Aunt Eunice, quietly bowing and turning away.
+
+As she disappeared in the hall beyond the stair-way the Squire coughed
+and started to follow, then apparently thought better of it, for he
+merely reproved Susanna with his most judicial sternness, saying:
+
+"If you women would be careful to repeat things as you hear them you
+would save much confusion. It is true I did mention 'gold mine,' but I
+also mentioned a hidden box of treasure. The majority of the villagers
+claimed the latter was what was really found, and--"
+
+"Who started such a cock-an'-bull story? Must have had a beginnin' in
+somebody's mouth."
+
+Susanna had now become not only indignant but profoundly curious. She
+would find out who was responsible for this strange rumor, then she
+would promptly interview that person and cross-examine him as only a
+woman could. But the reply which she received astonished her more than
+the story had done.
+
+"It was that stammering little grandson of the Madam's. He and the
+little girl who's staying here were the discoverers. So I was told,"
+answered the Squire, making ready to depart.
+
+"Well, I declare! If 'twas ary one o' them we can soon settle their
+hash. Come with me, Squire, I saw the pair goin' into the barn a little
+spell ago, an' I hain't seen 'em come out. Katy, she don't know you--an'
+so ain't afraid of ye. She ain't afraid of anything I've seen yet; but
+Monty--Hm-m. I can leave Monty to you to deal with. My suz! If this
+ain't been the greatest day that ever I saw!"
+
+With which remark she led the way to the foot of the hay-mow and sent up
+the summons which had caused Montgomery's sudden disappearance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+ALFARETTA'S PERPLEXITY
+
+
+"Alfy! A-A-Alfy!"
+
+Her name hissed into her ear partially roused the bound-out girl from a
+nap she had been taking with the towel in one hand, an unwiped dish in
+the other. She had the faculty of going to sleep anywhere and any time
+opportunity offered. She now leaned comfortably against the wall beside
+the sink, her eyes closed and her mind oblivious to her surroundings,
+and dimly hearing through her dreams that sibilant call:
+
+"A-A-A-Alfy!"
+
+Then her ear was pinched and she brought back to reality.
+
+"What you doin' to me, Montgomery Sturtevant? I'll tell your grandma!"
+
+"Ain't meanin' to hurt you, A-A-Alfy. I--Don't you d-do that. I--Say,
+I'm goin' to h-h-hide in the s-s-secret chamb--er. Don't you t-t-tell
+anybody. You fetch my s-s-s-supper up after dark. An' some w-w-water.
+Fetch enough to l-l-last--forever! I don't know as I s-s-shall
+ever--ever--dare to c-c-come down."
+
+The Mansion where the Sturtevants had lived during many generations was
+a house even older than The Maples. It was far more quaintly ancient in
+style, and had been one of the many "Headquarters" of our Revolutionary
+generals. The earliest built house in the county, the part first erected
+still stood strong and intact, though little used now. On this portion
+of the Mansion the roof ended sharp at the eaves on one side, and but a
+few feet above the ground; the opposite side being two full stories and
+attic in height. Within this "old part" were many curious rooms, one
+having the peculiarity of seven doors and but one window; a monster
+fireplace, wherein one could stand and look straight up to the sky
+through the great stone chimney, and where still hung a rusty gigantic
+crane, once used for the roasting of meats and boiling of pots; but,
+most curious of all, a perpendicular shaft leading to a "secret chamber"
+beneath the sloping roof. To ascend this shaft one climbed upon small
+triangular steps fitted alternately in the rear corners of it; and it
+was entered through a sliding, spring-secured panel of the
+"keeping-room." No stranger would have discovered that the panel was a
+doorway, and even to Alfaretta it suggested deeds of darkness and
+treachery. The utmost Montgomery had yet been able to persuade her to
+do was to peep fearfully up that uncanny stair-way, from the dimness
+below to the utter gloom at top. To ascend it, as he did, nimbly hand
+over hand--the mere thought of it set her shuddering.
+
+Now he was gone, and--there! She knew it. She heard him softly crossing
+the bare floor of the "old part" in his stockinged feet, heard the rusty
+squeak of the ancient spring-fastening, fancied that she heard--though
+she could not--his swift ascent of the ladder stairs, and--heard no
+more.
+
+But she was now far wider awake than the pinch on her ear had made her,
+and she was terribly disturbed. In that house everybody, meaning Madam
+and herself, did what its young "master" desired. Of course on the
+lady's part there were some exceptions to this rule, but none whatever
+on Alfaretta's. The lad was at once her delight and her torment; in his
+wilder moods teasing her relentlessly, but in his more thoughtful ones
+pitying her for her hard lot in life. Yet, in fact, since the girl had
+been taken from the "county farm" to serve Madam Sturtevant until she
+should be eighteen, she was scarcely poorer than the mistress who
+employed her, and who scrupulously shared her own comforts with her
+charge.
+
+Big as the house was, there was very little money in it. None whatever
+would have been there save for the generosity of distant relatives who
+regularly sent a small cheque to the Madam, as well as a box of clothing
+for the grandson; nor did they even dream that upon that cheque and the
+neighborly kindness of Eunice Maitland the household at the mansion
+existed.
+
+Fortunately, for the present, Alfaretta demanded nothing in the matter
+of wages. When she should be eighteen the, to her, almost fabulous sum
+of one hundred dollars would be her due as well as a decent "fitting
+out" of wearing apparel. Then she would be free to go or stay, work for
+"real wages" for this mistress, or engage herself to another. But
+eighteen was a long way off as yet, and though sometimes a wonder as to
+where she should get the pledged one hundred dollars did cross Madam
+Sturtevant's mind, she put the thought aside as soon as possible.
+Sufficient unto that day would be its own evil, and there had been days
+in the past far more evil than Alfy's coming of age could ever be.
+
+Had relic-hunters known it the Mansion was a storehouse of genuine
+"antiques" which would have been eagerly purchased at fancy prices; but
+Marsden was far out of the line of such persons, and, save in extreme
+necessity, the old gentlewoman would have refused to part with her
+belongings.
+
+Eunice, who was better informed on such matters because of her wider
+reading, had once delicately suggested to her friend that such or such
+an old "claw-foot" was worth a deal of money, and that it wasn't really
+necessary to have four tall clocks, each more than a century old,
+ticking the hours away in that empty house.
+
+But her suggestion was wholly misunderstood. Madam had rather crisply
+replied that she was perfectly capable of winding the clocks on the one
+day in eight when they required it, and hoped to continue so till her
+life's end. Indeed, it had used to be a rather formal little household
+ceremony--that winding of the clocks on every Sunday morning. A ceremony
+that had always been performed by the two reigning heads of the "family"
+in each succeeding generation. It had been Madam's place to walk with
+her husband from room to room and stand beside him while with the queer
+old keys he wound the weights up from the bottom of the upright cases to
+the top, whence they would again begin their slow descent to the bottom,
+reaching it as another Lord's Day came around.
+
+Nowadays, Montgomery, as the last of his race, had been promoted to
+accompany his grandmother on this clock-winding tour, and had once
+innocently asked:
+
+"Did my father use to go with y-you, as I-I-I do?"
+
+Strangely enough, he had never before inquired much about his parents,
+but had somehow imbibed the knowledge that both were dead. His father
+had once "gone away" and never returned; but his mother had come home,
+bringing him an infant, had placed him in the Madam's arms, had taken to
+her bed, and had left it only to be carried to the burying-ground on the
+hill. Of her the old lady often talked, and once when they had carried
+roses to the unmarked grave he had heard her softly quote: "A sweeter
+woman ne'er drew breath, than my son's wife, Elizabeth."
+
+But of that son, her own only child, she said nothing till he asked that
+unfortunate question. Then she had turned upon him with a face so unlike
+her own that he was frightened and needed no command to make him avoid
+that subject forever after.
+
+"Your father is--gone; has died to us. Speak of him no more."
+
+The tragedy of her expression haunted him for a time, and he wondered
+why she was so much more distressed by mention of her son than of her
+husband, since both were dead. However, he soon forgot the matter save
+to obey her wish, though afterward this clock-winding, which he had
+thought a "bother an' n-n-nuisance," seemed fully as sacred an act as
+the church-going which followed it.
+
+This, then, was Montgomery's home and life, and why he who was so petted
+and indulged should put himself in hiding, and, of all places, in that
+dreadful "secret chamber," puzzled Alfaretta.
+
+"He told me not to tell Madam, an' he told me to bring his supper. How
+can I? How dast I? I--I'd be more afraid to go up that stair 'an to walk
+through the graveyard alone at midnight. I would so, Ma'am Puss, an' you
+keep your nose out that suppawn, I tell you!"
+
+The perturbed little maid felt that it was good to have even a cat to
+talk to, and vented some of her vexation by kicking the unlucky animal
+aside from the pot, whose hot contents she was merely sniffing. Suppawn
+and milk was the customary supper at the Mansion, and as its mistress
+liked to have the pudding cooked for a long time and also continually
+stirred during that operation, Alfaretta had become expert in the matter
+of managing. The pot was duly put on at the hour appointed, and the
+Indian meal carefully sifted into the salt, boiling water. When the
+mixture appeared fairly smooth and Alfy's arm was tired the pot was set
+upon the hearth and the young cook went to sleep. When the sleep was of
+sufficient length to cool the porridge Ma'am Puss extracted her own
+supper in advance of the family's, and nobody was the wiser. But to-day,
+Alfaretta had forgotten to remove the pot from the stove while she did
+her "noon dishes" and taken her intermediate nap, with the result that
+the suppawn was burned and even the cat wouldn't touch it. And although
+she had whisked it off the fire as soon as Monty had disappeared, her
+trained nose told her that this was a supper spoiled for everybody. She
+was very sorry for Madam, who would try to eat it, and always bore more
+patiently with her young handmaid than that person wholly deserved, but
+there was a silver lining to that cloud! Montgomery would never touch
+suppawn if it were scorched: therefore, she need carry him none of it.
+
+[Illustration: "MA'AM PUSS EXTRACTED HER OWN SUPPER IN ADVANCE OF THE
+FAMILY'S"]
+
+"Couldn't have got any milk up there, anyway, without spillin' it, Ma'am
+Puss, an' you know it. Goody! Course he'll come down. He'll have to if
+he gets starvin' hungry. No harm done--much. I wonder what he's been up
+to now! Well, I can't help it. I didn't get him into no scrapes. An'
+I'll work real hard the rest the afternoon, hemmin' that petticoat
+Madam's give me to make over for myself. It'll be a real good petticoat
+if I ever get it done, though it's about forty rods around the bottom, I
+believe."
+
+Full of good intentions, Alfaretta carefully set the burned pudding back
+on the stove, wherein the wood fire had nearly gone out, and sat down to
+her task of needlework. In reality, she was a very tired little girl.
+Madam was daintily neat and vigorous for a woman of her years. Never
+very robust, she still exercised what strength she had in a ceaseless
+round of sweeping and dusting. All the empty old rooms were as orderly
+as when there had been many servants to attend them, but this was
+accomplished at a cost of incessant labor and watchfulness, which the
+mistress really enjoyed since it filled her days with "things to do,"
+but which was not so well liked by her bond-maid.
+
+Ma'am Puss curled herself at Alfy's feet and purred herself to sleep so
+soundly that a tame mouse, the girl's own especial pet, came out from
+hiding and scampered merrily about the kitchen floor. The chorus of
+clock-ticks sounded drowsily through the silent house, Madam was taking
+her daily rest on her lounge in the sitting-room, and after a time the
+seamstress's good intentions passed into a maze of dreams. In them she
+seemed to be eternally climbing steep stairs into a chamber of horrors
+tenanted by one starving boy; or she was watching Madam choke to death
+over a lump of hot scorched porridge; or she was being tossed on the
+horns of Squire Pettijohn's black bull,--the terror of all young, and
+some old, Marsdenites,--and from this last dream she awoke to find the
+kitchen quite dark, and Whitey mooing outside the window.
+
+It was Montgomery's place to "tend cow," the lonely remnant of a once
+large herd, but it was Alfaretta's duty to milk it.
+
+"Yes, Whitey! It's all right, an' for once you've come home by yourself.
+A good job, too. Let me see. How fur have I sewed? To there--to there!"
+sleepily murmured the maid, and realizing that she had on that afternoon
+of best intentions accomplished the magnificent distance of two inches!
+"Two inches, if it's a stitch. Two inches a day for--How many days will
+it take to hem--to hem--Huh! I can't bother! But if I'm to go to school
+next quarter as Madam says I may, I'll have to do faster 'n that. Might
+get it ready for my outfit, like Monty says," remarked the sewer to
+herself, laughing carelessly.
+
+Folding the garment neatly, she put it back in the work-basket her
+mistress had given her, and taking her pail, went out to milk old
+Whitey. But first she attended to what was properly Montgomery's part of
+the evening's chores, stalling the cow and throwing into her manger the
+scanty supply of night fodder that could be afforded. Then she sat down
+to milk, and accomplished that operation so slowly that Whitey turned
+her head as far as the stanchions would permit to see what this slowness
+meant.
+
+With the coming of the dusk Alfaretta's perplexities had returned and
+brought others with them. It was not only a question of the boy's going
+supperless--nor her courage, nor of burned porridge and Madam's lifted
+eyebrows when it was tasted, which to the bond-girl was "Worse 'an a
+lickin';" it was that further one of the grandmother's inquiries. How
+should she answer them?
+
+She loitered as long as she could, but the evil hour could not be
+indefinitely postponed. Madam's habits were as exact as those of her
+ancient clocks, and precisely as the four of them were striking six the
+little silver bell tinkled in the dining-room.
+
+With an air of every-day indifference, Alfaretta dished the burned
+porridge upon a delicate china platter and filled a cut-glass pitcher
+with milk. These she placed upon a silver tray and carried to the
+shining mahogany table where the mistress was already seated. Then she
+took her own place behind the lady's chair, as she had been trained,
+ready to serve the simple meal; yet hardly had she stationed herself
+there than the dreaded question came:
+
+"Where is Montgomery, Alfaretta?"
+
+"Oh, dear! How not to tell the truth an' how not to lie!" reflected the
+perplexed girl, but not till the question was repeated did she reply: "I
+s'pose he's--he's somewheres."
+
+Madam's eyebrows were lifted then. "Why, Alfaretta!"
+
+"Yes, Madam. I'm sorry the suppawn scorched. I--I was terr'ble sleepy
+an' I stopped stirrin' a little minute an' first I knew--"
+
+"I asked for Montgomery. Did you tell him that supper was served?"
+
+"No, Madam."
+
+"Please do so."
+
+Glad of any reprieve from giving the answer she hated to make, the girl
+left the room in haste, as if intent upon summoning the lad. But she
+was gone longer than seemed necessary, nor did the waiting grandmother
+hear the boyish voice she loved, despite its stammering; and she was
+herself just rising to look for the lad herself when the maid reëntered,
+pale and breathless, and evidently frightened in extreme.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE FACE IN THE DARKNESS
+
+
+Miss Maitland had promptly engaged Deacon Meakin to take Moses' place
+during the latter's enforced idleness, and the arrangement promised to
+be satisfactory to all concerned.
+
+Susanna had observed:
+
+"You couldn't do better, Eunice. The deacon's forehanded himself, but he
+likes money--all them Meakins do--an' he's been as oneasy as a fish out
+o' water sence he sold his farm an' moved into the village. A man 'at's
+been used to workin' seventeen hours a day, ever sence he was born till
+he's turned sixty, ain't goin' to be content to lie abed till six seven
+o'clock in the mornin' an' spend the rest the day splittin'
+kindlin'-wood to keep a parlor stove a-goin'. He'll be glad o' the job,
+an' he'll be glad o' the wages, an' he'll break his neck tryin' to do
+more an' better'n Moses ever did. You couldn't do better. It's a ill
+wind that blows nobody good, an' Moseses misfortune is the deacon's
+blessin'."
+
+There was something else which made the good deacon accept Miss
+Maitland's offer with so much alacrity. According to his own wife:
+
+"The deacon he feels terr'ble sot-up bein' selected to become one the
+family, so to speak, right now on the top of that treasure findin'. I
+ain't seen him walk so straight or step 'round so lively, not sence we
+moved in. An' whatever the truth is in this queer business, he'll fathom
+it, trust him! or bust."
+
+This, to a next-door neighbor, as the gentleman in question set off down
+the street to enter upon his new duties.
+
+So it was the deacon whom Katharine had heard busy about the barn and
+the glimmer of whose lantern had disappeared in the distance. With a
+precaution his predecessor in office had never practised, he had secured
+every shutter and window and locked every door before he crossed the
+driveway between barn and house and entered the kitchen, where Susanna
+was toasting bread for supper. As he blew out the candle in the lantern
+and deposited that ancient luminary on the lean-to shelf, he rubbed his
+hands complacently, and observed:
+
+"Well, Widow Sprigg, I cal'late I've done things up brown. Winds may
+blow an' waves may roar, as the poet says, but nobody nor nothing can't
+break into Eunice's buildin's whilst I have the care on 'em. How's he
+doin'?"
+
+As Moses was the only "he" on the premises the question naturally
+referred to him.
+
+"Oh, he's all right enough. I mean, right as he can be, stove to pieces
+like he is. One good sign about him--He's crosser'n fury. All said an'
+done that me or Eunice could to please him, and he won't be pleased.
+Wants them childern, an' the mis'able things have skedaddled somewheres
+an' can't be found."
+
+The deacon recognized an opportunity. He drew his chair up to the
+fireplace, where, above a bed of glowing coals, Susanna was making her
+toast, and said:
+
+"There, neighbor, you look clear tuckered out, an' no wonder with what
+all you've gone through to-day. Hand me the fork. I'll help you. I
+hain't been ma's husband forty year without learnin' how to toast a
+slice of bread. An', my sake! Ain't it all just wonderful! An' what in
+power do you s'pose she'll do with it all?"
+
+Susanna rather reluctantly yielded the toaster, looking speculatively
+over her spectacles at her would-be helper. Here was another man gone
+daft, or apparently so. Then she remarked, testily:
+
+"I don't see what's happened all you men to talk so odd. Here's Jim
+Pettijohn been here a-offerin' his services to help Eunice look after a
+gold mow, or somethin'. An' me that surprised you could knock me down
+with a feather, just to see him walkin' up our front path. We ain't
+never had no 'casion for visits from the Squire--not sence he got to be
+one. Before then, years ago, when he was a humbly little barefoot shaver
+runnin' 'round loose, 'cause his ma was too poor to feed him, why the
+Maitlands used to half keep him. We none of us Maitlands has ever liked
+him, though. And now you--It ain't for the love of toastin' bread that
+you've set yourself down 'longside this fireplace, Deacon Meakin, and I
+do wish you'd put me out my misery an' tell plump and straight what's
+possessin' this village of Marsden this day!"
+
+"You pretend you don't know, widow?"
+
+"No, I don't pretend. I never 'pretended' a thing in my life. I say
+plain an' square what I mean an' no hints nor inyendys about it. Now, I
+ask you as man to man, or widow to deacon, what's all this fuss beyond
+just Moses gettin' his bones broke? There's something, and it seems to
+belong to our folks, yet me nor Eunice don't know a touch about it,
+nuther one. Now, tell."
+
+The slice of bread fell from the two-pronged fork into the fire, but
+neither of this worthy pair observed the fact. For at once the deacon
+plunged into his story, relating the varied rumors which were at that
+moment being excitedly discussed by every other fireside in Marsden, as
+by this; and the grain of truth extracted from the mass was
+that--something out of the common had happened, yet nobody knew just
+what; that Katharine and Montgomery were the chief actors in the drama,
+with Moses a possible accessory. Also, that to Miss Maitland the whole
+affair was known "root and branch," and that she had been true to her
+character and refused to share her affairs with even the friendliest of
+neighbors.
+
+"And now, Susanna Sprigg, what do you say to that?" demanded the deacon,
+exultantly, when he had finished his garbled narrative.
+
+"I say--_bosh_! And you've burned the toast. But I've got enough done,
+anyway. We always 'feed' at five o'clock in the mornin' an' milk right
+after. And you needn't bother to lock the buildin's another night.
+Course, we do have keys an' keep 'em hung in their places, but as for
+usin' 'em--Why, who in Marsden would steal a cent's worth?"
+
+The deacon felt he had been bidden to take himself away, yet with
+nothing learned; and as he slowly adjusted his plush cap and pulled its
+ear-tabs down, he fixed a facetious glance upon the housekeeper, making
+one more effort toward enlightenment, saying:
+
+"I admit Marsden an honest village, less I never'd a-sold the farm an'
+moved in. But what's been in the past ain't no pattern for the futur'.
+Course, you hain't had no occasion for bars an' bolts, heretofore, but
+hereafter--hereafter--with that bag or box or trunk of diamonds--a gold
+box it is, too, they say--or them big lumps of gold out the
+mine--prudence is advisable. Good night."
+
+He went out, rather noisily closing the door behind him; and, fairly
+snatching up the plate of toast, Susanna repaired to the room where, in
+an unlighted gloom, Eunice awaited her supper.
+
+"My suz! Eunice, why didn't you light up 'fore this? I meant to do it
+myself, but what with runnin' up-stairs to tend to Moses an' showin'
+that blunderheaded deacon the ways of doin' our chores, I let it go."
+
+Eunice rose to do as suggested. Indeed, she had been sitting so absorbed
+in her own thoughts that she had not observed the coming of nightfall;
+but Susanna interposed:
+
+"You set still, Eunice Maitland, till I get all the lamps lit there is.
+I've got to have a chance to see whether I'm awake or dreamin'. I want
+to see square into your own face, an' learn if you're bein' deceived or
+are deceivin' me. Here's that little mis'able Jimmy Pettijohn--"
+
+"Little, Susanna?"
+
+"Yes, little. Always was an' always will be. His outside has growed big
+enough in all conscience, but his inside has stayed the size of a
+pin-point, same as it was born. And Deacon Meakin, that's always had the
+reputation of common sense, a-insistin' that a gold mow has been found
+in our woods; or if not that, then a box--a shiny box of--My suz!
+Eunice--Eunice--what is the matter?"
+
+Miss Maitland had risen and stood staring incredulously at the
+housekeeper. She was trembling violently and her face had turned paler
+than the other had ever seen it. She opened her lips to speak, but words
+seemed slow in coming, and after a moment she sank back in her chair,
+murmuring only:
+
+"Oh, Susanna! How dreadful!"
+
+"Eunice, be you sick?"
+
+"No. Oh, no, no."
+
+"Then there's somethin' in this, after all. An'--an'--you never told
+me!" cried the widow, for the first time in her life feeling really
+angry with this good friend.
+
+"I couldn't tell you, dear Susanna. I could tell nobody. It does not
+concern--any one now living."
+
+Her hesitation was not lost upon the eager woman opposite, whose
+curiosity was greater even than her anger; making her demand, promptly:
+
+"Which was it? Box or mow?"
+
+"I cannot tell you. I shall not say another word upon the subject. Where
+are the children?" But though the tone was decisive, it was also very
+gentle; and now smiling across to her irate housemate, she added: "Be
+faithful to me in this matter, dear friend, as you have always been in
+others. The secret is not mine to impart. You will help me to silence
+all these dreadful rumors by simply ignoring them. Nothing has happened,
+save Moses' trouble, to affect our life in any way. I am astonished that
+people should make so much of so little, and I am both surprised and
+disappointed that any rumors have been set afloat. It seems impossible
+to trust anybody, nowadays, even a child! But where are the two who
+belong to us? Where is Katharine? Where is Montgomery? He should be
+going home, or his grandmother will worry. But be sure to put him up a
+basket of food. There's that half of a boiled ham, and yesterday's bread
+was extra fine. A loaf of that and a square of gingerbread should
+satisfy him for the bread-and-milk dinner he was forced to put up with.
+He was very helpful in running errands, I must not forget that."
+
+Miss Eunice continued talking as if she wished to recall to herself all
+the good qualities of one who had bitterly disappointed her. How could a
+Sturtevant be so dishonorable? Or was it a Maitland? Which of the two
+young things who had found the box and had given her their promise, had
+so soon broken their word? For, of course, only by and through them
+could these wild rumors have been set astir.
+
+Susanna had listened in silence, which was not her habit. She was still
+disappointed and hurt, and was trying in her own mind to put several
+things together. But she rallied as Eunice paused, and said:
+
+"I don't know where they are, ary one. The Squire he was after Monty,
+hot foot. 'Twas him, he said, 'at had set the yarn a-goin'. After all,
+it might be one his own wild goose make-believes, if--if _you_ hadn't
+owned it was true. Of course, I'll do what you want. I always have, or
+tried to; but I will say this much, Eunice Maitland, 'at I don't feel
+you've the confidence in me you ought to have. That's all. I'll say no
+more. And as for where them two oneasy young ones are, I can't guess. I
+heard 'em talkin' or I heard Monty, up in the hay-mow, just after the
+Squire wanted him. I heard him as I was crossing the gravel road to the
+barn, yet when we got there an' called to him--he simply wasn't. He
+knowed he'd been doin' wrong, most like, else he'd have come down."
+
+"Did you tell him that it was Squire Pettijohn who wished to see him?"
+
+"Yes. Course. I thought that would scare him into comin' right away."
+
+Miss Maitland laughed, and answered: "My dear, misguided woman! You
+might have known Monty well enough to understand how fast he would
+disappear in some other direction. He has probably gone home and
+Katharine with him. I hate to put any further task upon you, but I--I'm
+rather upset by to-day's events and shall have to ask you to go for
+Kate. I must tell her to remember hours and always be on hand at
+meal-time. She is a winning child in many ways, but--I fear I'm too old
+to get used again to any child."
+
+Susanna went out without a further word. In her heart she was glad of
+the rather long walk to Madam Sturtevant's, since during it she would
+have opportunity to stop at some neighbors' doors, hear what they had to
+say, and promptly disabuse their minds of whatever wild notions they had
+that day acquired. For despite her personal vexation with Eunice she was
+loyal to her, and felt that she had but to say "Bosh!" in her most
+emphatic way to any rumor repeated in order to dispose of it. Mistaken
+woman! As well try to stem the ocean's flood as to silence a secret once
+betrayed!
+
+These several calls, brief though they were, brought her somewhat late
+to Madam Sturtevant's, and at that very moment when Alfaretta rushed
+into the dining-room, frightened and breathless. Now the Widow Sprigg so
+rarely paid a visit to the Mansion that she meant to make this one as
+formal as possible; so, instead of tapping at the side door, she stepped
+to the front one and gave a resounding whack upon the big brass knocker.
+
+"Ouch!" screamed Alfaretta.
+
+"Why--what's that!" exclaimed the Madam. After-dark callers were an
+unknown thing at that house, and instant premonition of evil chilled
+its mistress's heart.
+
+"D-don't be s-s-scared!" said the little maid, hurrying to the lady's
+side and clinging to her skirt, stammering as readily as Montgomery
+would have done and ostensibly to reassure her mistress, but, in
+reality, for her own protection. Madam could be so stately and grand
+that she must awe any intruder who looked upon her, and behind her black
+skirt the girl felt safer.
+
+"Scared, Alfaretta? How absurd! But coming so suddenly upon our quietude
+the summons surprised me. Take the candle from the side table and open
+the door."
+
+The Mansion was still lighted by candles which its mistress herself
+prepared, molding them in tin molds exactly as had been done by the
+first lady who had ever ruled there, but for economy's sake as few were
+burned as possible. One now glimmered upon the supper-table and another,
+unlighted, waited elsewhere for just such an emergency--but an emergency
+so long delayed that Alfy had never expected it to arrive.
+
+She had learned to polish the antique stick to a dazzling brilliancy,
+its snuffers and extinguisher as well, "in case we should have an
+evening call," being the weekly remark that accompanied the polishing.
+But till now the wick of the candle thus prepared had remained white as
+when removed from the mold, and Alfaretta's hand trembled as she now
+left her ambush of black serge and tried to obey.
+
+"Take care, child! You're lighting the candle--not the wick! Take
+another lighter and try again."
+
+Even matches were a luxury to be reckoned with in that impoverished
+home; and besides, all the family had always used paper "lighters"
+daintily twisted, and crimped at top, nor was Elinor Sturtevant one to
+go behind her own traditions. But, at that moment, Alfaretta had already
+wasted three lighters without igniting the new wick when again that loud
+knocking was repeated.
+
+Madam's patience fled.
+
+"You clumsy child! Don't delay any longer. Whoever it is will think us
+most inhospitable. Take this one already burning and go to the door at
+once."
+
+"I--I dassent!" quavered Alfaretta, retreating toward the kitchen.
+
+"You--dare--not? How ridiculous. Then I will go myself! though when one
+has a maid one expects her to attend the door. That's a point upon which
+I am very particular. Remember that, in future."
+
+"Yes'm," murmured the girl, absently. There were so many "points" upon
+which the old gentlewoman insisted that some of them fell on unheeding
+ears. At present, she was conscious only of two things: she must either
+remain alone behind in a dark room or she must go with her mistress and
+face whatever lay beyond that great front door. Deciding the latter
+course to be preferable, she timidly followed the vanishing candle down
+the long hall to where a barricade of bars and chains and bolts made
+admission from without a matter of some moments.
+
+"Hold the candle, Alfaretta, while I unfasten the door," commanded the
+Madam, and the girl had to obey. But her hand shook so that she
+scattered "droppings," which even at that moment did not escape the
+mistress's critical eye and which would have to be cleaned up as soon as
+morning came.
+
+At last the door was opened, and to Madam Sturtevant nobody was visible
+save Susanna Sprigg, wearing her Sunday bonnet and her most polite
+manner, while her spectacles gleamed like balls of fire as the
+candle-light fell upon them. But what Alfaretta saw was another face, so
+wild and fierce and terrible to look upon that her heart almost ceased
+beating. A white and haggard face, that seemed imprinted upon the
+darkness as if it belonged to no body nor substance but was a ghostly
+apparition of the night. All the eerie stories the poor child had heard
+during her life at the "County Farm," from the lips of the garrulous
+pensioners who had nothing better to do than invent them, came back to
+her now; and as the face appeared to be coming nearer, growing more and
+more distinct, she uttered a piercing shriek and slammed the door with
+such violence that the candle went out and the darkness she dreaded
+enveloped them all.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+A STURTEVANT--PERFORCE
+
+
+"Alfaretta!" cried Madam Sturtevant, "what does this mean?" Something of
+the girl's panic had seized her, also, though she tried to hide her own
+agitation by sternness.
+
+"My suz, Alfy Brown! What ails ye? You nigh knocked me down, slammin'
+the door right in my face, that way!" exclaimed Susanna, who had,
+fortunately, stepped within before this strange thing had happened. She
+was herself in an excited mood, having passed through what she had
+during the past day, and having had her mind further disturbed by the
+tales she had gathered during her progress. Now here at the Mansion,
+where was always dignified composure and serene hospitality, to find
+such tardy admission and such hysterical welcome--it was too much! Her
+reflections were swift and angry, and while all still stood in the dark,
+as yet too surprised to move, she demanded, crisply: "I want
+Katharine."
+
+"Come this way, Mrs. Sprigg. Let me take your hand and lead you. I'll
+soon get a light, and please excuse Alfaretta. I don't understand what
+has happened to her. Don't cling to me like that, child. You hinder me."
+
+"Oh, didn't you see--It?" whispered the unhappy little maid, paying no
+heed to her mistress's words, but clinging all the closer to her in a
+fresh access of terror as she heard, or fancied that she did, footsteps
+on the piazza without.
+
+Susanna's anger cooled in a new curiosity, and she said:
+
+"You needn't bother to lead me, Madam Sturtevant, I know the ins an'
+outs of this old house pretty well, even if I don't come to it often.
+You go right on ahead an' strike a match; an' Alfy Brown, let go her
+skirt. Your manners this night ain't none your mistress's teachin', I
+know that. They must be some left over from the 'Farm.'"
+
+Now Susanna must have been sorely tried to have reminded the girl of her
+unfortunate start in life, and Madam hastened to cover the remark by
+saying: "There, that's better!" and rising from the open fireplace where
+she had relighted the candle from the carefully covered embers. It had
+been so mild until now that only a fragment of fire had been kept upon
+the hearth, where, however, it was never permitted to wholly die "from
+equinox to equinox." Fortunately for the comfort of the household, there
+was woodland sufficient still belonging to the estate to supply all
+necessary fuel, and in cold weather this impoverished gentlewoman
+enjoyed her blazing wood fires--a luxury which even wealthy people
+cannot always command. Miss Maitland made it Moses' business to see that
+the Mansion wood-piles were high and broad, long before the autumn came,
+and the hardship of splitting smaller sticks for kitchen and kindling
+fell upon the reluctant Montgomery.
+
+Susanna watched the candle-lighting with real admiration. Neat as she
+was herself, she had never yet attained to that exquisite daintiness
+with which Madam Sturtevant did all things; and she now exclaimed, with
+keen appreciation:
+
+"My suz! You do beat all! Why, most anybody tryin' to light a taller
+candle by wood coals would ha' melted the candle--but you hain't dripped
+a drip. Where's the children? I've come for Katy. She's a terr'ble hand
+for runnin' away, or, ruther, for not bein' where she should be when
+wanted. The wind has riz awful. It don't rain none yet, but's goin' to
+right off. I didn't think to fetch an umberell an' couldn't have used it
+if I had. Not again' this blow. Alfy, you call Katharine, and we'll
+start back prompt. No, thank ye, Madam, I won't stop to set down, not
+this time. Eunice, she's alone with Moses so helpless, an' I don't
+believe half the shutters is tight nor nothin'. Seems if a body had
+more on their hands than they could 'tend to times like these. Why
+don't you move, Alfy? An' not stand stock starin' still, like an idjut?
+If the wind sounds that way indoors, what you s'pose it is outside? An'
+that child hain't got a thing on but that white ducky dress and maybe a
+hat. She wasn't fixed proper for livin' in the country, though she does
+become her clothes real likely. She's clear Maitland, Katy is, an' as
+like Johnny was as two peas in a pod. I can't help lovin' her, try as I
+will," concluded the widow, so exhausted by her own volubility that she
+unconsciously sat down to rest herself, even though she had earlier
+declined her hostess's offer of the spring-rocker by the sewing-table.
+"A chair 'at looks comf'table enough to take a nap in its own self," as
+she had once observed concerning it.
+
+Thus enabled to edge in a remark of her own, Madam replied, with some
+anxiety in her tones:
+
+"The little Katharine has not been here. Not that I know. Has she,
+Alfaretta?"
+
+"I--I hain't seen her," faltered the maid, shivering as a fresh gust of
+wind rattled the casement and a flash of lightning made everything
+visible without. But she had closed her eyes against whatever might be
+revealed and still delayed her mistress's direction:
+
+"Go and look for Montgomery and see if he knows anything about
+Katharine;" then, turning to Susanna, she added: "I am so glad that
+they are going to be such friends. It's a good thing for a growing boy
+to be associated with a young lady of his own--his own position in
+life."
+
+Susanna sniffed. She was democratic by profession and did not feel
+called upon to explain that as a matter of fact there was nobody living
+so appreciative as herself of "good family"--as represented in Marsden
+by the Sturtevants and Maitlands. She merely ignored the remark,
+starting from her seat as a terrible blast set the old Mansion trembling
+on its stout beams and an east side shutter blew from its hinges.
+
+"My suz! We've never had such a storm sence I can remember, an' Katy in
+nothin' but ducks! Eunice has wrote right away, soon's she made up her
+mind to keep her, to that stepmother o' hers to take an' buy the child
+some good strong shoes an' dark warm dresses, fit for a girl to wear in
+a country village. She's goin' to begin school, soon's town meetin's
+over an' Moses'll have time to drive her there. Oh, I forget he's broke.
+Well, she'll go sometime, if the proper clothes come an' things turn out
+accordin'. But come she must now, an' to oncet, if she's anywhere's
+hereabout, 'cause I dassent stay a minute more. I shall be blowed off my
+feet, I 'low, an' I wish, I do wish, I hadn't wore my best bunnit."
+
+"Take it off and leave it here, Susanna. I will lend you a scarf to tie
+over your hair, and Montgomery shall carry it home to you in the
+morning. I will go myself and see if the children are on the place.
+Though I doubt it, if Alfaretta hasn't seen them, or if they haven't
+come in here to be with us during the storm. Maybe it will soon pass.
+Wouldn't you better wait and see?"
+
+"Not a minute longer 'an to look," answered the widow, really more
+alarmed for the comfort of her home folks than for herself. Laying her
+bonnet carefully upon the side table, she followed Madam into the
+kitchen, yet would not permit that lady to explore the barn as she set
+out to do.
+
+"Come along with me, Alfy, but get a lantern. I hear the barn door
+swingin' an' old Whitey mooin' as if even she was scared. You or Monty
+must ha' been careless about shuttin' up to-night, which uther one of
+you done it, or didn't do it."
+
+A lantern was procured and lighted, but there Alfaretta's assistance
+ended. Nothing would have induced her to visit that barn again that
+night, no matter how well protected by such a valiant woman as the Widow
+Sprigg. As the latter disappeared toward the outbuildings, carefully
+shielding the lantern with her shawl, Alfaretta's conscience drove her
+to say:
+
+"It ain't no use. She won't find him. He--he ain't there."
+
+"Isn't there? Then why, child, did you do such a rude thing as to let
+her go on a useless errand? I really don't understand what has come
+over you to-night. You are trying my patience severely."
+
+"Yes'm," admitted the bond-maid, meekly.
+
+Madam laid her hand upon the girl's shoulder and turned her face toward
+the light of the candle which she was herself holding behind the
+uncurtained kitchen window, the better to guide Susanna on her way.
+
+"Tell me, child, what has frightened you so? Do you know where my dear
+grandson is? It terrifies me to think he may be somewhere out-of-doors,
+unprotected in this tempest. Did he go fishing? Nutting? To play ball?
+Do you know where he is?"
+
+"Yes'm," again answered the little maid, but to which of these several
+inquiries was not disclosed. At that moment a blinding flash of
+lightning illumined the whole space between house and barn, showing
+Susanna wildly flinging her arms aloft, her lantern flying in one
+direction, herself in another, while distinctly silhouetted against the
+glare was another figure, so strange and uncouth that even Madam
+retreated a pace in sudden alarm.
+
+They could hear Susanna still screaming as she fled, but a second flash
+showed the man who had alarmed her standing motionless on the spot where
+they had discovered him.
+
+Whoever or whatever he might be, it wasn't a pleasant situation for
+these two, so isolated from their neighbors, and without even
+Montgomery's presence. Mere lad as he was, he was still something
+masculine, and at least his grandmother believed him to be a very hero
+for courage. But he was not there to "protect" them from the possible
+annoyance of this unknown creature, and now, gently leading the
+frightened maid, Madam went back to her untasted supper and sat down in
+her place. She also motioned the girl to take a chair close beside her
+own, and when she had done this, again asked:
+
+"What frightened you so, just as Widow Sprigg arrived? Did you see this
+man--outside--then?"
+
+"I--I didn't see a man. I saw a face! I'd finished milkin' Whitey and
+a'ready 'twas gettin' dark awful fast an' early. I felt the wind blowin'
+and I knew the back shutters was loose. So I scuttled 'crost to pull 'em
+to, lest they got blowed clean away, an' there--there--right in the
+square of window by the old box-stalls was--was--the face! I got one
+look, 'cause first off I couldn't somehow move hand or foot, an' I saw
+how white it was, how its eyes blazed, how wild and stand-uppish its
+hair was, an' it smiled--Oh, what a dreadful smile! An' then I knew
+'twas a ghost! It's just the night for 'em, such as I used to hear the
+old folks talk about out to the 'Farm,' An' which of us do you suppose,
+oh, which has got to die? 'Cause it's a 'call,' a 'warnin',' to
+somebody."
+
+The little maid's terror was so real and her mental suffering so intense
+that the Madam pitied her profoundly, though she smiled as she answered:
+
+"I wish it may prove nothing more troublesome than a 'ghost,' a creature
+of one's imagination. Ah, my child! When you reach my age you will know
+that the only 'ghosts' who can really trouble us are our unhappy
+memories. I suspect that it is one of those 'tramps,' for which Susanna
+is always looking, but who have thus far avoided peaceful Marsden.
+Unlucky woman! whose first meeting with her expected 'tramp' should be
+on such a night and alone. Wind or no wind, she'll make a short journey
+of the long road home."
+
+Already, safe once more in the sheltered dining-room which was on the
+side of the house least exposed to the storm and that did not face the
+outbuildings, the housemistress's confidence returned. If only
+Montgomery were with her, so, that she knew him also safe, she would
+have been content. As it was, even, she began to think kindly and
+pityingly of whatever poor wretch had sought shelter at her door. If he
+didn't smoke, and so endanger the buildings, she wished he would seek
+cover with old Whitey till the storm was past.
+
+Meanwhile, one crouching in the hay-strewn bay, hugging a squirming dog
+for company, and one lying upon a narrow stretcher beneath the
+eaves,--the missing Katharine and Montgomery listened to the roar of the
+tempest and believed that the very day of doom had arrived. Neither had
+ever heard anything like that wind. Indeed, none in Marsden ever had,
+and the morning was to reveal many ruined buildings and uprooted trees.
+But thus far the darkness hid all this, and Widow Sprigg raced homeward
+unharmed save by the rain, which now began to fall in torrents.
+
+Miss Maitland was watching her arrival in great anxiety. She had early
+secured every door and shutter, save at this one window which commanded
+the path from the gate. Here she had placed a brightly burning lamp to
+act as beacon to the wanderers, and she had also set the fire to blazing
+brightly. Before the fire hung warm clothing for the pair, and, having
+done all that she could think of for their comfort, she had passed to
+and fro between the sitting-room and Moses' chamber. He was almost as
+uneasy as the storm itself; alternately berating himself for a "fool,"
+and speculating upon the deacon's management of affairs at the barn.
+
+"I'll bet--I'll bet a continental he never cut the fodder for the cattle
+but just give it to 'em hull! He was no 'count of a farmer, the deacon
+wasn't. Good man, yes. I ain't sayin' he ain't that; but did it ever
+strike you, Eunice, that most good folks is pesky stupid? Or 'clever'
+ones, uther? I call it plumb equal to tellin' you you're a reg'lar
+tomnoddy to say a fellar's uther 'clever' or 'good.' I 'low little
+stutterin' Monty Sturtevant could ha' done the chores well enough till I
+get 'round again, an' I could ha' bossed _him_." Then, after a moment:
+"But I can't boss the deacon."
+
+"No, you poor old grumbler! I reckon he isn't that kind. And your
+judgment of your neighbors is a bit extreme. Never mind. It's such a
+good sign to hear you scold that I'm encouraged to think you'll soon be
+well again. Now I'll go down and be ready to open the door for Susanna
+and Katharine. It's terrible to have them exposed to this storm."
+
+But there was nobody visible, and at length Miss Eunice felt assured
+that she should not see them till the tempest lulled. So she returned
+once more to the kitchen-chamber, to comfort its occupant and herself as
+well. She had just remarked, for the third time:
+
+"No! I'm sure Elinor would never let them set out in such weather as
+this. She has kept them to supper, and I do hope Susanna will have
+forethought enough to decline the ham and bread she carried for Monty,
+and confine herself to whatever the family was to have had by itself.
+Susanna is very hearty, I'm glad to say--"
+
+"Eats so much it makes her thin to carry it around!" growled Moses,
+interrupting. "As for Montgomery, that little shaver's never had--"
+
+What he would have added is not known.
+
+Out upon the kitchen stairs sounded the rush of sodden feet, which
+seemed to stumble from sheer weariness even in their maddened haste; and
+the next instant there burst into the room what looked like a wretched
+caricature of poor Susanna. Bonnetless and spectacle-less, her gray hair
+streaming in snake-like strands, her garments dripping pools, her fine
+black Sunday shawl trailing behind her like a splash of flowing ink, she
+dropped upon the floor gasping and sobbing, and, apparently, at her
+wits' end.
+
+A second's hesitation at touching so draggled and dripping a creature
+held Eunice aloof; and then she was down beside her friend, wiping the
+rain-wet face and begging to be told what had befallen.
+
+"Surely, something worse than a storm has brought you to this pass, my
+poor dear. You look frightened--you tremble--You--Oh, Susanna! Where is
+Katharine? Has harm happened her?"
+
+"Her? 'Tain't her! It's me. It's come at last, an' I always--knew--it
+would. Oh, say! Am I alive or--or--dead?"
+
+Then as the absurdity of her own question flashed upon her, she began to
+laugh hysterically, and soon to sob with equal fervor. She was wholly
+overdone and unnerved, and, realizing that nothing could be learned till
+she was calmer, her mistress put no further inquiries, but led her away
+down the stairs, still dripping moisture,--a fact that no stress of
+emotion could hide from the critical sight of two such housekeepers.
+
+"Them stairs! An' I washin' 'em all up clean just afore sundown! Lucky I
+hadn't put down the carpet yet, though I'd laid out--Oh, my suz!"
+
+This was the first coherent sentence, if such it can be called, which
+escaped the terrified woman, while she was being undressed and freshly
+clothed in the warm things Eunice had provided.
+
+"Yes, dear heart. But never mind the stairs. Did you find Katharine?"
+
+"Nuther hide nor hair of her. Likely she's gone visitin' some the
+village little girls. She's that friendly she's been into most every
+house a'ready. She's safe enough. She won't never come to harm, Katy
+won't. But, Eunice, he's come! I've seen him!"
+
+"Who's come? What 'him,' dear?" asked the other, gently, and thinking
+that exposure and fright had made this usually clear-headed Susanna a
+little flighty. "Here, take a cup of tea. I made it fresh but a few
+minutes ago. It will refresh you and quiet you wonderfully."
+
+Now, as a rule, the Widow Sprigg needed no urging to drink her favorite
+beverage, which, like many another countrywoman,--more's the pity!--she
+kept steeping on the stove all day long. But now, for an instant, she
+looked doubtfully upon the cup; then, as a sudden whim seized her,
+caught it up eagerly and again ascended the stairs to Moses' bedroom. He
+lay motionless, his leg kept taut by a ball and chain and his poor body
+encased in plaster, but he could use his arms and eyes, the one thrown
+restlessly here and there and the other glittering with impatient
+curiosity.
+
+"Well, there, Moses Jones! How many times have you jeered an' gibed at
+me for believin' in 'tramps'? Wasn't 'none,' was there? Well, there
+_is_. I've seen him. _He--he chased me!_ All the way from the Mansion
+till I got clean to the post-office--an' then--then--he--he cut for the
+woods! Oh, my suz! Be I dreamin' or awake?"
+
+The recalling of her frightful experience again so unnerved her that she
+sat down trembling on the edge of Moses' cot, and would have spilled her
+tea had not Eunice caught the cup in time to prevent.
+
+"You're crazy!" retorted Mr. Jones, unconvinced. "And there ain't no
+call, as I can see, for you to set down on my broke leg. That awful ball
+the doctor tied to it'll keep it straight enough, I 'low."
+
+Susanna sprang up as if she had been tossed to her feet, her face
+quickly becoming normal and compassionate again.
+
+"Oh, I didn't mean to do that! I hope I hain't hurt it none," she
+apologized, frankly distressed.
+
+"Well, seein' 'at you didn't touch it, I 'low there ain't no great harm
+done. I was only providin' against futur' trouble. Now go on with your
+'trampy' talk."
+
+By this time Susanna was able to give an account of the man she had seen
+on Madam Sturtevant's premises, and who, when she ran, had soon followed
+in pursuit. According to her highly embellished version, his attire had
+been collected from somebody's rag-bag, his hair and beard had never
+known shears or razor, his eyes were as big as saucers and gleamed with
+an unholy light, and his color was like chalk. But fierce! There was no
+word could describe the ferocity of the terrible creature's pallid
+countenance! and, as for speed--Well, Susanna herself had made the
+record of her life, yet he, with several minutes' disadvantage, had
+actually overtaken her and grabbed at her shawl. Witness! said shawl
+dragging behind her when she entered.
+
+"Hm-m! What puzzles me is that any tramp--any tramp in his
+senses--should take after an old woman like you, Susanna. An' how in
+reason did you get a chance to investigate the cut of his features an'
+the state of his wardrobe in the dark, as it is?" inquired Moses,
+humorously.
+
+But there was no humor in Susanna's grim countenance, as she
+contemptuously replied:
+
+"How but by the lightnin'? Playin' all around everything every minute,
+makin' more'n daylight to see by. An', though I was scared nigh to
+death, for the soul of me, I couldn't help lookin' 'round every now an'
+again to see what he was like. I'd never had a chance to see a tramp
+afore, an' I never expect to again, so I had to improve my opportunity,
+hadn't I? Scared or no scared."
+
+This view of the situation made both her hearers laugh; but in Moses'
+mind was slowly growing a desperate regret, which finally expressed
+itself in the exclamation:
+
+"An' to think I hadn't even been elected constable, an' hadn't no chance
+to arrest the first tramp an' vagrant ever set foot in this village of
+Marsden!"
+
+Back at the Mansion there was no further disturbance. Madam Sturtevant
+comforted herself with the supposition that her grandson was at the home
+of some boyish chum or other; and she even ate a considerable portion of
+the now cold porridge, steadfastly refusing Alfy's entreaty to take some
+of the good things which Susanna had brought for him.
+
+"You may eat your supper in here to-night, Alfaretta, at the little
+table; but that basket was for Montgomery, and we will leave it to him
+to open. We shall get our share of its contents, never fear."
+
+With more faith in the lad's generosity, where appetite was concerned,
+than Alfaretta had, the grandmother set the basket aside in the closet,
+and took up her knitting of stockings for her boy's winter wear.
+
+And then, as if he had felt himself under discussion, or more likely--as
+Alfy surmised--had smelled the odor of good things even through many
+partitions, the door softly opened, and there appeared a tumbled head, a
+frightened face, and a pair of beseeching eyes. Whatever reproof was in
+store for him, he meant those eyes should do their part toward modifying
+it.
+
+And for a time all went well. Madam was so full of the incident of the
+tramp and the horror of the storm that she forgot to ask him where he
+had so long delayed, and how it chanced that he was so perfectly dry.
+However, this all came out of itself. While she was describing the gust
+which had blown the shutter free, he burst forth:
+
+"I-I-I heard that! Yes, siree! An' I thought the whole r-r-r-roof was
+goin'. An' then I w-w-went to sleep a s-s-s-sp-ell. When I woke up,
+'twas so p-p-pit-chy dark I dassent stay no l-l-longer."
+
+With which he coolly sliced himself a portion of the ham which his
+grandmother had promptly produced. She watched him in silence for a
+moment, then, as a sudden thought occurred to her, demanded:
+
+"Montgomery, have you been in the secret chamber again? Was Katharine
+with you?"
+
+With his mouth full, he stammered: "Y-y-yes, I've been. You never said
+not. But K-K-Katharine she w-w-wasn't with me."
+
+"Montgomery, where is she? It was for her Susanna came. Eunice does not
+know, nobody has seen her, can you tell where she is? You were at The
+Maples all day--you played with her--_where is she_?"
+
+Even in her sternest moods, "Gram'ma" had never been like this. And all
+at once a horrible chill ran down poor Monty's back. Memory returned;
+all his treachery; his unchivalrous desertion of a helpless girl in a
+dangerous place; and, to his honor be it said, did for a moment turn him
+deadly sick. But his natural temperament soon rallied. Of course she
+would have found a way to get down and out. Yet,--and again he felt
+faint,--what if she had not? What if she had had to pass the hours of
+this dreadful storm on the top of a hay-mow under a barn roof, where,
+even on mild days, a strong breeze blew through.
+
+Madam leaned forward, austere, intent. "My son, tell me everything."
+
+Under the spell of those piercing eyes, he did tell. Indeed, he was glad
+to tell. He felt she would find a word of comfort for his remorseful
+conscience. Alas! the word she did find was simply this:
+
+"Montgomery, put on your jacket and go to Aunt Eunice's at once."
+
+"_Gr-gr-gram'ma!_ In this awful s-s-storm? An' that t-t-tramp?"
+
+There was no relenting. The gentlewoman's glance was now not only stern
+but scornful, as she returned:
+
+"Are you a Sturtevant, and ask me for delay?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+BUT--STURTEVANT TO THE RESCUE
+
+
+All the conflicting emotions which whirled through Montgomery's mind
+pictured themselves in his face as he confronted the stern old
+gentlewoman opposite. The silence in the room was unbroken save by the
+roar of the tempest, and it seemed an age before she asked, coldly:
+
+"Are you afraid?"
+
+But there was no hesitation as he hastily stammered:
+
+"Y-y-yes, gr-gram'ma, I am afraid. So 'fraid I--I--can't hardly think
+nor feel nothin'. B-b-but--_I'm--going_!"
+
+His ruddy cheeks were now colorless save where the freckles spotted
+them, and his great eyes seemed to have grown in size; but though there
+was piteous terror in their blue depths there was no flinching from the
+duty. It took him a long time to button his jacket and adjust his cap.
+He even inspected his shoe-laces with a hitherto unknown care, and
+thoughtfully placed a stick of wood upon the dying embers. He
+wished--oh, how devoutly he wished--that he had been born just a common
+boy, like Bob Turner, or any other village lad, and not a Sturtevant!
+These hateful traditions about family and gentlemen--Cracky! How that
+wind did blow! That tramp--Well, he dared not think about the tramp, and
+there was nothing more he could find to delay the awful moment of
+departure. With a last imploring glance toward Madam, to see if there
+was no relenting, or if she would not suggest some easier way, "'cause
+she knows all 'b-bout honor an' such p-pl-plag--uey things,"--yet
+finding none, he dragged himself to the side door, fumbled a moment with
+the latch, and went out.
+
+Had he known it, Madam Sturtevant was suffering more than he. She would
+far rather have faced the elements and the darkness on that mile-long
+walk, unused to exposure though she was, than have sent this last
+darling of her heart out alone and unprotected. Indeed, she sat so
+still, and looked so anxious for a time after he had gone, that
+Alfaretta ventured to touch her hand, and to comfort, saying:
+
+"Don't you worry, dear Madam. Nothin' 'll happen to Monty. Mr. Jones,
+he's well acquainted with him, an' he says 'at Monty's got as many lives
+as a cat. He's fell down-stairs, an' out of a cherry-tree, an' choked on
+fish-bones, an' had green-apple colic, an' been kicked by Squire
+Pettijohn's bull, an' tumbled into Foxes' Gully,--and that ain't but six
+things that might ha' killed him an' didn't. Besides, Monty's a good
+runner. Why, Madam, he's the fastest runner goes to school! True. He's
+more'n likely half-way there whilst we're just a-talkin'. Shall I fetch
+your specs an' the _Chronicle_ newspaper? Readin' might pass the time
+till he gets back, an' I guess--I guess I won't be too scared to wash
+the dishes in the kitchen, if--if you'll let me leave the door open
+between."
+
+Alfaretta had enumerated the various disasters which had befallen
+Montgomery upon finger after finger, and with such perfect gravity that
+the anxious grandmother was amused, in spite of her fear, and felt
+herself greatly cheered. With a kindly smile, she answered:
+
+"Yes, Alfy, please do bring it; and, of course, you need not close the
+door. We are sadly late with the work to-night, but you may sit up till
+my son comes back. You are a dear, good child, Alfaretta, doing your
+duty faithfully in that state of life to which you were born, and you
+are a comfort to me."
+
+The happy girl fairly flew to bring the "specs" and the last number of
+the religious weekly which Eunice regularly sent to her old friend.
+Conscience was rather doubtful about that ever faithful performance of
+duty; but why worry? Praise was sweet, doubly sweet from one so fine a
+pattern of all the virtues as her mistress, and Alfaretta had found
+comfort for her own self in comforting another. Besides, now she was
+either getting used to it, or the storm was lulling, for the blinds did
+not rattle as they had, and that mournful soughing of the wind in the
+tall chimneys had nearly ceased.
+
+The bond-maid had rarely "done" her dishes so swiftly or so well, and,
+having set them in their places, she put out the kitchen candle, fetched
+her knitting, and sat down on her own stool beside the fireplace. For a
+wonder she was not sleepy. Too much had occurred that day to fill her
+imagination, and now that the "face" which had terrified her was safely
+out of sight, she began to recall it with a sort of fascination. If it
+were a ghost, it must have been that of somebody she had once known, for
+it was oddly familiar. The heavy features had a ghastly resemblance
+to--Who could it be? Uncle Moses? Mr. Turner? The stage-driver? No, none
+of these; nor of any old pensioner at the "Farm." Then, suddenly, she
+thought of Squire Pettijohn, terrible man, who had used to visit that
+"Farm," inspect its workings, suggest further extreme economies, where,
+it seemed to the beneficiaries, that economy had already reached its
+limit, ask personal questions, such as even a pauper may resent, and
+make himself generally obnoxious. Alfaretta had frankly hated him, and
+had never been more thankful than when she was assigned to Madam
+Sturtevant rather than to Mrs. Pettijohn--both ladies having entered
+application for a "bound-out" servant at the very same time. Already
+ashamed of misfortunes which were not at all her own fault, she had
+resented his pinching of her ears, his facetious references to her
+worthless parents, his chuckings under the chin, and the other personal
+familiarities by which some elderly people fancy they are pleasing
+younger ones.
+
+"Madam! May I speak?"
+
+"Certainly, Alfaretta. I haven't been able to keep my thoughts on my
+paper. I shall be glad to hear anything you have to say."
+
+"Well, then! I'd hate to think it of any--any _good_ ghost, but there
+was somethin' 'bout that _face_ 'at made me remember somebody I'd seen,
+an' the somebody was--Squire Pettijohn!"
+
+"Child, how absurd!"
+
+"Yes'm, I s'pose it is. But there was them same big eyebrows standin'
+out fur from this white _face_ as his'n does from his red one. There was
+the same sort of bitter look in the eyes, only these ones was afire.
+Ain't that queer?"
+
+"Exceedingly queer. So queer that you must banish the notion at once
+from your mind. I am convinced that it was some poor, homeless wanderer
+estrayed into this quiet, and, I fear, inhospitable village, where
+there is no provision for such as he. I'm sure I wish he were safely
+housed in one of our own outbuildings rather than roaming the fields on
+such a night. Even an old blanket thrown into one of the box-stalls
+would have been comparative comfort."
+
+"Y--es'm," assented Alfaretta, with small enthusiasm. But what she did
+like to hear was Madam's talk of the old times when the now empty stable
+was full of spirited horses, when guests filled the silent rooms, when
+servants were many and the larder abundant, and life and laughter ruled
+where now were only memories. It always sounded like make-believe; and,
+humble poor-house child though she was, Alfy delighted in make-believe.
+
+A hint was commonly sufficient to set the house-mistress reminiscent,
+and once started upon such retrospections she was as contented to
+continue as her little maid to listen; and now there followed for the
+pair an hour of real enjoyment.
+
+Once really past the threshold Montgomery's reluctance vanished. If he
+had anything disagreeable to do he liked to get it over with at once.
+The walk to The Maples in that storm was certainly disagreeable, as
+would, doubtless, be his reception there. He wouldn't think about that
+part of the affair till it faced him, and he wouldn't let any grass grow
+under his feet for loitering upon his road. Then a thought of
+Katharine, alone and in terror, roused all his real manliness, so that
+he cared no further for anything save to set her free. He would now
+promptly have knocked any other boy down for calling him the hard names
+he called himself all the way from the Mansion to Aunt Eunice's, and he
+disdained to think of tramps, thunder-claps, or broken tree-limbs, even
+though he stumbled over some of these along the path. Despite the
+obstructing wind, he had never run so swiftly, and the resounding whack
+he gave the Maitland knocker startled all within the house.
+
+Poor Aunt Eunice required but little now to set her nerves a-quiver, and
+was anxiously pacing the sitting-room floor, wondering how and where to
+begin that search for little Katharine, which must be deferred no
+longer. But after the first shock of the summons she ran to answer it,
+feeling sure that here was news at last; and there almost fell into the
+hall a drenched, breathless lad, who could only stammer, feebly:
+
+"H-h-hay--mow!"
+
+Then he dropped upon the floor to catch his breath.
+
+Miss Maitland stared at him, wondering if here was another storm-crazed
+victim. Then she remembered that "H-h-h-hay--mow!" was the one and only
+word the boy had uttered during that scene of the brass bound box. Now
+again just "H-h-hay-mow!" She passed her hand wearily across her eyes
+trying to understand.
+
+Then said the last of the Sturtevants, recovering, and stammering but
+slightly in his earnestness:
+
+"F-fetch a lantern, quick! We went up h-h-hay-mow huntin' eggs--an' mine
+are in the s-s-s-secret ch-amber--an' Squire c-come, an' I skipped
+an'--forgot!"
+
+The boy was himself so familiar with the premises that he knew exactly
+where to find the lantern, and, having confessed his fault, he ran to
+light it. He was also first at the barn, though Miss Maitland and
+Susanna both followed promptly and unmindful of the rain.
+
+But alas for Deacon Meakin's overcare! He had not only locked the doors,
+but he had hidden the keys.
+
+Susanna sped back to the house, seeking on the shelf where he had placed
+the lantern for them, but failing to find them, while at Eunice's
+direction Montgomery felt everywhere under the flat stone which served
+as door-step to the main entrance. In the crannies of window casings, at
+the tops and bottoms of all the doors, in the cattle-shed and
+poultry-house, in any sort of place where a Marsdenite would naturally
+deposit keys, they searched without avail.
+
+Then Miss Maitland bethought herself that if Katharine were still within
+the barn and heard all this attempt at forcing an entrance she would be
+further frightened, and said:
+
+"We must break the glass in that window behind the stalls, and you,
+Montgomery, must climb through. As soon as you are within, call to the
+poor child and tell her that we are outside and have come to get her.
+Then you hand us out some heavy tools,--an axe, if you can find one,
+would be best,--and we'll break down the door."
+
+With that the lady herself took a stone from the barn-yard wall and
+crashed the glass, but Susanna interposed:
+
+"You go right back into the house, Eunice Maitland, and not stay out in
+this damp to get your death of cold. And no need to break good doors.
+Katy ain't no bigger'n Monty, nor so big, an' a hole he can get into she
+can come out of. Trust her!"
+
+Miss Maitland would not go indoors, but she did fold the shawl she had
+caught up more closely about her and retreated to the shelter of the
+cowshed, while Susanna stood listening beneath the window through which
+Monty had swiftly disappeared. Fortunately, the storm had greatly abated
+and there was less external noise to drown the sounds within, where
+Montgomery was now shouting at the top of his voice:
+
+"K-K-Kath-arine! Katy! K-Kitty-kee-hotee!"
+
+"Yelp! Snip! Snap! Gr-r-rrr!" came in response, and Katharine waked
+from the dreamless sleep into which exhaustion of grief and terror had
+thrown her.
+
+At first she could not comprehend what it all meant. She could only make
+an effort to restrain the angry pug now escaping from her arms. Then she
+saw Montgomery's face at the opening above the bay, brilliantly
+illuminated by the lantern held close to his head as he peered inwards
+preparatory to a leap. With a scream half of relief, half of dread lest
+she should again be deserted, she ran toward the window and held her
+arms up.
+
+The light disappeared, but before she had time for a fresh fear, she
+felt her hands clasped by Montgomery's sturdy ones, and she was bidden:
+
+"Give a s-s-sp-spring--an' I'll haul you!"
+
+She tried once, twice, and again, but there was no "spring" left in the
+usually active limbs, and she sank back to the bay, sobbing:
+
+"Oh, I can't! I can't! I've tried and tried and tried! But I shall never
+get out. Never, never, never." And it was proof of the suffering she had
+undergone that there was no indignation left against the boy who had
+caused it, but only a hopeless acceptance of a terrible position.
+
+This was too much for Monty. He would far rather have had her rail at
+him than sob so heart-brokenly. He began to sob himself in sympathy, and
+called back:
+
+"D-d-don't! Qu-qu-quit it! See. Look up. I'll h-h-hang the lantern on
+the sill. I d-d-dassent take it down there, might s-s-set fire to the
+hay. I'm all r-r-right--I mean you're all r-r-right. Get out the way.
+I'm c-c-c-comin'!"
+
+In an instant he had leaped down beside her and put his arm around her
+quivering shoulders. In all his life he had never been so sorry for
+anybody or anything as now for her and for his own neglectful
+selfishness, which had brought her to such a pass. Yet, heedless Monty
+had had many causes for regret during his previous career!
+
+"I thought I should die! Oh, it was so awful! I thought I should
+certainly die here alone in this place. The wind would almost tear the
+roof off, and Punchy howled--he thought he was dying, too, maybe. But it
+was he kept me from it--quite. I never loved him so in all my life!
+Can--is there a way--you've got in, too, but is there a way out? I was
+hungry, I thought I would starve. Then I forgot that--listening. And the
+lightning--I was sure it had struck again and again. I waited to see the
+hay blaze up. Lightning always does strike barns, doesn't it?"
+
+With a philosophy beyond his years Montgomery changed the subject.
+
+"I shall have to boost you, i-i-if you c-c-can't climb without. P-p-put
+your feet right th-th-there--I'm b-bo-boo-boostin' my best! Catch hold
+the s-sill! Cracky! Up you g-g-go!"
+
+Up she went, indeed, fear forgotten, every nerve strained, eager already
+to attain and excel in this new feat of climbing. Folks who lived in the
+country had to climb--or perish--it seemed. And once upon the sill she
+rolled over it to the broad floor of the barn and felt herself at last
+in safety.
+
+But there still remained that other climb, to reach the broken window
+and through it freedom and friends outside. However, this was a trifle.
+Montgomery brought a short ladder, which he placed beneath the window
+that he had had the forethought to unbolt from the outside, and when the
+sash rolled back in its groove Katharine was already on the ledge,
+Susanna's strong arms clasping her and Aunt Eunice standing near.
+
+Such an hour as followed! Such indigestibly delightful foods as Susanna
+brought from her storeroom--harbingers of holiday feasts to come--and of
+which the children were permitted to partake without any harm or
+restriction.
+
+"Let the poor little creatur's get their stummicks full for once, sence
+nary one hain't had a mouthful of victuals, scurce that, to-day," cried
+Susanna, herself feasting her eyes upon the now joyous faces of the
+youngsters.
+
+Then what a tap-tap-tapping sounded on the floor of the kitchen
+chamber! Aunt Eunice interpreting the same to mean:
+
+"Poor Moses is feeling left out of all our rejoicing and feels
+aggrieved. He wants us all to come up and tell him the whole story,
+since he cannot himself come to us. But alas for Deacon Meakin! I don't
+envy him his forthcoming interview with my hired man to-morrow morning.
+It is Moses' right to still direct matters, even if he cannot work. Both
+men are what Mrs. Meakin calls 'sot,' and I foresee some jarring of
+wheels, so to speak, before they run smooth. But let us go up at once,
+and then Monty must be starting home."
+
+The boy sighed. This was all delightful. Badly as he had behaved, he had
+received no reproof. Instead of that, there was such rejoicing over
+Katharine's safety that his sins had, apparently, been forgotten. Yet it
+must end--there still remained the long and desolate road home!
+
+Monty talked as fast as ever a boy could, nor did Katharine's tongue lag
+far behind, and for a time Moses listened eagerly. Then there came pangs
+of physical suffering which banished interest in all else, and while he
+was meditating how now best to rid himself of his guests, the hall clock
+struck nine.
+
+"Nine o'clock! My suz! I didn't know it was half so late!" cried
+Susanna, honestly surprised. "Time you was home and abed, Montgomery
+Sturtevant, keepin' your poor grandmother up all hours like this, just
+account your pranks. My suz! and such a day. May I never see another
+like it!"
+
+"Amen!" echoed poor Mr. Jones, so devoutly and in a voice of such
+suffering that they all silently withdrew.
+
+"Only nine o'clock? Does nobody ever sit up till a respectable hour,
+here in Marsden? Why, at home, our evenings never began till after this
+time," remarked Katharine, now so wide-awake, and, it must be confessed,
+having had her nerves freshly excited by the recital of her woes to the
+sympathizing ear of Uncle Moses.
+
+"Pooh! N-n-nine o'clock's n-n-nothing," assented Monty, who had never
+been out so late before in all his life.
+
+"Isn't it?" asked Aunt Eunice, smiling. "Well, all the same, though it
+is rude to dispatch a guest, I'm sure it is full time for you to be with
+your grandmother, as Susanna justly remarked. She is doubtless anxious
+about you; and as for you, Katy dear, you are living in quiet Marsden
+now and not your city home."
+
+The storm was fully over when they opened the great front door, and the
+moonlight set all the rain-drenched shrubs and trees a-glitter, so that
+Katharine exclaimed:
+
+"Oh, look! It seems as if the world was just laughing at itself for
+having been so naughty a little while ago!"
+
+Aunt Eunice gave the child a little squeeze, thinking how "Johnny" would
+have had just such a fancy, and Monty, wondering if all girls had queer
+ideas, bade them good night and started whistling down the path.
+
+"We'll stand here till you get beyond the first big tree, my lad, and
+we'll follow you in our minds all the way," said Miss Maitland, kindly.
+Then to Katharine she added, softly: "He's doing that to keep his
+courage up."
+
+"All the same he whistles beautifully," answered the girl, loyally. "If
+he could only speak as well as he whistles it would be splendid. Why, up
+there on the hay-mow to-day, some sort of bird--I think he said it was a
+meadow-lark, or skylark, or something--anyhow, it sang ex-quis-ite-ly!
+And he mimicked it so well I almost thought another bird had come
+through the window into the barn. He's a real nice boy, Monty is,
+but--but he needs some 'retouching,' as papa darling used to say of his
+pictures."
+
+"God bless him--and his own 'Kitty Quixote,'" murmured the old guardian,
+touched to a tender softness by--ah, many things! and promptly
+marshalling her latest charge to bed.
+
+Lights were out all along the street as Montgomery's passing whistle
+disturbed the early naps of these quiet folk, who had been so greatly
+interested and wearied by that day's unusual events. But the clear,
+birdlike tones were comfort to one harassed wanderer.
+
+Shivering in his wet rags, he crept out from the shelter of a porch to
+hearken, as those boyish lips sent forth in flute-like tones the melody
+of "Home, Sweet Home." Hearkening, he followed, fearing he should lose
+the music which impressed him, all unknowing why; and as the whistler
+left the last village house behind him and set out to run over the long
+stretch of lonely road, which lay between that and the Mansion, the
+follower also ran.
+
+Had Montgomery known this his pace would have been even swifter than it
+was, and the mere fear he now felt would have become abject terror.
+
+But he did not know; and the unknown tramp soon lagged far behind. He
+had neither strength nor desire left to overtake the fleeing lad, since
+the whistling had ceased, and consciousness of his own misery returned
+upon him. So, presently he left the highway and limped across the fields
+toward the woods where instinct told him was safe hiding; and Montgomery
+reached the stately home of his forefathers in good time. Between the
+man and the boy there seemed no possible connection, yet circumstances
+were already linking their lives together as with a chain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+ON A SATURDAY AFTERNOON
+
+
+When Deacon Meakin found that a barn window had had to be broken because
+of his forgetfulness to mention where he had put the keys, he insisted
+upon paying for and inserting the new glass himself. This distressed
+Miss Maitland and delighted Moses; but the new caretaker carried his
+point, declaring:
+
+"If I can't do that I'll throw up the job. My own hired men, 'fore I
+moved in, had to pay for their breakin's, and sence I've turned myself
+into a hired man, well, it's a poor rule that don't work both ways, as
+the poet says, an' what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander,
+or visy versy. There'll be no foolin' done on these premises whilst I'm
+in charge, an' the very first thing I'll tackle is--cleanin' up."
+
+"Why, is that necessary? Beyond the work that comes with every day?
+Surely, Moses is very neat," protested Eunice, on behalf of her old
+disabled helper.
+
+"Hm-m. There's neatness--an' neatness; an' my friend Jones, he's a
+fisherman first, an' a farmer afterward;" returned the deacon, grimly.
+
+The real truth was that the deacon had an idea of the wonderful casket's
+being hidden somewhere in that barn. As he reasoned with himself: "A
+barn's the least likely place for robbers to search for hid treasure,
+whether it is a gold box or a gold mine. Eunice, she is long-headed. She
+wouldn't want things in the house that might induce folks' breakin's in,
+more particular sence Widow Sprigg seen that tramp. She was tellin' me
+'bout it when I come on the place this mornin'; an' nobody needn't tell
+me it was just to get a girl out the bay that that winder was stove in.
+That's all cock-an'-bull yarn; to throw me an' others off the track. But
+I'll find out, I'll find out."
+
+Which shows how far one's imagination may lead in the wrong direction;
+and also explains why the curious, but well-meaning, man put himself to
+endless trouble, yet also did his own part in silencing the rumors of
+the previous day. Though, of course, his labors occupied him for several
+days, since the barn was big and his work so thorough. After emptying
+and refilling every bin and box, after cleaning every set of harness
+which had or had not been used for years, brushing the few cobwebs from
+the rafters, sweeping the floors over and over, he repaired to the
+hay-mow and industriously forked over the whole mass.
+
+While he was engaged in this operation Susanna visited the barn and
+asked if he had gone crazy. His answer was:
+
+"No, not crazy, but come to common sense. Don't suppose I'd feel very
+Christian-like, do ye, to loaf around doin' next to nothin' an' lettin'
+a neighbor's hay heat? Might burn ye all up in your beds."
+
+The widow reëntered the house laughing, but indignant. "Says your hay's
+in danger o' heatin', Moses! As if you hadn't cured it till it was dry
+as tinder 'fore you mowed it up. Well, 'twon't do no harm, an' will keep
+him out of mischief. He's a reg'lar poke-noser, Deacon Meakin is. But
+he's routed them hens so there won't be no more egg-layin' in high
+places, breakin' a body's neck to hunt 'em. But, my suz! I wish you
+could ha' seen that man's face when he handed me over your
+fishin'-tackle. You'd ha' thought 'twas poison, the way he touched it."
+
+Moses was both angry and amused, but contented himself with remarking:
+
+"Si Meakin never could catch fish even when he was boy goin' to school.
+He was always a gabbler, an' fish has got sense. They won't bite for
+noisy folks. Slow an' gentle, bide your time an' keep your mouth
+shut--that's fishin' for ye. Oh, shall I ever get to go again!"
+
+"Sure. But it's time for your chicken broth. I've stewed it down rich
+an' tasty, an' there's one good thing 'bout broken legs an' ribs: they
+ain't broken stummicks. I'd ruther you'd have forty broken legs than the
+dyspepsy, 'cause when I take the pains to cook good victuals, I like to
+have 'em et. Now, turn your head a mite. Here's a nice new straw to
+drink your broth through, an' a pile more for you to chew on, like
+you're always doin'. Seems if a man must always have somethin' in his
+mouth, an' if it ain't tobacco it's straws. Spriggs he--"
+
+"Don't give me no 'Spriggs,' to-day; I couldn't stand him. You've told
+more things 'at Spriggs done in his thirty years of life than would ha'
+kept most men busy till they was a hundered!" cried Moses, petulantly.
+"And if Kitty Keehoty, or Monty, ary one, comes 'round, do for pity's
+sake send 'em up. Here I lie, ball-an'-chained to a bed and things--Oh,
+dear!"
+
+It was Saturday and a busy time for the housekeeper. She had neither
+leisure nor inclination to argue with a fretful patient, so went away
+and left him to himself. But she found his desire for Katharine's
+society an excellent thing. As she had said of Deacon Meakin, "it kep'
+her out of mischief" to act as nurse to the injured farmer, and he now
+delighted in her. The stories of her old life in the Southern city were
+almost like the fairy-tales she retold from printed books; and her
+little provincialisms of speech amused him as much as his country
+dialect did her. She had soon dropped into the habit of taking his
+meal-trays to him and strictly enforced his eating a "right smart" of
+all the nourishments provided.
+
+At noon of this Saturday she was perched upon the edge of his cot,
+daintily feeding him with bits of food she had cut up, when there was a
+clatter of feet upon the stairs, and, breathless as usual, Montgomery
+rushed in, announcing, without even a nod to Moses:
+
+"I-it-it's true! Mis' Turner's seen it in her w-w-wood-shed! Widow
+Sprigg wasn't m-m-mis-took!"
+
+"Say 'mistaken,' Montgomery Sturtevant, and say it slow," corrected
+Katharine, severely, yet immediately turning an inquiring look toward
+Uncle Moses. Thus far her efforts to improve her playmate's speech had
+been a safe secret between the two. They hoped to keep it such until the
+lad could speak a "whole piece" without stammering.
+
+But the hired man had not observed her remark, or, if he had, probably
+considered it but one of her naturally dictatorial sort.
+
+"A reg'lar tramp, Monty?" he asked, eagerly.
+
+"R-r-r-regular. Mis' Turner'd put her p-p-pies out to cool on the
+wood-shed r-r-roof an' they was six seven of 'em, an', sir, w-w-w-when
+she went t-t-t-to take 'em in one was g-one! Yes, sir! An' she seen
+somethin' b-b-b-lack scooting cross lots, l-l-li-lic-lick--ety
+c-c-c-ut!"
+
+"Monty, if I were you, I wouldn't try to say 'lickety-cut,' till--"
+again reproved the girl-teacher, still forgetful of secrecy. And again
+Mr. Jones ignored her, asking the boy:
+
+"Where was Bob, son of Mrs. Turner, about that time?"
+
+"F-f-fudge! I don't know. Somewhere's r-r-round, m-maybe. But it wasn't
+him. 'Twas a b-b-bigger, b-b-be-beard-d-er feller'n him."
+
+"You said 'six seven' pies. If she didn't know how many she made how'd
+she know she lost any?"
+
+"Well, sir! An' there was old Mr. Witherspoon, d-dr-driv-in' down
+mountain with a load o' c-c-carrots, he--he seen him cr-cr-cross--in'
+Perkins's corn-field an' he t-thought 'twas a sc-sc-scarecrow, till it
+walked. Sc-sc-sc-scarecrows couldn't do that he kn-kn-knew, an'--"
+
+Although Eunice had done her utmost to keep the story of the brass bound
+box a secret from even her own household, it was inevitable that
+knowledge of it should come to the ears of the sick man, since it was
+the chief interest of the many neighbors who called to see him. Yet all
+he could gain from his callers was the vague suspicion each
+entertained. He meant now to get at the facts of the case. Montgomery
+had spread the tale, but had strangely kept silence with him, his old
+chum. Montgomery should speak now, or Moses would know the reason why;
+and if he still declined to explain matters he should be punished by
+being left out of the next fishing-party Uncle Mose would organize--if
+he ever fished again! He interrupted, saying:
+
+"Never mind Witherspoon an' the carrots, Monty. Nor tramps, nuther.
+Sence I ain't constable, to do it myself, I hope the poor creatur' won't
+get 'rested. Don't know where'd he be stowed, anyway, in this benighted
+Marsden, where there ain't neither a jail nor a touch to one. What I
+want to know is: What did you find in Eunice's woods?"
+
+Monty did some rapid thinking, the question had been a surprise, but he
+answered, promptly:
+
+"N-n-not-nothing."
+
+"Montgomery Sturtevant! How dare you? An' I will say that's the first
+lie I ever heard you tell. You're bad enough, oh, you're as bad as you
+need to be, but--a liar! Whew!"
+
+The lad sprang to his feet, furious. His hands clenched, and it was well
+that his accuser was a disabled old man, else the "hot blood of the
+Sturtevants" might have driven their young descendant to do desperate
+deeds. As it was, he choked, glared, and finally stammered:
+
+"I-if you was a boy, an' not old l-li-like you are, I'd make you
+t-t-take that back, or--k-k-kill you! It's the tr-tr-truth! I don't lie!
+Do I, K-K-Katharine?"
+
+The girl had never seen anybody so angry. Her own temper was quick
+enough, but its outbursts short-lived, and she certainly had never had
+the least desire to "kill" anybody. Montgomery looked as if he meant it,
+and in distress she threw herself upon him forcibly, unclasped his
+clenched fingers, and begged:
+
+"Don't say that, Monty! Oh, don't say such dreadful things!" Then faced
+around toward the cot, declaring: "He didn't 'lie,' Uncle Moses. It's
+true. He didn't find--"
+
+Oh, she had almost betrayed herself in her eagerness to defend her
+friend.
+
+"Didn't find what, 'Kitty Keehoty'? An' if you didn't yourself, lad,
+why, you was along at the time. How else--But I'm sorry I used that
+hateful word. I don't blame you for your spunk. I'd knock a feller down
+'at called me 'liar' to my face, even now, old an' bedrid' as I be. I
+take it back an' call it square--if you will. But tell the hull business
+now, to your poor old fishin' teacher, an' let's be done with mysteries.
+Eunice, she's as mum as an oyster; an' Susanna, she talks a lot of
+explaining yet don't explain nothin'. What's all about, anyway, that's
+set Marsden crazy? Why, one man come to see me, was tellin' of
+searchin'-parties ransackin' our woods, prospectin', or somethin'. D'ye
+ever hear such impudence? Why, if I was constable, I'd arrest every
+man-jack of 'em that's dared to put pickaxe or spade in our ground! I'd
+have the law on 'em, neighbor or no neighbor. Well, they won't find a
+thing. 'Cept maybe a few chestnuts or such. As for gold--Hm-m! But
+somethin' was found--what was it, Monty?"
+
+The lad's anger was ebbing, but he was still in an unfriendly mood.
+Besides, he remembered the promise he had made to Aunt Eunice,--broken
+beforehand,--and resolved that he would keep silence now, even if the
+harm were already done. So he closed his lips very tightly, and looked
+steadily out of the window. Katharine followed this good example, and
+the pair seemed wholly absorbed--in nothing at all.
+
+"Can't you speak? Are you both struck dumb all to oncet? Is that the
+manners you think's polite?" demanded Mr. Jones, testily.
+
+Then Monty spoke. "Gr-gram-ma sent me to ask how you w-w-were. I'll go
+an' tell her."
+
+"Won't you stay and play? And, oh, let me tell you. Mr. Deacon Meakin is
+cleaning up the barn just splendidly, and it will be all ready for--you
+know what!" cried Katy, excitedly, and forgetful of the keen ears of the
+man on the cot. She was reminded of them, however, when he again
+demanded:
+
+"What's that? What'll the barn be ready for? I want you young ones to
+understand there's to be no monkey shines of any sort whilst I'm laid
+up. An' you're a sassy pair, the two of ye!"
+
+"I don't mean to be saucy, but you make me. And I guess you must be
+getting well very fast, 'cause widow says that being cross is a good
+sign--and I'm sure you're perfectly horrid, so there!" cried Kate,
+pertly, and seizing Monty's hand hurried him down the stairs.
+
+She had no sooner reached the bottom of them than she regretted her
+impertinence, and would have returned to apologize, had not Aunt Eunice
+just then appeared in the doorway, wearing her street things, while
+Deacon Meakin was also bringing the top-buggy around from the
+carriage-house. Katharine loved driving, of which luxury she had had
+very little; and the few times she had been out with Miss Maitland since
+her arrival at The Maples had been her happiest hours. The whole
+countryside was rich in autumn coloring, and through her artist father
+the child had learned to "see things." She was continually surprising
+all around her by finding such a store of beauty in every simple thing.
+A yellow or scarlet leaf was far more than that to her; it was a picture
+of varying tints and shades, which she would study with keenest
+interest. She had pointed out to Aunt Eunice, upon that last drive
+up-mountain, at least twenty-five tones of green, and had seized the
+reins suddenly to stop old Dobbin that she might gaze her full upon a
+decrepit cedar-tree robed and garlanded with scarlet woodbine. Marsden
+village might seem dull to her after her city life, but nature more than
+compensated; so that now her fear was not that she must stay, but that
+her guardian--perforce--would tire of her.
+
+"Oh, aunty! May I go?"
+
+"No, Katharine, not to-day. I am going to visit an old friend, who is
+very ill. I do not know when I shall be back, but be a good girl and do
+whatever Susanna tells you. Good-by. Good-by, Montgomery. Please give my
+love to your grandmother, and thank her for sending to inquire after
+Moses."
+
+Then the lady stepped into the buggy, the deacon chirruped to Dobbin,
+and they rode away. At the same moment came a shrill whistle from the
+street, and Monty ran to the gate. Bob Turner and a lot of boys were
+waiting near, rods over their shoulders and fish-hooks in their pockets,
+intent upon a Saturday half-holiday at their favorite sport. Besides
+their tackle they had great sacks of burlap, or canvas, because when
+they had caught all the fish in the river they expected to gather all
+the chestnuts in the woods. In any case, they were bound for a good
+time, and Montgomery did not hesitate in joining them. He delayed just
+long enough to go into the house and secure Moses' oldest line and rod,
+catch up a basket for nuts, and was off, leaving a very lonely girl
+standing on the path and wishing most earnestly that she had been born a
+boy so she, too, might do things worth while. She had already heard so
+much about the delightful art of angling that she longed to try it for
+herself; but with Uncle Moses helpless, and Monty--so mean!--He might
+have taken her. He might have stayed and talked over their secret
+scheme, which Deacon Meakin was unconsciously furthering by his ultra
+tidiness. He might, at least, have promised to bring her some chestnuts.
+But he had done none of these thoughtful things. He had been just
+plain--boy! Girls? Were there any she might visit uninvited? Aunt Eunice
+was very particular about that. She had explained that the Turner girls,
+Sophronia Walker, and even the Clackett sisters, Mercy and Lucinda, had
+many household duties to perform. Especially on Saturdays were their
+services in demand, since at this time of year there was pickling and
+preserving, soap-making and carpet-weaving; even among the more thrifty
+households "butchering and packing." Most families deferred the latter
+operation until much colder weather, but, as Susanna expressed it,
+"there's some in Marsden township 'at if they knowed they was to be
+hung 'd want it done the day afore, they're so forehanded." Even the
+widow herself, Katharine fancied, leaned a little toward this
+"forehandedness," since she made fruit-cake six months before it was to
+be eaten; and on that memorable night of the storm had actually produced
+for each child a piece of the same sort of cake, meltingly luscious and
+moist in one's mouth, with the statement that it had been baked just
+seven years before. And when Katharine had exclaimed in amazement, had
+replied:
+
+"My suz! That's nothin' to what some keeps it. Mis' Turner, she's got
+part her weddin' loaf yet, an' she's been married more years 'an I can
+exactly recollect; while her own mother has some 'at's twenty-five years
+old. Fact. Hers is gettin' ruther dry, but it's always been kep' in a
+stone crock in a tin case an' only opened a-Thanksgiving time, when
+everybody in the hull connection is to dinner, and is give a tiny bit
+for remembrance' sake."
+
+Thinking over her guardian's information, there seemed to be no house
+where the young folks would have leisure for company, and the home
+prospect was rather lonely.
+
+"Oh, for even a little Snowball to play with! Uncle Moses--I was rude to
+him, but he's so cross I can't go back and be shut up with him this
+beautiful afternoon. If I go just to say that I'm sorry he'll make me
+tell him a lot of stories to prove my sorrow. That's one of his ways.
+The Widow Sprigg is sufficient unto herself and her scrubbing--of a
+Saturday. I've found that out. Deacon Meakin isn't at the barn and I
+might go there, but he's spoiled the barn for me. I feel just as if I
+was in somebody's parlor, some Marsden body's parlor, that's so much in
+order it makes everybody who goes into it as stiff as itself. I've found
+that out, too, going calling with Aunt Eunice. I wish--"
+
+Susanna suddenly called out to the girl sitting upon the porch step and
+thus ruefully communing with herself:
+
+"Ka-ty! Katharine!"
+
+"Yes, Widow Sprigg! Here I am--coming. What is it? Something to do?"
+
+"Well, I should say 'twas somethin' to do! Here's that wild-headed Monty
+took an' scampered off just as I was takin' this batch of punkin pies
+out the oven. Eunice wants me to send a couple of 'em to Madam, an' this
+currant-jell-roll. I laid out to add a loaf of brown bread an' a pat of
+butter, 'cause, say what they will, an' let Madam Sturtevant be as good
+butter maker as they claim, I 'low old Whitey's milk can't hold to
+richness alongside our young Alderneys; an' besides, can't be much milk
+left for butter after Monty an' Alfy's drunk their fill. 'Tain't much
+besides milk they do get, nuther, 'cept what we send 'em. Well, it's
+most like two families bein' one the way Eunice she feels. I wonder,
+could you be trusted to carry the things to the Mansion?"
+
+"Could I not?" cried Katharine, gaily, skipping about the kitchen in her
+fanciful way at this prospect of a change. "And I'd go that cross-fields
+road Monty showed me. Over the meadows amongst the goldenrod, past the
+stone walls where the woodbine and clematis run over each other trying
+to make the old gray rocks beautiful. There's a corn-field down beside
+the river so like a picture papa painted that I can almost see his dear
+hand holding the brush. And the forest is like a great palette set full
+of reds and blues and greens and yellows, out of God's own color-box.
+Oh, it's such a glorious old world, Susanna, and I'm so glad, so glad to
+be alive!"
+
+The widow put her arms akimbo and looked at Katharine over her
+spectacles, as she might have studied some new and rather formidable
+insect. Then she remarked:
+
+"My suz! you didn't look none too peart when I first called ye. If I'd
+had an opinion to give I should ha' give it that you was down in the
+mouth. Well, never mind. You're a funny child, but I guess you'll make
+some kind of woman if you live long enough. Hand me down that basket
+from the second pantry shelf, whilst I wrop that jell-roll in a napkin.
+Take notice of the basket. Eunice, she had it made to the
+basket-maker's up-mountain. She's dreadful good to the basket-makers,
+Eunice is."
+
+"Widow Sprigg, I think she's 'dreadful good' to everybody--to everybody
+lives. Yet she looks so sort of stern and dignified sometimes I feel
+afraid of her. But it is a curious basket, truly. What--"
+
+"Watch an' see, an' don't ask so many questions. Girls' eyes ought to
+save their tongues."
+
+The basket was beautifully woven of finest willow, and was like a tiny
+cupboard in the matter of shelves, each shelf fitted with a little rim
+to keep whatever might be placed upon it from slipping off. There were
+six of these shelves, all removable at will, and Susanna now took out
+all but two. Upon these she placed the pies, and in the larger spaces
+left bestowed a monster loaf of brown bread, the jell-roll and the
+butter. As there was still a small part unfilled she added a tumbler of
+strained honey, covered the whole with a napkin, hooked down the lid,
+and said:
+
+"Now get your hat and jacket. See 't your shoes is tied; them silk
+strings is too fancy for use. Got a handkerchief? All your buttons
+fastened? Feel just comf'table everyways?"
+
+"Yes, you dear old caretaker! I'm what Uncle Moses calls as 'right as a
+trivet,' whatever that may be."
+
+Katharine sped away for her jacket, and in passing a hall shelf noticed
+lying upon it a pile of Uncle Moses' "tackle," including a wonderful
+jointed rod that he had always thought too fine for use, but one which
+her own father had sent as a gift years before she was born. It had been
+brought forth and exhibited to her, and had since reposed among less
+valuable belongings in this conspicuous place. Her father was much in
+her mind that day, and the rod seemed to bring him even nearer. A whim
+seized her. Since there was nobody to teach her about fishing she would
+even teach herself. What her father had done as a little boy must be
+right for her, his child. So, when she left the house a few minutes
+later, the rod was in her hand, line and fish-hooks in her pocket. Nor
+had she thought it necessary to mention this fact to Susanna when she
+appeared before the housekeeper to receive her basket.
+
+"Take dreadful care of it, Katy. I know it's heavy, but 'twon't be only
+one way. It'll be empty comin' back, and I do hope the victuals will eat
+well!"
+
+They were destined to "eat" uncommonly "well;" but, alas! not by the
+mouths for which they were intended.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+BY THE OLD STONE BRIDGE
+
+
+One came down into the long, main street of Marsden village from a hill
+at either end, and through an avenue of trees whose branches met
+overhead. There were a few side streets, with scattering houses, and the
+"Crossroads" nearly midway of the chief thoroughfare, with its four
+corners occupied by the church, the schoolhouse, the post-office, and
+the tavern. On the north side the ground rose gently for a distance,
+then climbed abruptly to the "mountain," in reality but a high, wooded
+hill. On the south there were rich meadows, wide pastures, and the
+winding noisy river, that darted here and there through the valley as if
+having no mind of its own which way it should run. On this south side
+was also the great forest called "Maitland's woods," that already
+Katharine had learned to love almost as warmly as did Aunt Eunice. To
+the latter the forest was as something sacred, a spot where nature
+should have her will and not despoiling man. When firewood must be cut
+from it, for coal was an unknown fuel in Marsden, she went herself to
+select such trees as must be sacrificed--always the unsightly ones which
+storms had broken, not trusting even Moses to cut one till she had
+condemned it.
+
+As that unfortunate man had observed:
+
+"If Eunice she had let me trim out the under-bresh now an' then I
+shouldn't ha' broke my leg a-stumblin' over old tree-roots. But, no!
+Things must be kep' just as they was in the old Colonel's time, no
+matter what! She 'pears to think that timber's got as much feelin' as
+folks, an' I 'low there ain't no other oaks an' pines an' maples to
+compare with 'em left this section of the State. It makes me plumb wild
+to lie here helpless, an' think o' them villagers a-trompin' her brakes
+an' scarin' them gray squir'ls that there's so few of, anyway, let alone
+the birds an' chipmunks! Oh, hum!"
+
+Surely, there was no lovelier spot in the world, so Katharine felt,
+finding the basket rather heavy, and running across fields the sooner to
+be rid of it. But this by-path led to the river and a quaint old-time
+bridge which spanned it; and here the girl meant to rest and give
+herself a lesson in angling. Setting her basket down in the shade of
+some alder-bushes, she swung her feet over the stone ledge of the bridge
+and prepared to arrange her tackle. To fit the jointed rod into a
+desirable length was simple enough, and to attach the line with its
+hook as easy; but there trouble began.
+
+"I never thought a thing about bait, and where shall I get it? I suppose
+the ground is just as full of worms here as it is in the garden where
+the boys dig them. But--ugh! Shall I dare to touch one if I find it?"
+she asked herself. Then as promptly exclaimed: "I must! I just must!
+I'll catch the nicest fish out the water and take it home to Uncle Moses
+for his supper. Susanna will cook it, I'm sure--or, maybe, let me do it
+myself. Then I'll take it to that poor sick man on one Aunt Eunice's
+prettiest dishes, and he'll forgive me for saying such impudent things
+to him. It will make it easier to apologize if I have a gift in my
+hand," said this wise little maid. Unfortunately, she said it aloud,
+having the bad habit of talking to herself whenever there was nobody
+else to talk to.
+
+Then, picking up a sharp stick, she resolutely set to work to unearth an
+angleworm. But this was difficult. The mold was hard and sunbaked, and
+the stick of little use. Its point broke repeatedly; yet the longer she
+labored the more determined she became, and finally she did succeed in
+driving a red earthworm from its haunts. No sooner had it come to the
+surface than she sprang away in disgust, exclaiming:
+
+"Oh, you nasty, dirty, squirmy thing! I wouldn't touch you for anything!
+Indeed, I'll never learn to fish if I have to handle such beasts as
+you. Monty takes them in his fingers, and even cuts them in pieces if he
+doesn't have enough without. The horrid boy! He says it doesn't hurt
+them, that they're so used to it, an' till this minute I never thought
+how little sense there was in that. I--I guess I'll put a leaf on the
+hook and throw that in. I should think a fish would rather eat a nice
+clean leaf than a worm."
+
+Selecting a bit of the red sorrel growing near, she baited her hook and
+cast her line. She had learned how to do that from seeing Uncle Moses
+test his various rods at home, and set herself to wait and watch with
+the "patience" he prescribed for any successful angler.
+
+Waiting, she fell to day-dreaming, and, for her further ease in this
+line, curled herself down in the shade of the alders and closed her
+eyes. Beautiful pictures came to her behind those shut lids, none more
+lovely than this very scene of which she fancied she was the only living
+human feature.
+
+"All alone in God's beautiful world! With the sky so blue and white; the
+woods so--so every wonderful color; the river so dark and babble-y,
+chattering over the stones that it had more to say than it had time to
+say it in; the birds singing and flying; the air so soft and warm; and
+nobody here but me! Well, I'm glad that even I am here, just a little
+girl like me, to tell Him there is somebody who sees and thanks Him!"
+
+Then away she drifted into thoughts she could not have framed in words,
+but which kept all fear from her and filled her young soul with a
+longing to be good and to do good.
+
+But she was not alone as she believed. Among those same alders lining
+the river bank lay another of God's creatures, whose dreams were unlike
+the child's, indeed, but upon whose clouded mind the beauty of that hour
+was not wholly lost. He had been asleep, as she afterward declared she
+had not been, and her converse with herself aroused him. He had lain
+down where the bushes screened him well--for hiding was a second nature
+to this man--and he did not move when he awoke. He merely fixed his eyes
+upon Katharine as he saw her through the branches and watched what she
+would do. He saw her fix her tackle, her struggle with herself
+concerning the earthworm, and smiled dully. Once he had fished from that
+same bridge. From among many later and less pleasant memories that stood
+out as clearly as anything in these later days was ever clear to this
+unfortunate. Ah! the girl was going to sleep! and he would fish again!
+
+Very slowly and cautiously, lest he should awaken her, he crept forward
+through the bushes, out upon the bank where the smooth grass made
+creeping easier, inch by inch forward till he had come face to face
+with her. Then a sudden grasp at the rod in her hand and she awoke,
+sprang to her feet, beheld him, and in her fear leaped backward,
+unheeding where she set her foot. It had chanced to be upon a loose rock
+which rolled downwards with her, and she felt herself falling into the
+stream.
+
+But she did not reach the water. Her skirts were clasped firmly and
+herself dragged backward, to be dropped upon the ground with more force
+than needful. It was all done in a second or two of time, but it
+sufficed to show her that she had escaped one peril but to encounter
+another. The man who had pulled her from the river, the man who sat now
+close beside her, was Marsden's much discussed--tramp!
+
+For a moment her heart almost stopped beating, and she turned her eyes
+with a hopeless glance across the fields by which she had come. Oh, how
+wide they were and how desolate! All their glorious beauty faded from
+her vision till they seemed but an endless waste between her and safety.
+Oh, if she had only gone by the straight and longer road, instead of
+yielding to a whim she had not dared to speak of to Susanna! If she
+hadn't stopped to fish she would already have been at the Mansion, which
+now it seemed she would never see again. A tramp. It was the one thing
+in the world of which she had the greatest fear, and the behavior of
+Widow Sprigg, as well as the other villagers, had convinced her that
+here was a tramp of the worst variety.
+
+Then her sense of what was "fair" made her force her eyes toward her
+unwished-for companion. To her surprise he was not paying the slightest
+attention to her, and he didn't look so--well, not so fearfully wicked.
+He certainly was clothed in the poorest and dirtiest of rags. His bare
+feet showed through the holes in his shoes. His hat had a brim but
+half-way around. His hair had not seen a comb for so long that he must
+have forgotten what a comb was like. His face was roughly bearded, but
+it was very pale and not so dirty as his hands. His eyebrows stood out
+at an angle above his wild eyes, and were the bushiest she had ever
+seen, except Squire Pettijohn's. He wasn't a bit like that sleek and
+portly gentleman, yet, even as he had done in Alfaretta's case, he
+brought the village potentate to mind. And--what was it he was doing?
+
+With an old clasp-knife he had drawn from his rags he was digging bait!
+Not as she had dug, with timid, tentative jabs from the point of a
+stick, but systematically, thoroughly, just as Monty would have done. He
+had found a spot where the earth was soft and rich, and was wholly
+absorbed in his task. So absorbed that Katharine felt it safe to attempt
+flight, and got upon her feet.
+
+But he pulled her roughly down again. Yet he showed no enmity toward
+her, and with the swift intuition of youth she comprehended that he
+wished her to stay and see him fish. He, the tramp, was to give her her
+first lesson in angling! What, what would Uncle Moses say?
+
+Always quick to see the comic side of any incident, Katy laughed. She
+couldn't have helped it even if he had struck her the next instant. He
+didn't strike, he merely laughed in response--his first laughter of many
+days. Then he looked into her face, stared, and stared again. Stared so
+long that Katharine put her hand to it wondering what was amiss. When he
+turned his gaze aside he fixed it on the chattering river and became
+oblivious to everything else. Within his brain there was working another
+memory, evoked by her brown eyes; eyes so like her father's that when
+she sometimes looked at Susanna, that good woman begged her turn her
+glance away, saying:
+
+"You're so like Johnny you give me the creeps!"
+
+Susanna was often getting the "creeps," and Katy wondered if she had
+given them to this poor wretch also, since, though he had seemed so
+anxious to fish a few moments ago, he had now apparently forgotten all
+about it. She gathered all her courage and put out her hand to take the
+rod.
+
+"If you please, mister, I must be going now. Will you give me my
+things?"
+
+"Bime by. Wait. Don't talk. In a minute I'll have a whopper."
+
+It was a relief to hear him speak in such an ordinary way. She had
+supposed that the language of tramps was something wholly vile. His
+voice was husky, but that might be from illness, for he certainly did
+look ill. Well, if he wanted her to stay she would better please him. He
+would tire of keeping her there after awhile, or so she hoped. Even a
+tramp couldn't go on fishing forever, and somebody might come.
+
+He was really very skilful. Almost as soon as Uncle Moses could have
+done so he had landed his first catch and left it floundering on the
+bank. Katharine had never thought about the cruel side of angling. It
+was left for this forlorn creature to teach her that of this pretty
+pastime there is something else than lounging beside charming waterways
+and beneath green boughs. Angleworms might not suffer much, might even
+get used to being tortured, as Montgomery averred; but how about that
+beautiful shining thing done to slow death on the sward beside her? A
+new pity for this humbler of God's creatures made her forget her
+lingering fear of the man. With a cry she snatched the rod from his
+hand, exclaiming:
+
+"You sha'n't do that any more! It's wicked! Oh, the poor, pretty thing!
+We have taken away its life and we can never give it back again. I feel
+as if I had seen murder done. I understand Aunt Eunice now about the
+poultry. Oh, it is dreadful!"
+
+This was the girl's first knowledge of killing, and she was extreme in
+her revulsion as she was in all things. But her emotion was a good thing
+because it recalled her to the fact that she had something else to do.
+She must be about it at once, and if the man followed or annoyed
+her--why, she must trust she could escape him.
+
+Rapidly unfolding the rod, she was conscious that the tramp was again
+regarding her with that intent gaze which had nothing menacing in it,
+but was rather wistful and sad. He did not resent her stopping his
+sport, and, turning away from her, he picked up the fish and tossed it
+back into the water. Then she went a few steps to where she had placed
+the basket and drew it out from the alders.
+
+Now his whole attitude changed. He had not suffered greatly from hunger
+heretofore. The gardens and fields were too rich just then with fruits
+and vegetables, and nobody missed a few potatoes from the heaps dug, nor
+corn from the shocks. There were apples galore, and in some orchards
+pears and even plums. The stone walls bordering the farms were hung with
+wild frost-grapes, while the nut-trees offered their abundance to
+whomsoever would accept. Beneath these same trees there was game to be
+ensnared even by one who carried no gun, and as for poultry-yards,
+nearly every householder had one. Nobody, not even a tramp, need go
+hungry on that countryside, unless his scruples prevented him from
+helping himself.
+
+This particular tramp had no scruples of that sort whatever. As
+Katharine picked up her heavy basket, he was upon his feet and relieved
+her of the burden at once. She tried to retain her hold of the handle,
+but was no match for him in strength, and had to watch him drop down
+upon the bank, tear apart the two halves of the cover, and explore the
+contents.
+
+She made one effort to rescue Susanna's good things from this "thief,"
+as she now knew him to be, but he flung her hands aside so rudely he
+hurt them; and when she cried to him: "You mustn't! You must not touch
+those things, they aren't mine!" he did not notice her.
+
+Already one pumpkin pie was half-devoured. Uncooked food from the fields
+may, indeed, prevent starvation, but here was luxury. If "the proof of
+the pudding is in the eating," Susanna Sprigg should have been highly
+flattered. Katharine had never seen anybody eat as this man did. Before
+she could say, "Well, you sha'n't have the basket, even if you do steal
+the things from it!" the first pie had wholly gone. He tried a little
+variety: broke the brown loaf in two, and, unrolling the pat of butter,
+generously smeared it, using his dirty hands for knife.
+
+[Illustration: "ALREADY ONE PUMPKIN PIE WAS HALF-DEVOURED"]
+
+This was wretchedly disgusting but--fascinating. It reminded the young
+Baltimorean of feeding-time at the Zoo. She also dropped upon the sward
+to watch, and to recover her basket when he should have done with its
+contents.
+
+He left none of them. The honey followed the bread and butter, and the
+jell-roll followed the honey. Then he returned to his first delight and
+finished the second pie. By this time satiety. Full fed and rested he
+crawled back among the alders and lay down to sleep. Crawled so far and
+so deep among them that even the watching girl could scarcely see him.
+
+But she had no desire left for further observation. He had proved
+himself a harmless bugaboo, and she would not be afraid of him, meet him
+where she might--so she felt then.
+
+Yet there remained some ugly facts to be dealt with. One, the empty
+cupboard at the Mansion, always so faithfully replenished for the
+Sabbath by the untiring care of Aunt Eunice. One, the cherished rod that
+had snapped asunder as she forced it from the tramp's grasp. And
+one--the well-deserved anger of the Widow Susanna Sprigg.
+
+She gathered what comfort she could, hoping against hope that for once
+Madam Sturtevant had made provision for her own Sabbath feasts; and
+that, though the rod might be broken, and because of its association not
+to be replaced, she could buy another even better. She had ten dollars
+of her own, her very own. It was as yet unbroken even if in her
+intention she had already expended it on many, many things. But there
+remained that other formidable fact--the Widow Sprigg.
+
+How meet her inquiring glances? How convince her that she was still
+worthy of trust who had proved herself unworthy? How endure the torrent
+of indignation, certain to be let loose upon her when she reappeared at
+the kitchen door?
+
+Well, she had the basket! That was yet another and comforting fact. She
+hugged it close as she entered the back yard where the housekeeper was
+washing the stone path with a vigor as great as if it were the beginning
+and not the end of the day. As the gate-latch clicked Susanna looked up,
+and Katharine saw that she was "just as cross as she always is on
+Saturday afternoon."
+
+"My suz! You back a'ready?"
+
+"Yes, Susanna."
+
+"Well, what you so mealy-mouthed about? You ain't nigh so peart and
+hop-skippin' as you was when you started. Didn't you get a good welcome
+to the Mansion? Wasn't Madam to home? Don't squeeze that basket so
+tight. Eunice won't admire to have it smashed."
+
+"I won't smash it, Susanna."
+
+Katharine wondered why she should be so afraid of this sharp-tongued
+woman when she hadn't been really afraid of the disreputable tramp. She
+wondered why she couldn't burst forth with her story, which certainly
+was a strange one, as sure of sympathy here as she would have been with
+Aunt Eunice. Perhaps that dear, if dignified, old lady had returned, and
+if so she would go straight to her.
+
+"Has aunty come, Widow Sprigg?"
+
+"No. She hain't. Nor likely to. Word's come, though, that we needn't
+look for her till we see her. That sick woman is so glad to have her
+she's goin' to keep her over Sabbath, an' I warn you, what with Moses on
+my hands an' the hull house to look after, I want no monkey-shines from
+you. Well, what did Madam say? Didn't she think my butter was as good as
+hers? Hey? What?"
+
+Hope died in Katharine's breast. At first she had loved Susanna best,
+better than Miss Maitland. Now, for just one look into Eunice's face!
+
+But she wouldn't be a coward. Feeling that she had done something very
+wrong, yet not knowing how she could have helped it, she looked straight
+into Susanna's eyes, and answered:
+
+"I haven't seen Madam Sturtevant. I didn't go there."
+
+Over the rest of that interview it is well to draw a veil.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+THE COTTAGE IN THE WOOD
+
+
+After having cried herself to sleep in the sitting-room chamber, feeling
+very lonely and forlorn because Aunt Eunice was not in her own adjoining
+room, Katharine awoke to find another beautiful day gladdening the world
+and herself as well. Who could be unhappy with such sunlight shining
+through such golden maples, underneath a sky so blue?
+
+     "Every day is a fresh beginning,
+     Every morn is the world made new,"
+
+sang the girl, springing from bed and running to her bath; a daily habit
+which surprised and pleased both Miss Maitland and the housekeeper,
+accustomed as they were to the rebellion of young Marsdenites to even a
+weekly tubbing. A habit which had done much to win Eunice's favor toward
+the "second Mrs. John," and between whom and herself now existed a
+friendly and frequent correspondence. "She is a good woman, intensely
+practical; and Katharine is a good child, intensely romantic; and not
+all good people may live comfortably together. But there is no 'cruel
+stepmother' in her, and I mean to invite her and the little Snowballs
+out to visit us next summer. It shall not be my fault if there does not
+yet grow the closest affection between Johnny's chosen wife and Johnny's
+daughter," had remarked the mistress of The Maples, some time before.
+
+To which Susanna had pertinently replied:
+
+"Well, next summer ain't tetched yet, an' we may all be in our graves
+before that time."
+
+"Very true, my friend, though I don't expect to be in mine," answered
+Eunice, cheerfully, and wisely changed the subject, though not her
+intention.
+
+Not only had Katharine forgotten her unhappiness of the night before,
+but Susanna had also rested and recovered her good nature. She felt that
+it would never do for an old lady like herself to apologize to a child
+for the hard words spoken "in the way of discipline," but now that she
+had had time to think it over she did not see how Katy had been so
+greatly to blame. Besides, she was just wild to ask questions concerning
+the tramp, and privately looked upon the little girl as a very heroine
+for bravery, in that she had neither fainted nor been greatly afraid
+during her interview with the wanderer.
+
+Katy had been given a bread and milk supper and sent to her room,
+feeling herself in disgrace. She had not even been allowed to visit
+Moses and offer her apologies for her rudeness to him; so that if it had
+not been a wholly "black" Saturday, it had been a very dark Saturday
+evening.
+
+But Saturday was past, a beautiful Lord's Day was blessing His earth,
+and it was not for His children to keep offence with one another.
+
+As her own overture to a Sabbath peace, Susanna went to the foot of the
+stairs and called, in her cheerfullest voice:
+
+"Time to get up, 'Kitty Keehoty'!"
+
+"Oh, yes! Good morning, Susanna! I've been up ever so long--much as ten
+minutes, I guess."
+
+"Flannel cakes an' maple syrup for breakfast," returned the housekeeper,
+as a parting salute, and really very happy to have all clouds blown free
+of the domestic sky.
+
+Moses had already breakfasted, and had by this time become so far
+accustomed to his hard position on the cot that he had ceased to grumble
+at it. That is, he had not grumbled on that morning, and had forgotten
+his growls of yesterday. He was ready with a smile for his little nurse
+when she came in with the new copy of the _Chronicle_, to read him a few
+paragraphs while Susanna fried the cakes. Later, she brought a big bunch
+of chrysanthemums and put them on his bureau; then tidied the room even
+beyond its usual order, since on Sundays, when his neighbors had
+leisure, the invalid was sure to have many visitors.
+
+Indeed, as Susanna informed Katharine at breakfast, Deacon Meakin
+himself was coming to sit the whole afternoon with his afflicted
+predecessor. Kate, herself, was to go alone to church in the morning,
+and remember that she was to behave exactly as if Eunice were beside
+her. In the afternoon, during the deacon's temporary charge of the
+house, Susanna would take Katharine on that long promised walk to "my
+cottage."
+
+"I've been terr'ble anxious 'bout it ever sence that tramp come to town,
+an' now sence you've seen an' talked with him, an' I know that he's
+runnin' 'round loose still, I must go take a look. That's the worst o'
+prope'ty, it's a dreadful care."
+
+"But it must be just delightful to own such a cute little cottage as
+yours, all vines and trees--"
+
+"The chimbley smoked," interjected the widow, feeling free to disparage
+her own "prope'ty," though she would have resented such a remark from
+another.
+
+"That could be fixed, I reckon. When I saw it from the stage, coming, I
+thought it was just like a doll-house, or a child's playhouse."
+
+"Huh! You did, did you? Well, let me tell you, Katharine Maitland, that
+house is a good one. Spriggs, he had it built first-class, with a room
+finished off in the roof--attic, he called it--three good rooms on the
+ground floor, white-painted clapboards an' reg'lar blinds, green blinds
+with slats turnin' easy as nothin'. Not like the old-fashioned wooden
+shutters, so clumsy 't you can't see out to tell who's comin' along the
+road without openin' the hull concern. And it has as good a system of
+water as Squire Pettijohn's, only not so big. Sprigg, he bricked it all
+up, hauled the bricks himself clean in from the county town, an' it's
+got a manhole 'twill let ary man down it that wants to go. My house may
+not be as big as the moon, but it's got as good a system of water as
+Eunice's even."
+
+Katharine's eyes twinkled. Until she came to Marsden she had never heard
+of a cistern; all the water used in her city home had been piped into it
+from a reservoir, which supplied all the other houses also; but she had
+learned what Susanna meant by "system," because the Turners had had
+theirs cleaned out only the week before.
+
+"What's the 'manhole,' Susanna?"
+
+"My suz! You do ask the ridicylousest questions. It's a hole left in the
+top for folks to go down into it, if they want to."
+
+"Well, I shouldn't think they'd ever want to. And the Turners' manhole
+must be very small, smaller than yours, maybe; because they sent Bob
+down to clean it, and he got stuck coming out. His mother was scared
+almost into a fit, and the girls cried and Mr. Turner--said things. He
+told Bob if he ever got him out alive he'd teach him to live on light
+rations for awhile. Bob's so fat, you know. It was so funny, and yet I
+was frightened, too. I suppose if he had stuck too tight they'd have had
+to break the bricks away, but he squeezed through all right. He hasn't
+spoken to me since, though. Just because I laughed."
+
+"My suz, Kitty! if you ain't the greatest one for bein' everywhere 't
+anything's goin' on. You hain't been here but a month, yet you know more
+folks, been into more houses, seems if, than I have, who've lived here
+all my life. An' the idee! Tearin' away good bricks just to get a
+wuthless boy out, like that Bob. I cal'late his pa would ha' thought
+twice 'fore it come to that. He'd have made the young one scrouge
+himself up dreadful narrow an' wriggle himself free, somehow. But there.
+No use worryin' about my system, 'cause I had the leader-pipe turned
+t'other way so no rain could run into it. It's as dry as a floor now. My
+suz! What a long walk it is, an' how warm it does keep. I never knowed
+such a fall, no weather fit for killin' nor nothin', but just like
+midsummer," bewailed Susanna, lagging on the long woodland path.
+
+"I never knew such a fall, either. I never dreamed that the world could
+be so lovely. I have only been in the country a fortnight at a time in
+August, until I came to Marsden, but I love it, I love it! And I think
+you're dressed too warm. What made you put on that heavy wool gown and
+shawl? And a veil, too. I should think you'd roast, and your face is the
+color of boiled lobster," said Katharine, with hapless frankness.
+
+Their talk had been along the way, and their goal was already in sight
+through the trees. Poor Susanna had scarcely breath to retort, but
+managed to say:
+
+"Ain't it the time o' year to put on thick clothes? an' am I to blame if
+the weather don't know its own business?"
+
+Then, for a peace-offering, Katharine handed her companion a beautiful
+fern, which the widow tossed aside contemptuously, with:
+
+"Huh! What do I want with a brake? Eunice, she litters the house with
+'em bad enough. I ain't a-goin' to add to the muss. Well, here we be,
+an' there's the key. I've come here alone time an' time again an' never
+felt the creeps a-doin' it afore to-day. But--my suz! I wouldn't ha'
+come now without you to keep me comp'ny, not for anything."
+
+"That's flattering! Am I so brave, then?" asked the girl, giving the
+housekeeper a sudden little hug.
+
+"Yes, you be. But, my suz! You needn't knock my bunnit off with your
+foolishness. Seems if this key's gettin' rusty, or else--can't be the
+door's unlocked, can it?"
+
+"I'm sure I don't know. I was never here before." Then, as the door
+opened, sniffing a little at the musty odor incident to a tightly closed
+apartment: "Whew! It needs airing, anyway. Let's throw up all the sashes
+and set the blinds wide, then it will be the sweetest little cottage in
+the world."
+
+"Well, you may. And when you've done these down here, you might--you
+might go up attic and open that winder, too. It's there I've got my
+things stored that I've been layin' out to show you, soon's I could. Me
+an' Moses an' Eunice is all a-gettin' old. It's time somebody younger
+an' likelier to live longer should know. This walk to-day tells me 'at I
+ain't so spry as I used to be. No tellin', no tellin'. We're here now,
+an' there some other time, an' life's a shadder, a shadder," ruminated
+the widow, sitting down on the door-step, and not anxious, apparently,
+to enter the cottage first.
+
+Which fact Katharine was quick to observe and comment upon, with a
+laugh: "Oh, you blessed old coward! You're afraid that tramp has shut
+himself up in your 'prope'ty,' and you'll come upon him unawares. You'd
+'risk' me, just as Monty 'risked' Ned Clackett to climb the schoolhouse
+roof after a ball, not daring to go himself. Well, here goes! You keep
+watch without while I search within."
+
+Susanna laughed. She was afraid, and owned it frankly; but after
+Katharine had ransacked the few rooms thoroughly, peeped under the bed
+in the kitchen-bedroom, opened the few closet doors, and even examined
+the wall cupboard, she gathered courage to enter, and promptly led the
+way up-stairs.
+
+The little home was plainly furnished, but represented the romance of
+her life to old Susanna. Memories of her youth came back and softened
+the asperity of age, her wrinkled face taking on gentler lines and her
+harsh voice a tenderer tone. But to-day she was in haste. She felt
+herself needed at The Maples, even with the capable Deacon Meakin left
+to "hold the fort," as he expressed it. Going to a chest of drawers she
+opened the top one and displayed a store of blankets, different from
+those Katharine had seen. They looked like very coarse and heavy
+flannel, and were yellow with age. "Them was part of my fittin' out. I
+spun an' wove 'em myself, whilst Sprigg an' me was walkin' out
+together," she explained, carefully peering into the folds of the cloth,
+in search of any vagrant moth.
+
+"Why, how in the world could you do that? I thought when one spun and
+wove they had to have wheels and looms and things. How could you carry
+such about with you, even with Sprigg, I mean Mr. Sprigg, to help?"
+
+Susanna looked over her spectacles more hurt than angry. But she saw
+only honest surprise on the girl's face, and, after a pause, explained:
+
+"'Walkin' out together' means keepin' comp'ny; as men an' women do
+who've promised to marry each other."
+
+"Oh, an engagement! I remember quite well, too well, when papa and Mrs.
+Snowball 'walked out together.' It quite did away with the delightful
+'walkin' out' I had always had with him before that time."
+
+"Well, Katy, be sure if Johnny picked her out she was the right one, an'
+me an' Eunice hopes to see the pair of ye good friends yet. We're layin'
+out to have all them little Snowballs down here, or up here, next
+summer, if we live to see another summer, an' make up our own minds as
+to how things is. We've settled that."
+
+Which shows that even strong-minded women like Susanna may sometimes
+change their minds; also lay claim to ideas not originally their own.
+But the effect upon Katharine was to sober her completely, and, oddly
+enough, make her a bit homesick for the old life and the noisy little
+brothers. She fell to thinking about them so earnestly that she scarcely
+heard what else the widow was saying, until she was touched upon the
+arm, and bidden:
+
+"Now, look sharp an' remember. Here 'tis, my shroud an' all goes with
+it."
+
+"Your--w-h-a-t?" gasped Katharine.
+
+Susanna again looked her surprise, but she was perfectly calm, even
+cheerfully interested; and, to enlighten the other's ignorance,
+patiently explained.
+
+"I said my shroud, that I am to be wropped in when I'm buried. I made it
+years ago, an' styles has changed some, I hear. But this is good, an'
+'ll be easy for 'em that does it to put on me. It's keepin' real well,
+nice an' white. Here's the suit of underclothes goes with it, all new,
+white stockin's--loose an' roomy, an' pins an' needles an' thread--not a
+thing wantin', so fur as I know. Why, child, what ails you? You look as
+if you had seen a ghost."
+
+Poor Katharine was so shocked by this revelation which the other made so
+calmly, that she had turned quite white, and found some difficulty to
+control her voice, as she returned:
+
+"It's so--so horrible, so ghastly! Right here in all this glory of life
+to be anticipating the grave! Give the dreadful things to me. I hate to
+touch them, but I'll make myself. I'll carry them right down into the
+kitchen and make a fire in the stove and burn them up, up, up! Oh,
+Susanna! how could you?"
+
+The old housekeeper was in her own turn as genuinely surprised. In many
+a household she knew just such provision for a sad day had been made.
+She had even once assisted at a "bee," where several women had assembled
+to prepare a burial garment for an old, bedridden neighbor, who, less
+"forehanded" than Marsdenites in general, had neglected to provide one
+for herself. The careless creature was living yet, and likely to outlive
+many a stronger woman, but that didn't matter. However, such ignorance
+as Katharine's did not surprise her so much as it would have done had
+the child's "raising" been in the more favored environment she had
+herself enjoyed. Of course, she did not yield her treasures to the
+destruction suggested. She merely closed that drawer and opened another;
+and here, indeed, her whole bearing changed. Uncovering a big
+paste-board box, she showed a quantity of little garments, oddly
+fashioned, but beautifully preserved, the very folds in which they had
+been laid away still crisp and fresh.
+
+Over and over the time-yellowed muslin her work-knotted fingers passed
+and repassed. Her touch was the touch of a mother upon her first-born,
+and the years that had been between the day of his coming and this were
+forgotten.
+
+Katharine watching, understood. Her sympathy brought a moisture to her
+own eyes, which now regarded the childless old woman in a new and
+reverent light. Never again would Susanna be just the same to her young
+housemate that she had been. The girl was learning life. Yesterday her
+lesson--that not all of God's vagrants are vile; to-day--that all
+sharp-tongued women are not viragoes.
+
+After a time, said the widow, simply: "Them was my baby's," and softly
+closed the drawer.
+
+They were well on the way home when Susanna suddenly exclaimed:
+
+"My suz! Ever see such a simpleton? I clean forgot to lock the door; an'
+that kitchen-bedroom winder, I doubt that you went near it."
+
+"No, I didn't. I forgot, too. Never mind, you sit here and rest. I'll
+run back and fasten the whole house, and won't be long. Or you go on
+toward home and I'll overtake you."
+
+"Sure you just as lief? Well, I don't s'pose you would be afraid now,
+after I've been there with ye to show you there wasn't nothin' nor
+nobody there, an' I 'low I'd ought to be back soon's I can," responded
+the housekeeper.
+
+"Afraid? Why, it was you yourself was afraid, you dear old make-believe!
+But go on, just the same. I'll make haste," cried Kate, laughing at the
+other's altered mind, and immediately darting backward through the
+forest toward the cottage.
+
+The Widow Sprigg walked forward, slowly; pausing here to pick up a nut,
+or there to examine a tree which she would tell Eunice might better be
+felled. As she walked she became uneasy, feeling that she had really
+imposed an unpleasant, possibly perilous, task upon the girl she scolded
+so freely yet already loved so dearly. Gathering a sprig of wintergreen
+she chewed it thoughtfully, and scarcely knew when she turned back to
+retrace her own steps to the cottage and learn what had befallen
+Katharine, who surely should have been in sight long before.
+
+She came, at last, breathless and excited, catching the widow's arm and
+dragging her farther into the wood, but saying nothing save that
+imperative: "Come! Oh, come quick! Quick! We may be too late!"
+
+Perforce the other "came," and there, on her kitchen-bedroom bed, lay
+Marsden's "tramp," seemingly sick unto death.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+A SELF-ELECTED CONSTABLE
+
+
+If Susanna could ever have been "knocked down with a feather," as she
+often averred, she might have been then.
+
+Indignation, consternation, amazement, all the emotions which have to be
+expressed in polysyllables, pictured themselves on her countenance as
+she paused on the bedroom threshold and looked at the intruder over her
+spectacles, through them, and below them. He lay face down upon the
+pillows, his dirty boots reposing on her choicest log-cabin quilt, and
+his groans fairly chilling the blood even in her veins, used though she
+was to the habits of men in illness. Moses, in his groaniest days, had
+rarely equalled this.
+
+After the moment's pause her mind worked quickly, and she expressed it
+in words, spoken more to herself than to Kate, close beside her.
+
+"He mustn't lie there, that way, with them filthy old shoes on. He acts
+as if he was at the p'int o' death, though folks a-dyin' don't gen'ally
+caterwaul like that. I bet I know what ails him! It's them pies an'
+things he stole! If 'tis, I'm glad of it, serves him right!" she
+finished, triumphantly, and in her satisfaction went so far as to
+approach the bed and shake the man's shoulder.
+
+At first he paid no attention to her, and his groans did not cease,
+though they became rather intermittent, as if the paroxysms of pain were
+less frequent. Finally, her voice, now pitched to its shrillest,
+penetrated his consciousness, and at her question: "What's the matter
+with ye? Got the colic?" he turned upon his side and his face was
+revealed.
+
+Then, indeed, did Susanna's countenance undergo a more wonderful change.
+All the emotions which had earlier crossed it concentrated in one
+prolonged stare, while she felt her strength oozing from her till she
+knew she should fall. Her hand left the stranger's shoulder and dropped
+limply to her side, her jaw fell, and she would have sunk down upon the
+floor had not Katharine slipped a chair forward to receive her. Upon
+this she settled, still staring and speechless; and as if he, too, were
+profoundly moved, the tramp ceased groaning altogether and fixed his
+burning gaze on her. So they remained, and for so long, that Kate grew
+frantic, and begged:
+
+"Oh, Susanna! what is wrong? Why do you look at him like that? Why does
+he look at you? Is he dying? Do you know him? Does he know you? Can't we
+do something for him? It's so dreadful to see anybody suffer. Even he,
+poor fellow, who--"
+
+The Widow Sprigg held up a shaking hand protesting against this volley
+of questions and answering none. But after a little time the woman in
+her got the better of the judge, and, rising, she went to the wall
+cupboard and took from it a bottle containing brown fluid and plainly
+labelled, "Cholera Mixture. Poison." Pouring a generous dose into a
+glass, she diluted it with water and was returning to the bed when
+Katharine caught her hand to stay it, crying:
+
+"Why, Susanna! How dare you? That's marked poison!"
+
+The widow shook the girl's hand off, calmly replying:
+
+"My suz! I guess I know what I'm about. That 'cholera mixture' 's one
+the old doctor's own prescriptions, an' I've give more of it to more
+folks 'an you could shake a stick at. It's marked 'poison' so's to keep
+childern like you from meddlin' with it. A dose of it won't hurt nobody,
+an' if his malady is the sort I cal'late, I'm treatin' him like the Good
+Samaritan would on the Sabbath Day. I've made it a powerful dose, an' I
+'low it'll settle his hash one way or other. But I hate to touch him. I
+certainly do."
+
+A last faint moan issued from the sufferer, and his eyes turned upon the
+girl. He looked so wan and so forlorn that her own natural repugnance
+left her, and she caught the medicine-glass from Susanna to present it
+to the sick man's lips. He opened them and drank obediently, even
+smacking his lips over the fiery mixture, and Kate, having finished her
+task, hastily withdrew to the outer room.
+
+But what had come over the Widow Sprigg? Her whole manner had changed.
+Fear seemed to have left her and a stern determination taken its place.
+Katharine could only observe, wondering, as the mistress of the cottage
+caught up a pail, and going to the well drew it full several times,
+throwing out all but the last pailful, which she brought back into the
+house and set on a table in the bedroom. Beside it she placed a dipper,
+and observed:
+
+"That water's all right. Moses, he had the well cleaned out for me only
+last month. We always do do it twicet a year, lest somebody comes along
+an' drinks it stale. More'n that, the well's fed by a spring, runnin' in
+an' out, so really don't need any cleanin', but--"
+
+Such solicitude on account of that detested tramp! It was amazing. Yet
+her next procedure was even more so. Going up-stairs, she looked that
+the window was shut, and the nail, its only fastening, put in above the
+lower sash. Anybody inside could have opened it, of course, but that did
+not occur to her. Each of the windows was thus treated, and, beckoning
+to Katharine, she led the way out-doors. The door was locked on the
+outside and Susanna started homeward. She was no longer a weary or a
+sad-faced woman. She was alert, silent, but unmistakably cheerful.
+
+Kate kept close pace with the now swift steps of the housekeeper, and
+finally ventured to ask: "Who is he?"
+
+"We may not all hope to be constables, but some of us is constables
+without ever runnin' for office! Well, well, well! I shouldn't be
+surprised if the end o' the world happens along now, any time," said
+Susanna, irrelevantly, and fell into such a brown study that Katy dared
+not interrupt her, and the rest of the way home was passed in silence.
+
+The deacon was waiting restlessly. He had not liked to desert his post
+and leave the disabled Moses alone in the house. Neither had he liked to
+lose his Sunday afternoon nap, well-earned refreshment of a diligent
+man. One other thing he had not liked: Moses' flat refusal to discuss
+their employer's affairs. This had led to other controversies, and two
+disgruntled men were ready to greet the tardy wanderers.
+
+"Hm-m. Thought you never was a-comin' back. That's all the sense a silly
+woman has; let her get off grounds an' she don't know when to step on to
+'em again. The deacon, he's been purty patient, but--I guess we'll be
+better friends if we part for a spell now," was Moses' greeting; and,
+instead of resenting it, Susanna said never a word.
+
+In silence she brought him his cup of beef tea. In silence she went out
+and fed the poultry; came in and gave Sir Philip his bowl of milk and
+Punch his plate of scraps. She had long since taken the feeding of both
+animals upon herself, declaring, with some show of truth, that they did
+not dare "muss around" for her as they did for Eunice or Kate.
+
+Till it was supper-time she sat in absolute silence beside the
+sitting-room window, her eyes fixed upon vacancy, and an expression of
+great perplexity.
+
+Katharine bore this as long as she could, then stole softly up to the
+hired man's room, careless whether he were asleep or not. She had not
+been bidden to secrecy, and, finding him awake, she poured out the story
+of the afternoon so fast that her words fairly tripped each other up.
+Then Moses made her go back and tell it all over again, and when she had
+finished, exclaimed:
+
+"Beats thunder! A silly woman! An' me, a man! Bedrid here, like an old
+block of wood, an' her--She thinks she's arrested somebody, Susanna
+does! She thinks she's made herself into a constable, does she? Turned
+her house into a jail--an' forgot to fasten the winders outside! Ho! Ho!
+Silly women!"
+
+The disappointed old fellow got as much enjoyment as he could out of the
+situation, and was more than delighted by thought of a tramp's shoes
+smirching the log-cabin quilt. It served the widow right, he maintained,
+because she had wasted so much labor on the thing. "Bought good new
+Merrimac print, she did, an' then set there o' nights a
+snip-snip-snippin' it up into little scraps an' sewin' 'em together
+again. If a woman'll do that, it's proof what sort o' brains she's got."
+Then, with sudden energy, he advised: "Don't you never let her set you a
+sewin' patchwork, Kitty Keehoty. It's all on a piece with knittin'
+mittens for the Hottentots--a waste of time. A waste o' sinful time, I
+mean a sinful waste of--Oh, hum!"
+
+She waited till he had cooled off from his own vexation, and then asked:
+
+"Uncle Moses, will you tell me all about Montgomery's father?"
+
+If she had surprised him before she startled him now. Flashing his keen
+old eyes upon her, he asked in return:
+
+"Why do you want to know? Who egged you on to say that?"
+
+"Nobody. Why, surely, nobody at all. But it seems so queer that none
+talk of him, yet of his mother speak so often and so lovingly. Aunt
+Eunice says she was a Marsden lady, a farmer's daughter, and 'as lovely
+as a flower.' Even Madam, who didn't like her at first, grew to be fond
+of her and to call her 'my sweet daughter.' But when I asked Monty of
+his father, and had told him all about mine, about everything, about the
+second Mrs. John, the Snowballs, and all--he just said: 'I guess I'll go
+hunt old Whitey,' and off he went, without saying 'excuse me.' His face
+was as red as red, and there came a queer look in his eyes as if--as if
+he was ashamed. Was his father a wicked man, Uncle Moses?"
+
+Quite diverted by this time from his own vexations, the hired man lay
+silently thinking for a moment. Then he said:
+
+"Well, little Kitty Keehoty, I hain't seen that your warm heart gets any
+colder toward folks when they get into trouble 'an when they don't. That
+tramp, now, that stole your victuals--Oh, I know! I did know last night,
+though you didn't know that I knowed--"
+
+"'I saw Esau kissing Kate, Esau saw that I saw,'" quoted this other
+Kate, in laughing interruption.
+
+Moses laughed, too, as he was glad to do. He had had enough of gloom and
+grumble for that sweet Lord's Day, now so near its close. And though the
+story he was going to tell was anything but a bright one, he meant to
+tell it in such wise that his young listener should be the tenderer and
+more compassionate because of hearing it.
+
+"Well, Keehoty, it's ruther a long yarn. That is, it goes a good way
+back, clean to the old Squire's time--no such a Squire as Pettijohn,
+forename James, mind ye--but a good, high-sprung, old-fashioned
+gentleman; with high-up English blood in his veins, an' a reg'lar
+English temper to balance the blood. Never did a dirty trick in his life
+nor an unjust one--except to his own and only son. That was Monty's
+father, poor little stutterin' shaver! Well, along of his late years the
+old Squire had bad feelin's in his head, suffered terr'ble agony, an'
+hardly knowed what he did do or say. He got a notion that he was goin'
+to be robbed, an' used to carry 'round with him a cur'ous old box that
+folks said held his bonds an' money an' the old family jewels that had
+been brought over from England a hunderd years afore. If he went
+a-ridin'--an' he was the splendidest horseman ever seen in these
+parts--he'd have the thing on the saddle afore him. If he druv, 'twould
+be in the box o' the carriage-seat. Nobody ever seen the inside that
+box, an' 'twas 'lowed there wasn't none could open it, except him an'
+the Madam."
+
+"Oh!" gasped Katharine, leaning forward, breathlessly intent. Naturally
+such close attention flattered the narrator, who went on with renewed
+earnestness:
+
+"The old Squire an' his son didn't hit it off together very well. Never
+did from the time Verplanck, 'Planck he was called for short, was born.
+He was a good deal like Monty is, only more oneasy--if anybody could be;
+an' from the time he could toddle he was hand in glove with Jim
+Pettijohn's little tacker, Nate. Nate, he wasn't so smart as some folks.
+Not a fool, uther, an' consid'able better'n half-witted, but
+queer--queer. He just worshipped Planck Sturtevant, an' where you see
+one you see t'other, sure. Well, they growed up, an' Planck got married.
+That seemed to 'bout break Nate's heart, an' he got queerer an' queerer.
+Old Squire got queerer, too. Nothin' Verplanck could do or say was right
+in his father's eyes; an' though he managed to work the farm fairly
+well, he never made any money off it, an' that made the old man mad.
+Planck, he bore it patient for a spell, 'cause his wife--she that was
+Elizabeth Morton from up-mountain--thought the world an' all of the old
+folks an' they o' her. She'd been raised on a farm an' could an' did
+turn her hand to every sort o' work, but 'twasn't no use. She loved
+them, but she loved her husband better; an', one night, after there'd
+been more hard talk 'an common 'twixt the Squire an' Verplanck, there
+was three folks missin' from Marsden township. They was somethin' else
+missin', too, an' that was the queer brass bound box with all the
+Squire's money an' vallybles. The hired man told 'bout the box, else
+nobody might ever have heard that part. He was carryin' in the day's
+wood next mornin' an' overheard the Squire an' the Madam talkin' 'bout
+it; him callin' his son a 'thief,' an' forbiddin' his name ever to be
+spoke in that house again. She declarin' that no child of them two
+honest people could ever be a thief. Hot an' heavy they had it, though
+nobody had ever heard them two quarrel afore. An' right on top of that
+stalks in Jim Pettijohn--him that's a sort o' Squire, a justice of the
+peace, now--an' demands his son. He'd let the feller grow up without
+good trainin' or lookin' after of any kind, though 'twas needed bad
+enough. All Nate did know, or the little he knowed, was badness an'
+deviltry. Why, he used to go with your own pa, Johnny, consid'able, an'
+'peared to like him almost as well as he did Verplanck, an' many's the
+time I've had the three on my hands a-fishin'. But Johnny didn't tackle
+much to ary one them other boys. He was all for trompin' 'round by
+himself, drawin' pictur's on whatever come handy, or lyin' under the
+trees a-dreamin' the summer days through. In the winter he'd dream afore
+the wood fire just the same idle way, an' finally he dreamed himself out
+o' Marsden an' run away to be an artist. Eunice, she was set an'
+determined he should be a minister, else maybe 'twouldn't never ha'
+turned out as it did. But Johnny was good, good clean through to the
+core, parson or artist or what not; an' 'twasn't o' him I set out to
+tell. An' I must hurry up, anyway, 'cause Susanna she'll be in purty
+soon, an' that'll end all our nice time."
+
+"Oh, Uncle Moses! I like Susanna better to-day than I ever did before.
+She showed me the real inside of herself, and it isn't half as crusty as
+the outside."
+
+"Huh! What'd she do to manage that? She seems powerful still an'
+sot-lookin' sence she come back from inspectin' her 'prope'ty.' By the
+way, did you happen to notice whuther the slat top to that cistern o'
+hers was over the manhole? Out in the open shed, or lean-to? 'Cause
+she's a great notion of leavin' it off to 'air'--as if a cistern that
+hasn't had no water in it for fifteen twenty years wasn't dry as a
+pipe-stem a'ready or needed 'airin''! Gen'ally, after she's been out
+there I take a look 'round myself. I wouldn't admire to have anything,
+even a tramp, fall down that cistern, though it might not hurt 'em much,
+'cause it's shallower 'n it's broad. A real good 'system,' I 'low, even
+if that everlastin' Sprigg did build it. But what's the inside o'
+Susanna 't you saw an' liked?"
+
+"She showed me her baby's things, an' looked as sad as if it had died
+only yesterday. But she showed me, too, her shroud--her _shroud_! Just
+think of it, Uncle Moses! And that was horrible."
+
+"Pooh! That's nothin'. Lots of women has 'em laid by. Same's some
+fool-men has a coffin built an' kep' handy. As for me, I'm goin' to
+worry 'bout things only up till the day o' my death, an' not a minute
+beyond. But, I was tellin' of Verplanck Sturtevant, an' must finish the
+job. Squire, he had always given the cold shoulder to Jim, an' despised
+him out an' out. Jim was crafty an' underhand, Squire was open an' above
+board--an' them two kinds don't mix. Still, Jim had been able to get his
+claw on the Squire's meat, so to speak; that is, he'd made money
+himself, lawin' an' grindin' the face of them worse off 'an he was, an'
+the Squire needin' ready cash, to make some improvements he'd better ha'
+let alone, Jim advanced it an' Squire give a mortgage. That was the
+beginnin', an' now, they say, Pettijohn owns about every acre of the old
+Sturtevant property, an' could turn the Madam out any day. Yet, somehow,
+he dassent. Indeed, I'd like to see the man could walk straight up to
+that old lady an' say: 'Your house is mine. Please to get out.' Out
+she'd go at the first word; head up, back straight as one her own hall
+chairs, but a look in her eye that that man wouldn't forget in his
+lifetime. Verplanck, he was of the same sort--prouder'n Lucifer; an'
+even if she'd knowed where to send for him his mother would ha'
+understood 'twouldn't done a mite o' good. But she didn't send. She
+obeyed her husband to the last say-so. An' he didn't live long after
+that, anyway. Elizabeth, she come back, bringin' Monty with her; but
+her own folks tell as how there was never a thing said betwixt even them
+two, except Elizabeth sayin': 'I've come home, Mother Sturtevant, to
+bring your grandson to the old place. I haven't long to live; but
+Verplanck will never come till he has made a fortune and redeemed
+everything. Let us not talk of him.' They never did. Where he was or
+how, his old mother could only guess. Then Elizabeth died and there was
+just them two--Madam an' Montgomery--left in the Mansion. Every year she
+let Jim Pettijohn get a tighter clutch on the property, till, as I tell
+ye, he prob'ly owns all.
+
+"That's all of Monty's father. 'Twas ten years or more ago when
+Elizabeth fetched him; why, my sake! it must be full twelve or up'ards,
+but time does fly so I forget. I never believed Verplanck stole a thing.
+I misdoubt if the box ever was took. The Squire bein' queer might ha'
+hid it somewheres, more'n likely. But there's them that does believe,
+an' I hear the Madam's amongst 'em. She's searched the Mansion from A to
+Izzard, knowin' every crane an' cranny of it, an' found nothin'. So
+that's why Monty's face got red when you asked about his father.
+Marsden's like every other village, full o' gossip, an' what his
+grandmother has tried to keep from him hearin' there's been plenty loose
+tongues to let slip. More'n once I've seen the poor little shaver sit
+broodin' an' solemn as if his heart was breakin', an' I've fancied he
+was thinkin' 'bout his pa. But he ain't one the broodin' kind, thanks
+be; an' the very next thing I knowed he'd be up to some mischief or
+other, lively as a cricket. But don't you ever let on what I've told ye,
+'less he speaks of it himself. I'm glad you're good friends, an' likely
+enough he'll out with the hull business an' all he's thought an' felt
+about it. If ever he does, Kitty Keehoty, you remember that it's a
+woman's part--such women as Eunice an' the Madam an' her that was
+Elizabeth Morton--to comfort an' cheer them 'at are downcast. Though I
+needn't caution ye, I guess, sence I found out some time ago that you've
+got a power o' sympathy in your fly-about little body. Hm-m. I've 'most
+talked the legs off the iron pot, hain't I? It's time to quit,
+an'--hark! Them's wheels! They're drivin' in here. They're on our
+gravel, sure. Look out the winder, child, an' see who 'tis. I'm most too
+tuckered out for more comp'ny to-night. The deacon, he's a good man, but
+he dreadful fatiguin'."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+REUBEN SMITH, ACCESSORY
+
+
+The wheels belonged to Squire Pettijohn's buggy, in which were seated
+Aunt Eunice and himself. This was a combination which, as Katy related
+it from the window, greatly astonished Moses. Yet there was nothing
+surprising in the fact, after all. The gentleman had chanced to be
+up-mountain, calling at the same house where Miss Maitland was visiting,
+and had offered to take her home, hearing her say that she was anxious
+to be there early on the morrow.
+
+She had not enjoyed her ride, yet blamed herself for her aversion to a
+neighbor who, if not a gentleman, had learned sufficient good manners to
+conduct himself as nearly such. The worst annoyance he had given her was
+by continual and roundabout references to what had happened in the
+forest. The more she evaded his questions the more direct they became,
+till she was almost forced to tell everything or be imputed a liar.
+
+As they turned into the village street he made a final effort for
+enlightenment, saying:
+
+"You must know, Miss Maitland,"--he did not call her "Eunice" to her
+face as he had done behind her back to Susanna,--"you must know that in
+keeping this treasure, or whatever was found in your woods, a secret
+from others, you are injuring somebody. They say you are conniving at
+the escape of a tramp, even. A tramp! One of those dangerous creatures
+which infest our State, but have not before invaded Marsden. I flatter
+myself that I--that I--have so far prevented their coming, and I am
+certainly making it my business now to unearth this one who, I am told,
+lurks principally in your forest. You are a large-hearted, generous
+lady, Miss Maitland; one who is an honor to her township and whom I am
+proud to call a neighbor--"
+
+"Indeed? I thank you," said Aunt Eunice, stiffly.
+
+Squire Pettijohn ignored the interruption. He meant to make the most of
+this unlooked-for chance to satisfy his curiosity and his
+self-importance, and continued as if she had not spoken:
+
+"But who, I fear, sometimes lets her heart run away with her head. In
+pitying the individual, namely, the tramp in present question, you
+should also remember that you are endangering the community."
+
+"Nonsense. But may I ask, in turn, from whom you gained your information
+that I protected the tramp?"
+
+"Hm-m--Er--Ah! I believe it was Mrs. Turner who said that you said you
+'hoped if any poor hungry wretch strayed into this village of plenty he
+would get enough to eat for once.' That you 'had always regretted we had
+no really poor people in Marsden, where they could be cared for, and so
+lessen the number of starving persons elsewhere.' Mrs. Turner made a
+personal application of the remark, and suggested that if it had been
+_your_ pies which had been purloined you might feel differently."
+
+Eunice laughed as gaily as a girl, and exclaimed:
+
+"So it has grown to be 'pies,' has it? The last time I heard the matter
+mentioned it was one possible pie, and Robert, as well as a tramp, had
+been in the locality where they were set to cool. Besides, it would be
+an excellent thing if they had all been taken. Mrs. Turner is a nice
+woman, but she can't make pastry fit to eat, as witness her husband's
+dyspepsia. Monty says they have pie at the Turners three times a day,
+and it's a paradise for hungry small visitors who can digest anything.
+Indeed, I am surprised to learn I gave my neighbor offence on this same
+pie subject. We talked for some time over it and she fell into my idea
+that fruit for dessert would suit Mr. Turner far better than pastry, and
+save her a world of trouble. It would also diminish the number of the
+children's playmate 'droppers-in' at meal-times. Yes, I am surprised."
+
+They had come within sight of The Maples, and Squire Pettijohn had, with
+apparent carelessness, let back the top of the buggy so that any who
+cared might observe him riding with the mistress of that fine old estate
+and the present centre or heroine of so much mystery. This was an
+unusual thing to do, for letting carriage-tops back is apt to crack the
+leather, and "Jim" Pettijohn cracked nothing which could be preserved.
+Eunice comprehended and smiled quietly in her corner of the seat,
+talking at length as she had done to stave off any further prying into
+her affairs.
+
+Even yet she was not to be let free. Said the gentleman, with a
+preliminary cough:
+
+"I do hope and trust, dear Miss Maitland, that you will forego a
+mistaken expression of sympathy, should an appeal be made to you, and
+assist me as a magistrate to nip this evil in the bud. In other words,
+to send this vagrant to the lockup at the earliest possible moment. As I
+observed, you owe it to your community to protect it, not endanger it."
+
+Eunice turned her glowing eyes upon him. "And I owe to the Great Father,
+who has given us this day, to be good to every child of His, however
+humble. If the tramp comes to my door he shall be fed. If he needs
+shelter I will shelter him. If he needs clothing I will clothe him.
+Why, look, man, look!" spreading her hand wide to point out the lovely
+surroundings: "Should anybody come into all this and go away not the
+better for it? How do we know what chance has brought this stranger
+hither? Or what and where his life began? Maybe, in just some such
+favored country village; and once, at least, he was--somebody's son."
+
+The tenderness of her compassionate tone but hardened the other's
+purpose.
+
+"Huh! If he were my _own_ son, even, I would have the law on him to the
+fullest extremity!" he answered, harshly; and Eunice shivered,
+remembering, as he seemed to have forgotten, that poor son of his who
+had gone astray and might be roaming the world then, as was this unknown
+who had so stirred the lawyer's wrath.
+
+Baffled yet persistent, as he helped her alight at her own threshold,
+the Squire put one more sudden question:
+
+"But, after all, there was something--_something_--found in your woods
+that day, wasn't there?"
+
+It was not even in Eunice's patience to endure thus much. Caught
+unawares, she burst out, indignantly:
+
+"Yes, there was something found, but it does not concern anybody to know
+what. Thank you for your courtesy, and--good evening."
+
+The lawyer drove homeward satisfied. She had admitted "the find." He
+would now proceed to unearth it. Incidentally, he would unearth the
+tramp, but that was, in his estimation, a secondary matter.
+
+Eunice reëntered her home, glad to be there, but as Susanna saw at first
+greeting, "all stirred up and upsot." She would not allow herself to
+talk till she had recovered her composure. She even promptly, though
+affectionately, dismissed Katharine to her bed, reminding her that the
+morrow brought school again and she must be awake early.
+
+The little girl was disappointed. She had longed for a long, cosy talk
+with her guardian over so many, many things. Not least of all concerning
+the brilliant scheme which had occurred to her and Monty that day on the
+hay. Nor did it please her any too well to lie and listen to the voices
+of Eunice and Susanna, murmuring on and on indefinitely, in the
+sitting-room below. Commonly the housekeeper went early to sleep on
+Sunday nights, for it was her habit to rise before daybreak and set
+about her Monday washing. To-night the great clock struck eleven,
+actually eleven, before this conference broke up; only to be resumed at
+intervals during the next morning, whenever the pair were alone.
+
+However, Katharine had other matters on hand so absorbing that even the
+mysteries of tramp and brass bound box sank out of mind. She was off to
+school a half-hour before time, and strangely enough Montgomery was
+equally prompt. Together they repaired to the wooden bench under the
+beech-tree, and while the lad suggested things to be written down, Kate
+wrote them rapidly on little slips of paper, which suspiciously
+resembled a leaf from a copy-book.
+
+Other scholars came along and stared, wondering what had sent this
+usually tardy boy so far in advance of the bell. Little girls tittered.
+Phrony Walker tossed her braid flippantly over her shoulder, casually
+displaying a new hair ribbon with which she meant to impress the city
+girl who wore and needed none. Sophronia's hair did not kink and curl as
+Katharine's did, but it was "a hunderd times as long and a great deal
+prettier colored." Kate had said so herself, yet here was she who was so
+generously admiring, almost covetous, calmly unobservant of braid,
+ribbon, and all.
+
+Martha and Mary Turner came, swinging their lunch-basket between them,
+delightfully conscious that in its depths were stored three apple
+turnovers, one for each of them and one for Kitty Keehoty, who was never
+allowed to carry pie to school. With a child's fondness for the
+indigestible, she had once declared that Mrs. Turner's turnovers were
+"sim-ply de-lic-ious," and they had teased their mother ever since to
+make one for their new friend. But they stopped short at sight of the
+light and dark head so close together over something they did not know
+about, and when Martha drew nearer and informed the dark-haired
+scribbler that she had "brought it," Kate merely nodded her head and
+continued scribbling.
+
+Bob and Ned arrived, tackle over shoulder, intent upon playing hookey at
+afternoon session, and disgusted that Monty was so little excited by
+their grimacing pantomime, as they demonstrated how they would escape to
+the woods and invited his company. Then they tried ridicule, calling
+"girl-boy, girl-boy," as loudly as they dared, with Katharine's scornful
+glances upon them. Monty grew fiery red and tossed his blond head as if
+shaking an obnoxious insect from it, but did not cease to scratch it for
+ideas, which he whispered to his companion as fast as he dug them out.
+
+Even when the teacher came and Kate sprang to her feet to bid him her
+always courteously ready "Good morning," also dragging Montgomery to his
+own feet as a reminder of what was correct, that excited, exalted
+expression left neither young face.
+
+Matters continued thus all through school. Monty was worse than ordinary
+in the matter of lessons, and that was saying much. Katharine, having
+had better advantages, stood far in advance of her class, so had no need
+to study, and kept her slips of paper in her book all the time she sat
+at her desk. She was not a rapid writer and she certainly had a deal of
+writing to do. At recess the before-school performance was repeated; and
+when the truants, Bob and Ned, disappeared in the direction of the
+"Eddy" after "noonin'," Monty failed to send one regretful glance
+thither. He was more occupied in watching the face of the clock than
+anything else, and as soon as dismissal-bell rang, darted from the
+schoolroom as if propelled by a gun. Just then, too, the first warning
+notes of Reuben Smith's horn came floating through the trees and down
+the street, and thereafter all that was seen of the boy was a pair of
+heels vanishing in air.
+
+"Why, what in the world ails Monty? And say, Katy, didn't you like your
+turnover?" asked Martha Turner, drawing near to her heroine and showing
+that she felt somewhat aggrieved.
+
+"Oh, Monty's all right. He--Don't you worry. You'll all know sometime.
+And didn't I eat it?"
+
+"Yes. You ate it fast enough, but you didn't say whether you liked it or
+not. I think ma, she--"
+
+"Oh, you dear thing! Of course I liked it; and please make my regards to
+your mother and tell her that I thank her very much. It was the nicest
+turnover I ever had, and--and it was the first one."
+
+To an older mind this might not have been so convincing an argument, but
+it satisfied Martha. She considered that Katharine Maitland had the
+"perfectly sweetest manner of any girl in the world," and was daily
+trying to improve her own by the pattern set. "Make my regards." She had
+never heard that phrase before, but it impressed her as very stately and
+"Miss Eunicey," so put it away in her memory for future use. She was
+further delighted by Katharine's begging her and Mary to walk home with
+her, as far as they went her way, for she had something to talk over
+with them.
+
+But when she revealed this "something" it proved not so much after all.
+She merely inquired exactly how many boys and girls there were in their
+school and out of it. "I want to get the name of every single child that
+isn't more than sixteen years old. As much younger as you please, but
+older than that would be grown-ups. At least, they would be in
+Baltimore."
+
+That settled it. Whatever was done "in Baltimore" seemed to these young
+provincials as the acme of correctness; little knowing that to a wider
+world even "Baltimore" was also provincial.
+
+But it was easy enough to "count noses," as Mary phrased it, and the
+list of names Katharine had already prepared swelled considerably. She
+wrote as she walked, the cover of her book her desk, and with such
+haste that the writing was almost illegible. However, a trifle of that
+sort could be overcome.
+
+"No, Mattie, I know it isn't very plain, but I guess I'll make it out.
+Let's hurry. Reuben Smith's blowing his go-away horn, and I want to
+see--Oh, yes! There he is! The stage-driver keeps blowing every little
+while, yet he keeps talking, too, so I know it's all right! Oh, just
+fancy! It's going to be perfectly, perfectly splendid! Oh, you dear,
+dear things!"
+
+Katharine's playmates were accustomed to being caught up and hugged
+whenever anything pleased her more than common, and she was usually as
+free in explaining her delight as in expressing it physically. But she
+explained nothing now. She merely squeezed their hands, and stared at
+Mr. Smith still arguing with Montgomery, till suddenly looking around
+she saw their puzzled faces.
+
+"Never mind me, girls. I can't tell yet, not just yet, because it's a
+beautiful secret. But you'll all know right soon. You're going to be in
+it, too; we're all going to be in it! Oh, the happy old man! Oh, the
+fun! Oh, the queer crazy decorations! I believe _I'm_ just too happy to
+live! But the stage is going and I must run to Monty. Good-by. Be sure
+to be at school to-morrow. Then you'll know."
+
+Reuben Smith mounted to his high seat, blew a farewell blast on his
+ancient horn, and drove away out of the village, while Montgomery fairly
+tumbled over himself in his haste to meet Katharine, who greeted him
+with the question:
+
+"Well, will he do it?"
+
+"Y-y-y-ye-es!" gasped the breathless lad, and sat down on the edge of
+the path to recover.
+
+For once careless of dust, Kate dropped down beside him and counted
+questions off upon her fingers so fast that Monty could only nod his
+head in acquiescence. Then she drew a small chain purse from her blouse
+pocket, where it had been carefully pinned ever since she left home in
+the morning. From this she took a pile of new one-dollar bills--ten in
+all--and laid them one by one on Montgomery's outstretched palms. It was
+the largest amount of money Kate had ever owned, it was almost the
+largest the boy had ever seen. A feeling like awe stole upon him and he
+whispered,--without a stutter,--"S'pose he should lose it!"
+
+"That's a good boy. Monty, you're improving so fast, you'll beat the
+time I set for you to conquer in. Have you said your piece to-day? And,
+of course he won't lose it. Men don't lose things. Except Uncle Moses
+his 'specs' and the deacon his two-pronged fork, that's never in the
+hay-mow when he wants it there. Stage-drivers don't lose, anyway, and
+I'm glad it's you, not I, who have to deal with him. He doesn't like me
+much. I _was_ saucy when I came. I don't think I am quite, not quite so
+saucy spoken as I was when I came. Do you, Monty?"
+
+"O-o-oh, not n-n-nigh!" he easily replied, never having thought at all
+about it. He was still entranced with the possession, even temporary, of
+such vast wealth as he was now bestowing in an old and hitherto useless
+purse. The crisp new bills. How fat they made it! How utterly and
+entirely delightful was this girl from the outside world who had such
+wonderful ideas and the ability to carry them out!
+
+Then the purse was put away in the innermost of all his many inner
+pockets, and around his blouse, beneath his jacket, Monty fastened a
+leather strap. Buckling this so tight he could hardly breathe, and
+fastening the coat over all, he slapped his chest admiringly, and
+valiantly declared:
+
+"A-a-anybody get that a-a-away from me'll have to k-k-kill me
+f-f-first!"
+
+Katy jumped up. "Let's go ask Aunt Eunice about the pumpkins!"
+
+In an instant they were off down the street, and some, looking out of
+window as they raced past, remarked:
+
+"There they go again, Sturtevant and Maitland, each generation as close
+friends as the other. But chummy as they've been ever since Johnny's
+girl came to Marsden, there's something more than common on the carpet
+now."
+
+There certainly was. They burst in upon Miss Maitland's solitude,
+forgetful to tap at door as they both knew they should, and
+simultaneously besought the startled lady:
+
+"Please, Aunt Eunice, may we have all the pumpkins in the south
+corn-field?"
+
+At least, that was what Katharine said. Monty's request was proffered
+stammeringly but not less earnestly, and he said "punkins" with no
+attempt at correctness of speech.
+
+"Children! What a pair of noisy creatures you are! Where have you come
+from? You are late if just from school. And, Montgomery, does your
+grandmother know that you are here?"
+
+"N-n-no, Aunt E-E-E-Eunice. Nev' mind her. She w-w-won't care. C-c-c-can
+we?"
+
+"I--don't think I quite understand. Did you ask me for a pumpkin? Please
+repeat."
+
+"'A pumpkin'--that's one; no, indeed!" said Katy, scornfully. "We want
+the whole field full of them. We sha'n't hurt them any, Monty says, and
+he knows 'bout country things better than I do." Here she bestowed such
+an approving smile upon her comrade that he flushed and smiled
+beatifically. There were so few, so very few, things in which he could
+really excel this superior city creature, yet she was so generous as to
+perceive them even before he did himself.
+
+Just then Susanna came in greatly flurried, and, catching Eunice's arm,
+tried to draw her hastily out of the room. Miss Maitland herself had
+swiftly caught her housemate's perturbation. Indeed, she had already
+been perturbed when the children intruded upon her, and had, apparently,
+now forgotten them.
+
+Katharine saw their opportunity slipping from them, and opportunity was
+something that girl never wasted for want of readiness to seize it.
+Running after the departing lady, she clasped her skirt and stayed her
+long enough to put her question once more:
+
+"May we, aunty? Oh, please, before you go, say--yes!"
+
+"Yes. Why, of course, yes, yes," returned the lady, all unheeding unto
+what she had given her consent.
+
+But she was to learn. Ah, yes! She was to learn in good time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+WHAT THE MOON SAW IN THE CORN-FIELD
+
+
+October had now nearly gone, and there was a chill in the air which
+would, under ordinary circumstances, have made both Eunice and Susanna
+pause before setting off into the woods at that hour in the afternoon.
+Certainly they would not have gone without wraps and shawls galore, but
+neither paused now. As swiftly, almost as secretly, as two guilty
+schoolgirls would have started upon some surreptitious adventure, they
+left the house by the back door and passed through the back garden. From
+thence they struck into the path to the woodland and hurried forward.
+Between strides the widow managed to interject a few explanatory
+sentences.
+
+"I got the wash off the line." Pause. "An' I got oneasy." Another pause.
+Resuming: "I felt druv to go out there, alone even, an' see. What you
+said about starvin' him worked on me, dreadful. I took a basket o'
+victuals. Bad as he is--Oh, my suz!"
+
+"Walk slower, Susanna. We shall be overdone if we keep this pace. What
+then?" asked Miss Maitland.
+
+"Well, I went. I run 'most all the way. I got there--an' he wasn't. He
+wasn't at all!"
+
+"Do you mean that he had left the cottage?"
+
+"My suz! I should think he has. He's left, an' my log-cabin quilt's
+left, an' my best feather tick, an' pillows, an' a pair blankets--that
+kitchen-bedroom bedstead's stripped as clean as 'twas the day it was
+born--I mean, sot up. Now--what do you think of that?"
+
+"I think--Oh, what a miserable business it all is! I am so worried I
+cannot sleep. Right and wrong, right and wrong, like the pendulum of the
+clock the two sides of the matter swing in my mind till I'm
+half-distracted. I hardly know what I am doing or saying, I am so
+anxious to do the best for everybody, yet what is best? I have a fear
+that those children asked me something absurd a few minutes ago, and I
+said 'yes' to them without comprehending. I think they said 'a field of
+pumpkins.' What could they want with a field--_a field_--of pumpkins?"
+
+"Didn't want 'em, of course. Some their silliness. Don't worry. What's
+punkins, anyhow, compared with that log-cabin quilt?"
+
+"Little, to be sure. And I hope it isn't really lost. Are you certain
+that the poor wretch is he you said?"
+
+"As sure as I draw my breath," averred Susanna, solemnly.
+
+"Then Squire Pettijohn must never know," said Eunice, with equal
+solemnity.
+
+After that they hurried silently onward again, reckless of the fact that
+they had left a bedridden man alone in the house, for although the
+deacon was still about his evening chores, such kept him wholly outside.
+As for Katharine, she might or might not be on hand if Moses summoned
+her. Evidently she and her boy-chum had some fine scheme on hand and
+were away to put it in train, since they had both been more than
+commonly excited and eager.
+
+Never mind. There are times in life when its commonplace affairs must
+yield to the extraordinary. These two quiet householders had come to
+such a time on that late October day.
+
+They had walked almost as far as Susanna's cottage when Eunice paused,
+and held her companion also back, as she pointed through the darkening
+wood to a wild-looking creature prowling among the trees. He was
+evidently looking for something. His search so earnest and troubled that
+the caution he had heretofore displayed had deserted him. Stooping,
+poking among the leaves and bracken, rising, moving toward another tree,
+stooping again--repeating endlessly this same proceeding, the watchers
+soon tired of simply observing him.
+
+"Stay here, Susanna. You were right. It is he. I will go and speak to
+him."
+
+"Alone? Oh, Eunice, don't! Let the old quilt go! I wish I hadn't told
+ye. Besides, who'd ever want to sleep under it after he'd touched it?"
+
+But though she caught at her mistress's hand to prevent such
+foolhardiness, Susanna could not stop her. She was walking swiftly
+toward the searcher and almost noiselessly, and had come up to him
+before he was aware. When she was close at his side, so close that her
+firm fingers rested on his ragged shoulder, he discovered her and
+started away. But she held him quiet, more by her will than her grasp,
+while, looking steadily into his eyes, she spoke his name, gently,
+kindly, as one who welcomes a long absent friend:
+
+"Nathan! Why, Nathan! How glad I am to see you!"
+
+The tramp no longer struggled to free himself, but as if spellbound by
+her gaze returned it in silence. Gradually there stole over his haggard
+features the light of recognition, and, instead of remembering later
+events, his mind reverted to his boyhood.
+
+"Be you Miss Eunice? But--I hain't got my lesson."
+
+Again he would have slunk away expecting a reprimand; yet none came.
+Quite to the contrary, Miss Maitland's own face brightened and she
+laughed, answering:
+
+"Never mind the lesson, laddie. We're not little boy and young woman
+to-day, Sunday scholar and Sunday teacher. We're just two old friends
+well met, with other things to learn besides printed lessons. What have
+you lost? Can I help you find it?"
+
+"A box. His'n. I fetched it safe so fur--an' now--now--I can't see it
+nowhere. Planck'll frown an' make me feel mean. I promised--"
+
+There a pitiful stupidity took the place of the intelligent recognition
+he had momentarily displayed, and he resumed that fruitless search under
+the trees.
+
+"Wait, Nathan. Maybe I know. Maybe I can help you. The box was an old,
+old box. It was of mahogany, heavy, bound with brass, with neither key
+nor keyhole, and only those who had been shown how could open it. Is
+that the one, Nathan?"
+
+"Yes, yes! It's all safe inside. He put it there--just when--just--"
+
+With a sudden outburst of grief he began to weep. The great tears ran
+down his dirty cheeks and streaked them. His breath came in great
+blubbering sobs which he made no effort to check.
+
+Eunice Maitland also went back in spirit many years and saw before her
+now, not the repellent vagrant, but a forlorn child who must be
+comforted. Without shrinking she clasped his vile hand in her dainty one
+and turned him back toward Susanna's cottage. That good soul had now
+drawn near and was herself crying bitterly. Why--she could hardly have
+explained. Surely, not from any affection for Nathan Pettijohn, returned
+rascal, nor from any sentimental memory of bygone years, such as her
+mistress's; but just naturally, in sympathy with two other tear-wet
+faces. She found the tears a relief. Indeed, they all appeared to do so,
+and began to retrace the way to the woodland cottage with swifter steps.
+The two women, because they were feeling the cold and now realizing what
+a foolish thing they had done in coming out unprotected from it. The
+vagrant, because it was his nature to follow rather than lead. Arrived
+there, they found the door wide open and the furnishing sadly
+disordered. Evidently, Nathan had rummaged the place thoroughly.
+
+The Widow Sprigg had long since dried her unaccountable tears, and was
+freshly indignant at the state of affairs. So soon as they were within
+doors she turned upon the intruder, and demanded:
+
+"What did you mean by such doin's as these, Nate Pettijohn? Ain't you
+ashamed to destroy folkses prope'ty this way? Where's my log-cabin
+quilt? My pillows? All my things?"
+
+The man paid no heed to her, but fixed a hungry gaze upon the basket she
+had brought earlier in the afternoon, and Eunice interposed:
+
+"Wait, Susanna. Let us feed him first, and hear his story afterward."
+
+With that she opened the basket and set fresh food before him, while,
+with that thoughtfulness which was so constantly belying her sharp
+tongue, the cottage mistress went to the well and brought in a fresh
+pail of water. Though not as ravenous as he had been that afternoon by
+the riverside, he even now devoured, rather than ate, the sandwiches and
+cakes, swallowing them noisily and so rapidly that what the housekeeper
+had supposed would be sufficient to last any one for at least
+twenty-four hours disappeared in less than as many minutes.
+
+"Well, my suz! If that don't beat the Dutch! I shouldn't think, if I
+hadn't knowed better, 'at you'd seen a mouthful o' victuals sence you
+scooted out o' Marsden a dozen years ago! An' as for manners--why, our
+pigs is better behaved. Water? Drink your fill, an' then, Nate
+Pettijohn, you walk right straight out to that wash-dish in the lean-to
+an' scrub yourself well. Of all the dirty creatur's--Why, what?"
+
+The vagrant had been seized by a violent fit of coughing, so fierce that
+it threatened hemorrhage; and Susanna's wrath died.
+
+"Consumption!" she whispered to Eunice, and shivered. It was of
+consumption "Spriggs, he" had died.
+
+The paroxysm passed and left its victim exhausted. With a longing for
+rest, he tottered out of the kitchen into the lean-to, but not to wash
+as its owner had suggested. He went directly to the now uncovered
+manhole of the cistern and slowly descended a short ladder which
+protruded from it and had always hitherto hung upon the wall. The women
+watched him in astonishment, then Susanna hastily procured a candle,
+and, lighting it, held it above the opening.
+
+As she had herself once said, the cistern was as dry as possible, and
+was in reality like a low-ceilinged little room, with the manhole for
+sky-light. Into this place the vagrant had tossed the missing bedding,
+and with his habit of hiding had bestowed himself upon it. In all
+probability, he had rarely occupied so snug and comfortable, though
+peculiar, a bedchamber.
+
+"My--s-u-z!" gasped the widow, and sat down on a wash-bench to recover
+from her amazement.
+
+Miss Maitland said nothing, yet an expression of great satisfaction
+settled upon her countenance, and, motioning her friend back into the
+kitchen, explained its cause.
+
+"Nathan himself has decided what should best be done with him. He is
+perfectly safe and comfortable in that cistern. It is warm and
+sufficiently aired. He will not be apt to build a fire, as you feared,
+especially if we see to it that he has enough to eat. Nobody will think
+of looking for him in such a place, even though, as he declared he
+should, his father organizes a search for him. Unhappy father, if he
+does, and--poor, unhappy son. He looks very ill, and he certainly is no
+more intelligent than when he went away. But he is evidently faithful to
+Verplanck Sturtevant, as he always was. It is he that has brought back
+and for safe-keeping, presumably, hidden the brass bound box that
+Katharine found, and that has led to so many wild rumors. Do you not
+think we would better leave him undisturbed for the present, until I can
+secure better clothing for him? Also, can decide that awful
+question--whether or not to tell Elinor the stolen box is found. It will
+be like deliberately trying to break her heart over again if I give it
+to her and it is empty. Yet, it is not mine, and it rests on my
+conscience like an actual weight. Do advise me, Susanna."
+
+From which it appears that the widow's curiosity had already been
+satisfied concerning the fabulous "find" in the Maitland forest, and she
+readily assented to her companion's idea.
+
+"No, Eunice, we couldn't do better. Let him be. Poor wretch, he won't
+trouble nobody long, by the sound o' that cough. An' if Squire Pettijohn
+is mean enough an' onfeelin' enough to treat him like he vowed he would
+ary tramp, 'even his own son,' I guess we can let the Lord 'tend to
+_him_. He wouldn't know another day's peace, not if he's human; 'cause
+once that mis'able creatur', no matter what he is now, was a baby--a
+baby in arms. But--my suz, Eunice! I've just figured it out! How can the
+Squire 'rest anybody? He ain't no constable. Nobody ain't a constable
+here in Marsden. Ain't been none sence Isaac Brewster died, an' nobody
+would take his place. 'Less I'm one, myself, as Moses said."
+
+At which she laughed heartily, then hastily added:
+
+"But we must be gettin' home to oncet. I'll step up attic an' get a
+couple o' shawls to wrop 'round us, heads an' all. I do hope we shall be
+pervented from takin' cold temptin' Providence the way we have, at our
+time o' life. Nate, he won't stir no more to-night. He's too tuckered
+out an' too well fed. Sleep's the best medicine for him, so we'll shut
+up quiet like an' start. But where in the world'll you get clothes, as
+you said? Man's clothes, you an' me, old women without a man betwixt us,
+except Moses, an' it bein' kep' secret from him still. If you tell him
+he'll tell the deacon, an' what the deacon knows belongs to the hull
+community."
+
+"I'll find them, Susanna; I'll send an order for all he needs by the
+morning stage."
+
+"Tell Reub Smith! My suz! Might as well proclaim it from the church
+steeple!"
+
+"No, indeed. I shall not tell him, but simply send an order by him when
+he goes to town in the morning."
+
+Then they hurried home, and Miss Maitland rested better that night than
+she had done since the children brought her the brass bound box from out
+the forest.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Next morning Monty "hooked school." Not that this was an extraordinary
+thing to happen, although its purpose was mysterious. He did not seek
+either woods or river, for nuts or fishes, but hung about the
+post-office till Reuben Smith drove tooting down South Hill into the
+village street on his way outward toward the county town. The stage drew
+up with a jerk, Reuben stepped down with unusual liveliness, and behold!
+there were two patrons ready with orders to be executed.
+
+Miss Eunice and Montgomery Sturtevant. They faced each other in mutual
+surprise. Each held a sealed letter in hand and each was in haste. The
+lady spoke first: "Why, Monty! Is your grandmother trusting you to take
+care of her business matters already? That's fine."
+
+"N-n-no, Aunt Eu-Eu-Eunice. I-I-I-I--" The afflicted lad had never
+stammered worse nor seemed so uncomfortable.
+
+Puzzled, but too well-bred to pry into other people's affairs, Miss
+Maitland finished her directions to the stage-driver and general
+express agent for the village, and went home. Montgomery's relief at
+her departure made Reuben laugh, but he liked the lad and listened very
+patiently to the almost endless details stammered at him. Then he most
+carefully, with an exaggerated caution indeed, bestowed the fat envelope
+which contained ten whole crisp new dollars where nobody but himself
+would be apt to look for it--not in the wallet with his other
+commissions, but in his boot! This gave the whole transaction a touch of
+the romantic, and suggested possible "hold-ups" in a way to set Monty's
+eyes a-bulge. Then the stage rattled away to the north, and the day's
+monotony settled upon Marsden village.
+
+There was much whispering that day in school, and a prompt departure
+from the building at close of the afternoon's session. It had been
+noticeable, also, that at "nooning" every scholar, old or young, had
+repaired to the rear of the play-ground, out of hearing of the teacher.
+There they had grouped themselves about Katharine Maitland, with
+Montgomery Sturtevant as her supporter, and had listened breathlessly to
+some matter she divulged. Only one sentence had reached the master's
+ears, as he tapped the bell for them to come in again to later lessons:
+
+"Everybody don't forget a knife. And everybody'll get an invitation
+to-morrow. Then everybody will understand, and if everybody isn't
+perfectly delighted, I shall be surprised. Teacher will have his, too;
+I'm workin' on it with nice red ink."
+
+That some exciting affair was on foot, and that he was to be included in
+it was evident; and being himself not many years older than his "big
+boys," he was patiently indulgent over the many blunders at recitations
+which followed.
+
+Never had Marsden school children arrived at their respective homes so
+early, nor so promptly availed themselves of parents' satisfaction in
+this promptness. Books were bestowed in tidiness, lunch-baskets hung in
+place, and in every house in the village there was simultaneously
+preferred the request:
+
+"May I go out to play?"
+
+Consent obtained--and what mother could refuse it to so deserving a
+petitioner?--there followed a stampede of youngsters toward Eunice
+Maitland's south corn-field.
+
+Late October brings early nightfall, and even playtime seems over with
+the dusk, but that night there were many, many empty places at waiting
+supper-tables, and many mothers' ears grew anxious listening for the
+clatter of young feet which came not.
+
+[Illustration: "BUT THE LATE RISING MOON LOOKED DOWN UPON A CURIOUS
+SCENE"]
+
+But the late rising moon looked down upon a curious scene. Throughout
+that same south corn-field had been scattered hundreds of golden
+pumpkins ripe for the harvest; and all among them, each with his or her
+allotted pile of the great fruit, was every truant youngster. Corn
+shocks had been overturned for the more comfortable seating of the
+toilers, and knives gleamed in the moon-rays as the diligent fingers
+fashioned Jack-o'-lanterns sufficient in number, as Monty declared, to
+"l-l-light the w-w-wh-whole world!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+UNINVITED GUESTS
+
+
+Katharine escaped the chiding she deserved because, when she reëntered
+the house, Miss Eunice was engaged with company and Susanna was
+preparing a tray of refreshments to be served the guests. Montgomery
+escaped because Madam supposed he had been at The Maples where so much
+of his time was now passed. He went supperless to bed, but Katharine,
+most guilty of all delinquents, fared sumptuously upon a portion of the
+dainties from the housekeeper's "company tray." The Turner trio of
+culprits ate wedges of cold pumpkin pie, eaten standing by the kitchen
+sink, and went to bed to dream that all the world was made of pumpkins
+which it was their destiny to consume before a general illumination
+began. At least, that was what Martha dreamed, and, having roused the
+other pair to relate it to them, they were sleepy enough to believe they
+had dreamed it, too.
+
+Other children--But why prolong the story? Many of the pumpkin artists
+had reason to remember that night for some time to come; yet not one
+ever admitted that they had not found their fun outweigh their
+punishment.
+
+Some days previous Katharine had put a very mild request to Aunt Eunice,
+in the words:
+
+"Aunty, would you mind if I had a little Hallowe'en party? Out in the
+barn, where it wouldn't be any trouble to anybody?"
+
+And the lady, always glad to make her young charge happy, had replied:
+
+"Why, no, dear. Certainly, you may have one if you wish."
+
+"Oh, thank you, thank you, you darling Aunty Eunice!" springing up to
+hug her guardian ecstatically. Then, with her young cheek against the
+older one: "And would it be too much to ask--Deacon Meakin to--to stay
+away that day?"
+
+"Why, Katharine, that couldn't be. Besides giving him offence, how could
+we spare him?"
+
+"Monty and I could do the chores. Bob Turner could milk. Bob's a
+first-rate milker, Martha says so."
+
+"Well, well. Maybe it can be arranged. I'll see."
+
+"Because, Aunt Eunice, it's to be such a beautiful benefit to--Oh, I
+forgot. But if he could stay at home just once; he's so what Widow calls
+'pernickity,' and he says children ought to be born 'growed up.' They
+can't be that, can they? So I do think, I just do think they might be
+let to have some nice times without folks scolding and acting hateful."
+
+"The deacon doesn't mean to be hateful, Katy. We'll see."
+
+Fortune favored the child as it so often did. After a particularly
+wearisome contest of wills between the original hired man and his
+successor, the deacon resigned his position and left in a huff. A
+neighboring youth was sent for to take his place, but, as far from being
+a hindrance to Katharine's schemes, proved her very best ally.
+Montgomery knew William well, and his wheedling, if stammering, tongue
+soon persuaded the young man that in furthering the success of the party
+he was furthering his employer's also.
+
+In due time every boy and girl in the township received a laboriously
+written invitation, and all accepted, of course. This was understood
+without the trouble of replies.
+
+Even the schoolmaster was not forgotten, though he waited until school
+was dismissed before he opened his neatly folded bit of paper, and read:
+
+     "The favor of your presence is requested at the Big Barn of
+     Miss Eunice Maitland at The Maples, on the evening of October
+     31st, to a Hallowe'en Corkis. At seven o'clock by the church
+     steeple. Please bring your teaspoon with you.
+
+     "Yours respectfully,
+
+     "KATHARINE MAITLAND."
+
+This unique invitation was the joint production of Katharine and
+Montgomery. The first part was hers, recalled from wedding-cards often
+seen at her old home in the city; the latter part was due to Monty's
+forethought. Katharine had never heard of a "corkis;" but, by way of
+dabbling in politics through loiterings at the village store, the boy
+had acquired some technical terms, and insisted that this was what best
+befitted their case. As he could not spell the word, and she couldn't
+find it in the dictionary, though she searched all the "Cor" columns
+through, she adopted phonetic spelling with the above result. Also,
+since there was as much variety in "time" as there was in clocks, the
+guests were advised to regulate their arrivals by the biggest one
+visible. As to the teaspoon clause--that was positively necessary. "How
+could a boy eat ice-cream without a spoon? And how could anybody, even
+Aunt Eunice, who had a trunk full of silver, lend a body spoons enough
+to go around, admitting that one dared ask for them? For if everybody
+came who was asked, and everybody certainly would since they hadn't been
+polite enough to send regrets (even before the cards were out), what
+would a body do, I should like to know?"
+
+As there was altogether too much body in this argument for Montgomery he
+yielded the point and waited the great event with what patience he
+might. Not so much patience was required, however, since there was much
+labor to accomplish. William hitched up the team, thoughtfully taking an
+opportunity when Miss Maitland had gone to pay a visit to the distant
+Mansion, and brought the field full of Jack-o'-lanterns up to the barn;
+into which, carefully keeping the sound sides of the pumpkins toward the
+kitchen windows and Susanna's eyes, he conveyed them. Then the doors
+were closed and the decorating began.
+
+"C-c-can't make 'em hang," lamented Montgomery, after a few moments'
+unsuccessful effort.
+
+"Course not. That string's too light. Wait. I'll fetch something," said
+Katharine, as decorator in charge. Then she sped into the house and
+borrowed Susanna's clothes-line.
+
+"My clothes-line, child? What on earth for?"
+
+"Oh, you'll see sometime. I sha'n't hurt it!" returned the eager girl,
+skipping away.
+
+The widow was glad to have "the children" out of the way for the time
+being. She, also, was planning a "surprise," for Eunice had told her of
+Katharine's "little Hallowe'en party," and the good housekeeper
+determined that not a single young guest should return home after that
+event without carrying a report of a fine repast.
+
+As she said to Moses, when fixing him up for the day:
+
+"It does seem good after all our worries lately to do somethin' just
+plain plumb foolish, like lettin' young ones have a nice time. Me an'
+Eunice, we have more on our minds 'an we let on to you, but I'm goin' to
+forget 'em."
+
+"Forgettin' your mind won't be no great job, nor loss nuther. Wouldn't
+be much matter if 'twasn't never found again," he retorted,
+half-facetiously, and half-vexed that, as she hinted, there were still
+confidences withheld from him.
+
+Susanna ignored his playfulness, and went on as if he had not
+interrupted:
+
+"I'm goin' to make jumbles, an' little frosted cakes, an' teeny-tiny riz
+biscuit, an' raisin-loaf. I've got a ham on b'ilin', an'--my suz! It
+most makes me feel a dozen years younger, just the mere idee of havin' a
+childern's party. We hain't had none sence Johnny run away, an'--"
+
+"Oh, hum! An' here I must lie like a log o' wood an' no share in it. Me
+that always thought more of young ones 'an you did. Anyhow, I don't see
+what great call _you_ got to mix up in it. S'pose you expect to be
+invited, don't you? What you goin' to wear? White with pink ribbons,
+like all the other little girls?" demanded the imprisoned man.
+
+"Well, I hain't thought much about my clothes, but I did lay out to wear
+my common sense an' trim it with a wreath o' good nature, an' maybe a
+sprig of patience fastenin' the hull. Never mind, Moses. Maybe you'll
+get more share in it 'an I shall. Somethin' may happen to keep me from
+enjoyin' myself any more'n you are this minute. An'--my suz! I smell
+that ham water b'ilin' over this instant. An'--what next! There's Kitty
+Keehoty comin' out the tool-house with that roll o' grapevine wire that
+you put away so careful--an' it's most more'n she can lug. But she'd
+tackle it. She'd tackle it if it was twicet as heavy. She's got more
+ambition an' gumption than ary young one I ever knowed. My suz! She
+couldn't carry it, after all, so she's put it down an' is draggin' it.
+She looks a pictur'! Her hair blowin' all 'round her head, her cheeks
+like roses, her feet fairly dancin' with happiness, her eyes like stars.
+Well, a body'd ought to take a bit o' trouble, now an' then, whilst
+they're little. It does take such a mere mite to make childern pleased.
+She--"
+
+Poor Uncle Moses could bear no more. There had never been so many
+interesting things happening as since he had been in bed, unable to take
+part in them. Within his age-worn body beat the heart of a little child,
+and he was nearly frantic, imagining what might be going on beyond those
+closed barn doors and he shut out.
+
+"Clear out, Susanna Sprigg. Get away from that winder. Don't ye let me
+hear another word about that party. If a miracle happens so's I can go
+to it, all right. If not--the sooner you look after that ham the
+better."
+
+Susanna turned from the pane, saying quite gently:
+
+"I don't know as the days of miracles is past. Seems if there was some
+been done right here in Marsden township. I am sorry for ye, Moses. I'd
+almost ruther stay to home myself than have you miss the fun. Maybe you
+won't. Maybe a fresh miracle will be done. Maybe I shall see you the
+chief sinner in the synagogue, I mean the most invited comp'ny--My suz!
+You know what I mean better'n I can say it. I'll fetch you up a
+sandwich, soon's that ham is cooked."
+
+She hurried below, and the unhappy hired man turned his face from the
+light and went to sleep, or tried to, though the odors of good things
+wafted to him from the kitchen beneath kept his thoughts on the
+disturbing party and angered him against the two children he loved.
+
+"Should ha' thought they'd waited till I was up an' 'round again.
+'Twouldn't have hurt 'em an' would ha' been showing some decent feelin'
+fer me," he grumbled. And little did the old man dream that he was,
+indeed, the very heart and centre of the whole festivity!
+
+Oh, what a day that was! The toilers in the barn sent in word that they
+were too busy to stop for any dinner, and Susanna retorted that she was
+herself fully too busy to cook it for them. Everybody had a slice of
+bread and butter and a glass of milk, which didn't take a minute to
+dispose of. Even the mistress, who had returned, fared thus.
+
+That afternoon Reuben Smith tooted up to Miss Maitland's front gate and
+handed out a paste-board box, very large and weighty, which Susanna
+hastily received and carried into the house. There it was hurriedly
+opened behind closed doors by Aunt Eunice, with her housemate to assist,
+and was found to contain a new suit of men's clothing, with all
+accessories needful.
+
+"I'll carry them to poor Nathan at once, and make sure he puts them on.
+Then, if you're willing, we'll light a fire in your stove and burn all
+his old rags," said the mistress.
+
+"Not alone, Eunice Maitland, not alone!" cried the old housekeeper, who
+wouldn't have missed this business if all the jumbles she had made had
+burned themselves to a crisp. Fortunately, they were out of the way, and
+though she had mixed dough for raisin-cake she hadn't yet put in "the
+lightenin'." "If we start to oncet there ain't nothin' to harm, an' the
+childern's so busy they'll never notice. Moses is asleep. Let's go
+right away. My suz! Seems if I couldn't wait to make that poor feller
+into a decent man!"
+
+As excited and eager over their own secret as the young folks over
+theirs, they seized bonnets and wraps, and, carrying the box between
+them, slipped unobserved from the house in the direction of the woods.
+
+Thus it chanced that they did not see what an unusual thing the
+stage-driver did; how that, leaving Miss Maitland's parcel at the front
+of the house, he drove by a roundabout lane to the back door of the
+barn, and there set down, with William's help, two barrel-like tubs,
+weighty with broken ice and carefully covered with bits of old carpet.
+Similar tubs had sometimes been brought to Marsden by the same
+messenger, but only for such occasions as the Fourth of July or the
+Sunday-school picnic. Never before for any private function, and the
+news of the present arrival spread swiftly through the village,
+suggesting to interested parents that, though themselves uninvited, it
+might be as well to go along and see what the children were doing!
+
+And it came at last! The delightful hour, the culmination of all this
+preparation. At last, at last, the wheezy clock in the church steeple
+announced that it was seven o'clock!
+
+Then from out the many homes of Marsden and its by-ways issued the eager
+guests. Girls in white frocks; boys in Sunday suits; all uncomfortable
+in freshly donned winter flannels--since this was to be a sort of
+out-doors party and there must be no afterclaps of croup; and elders in
+their second-best attire, worn with an affected indifference of its just
+happening so.
+
+Said Mrs. Turner to Mrs. Clackett: "Course we wasn't asked. It's just a
+children's party that Johnny Maitland's little girl is giving as a sort
+of youngsters' 'infair.' Pa and me thought 'twas better to come along
+and see the children got there safe, them not being used to going out
+evenings."
+
+To which her neighbor replied: "Yes, we feel that way about our girls
+and boy. But I confess, we're sort of curious to know what the 'Corkis'
+part of the invitation means. Clackett, he says he guesses Katy meant
+'caucus,' but that don't throw no more light on the matter, if it does.
+What on earth a lot of young ones want with a 'caucus,' beats me. But
+here we are, and--My! Isn't it pretty?"
+
+Pretty it was, and far, far more than pretty. To these unused eyes such
+a scene as might have come from fairy-land. Even to Aunt Eunice, newly
+admitted, the old barn seemed an unknown spot; and she sat enthroned
+upon her seat of honor--an oat-bin transformed by cushions of straw and
+sheaves of corn--amazed but equally delighted. The whole great structure
+was ablaze with radiance. Susanna's clothes-line and Moses' grapevine
+wire supported grinning Jacks innumerable. The glowing yellow heads
+looked down from rafter and beam, peeped from the stalls, dangled from
+stanchions. Between them gleamed also oddly shaped Chinese lanterns, and
+these were a form of illumination wholly new to that inland village.
+There were sheaves and vines and branches everywhere, and those who
+observed could scarcely believe that the whole transformation, save and
+beyond the carving of the pumpkins, had been wrought by three pairs of
+young hands.
+
+What cared happy Kitty Keehoty that of all her crisp ten dollars there
+remained but thirteen cents? Hadn't they paid for all these shining
+candles, those tubs of cream, the grotesque lanterns which her new
+friends so admired, and the heaps of candy on the table at the far end
+of the great floor? The table was improvised by a couple of planks laid
+upon barrels and covered by a cloth borrowed from the linen closet. It
+would have been covered with nothing else, save the candy and a pile of
+wooden plates for the cream, had not Susanna produced her own
+surprise--in such stores of cakes and sandwiches and toothsome dainties
+as made the small giver of the function open her own eyes in amazement.
+
+Oh, how delightful it all was! And didn't the pleasure in so many faces
+more than pay for the ten dollars spent and the proudly weary widow's
+hours at an oven door?
+
+But how they came! So fast, so eager, so cordially willing to be
+pleased! All the young guests who had been bidden by such a painful
+outlay of pen and ink, and all their fathers and their mothers, "their
+uncles and their aunts and their cousins!" All the merrier, all the
+better, all the surer of success! For the best was yet to come. The
+delicious, ambitious, loving secret scheme which had originated in the
+teeming brain of Kitty Keehoty, and, aided and abetted by Montgomery,
+her knight, was now to be divulged.
+
+"My--suz!" quoth Susanna, dismayed by the vast proportions of
+Katharine's "little party," "however--shall I give such a
+multitude--even a bite apiece?"
+
+"I'll help!" cried Mrs. Clackett, quite understanding "a bite apiece"
+meant no personal violence. "I've lots of stuff baked at home. I'll
+fetch a basket of it in a jiffy."
+
+"I, too!" echoed Mrs. Turner, and the pair set briskly homeward in
+neighborly kindness. Other matrons, not to be outdone, also disappeared
+from the assembly for a brief time; and soon thereafter William was
+called upon to improvise another table, till both were groaning with the
+weight of good things.
+
+"My! It's most like a Sunday-school picnic, ain't it?" exclaimed the
+village seamstress, who at seventy years still had the same innocent
+enjoyment in such affairs as she had had at seven. "But, hush!
+Somethin's a-doin'!"
+
+Something was certainly "a-doing!" There was a great bustle and stir at
+the double doors and in came Deacon Meakin, William, Mr. Clackett, and
+the schoolmaster, carrying a cot between them on which lay Moses Jones,
+at last minus his ball and chain, and feeling as if he didn't know
+himself--so utterly amazed was he. Amid a sudden outringing cheer the
+cot was carefully deposited in an open space that had been kept for it,
+close beside that throne where Eunice still sat smiling in gracious
+hospitality.
+
+The fresh excitement incident to this arrival had scarcely died, when
+Madam Sturtevant appeared, with her small handmaid in train. The lady
+had been somewhat doubtful about accepting the invitation for herself,
+having been informed by her grandson that, outside The Maples' family,
+she was the only grown-up so favored except the schoolmaster; and she
+was more than doubtful for Alfaretta. For a time the anxious girl's fate
+hung in the balance. It did not strike Madam as just the correct thing
+to take a servant--Alfy was really that, of course--to a Maitland party.
+Yet the child had just as good blood in her veins as many others who
+would attend, even if her lot in life were less fortunate. Besides, was
+it right to disturb her quiet habits by such frivolity? While the matter
+was pending, Alfaretta could only calm her perturbed mind by gathering
+every belated daisy she could find and testing her fortune upon its
+white petals. "Shall I be let to go? Shall I not?" Mostly, the daisies
+said: "I shall!" Yet it was old Whitey who, after all, decided the
+question.
+
+That mild-eyed bovine had the spirit of an Arab steed. Had she been born
+a colt and not a calf she would have "pricked it o'er the plain" with
+the best of her race; but being merely a somewhat venerable cow, she
+could only wander. In the wide fields still surrounding the Mansion
+there was sufficient pasturage for many cows, and certainly too much for
+one; so there was not the slightest reason why she should trespass upon
+village dooryards except the fact that she delighted to do so. Broken
+gates, which there was nobody to repair, made wandering easy; and it may
+be that she had, in part, acquired the habit in the days of her youth,
+when Verplanck Sturtevant had 'tended her as his son did now. Both
+masters were far better content elsewhere than at home, and Whitey fully
+shared their preferences. She had wandered again, some two days since,
+and had not returned at nightfall, as was her habit. Therefore,
+remembering that at the "Hallowe'en Corkis" there would be many children
+assembled, and that children "know everything" of village happenings,
+Madam had come, meaning to ask for news.
+
+So the daisies had it, truly; and to the young bond-maid the longed-for
+happiness had been given.
+
+When Madam had been assigned a place beside Miss Eunice, and the murmur
+of voices had recommenced, somebody struck a bell and every ear and eye
+became attentive. Katharine did not know whether this were the approved
+method of bringing a "Corkis" to silence, but it was one that served in
+school and proved to do so here. While the silence lasted and the
+crowding guests craned their necks forward, she was seen to lead, push,
+or in some manner propel a reluctant boy toward a ladder resting against
+the hay-mow and in full sight of most.
+
+The boy was Montgomery, of course, and he was positively shaking with
+fright; but the girl whispered something in his ear--"For Uncle Mose!"
+and he rallied to his duty. Tossing off her guiding hand, he ran to the
+ladder, mounted it half-way, and faced about upon the multitude. He had
+been well tutored. He fixed his eyes not upon the faces below but at an
+exalted roof-beam, and addressing that began:
+
+"Girls and boys, gentlemen and ladies: You have been invited here
+to-night to enjoy yourselves and to make somebody else enjoy himself.
+That somebody is Uncle Moses Jones, whom we all love, and who has had
+lots of trouble and broken bones lately. Next Tuesday is going to be
+election when our fathers and mothers vote, or--or--fathers do, anyway.
+If we ask our folks to do things they generally do them. What I ask now
+is that every one of you shall ask your father to vote for Uncle Mose to
+be constable, and I now nomernate him to be a constable. All in favor of
+his being constable--say 'aye!'"
+
+Amid the uproar of "ayes" that followed Monty jumped headlong from his
+rostrum and would have run straight to his grandmother, had not Kitty
+Keehoty caught him midway and hugged him her stoutest, crying: "Oh, you
+splendidest brave boy! You did it, you did it! You never tripped once.
+You never stuttered a single stutter from beginning to end! Who says you
+sha'n't be President some day, an' be nomernated in a grown-up corkis?
+But--my sake, Montgomery Sturtevant! You forgot the most important part.
+I'll have to say that myself, 'cause it's that will count. That will be
+the promise."
+
+Another stroke of Aunt Eunice's table-bell and a white-clad little
+figure was in Monty's place upon the ladder, holding up her hand for
+close attention. Without preliminary she informed the audience that
+there was one thing had been forgotten, and that was "the cranberries."
+
+"Right by the head of the table is a basket of cranberries. _A cranberry
+is a promise._ There's another empty basket beside the full one.
+Everybody, girl or boy, who wants Uncle Moses to be constable must take
+a cranberry out one basket and drop it into the other; and--_those who
+don't drop cranberries can't have--ice-cream!_"
+
+Squire Pettijohn had come--in a case of general town interest as this
+seemed to be it was important the great man should be present--and it
+was he who cried so loudly: "Hear! Hear!" and it was he, also, who
+started the laughter which followed, and pinched Kate's cheek as she
+passed him, saying something about "intimidation" and "lobbying," at
+which there was more laughter--Katy wondering why.
+
+But the laughter did not continue long, since it was surely now time for
+supper; and, having swiftly decided that however little she might like
+him, yet the Squire's influence might be a powerful factor in carrying
+out this secretly designed plan of the children's, Miss Eunice was just
+descending from her oat-bin throne to ask him to open the feast, when
+another slight commotion occurred near the door. A woman screamed, and
+every eye turned upon two tardy and uninvited guests, who, leading each
+other as it were, now entered the scene.
+
+Whitey, the cow, and Nate Pettijohn--tramp!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+A NEIGHBORLY TRICK OF THE WIND
+
+
+THE silence which followed lasted for a long time, during which Whitey
+stared mildly about upon her many acquaintances as if daring one of them
+to accuse her of vagrancy. Nathan, newly clothed and decent of apparel,
+but, as to unkempt hair and besmirched skin, still unmistakably the
+tramp, let his wild, frightened eyes roam ceaselessly from one guest to
+another till, finally, they fixed their gaze upon one face and rested
+there.
+
+The face was that of Squire Pettijohn, hitherto complacent,
+self-satisfied village magnate. Now suddenly grown haggard and old,
+confronting that other face so curiously like his own. His son! Whose
+scant intelligence had always been a shame to him and because of which
+he had given neglect where care should have been. Whom he had been
+secretly thankful to lose and whom he had hoped would never again be
+found.
+
+But he had found himself, and for a time the misguided parent and most
+unhappy child studied each other in mutual shrinking and dismay. All
+the adult guests recognized poor Nathan, now restored to the outward
+semblance of the decent citizen he had once been, and understood how it
+was that in their fleeting glimpses of the recent "tramp" there had been
+something puzzlingly familiar. The children gathered in knots, staring
+and quiet, and more than half-afraid. Unconsciously they felt that here
+was tragedy where but a moment since had been their merry comedy.
+
+Then Katharine, as little lady of the feast, resolved to end this
+dreadful silence which was spoiling all the fun; and, running to
+Nathan's side, took his hand in hers and led him forward, saying:
+
+"This is a friend of mine, people, and he's just in time for supper. I
+know him very well. I spent an afternoon with him down by the river, and
+you ought to know him, too, Uncle Moses, 'cause he's such a good
+fisher."
+
+Then she pushed Nathan's soiled hand toward the man on the cot, who
+hesitated for one second, glancing toward the Squire's set face, then
+grasped it cordially, exclaiming:
+
+"Why, Nate, hello! When'd you come to town? Hain't never lost your vote,
+have ye? 'Cause I 'low you'll have to cast it for me for constable next
+Tuesday, sence I've just been nomernated for the office. Hey?"
+
+The tramp's eyes left his father's person and looked down upon the
+genial, helpless man beside him, and a slow smile stole into them.
+
+"Hello, Uncle Mose. I've got here--eh?"
+
+"Yes, you've got here, got home, all right. Better stay now. We're
+all--I say we're _all_ glad to see ye. Marsden ain't such a big
+community she can afford to lose anybody. Where'd ye hail from, anyway?"
+
+The hired man had grasped the situation promptly. Recognizing Nathan, he
+also recognized, as he supposed, the solution of the mysteries which had
+surrounded him of late. Eunice and Susanna had found the vagrant out,
+and had kept his identity secret, fearing the Squire. Now to Moses'
+intense satisfaction in his nomination--irregular though it was--was
+added the reflection that no harm could result, since at present there
+was no constable in Marsden, nor would be one until he himself was
+elected. He would be elected, of course. There was now no doubt of that.
+Kitty Keehoty, bless her! had put her small hand to the wheel of fortune
+and given it a whirl which was fast sending all good things his way.
+Then, if he was so favored, should his first official act be the
+punishment of a fellow townsman? A fishing townsman, at that? Not if he,
+Moses Jones, knew himself; and though he was still a "bedrid block o'
+wood," the block was fast repairing and would soon be as good as a
+freshly growing tree.
+
+"From--from him. From Planck. I--I come to bring the box. But--I lost
+it. Oh, Madam! he sent it to you--he was dyin' then--and I've lost
+it--I've lost it! Planck'll be mad. He'll scowl and talk--Has anybody
+seen Planck's box?"
+
+The forlorn fellow had left Moses' side and crossed to where Madam
+Sturtevant sat rigidly upon her elevated throne. The memories this
+returned wanderer had roused in her were so painful that they seemed to
+strangle her. Her throat grew dry, her lips parched, and her gaze was
+glued to the face of the vagrant who had been her lost son's chosen
+companion, vassal, possible friend. Why, why had he come?
+
+Eunice laid her hand on the gentlewoman's arm. She felt that this
+tension must be loosed, even at the cost of fresh pain. "Elinor," said
+she, "you have borne much. Can you endure a further shock? it may be of
+fresh sorrow, but it may be of joy. Your brass bound box is found.
+Nathan brought it, Katharine found it, I have it."
+
+Squire Pettijohn coughed, and strode majestically forward. He was once
+more the man of position who must see to it that his townsmen's
+interests were protected. This woman had maligned him. He had heard that
+she complained of his usuries, that he had taken advantage of her
+misfortunes, that he was a hard and cruel man. Worst of all to him--had
+said that he was not a gentleman! Conquering his disappointment at
+Nathan's return, he improved his opportunity of punishing and humbling
+her.
+
+"Madam Sturtevant, ah--er--hm-m--at the time your guilty son
+disappeared, taking my son--whom his influence had ruined--with him, it
+was said that a certain casket of valuables disappeared as well. In
+behalf of the interest Marsden took in the case, and of my own--my own
+personal interest, I demand that if that casket has been restored it
+shall be opened here in the presence of your townsmen. I--er--my
+accommodation in times of your necessities, the large amounts now due
+me--I claim the right, the authority to say--Let the casket be
+produced."
+
+Madam said nothing. She fixed her large eyes, still guiltless of
+spectacles (save in the privacy of home), and regarded him as she might
+have regarded some reptile.
+
+Nathan seemed struggling with words which fear of his father prevented
+his speaking. But Miss Maitland stepped down, and, by a nod, summoned
+others to her, so that the vagrant presently felt himself surrounded by
+a group of kindly faces, which beamed upon him in protection. William,
+Deacon Meakin, the chivalrous schoolmaster, Susanna, and Katharine,
+quite unafraid to fling her small arm around his stooping shoulders and
+to pat them encouragingly.
+
+Then Aunt Eunice went out, but was back again so quickly she had hardly
+been missed. She carried her hands quite high, so that all might see the
+strange, glittering, brass bound box they held, and, going swiftly
+forward, laid it on the Madam's lap, who recoiled from it, at first
+shrinking back and letting her clasped hands drop limply to her sides,
+yet rallied her courage and her pride as Eunice's tone of command
+touched both.
+
+"Open it, Elinor. It is right. It is just. Let the truth be known at
+last."
+
+Everybody crowded forward, the Squire among them, as with a simple
+touch, known only to the initiated, the keyless casket was unbanded and
+opened to the sight of all. Those who had anticipated the blaze of
+jewels, or, at least, the bulk of valuable papers and bonds, fell back
+disappointed. The box was absolutely empty save for a small folded sheet
+which looked like an ordinary letter.
+
+A sigh, like a great sob, swept over the multitude, and now the fear
+which had troubled the tramp vanished, and, breaking free of the group
+about him, he laid his hand on Madam's knee and cried, exultantly:
+
+"I did it! I fetched it safe. I was sick--oh, I was sick!--I was in
+jail--I was on an island--I was shipwrecked--I was in the water, with
+big, big waves--I was--so long, so long. But I wore it on a strap around
+my neck. Planck wrote it all and sealed it and put it in the box. Then
+he died, and I had promised; so I had to come, else I would have died,
+too. I wanted to, without Planck. But we'd told it to each other. We was
+good friends. Planck never called me 'fool,' not once, not in all our
+lives. When he went away with not a cent in his pocket, I couldn't stand
+it. Old Squire was rough. Old Squire was rich. Planck should be rich,
+too, just one little box full, anyway. But--He wrote it all down--read
+it, read it. Read it out real plain, like he was saying it again. My
+head aches. I can't think. Planck could think. But--Planck is dead."
+
+In a dull despair the poor wretch who had journeyed so many leagues,
+across so many lands, through so many weary years, dropped his face in
+his hands, and wept like a child.
+
+But with dry eyes, if tremulous hands, Elinor Sturtevant opened the
+letter as she had been besought. It bore date of a day long past, and
+address of Majomba, Africa, in the familiar script of her idolized son;
+yet keeping nothing secret to herself, she did "read it out," and this
+it was:
+
+     "MY DEAR MOTHER:--I send my farewell to you from this distant
+     corner of the earth, where I came seeking fortune and finding
+     death. Nathan has just got well of the fever from which I am
+     dying, and promises to carry this letter to you. I have no
+     money to send it by post even if I did not think it kindness to
+     entrust him with it. He has loved me, been faithful to me even
+     unto death, and it will be a last trust to comfort him. I
+     foresee that he will have many vicissitudes before he reaches
+     home--if ever he does; though it is my prayer that he may and
+     that dear old Marsden will receive him kindly.
+
+     "It is his wish, and it is but just, to explain that he stole
+     your brass bound box, in which I enclose this, and why. Simply
+     for my unworthy sake. He believed that it held money, and a
+     fear that I would be angry with him if I knew of the deed, made
+     him keep it secret for a long, long time. Then once, in dire
+     necessity, after Elizabeth was gone, he did confess and give it
+     to me, and we opened it together.
+
+     "It was absolutely empty. I tell you this, dying; when a man
+     speaks the truth. If ever it held valuables they had been
+     removed, and, presumably, by my father. I supposed you, also,
+     knew this, and so would not break the silence my angry pride
+     imposed for the sake of a mere empty box. Do not blame poor
+     Nate--he is scarce blameworthy, and he has loved me blindly all
+     his life. So would he have loved his austere father if he had
+     had a chance. And of all the lessons my life has brought me
+     this I hold the highest--that love is best.
+
+     "I think of Elizabeth, sweetly resting under the turf at home.
+     I think of my little son, and pray our Heavenly Father to be
+     kinder to him than his earthly one has been. I think of my
+     mother, whose heart I broke, and, dying, I cry--God bless her.
+
+     "VERPLANCK."
+
+When the clear old voice quavered into silence there was not a dry eye
+left among the enrapt listeners. There was not a heart of man or woman
+that did not feel a sting at its own unjust judgment of the past. Nor
+was there one, either old or young, who did not pity rather than blame
+the poor sinner who had "loved much."
+
+Some one was seen to go softly away. It was Squire Pettijohn, forgetful
+of his dire threat against any son of man who dared to "tramp" God's
+earth, unwarranted. Squire Pettijohn, with head bowed, heart humbled,
+who had always branded another man's son as "thief," only to find that
+self-confessed offender the child of his own home. Nobody sought to
+hinder him. In silence let him suffer his own shame--that would be
+punishment sufficient.
+
+Madam sat so long with the opened box and letter in her lap, and with
+her eyes staring so at vacancy, that Katharine could not bear it. Nor
+could she bear that Monty should cry, as he was doing in that dreadful,
+quiet way. Boys shouldn't cry--it meant something terrible when they
+did. Besides, why should he now, anyway? The knowledge of his father's
+death was nothing new; and here was all the mystery explained, and the
+suspicion which had clouded his name completely removed.
+
+"Why, Monty, darling, splendid Monty! Don't! Don't! You ought to be the
+gladdest boy who ever lived. See. Look at your grandmother. She isn't
+saying anything, and there is sorrow in her face, but there's wonderful
+pride in it, too. Why, think, boy, think! If for years and years you had
+thought somebody you loved was bad and then suddenly found they were
+good, after all, would you cry? No, indeed. Anyhow, I shouldn't. I
+should just hip-hip-hurrah! Three cheers for your father, that all can
+talk of and love now, and was, Uncle Moses says, one of the splendidest
+boys ever grew up in Marsden. Only he didn't like to stay at home, and
+that got him into trouble. That took away his chance of ever being
+President. But you can be if you want to. Any boy who stays at home and
+cures his own stuttering by just taking care and practising and going
+slow--and being dreadful nice to his grandmother--or mothers and
+fathers, like Ned's and Bob's--they can grow up to be Presidents or
+constables, 'ary' one. Let's give them, the cheers! Three for Montgomery
+Sturtevant, who's never going to do a wrong thing again, because he's
+found a father to talk about and love, just as I do 'Johnny,' who was
+mine! Three cheers for Nate Pettijohn, who brought the good news home!
+Three cheers for the brass bound box, that tried to be a gold mine, but
+turned out something ever and ever so much better! And three times three
+cheers for Uncle Moses Jones, who is going to be constable, after all,
+and looks this minute as if he wanted to arrest me, the first one,
+because I don't fetch him his supper, and who knows as well as I do that
+all that ice-cream is melting lickety-cut, while I stand here talking!
+Hip! Hip! Hurr-a-ah! And a tiger! Hip--hip--hurrah!"
+
+How the rafters rang! and how surprised was every one to hear a girl, a
+mere little girl, deliver such an oration, and with such an entire
+forgetfulness of self. Not knowing then how great her heart was nor how
+she longed to make glad every single person in the world, even though
+most of her schemes went so wide of the mark that her own father had
+dubbed her his little "Quixote."
+
+This brought all the company safely back from the realm of sentiment and
+deep emotion to the commonplace level of hunger and good cheer awaiting
+it. So Eunice Maitland herself led the way to table with Nathan
+Pettijohn close beside her, and, since there were no chairs to sit upon,
+took her stand at the end, and, bowing her graceful old head, gave
+silent thanks to the Giver of a feast so glorious as this had proved.
+
+Even Madam, who could not be persuaded to leave her lofty isolation upon
+the oat-bin, nor to loose her hold of her brass bound box with its
+precious enclosure--so much more valuable than the diamonds which had
+once sparkled within it--even she did consent to taste of that rare
+delicacy which had come to Marsden in ugly wooden tubs. Her portion,
+though, was brought upon a china dish, because Susanna feared the
+gentlewoman's fastidious palate would dislike the flavor of a wooden
+plate. But then, intimate as she was through hearsay with the Mansion
+household, Susanna had yet never heard about burnt suppawn, and how an
+old-time gentlewoman can eat it without grimacing, even though she choke
+in the event. And Alfaretta--Her happiness must be guessed at. There
+isn't time to tell it; nor how many times her wooden plate was filled
+and refilled. It seemed to Katharine, observant, as if the poor girl's
+mouth opened and closed like a trap over every morsel presented to it,
+and that there was no evidence of swallowing. But, then, Alfy had never
+before attended a Hallowe'en Corkis, and probably never would again.
+
+Still observant, Katharine saw Aunt Eunice's dear face grow more and
+more thoughtful, yet with a thoughtfulness in no measure sad. Finally,
+she left Nathan to Mrs. Clackett's care and hastily crossed the room to
+Madam's side.
+
+"Elinor, do you remember how hard the old Squire tried to tell us who
+were watching his last hours of something that troubled him? And how we
+failed to comprehend?"
+
+"Surely, Eunice, I remember," answered the old wife, slightly aggrieved.
+"Why should I not if you do?"
+
+"Because one night when you had dropped asleep he roused, almost like
+himself again, and saw me. Then he said: 'Eunice, I am very forgetful.
+But I remember something now that I must tell Elinor.' I was so foolish,
+I fancied some other time would do, and you were so tired. I couldn't
+bear that you should be awakened, and nodded toward the sofa where you
+lay. He seemed to understand, and murmured: 'Never mind. I'll tell you.
+There is provision ample. He didn't take it. I accused him because I
+missed it. I--I--secret chamber--Oh, my head!' Then he dropped away
+again, and afterward came only those hopeless efforts which you saw as
+well as I. Now, I believe I've had an inspiration. Verplanck's father,
+sane, recalled the fact that he had wrongly accused his son while his
+mind wandered. It was he who had emptied the brass bound box and
+bestowed its contents in some place he felt was safer. In the secret
+chamber, I believe. Let us go and search for them!"
+
+"Eunice, how silly! As if I hadn't ransacked every inch of every room in
+the old Mansion--all for nothing. Besides, what could one do at night?"
+
+"What may we not do? What is one pair of eyes to many? What one tallow
+dip to a hundred Jack-o'-lanterns, lighted with real 'store' candles?
+May we try? Shall I give the word?"
+
+Madam stood up. She was so happy in her letter that she cared not what
+else might happen. Besides, it was impossible to avoid sharing the
+enthusiasm shining in the face of her lifelong friend.
+
+"Eunice, you are positively as childish as Katharine herself. But do as
+you please, do as you please. All the world is welcome to the Mansion
+now that it's honor has come home! And, servantless almost as I am, I
+can comfortably feel that there is no room, nor closet even, in the old
+place that is not fit for the inspection of every Marsden housewife.
+Yes, thank God! I have never felt myself demeaned by any household task
+that presented, and cleanliness is part of pure religion. Do as you
+like, dear, do as you like."
+
+This was glorious! All Marsden felt that the night held too much of
+wonder to be true. After the party, after the restoration of the brass
+bound box, after Nathan Pettijohn's rehabilitation, after the
+establishment of Verplanck Sturtevant's innocence, after Moses'
+nomination, after the fine feast, to be admitted, to visit and
+examine--nay, more, authorized to pry into the famous but exclusive
+Mansion--Well, words simply failed.
+
+The elders in that astonishing procession conducted themselves more
+hilariously than their children. Each armed with a grinning Jack, and
+somebody driving Whitey as a snowy guide, they marched two abreast down
+Marsden thoroughfare, into the Mansion grounds, through the wide
+entrance hospitably thrown open, into and over the house as will or
+curiosity dictated.
+
+But everywhere with eager eyes, searching, hoping for the stately
+impoverished mistress of the Mansion that her treasures might be found.
+
+Only the most nimble followed Monty and Katharine up the queer stairs of
+the "old part" into the chamber under the eaves where soldiers had once
+lain hidden. But even they, with their gleaming Jacks, were sufficient
+to set the whole low room aglow, yet was there no longer need for
+search.
+
+The wind, which had done such devastation in the town, which had blown a
+welcome tramp back to his native haunts, had done even more. It had
+revealed the secret of years. Part of the chimney lay heaped on the
+floor, and among the fallen bricks and stones appeared a big tin box. A
+most ordinary box, such as many people use for insignificant belongings.
+
+Somebody dubiously suggested that "It might be _it_!"
+
+[Illustration: "EACH ARMED WITH A GRINNING JACK, AND SOMEBODY DRIVING
+WHITEY AS A SNOWY GUIDE"]
+
+There was nothing dubious about Montgomery. Tossing his lantern to Bob
+Turner, he seized the tin case and scampered down the ladder stairs with
+a speed nothing but habit could have secured. Rushing into the ancient
+drawing-room, so oddly lighted now, he flung himself headlong upon
+Madam, stammering excitedly:
+
+"Gr-gr-gram-ma! I've found i-i-i-it!"
+
+Madam remembered the box, so valueless in itself. She had not seen it
+for years. She had no faith that it held aught but trifles now. Let the
+good neighbors see. A simple turn of the wrist, the commonplace key
+clicked in the lock, the flat cover fell back and--the lost treasure was
+revealed! All the missing jewels in their cases, all the bonds whose
+value would more than lift the mortgages upon the fine old property, all
+the gold in canvas sacks which would take Montgomery through college and
+train him for that possible Presidency to which he aspired.
+
+Was ever such a night? Was ever such honest neighborly rejoicing? And
+were ever Marsden townsfolk so late out of their comfortable beds? For
+the candles in the Jacks had long burned out before that procession of
+happy people took their now darkened way homeward and Kitty Keehoty's
+Hallowe'en Corkis came to its final end.
+
+
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Brass Bound Box, by Evelyn Raymond
+
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Brass Bound Box, by Evelyn Raymond.
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+
+    p {  margin-top: .75em;
+         text-align: justify;
+         margin-bottom: .75em;
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+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Brass Bound Box, by Evelyn Raymond
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Brass Bound Box
+
+Author: Evelyn Raymond
+
+Illustrator: Diantha W. Horne
+
+Release Date: April 6, 2009 [EBook #28509]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BRASS BOUND BOX ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by D Alexander, Josephine Paolucci and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 356px;">
+<img src="images/icover.jpg" width="356" height="550" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<h1>THE BRASS BOUND BOX</h1>
+
+<h2><span class="smcap">By</span> EVELYN RAYMOND</h2>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Author of "The Doings of Nancy," "Mixed Pickles," "My Lady Barefoot"</span></h4>
+
+<h2>ILLUSTRATED BY DIANTHA W. HORNE</h2>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 140px;">
+<img src="images/i001.jpg" width="140" height="175" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="center">
+BOSTON DANA ESTES &amp;<br />
+COMPANY PUBLISHERS<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<i>Copyright, 1905</i><br />
+<span class="smcap">By Dana Estes &amp; Company</span><br />
+<br />
+<i>All rights reserved</i><br />
+<br />
+THE BRASS BOUND BOX<br />
+<br />
+<i>COLONIAL PRESS<br />
+Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds &amp; Co.<br />
+Boston, Mass., U. S. A.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p><a name="front" id="front"></a></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 338px;">
+<img src="images/i003.jpg" width="338" height="500" alt="&quot;AT LAST IT WAS OUT&quot;" title="" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;AT LAST IT WAS OUT&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<p>
+CHAPTER                                  <span class="tocnum">PAGE</span><br />
+<br />
+I. <span class="smcap">Legacy and Legatee</span>                     <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_11'>11</a></span><br />
+<br />
+II. <span class="smcap">Master Montgomery Sturtevant</span>          <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_25'>25</a></span><br />
+<br />
+III. <span class="smcap">Why Monty Did Not Go a-Fishing</span>       <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_40'>40</a></span><br />
+<br />
+IV. <span class="smcap">Foxes' Gully</span>                          <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_50'>50</a></span><br />
+<br />
+V. <span class="smcap">Chestnuts and Gold Mines</span>               <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_64'>64</a></span><br />
+<br />
+VI. <span class="smcap">The Brass Bound Box</span>                   <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_82'>82</a></span><br />
+<br />
+VII. <span class="smcap">The Grit of Moses Jones</span>              <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_95'>95</a></span><br />
+<br />
+VIII. <span class="smcap">Hay-Loft Dreams</span>                    <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_110'>110</a></span><br />
+<br />
+IX. <span class="smcap">Squire Pettijohn</span>                     <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_126'>126</a></span><br />
+<br />
+X. <span class="smcap">Alfaretta's Perplexity</span>                <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_142'>142</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XI. <span class="smcap">The Face in the Darkness</span>             <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_154'>154</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XII. <span class="smcap">A Sturtevant&mdash;Perforce</span>              <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_168'>168</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XIII. <span class="smcap">But&mdash;Sturtevant To the Rescue</span>      <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_187'>187</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XIV. <span class="smcap">On a Saturday Afternoon</span>             <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_203'>203</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XV. <span class="smcap">By the Old Stone Bridge</span>              <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_220'>220</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XVI. <span class="smcap">The Cottage in the Wood</span>             <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_234'>234</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XVII. <span class="smcap">A Self-elected Constable</span>           <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_248'>248</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XVIII. <span class="smcap">Reuben Smith, Accessory</span>           <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_263'>263</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XIX. <span class="smcap">What the Moon Saw in the Cornfield</span>        <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_278'>278</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XX. <span class="smcap">Uninvited Guests</span>                     <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_292'>292</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XXI. <span class="smcap">A Neighborly Trick of the Wind</span>      <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_310'>310</a></span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
+
+
+<p>
+<span class="tocnum">PAGE</span><br />
+<br />
+"<span class="smcap">At last it was out</span>" (<i>See page 81</i>).                     <span class="tocnum"><a href="#front">Frontispiece</a></span><br />
+<br />
+"He now lay stretched upon his owner's lap as she still sat on the floor"  <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_27'>27</a></span><br />
+<br />
+"'I feel so queer every little spell, an' I must get home'"                <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_97'>97</a></span><br />
+<br />
+"There, all anxiety forgotten, they dreamed dreams and saw visions"       <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_120'>120</a></span><br />
+<br />
+"Ma'am Puss extracted her own supper in advance of the family's"          <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_148'>148</a></span><br />
+<br />
+"Already one pumpkin pie was half-devoured"                               <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_230'>230</a></span><br />
+<br />
+"But the late rising moon looked down upon a curious scene"               <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_290'>290</a></span><br />
+<br />
+"Each armed with a grinning Jack and somebody driving Whitey as a snowy guide"       <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_324'>324</a></span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>THE BRASS BOUND BOX</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<h3>LEGACY AND LEGATEE</h3>
+
+
+<p>Marsden was one of the few villages of our populous country yet left
+remote from any line of railway. The chief events of its quiet days were
+the morning and evening arrivals and departures of the mail-coach, whose
+driver still retained the almost obsolete custom of blowing a horn to
+signal his approach.</p>
+
+<p>All Marsden favored the horn, it was so convenient and so&mdash;so antique!
+which word typified the spirit of the place. For if modest Marsden had
+any pride, it was in its own unchanging attitude toward modern ways and
+methods. So, whenever Reuben Smith's trumpet was heard, the villagers
+knew it was time to leave their homes along the main street and repair
+to the "general store and post-office" for the mail, which was their
+strongest connecting link with the outside world.</p>
+
+<p>Occasionally, too, the coach brought a visitor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> to the village; though
+this was commonly in summer-time, when even its own stand-offishness
+could not wholly repel the "city boarder." After the leaves changed
+color, nobody went to and fro save those who "belonged," as the
+storekeeper, the milliner, and Squire Pettijohn, the lawyer; and it had
+been ten years, at least, since Reuben's four-in-hand was brought to a
+halt before Miss Eunice Maitland's gate. Now, on a windy day of late
+September, the two white horses and their two black companions were
+reined up there, while the trumpet gave a blast which startled the
+entire neighborhood.</p>
+
+<p>"My heart was in my mouth the minute I heard it!" declared the Widow
+Sprigg to a crony, later on; although this curious disarrangement of her
+anatomy did not prevent the good woman from being foremost at the gate
+to learn the cause of this salute, thus rudely anticipating her
+mistress's rights in the case. Therefore, it was upon a time-damaged,
+cap-frilled countenance that Katharine Maitland's dismayed glance fell
+as she sprang from the stage and inquired:</p>
+
+<p>"Are you my Aunt Eunice?"</p>
+
+<p>"Your&mdash;Aunt&mdash;Eunice! Thank my stars, I ain't aunt to nobody!" returned
+the widow, almost as much alarmed by the appearance of this strange
+maiden as she had been by the coachman's blast.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It is a matter of thankfulness," retorted the girl, pertly, and
+surveying the other with amused and critical eyes, which made Susanna
+Sprigg "squirm in her shoes."</p>
+
+<p>Reuben now slowly climbed down from his high seat, and removed from the
+rumble a great trunk, a suit-case, a parcel of books, and a dog-basket;
+and the stranger at once occupied herself in releasing from his confined
+quarters a pug so atrociously high-bred that Susanna instantly
+exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"My stars! That dog's so humbly he must ache!"</p>
+
+<p>Katharine would have given a crisp reply had not her attention been
+distracted by Reuben's movements, who was waiting to receive his fare,
+yet in such terror of the pug's snapping jaws that he was stepping up
+and down in a lively fashion, as he rescued one foot and then the other
+from his enemy's attack.</p>
+
+<p>"'Pears to blame <i>me</i> for bein' shut up in that there basket, don't he?
+When anybody knows 'twasn't my fault at all. I hain't enj'yed the trip
+no more'n what he has, hearin' him yelp that continual, an' I must say I
+didn't expect, at my time o' life, to commence drivin' stage for dogs.
+Here, sis, is your change. Good day to ye, an' a good welcome, I hope."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph! You don't speak as if you really 'hoped' it, but quite the
+reverse!" returned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> Punch's mistress, more shrewdly than courteously.</p>
+
+<p>"Dreadful smart, ain't ye?" said Reuben, and drove away, putting his
+horn to his lips, and thereby drowning any further remarks which the
+stranger might have addressed to him.</p>
+
+<p>Lifting the ungainly brute in her arms, the girl now turned and surveyed
+the house beyond the gate, her heart far heavier with homesickness than
+seemed consistent with her outward, flippant bearing.</p>
+
+<p>What she saw was a wide, rambling frame house; wherever they showed
+between the clambering vines which encircled it, its clapboards
+glistening white and its shutters vividly green. The few leaves still
+left upon the vines were scarlet, while behind the low roof rose maples
+in the full glory of their autumn reds and yellows. The long front yard
+was green and well kept, and the borders beside the path were gay with
+chrysanthemums, though between these showed the frost-blackened foliage
+of tenderer plants. Upon the porch was a woman with a shawl over her
+head, apparently shivering in the wind which tossed the maple boughs,
+and awaiting an explanation of this arrival.</p>
+
+<p>"A pretty picture!" admitted Katharine, who fancied herself artistic,
+"but so lonesome it gives me the hypo! And that&mdash;that, I suppose, is my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>
+Aunt Eunice. Well, Punch, come on! Let's get it over with!"</p>
+
+<p>The Widow Sprigg had remained motionless, but keenly observant, and her
+thoughts were:</p>
+
+<p>"If that ain't a Maitland, I never knew the breed. And I reckon I do
+know it, bein's me an' my fam'ly has lived cheek by jowl with them an'
+their fam'ly since ever was. But which Maitland it is, or what in reason
+she's come for, beats me."</p>
+
+<p>Then, as the stranger walked coolly through the gateway, leaving her
+luggage on the sidewalk outside, Susanna sniffed, and remarked&mdash;for
+anybody to hear who chose:</p>
+
+<p>"What's that mean? Expect me to fetch an' carry for such a strappin'
+girl as that? Well, not if I know Susanna Sprigg, an' I think I do."</p>
+
+<p>Whereupon, the widow, long time "assistant" to her more affluent
+"neighbor," Miss Maitland, shrugged her shoulders at the wind and this
+absurd notion, and followed Kate. She wouldn't have missed the interview
+between that young person and her enforced hostess "for a farm," and yet
+she was extremely anxious concerning the trunk and the parcels. But
+curiosity prevailed over caution, and she was in time to hear the rather
+nervous inquiry:</p>
+
+<p>"Are you my Aunt Eunice&mdash;so called?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am Eunice Maitland, and though I am not aunt in reality to any one, I
+have been lovingly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> nicknamed 'aunt' by many of my kin. But no matter
+what our relationship, you are a Maitland, I am sure, and I am very glad
+to see you in Marsden. Come in, come in at once. The wind is chill, and
+you have had a long ride," responded the precise old gentlewoman,
+extending her hand to Katharine, and cordially attempting to draw the
+girl within the shelter of the great hall.</p>
+
+<p>But this hospitable attempt was rudely misunderstood by Punch, who
+snapped at the hand, and caused its owner to withdraw it hastily,
+saying: "It will be better to leave your dog outside."</p>
+
+<p>"Leave my dog outside! Leave Punch, my&mdash;my&mdash;my darling! Oh! I can't do
+that. He has been so tenderly brought up, and is so sensitive to the
+cold. He has really suffered on that dreadful ride."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Eunice frowned slightly, and merely remarking, "Very well, bring
+him in, though I caution you against Sir Philip. He is old and
+irritable," led the way through the wide hall into a sitting-room
+beyond, where a wood fire was burning on the hearth, and the furnishings
+were of the sort in vogue a hundred years ago. Even the disturbed young
+visitor thought she had never seen anything so charming as that simple
+interior, where everything was in keeping, and so spotlessly neat, and
+over which fell the cheerful radiance of the blazing logs.
+Unceremoniously dropping<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> Punch, she clasped her hands in admiration,
+exclaiming:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how quaint! How interesting! How unlike anything I expected to
+see!"</p>
+
+<p>Although Miss Eunice was gratified by this tribute to her familiar
+surroundings, she fancied that its expression was overdone, and resented
+its seemingly patronizing insincerity. Placing a chair directly in the
+glow of the fire, she invited Katharine to take it, while she herself
+sat down on a straight-backed settle beyond.</p>
+
+<p>Sensitive to feel the lessening cordiality of her hostess's manner,
+Katharine hid her feeling behind an added flippancy, as she tossed her
+palms outward, in a manner wholly natural to herself, but which the
+house-mistress again fancied an affectation, and exclaimed: "Well!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" returned Miss Eunice, quietly but inquiringly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I suppose you're the legatee and I'm the legacy. I hope you won't
+be half as unwilling to accept me as I am to be left to you. If you are,
+there'll be some high times in Marsden."</p>
+
+<p>This mixture of frankness and bravado brought a second frown to Miss
+Maitland's fine face, but she said, quite courteously:</p>
+
+<p>"Kindly explain, my child, who you are, and to what I am indebted&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"For the nuisance of your legacy," interrupted the girl, excitedly, and,
+thrusting a sealed letter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> into the other's hand, drew back in her own
+chair and covered her face with her hands. Under all her self-confident
+manner her heart was throbbing painfully, and she felt as if she must
+get up and run away. Somewhere in the great forest through which Reuben
+had driven his coach lay an apparently deserted little cabin, which had
+attracted her by its overgrowth of woodbine&mdash;that hereabout seemed to
+envelop everything upon which it could clasp its tendrils&mdash;and whose
+memory now returned to her invitingly. Exiled from her own home, an
+alien here, such a spot as that would be a haven of refuge. She had not
+known exactly what was in the letter she had tossed Miss Maitland, but
+she had guessed sufficiently near to know its contents could not be
+flattering to herself. Beneath her hiding hands her cheeks were flushing
+with shame when she heard her name spoken with utmost gentleness and
+affection.</p>
+
+<p>"So you are John's only child! I should have known it without being
+told, only it is so many, many years since he left me, a wild little lad
+who found the old home too dull. He was not as close of kin as some
+others I have reared here, and he was but fifteen when he went away. But
+I have always loved him, and hoped for his return; and now&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my stars!" inadvertently exclaimed the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> Widow Sprigg, thus
+disclosing the fact that she had been listening beyond the door.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, Susanna, I smell your bread scorching," went on the mistress
+as calmly as if the other had not betrayed herself. Then, when the
+kitchen door had been slammed by the retreating hand-maiden, with an
+emphasis that said as clearly as words that her mistress might go on and
+talk, and things might happen enough to turn a body's head, for all she,
+Susanna Sprigg, cared or noticed, so there! Miss Eunice left her own
+seat, and, going around to Katharine's, gently drew the hiding hands
+away from the troubled young face, and, putting the letter into them,
+said: "There, my dear, read it."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no! I can't! I won't! I hate it. I hate her, and
+all&mdash;all&mdash;belonging to her! I never want to see or hear of her again.
+And I won't stay. I see you don't want your legacy, and I'll go at once.
+I have ten dollars, I can live&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, there's some mistake, little girl. This is from no 'her,' but&mdash;a
+message from the dead."</p>
+
+<p>The sudden break in the quiet old voice touched the listener more than
+the words, and she mechanically took the letter as she repeated:</p>
+
+<p>"A message from the dead? What can you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"Read it and see."</p>
+
+<p>Then Katharine read what her idolized father<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> had written many months
+before, when the knowledge of his own approaching death had come to him;
+and it seemed to her that it was his own voice saying:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Aunt Eunice</span>:&mdash;For dear you are, notwithstanding all these
+years of silence, during which your wild little lad has grown
+into a busy, care-burdened man. That you heard of my first
+marriage, and my wife's early death, leaving me with one little
+girl&mdash;your legacy&mdash;I know; because that all happened before the
+habit of our correspondence lapsed. But you may not know that
+two years ago I married again, a widow with four little sons;
+and though she has been the best of wives to me, she and my
+darling Katharine have not been happy together. Kate is a
+passionate, self-willed, but great-hearted child, so full of
+romantically generous impulses that I long ago nicknamed her my
+'Kitty Quixote.' Her stepmother's nature and temperament are of
+quite another mold; and knowing what I have just learned
+concerning my own health, I foresee nothing but misery for
+these two, should they be left to live together without my
+presence.</p>
+
+<p>"So, since my motherless daughter is my most precious
+possession and you have been my most devoted friend, I find it
+the most natural thing in the world to bequeath my treasure to
+my friend. If, for any reason unknown to me, you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> cannot accept
+my legacy I have made other arrangements for Katharine's
+future, which you can learn by applying to my lawyers, Messrs.
+Brown and Brown, Blank Street, New York.</p>
+
+<p>"My wife knows of this letter, and we have arranged that after
+my death, should it occur, Kate is to remain with her for six
+months, as a final test of their ability to live happily
+together, and for the benefit of the schools in this city. At
+the end of that time, if these two well-meaning but uncongenial
+people decide that it is wisest to part, 'Kitty Quixote' will
+be sent to you, to do with as you see fit. In any case, she
+will be no pecuniary charge to any one; her own mother's little
+fortune, with such a portion of mine as is justly hers, being
+all-sufficient for ordinary needs.</p>
+
+<p>"In loving remembrance of my boyhood, made happy by your care,
+and in firm reliance upon your friendship, your troublesome
+John bids you farewell."</p></div>
+
+<p>Katharine had expected to find the sealed letter she had been
+commissioned to deliver to Miss Maitland but a complaining missive from
+her stepmother, setting forth the girl's faults and failures with that
+accuracy of detail so characteristic of the "second Mrs. John." That
+lady's handwriting upon the envelope had helped her to this impression,
+yet so honest was she that she had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> not once thought of protesting or
+refusing to deliver it. The revulsion of feeling was now so strong that
+she could not restrain her tears, nor the impulse to throw herself
+headlong upon Aunt Eunice, crying wildly:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it's all true! But he loved me, my father loved me, bad as I am!
+And for his sake I wish&mdash;I wish I could be good. So folks, his folks,
+or&mdash;or anybody could stand it to live with me! But I can't. I've tried.
+I've tried ever so hard, yet the goodness gets down below and the
+badness stays on top, and then things go&mdash;smash!"</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Eunice waited a moment, then replaced Katharine in her chair,
+thinking what a child she still seemed, despite her fourteen years and
+her city training. Also, recalling with a thrill of pride that she
+herself, at fourteen years, had been the head of her own father's
+widowed home and a woman, by contrast. "Though I was reared in Marsden,"
+she complacently reflected, as she said:</p>
+
+<p>"I should be glad to hear whatever you choose to tell me, my dear, of
+your life. Especially, what caused the final break between you and Mrs.
+Maitland."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, it wasn't badness at all, that time! It was meant in kindness.
+Some other girls and I had fixed up a sort of house-picnic for
+washer-woman Biddy's children, who were all down with the measles, and
+just to amuse them I took stepmother's boys, the four young
+Snowballs&mdash;haven't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> they the absurdest name?&mdash;along; and she&mdash;she didn't
+like it. She said things. That I'd wilfully exposed them to danger,
+though I ought to be as careful of them as if they were my real
+brothers. And there I was trying to be, only she didn't understand.
+Then, another day, not long before, I coaxed some big boys who have a
+naphtha-launch to give the 'Balls a sail on it down the bay. The thing
+happened to explode, and, though nobody was hurt, she went on just
+terrible because I'd taken the children without asking her. How could I
+ask her when she was off shopping, or somewhere, just at the very moment
+the idea popped into my head? And nothing befell the little fellows
+except getting their clothes wet, and they always needed washing,
+anyway. The nice part of it was that they were scared into behaving
+themselves as they should for a whole week afterward, and she might have
+been pleased. But it was always like that. I'd have perfectly lovely
+plans for making everybody happy, all around, and they'd all end just
+the other way. So here I am. Mrs. John has cast me off; do you accept
+me?"</p>
+
+<p>"First, let me ask if you were accustomed to speak of your father's wife
+in that manner?"</p>
+
+<p>The girl was surprised by the other's tone, yet promptly answered:
+"Certainly. Everybody amongst father's artist friends called her either<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>
+'the second Mrs. John,' or 'Stepmother.' Either one it happened. Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was most disrespectful."</p>
+
+<p>At this uncompromising reply, Kate stared, exclaiming: "Why, you're a
+truth-teller yourself, aren't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am. Did you not suppose so?" returned Miss Maitland, amused.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you see, I've been told you were very agreeable, and most of the
+really agreeable people I know lie like the mischief."</p>
+
+<p>"Katharine!"</p>
+
+<p>"Fact. And I've got into more scrapes for telling the truth than for any
+other thing I've done, except being kind to the little Snowballs.
+But&mdash;hark! What's that? Punch&mdash;<i>Punch</i>&mdash;You flippety-cap woman! Stop!
+Stop! Stop!"</p>
+
+<p>An eruptive, agonized bark from the hall sent the girl thither at a
+bound, while Miss Eunice hastily followed, anxiously crying: "Philip!
+Sir <i>Philip Sidney</i>!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<h3>MASTER MONTGOMERY STURTEVANT</h3>
+
+
+<p>Wildly beating the air with a long-handled broom, her cap-frills flying,
+her spectacles awry, the Widow Sprigg was vainly endeavoring to restore
+peace between Punch, the newcomer, and Sir Philip Sidney, the venerable
+Angora cat which had hitherto "ruled the roost."</p>
+
+<p>The pug, with a native curiosity almost as great as Susanna's own, had
+slipped from the sitting-room unobserved and had wandered to the warm
+kitchen where Sir Philip lay asleep on his cushion, unmindful of
+interlopers till an ugly black muzzle was poked into his ribs, and he
+found his natural enemy coolly ruffling his silken fur.</p>
+
+<p>Until then, Miss Eunice had boasted of her pet that he was as like his
+famous namesake as it was possible for any animal to be like any human
+being, and quoted concerning him that he was "sublimely mild, a spirit
+without spot." Indeed, Miss Maitland's beautiful "Angory" was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> one of
+the show animals of Marsden. He had been brought to his mistress by a
+returning traveller more years ago than most people remembered, and had
+continued to live his charmed and pampered life long after the ordinary
+age of his kind. With appetite always supplied with the best of food,
+his handsome body lodged luxuriously, it was small wonder that hitherto
+he had worn his aristocratic title with a gentleness befitting his
+historic prototype.</p>
+
+<p>Now, suddenly, the pent-up temper of his past broke out in one terrific
+burst; and he bit, scratched, tore, and yowled with all the ferocity of
+youth, while Punch, realizing that he had stirred up a bigger rumpus
+than even his mischievous spirit desired, vainly sought to elude his
+enemy's attacks.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Philip! Sir Philip!" cried Miss Eunice, stooping to grasp her
+favorite's collar, and by his unlooked-for onrush against her own feet
+losing her balance and falling to the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"Punch! You bad, bad dog! There&mdash;you woman! Don't you dare&mdash;don't you
+dare to strike him with that awful broom! If he needs punishing&mdash;I'll
+punish him myself! Oh, what a horrid place, what horrid folks, what a
+perfectly fiendish cat!" shrieked Kate, folding both arms tight about
+the pug's fat, squirming body, and rushing out-of-doors with him. But by
+this time his courage had returned, and, wriggling himself free, he
+rushed back to the battle.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 341px;">
+<img src="images/i022.jpg" width="341" height="500" alt="&quot;HE NOW LAY STRETCHED UPON HIS OWNER&#39;S LAP AS SHE STILL
+SAT ON THE FLOOR&quot;" title="" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;HE NOW LAY STRETCHED UPON HIS OWNER&#39;S LAP AS SHE STILL
+SAT ON THE FLOOR&quot;</span>
+</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Alas! that exciting affair was all over. Sir Philip's unwonted anger had
+proved too much for his strength, and, utterly exhausted, he now lay
+stretched upon his owner's lap as she still sat on the floor, stroking
+and caressing him most tenderly.</p>
+
+<p>Katharine had followed Punch back to the kitchen, and was as startled as
+he was proud at the sight before them. Cocking his square head on one
+side, curling his tail, wrinkling his nose, and protruding his pink
+tongue even more than usual, he regarded his fallen foe with such
+comical satisfaction that Katharine's alarm gave place to amusement, and
+she laughed aloud. But the laugh died as quickly as it had risen when
+Aunt Eunice looked up and said, reproachfully:</p>
+
+<p>"I fear it has killed him, poor fellow!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, no! A little bit of a scrap like that kill a cat? I thought
+they had nine lives, and such a trifle&mdash;Why, Punch is as fresh as a
+daisy, and that proud! Just look at him!" cried the girl. Yet her
+enthusiasm was dashed by the expression of deep sorrow on Miss
+Maitland's face, and there were real tears in the widow's eyes as she
+now advanced, broom in hand, though without apparent anger, to sweep
+Punch out of the room.</p>
+
+<p>Katharine was too surprised to protest, beyond<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> quietly motioning the
+broom aside and lifting the now submissive pug to her shoulder, where he
+perched calmly contemplative of the disaster he had evoked.</p>
+
+<p>"There, Eunice, don't fret. What can't be cured must be endured, you
+know, and even a cat can't die but once. Only he was <i>such</i> a cat! We
+sha'n't never see his like again, an'&mdash;Take care there, sis! Don't you
+know he always hated water?" exclaimed Susanna, resting upon her
+broom-handle, and bending above her anxious mistress till a dash from
+the dipper deluged both cat and lap.</p>
+
+<p>Yet now full of sympathy and regret Kate did not pause in her work of
+restoration, and either the bath did revive Sir Philip or he had been on
+the point of recovery, for he suddenly sprang up, shook his drenched
+head, and staggered toward his cushion on the hearth, where he lay down
+and proceeded to smooth his disordered fur.</p>
+
+<p>Then Kate put her arms around Miss Maitland and helped that lady to her
+feet, saying, earnestly:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I am so sorry, and I am so glad! but it will never happen again.
+Poor old Sir Philip won't be in a hurry to fight, and Punch never does
+if he can help it. Do you, you darling?" she finished to the perplexed
+dog, which she had unceremoniously dropped from her shoulder when she
+had rushed for the water.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The pug gave a funny little wink of one intelligent eye, as if he fully
+understood; then slowly waddled across the rag-carpeted floor and curled
+himself up at a safe distance from Sir Philip, upon whom he kept a wary
+watch. But he was a weary dog by that time, and so glad of warmth and
+repose that he left even his own damaged coat to take care of itself for
+the present.</p>
+
+<p>However, if he was calm, the Widow Sprigg was no longer so. Kate had not
+only drenched the cat and his mistress, but she had left a large puddle
+in the very centre of Susanna's "new brea'th" of rag carpet, its owner
+now indignantly demanding to know if Miss Eunice "was goin' to put up
+with any such doin's? That wery brea'th that I cut an' sewed myself, out
+of my own rags, an' not a smitch of your'n in it, an' hadn't much more'n
+just got laid down ready for winter. An' if it had come to this that
+dogs and silly girls was to be took in an' done for, cats, or no cats,
+Angory or otherwise, she, for one, Susanna Sprigg, wasn't goin' to put
+up with it, an' so I tell you, an' give notice, according."</p>
+
+<p>During the delivery of this speech the widow's black eyes had glared
+through her spectacles so fiercely that the young visitor was alarmed,
+and said to Aunt Eunice, appealingly:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, please don't let her go just because I've come! I'll not stay
+myself, to make such trouble,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> even if you'll have me&mdash;and you haven't
+said so yet. There's that boarding-school left&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Miss Maitland ignored the appeal, but looking through the window
+remarked to her irate assistant:</p>
+
+<p>"That luggage shouldn't be left on the sidewalk, Susanna. Get Moses to
+help you bring it in. If a tramp should happen to pass he might make off
+with it."</p>
+
+<p>By which quiet rejoinder Kate understood that she had been "accepted;"
+also that the house-mistress was not disturbed by the threat of her
+handmaid. Indeed, she discovered afterward that it was the widow's habit
+to threaten thus whenever her temper was a trifle ruffled; also, that
+nothing save death was apt to sever her relationship with the Maitland
+family, which she held far dearer than her own.</p>
+
+<p>"Tramps? Do you have tramps in this out-of-the-way village? I'm afraid
+of tramps, myself, and they're about the only things I am really afraid
+of," said Kate, following Aunt Eunice back into the sitting-room.</p>
+
+<p>"I never knew one to pass through Marsden, and I've lived here always;
+but Susanna has read of them and their depredations, and is constantly
+on the lookout for one. Except for the trouble between the cat and dog
+she wouldn't have left your things in the street a moment after she had
+satisfied her curiosity concerning you.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> But you will like Susanna when
+you have become accustomed to her. A better-hearted woman never lived."</p>
+
+<p>To this assurance the girl replied with a doubtful laugh and the words:</p>
+
+<p>"I never should have dreamed it;" then stationed herself at the window
+to watch the proceedings outside.</p>
+
+<p>The Widow Sprigg had vanished through a back kitchen and now appeared
+around the corner of the house, having in tow an elderly man, who
+followed her with evident reluctance. She had thrown on a "slat"
+sunbonnet, and pinned a red shawl about her shoulders, but had shaken
+her head so vigorously that the shawl had slipped down and the sunbonnet
+back, while the frills of her muslin cap waved blindingly before her
+spectacles.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is that? Is he 'Moses'? Does he live here?" asked Kate, laughing
+not only at the appearance but behavior of the two.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. He is my hired man. His name is Moses Jones. He is not as old as
+he looks, and is one of our likeliest citizens. He's quite intelligent,
+and has even been mentioned for a constable&mdash;if Marsden should ever need
+one. If enough city people should come here to warrant such an office,"
+finished the lady, with unconscious sarcasm.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Kate's head came around with a jerk. "Constable? That's a policeman,
+isn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"And is it only 'city people' who do wrong and need arresting? Because,
+you see, I'm a 'city' person myself, and resent that idea!" laughed the
+girl, mischievously. Yet the next instant she regretfully observed that
+she had again annoyed her dignified hostess.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, the annoyance was so great that Miss Maitland's brow clouded,
+and her eye swept the stylishly garbed small figure at the window with
+renewed misgiving. She knew little of the latter-day young folks, with
+their study-sharpened intelligence, their habit of repartee, and their
+self-assumed equality with their elders. Such few of the Marsden lads
+and lasses as visited her belonged to the old-fashioned families, and
+were trained to strict habits of obedience, and "to speak when they were
+spoken to." They were supposed to have no opinions on any subject save
+such as were formed for them by their parents and guardians; and&mdash;well,
+they were altogether different from this alert, dark-eyed maiden, who
+had been in the house less than an hour, yet had already upset it to a
+degree!</p>
+
+<p>Kate's gaze had again returned to the scene without, and she had
+forgotten her momentary regret, as she observed, from time to time:</p>
+
+<p>"She's the funniest thing I ever saw, and he's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> funnier than she! He
+doesn't want to lift the trunk. No. She doesn't want him to. Yes, she
+does. She's getting mad. He won't do it her way. She won't do it his.
+They're both coming in and leaving it on the sidewalk. He's saying
+something to her and now she's faced about again. Maybe he said 'tramp,'
+because she's looking all up and down the street as if she were scared,
+and he's laughing. I guess he's laughing&mdash;he shakes as if he were, yet
+his face is as sober as ever. Now they're off! Here they come. But do
+look, Aunt Eunice, oh, do look! He's just barely lifting his end off the
+ground, and she's raised hers real high. She's doing the most of the
+work, I believe, yet he's crouching down as if he were half-crushed by
+the weight. The idea! He sha'n't do that! I won't let any woman be
+treated that way!"</p>
+
+<p>Out she sped, leaving all doors open and thus obliging Miss Maitland to
+close them after her or let the rooms be cooled by the inrush of wind.
+But her swift comprehension of the habits of the two household helpers,
+and her vivid description of their present movements, had so amused the
+lady that she also took up a point of observation, and was just in time
+to see Katharine indignantly push Moses' hand from the trunk-handle and
+seize it herself. It was evidently a heavier load than she had expected,
+for, at first, her end went down even lower than when Moses<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> held it,
+yet she rallied instantly, and with all her might lifted it to a level
+with Susanna's, who was as instantly won by this action, and exclaimed,
+exultantly:</p>
+
+<p>"There, Moses Jones! What did I tell you? Ain't no heft in it, not a
+mite. Nobody but a man&mdash;a man&mdash;would make such a how-de-do over a trunk.
+Just a trunk!"</p>
+
+<p>The infinite scorn of words and manner provoked nothing further from her
+"shif'less" housemate than another silent chuckle, and a keen glance at
+Katharine from beneath his bushy eyebrows.</p>
+
+<p>Yet he did look a trifle ashamed when his mistress herself opened the
+hall door again to admit the trunk-bearers, and without more ado hurried
+back to the sidewalk and brought in the rest of the luggage. It was
+noticeable that he no longer stooped or affected fatigue; and that as
+soon as Susanna let go the trunk at the foot of the stairs he
+immediately shouldered it, like the lightest of parcels, and carried it
+swiftly above. Then, pausing at the top of the flight, he asked, in a
+brisk tone:</p>
+
+<p>"Which room, Eunice?"</p>
+
+<p>"The sitting-room chamber, Moses."</p>
+
+<p>Katharine listened, astonished, then exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"Why&mdash;I thought he was your 'hired man.' That's servant, isn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"About the same thing, my dear," answered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> Miss Maitland, smiling ever
+so slightly, and quite conscious that Susanna's black eyes and keen ears
+were alert for her reply.</p>
+
+<p>"But he called you by your first name! just as if he were your brother,
+or&mdash;or&mdash;somebody."</p>
+
+<p>"There is little giving of titles in Marsden, Katharine, but that does
+not imply any lack of respect. Moses and Susanna and I were schoolmates
+together in the little red schoolhouse at the crossroads, and none of
+us&mdash;none of us&mdash;wish to forget it. The same old schoolhouse where your
+father learned his letters, and where you will go if you are happy
+enough with me to remain. Now, Widow Sprigg, let John's little girl see
+what sort of a supper you used to fix for him when he was hungry."</p>
+
+<p>All fancied slight at the term "servant" thus atoned for by the formal
+"Widow Sprigg," and her favor swiftly won by Kate's behavior with the
+trunk, the housekeeper departed in high good-humor, her cap-strings
+flying, spectacles pushed to the top of her head, and cheerily
+remarking:</p>
+
+<p>"So she shall, so she shall. I'll show her. For Johnny was the boy to
+eat an' enj'y his victuals. 'Twas a comfort to cook for him, he was that
+hearty. I'll have it ready in the jerk of a lamb's tail."</p>
+
+<p>Moses came down the stairs and went out "to do his chores," casting
+another keen glance at the stranger ascending them with Miss Maitland
+to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> the sitting-room chamber. For the girl's marked resemblance to a boy
+he had known and taken fishing many a time, he was inclined to like her;
+but because of the probable altered household life, and her swift
+perception of his whimsies, equally inclined to dislike; and he shifted
+the straw from one side of his mouth to the other, reflecting:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it's more'n likely she an' Eunice won't gee. Eunice has raised
+six seven of her folkses' childern, an' I 'lowed she'd got done; but
+there ain't no accountin' for silly women&mdash;silly women. Get out, there,
+you! Strange that a body can't leave a gate open a single minute here in
+Marsden village, without somebody's stray cattle trespassin'. Get out, I
+say!"</p>
+
+<p>The plump white cow, which had obtruded its nose through the gateway,
+calmly withdrew it and proceeded on its way undisturbed by Moses'
+frantic gestures. Miss Maitland's was not the only dooryard in the
+village where grass was still abundant, and Whitey knew it.</p>
+
+<p>"That's old Mis' Sturtevant's critter again! She's no right to turn it
+loose to feed along the street, that-a-way. Course, she's set Monty to
+watch, an' he's gone off a-fishin'. That's as plain as a pike-staff.
+Pshaw! Folks so poor they can't feed their stawk hain't a right to keep
+any, I declare! When I get to be constable I'll straighten some things
+in Marsden township that's terrible crooked now; an' the very first one
+I'd complain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> of or arrest would be that lazy little stutterin' Monty
+Sturtevant!"</p>
+
+<p>"W-w-w-wo-would it?"</p>
+
+<p>The voice came from beneath the white lilac bush, but it seemed to come
+from the earth, and Katharine, at the just opened sitting-room chamber
+window, saw the whole affair, and laughed aloud.</p>
+
+<p>Her laughter startled the intruder as much as he had startled Moses, and
+he came out of hiding, demanding:</p>
+
+<p>"W-w-who's t-t-that? Aunt Eu-Eu-Eu-Eunice got comp-p-pany?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. But that's no concern of yours," snapped the hired man, "and you
+best go 'tend your cow;" finishing his advice with a threatening nod.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, f-f-f-fudge! Wait till you get to <i>be</i> co-co-constable, then shake
+your h-head. W-w-who is it, I say?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hain't been told, but I 'low she's some cousin forty-times-removed to
+Eunice, come to sponge a livin' out of us. But she needn't worry you
+none. She hain't come to your house to upset things."</p>
+
+<p>"G-g-glad of it!" returned this ungallant young Marsdenite. "But say,
+Un-un-uncle M-Mose."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Monty, none o' that. I know what's afoot when any you boys begin
+to 'uncle' me,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> an' I say 'No.' I ain't goin' to give up my night's rest
+for a fishin'-trip. You hear me?"</p>
+
+<p>"B-b-but, Uncle Mose! I've got the b-ba-bai-bait all dug, and it'll be
+p-p-pr-prime for fishin'. Say, Uncle Mose, we haven't had a s-s-s-single
+speck o' fresh me-me-meat 't our house for a w-w-w-week!"</p>
+
+<p>"Montgomery Sturtevant! That ought to make you stutter an' choke! Eunice
+sent your grandma a pair o' pullets no longer ago 'n yesterday. You&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>But Monty had already departed to summon his chums for an evening's
+sport. Well he and they knew that the shortest road to the hired man's
+heart was by the suggestion of hunger; and the surest way to secure
+parents' consent was the announcement:</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Moses'll take us fishin', if you'll let us go."</p>
+
+<p>Moses again turned his face chore-ward; yet it was noticeable that he
+paused to examine his "tackle" before he fed the poultry, and that he
+softly whistled as he went about his work. He was even first at the
+rendezvous, on the old "eddy road;" and though others joined him there,
+Montgomery&mdash;at once his dearest delight and greatest torment&mdash;did not
+appear.</p>
+
+<p>Alas! at that moment the impecunious heir of all the Sturtevants was
+himself in anything but a whistling mood; and was thinking direful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>
+things concerning a girl with whom he had not yet exchanged a word.</p>
+
+<p>"The h-h-h-hateful young one! Un-un-uncle Mose said 'none o' my
+wor-r-ry,' an' that's all he k-k-knew! Plague take her! W-w-what she
+come to M-M-Ma-Marsden for an' drive me plumb cr-cr-craz-crazy!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<h3>WHY MONTY DID NOT GO A-FISHING</h3>
+
+
+<p>Montgomery's love of gossip was his own undoing. When, after the manner
+of Moses, worthy guide, the young angler had put his own fishing-tackle
+in order, he sought the dining-room, where supper awaited. For once he
+was on time, and received a word of commendation from his grandmother,
+which so elated him that he mentally reviewed the day's events for a bit
+of news with which to enliven her monotony. Then like a flash arose
+before him the picture of an unknown girl at Miss Maitland's window.
+This was something worth telling, indeed.</p>
+
+<p>With his mouth full of chicken, remnant of Eunice's pullets, he burst
+forth.</p>
+
+<p>"A-a-aunt Eunice's got comp'ny."</p>
+
+<p>The punctilious old lady opposite raised her thin hand, protesting: "My
+son, you should never attempt to talk when you are eating."</p>
+
+<p>Nothing abashed, the boy swallowed hastily and reiterated his statement.
+At which Madam<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> Sturtevant exclaimed, with as much excitement of manner
+as she ever showed: "Company? Dear Eunice entertaining guests? Why, son,
+how did you learn that? Who are they, pray?"</p>
+
+<p>"D-d-didn't say 'g-guests.' She's a g-g-gir-rl. How I learned, I
+s-s-saw. With my own eyes. M-m-more chicken, g-gramma."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear heart. It is delicious poultry, and so sweet of Eunice to
+remember us. We were always close friends, and she is still a lovely
+woman. So fresh and young looking. But then, Eunice never married nor
+was widowed, nor exchanged wealth for poverty, nor reared a&mdash;a
+grandson," concluded the dame, fixing a too thoughtful gaze upon
+Montgomery's freckled face, whose only aristocratic feature was a pair
+of exceptionally fine eyes. Her mind was already wandering back into
+that past which held so much more of interest to this decayed
+gentlewoman than the present; but, wriggling under her survey of
+himself, the lad reminded her that Miss Maitland had also had her
+trials, in that:</p>
+
+<p>"Un-un-uncle Mose s-says she's raised s-s-s-six sev&mdash;en other folks'
+ch-ch-ch-childern, anyhow."</p>
+
+<p>"Sixty-seven children! My dear, you must certainly have misunderstood.
+But no matter. Finish your food at once. Our duty is plain. I dislike
+going out, except on Sundays, and especially at evening, yet dear Eunice
+would think me most remiss if I delayed to pay my respects to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> any guest
+of hers. I am dressed sufficiently well for an informal visit, but&mdash;"
+here the old lady put on her glasses and critically regarded her
+grandson's attire, then remorselessly continued: "But you, my son, must
+take a bath and put on your best suit. As soon as possible; because the
+stranger will be tired and wish to retire early. Finished? That is well.
+Strike the bell for Alfaretta."</p>
+
+<p>Though his plate was still heaped with the choice portions of the fowl,
+which his doting grandmother had preserved for him, and though he was
+still hungry, unlucky Monty sank back in his chair, a limp, crestfallen
+lad. With his dejected stare fixed upon her unrelenting face, he
+stammered forth:</p>
+
+<p>"B-b-but, g-g-gr-gramma! I'm goin' a-f-f-fishin'!"</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense. Get ready immediately," said Madam, rising from table, and
+measuring out the supper portion of Alfaretta, the one small servant of
+a house which had once sheltered many.</p>
+
+<p>Then he also rose, but so languidly that "Alfy" stared, and, glancing
+toward his still full plate, inquired: "You sick?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I ain't. I'm m-m-mad!"</p>
+
+<p>"At me?"</p>
+
+<p>"N-no. Y-y-yes. You're another of 'em. She's a g-g-girl. I've got to go
+s-s-s-see her! Just a p-p-plain girl!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The infinite scorn with which this reply was hurled at her touched
+Alfaretta's pride. Was she not, also, a girl? Said she, with intent to
+"get even" for some of his former toplofty remarks: "Oh! I thought you
+was goin' fishin' with Uncle Mose. I saw Bob Turner go past, quite a
+spell ago, and he was whistlin' like lightnin'. And I heard you say,
+more'n once, 't <i>you</i> 'hadn't no man to boss you&mdash;you could do as you
+pleased."</p>
+
+<p>"So I can when&mdash;when g-g-gr-gramma ain't r-r-round," replied he, so
+meekly that Alfaretta relented. She had been intending to add the
+contents of Monty's plate to the less appetizing portion set out for
+herself, but now determined to put aside for a future luncheon whatever
+he had left. Food was never overabundant at the Madam's, and Alfaretta
+made it her business that none of what there was should ever go to
+waste.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind, Monty. To-morrow ain't touched yet, an' there'll always be
+fish in the pool," comforted the little maid with real sympathy, for,
+despite the fact that he teased her continually, she loved him
+sincerely.</p>
+
+<p>But he merely banged the door behind him as he departed to his toilet,
+feeling himself the most abused of mortals. For if there was anything
+which this "last of the Sturtevants" hated worse than paying a visit it
+was taking a cold bath in a tub, an ordinary wooden wash-tub! To have
+both<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> bath and visit imposed upon him in one fell hour, was an
+undreamed-of calamity.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore, it was a very different appearing youth from his ordinary
+merry self who was presented to Katharine in Miss Eunice's lamp-lighted
+sitting-room an hour later. In outward matters, also, a vastly improved
+one, since his rough denim blouse and overalls had been exchanged for a
+fairly modern suit, thoughtfully supplied him by wealthier relatives;
+his tangle of close-cropped curls brushed smooth, and his face freed
+from all spots save freckles.</p>
+
+<p>"Katharine, you may take Montgomery over to that little table where the
+photograph albums are, and show them to him. You and he should be good
+friends, as all the Sturtevants and Maitlands have been for generations
+before you," said Miss Eunice, after the presentation had been made, and
+during which ceremony Monty had wisely refrained from speech.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, then, and I'm awfully glad to see you. I began to think there
+wasn't a single young person in this Marsden, for all I've seen so far
+have been gray-haired," said Kate, leading the way to the table, where a
+shaded lamp shed a pleasant radiance. But, having arrived there, she
+coolly pushed the albums aside, and remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"I hate looking at photographs. Don't you? They're commonly so
+inartistic. I'd much rather talk."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>By this time Monty was staring with wonder at this creature, who was one
+of the despised "girls," who had laughed at him from the window, and
+whose speech and appearance were so unlike those of all other girls he
+knew. She didn't act shy nor silly, nor drop her g's, nor pretend
+"politeness," nor wear her hair or clothes as they did. She was just as
+frank and unabashed as a boy among boys, and the visitor began to be
+glad that he had come. It would be something worth while telling at
+school to-morrow, that he had already made acquaintance with Aunt
+Eunice's unexpected company, and that she was real nice.</p>
+
+<p>Something of her charm vanished, however, when she ordered,
+peremptorily: "You begin."</p>
+
+<p>Now, although the boy outwardly made light of his own affliction, he was
+in reality extremely sensitive concerning it, and naturally he was not
+inclined to open conversation with this stranger whose own tongue was so
+glib. He, therefore, contented himself with turning his great blue eyes,
+fringed with such wonderful lashes, full upon her, and smiling
+beatifically. So cherubic was his expression, indeed, that at that
+instant Madam, chancing to turn her gaze that way, touched Miss
+Maitland's arm and directed that lady's attention toward him,
+whispering:</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't he lovely? Isn't he clear Sturtevant?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, he is Sturtevant, indeed," assented Aunt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> Eunice, but with a sigh
+that did not betoken satisfaction. "He has the Sturtevant vanity,
+Elinor, to the full. You should correct him of it at once. He's a fine
+lad&mdash;in some respects."</p>
+
+<p>It proved that Montgomery was to be corrected, and at once, though not
+by his indulgent guardian. It was Katharine's part to do that, as she
+opened her own dark eyes to their fullest, and exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"Well! You're the first boy I ever saw make goo-goo eyes! The very first
+boy. They're quite pretty, but I'd rather hear you talk than look at
+<i>them</i>. Tell me things. I've come to this village, and I've got to stay.
+I'm a legacy. I'm left to Aunt Eunice yonder, and she can keep me long
+as she likes. When she doesn't like, she can send me to boarding-school.
+I'm an orphan. I hope she <i>will</i> like, because I love her already, only
+she's so correct I know I shall shock her a dozen times a day. I'm
+fourteen years old. My home was in Baltimore. I came on to New York
+yesterday with a friend of the second Mrs. John's&mdash;I mean, of Mrs.
+Maitland's&mdash;and stayed there last night. To-day I came on the train as
+far as it went, then in the stage with the queer driver blowing a horn.
+It was just like a story-book. This home, too, and everybody might be
+out of a story-book, all so unlike anything I ever saw. But, I beg your
+pardon. I've just thought that, though you seem to hear well enough,
+maybe you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> are dumb. Are you? Because if you are I can talk a little
+myself in the sign language."</p>
+
+<p>This was too much. Monty burst forth in self-defence, and to stop that
+running chatter of hers:</p>
+
+<p>"N-n-n-no! I-I-I-I&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Then silence. Katharine had never before met a person who stammered, and
+she was utterly astonished. At that moment, also, there was a lull in
+the animated conversation which the two old ladies opposite had hitherto
+kept up, so that Montgomery's loud yet uncertain protest fell like a
+bomb on the air.</p>
+
+<p>However, the silence was not to last. Katharine recovered from her
+surprise, and demanded, indignantly:</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you say 'I-I-I-I'? Are you mocking me? because if you are, I
+consider that more ungentlemanly than to make eyes."</p>
+
+<p>"No, Kate, Montgomery is unfortunate. He stutters. You should apologize.
+To jeer at the infirmity of others is the depth of ill-breeding,"
+interposed Miss Maitland, hastily crossing the room and laying a
+reproving hand upon the girl's shoulder. Then she continued, smiling
+affectionately upon the lad: "But we who all know and love Montgomery
+are sure that he will, in time, overcome his impediment. 'Tis only a
+matter of practice and patience."</p>
+
+<p>The boy made no reply, but sat with down-bent head and flushing face,
+wishing again, as when this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> dreadful visit was appointed him, that
+Katharine Maitland had never set foot in Marsden village. Longing, too,
+with a longing unspeakable, to retort upon her with a volubility and
+sharpness exceeding even her own. But all unconsciously his pride had
+received just the sting needed, and his angry thought, in which there
+was no halting stammer, was this:</p>
+
+<p>"I'll show her! I'll let her see a Sturtevant is as good as a Maitland
+any day! I ain't vain. She sha'n't say it. I have got nice eyes, folks
+all say so, and it's easier to talk with them than with my crooked old
+tongue. But I'll conquer it. I will. Then I'll show her what kind of a
+girl she is to dare&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>To dare what?</p>
+
+<p>In all his previous ignominy there was naught compared with this. For
+here was Kate, remorseful, warm-hearted Kate, who never meant to give a
+single creature pain, yet was forever doing it, Kate&mdash;down upon her
+knees clasping Monty's neck with her arms, kissing and beseeching him
+"not to mind," exactly as she would have kissed the smallest of all the
+Snowballs, and not resenting it in the least because he did not
+instantly respond to her entreaties.</p>
+
+<p>Respond?</p>
+
+<p>For the space of several seconds it seemed to the lad that his head was
+whirling on his shoulders like a top. Then, with all the rudeness of
+his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> greater strength, he flung the demonstrative girl aside and rushed
+from the house. One idea alone was clear in his troubled brain: that he
+must get away from everything feminine and go where there were "men."
+The fishing-pool. Uncle Moses and the boys. The thought of them was
+refreshment, and put all other thoughts, of disobedience and its like,
+far from him. Striking out boldly, yet half-blindly through the dim
+light, he crossed Miss Maitland's orchard, took a short cut by way of
+the great forest&mdash;which he nor no other Marsden lad would ordinarily
+have entered alone after nightfall&mdash;on past the "deserted cottage" in
+the very heart of the wood, and then&mdash;oblivion.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<h3>FOXES' GULLY</h3>
+
+
+<p>When next Montgomery opened his eyes his head lay on something soft, and
+he confusedly tried to understand what and where it was. But thought
+seemed difficult, and he closed his lids again, wondering what made him
+feel so weak, and drowsily deciding that he must be in his own bed and
+this the middle of the night.</p>
+
+<p>In one thing he was correct&mdash;it was the middle of the night; a later
+hour than the boy had ever been absent from home, even upon the most
+prolonged of fishing-trips. Yet the softness beneath his head was not
+that of a pillow in its case, but the lap of a white-frocked girl, who
+was holding him tenderly and sobbing as if her heart would break.</p>
+
+<p>"W-w-wh-where 'm I a-at? Who's a-c-c-cr-cry&mdash;in'?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you darling boy! you didn't die, did you, after all! Oh, I'm so
+glad, so glad, so glad! And I thought I had killed you. I'd never
+killed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> anybody before, though stepmother said I'd tried. I mean I&mdash;I
+suppose I scared you some way, I don't see how, for the minute I was
+good to you and sorry, you ran away."</p>
+
+<p>Montgomery moved uneasily. He began to remember events distinctly; quite
+too distinctly, in fact. He had run away from that horrid girl, and he
+had forgotten the ravine beyond "deserted cottage." He had fallen down
+it and hit his head. He could recall the dreadful sensation of pitching
+forward into a seemingly bottomless pit, and shivered afresh at the
+memory.</p>
+
+<p>Feeling him shiver thus, Katharine drew her white skirts around his
+shoulders, and cossetted him as if he had been a baby. He tried to
+wriggle away from her on to the ground beyond, but this she sturdily
+prevented, and the late-rising moon cast its light just then upon a
+face, oddly set and determined for that of so young a girl.</p>
+
+<p>Finding himself helpless in that strange weakness, Monty ceased to
+wriggle, and demanded: "How y-y-y-you get here, a-a-a-nyway?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I just followed. When you ran away I ran after."</p>
+
+<p>"A-a-a-aunt Eu-Eu-nice let you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't stop to ask her permission. I saw I'd hurt your feelings, and
+I couldn't let you go without telling you I was sorry. But, you see, I
+never before knew anybody who stammered, and I didn't think how rude I
+was to mention it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> Not till Aunt Eunice pointed it out. I do beg your
+pardon, sincerely. Will you forgive me?"</p>
+
+<p>It was not in the spirit of any Sturtevant, past or present, to decline
+an apology so sweetly and earnestly offered. Besides, that was as it
+should be. Humility was the correct attitude for insignificant girls
+toward such superior creatures as boys, and Monty waxed magnanimous,
+replying:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, y-y-es! I'll f-f-forgive you. But I don't see. G-g-gir-ls can't run
+like boys."</p>
+
+<p>"Can't they, indeed? Well, you ran like a hare, and I just as fast.
+There was mighty little space between us, honey, and you may believe it.
+How else should I have known the way? I had to keep you in sight, of
+course. It was so fearfully dark in that forest that I nearly lost you
+once, but I could hear if I couldn't see; and it wasn't so bad when we
+got outside again. Yet whatever should make you, a boy&mdash;a boy!&mdash;go and
+hurl yourself over a precipice, when you knew all the time it was there,
+while I, a girl&mdash;a girl, if you please! who didn't know a thing about
+it&mdash;stopped short on the brink, amazes me. Explain it, won't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, f-f-f-fudge! Must be aw-aw-awful late. Moon don't rise now t-t-till
+'most m-m-morning," observed Montgomery, declining explanations, and
+wondering how she had perceived his distaste for girls. Besides, he was
+rapidly regaining strength, and now when he raised himself an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>
+inspiration came to him. The inspiration found voice in the words:</p>
+
+<p>"M-m-m-might's well be hung for a s-s-s-sheep as a l-l-l-lamb."</p>
+
+<p>The observation was apparently so senseless and Katharine's love of
+mimicry so strong that she couldn't help replying and laughing:
+"J-j-j-just as w-w-well. But where's the s-s-s-s-sheep and l-l-lamb in
+the case?"</p>
+
+<p>Montgomery did not now resent her imitation of his very tone. He even
+condescended to laugh back; then ungallantly remarked: "I wish y-y-you'd
+go h-h-home."</p>
+
+<p>"Meaning to Aunt Eunice's. That's exactly what I want to do. So let's be
+off."</p>
+
+<p>"I s-s-said y-you," corrected Master Sturtevant, rising and taking a few
+cautious steps to test the state of his legs. He found them usable,
+though rather wobbly about the knees, and would have started off across
+the ravine's bottom had not Katharine caught and held him. She was
+herself shivering violently, but only from the cold of an autumn
+midnight, against which her light summer dress was small protection. She
+ached from long sitting on the stony ground, and from holding the heavy
+shoulders of her companion. She was frightened by the lateness of the
+hour and the intense loneliness of the place; and she felt that she had
+sacrificed herself for just the very meanest boy who ever lived. Though
+she was not a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> girl who often cried, tears came then, and that worst of
+all feelings&mdash;homesickness&mdash;seized her and turned her faint.</p>
+
+<p>Poor Monty! Here was a situation, indeed, for a boy who despised girls!
+Yet also a boy who was a gentleman by birth; so that, while his first
+impulse was to run away, his second was to offer such comfort as he
+could.</p>
+
+<p>"W-w-what you cryin' for, a-a-anyway? I-I-I'm all right, I guess."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if you are, I'm not. I'm just as anxious to go home as you are,
+only how can I? I don't know the way, and I'm afraid. I'm afraid of
+everything! Of that terrible forest, of Aunt Eunice's anger, of her
+refusing to keep me and sending me off to that boarding-school, of&mdash;Oh,
+dear! I wish I was back in Baltimore!"</p>
+
+<p>Never had the cold countenance of the second Mrs. John or those of the
+round little Snowballs seemed so humanly lovable to Katharine as they
+did at that moment, remembering them in her banishment.</p>
+
+<p>"F-f-fudge! Q-q-quit it! If we're goin' to get scolded for part, might's
+well b-b-be for the w-w-w-whole. 'Tain't far to the pool. We can go
+f-f-fishin', after all, if you behave. I th-th-thought you was good as a
+boy, an'&mdash;Will you?"</p>
+
+<p>Kate dried her eyes. She didn't enjoy grief, and the prospect of any
+novelty was delightful.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> She forgot that she was cold, that it was late
+and she was where she should not have been at such an hour, and
+exclaimed, with an eagerness equal to Montgomery's own:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, let's! I never went fishing in my life!"</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, t-th-then!" cried the relieved lad, now readily taking her
+cold hand and setting off with all the speed he could attain.</p>
+
+<p>The moon was shining brilliantly, making every object as distinct as
+day, and to the city-reared girl the scene was like fairy-land. Her
+spirits rose to the highest, and none the less, it may be, because all
+the time she was conscious of a certain daring and danger in their
+escapade; and her pace more than outstripped Monty's as they crossed the
+short distance to the river, warming themselves by their own speed, and
+listening intently for the sound of voices which should have reached
+them long before.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'm so delightfully goose-fleshy! This is the most thrilling
+adventure of my life! I begin to feel as if I were part of a story-book
+myself, like all the rest of Marsden!" said Kate, half-breathless with
+running, when her mate came to a sudden halt among the shadows of the
+trees beside the famous pool.</p>
+
+<p>"S-s-s-sh!" warned the other, leaning forward at the risk of a tumble
+into the still, deep water, listening and peering up and down the
+stream. Then, with disappointment depicted in every line<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> of his
+suddenly weary body, he gloomily stammered: "Th-th-th-they've gone
+home!"</p>
+
+<p>There was nothing left but for themselves to follow; but surely, there
+were never fields so wide and rough as these over which Master
+Sturtevant now guided Katharine; herself, also, so tired from her day of
+travel and her night of adventure; and finally, feeling as if the
+stubble pierced every inch of her thin shoes, and that she could endure
+the discomfort no longer, she begged:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! please do go by some road, and not on this grass any longer."</p>
+
+<p>"Huh! 'T-t-tain't grass. Oat-st-st-stubble," he explained, doggedly
+keeping on his way, which he knew was shorter, and for the further
+reason that he could rid himself of her at Miss Maitland's back garden
+fence. From there he meant to make his own rapid transit to his
+grandmother's low kitchen roof and through a window to his bed, as he
+fondly hoped, forgotten and unobserved. He didn't intend that any
+strange girl should throw all his plans agley, for she had done more
+than mischief enough already. Yet even as he spoke, he looked furtively
+around and was dismayed to see how white she was, and how big and
+troubled her dark eyes were. Fudge! They were even larger and finer than
+his own blue ones, yet she had not once seemed conscious of the fact.</p>
+
+<p>It was the Madam's opinion that "blood would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> tell," and the good blood
+of many past Sturtevants stirred now in their descendant's veins,
+rousing his unselfishness, and making him say:</p>
+
+<p>"F-f-fudge! You look b-b-beat out. I'll go the road, all right. I don't
+m-m-m-mind it&mdash;m-m-much, not much;" for even chivalry could not prevent
+this last truthful word of regret.</p>
+
+<p>So by the road they went; and by the road&mdash;retribution came. Nemesis in
+the form of Moses Jones; no longer in a mood to be "uncled" by any boy,
+not even Montgomery, and in his sternness grown almost unfamiliar. He
+was not alone. Two neighbors were with him, and, despite the fact that
+the moon was shining, all three men carried lighted lanterns. They were
+overcoated and muffled to a degree, and Moses' first action was to
+unfold a great shawl which he had carried on his shoulder, and wrap Kate
+in it. He did this in silence, not so much as asking "by your leave,"
+and not observing that he was smothering her at the same time. Then he
+took hold of her arm through the folds of the shawl, and, facing about,
+started back along the route he had come.</p>
+
+<p>They were well outside the village limits, and a weary tramp yet lay
+before them, the longer strides of the men taxing the fatigue of the
+children, till it seemed to them both as if they must fall by the way.
+That terrible silence, too, and the firm grip of her arm, made Kate
+wonder if Mr. Jones had suddenly become a constable in fact,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> and if she
+were the first victim to be arrested. Once she wriggled herself free
+from her captor's hand, only to find herself again secured and even more
+rigidly.</p>
+
+<p>As for poor Montgomery, the pain and confusion had returned, and he
+could think of nothing save that tormenting headache. His temple was
+swollen and throbbing, and the one idea he still retained was a longing
+for rest. It seemed to him that he had been hurried and tramping along
+ever since he was born. That never had he done a single thing besides
+lifting one heavy foot after another and planting each a bit farther
+along that glaring road. The lanterns bobbed about outrageously, as if
+they were trying to make him more dizzy still; and he scarcely knew when
+they entered the now deserted village street and came to a halt at Miss
+Maitland's gate.</p>
+
+<p>There, he fancied, some women rushed out and grabbed Katharine, for he
+dimly saw her borne away into the house where more dazzling lights were
+gleaming. To avoid their bewildering rays he closed his eyes a moment;
+and when he opened them again he found himself being carried swiftly
+homeward in Moses' strong arms. He being carried! like one of Mis'
+Turner's babies! More ignominy still. As if his having been coddled and
+wept over by a strange little girl hadn't been mortifying enough. But
+his own voice sounded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> queer to him as he tried to say, with
+unstammering distinctness and dignity:</p>
+
+<p>"You&mdash;needn't carry me n-n-none, Un-un-uncle Mose. What you doin' it
+for? Put me d-d-down!"</p>
+
+<p>The other two men had vanished, and there was nobody to hear Uncle
+Moses' tender, troubled answer:</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you poor little shaver, lie still. I don't know what's happened
+ye, nor what sort of scrape you've been in. You an' that t'other one,
+who's come to turn things topsyturvy. But betwixt the pair of you you've
+nigh druv two old women crazy, and set the whole village a-teeter. Just
+because I walked through it ringin' a bell an' cryin', like any
+respectable constable would have done if I'd been one, and this 'most
+makes me feel I am, just cryin': 'Child lost! Boy lost! Girl lost!' and
+a couple the neighborin' men j'inin' in the search, with our lanterns
+lit, sence we didn't know what sort of a hole or ditch you might fell
+into&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"F-F-Foxes' Gully!" exclaimed Montgomery, no longer resisting the relief
+of walking on somebody else's feet, so to speak.</p>
+
+<p>Uncle Moses stopped short, amazed and alarmed. "What? What's that you
+say?"</p>
+
+<p>"F-f-fell down it. An' she come to say she was s-s-s-sor-ry."</p>
+
+<p>"And wasn't killed? Well now, and forever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> after, I'll believe in
+guardeen angels! Fell down it an' wasn't killed! But what made ye?
+Hadn't you any sense? Why, there's been more'n a half-dozen cattle
+killed in that plaguey hollow sence I can remember. Yet you wasn't.
+Well, I'm glad of it," and though this seemed a very mild expression of
+his satisfaction, the sudden squeeze which Moses gave his burden
+emphasized it sufficiently.</p>
+
+<p>For a few minutes neither spoke again, then Monty suddenly asked: "How
+many you catch, Un-un-uncle Mose?"</p>
+
+<p>"Enough for breakfast. But I missed ye, sonny, I missed ye. An' I'm real
+glad you wasn't killed. As for that t'other one, I declare, I wish't she
+hadn't come. 'Peared like Eunice would lose her seventy senses,
+a-worryin' lest the child take cold or get hurt or somethin'. And there
+she has landed on her feet sound as a cat. Though speakin' of cats, Sir
+Philip has had the bout of his life, and he looks pretty peaked to me.
+But here we are to home, an' your grandma ain't likely to scold you none
+if you just mention to her 'Foxes' Gully.' 'Twas one of the Sturtevant
+calves got killed there, the very first off, an' she will remember. As
+for me, a respectable hired man, kep' out of my bed like this&mdash;why,
+sonny! Soon's you get over it I'll teach you a lesson you'll remember!"</p>
+
+<p>So, still grumbling and petting, Moses set his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> burden down in Madam
+Sturtevant's presence, and saw her open her lips to reprove her erring
+grandson, then as suddenly close them again and strain the boy to her
+heart, while her stately figure shook like an aspen. But Moses knew the
+lady's temperament of old, and how her alternate severity and indulgence
+had been bad for the child she idolized, and, fearing that severity
+might have the upper hand now, when it was least needed, he remained
+long enough to mention:</p>
+
+<p>"Nothin' much the matter with the little shaver, Madam, only he fell
+down Foxes' Gully, and is&mdash;he's sort of tuckered out."</p>
+
+<p>Then he quietly withdrew, and of Montgomery Sturtevant he had no further
+glimpse during what he himself termed "a consid'able spell."</p>
+
+<p>As for Katharine, she was sound asleep long before Moses returned from
+Madam Sturtevant's. To the anxiety and reproof with which she had been
+received, she had, fortunately, but little to say beyond the statement
+that, "I went to apologize, and I stayed to&mdash;to fish, I guess." The
+relief of being safe indoors again was all she realized, just then, and
+she submitted to being warmed, blanketed, and dosed with hot sage tea,
+with a meek humility that won her pardon.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, when at last the dark curls rested on the pillow, and the
+childish face softened in slumber, she looked so like Aunt Eunice's lost
+"little John," that the lady stooped and kissed her for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> his sake. But
+she confided to the faithful Widow Sprigg, who had also watched and
+waited:</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid, Susanna, that our peaceful days are over. While she was out
+to-night, and I knew not where, and I was so troubled and anxious, I
+felt that it would be wrong, really wrong to burden myself with such a
+charge. For years her father left me ignorant of how his life was
+passing, and it seemed to me he had no right to impose the care of his
+daughter upon me, just because I had once tried to be good to him and he
+had once seemed to love me. And I knew it would be hard for you and
+Moses, too. We're all old together; and to rear another child&mdash;such an
+odd child, at that&mdash;I wonder, is it right?"</p>
+
+<p>Now it so chanced that old Susanna had been entirely won by the manner
+in which Kate had chosen to be undressed and tended by the servant
+rather than the statelier mistress. Also, in the old days when "Johnny"
+had been with them, though the aunt had loved she had, also, reproved
+him; but childless Susanna, whose own little son had died, simply loved
+and never reproved. She now answered, promptly:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Eunice Maitland, it's as right as right. She wouldn't have been
+sent if she hadn't been meant, would she? And she's the cut an' dried
+image of her own pa, bless him. Send her off? Course you'll do nothin'
+o' the kind. If you do, I'll leave, an' you can get somebody else to
+take<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> my place. So there, that's my say-so, an' you're welcome to it."</p>
+
+<p>At the thought of Katharine's mobile little face being a "cut and dried
+image" of anybody Miss Eunice smiled, and her perplexity vanished&mdash;for
+the time, at least. Then, hearing the kitchen door unclose, she
+remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I hear Moses coming in, and we three old people must get to rest.
+I am surely obliged to you for the help and comfort you are to me,
+Susanna, and to Moses, too. We'll do the best we can, and day by day."</p>
+
+<p>"Certain, Eunice. That's the way to live, an' all's well 'at ends well,
+as we hope she will&mdash;this little orphant thrust upon us without no
+druther of our own, an' a bad beginnin' gen'ally makes a good ending;
+an' I 'low I'd best take one more peek into the sittin'-room chamber,
+afore I go to bed myself. Good night. Don't worry. I've fixed fish-cakes
+for breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>With which comforting assurance for the morrow, the Widow Sprigg took
+herself out of the room, and quiet fell upon the old home.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<h3>CHESTNUTS AND GOLD MINES</h3>
+
+
+<p>"May I help? I think I could do that. It doesn't look hard," said
+Katharine, wandering into the kitchen where Susanna was seeding
+raisins&mdash;more raisins than the girl had ever seen together, save at a
+grocer's counter. "What are you doing it for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Fruit-cake. For Thanksgivin' an' Christmas. I ought to of done it long
+ago, but the weather kep' so warm, an' one thing another's hendered. I'm
+all behind with everything this fall, seems if. I've got to make my soft
+soap yet, and&mdash;Laws, child, what do you lug that humbly dog all round
+with you for? A beast as ugly favored as he is ought to do his own
+walkin', and would, if he belonged to me."</p>
+
+<p>"That's just why, I suppose. Because he 'belongs.' And because he isn't
+old. Not so very. He isn't gray, anyway."</p>
+
+<p>The Widow Sprigg looked over her spectacles and saw such a dejected face
+that she immediately<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> suggested caraway cookies. A delicacy which had
+used to bring smiles to "Johnny's" countenance, even after he had
+suffered that worst of all boyish trials,&mdash;a "lickin',"&mdash;and if there
+was anything in heredity should restore cheer to the heart of "Johnny's"
+daughter.</p>
+
+<p>"No, thank you. But I'd like to help. I shall&mdash;shall burst if I don't do
+something mighty soon," said Kate, excitedly. "I am hungry, but it's for
+folks, not cookies. And why do you make cake for Christmas now when it's
+forever and ever before it will come?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Tain't so much for Christmas. Marsden folks don't set no great store
+by any other holiday than Thanksgivin'. Another why is that fruit-cake
+ain't fit to put in a body's mouth afore it's six seven months old at
+the least. This here won't be worth shucks, but Eunice says better late
+'n never, an' if it ain't ripe then t'will be for Easter. We never used
+to hear tell of Easter, here in Marsden, till late years. Though Madam,
+she always kep' it. She's met with a change of heart, however, sence she
+became a Sturtevant, an' I'd ruther you wouldn't mention it, as comin'
+from me, but&mdash;" here Susanna leaned forward and whispered,
+sibilantly&mdash;"they say she used to be a Catholic when she was a girl!
+Nobody lays it up ag'in her, an' folks pertend they've forgot it; and if
+there is a good Christian goin', I 'low it's Madam Elinor Sturtevant.
+Your Aunt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> Eunice&mdash;though she ain't your real aunt at all, only third
+cousin once removed&mdash;she was promised to Schuyler Sturtevant, Madam's
+husband's brother, but he was killed out on a fox-hunt, an' she ain't
+never married nobody sence. That's one why she an' Madam are such good
+friends, most like sisters; as they would have been hadn't things turned
+out different. But there, my suz! Don't stan' there lookin' so wishful.
+Put the dog in the lean-to an' shut the door. There's a strong air comes
+through it an' I feel it, settin' still. Then you can tie my check apern
+over your white frock. Don't you never wear no other kind of clothes,
+Katy? 'Cause I don't know who'll do your washin' an' ironin', if you
+don't."</p>
+
+<p>Having finished a certain portion of the raisins, Susanna rose, washed
+her hands and tied the apron around Katharine's neck, bringing the
+strings forward under the arms with such firmness that the band choked
+the girl, and made a puffy blouse of the gingham. The whole arrangement
+was so uncomfortable that it was promptly taken off and hung upon its
+nail.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't endure that, you know. If I must wear an apron, like a coon,
+I'll have one that fits. Why do I need it, anyway? This dress is only
+white piqu&eacute;, and wears like iron. I heard stepmother say so when she
+gave it to the dressmaker. She never bought me anything but piqu&eacute;s and
+ducks and things that would stand<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> wearing without tearing. I mean&mdash;May
+I do this many?"</p>
+
+<p>Susanna fairly snatched the dish away and shook her helper's fingers
+free from the cluster of raisins she had lifted, exclaiming:</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I am surprised at you, Katharine Maitland! You takin' a bath every
+mornin', in cold water, too, an' keepin' yourself so tidy all the time,
+to go an' stun raisins after handlin' a dog! Wash 'em, an' clean your
+nails with this pin, an' tie that apern back&mdash;loose if you want&mdash;but
+wear it you must, or I won't be responsible for no smutch you get on
+you. Here's your basin for the hull ones; an' here's an earthen bowl for
+them 'at's done, an' a penknife to do 'em with. I declare! It's more
+work to get you ready to 'help' than 'twould be to do it all myself."</p>
+
+<p>Katharine's spirits rose. Though she blushed at the reprimand for
+untidiness, a kind of reproof she seldom deserved, she was so accustomed
+to corrections that she scarcely listened to any, and sprang to a seat
+on the end of the great table with an outburst of rollicking "rag-time"
+song.</p>
+
+<p>Safe to say that that sort of music had never before been heard within
+the dignified walls of that old mansion, and though Susanna was
+delighted to see "Johnny's girl" happy again, she was, also, somewhat
+shocked.</p>
+
+<p>"Why&mdash;why, Katy! What's that you're saying? Don't sound like reg'lar
+English. Not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> like 'Old Lang Syne,' nor 'The Old Oaken Bucket,' nor
+'Send Round the Bowl,'&mdash;nor&mdash;My suz, child! What be you doin'?"</p>
+
+<p>"Just, 'Sendin' Round the Bowl,' since you like it!" cried Kate,
+hilariously spinning the receptacle which had been given her for the
+"stunned raisins" across the table to where Susanna sat; then adding,
+mischievously, "And that's the first time that I knew that 'Old Lang
+Syne' was good English; I thought it was Scotch. As for 'rag-time,' all
+papa's friends said I could do it excellently well. You see, I was
+brought up with the coons and can mimic them easily. And you should see
+me do a cake-walk. I will after I've helped you awhile."</p>
+
+<p>Susanna looked rather foolish at being herself set right. She had never
+aspired to much literary knowledge, but she did know that the words
+Katharine had sung were senseless, though they might sound funny. To
+cover her annoyance she demanded, rather crisply:</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean by 'coon' and 'duck'? Your pa always had odd notions,
+but I never 'lowed his daughter'd be raised with coons and ducks and
+animals of that natur'. I give him credit for some sense, even if he did
+paint pictures for a living."</p>
+
+<p>Katharine's eyes flashed, then softened till they were on the verge of
+tears, and she announced with a finality that brooked no contradiction:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"My father was the sensiblest, cleverest, dearest gentleman that ever
+lived. If I didn't come 'up' as I was 'brought' it wasn't his fault. And
+I'd rather not talk about him&mdash;not yet. Not to-day. 'Coons' are the
+colored people. Baltimore's full of them. They're our servants.
+Stepmother says they're worthless, nowadays, and I know she was always
+changing them. But they're the only kind we have down there. We couldn't
+get nice white ones like you. Why&mdash;what's the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>The Widow Sprigg had risen very suddenly. Her face had flushed and a
+glitter come into the eyes behind the big spectacles, while her lips had
+closed with a sort of cluck. Leaning across the table, she demanded:</p>
+
+<p>"Give me that bowl, please. I don't need no more your help."</p>
+
+<p>Katharine extended the bowl, as desired, her own face clouding again at
+sight of the other's darkened one. And she fairly jumped as the
+housekeeper asked:</p>
+
+<p>"Where's the raisins?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! the raisins? Why&mdash;I hadn't begun yet. I ate the few I seeded. I'll
+begin now. I can work right smart if I try."</p>
+
+<p>"Huh! go clean yourself an' clear out. I like to have my kitchen to
+myself."</p>
+
+<p>Kate leaped from the table, having that odd homesickness stealing over
+her again, and as much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> to dispel her own gloom as to keep her word,
+which she never broke if she could possibly help it, she cake-walked
+down the long kitchen with the gravest of faces and the most ludicrous
+of gestures. Down and back, down and back, head thrown sidewise over her
+shoulder, body bent at an angle which threatened a tumble backwards, and
+her feet alternately tossing the engulfing apron high on this side, then
+on that, and now become utterly oblivious of Susanna in her earnestness
+to distinguish herself&mdash;the girl seemed the absurdest creature it had
+ever been the housekeeper's lot to see.</p>
+
+<p>She still felt insulted by Katharine's term of "servant," but could not
+repress a smile, and turned into the pantry to hide that telltale
+weakness.</p>
+
+<p>Looking in through that same pantry window, his mouth agape, his eyes
+twinkling, was her housemate and natural enemy, Moses. Hitherto he had
+taken slight notice of the small new member of the household, and Kate
+had been rather afraid of him. It would, therefore, be killing two birds
+with one stone, or punishing two annoying people at one time, to pair
+them off together, thought Susanna, remarking:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Mr. Jones, when you get done staring at the monkey-shines of that
+young one you can just take her in charge a spell. Goin' to the
+wood-lot, ain't ye?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You know I be. Said so at breakfast, didn't I? Silly women always do
+have to have idees druv into their heads, like nails, 'fore they can
+clinch 'em. Eunice 'lowed that we'd ought to have a lot more small
+sticks chopped," answered the man who managed the estate but was
+presumably managed himself by Miss Maitland. He had his axe over his
+shoulder, and had merely stopped at the pantry window, kept open for his
+benefit, to take a drink from the pail of buttermilk which stood there.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Eunice has gone down to Madam's. And I've no time to bother, and
+you'll have to take her 'long with ye. If she ain't under somebody's eye
+no tellin' what'll happen. Harm of some kind, sure's you're born."</p>
+
+<p>Moses was about to retort and decline, but a second glance at the child,
+who had now finished her cake-walk and was listening to her elders,
+reminded him that, as yet, he had heard no details of that night's
+escapade when his beloved Monty had so wonderfully come out safe from
+peril of death. This had been some days before, and rumor had it that
+the lad was still confined a prisoner in his chamber. Whether because of
+real illness or for punishment, nobody knew, nor dared anybody question
+the dignified Madam. Eunice had heard the rumor that morning and had
+immediately gone to see her friend and offer her own service as nurse,
+should nursing be necessary.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> Therefore, it was more to please himself
+than oblige Susanna, that he called through the window:</p>
+
+<p>"Sissy, do you like chestnuts?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I love them! Why? And please, please don't call me 'Sissy.' It
+makes me feel so silly. My name is Katharine Maitland, though at home&mdash;"
+there came a little catch in her throat, which nobody else
+observed&mdash;"they used to call me 'Kitty Quixote,'" answered the girl,
+running to the window, and looking through the half-closed blind to the
+hired man.</p>
+
+<p>"Hm-m. Ke-ho-ta. Kehota? Kee-ho-tee? Why, I thought I knew the Maitland
+family, root an' branch, twists an' turns an' ramifications, but I never
+heerd tell of a Keehotey amongst 'em. Not even 'mongst their wives'
+folks, nuther. Your own ma was a Woodley, and your pa's second was a
+Snowball, Eunice says, so how happens&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you dear, funny old fellow! Quixote wasn't any of our folks, but a
+fiction-y man, who was always doing chivalrous things in the wrong
+place, or where there was no occasion, as papa said&mdash;just like me. Wait
+till I come, please. I'll put on my hat and jacket and be back in a
+minute. For I've guessed what you mean about liking chestnuts. I'm to go
+to the wood-lot with you and gather them for myself. And I never,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>
+never, never in all my life gathered chestnuts! I've just bought them
+from the stands."</p>
+
+<p>Away she flew, leaving Susanna rather doubtful of the success of her
+intended punishment. From present appearances Katharine was going to
+enjoy a morning in the woods with Moses far better than she would have
+done in the kitchen seeding raisins.</p>
+
+<p>"An' she must have et as much as two whole bunches, even in that little
+spell. So, after all, it's a good thing for the cake, 'lowin' 't we want
+to have it rich in fruit, that she is goin'. But Eunice will have to see
+about her clothes. The idee! Wearin' white every day same as if it was
+Sunday in the summer-time. She told Eunice that her stepmother thought
+white was the sensiblest, for it would wash and bile, and she always
+needed bilin'. But she looks real peart, and sort of different set-up
+from Marsden girls in that little blue flannel suit she wore to come in.
+Dress an' coat an' hat all the same color, an' fittin' her's if she'd
+been run into 'em, yet easy-loose, too, an' not a bit of trimming on
+anything," continued Widow Sprigg with herself, having none other
+present with whom to commune; and, as Katharine reappeared, garbed in
+the same blue coat and hat, with her short dainty skirts showing below
+the coat and her face now glowing with anticipation, remarking aloud:
+"Well, your step-ma may not have been any great shakes for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>
+pleasantness, but she did manage to make you look real neat."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, she had beautiful taste! Everybody said that. When she was dressed
+to go out herself she always looked so just right that nobody could tell
+what at all she wore; and that, papa said, was the perfection of
+dressing. Indeed, do you suppose that my father, an artist, could have
+married a person who would offend his eye all the time? Why, what is
+that for, Susanna?"</p>
+
+<p>While Katharine had been discussing her stepmother, the widow had been
+filling a quaint, old-fashioned, tight covered basket with caraway
+cookies and a red apple. The basket had a wreath of flowers painted on
+its sides and another on its cover. It was carried by two slender
+handles, and was unlike any which Kate had ever seen.</p>
+
+<p>"There, deary, that is a lunch to eat whilst you're in the woods; crisp
+air makes a body hungry. Moses'll show you where the spring is, and
+there's a gourd dipper hangs by it to drink out of. But take dreadful
+care the basket. It was your own pa's meetin' one."</p>
+
+<p>"My father's 'meeting one.' What was that? and how fearfully old it must
+be. 'Cause he ran away when he was a little boy, only a year or so older
+than I am now."</p>
+
+<p>"He was old enough to have had more sense, and so're you. A
+'meetin'-basket' was a basket to take to meetin', course. What else you
+suppose?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> We didn't have two three hours betwixt times, them days. We
+went in the morning and stayed till the afternoon service was over. We
+took our dinners with us an' et 'em on the graves in the graveyard back
+the church. Moses an' Eunice an' me gen'ally took all we needed in the
+big willow, but the childern liked their own by themselves. They used to
+eat in the hollow below the graveyard, and if any of 'em got too noisy,
+or played games wasn't Sabbath ones, one the deacons or head men would
+go down an' stop 'em. Oh, childern was raised right in them days, an'
+grown folks, too!"</p>
+
+<p>This was all very interesting, and Katharine received the old round
+basket, which her dead father's boyish hands must have treated gently,
+indeed, to have left it so well preserved, with a reverent feeling that
+he must be there and see her. She hoped he did. She wanted him to know
+that she was back in his old home, following the haunts which he had
+loved, knowing the very same people who had cared for him. She wondered,
+as many an older person has wondered, if he did know, and she put the
+question eagerly to Susanna, who was herself so old and should,
+therefore, be so wise.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Widow Sprigg! Do you believe he can see me, does know, is glad? Do
+you suppose that right now, while I hold this basket, his basket, up
+high toward the sky, careful and loving and not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> afraid, he is looking
+down and loving, too? <i>Do</i> you?"</p>
+
+<p>Susanna pushed her spectacles very high, indeed, that she might better
+observe this strange child who now confronted her with gleaming eyes and
+that exalted expression; and the face startled her. She was not much
+used to children, and this one was of a sort so novel that she made one
+uncomfortable. She'd have given "Johnny's girl" the old egg-basket
+instead of this "meeting" one, could she have foreseen results. But she
+could and did bring the girl out of the clouds with the exclamation:</p>
+
+<p>"My suz! You're enough to give a body the creeps. All I meant was that
+Johnny was a good boy and took care. If you want to be like him you'll
+take care, too. When he didn't take care, it was Moses' business to lick
+him, an' if you keep him much longer at that lane gate, he'll feel like
+lickin' you, too. So, off with you."</p>
+
+<p>Katharine lowered the basket. Also, lowered her gaze from the ceiling it
+had seemed to pierce till it rested on the old woman's face. What she
+saw there was something very different from what the harsh words had
+suggested, and, with an impulse of affection, she threw her arms, basket
+and all, about Susanna's neck and kissed her ecstatically.</p>
+
+<p>Poor Widow Sprigg caught her breath and gasped it back again before her
+surprise allowed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> her to say: "There, there, deary, run along. Don't
+keep Moses waitin' a minute longer. He'll be terrible cross. Yes, you
+can take Punchy. I'd ruther you'd take him 'an not, for Sir Philip looks
+peakeder 'n ever to-day. The very sight o' that humbly dog 'pears to
+make him sick. After you've et your cookies you can put your chestnuts
+in the basket to fetch 'em home&mdash;if you get any."</p>
+
+<p>Moses had lost his patience, as was to be expected, but he soon regained
+good nature while Katharine related to him all that her father had once
+told her of the famous Don Quixote for whom he had nicknamed her. Then,
+in turn, he pointed out to her the old meeting-house and graveyard, long
+since disused, where the Marsdenites had repaired to take their Sunday
+lunch.</p>
+
+<p>"But it was so&mdash;so funny! So absurd, so sort of&mdash;of ghastly, wasn't it?
+But what a perfectly glorious place for a hallowe'en party&mdash;if there was
+anybody to give a party to. I wish there was somebody to play with,
+Uncle Moses."</p>
+
+<p>Moses ignored the wish. He was not anxious that Katharine should enlarge
+her acquaintance, which would mean more trouble for all concerned. He
+merely continued to discourse upon the ancient customs, of how not only
+did the people bring their dinners to the church, but the mothers their
+babies, with rocking-chairs furnished galore by the congregation, and
+ranged in the roomy vestibule.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> There the mothers could sway their
+offspring gently to and fro without losing their own religious
+privileges or disturbing anybody.</p>
+
+<p>Kate listened in silence till a bend of the road hid the meeting-house
+from view, then exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"I can see the whole picture. I mean to paint it when I grow up. But I
+shall give the babies cherubic faces, like the old masters, because I
+suppose most of them are angels now. I hope they know I'm thinking about
+them, and I wonder if papa sees any of them there, up in heaven. What do
+you think?"</p>
+
+<p>Even as Susanna had done, the hired man stared at Katharine, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"I think&mdash;I don't know what I do think! I think I know some of them
+babies that grew up to be anything but angels. If they'd been made into
+angels a little earlier in their lives 'twould ha' been better for
+Marsden, an' I shouldn't feel it my painful duty to 'rest 'em when I get
+to be constable&mdash;if ever I'm elected," and then Moses sighed so
+profoundly that Katharine's thoughts flew from this old-time
+reminiscence to the present day's ambitions. Slipping her hand softly
+into the one of his that swung at his side, she gave it a little
+squeeze, and asked:</p>
+
+<p>"Do you awfully want to be a constable? Just awfully, Uncle Mose?"</p>
+
+<p>There was so much of sympathy in the small<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> face at his elbow that Mr.
+Jones was caught unawares.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, 'Kitty Keehoty,' wild horses wouldn't have drug it out of me to
+anybody else; but I don't mind lettin' on to you, just you, that I'd
+admire to be one. I'd like it real well. But, that's nuther here nor
+there. Likin' things an' havin' 'em is as different as chalk an' cheese.
+An' here we be to the woods. The best chestnut-trees is yender, the best
+shellbarks t'other way. 'Tain't time for hickories yet, not till a
+heavier frost comes, but chestnuts you've got to get early if you get
+any at all. The squirrels an' boys are smart round this way. Why, 'most
+every year they gather Eunice's nuts off her own trees, then march up to
+her front door an' sell 'em to her. Fact. An' the silly woman only
+laughs an' says she don't begrudge 'em a little pocket-money. An' she
+don't need. Eunice is real forehanded, Eunice is; and does seem 't the
+more she gives away the more comes in. Now, I'll cut a saplin'-pole an'
+thrash a tree for you. Then, whilst I'm choppin' down in that clump of
+pines over there, you can be pickin' up nuts. Make up your mind to prick
+your fingers with the burrs. A body has to fight for most anything worth
+while."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, if I only had somebody to pick them up with me!" sighed Kate, as
+she fell to work. Then her thoughts travelled far afield, for a
+delightful notion had taken possession of her, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> her young brain was
+teeming with a scheme so great it was&mdash;well, it was fully worthy of
+itself.</p>
+
+<p>Almost unconsciously she gathered the fallen chestnuts, scarcely
+realizing the novelty of the task so absorbed was she in her sudden
+Quixotic project. Yet, as she groped among the brown leaves at the foot
+of her tree, her fingers came in contact with something wholly different
+from chestnuts or their thorny burrs. It was hard as a stone, yet it
+wasn't a stone. It was half-buried in the leaf-mold and moss, though the
+rain of the previous night had washed it free in one corner.</p>
+
+<p>That corner glistened so that it dazzled the digger's eyes, and she
+exclaimed aloud:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I've found a gold mine! Right here in Aunt Eunice's woods. I must
+get this great piece of gold out and take it to her. And I won't tell
+anybody, not anybody, not even Uncle Moses, till I've told her. For
+whatever is in her woods must be hers, of course."</p>
+
+<p>Away went the last great scheme, which had been wholly connected with
+Mr. Jones and his aspirations for town office; and up rose another far
+more gigantic, by which everybody who was poor, "everybody in the whole
+wide world," should benefit. For, of course, the mine was to be
+inexhaustible, and Aunt Eunice would be able to give away money
+hereafter without stint or measure.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>If only she could get out that first great shining lump of gold!</p>
+
+<p>And at last it was out, yet, after all, no gold whatever. Something
+almost as splendid, though, since this was a mystery. A mystery with a
+capital M! For if there were no mystery in the matter why should anybody
+hide that strangely shaped, glittering brass bound box beneath a
+chestnut-tree?</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE BRASS BOUND BOX</h3>
+
+
+<p>A moment later Kate had sped through the wood to the spot where Moses
+was chopping, exclaiming:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mr. Jones, I've got to go home, back to Aunt Eunice's right away,
+quick. Is there a shorter way than we came, or can I find that by
+myself? Please tell me, quick, quick!"</p>
+
+<p>Moses paused in his work and looked at the girl in great surprise. None
+of his fishing-mates, if given such a chance as she had, would have gone
+home till driven there; for the chestnuts had rattled out of their burrs
+at a fine rate when he had threshed the trees, and it was impossible
+that she should have gathered all or even many.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, little Keehoty! Tired a'ready? An' I was plannin', by an' by, to
+make a speck of fire in a safe place I know an' roast some the nuts.
+Ever et hot roast chestnuts out in the woods?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, never! Oh, dear! I'd like to. It&mdash;it makes me terribly hungry
+to hear you speak<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> of them, but&mdash;I must go home. Something has happened.
+Something so important, I must, I must. Is there a shorter way? And if I
+go by myself shall I meet a tramp?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Tramp!' Bosh! That's Susanna's foolishness put into your head a'ready.
+I only wish I could see a tramp, just to know the breed. But what is it
+so important, if you please?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't tell you."</p>
+
+<p>Moses whistled. "That's plump spoke, anyhow. Why can't ye? Are you sick?
+Got a pain anywheres? Pep'mints are good for the stummick-ache, an' I
+always carry a few in my pocket. See?" said the kindly old man, pulling
+forth a paper bag and alluringly displaying its pink and white contents.</p>
+
+<p>But to his further surprise Katharine declined the "pep'mints" and
+indignantly denied the stomach ache, declaring that she must go home and
+at once, and asking "which way first."</p>
+
+<p>"Foller your nose, I reckon," retorted Mr. Jones, rather testily. He had
+enjoyed the tale of Don Quixote, had taken a sudden fancy to Katharine,
+had discovered that she knew "Oh, lots and lots more of stories just as
+delightful," and had intended to do a small amount of chopping that day,
+but a large amount of resting. The forest was in a glory of color, the
+air was "mild as midsummer," and in his capacious pocket he had brought
+his "tackle." His axe would furnish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> a couple of rods, and Katharine
+should have her first lesson at angling in the near-by brook, where
+trout were plentiful, it mattering little to this embryo constable what
+the game laws were; and it would have amazed him to learn that had he
+been in office he would have had to fine himself as the first, chief,
+and habitual trespasser. Now all this pleasant prospect was altered, and
+Moses "never liked to have his 'rangements upsot."</p>
+
+<p>"Nor do I. Oh, dear! The more you talk the more I want to stay, and the
+very more I mustn't. Good-by, I'm going. You can have the caraway cakes
+and the red apple, and please, please take care my father's
+'meetin'-basket.'"</p>
+
+<p>But he laid a detaining hand upon her arm, and demanded:</p>
+
+<p>"First tell me what you've got under your jacket!"</p>
+
+<p>At her mention of the "meeting-basket" he had glanced across to the
+chestnut-trees and had seen that precious receptacle carefully hung upon
+a low branch out of harm's way. Yet here was the girl, hiding something
+beneath her long blue coat, and acting as if she had great ado to keep
+it there. It must have been a heavy, slippery something, because all the
+while she talked she kept hitching it up and clenching it till her
+knuckles turned white under the strain.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't tell you, please," was the exasperating<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> reply, as she wriggled
+her arm free and set off at a swift pace.</p>
+
+<p>Again Moses whistled, but now in disappointment rather than surprise. He
+would have stoutly denied that he, a man, was possessed of curiosity
+such as he attributed wholly to "silly women," yet it is certain that he
+suddenly found the beautiful forest a disagreeable place, and reflected
+that it was his duty to follow the young stranger.</p>
+
+<p>"She's queer actin', at the best, an' sharp as a razor; but what caper
+she's up to now beats me. Eunice ain't to home, an' Susanna never had
+sense. If there's anything goin' on there'd ought to be a man 'round
+with some sort of judgment in his head. Don't know what need there is
+for more small wood bein' cut, anyway. We've got two woodsheds full of
+kindlin' a'ready, besides the big ones of cord-wood for the reg'lar
+fires. We could stand a siege an' not suffer, though Eunice never does
+feel content 'less she's got fuel enough ahead to last two years. Hm-m.
+It's gettin' too hot to chop, anyway. Must be Indian summer comin' on,
+though I claim 'tain't due till November. Susanna, now, <i>she</i> says
+October, an' Eunice, <i>she</i> calls that warm spell we always have the
+first the winter an Indian summer. Seems if there was as many Indian
+summers as there was folks, most, but I don't care. It's somethin' or
+other warm enough to-day, an'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> I'll go home. I can set in the barn an'
+sort apples. That won't be a heatin' job, an' 'll give me a chance to
+have an eye on things. Oh, hum! I wish Monty would happen along.
+Strange! how I miss that worthless, stutterin', big-hearted little
+shaver! I wouldn't offer to take <i>him</i> fishin' more'n once without bein'
+took up on my word."</p>
+
+<p>His cogitations at an end, his belongings secured, and his little-used
+axe again over his shoulder, Moses went down to the chestnut-tree and
+secured the "meeting-basket." But he was surprised to see how the leaves
+at the foot of it had been scattered about, and that there was a hole in
+the ground itself. There was also in this hole the imprint of something
+square and solid, for the moist leaf-mold still retained the shape of
+the brass bound box, and heaped at one side were the nuts Kate had
+collected ready to put in the basket when once it should be empty.</p>
+
+<p>"Must ha' been somethin' 'important,' sure enough, or she'd never have
+left them nuts. Well, I guess I can store 'em in my pockets, an' I'll
+coax her secret, whatever 'tis, out of her by givin' them back to her,"
+mused this incurious man.</p>
+
+<p>As fast as she could, and keeping an occasional glance upon certain
+trees she remembered, Kate made her way back through the wood. But it
+seemed confusing now and the ground rough. Coming in she had thought the
+ferns and fallen branches "mighty pretty," but going out they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> hindered
+her. The box, too, was heavy and difficult to hold, though as soon as
+she was out of sight of Moses she took it from beneath her coat and
+balanced it upon her arm. Then she laughed at her own precaution,
+thinking how foolish she had been to hide it, for, of course, he would
+know about it eventually.</p>
+
+<p>"Only it is Aunt Eunice's, and I want her to see it first of all. I
+wonder what is in it. And I wish it wasn't quite so heavy. Can it be
+filled with gold? or diamonds, maybe. Oh, if it were diamonds&mdash;think!
+Oh, dear! there goes my shoe-string untied again, and it trips me up so.
+I must stop and tie it and see if I am going right. Seems as if I ought
+to see that old church by this time, yet the trees are just as thick as
+ever&mdash;or thicker. Now, old string, I'll knot you so tight you'll bother
+me no more till I go to bed."</p>
+
+<p>Placing the strangely fashioned box or casket carefully on a large
+stone, Katharine flung herself down to tie her shoe. Which, having done,
+and finding her position restful, it was natural that her imagination
+should dwell upon the treasure she had found; and once at her
+day-dreams, Kate was very apt to forget other things. Nor did she rouse
+from her reverie till somebody close at hand demanded:</p>
+
+<p>"I-I-I say! W-w-what's that?"</p>
+
+<p>Instantly upon her feet she faced the intruder,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> vainly trying to hide
+with her short skirts the glittering casket, as she demanded, in return:</p>
+
+<p>"How dare you come upon a person that way? Why&mdash;you might have
+frightened me into a fit. I don't like to be scared."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, f-f-fudge! I saw you if you d-d-didn't see me. What is t-t-that?"</p>
+
+<p>Katharine coolly sat down upon the casket and thus effectually screened
+it from view. "I thought you were sick, or&mdash;or shut up. Aunt Eunice went
+to see if you needed nursing."</p>
+
+<p>Montgomery sat down beside her. The small boulder upon which she had
+placed the box was round, and it was difficult to maintain one's
+position upon it without slipping. Doubly difficult if one were perched
+upon a sharp-angled cube, and one's piqu&eacute; skirt was stiffly starched. He
+comprehended the situation and meant to be upon the spot when the
+slipping occurred. He really didn't care very much to know what she was
+hiding, but was grateful for a chance to tease somebody.</p>
+
+<p>During the few days of his retirement he had not enjoyed that privilege.
+The fact was that it was Alfaretta, not he, who had been ill; and that
+he had been promoted&mdash;or degraded&mdash;to her position in the household. It
+all depended upon the point of view; his grandmother maintaining that he
+should feel proud to have the chance of serving her, who was unable, or
+unaccustomed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> to serving herself, and he feeling that to be tied up in a
+girl's pinafore and with bared arms set to washing dishes, peeling
+potatoes, and scrubbing floors was a disgrace. In vain did the stately
+old gentlewoman show him by her example that one could cook and clean
+and still be dignified; her grandson remained unconvinced and
+rebellious. He didn't believe that poor Alfaretta was sick. He knew she
+was shamming just to get out of her work and make him do it for her. And
+as for his being set to carry trays to a bound-out girl from the
+almshouse&mdash;that was the bitterest drop in his cup of woe. He had been
+sternly prohibited from "hectoring" the little maid, and the prohibition
+sat heavily upon him. So heavily, indeed, that no matter who had crossed
+his path when he was again liberated, that person was doomed to suffer
+what Alfy had been spared.</p>
+
+<p>That person proved to be "Kitty Quixote," never more worthy of her name
+than as she sat in the forest dreaming marvellous dreams of the future;
+of wrongs to be righted, of poverty banished, and all dependent upon the
+unknown contents of a brass bound box. Under other circumstances she
+would have rejoiced to see Montgomery, as the only young creature of her
+own species yet met in Marsden, but not with this wonderful mystery upon
+her mind. When he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> had appropriated a full half of her boulder,
+uninvited, she waited a moment, then icily inquired:</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you going?"</p>
+
+<p>"N-n-n-nowhere."</p>
+
+<p>"That's a good place. When?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, b-b-bime-by," answered the lad, with easy indifference.</p>
+
+<p>"You might be late," suggested Katharine, sweetly, yet inwardly longing
+to mimic his stammering speech.</p>
+
+<p>Then, all at once, she began to slide. There had been no perceptible
+movement on Montgomery's part. Assuming an indifference as great as his
+own, Katharine had leaned forward to inspect her second shoe-string, and
+afterward attempting to regain her former uprightness, felt, instead,
+that she was slipping downward. She landed angrily upon her feet, and,
+facing about, she upbraided him as a "rude, unmannerly boy."</p>
+
+<p>However, the mischief was done, her secret was out. Monty forgot his
+desire to "plague her" in his surprised curiosity. Bending over the box
+he examined it critically, and finally announced:</p>
+
+<p>"T-t-that's the most b-b-beautifullest thing I ever saw. W-where'd you
+get it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Found it. But it isn't mine. It's Aunt Eunice's, and I think you are
+horrid mean. I didn't want a person should know anything about it till I
+could put it into her own hands, and then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> you went and came. Now the
+whole charm of it is gone. Oh, dear!"</p>
+
+<p>Montgomery ignored her unflattering remarks, and, lifting the casket,
+exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"H-h-h-heavy! H-h-heavier 'n lead. What you s-s-s-suppose is in it?
+Where'd you find it? W-w-w-when?"</p>
+
+<p>Since secrecy was no longer possible, Kate was only too glad to tell
+everything, and now all desire for teasing had left the listener. He was
+even ashamed that he had forced the girl from the rock, though glad of
+the result, and in another instant both tongues were busy with
+speculation concerning the astonishing find.</p>
+
+<p>"It's so queer. It has no opening that I can see, for this broad band
+around the middle looks perfectly smooth, as if it were all in one
+piece. The band won't slip down nor up. The corners, the brass tips,
+don't budge. It's a perfect cube&mdash;let's measure. Yes. Just as big one
+way as another. The wood is as fine as satin and looks as if it had been
+polished to the last degree. Do you suppose it is brass or gold that
+trims it? And where, where did it come from? The earth on it was so
+fresh I don't believe that it had been buried but a little while, and
+oh, I'm just wild to know all about it. Come on. Let's go home. You may
+carry it part of the time. But don't drop it. Don't, for your life!"
+chattered the girl, placing the box in Monty's outstretched palms<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> and
+anxiously regarding his manner of holding it.</p>
+
+<p>His face was a study. Boys, in general, are supposed to be intensely
+practical and less gifted with imagination than girls, but this is a
+mistake. Youth is the time for air-castle building, and whether it be
+lad or lass who "dreams" there is but little difference. Poor Monty!
+Unable to put his soaring thoughts into speech as his companion so
+readily could, he had to be content with just thinking them. But as he
+turned his beautiful eyes upon her she understood all that he would have
+said and clapped her hands, crying ecstatically:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'm so glad! You're one can make-believe everything lovely, too! I
+see it. What fun we'll have! Let's begin at once. We're in the enchanted
+forest. We've been enchanted ourselves. But the fairy king has come and
+shown us where to find the magic treasure that will unlock the whole
+world for us and make us back into the real prince and princess that we
+are all the time, though other people don't know it. He has given us the
+magic box with the key in it, only he has forgotten to tell us how to
+open it. We are on our way now to the Wise Woman. The Wise Woman lives
+in the stone castle beyond the forest, and she will show us how to open
+the box and to use the key. Because the box was hers once, before she
+gave it to the fairy king to keep for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> us. She knew that one day we
+should come into the forest and that all would happen that has happened.
+That's what makes her the Wise Woman. She has lived a long, long time.
+So long that her hair is quite gray and there are wrinkles around her
+eyes. But the eyes are still clear and gentle and there is a pretty pink
+color in her cheeks. She wears a soft gray gown with an old-fashioned
+kerchief crossed over her breast, and sometimes, most always, there is a
+flower thrust into the lace kerchief. Her hands are white and slender
+and blue veined, but they look old, and her voice is sweet and gentle
+like her eyes. Yet sometimes&mdash;sometimes, when other people who are not
+at all wise but very troublesome come before the Wise One and displease
+her, a little sharp fire gets into the eyes and a sour little tang into
+the voice, and then the Troublesome One wishes she hadn't come!"</p>
+
+<p>They had been walking swiftly toward the village, for to Montgomery
+every step of the way was so familiar that he need not look for
+landmarks, and his eyes had remained fixed in fascination upon the
+girl's radiant face as she spun this fairy-tale without stop or
+hesitation. It had been as real to him as to her, but now there came
+over him a disappointment even more real. Pausing abruptly on the path,
+he burst forth, indignantly:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, f-f-f-fudge! That Wise Woman's nobody but Aunt Eu-Eu-Eu-nice!"</p>
+
+<p>At the same moment something heavy crashed through the underbrush, and a
+man fell sprawling at their feet.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE GRIT OF MOSES JONES</h3>
+
+
+<p>An axe flew gleaming through the air and Montgomery vanished, the brass
+bound box with him.</p>
+
+<p>Katharine was too startled to move, and stood listening to the
+distressing, almost blood-curdling groans which issued from the man's
+lips, as, for a moment, he lay face downward before her. Then she
+recognized the apparel of Moses Jones and bent over him pityingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Uncle Mose! What is the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>For only answer more groans, which presently began to thrill her with an
+unspeakable terror. What made him do that? What had befallen him? Was he
+dying, and she alone with him, there in the strange forest? The thought
+was torture, and, nerving herself to the task, she laid her hand upon
+him, though her repugnance to the act was a fresh torment. It had always
+been one of the girl's peculiarities that she could not bear to touch
+any ailing thing. She would wait upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> people who were ill most
+cheerfully, even eagerly, but she hated to come in personal contact with
+them. It had been so even in the case of her father whom she idolized,
+and had been one of the small items in stepmother's list against her.
+But she had heard so much upon the subject then, and of its enormity,
+that she had set herself to overcome the failing, since failing it was.
+And had poor Moses known it, she would almost rather have borne his pain
+herself than to have helped him turn upon his back as she did. To do
+more for him than this was impossible, and again she besought him to say
+how he was hurt.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, he opened his eyes and glanced about him, then angrily shook
+his fist toward a projecting tree-root which had been hidden from his
+sight by a group of ferns and over which he had stumbled.</p>
+
+<p>"That's it! That's the mis'able thing 'at done it!" he cried, then
+groaned again, but weakly. The pain had suddenly become so severe as to
+turn him faint while the brilliant branches overhead began to dance and
+sway before his dizzy sight as no wind could make them do. "I&mdash;I'm
+gettin' light-headed. Help me up, Keehoty. I'm broke. I'm broke all to
+smash. My leg&mdash;my side&mdash;oh, oh, ouch!"</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 341px;">
+<img src="images/i093.jpg" width="341" height="500" alt="&quot;&#39;I FEEL SO QUEER EVERY LITTLE SPELL, AN&#39; I MUST GET
+HOME&#39;&quot;" title="" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;&#39;I FEEL SO QUEER EVERY LITTLE SPELL, AN&#39; I MUST GET
+HOME&#39;&quot;</span>
+</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>His increasing pallor frightened Katharine till pity overcame
+repugnance, and with a strength unknown before she clasped her arms
+about his neck and struggled to lift him to his feet, all the while
+protesting: "You mustn't be broken! You can't be. Just a little crooked
+root like that and a big man like you. Not quite so hard, please! Not
+quite so tight! 'Cause you're pulling me down instead of me you up.
+There, that's better!"</p>
+
+<p>Susanna had often declared that Moses was "just like ary other man,
+scared to death if even his little toe ached," and it was true that he
+was so unused to illness that his few attacks of it had always
+frightened him. Yet now he realized that something far worse than
+ordinary had befallen, and that he must rally his grit and his strength
+together. With an heroic effort he got upon his feet&mdash;or foot, for one
+was useless, and braced himself against the tree-trunk beside them.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, sissy, go find an' fetch my axe that got flung off my shoulder
+when I stumbled. I didn't think when I brought it to chop with 'twould
+prove a crutch for broken bones. Oh, I wish we wasn't so far from home.
+I wish you'd kep' in the right road an' not come flarrickin' clear off
+here out the beaten track."</p>
+
+<p>"Why&mdash;isn't this the right, the shortest way back?" asked Katharine,
+surprised.</p>
+
+<p>"No, 'tain't. I s'pose all trees look alike to city gals, but don't stop
+to gabble. Find the axe. Pick up your basket. I feel so queer every
+little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> spell, an' I must get home. That shin-bone's broke, true as
+preachin', an' six seven my ribs, by the feel of 'em, for my foot
+wobbles 'round as if it was hung on a string, an' my side! The axe,
+Keehoty, the axe!"</p>
+
+<p>She found and brought it, weeping bitterly. She had never felt so sorry
+for anybody as for this brave old fellow who was now forcing himself to
+overcome his own misery for the sake of others. For when she begged him
+to stay still where he was and let her run to the village and bring
+somebody to help he vigorously refused.</p>
+
+<p>"Scare the hull community just 'cause I was fool enough to tumble down
+and crack my leg? Me, an old woodman, that'd ought to have some sense.
+An' Eunice! Why, 'twould scare Eunice out of a year's growth to see me
+fetched home 'stead of walkin' there on my own pins. Half a loaf's
+better'n no loaf, an' one leg's better'n none. As for my plaguey old
+ribs&mdash;they can take care themselves. But once we get there you just clip
+it to the doctor's an' have him come 'round an' patch me up. He'll have
+to do it so's I can be workin' reg'lar, 'cause I'm the only man there
+is. Besides, town meetin's comin' on, an'&mdash;My sake! I'm beat!"</p>
+
+<p>Beaten he was into the silence which he had dreaded, wherein he realized
+his own agony. He had kept talking to prevent thinking, but had now
+passed beyond that. By nods and glances he directed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> Kate along the
+shortest way, but it seemed to the sufferer as if the familiar big stone
+house grew steadily more distant rather than nearer.</p>
+
+<p>Katharine never forgot that walk. To her, also, the distance seemed
+interminable, and the firm clutch of his hand upon her shoulder for its
+support almost to break her own bones. His face, when she now and then
+glanced toward it, was pallid with suffering, but his lips were grimly
+shut, defying his own misery. As he shaved only once a week, on Sunday
+morning, his half-grown stubble of beard enhanced his pallor, but did
+not add to his beauty; and Katharine, reared among city folks who made
+such "Sunday habits" their every-day ones, felt something like disgust.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm awful sorry for him, but&mdash;but he looks horrid. And he hurts me,
+too. Oh, I wish we had never come into this dreadful forest, pretty as
+it is; but, joy! there's a house. We'll be in the village soon and at
+home. What will Aunt Eunice say? And where did that mean boy go?"</p>
+
+<p>As Katharine's thoughts ran on this wise they were steadily though
+slowly passing over the rough ground of the wood to the smoother fields
+beyond; and as they came in sight of the Maitland barns, there was
+Montgomery peeping around a corner and on the lookout for somebody. His
+release from confinement at home had been the result of Aunt Eunice's
+call, he having been permitted to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> walk home with her, and to spend the
+day with Katharine. Alfaretta was recovered and able to do her own
+dish-washing, and on the Monday the boy must return to school. So Madam
+had made him array himself once more in his best attire and had duly
+instructed him how young gentlemen of the Sturtevant race should conduct
+themselves toward young ladies of the Maitland family.</p>
+
+<p>Arrived at the stone mansion, Susanna had promptly sent the boy to the
+woods to hunt up his playmate, if he desired her, and in any case to
+remind Moses that he had gone off without killing the chicken for
+dinner.</p>
+
+<p>"You tell him to come right straight back here an' do it now, if he
+wants a bite to eat. I ain't never wrung a fowl's neck nor chopped off
+her head, nor Eunice hain't, nuther, an' we ain't a-goin' to begin at
+our time o' life. Killin' poultry or pigs, ary one, is man's work an'
+not woman's, an' so say to him 't if he wants his dinner he can come
+kill it. He's gettin' so forgetful lately 't he can't remember nothin'
+'cept fishin', an' though he took his axe along I 'low he'll do more
+threshin' nut-trees for that young one than choppin'; an' you remember,
+Montgomery Sturtevant, that you've got on your Sunday clothes; and no
+matter if your rich city relations do give 'em to you without no trouble
+to you nor your grandma, 'at you ought to take care of 'em<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> and keep 'em
+clean. Don't go climbin' trees with 'em on, but just pick up what's on
+the ground an' you'll eat enough then, fat white worms an' all, to make
+you sick. Katy, she can give you part her cookies, but don't you get
+carryin' on with her little basket, 'cause it was her pa's, an' she's
+goin' to set great store by it. Tell him it's half-past nine if it's a
+minute, an' them old fowls what we're killin' off first is ruther tough.
+I ought to have her in the pot right now, an' there she ain't caught
+yet, runnin' 'round the hen-yard at loose ends, an' I'll try to catch
+her an' that'll help, an&mdash;My suz! if that boy ain't half 'crost the
+pastur' an' me not done talkin' to him. The sassy thing! If I'd had my
+way makin' this world there wouldn't have been nobody in it 'cept girls,
+an' them grown up and come to their gumption. But that hen&mdash;I'll try
+catch her or she'll never be caught."</p>
+
+<p>Which was very true; as also the fact that before the garrulous
+housekeeper had more than suggested "chicken" and "chestnuts,"
+Montgomery had vanished to set them in train. After all, there might be
+compensations, he thought, for a day wasted upon a girl's society. There
+still seemed to linger upon his palate the flavor of Aunt Eunice's
+pullets, from which he had been despoiled by his first enforced call
+upon her ward, and though he had regretfully heard Susanna say "chicken"
+without the plural "s," he knew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> that, being himself "company," he would
+get his full share of the fowl, which he trusted might be a large one.</p>
+
+<p>Which explains his presence in the wood and his lingering in the
+barn-yard now, where he could command a first view of any person issuing
+from the forest on the shortest way home. He had retreated here after
+what he had supposed was a robber had fallen at his feet, and at the
+cost of a breathless run had preserved the mysterious brass bound box
+from theft. He had now safely hidden it in the hay-mow, and awaited
+Kate's return to tell her where. It had been almost beyond his power to
+keep the secret from Miss Maitland, even thus long, but loyalty to the
+discoverer had restrained him. And at last there she was coming across
+the pasture, Uncle Moses with her; and what was most astonishing, the
+pair were leaning upon one another in an intimacy which made Montgomery
+feel rather jealous.</p>
+
+<p>"F-f-f-fudge! I didn't know he liked g-g-girls! He's got his hand on her
+s-s-shoulder, an' my, how they do just c-c-cr-creep! Even the pug dog
+just bare w-w-waddles, like he's tuckered out," remarked the watching
+lad to Sir Philip, who had taken advantage of the day's warmth to visit
+the mouse-infested barn and now lay sunning himself on its southern
+threshold.</p>
+
+<p>But at the name of dog the Angora sniffed the air and withdrew with
+dignity to his throne<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> indoors. He had already learned that Punch knew a
+good cushion when he saw it; and, though early provided with one for
+himself, preferred the satin couch of Sir Philip to the carpet-covered
+one which Susanna declared "plenty good enough for ary dog humbly as
+that one." If Punch secured the cushion first he was not easily
+dislodged, and since his one great battle the Angora shrank from
+contest. Evidently Sir Philip judged discretion better than valor, and
+the behavior of the two animals afforded the family much amusement.</p>
+
+<p>Thus deserted of all society save his own thoughts, Monty fixed a keener
+attention upon the slowly advancing pair, and presently exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"F-f-fudge! Somethin's happened. Uncle Mose's leanin' on her; she's a
+h-h-helpin' him! She's a w-w-w-wav-in' to me like blazes! That's no
+'how-de-do' salute, that's a 'come r-r-right here' one! He's got his
+axe, looks like, an's l-l-leanin' on it. F-fudge! I bet he's chopped his
+foot 'stead of a t-t-tree!"</p>
+
+<p>Monty's legs flew up and down like the rapidly revolving spokes of a
+wheel as he hurried toward the man and girl. But after one hasty glance
+at the feet of Mr. Jones, and seeing no blood on either, he knew that
+whatever was amiss it was not what he had fancied. Without a word he
+seized the axe from its owner's trembling hand<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> and placed his own
+sturdy little shoulder in its place. Katharine was not crying now, but
+her anxiety altered her appearance strangely, and Moses was wholly past
+speech. Every nerve of his tortured body was strained to reach a spot
+where he could sink down and yield to the dreadful weakness which
+assailed him. Even the hard floor of the barn seemed a paradise of rest,
+and he fixed his eyes upon the wide doorway with a last effort of his
+will.</p>
+
+<p>He did reach it, but there both will and consciousness gave way to the
+strain of the last hour, though the story of his pluck and endurance was
+to make him more highly respected in his native town than he had ever
+been before.</p>
+
+<p>When he sank down fainting the children loosed their hold on either
+side, Montgomery standing still in a frightened wonder, but Kate
+hastening indoors for help. Rushing breathlessly into the sitting-room
+where Miss Eunice was quietly arranging some yellow 'mums in a quaint
+glass jar, she caught the lady's hand with a vehemence which sent the
+flowers in one direction, the pretty jar in another.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Aunt Eunice! Come quick, 'cause now he truly must be dead, after
+all. Quick, quick!"</p>
+
+<p>"Katharine&mdash;my dear! Why will you do such startling things? My precious
+jar that has held flowers for us these generations just rescued<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> from
+destruction! And the poor flowers themselves&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, don't bother! Please, please come. There's only Monty out there,
+and I&mdash;I did what I could, but he's dead, anyway."</p>
+
+<p>"Dead, child? Sir Philip dead?" asked Miss Maitland, her thoughts
+instantly reverting to the only ailing member of the household.</p>
+
+<p>"No, Aunt Eunice, but a person, a man&mdash;Uncle Moses."</p>
+
+<p>Then, indeed, did Eunice's own hand tremble so that she set the jar she
+had just preserved back on the mantel while her face paled in distress.
+But she caught the girl's guiding hand firmly in her own, called to
+Susanna in the kitchen, and on the brief journey to the "further barn"
+learned the main facts of the affair.</p>
+
+<p>Two hours later Katharine and Montgomery sat down in the kitchen to a
+dinner of bread and milk, while over the rest of the house hung a
+strange silence which made even its former quietude seem noisy by
+contrast. Aunt Eunice had gone to lie down, being greatly shaken by the
+sad accident, which, while being much less tragic than the death
+Katharine had reported, was trouble sufficiently serious. In the kitchen
+chamber above, Moses' own room, they could hear Susanna softly stepping
+about in list slippers, only the jar of the floor beams betraying her
+movements, and occasionally a muffled voice,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> strangely unlike the gruff
+tones of the hired man, would float down to them. Sir Philip lay purring
+himself to sleep, after a strenuous season of unrest, during which
+nobody had had time to protect him from mischievous Punch. As for the
+latter, he had been fatigued by his trip to and from the forest, as well
+as his man[oe]uvres with the Angora, and now took his own rest by
+sleeping with one eye open.</p>
+
+<p>The children themselves were weary. Katharine from the excitement of the
+morning, and Montgomery from physical exercise. He had never done so
+many useful things in his life as he had crowded into the space of two
+short hours. It was he who had summoned the doctor, run back and forth
+between that gentleman's office and Miss Maitland's house, carried a
+plain statement of facts to Madam Sturtevant, as well as a highly
+furbished one to every householder between the two mansions, and had
+manfully attended to Mr. Jones's noon "chores." He had, indeed, already
+a wild ambition to be engaged in the hired man's place, since the doctor
+said that that sufferer would be laid up in bed for at least three
+months.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd r-r-rather do chores any day than go to s-s-school," he announced
+to his companion, swallowing a large bit of bread at the same time, and
+thereby causing that young person to tilt her nose upwards,
+disdainfully.</p>
+
+<p>"You ought to be as nice in your manners out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> here alone with me as you
+would be in the real dining-room with Aunt Eunice and grown-up company,"
+she reproved, daintily balancing her own spoon with an ease which the
+other would scarcely admit to himself that he admired.</p>
+
+<p>"F-f-fudge. You ain't c-c-com&mdash;pany no more. You belong, don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I guess so. I begin to hope so, for this is the most delightfully
+happening place I ever was in. Though I never was in, to stay, but one
+other. First you fell over a precipice, and then I found a nest of
+little turkeys all dead, out in the black currant-bushes, Susanna says
+they are, that had stolen themselves&mdash;whatever that is. Then that
+mystery of a brass bound box; and now Uncle Moses breaking his bones,
+and so much going on. But&mdash;Montgomery Sturtevant! That box! What did
+become of it? Would we dare, do you suppose we might go back to the
+woods and find it? It was all your fault. If I hadn't let you carry
+it&mdash;All this about poor Uncle Moses has put it out of my mind, but now
+it comes back and it's more important than he is. I'm sure of it. We
+must find it. Come, quick!"</p>
+
+<p>Katharine pushed back from the table and; sprang to her feet, her
+weariness forgotten in this fresh anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>But Monty was neither anxious nor excited; at least, not about the box,
+though he held it scarcely less important than she did. He was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> busy
+over a "sum" in mental arithmetic, a branch of study he little favored,
+though it had now come to assume considerable importance to him. Yet the
+problem was beyond his capacity, though this keen-witted girl might
+solve it. He'd try her. Therefore, still gurgling his milk, he
+spluttered:</p>
+
+<p>"S-s-s-ay, Katy! if a man, if a m-m-man can earn a dollar a day doin'
+c-c-chores, all the c-c-chores, how much can a boy earn doin'
+h-h-ha-half of 'em?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not a single cent, if I had to pay him, and he were such a boy as you.
+A boy so mean he'd take a brass bound box out of a girl's hands and lose
+it for her, and then wouldn't budge to go get it. You do try me so,
+Montgomery! And there's one thing I know. That is, that if I had the
+management of you I'd break you of that detestable habit of stuttering,
+or know the reason why. It's all nonsense. You can talk as well as
+anybody else, only you're too lazy. Now, will you come?"</p>
+
+<p>To her surprise and to her shame, also, he neither resented her sharp
+speech nor her reply to his money question. Leaning forward, his blue
+eyes took on an earnestness which effectually dispelled all notion of
+vanity in their possessor, demanding:</p>
+
+<p>"C-c-c-could you do it? C-c-can you? <i>W-w-w-wi-will you?</i>"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I might, could, would, and should&mdash;if you'd go find my brass bound
+box!"</p>
+
+<p>"Cross your heart, honest Injun, h-h-hope to d-d-die?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. Neither one. Just plain 'Yes.' I know a way. I've read all about it
+in the Cyclopedia in the big bookcase. I hunted it up right away, that
+first day after the first night when I&mdash;I mocked you. I made up my mind
+then, and I never unmake minds, that if you'd be decent I'd cure you.
+It's nothing but a dreadful bad habit, anyway, and easy done. But not
+until you find my&mdash;the&mdash;Aunt Eunice's brass bound box."</p>
+
+<p>He was gone and back in a flash.</p>
+
+<p>Katharine, starting to follow, paused in the middle of the floor,
+arrested by the sight of him standing in one doorway with the glittering
+casket in his hands, and of Miss Maitland in another staring at that
+which he held as if she saw a ghost.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>HAY-LOFT DREAMS</h3>
+
+
+<p>All the pretty pink color which had hitherto tinged the lady's cheek had
+vanished, and she visibly trembled, so that Katharine darted forward to
+her support. But Aunt Eunice raised her hand protestingly, and tottered
+forward to the nearest chair. With dry, white lips, she asked in a voice
+so low it could barely be heard:</p>
+
+<p>"Montgomery Sturtevant, where&mdash;where did you find <i>that</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>Her appearance alarmed both the children, who fancied she, also, was
+about to faint as Moses had done, yet she did not fall nor did her gaze
+waver; and impelled by its sternness to make reply, Monty finally
+stammered:</p>
+
+<p>"H-h-h-hay-m-m-ow."</p>
+
+<p>"Hay-mow! Impossible!" returned Miss Maitland, becoming a bit more
+natural in appearance, while Kate indignantly turned upon her playmate,
+demanding and denying:</p>
+
+<p>"How dare you? He didn't. 'Twas I&mdash;under a tree in your own big forest.
+I dug it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> up and fetched it&mdash;he fetched&mdash;there wasn't a hay-mow anywhere
+near it. Oh, Aunt Eunice, it's the Magic Treasure. It holds the key to
+all the world&mdash;to all the good things in the world, anyway. And you're
+the wonderful Wise Woman will open it and let us use the gold and
+diamonds and precious stones to make all the poor people rich and glad.
+'Tis yours, I know, and quick, quick!"</p>
+
+<p>With a bound she seized the box from Monty's hands and brought it to the
+disturbed lady, who, when the girl would have placed it on her lap,
+recoiled as from some venomous thing.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no! Don't bring it to me. I wouldn't touch it. It has wrought evil
+already, and so great&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Then she abruptly paused and steadfastly regarded the quaint old casket
+which, as Katharine had discovered, seemed to have neither lock nor
+fastening, and was in itself a marvellous piece of mechanism. As she
+gazed her thought was busy as painful, but out of the chaos one idea at
+last grew clear: The Brass Bound Box must be safely hidden and none must
+know that it had ever been found. To hide it she would have to touch it,
+no matter how unwillingly. But the secret of its existence must be kept,
+although that secret was already in the possession of these two others.</p>
+
+<p>She called them to her and held out her hands<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> now for the box. They
+approached her with a sort of awe, for there was that still in her face
+which altered its ordinary kindliness. Not that it was unkind, for there
+was even more than usual sweetness in the glance she gave Montgomery,
+yet he felt as if he had been guilty of some terrible sin without in the
+least knowing what or why.</p>
+
+<p>"Children, you are young to be asked to promise so serious a thing as I
+now ask you, but you must promise it, and you must keep your word. Will
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I never broke my word in my life, Aunt Eunice! I wouldn't begin now
+after I've grown to be such a big girl," said Katharine, promptly. "But
+it's honest to tell you I hate promises, and I never feel so tempted to
+lie as when I've made one. I'd rather not promise, if you please; and I
+guess&mdash;I guess I'd rather not hear any secret. I'll go out and let you
+tell it to Monty alone."</p>
+
+<p>Montgomery shot out a restraining hand and clutched her vanishing
+skirts, while a faint smile stole to Miss Maitland's lips at this
+evidence of moral cowardice. The boy felt, and with justice, that it was
+"Kitty Quixote" who had got him into this scrape, with her wild woodland
+adventures and her fairy-tales, and that it was but fair she should
+share in it.</p>
+
+<p>"Unfortunately, you already know it. What you must promise is&mdash;that you
+will never, never speak of this box or its strange reappearance to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> any
+person, young or old. I shall put it out of sight where it will not be
+easily found again, and then forget it. You must forget it, too. You are
+Sturtevant and Maitland, descendants of honorable men and women, and for
+the sake of your forebears you must hide this thing."</p>
+
+<p>It was all so solemn that Katharine shivered, yet could not help
+wondering a little. "Forebears"&mdash;that meant dead people; and how could
+it harm people already dead to have that box found, even supposing it to
+be full of poisons or other dreadful stuff, as she now began to imagine?</p>
+
+<p>Now, if Kate merely shivered and speculated, poor Montgomery was in an
+ague. When he fixed his great eyes upon Aunt Eunice's face they were so
+full of terror that she pitied him, and tried to comfort, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Don't look so frightened, dear. It's only to keep from speaking of what
+has happened this morning. That's easy, isn't it? Besides, you are so
+young you will not remember long. Other things will drive it from your
+minds. At least, I trust so. In any case, you are in honor bound."</p>
+
+<p>With that she rose as if to dismiss them, and went away toward the
+seldom used west wing of the great house, carrying the box with her. Her
+step was no longer uncertain, but firm and decided. A terrible situation
+had suddenly confronted her, and made, for a moment, even her clear
+judgment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> dim; but she had swiftly weighed the consequences, pro and
+con, and had settled the wisest course to follow.</p>
+
+<p>Left alone, these young "descendants of honorable men and women"
+regarded one another in dismay; and Montgomery was the first to speak,
+crying out with all the intensity words could express:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, ain't it a-a-aw-ful!"</p>
+
+<p>"Huh! I don't see anything 'awful' about it, 'cept your hanging on to me
+and making me stay whether or no. That was a dirty mean trick&mdash;keeping
+me here when I might have got away without hearing."</p>
+
+<p>"Y-y-you knew it a'ready. An' it <i>was</i> in the h-h-h-hay-mow. I'd hid it
+there the min-ute I g-g-got to the barn, waitin' for y-y-you. But come
+out there n-now. I've got s-s-s-somethin' to tell you," said the unhappy
+lad, far too disturbed to resent her sharpness. At which she became
+instantly regretful, and slipped her arm consolingly within his, as they
+walked toward the great barn, which had from the first seemed to the
+city girl the most delightful of structures.</p>
+
+<p>It was further proof of Monty's dejection that he did not jerk his arm
+away, nor would he have cared at all who saw him thus being petted by a
+"girl." However, once arrived at the great sun-lighted doorway, and
+secure even from Susanna's ears, the trouble came out.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, w-w-what shall I do? I've told it all over t-t-town, a'ready, an'
+it's no s-s-se&mdash;cret at all!"</p>
+
+<p>Katharine stuck her arms akimbo and stared mercilessly at the abject
+creature before her, who seemed to droop and wilt under her gaze as if
+he were sinking through the hay-strewn floor.</p>
+
+<p>"You told it?" she repeated, indignantly.</p>
+
+<p>Monty nodded mournful acquiescence.</p>
+
+<p>"Then you&mdash;you&mdash;you ought to be set washing dishes again, and kept at it
+for the rest of your life. So there."</p>
+
+<p>One blue eye was raised a trifle in surprise. How in the world had she
+known that? He didn't remember mentioning the cause of his recent
+retirement from public life, indeed, he was positive that this had been
+a "secret" really worth keeping. However, it didn't matter now. Nothing
+mattered except that he, who came of such "honorable" people, had
+betrayed his friends.</p>
+
+<p>"W-w-what'll happen, s'pose?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," answered Kate, slowly. "Something dreadful ought. For
+before it was Aunt Eunice's secret the box was my secret, too. I was the
+first who should have told it, and only to her. You had no right to
+speak of it till I gave you leave."</p>
+
+<p>"Un-un-uncle Mose broke his bones, and I h-h-had to go 'round, didn't I?
+An' when I told<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> about him the o-o-other j-j-j-just slipped out itself.
+T-t-t-that's all."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph! 'All!' And more mischief done than you or I can guess, maybe.
+For though I can't imagine why Aunt Eunice should be so overcome and
+anxious at sight of just a box, there must be some good reason. She has
+seen that box before and it doesn't suggest pleasant memories to her.
+That's plain. She would have been glad if it had never been found, and
+all my pretty romance about treasure and helping people turns out just
+horrid. I wish I had never gone to that wood, then things wouldn't have
+happened. The box would have stayed in its hole, I wouldn't have hurried
+home with it by the long wrong way and met you, and poor Uncle Moses
+wouldn't have followed nor fallen over that root. Aunt Eunice would have
+been like the saying, 'Where ignorance is bliss,' and wouldn't have been
+worried so, and we shouldn't have been forbidden to tell things that I
+wouldn't have cared to tell, if I hadn't been forbidden. And, oh, dear!
+What a terrible hard world it is! and what a lovely old barn! I
+think&mdash;Do you suppose I could climb up that hay-mow? Susanna's sure
+there are hens' nests 'stolen' up there, and she needs the eggs. I wish
+we could find them. I wish we could do something&mdash;anything that is
+pleasant and so helps us to 'forget,' as Aunt Eunice wished us to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> do.
+But I guess I can't climb much. I never had a chance to try."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll s-s-show you!" cried the lad, eagerly, and delighted to think
+there was something in which he could excel this clever city girl. With
+a bound he had risen from the floor, where both had sat during the last
+of their talk, had promptly spit upon his palms and rubbed them
+together, then leaped to catch an upright beam. "Shinnying" up to the
+slippery mow with real agility, he there paused and regarded Katharine
+with an expression of great pride. But instead of admiration her mobile
+countenance expressed only disgust, and to his question, "H-h-how's
+that?" she retorted: "Nasty, dirty thing! You go wash your hands before
+you touch a single one of our eggs!"</p>
+
+<p>"'O-o-our' eggs!" repeated Monty, scornfully, to hide his own chagrin.
+"H-h-how long since th-th-they were 'ours'?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear! Do come down and wash, and let's quit quarrelling. Seems as
+if we never could agree about things, yet we must. We've got to be
+friends if we have to keep Aunt Eunice's secret, for even though you did
+tell it before it was hers you needn't make it worse and speak of it
+again. If anybody asks you about it now, all you must do is to keep
+perfectly still. Not say a word. Let them think what they please, but
+don't you talk. Now, isn't there any other way to go upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> the hay
+except by that beam? The Widow Sprigg said she was going up there
+herself soon as she got time, and I'm sure she doesn't do what you did."</p>
+
+<p>"C-c-couldn't do it with&mdash;out," asserted the climber, referring to the
+moistening operation.</p>
+
+<p>"I mean she would never 'shinny' up a straight, slivery beam."</p>
+
+<p>"Huh! I s'pose there's a l-l-lad-der, do for g-g-girls," asserted
+Montgomery, indifferently.</p>
+
+<p>"Then show it to me and I'll begin to teach you how not to stammer."</p>
+
+<p>He looked at her sharply, but there was such perfect sincerity in her
+face that he accepted her promise joyfully, and led her to the rear of
+the barn where a rude but strong ladder led from the "bay" at the bottom
+to the top of the hay, almost touching the roof. Jumping from the higher
+board floor of the barn into this bay Montgomery ran nimbly up the
+perpendicular ladder, which was so straight it seemed fairly to tilt
+backwards, like an overerect person, and Katharine followed as best she
+might. She was afraid but determined, and, though the slippery blades of
+the dried grass fell over the rounds of the ladder, making foothold
+difficult, she managed to reach the level beneath the eaves and was
+pulled over into safety by the boy.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't this delightful? I was never in such a lovely place before, so
+smelly and sweet and warm.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> I don't wonder hens like it up here, though
+it's scarey coming up. Don't you think so?" she asked, looking around
+upon the lofty mow with curious gaze.</p>
+
+<p>"S-s-scarey? Pooh! That's 'cause you're a girl. G-g-g-irls wasn't made
+to climb. B-boys were. I can climb first-rate. Yes, sir. I c-c-can climb
+anything. I can cl-cl-climb any tree in Aunt Eu-Eu-Eunice's woods. I can
+climb any tree in Deacon Meakin's woods. I&mdash;I can climb all the trees in
+Sq-Sq-Squ-Squire Petti&mdash;john's woods, top the mountain. I can climb any
+tree in the whole w-w-world! I c-c-co-could climb the church steeple!"</p>
+
+<p>Katharine listened to this boastful statement with interest. She not
+only believed it, but had observed that as Montgomery neared his climax
+his stammering became less pronounced. This coincided with the
+Cyclopedia and suggested the first lesson she should give. But she had
+herself "climbed" to this height for another matter besides instruction.
+To descend with a quantity of fresh eggs for Susanna's depleted larder
+would be to bring one ray of sunshine into that darkened house. For as
+the widow had pertinently inquired of the hired man, only the night
+before, "How can a body cook good victuals without ingrejunce? An'
+what's the greatest ingrejunce in punkin pies if it ain't eggs? Or cake,
+uther?" to which Moses had jocularly replied: "It might<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> be punkin or
+flour." And again, Susanna: "My suz! But you air smart, ain't ye? Well,
+eggs I haven't, an' eggs I shall an' must. An' up that loft I go,
+tromple or no tromple the hay, an' before the sun sets another time on
+this deceivin' world."</p>
+
+<p>Therefore, eggs Katharine would obtain and then instruct; and,
+announcing this decision, Montgomery did his best to aid her in the
+search. Nor was it unsuccessful. There were three nests, safely placed
+beneath the eaves where their builders had supposed in their hen-minds
+that no human being would ever come, while another adventurous fowl had
+lazily scooped a hole in the very centre of the mow and deposited her
+eggs. In any case, eggs there were in abundance, and, having filled
+Montgomery's pockets and Kate's hat with them, they took their own
+well-earned rest upon the fragrant hay beneath the slatted window.</p>
+
+<p>Sunshine and air came through it, and the song of birds in the trees;
+and beyond another distant wide-opened shutter they could see the roofs
+of village homes and the spire of the church which Monty felt he could
+so easily climb. There, all anxiety forgotten, they dreamed dreams and
+saw visions; and in each and all they were both to be good and great and
+world beneficent.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 344px;">
+<img src="images/i118.jpg" width="344" height="500" alt="&quot;THERE, ALL ANXIETY FORGOTTEN, THEY DREAMED DREAMS AND
+SAW VISIONS&quot;" title="" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;THERE, ALL ANXIETY FORGOTTEN, THEY DREAMED DREAMS AND
+SAW VISIONS&quot;</span>
+</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I shall be a great artist some day. As great as my father, or maybe, if
+one could be&mdash;even greater. Because, you see, poor papa had to work for
+money, not for love of his art. I've heard him say so, time and time
+again. When he wanted to paint great pictures he had to paint mean
+little ones, such as common persons liked and would buy. 'Pot boilers'
+he called them, because they brought the cash, the 'fuel,' to keep the
+'pot' a-boiling. Course, we had to have clothes and a house and things
+to eat, and nobody to buy them except papa darling. Maybe, up in heaven,
+he is painting his 'great picture' now. What do you suppose?" asked
+Katharine, gazing through the slats at the blue sky overhead.</p>
+
+<p>"I d-d-don't know much about heaven. I never had time to think.
+T-t-t-th-there's always so much doin'," answered Monty. Yet, following
+Katharine's rapturous gaze skyward, his own blue eyes had filled with
+dreamy speculation, and he began to picture to himself the wonders of
+that world beyond Marsden village which he meant sometime to find.</p>
+
+<p>"B-b-but I'll tell you somethin', Katy Maitland. I'm not goin' to stay
+here always. I'm goin' to be a big man and&mdash;and do things," he observed,
+after a prolonged meditation.</p>
+
+<p>"How big? What things?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! Big as they g-g-grow. Big as the postmaster. B-b-big as
+Sq-Sq-Squ-Squire Petti&mdash;john. I'm goin' to be either a s-s-sailor,
+or&mdash;maybe P-P-Pr-President."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"If you're President you'll be a&mdash;a, what is it they call them?
+Politicalers, I guess," returned the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"P-p-p-pol-er-tic&mdash;ian," corrected Montgomery, with stuttering
+eagerness.</p>
+
+<p>Katharine accepted the correction without comment, though her lips
+twitched and her eyes twinkled; and after a pause she continued:
+"Politicians can do things. They can get folks elected. Anybody to
+anything. Plain storekeepers to be postmasters; postmasters to be
+Senators; Senators to be Presidents; and&mdash;and hired men to be
+constables. Can't they?"</p>
+
+<p>"Y-y-yes. Why?"</p>
+
+<p>Katharine sat upright so suddenly that her hat rolled over and the eggs
+spilled from it. However, the hay was soft, and no harm was done, nor
+was her enthusiasm cooled by a trifle of that sort. Clasping her hands
+ecstatically, she exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"We must do it! You and I must get Uncle Moses Jones elected constable.
+Now, while he's sick, for a surprise. Won't that be grand?"</p>
+
+<p>"Grand!" assented Montgomery, with such eagerness that he forgot to trip
+in his speech. Then doubt and stammering returned together. "W-w-we
+c-c-c-couldn't."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, we could, if we had any s-s-sp-spunk!" retorted Katharine,
+heartlessly. "Folks have to be little politicians before they are big
+ones,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> I suppose, just like children before they are grown-ups. Well,
+you're a little politician now, a teeny tiny one, and it will be just
+splendid practice for you to get a village constable elected. I believe
+that although Uncle Moses and even Aunt Eunice speak so proudly of that
+office, that it isn't as great as some others. I don't know, and I
+wouldn't care at all except for him. But we must do it. I've heard him
+talking with Widow Sprigg how that now the 'law was changed,' 'town
+meeting' was no 'great shakes' any more, for the Presidents and
+constables all got mixed in together till a 'body couldn't tell t'other
+from which.' For his part he'd 'ruther be 'lected in the spring when
+crops was growin' an' tramps a-trampin', though if he was forced into
+it, better one time than never,' and a lot more funny grumble. She told
+him not to worry, that he'd never be 'forced,' much as he'd like it.
+I've decided that he must be elected, and without any 'forcing,' and
+I've the splendidest plan you ever heard. First, I'll give you a lesson.
+Then I'll tell you, else you'll believe I'm forgetting my promise. I'm
+not. I'm only considering the best way to begin. Well, Montgomery
+Sturtevant, that bad habit of yours comes from laziness and nervousness.
+Pure laziness, pure nervousness," she added, with emphasis.</p>
+
+<p>"D-d-don't neither!" denied the stammerer, indignantly. "Ain't got no
+nerves. G-gr-gramma<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> says so, and she knows. She's older 'n you, an'
+she's got 'em worst kind. Always gets 'em when I play the f-f-fiddle."</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe there are two kinds of nerves. She doesn't stammer. Besides
+the Cyclopedia said so, and it tells the truth. Here. Put this
+pebble in your mouth. It's a nice smooth round one. I picked it
+up in the garden and washed it clean. You put it in and then say
+just&mdash;as&mdash;slow&mdash;as&mdash;slow: 'Betsy Bobbins baked a batch of biscuit.'
+After you learn to say it slow, without once stammering, then you begin
+to say it faster. Either that or any other jingle that's difficult
+without tripping. 'She sells sea-shells,' or, 'Peter Piper.' Why don't
+you put the pebble in?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want t-to. You're mocking me!"</p>
+
+<p>"There! I knew you needn't if you really wouldn't. When you are a little
+angry or in real earnest you can talk well. Listen to me and think if
+I'm not in earnest myself, since I took the trouble to copy all this for
+you."</p>
+
+<p>Thereupon, from the little pocket of her blouse, which had held the
+pebble, the teacher took a folded paper, closely covered with her
+neatest script, and read therefrom paragraphs which alternately plunged
+her pupil into despair or exalted him to extravagant delight. And the
+fortunate result of this first lesson was that when it was ended
+Montgomery had repeated an entire<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> sentence with reasonable smoothness.
+But he had accomplished this without the pebble and with almost
+interminable pauses between words.</p>
+
+<p>"Yet you did it, you did it!" cried Katharine, exultantly; "and now for
+a reward you shall hear the most glorious plan I ever thought out.
+Listen to me, Mr. President-that-is-to-be!"</p>
+
+<p>So Montgomery listened in astonishment, doubt, and delight, after his
+habit of mind; yet also, because of her zeal in his cure, with
+unquestioning allegiance. In any case, it was a scheme that would have
+appealed to him irresistibly and was one full worthy of the brain of
+"Kitty Quixote," so that he was fast outstripping even her ingenuity in
+the matter of detail, when the sudden call of Widow Sprigg fell like a
+dash of cold water upon their glowing spirits:</p>
+
+<p>"Montgomery Sturtevant! You come right down out that mow this minute!
+Here's Squire Pettijohn after you!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+<h3>SQUIRE PETTIJOHN</h3>
+
+
+<p>Katharine should have grown familiar, by this time, with Monty's
+spasmodic disappearances, but this last was the most amazing of all. It
+seemed that at the sound of "Pettijohn" the hay had opened and swallowed
+him. There had been no other summons and she had heard only a faint
+swish of something sliding, then found herself alone.</p>
+
+<p>"But he'll come back, of course," she reflected, "after he's seen that
+gentleman. Must have been somebody he liked or he wouldn't have hurried
+so. Anyway, I don't mind being here a little while by myself to think
+things out all clear, and a hay-mow is the loveliest place in the world
+for dreaming."</p>
+
+<p>It proved such in reality for Katharine, who, burrowing herself a fresh,
+chair-like "nest" in the sweet-scented hay, laid her head back and fixed
+her gaze upon the clouds floating above the slatted window. Soon her
+lids dropped and she fell fast asleep.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When she awoke the loft was dusky in twilight and she was very cold. The
+wind had risen, and little tufts of the hay about her blew here and
+there, clinging to her clothing and lodging among her short curls.
+Montgomery had not returned, and after lying still a moment longer, till
+she was fully awake, she grew frightened, thinking:</p>
+
+<p>"I never heard such a moaning and whistling as the wind does make up
+here. I wonder if it is always so in a barn, and how I am to get down.
+It was hard enough coming up, but in the dark, like this, and I not
+remembering just where that ladder was; and if I don't find it&mdash;what
+shall I do? Yet how silly to be afraid of things, a big girl like me;
+and how impolite of that boy to go away and forget me. No matter how
+much he likes Squire Pettijohn, he shouldn't forget his manners;
+especially since it is I, not that gentleman, who is going to cure him
+of stuttering. And what a stupid I am not to call him! If he's forgotten
+I must remind him."</p>
+
+<p>With that she crept as near the edge of the mow as she dared, and
+shouted: "Montgomery! Monty Sturtevant! Boy! Come back and help me
+down!"</p>
+
+<p>While she listened for a reply she thought of the eggs she had collected
+for Susanna, and crawled back to find her hat and them. The hat she
+slipped over her head, its elastic band clasping her throat, and the
+eggs she stored within her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> blouse. They were heavy and made it sag
+inconveniently, but she could soon get rid of them if only that wretched
+little Sturtevant boy would come back. She must try again!</p>
+
+<p>"Mon-ty! <i>Mont&mdash;gom&mdash;ery!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Nothing save the wind soughing dismally among the rafters responded to
+her call, uttered with her loudest voice, and a fresh shiver of fear
+crept over her. Then she rallied, growing angry, which, under the
+circumstances, was the best thing that could have happened. Her
+indignation made her half-forget her terror so that she could plan her
+descent with something like courage.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me think. I noticed that the top of that straight little ladder
+came high above the hay, almost to the roof in one place. I'd better get
+on my stomach and just crawl along, ever so slowly and carefully, till I
+find it. But&mdash;hark! Oh, joy!"</p>
+
+<p>From somewhere in the darkness below a familiar yelp and whine sounded
+faintly. The roaring of the wind almost drowned it, yet she recognized
+that Punch had traced and followed her. She had always loved him, but
+never had he been so adorable as at that moment. His unseen presence
+comforted her so that she called back to him quite cheerfully:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you precious, beautiful dog! Mistress is up here. She's coming!
+Wait for her, darling, darling fellow!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It is possible that the ugly-favored little animal appreciated this
+flattery, or he may have had troubles of his own which needed
+comforting. Since his arrival at Marsden, life had not been all
+chop-bones for him any more than it had been all catnip for Sir Philip,
+and the short, gay bark with which he now responded to his mistress' cry
+proved their mutual satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>At last, Katharine's cautious passage came to a pause as her fingers
+touched the ladder, but she realized that a misstep would send her over
+that precipice of hay into the bay below, which now seemed a gulf of
+unfathomable depth. Inch by inch, with greater prudence than she had
+ever exercised, she moved onward in the gloom, now become almost
+impenetrable, till she got one foot upon a round of the ladder.</p>
+
+<p>"That's good. But I guess I'd see better if I closed my eyes, and I must
+go down it backwards. Now I've both feet on and&mdash;dear me! How far it is
+between steps. Why don't people put their rounds closer together, so
+they wouldn't be so hard to climb? I was never on a ladder before except
+a step one, and that not often, and&mdash;But I'll manage."</p>
+
+<p>Manage she did and very well, until she had nearly reached the bottom.
+Then, pushing her foot downward where one of the rounds had been broken
+out, it found nothing to rest upon though she stretched it to her
+utmost, and all at once<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> everything seemed to give way and she fell
+backwards. Fortunately, the distance was so slight and the bay so
+carpeted with hay that no serious harm resulted; and when a cold wet
+nose was thrust into her face she sprang to her feet, catching Punch in
+her arms and in her great relief caressing him till he rebelled and
+wriggled himself free.</p>
+
+<p>The wind did not roar so loudly down there, and, presently, she could
+hear things; the sound of somebody moving about on the barn floor, the
+opening and shutting of feed-boxes and stalls, the swish of fodder
+forked to the cows in the shed beyond, and could also see the gleam of
+lantern-light as it was carried to and fro.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello!" cried Katharine, hurrying to the square window through which
+she and Montgomery had leaped into the deep bay, but whose lower frame
+even was so far above her head that she could only touch it by
+stretching her arms to their utmost. She had thought it a big jump then
+and had not considered how she was to return, but now the full
+difficulty of the situation presented itself, and her heart sank.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Punchy, dearest! I guess this is a good deal like Susanna's saying,
+'out of the frying-pan into the fire.' Off the hay-mow into the bay. I
+don't see why folks build barns such ways. Why don't they have just
+regular straight floors and things? Wait, pet. Don't rub against my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>
+ankles so hard, you nearly knock me over. The man'll come back in a
+minute and help us up. I don't see how you ever got down here unless you
+fell down. Hello! Man! <i>Man!</i> Hel&mdash;lo! HELP!"</p>
+
+<p>The lantern glimmer appeared once more, but at the extreme end of the
+building, and seemed rapidly receding. Then there came the sound of a
+heavy door slammed forcibly against the wind, the rasp of a bolt in its
+lock, and Katharine knew that she had not been heard, and that she had
+been shut up alone in the great, desolate place.</p>
+
+<p>It was not liking for Squire Pettijohn which had caused Montgomery to
+vanish when called to meet him. Quite the reverse. The name of that man
+of mighty girth and stature struck terror into the soul of every young
+Marsdenite. He was a person of fierce temper and a propensity for
+managing his neighbors' affairs, especially the affairs of his youthful
+neighbors. Report said that his wealth equalled his temper, and that the
+two together made most of the villagers stand in awe of him is certain.
+It was his boast that he represented the cause of law and order in his
+native town, and he often wondered how it had gotten along before he was
+born, or how it would manage when he was dead.</p>
+
+<p>That day he had come home from attending court and found the community
+in a ferment. It would have been excited even by the news of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> Moses'
+accident and pluck, but the tidings of treasure-finding, scattered
+broadcast by Montgomery during the morning's errands, had stirred its
+profoundest depths.</p>
+
+<p>When the lawyer tied his horse at the post-office, he was greeted by
+statements as various as many. "Miss Maitland has discovered a gold mine
+on her property;" "Monty Sturtevant has dug up buried treasure in
+Eunice's woods;" "'Johnny' Maitland's girl has been sent home to fetch
+Eunice a box of diamonds;" and "There's been gold found right here in
+Marsden township."</p>
+
+<p>These were but the beginnings of the garbled reports which a
+gossip-loving lad had originated; yet all pointed to one and the same
+thing,&mdash;Marsden would now become famous. So that more than ever Squire
+Pettijohn felt it good to be a great man in the right place. In all the
+newspaper notices which would follow, his name, also, would appear, and
+notoriety was what he coveted.</p>
+
+<p>Having listened to one and all versions with fierce attention, he
+repaired to his dinner and consumed it in a silence which his observant
+wife knew betokened affairs of unusual weight. But it was not until he
+finished his dessert and pushed back from table that he informed her:</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to Eunice's. Vast wealth has been found upon her premises,
+and she needs me.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> Deny me to all smaller clients until further notice."</p>
+
+<p>Then, assuming his Sunday attire and stiffest stock, he set pompously
+forth down the tree-bordered street, caning a stray dog here, there
+reprimanding a boy who might be playing "hookey,"&mdash;though was not,&mdash;and
+shaking his fist at old Whitey, taking her accustomed stroll in and out
+of inviting dooryards. Yet when he came to the wider yard before the
+stone house something of his complaisance left him. "He and Eunice
+Maitland had never hitched." She was always perfectly courteous, and
+never failed to attend the sewing-meetings of the church when they were
+held at his house, and she had even been heard to say that she had "a
+great respect for Mrs. Pettijohn." She might have put a peculiar
+emphasis upon the "Mrs.," but then, everybody has his or her tricks of
+speech which mean nothing.</p>
+
+<p>There was no door-bell at The Maples, but a polished brass knocker
+announced the arrival of any visitor; and it seemed to the worried Widow
+Sprigg as if that "plaguey knocker had done nothin' but whack the hull
+endurin' time sence Moses got hurt. I wonder who 'tis this time!"</p>
+
+<p>Consequently, the door was opened with more impatience than courtesy as
+it now heralded the arrival of the Squire, who was for passing at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> once
+into the hall had not something in Susanna's manner caused him to
+hesitate.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Maitland. Is she at home? Will you present my card to her and say
+that I have called in person&mdash;in person&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't see how you could have called any other way," answered the
+greatly tried housekeeper, remembering him rather as "little Jimmy
+Pettijohn," whom her own mother had used to feed and befriend, than as
+the important personage he had since become.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Susanna, my good woman, you were always facetious! I would like to
+see your mistress. Please announce me to her and conduct me to the
+drawing-room."</p>
+
+<p>It was a mistaken tone and the widow hesitated at no rudeness which
+would protect the beloved "friend" with whom she dwelt, and whom it was
+her privilege to openly call by the familiar title of "Eunice," which
+this "Jimmy" dared not do save behind the lady's back.</p>
+
+<p>"We hain't got no drawin'-room here, an' Eunice ain't seein' no more
+folks to-day, not if I can help it. I'm sure she won't see no men folks,
+anyway. We've been overrun with them, a'ready, just 'cause Moses has
+broke his leg and a few his ribs. Accidents happen to anybody if they're
+keerless, an' he admits he was. But he's as comfortable as can be
+expected, thank ye, and good day."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But, Susanna, not so fast. I came to offer my services in regard to
+this&mdash;er&mdash;gold mine which the little Baltimore girl has discovered."</p>
+
+<p>"W-h-a-t?" gasped the widow in utter amazement. Had the man taken leave
+of his senses?</p>
+
+<p>"The gold mine, or&mdash;or hidden treasure&mdash;or casket of diamonds,&mdash;reports
+vary; yet all agree in the fact that extraordinary wealth has been
+unearthed in the old Maitland woods. Of course, Eunice being unused to
+the management of large affairs and only a woman&mdash;a woman&mdash;she would
+appreciate the help of an experienced man. I trust my advice may prove
+of benefit to her."</p>
+
+<p>The Widow Sprigg listened with an attention that would have been
+flattering had not her face evinced her incredulity. As it was, she
+stood for a brief time, staring over her spectacles at the big man, as
+if gazing at some curiosity, then she laughed, scornfully:</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Squire, upon my word I'm sorry for ye! Though I don't know who
+'twas 'at made a fool of ye, but fool you have been made, and no
+mistake. Such a balderdash as that! Why, man alive, don't you s'pose if
+anything worth findin' had been found on Eunice's property she'd ha'
+told me the first one? An' me an' her livin' like sisters, so to speak,
+even sence I growed up, savin' the spell whilst Mr. Sprigg, he was
+alive. Two years I spent in my own house 't Mr. Sprigg he built, on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> his
+own piece of woodland 'j'inin' hers, and she buyin' it off me soon's he
+departed. The prettiest little house in the hull township, 'tis, too,
+an' where I 'xpect to end my days if I outlive her, which I hope I
+won't. An' her needin' business 'advice,' indeed! When there ain't a man
+in Marsden, let alone all the women, can hold a candle to her for
+gumption an' clear-headedness. An' her sayin' to me then, 'Susanna, it
+will do you more good to sell to me an' put your money out to int'rest
+'an to have a lot of wuthless land on your hands, an' you shall keep the
+little cottage for your own as long as you live.' So we done it, an' she
+paid me more'n the market price; an' has left me the house all
+untouched, with my own furniture in it, an' me goin' out there twicet a
+year for spring an' fall cleanin,' an' even leavin' the kitchen-bedroom
+bed made up, case I get the hypo an' feel like bein' by myself a spell."</p>
+
+<p>"I know, I know, Susanna. I've heard of Eunice's generosity to you, and
+of your whimsical retention of an empty house. You ought to let it to
+some decent tenant and get some benefit of it. Upon second thoughts, I
+would advise you to sell it. Now that this treasure has been found you
+might realize well on it. I&mdash;Why, I don't know but I might be induced to
+take it off your hands myself, just to do a friendly deed to an old
+schoolmate."</p>
+
+<p>Squire Pettijohn had managed to stem the tide<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> of her garrulity long
+enough to interpose this speech of his own, and to act upon an idea
+which had just occurred to him. The value of the old Maitland forest
+would leap to fabulous height if the rumor that gold had been discovered
+there proved true. But he did not intend to offer much for the "deserted
+cabin," convenient though it might be to the possible mine, upon the
+strength of a mere rumor, and even though the chance existed of the same
+vein of wealth extending even so far. He would first get confirmation of
+the story from Miss Maitland's own lips and would then act with his eyes
+open.</p>
+
+<p>He was not succeeding very well in his errand of "neighborly kindness,"
+for Susanna still held the door so nearly closed that he could not force
+an entrance, even though he kept his foot firmly in the aperture. The
+woman still regarded him with a pitying amusement; yet gradually
+curiosity got the better of her common sense, which told her that he was
+the victim of some hoax, and she inquired:</p>
+
+<p>"Who told you such a yarn, Squire?"</p>
+
+<p>"Please admit me. I am not accustomed to being kept on people's
+thresholds when I take time out of my busy life to call upon them; and
+no one person in especial told me. The talk is in everybody's mouth, and
+the whole village has gone wild over the matter."</p>
+
+<p>"But it must have had some sort o' beginnin'.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> Wild goose gabble like
+that don't spring full-fledged out the ground, I know. Who&mdash;started the
+ridic'lous business?" persisted the housekeeper, almost unconsciously
+opening the door somewhat wider.</p>
+
+<p>Squire Pettijohn improved this opportunity and made his way into the
+hall before she remembered that she had not intended to admit him. In
+any case, she instantly reflected he shouldn't see her mistress, whom he
+had had the impertinence to speak of as "Eunice."</p>
+
+<p>But her reflection came too late. Miss Maitland was already descending
+the wide stairs, and had paused at the half-way landing, to observe who
+was this latest visitor of the many who had called to ask for Moses.
+Called, also, it may be, to learn something further concerning the
+interesting "treasure."</p>
+
+<p>But none save this gentleman had ventured to speak to her of what was,
+in reality, her own affair, and she had not encouraged inquirers to
+remain. Privacy had never seemed so desirable to her as on that fateful
+morning nor so difficult to maintain; and though there was no rudeness,
+her neighbors went away with the feeling that:</p>
+
+<p>"Eunice Maitland's just as proud and reserved as ever. Moses' trouble
+and her own great fortune don't make a bit of difference, and she makes
+you feel, without saying a word, that your room is better than your
+company; and that she'll keep<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> her own counsel in this matter as she has
+always done in smaller ones."</p>
+
+<p>"Good afternoon, Miss Eunice! Accept my hearty congratulations!" cried
+Squire Pettijohn, pushing eagerly forward to the foot of the stairs, and
+bowing to her descending.</p>
+
+<p>"Good afternoon, Squire Pettijohn. You are very kind to come and inquire
+for my poor friend, Mr. Jones. I am glad to tell you that the doctor
+says he will do very well, but sorry to add that he will be a prisoner
+indoors for a long time. Is Mrs. Pettijohn quite well?"</p>
+
+<p>So speaking, and with the manner of one who has expected but one kind of
+interest in affairs at The Maples, yet knowing perfectly well that the
+Squire would never have troubled himself about a "hired man's"
+misfortunes, Aunt Eunice walked with her visitor toward the door. She
+was puzzled by his presence, but did not enjoy it, and was herself going
+just then to read the <i>Weekly Journal</i> to her injured helper. She did
+not take the hint given by the Squire's pause beside the sitting-room
+door, and moved gently forward to the outer entrance, as if to terminate
+the interview.</p>
+
+<p>"Make my regards to your good wife, Squire, and thank her for sending to
+inquire. Moses is much touched and gratified by the good-will of his
+neighbors, and has had many calls already.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> But doctor says he should
+see nobody except ourselves for the present. Good afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>They had now reached the doorway and Susanna stood at one side, keenly
+observant of the other two, and suddenly breaking into their talk with
+the exclamation:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Eunice! What do you think's sent Jimmy Pettijohn a-visitin' <i>us</i>?
+Not none of Moses' troubles, but to hear about the 'gold mine' was found
+in the big woods this mornin'! Did you ever hear the beat?"</p>
+
+<p>"A gold mine? Surely, he knows how absurd such an idea would be,"
+answered Aunt Eunice, quietly bowing and turning away.</p>
+
+<p>As she disappeared in the hall beyond the stair-way the Squire coughed
+and started to follow, then apparently thought better of it, for he
+merely reproved Susanna with his most judicial sternness, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"If you women would be careful to repeat things as you hear them you
+would save much confusion. It is true I did mention 'gold mine,' but I
+also mentioned a hidden box of treasure. The majority of the villagers
+claimed the latter was what was really found, and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Who started such a cock-an'-bull story? Must have had a beginnin' in
+somebody's mouth."</p>
+
+<p>Susanna had now become not only indignant but profoundly curious. She
+would find out who was responsible for this strange rumor, then she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>
+would promptly interview that person and cross-examine him as only a
+woman could. But the reply which she received astonished her more than
+the story had done.</p>
+
+<p>"It was that stammering little grandson of the Madam's. He and the
+little girl who's staying here were the discoverers. So I was told,"
+answered the Squire, making ready to depart.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I declare! If 'twas ary one o' them we can soon settle their
+hash. Come with me, Squire, I saw the pair goin' into the barn a little
+spell ago, an' I hain't seen 'em come out. Katy, she don't know you&mdash;an'
+so ain't afraid of ye. She ain't afraid of anything I've seen yet; but
+Monty&mdash;Hm-m. I can leave Monty to you to deal with. My suz! If this
+ain't been the greatest day that ever I saw!"</p>
+
+<p>With which remark she led the way to the foot of the hay-mow and sent up
+the summons which had caused Montgomery's sudden disappearance.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+<h3>ALFARETTA'S PERPLEXITY</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Alfy! A-A-Alfy!"</p>
+
+<p>Her name hissed into her ear partially roused the bound-out girl from a
+nap she had been taking with the towel in one hand, an unwiped dish in
+the other. She had the faculty of going to sleep anywhere and any time
+opportunity offered. She now leaned comfortably against the wall beside
+the sink, her eyes closed and her mind oblivious to her surroundings,
+and dimly hearing through her dreams that sibilant call:</p>
+
+<p>"A-A-A-Alfy!"</p>
+
+<p>Then her ear was pinched and she brought back to reality.</p>
+
+<p>"What you doin' to me, Montgomery Sturtevant? I'll tell your grandma!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ain't meanin' to hurt you, A-A-Alfy. I&mdash;Don't you d-do that. I&mdash;Say,
+I'm goin' to h-h-hide in the s-s-secret chamb&mdash;er. Don't you t-t-tell
+anybody. You fetch my s-s-s-supper up after dark. An' some w-w-water.
+Fetch enough<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> to l-l-last&mdash;forever! I don't know as I s-s-shall
+ever&mdash;ever&mdash;dare to c-c-come down."</p>
+
+<p>The Mansion where the Sturtevants had lived during many generations was
+a house even older than The Maples. It was far more quaintly ancient in
+style, and had been one of the many "Headquarters" of our Revolutionary
+generals. The earliest built house in the county, the part first erected
+still stood strong and intact, though little used now. On this portion
+of the Mansion the roof ended sharp at the eaves on one side, and but a
+few feet above the ground; the opposite side being two full stories and
+attic in height. Within this "old part" were many curious rooms, one
+having the peculiarity of seven doors and but one window; a monster
+fireplace, wherein one could stand and look straight up to the sky
+through the great stone chimney, and where still hung a rusty gigantic
+crane, once used for the roasting of meats and boiling of pots; but,
+most curious of all, a perpendicular shaft leading to a "secret chamber"
+beneath the sloping roof. To ascend this shaft one climbed upon small
+triangular steps fitted alternately in the rear corners of it; and it
+was entered through a sliding, spring-secured panel of the
+"keeping-room." No stranger would have discovered that the panel was a
+doorway, and even to Alfaretta it suggested deeds of darkness and
+treachery. The utmost Montgomery had yet been able to persuade her to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>
+do was to peep fearfully up that uncanny stair-way, from the dimness
+below to the utter gloom at top. To ascend it, as he did, nimbly hand
+over hand&mdash;the mere thought of it set her shuddering.</p>
+
+<p>Now he was gone, and&mdash;there! She knew it. She heard him softly crossing
+the bare floor of the "old part" in his stockinged feet, heard the rusty
+squeak of the ancient spring-fastening, fancied that she heard&mdash;though
+she could not&mdash;his swift ascent of the ladder stairs, and&mdash;heard no
+more.</p>
+
+<p>But she was now far wider awake than the pinch on her ear had made her,
+and she was terribly disturbed. In that house everybody, meaning Madam
+and herself, did what its young "master" desired. Of course on the
+lady's part there were some exceptions to this rule, but none whatever
+on Alfaretta's. The lad was at once her delight and her torment; in his
+wilder moods teasing her relentlessly, but in his more thoughtful ones
+pitying her for her hard lot in life. Yet, in fact, since the girl had
+been taken from the "county farm" to serve Madam Sturtevant until she
+should be eighteen, she was scarcely poorer than the mistress who
+employed her, and who scrupulously shared her own comforts with her
+charge.</p>
+
+<p>Big as the house was, there was very little money in it. None whatever
+would have been there save for the generosity of distant relatives<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> who
+regularly sent a small cheque to the Madam, as well as a box of clothing
+for the grandson; nor did they even dream that upon that cheque and the
+neighborly kindness of Eunice Maitland the household at the mansion
+existed.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately, for the present, Alfaretta demanded nothing in the matter
+of wages. When she should be eighteen the, to her, almost fabulous sum
+of one hundred dollars would be her due as well as a decent "fitting
+out" of wearing apparel. Then she would be free to go or stay, work for
+"real wages" for this mistress, or engage herself to another. But
+eighteen was a long way off as yet, and though sometimes a wonder as to
+where she should get the pledged one hundred dollars did cross Madam
+Sturtevant's mind, she put the thought aside as soon as possible.
+Sufficient unto that day would be its own evil, and there had been days
+in the past far more evil than Alfy's coming of age could ever be.</p>
+
+<p>Had relic-hunters known it the Mansion was a storehouse of genuine
+"antiques" which would have been eagerly purchased at fancy prices; but
+Marsden was far out of the line of such persons, and, save in extreme
+necessity, the old gentlewoman would have refused to part with her
+belongings.</p>
+
+<p>Eunice, who was better informed on such matters because of her wider
+reading, had once delicately suggested to her friend that such or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> such
+an old "claw-foot" was worth a deal of money, and that it wasn't really
+necessary to have four tall clocks, each more than a century old,
+ticking the hours away in that empty house.</p>
+
+<p>But her suggestion was wholly misunderstood. Madam had rather crisply
+replied that she was perfectly capable of winding the clocks on the one
+day in eight when they required it, and hoped to continue so till her
+life's end. Indeed, it had used to be a rather formal little household
+ceremony&mdash;that winding of the clocks on every Sunday morning. A ceremony
+that had always been performed by the two reigning heads of the "family"
+in each succeeding generation. It had been Madam's place to walk with
+her husband from room to room and stand beside him while with the queer
+old keys he wound the weights up from the bottom of the upright cases to
+the top, whence they would again begin their slow descent to the bottom,
+reaching it as another Lord's Day came around.</p>
+
+<p>Nowadays, Montgomery, as the last of his race, had been promoted to
+accompany his grandmother on this clock-winding tour, and had once
+innocently asked:</p>
+
+<p>"Did my father use to go with y-you, as I-I-I do?"</p>
+
+<p>Strangely enough, he had never before inquired much about his parents,
+but had somehow imbibed the knowledge that both were dead. His<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> father
+had once "gone away" and never returned; but his mother had come home,
+bringing him an infant, had placed him in the Madam's arms, had taken to
+her bed, and had left it only to be carried to the burying-ground on the
+hill. Of her the old lady often talked, and once when they had carried
+roses to the unmarked grave he had heard her softly quote: "A sweeter
+woman ne'er drew breath, than my son's wife, Elizabeth."</p>
+
+<p>But of that son, her own only child, she said nothing till he asked that
+unfortunate question. Then she had turned upon him with a face so unlike
+her own that he was frightened and needed no command to make him avoid
+that subject forever after.</p>
+
+<p>"Your father is&mdash;gone; has died to us. Speak of him no more."</p>
+
+<p>The tragedy of her expression haunted him for a time, and he wondered
+why she was so much more distressed by mention of her son than of her
+husband, since both were dead. However, he soon forgot the matter save
+to obey her wish, though afterward this clock-winding, which he had
+thought a "bother an' n-n-nuisance," seemed fully as sacred an act as
+the church-going which followed it.</p>
+
+<p>This, then, was Montgomery's home and life, and why he who was so petted
+and indulged should put himself in hiding, and, of all places, in that
+dreadful "secret chamber," puzzled Alfaretta.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"He told me not to tell Madam, an' he told me to bring his supper. How
+can I? How dast I? I&mdash;I'd be more afraid to go up that stair 'an to walk
+through the graveyard alone at midnight. I would so, Ma'am Puss, an' you
+keep your nose out that suppawn, I tell you!"</p>
+
+<p>The perturbed little maid felt that it was good to have even a cat to
+talk to, and vented some of her vexation by kicking the unlucky animal
+aside from the pot, whose hot contents she was merely sniffing. Suppawn
+and milk was the customary supper at the Mansion, and as its mistress
+liked to have the pudding cooked for a long time and also continually
+stirred during that operation, Alfaretta had become expert in the matter
+of managing. The pot was duly put on at the hour appointed, and the
+Indian meal carefully sifted into the salt, boiling water. When the
+mixture appeared fairly smooth and Alfy's arm was tired the pot was set
+upon the hearth and the young cook went to sleep. When the sleep was of
+sufficient length to cool the porridge Ma'am Puss extracted her own
+supper in advance of the family's, and nobody was the wiser. But to-day,
+Alfaretta had forgotten to remove the pot from the stove while she did
+her "noon dishes" and taken her intermediate nap, with the result that
+the suppawn was burned and even the cat wouldn't touch it. And although
+she had whisked it off the fire as soon as Monty had disappeared, her
+trained nose told her that this was a supper spoiled for everybody. She
+was very sorry for Madam, who would try to eat it, and always bore more
+patiently with her young handmaid than that person wholly deserved, but
+there was a silver lining to that cloud! Montgomery would never touch
+suppawn if it were scorched: therefore, she need carry him none of it.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 341px;">
+<img src="images/i147.jpg" width="341" height="500" alt="&quot;MA&#39;AM PUSS EXTRACTED HER OWN SUPPER IN ADVANCE OF THE
+FAMILY&#39;S&quot;" title="" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;MA&#39;AM PUSS EXTRACTED HER OWN SUPPER IN ADVANCE OF THE
+FAMILY&#39;S&quot;</span>
+</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Couldn't have got any milk up there, anyway, without spillin' it, Ma'am
+Puss, an' you know it. Goody! Course he'll come down. He'll have to if
+he gets starvin' hungry. No harm done&mdash;much. I wonder what he's been up
+to now! Well, I can't help it. I didn't get him into no scrapes. An'
+I'll work real hard the rest the afternoon, hemmin' that petticoat
+Madam's give me to make over for myself. It'll be a real good petticoat
+if I ever get it done, though it's about forty rods around the bottom, I
+believe."</p>
+
+<p>Full of good intentions, Alfaretta carefully set the burned pudding back
+on the stove, wherein the wood fire had nearly gone out, and sat down to
+her task of needlework. In reality, she was a very tired little girl.
+Madam was daintily neat and vigorous for a woman of her years. Never
+very robust, she still exercised what strength she had in a ceaseless
+round of sweeping and dusting. All the empty old rooms were as orderly
+as when there had been many servants to attend them, but this was
+accomplished<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> at a cost of incessant labor and watchfulness, which the
+mistress really enjoyed since it filled her days with "things to do,"
+but which was not so well liked by her bond-maid.</p>
+
+<p>Ma'am Puss curled herself at Alfy's feet and purred herself to sleep so
+soundly that a tame mouse, the girl's own especial pet, came out from
+hiding and scampered merrily about the kitchen floor. The chorus of
+clock-ticks sounded drowsily through the silent house, Madam was taking
+her daily rest on her lounge in the sitting-room, and after a time the
+seamstress's good intentions passed into a maze of dreams. In them she
+seemed to be eternally climbing steep stairs into a chamber of horrors
+tenanted by one starving boy; or she was watching Madam choke to death
+over a lump of hot scorched porridge; or she was being tossed on the
+horns of Squire Pettijohn's black bull,&mdash;the terror of all young, and
+some old, Marsdenites,&mdash;and from this last dream she awoke to find the
+kitchen quite dark, and Whitey mooing outside the window.</p>
+
+<p>It was Montgomery's place to "tend cow," the lonely remnant of a once
+large herd, but it was Alfaretta's duty to milk it.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Whitey! It's all right, an' for once you've come home by yourself.
+A good job, too. Let me see. How fur have I sewed? To there&mdash;to there!"
+sleepily murmured the maid, and realizing that she had on that afternoon
+of best<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> intentions accomplished the magnificent distance of two inches!
+"Two inches, if it's a stitch. Two inches a day for&mdash;How many days will
+it take to hem&mdash;to hem&mdash;Huh! I can't bother! But if I'm to go to school
+next quarter as Madam says I may, I'll have to do faster 'n that. Might
+get it ready for my outfit, like Monty says," remarked the sewer to
+herself, laughing carelessly.</p>
+
+<p>Folding the garment neatly, she put it back in the work-basket her
+mistress had given her, and taking her pail, went out to milk old
+Whitey. But first she attended to what was properly Montgomery's part of
+the evening's chores, stalling the cow and throwing into her manger the
+scanty supply of night fodder that could be afforded. Then she sat down
+to milk, and accomplished that operation so slowly that Whitey turned
+her head as far as the stanchions would permit to see what this slowness
+meant.</p>
+
+<p>With the coming of the dusk Alfaretta's perplexities had returned and
+brought others with them. It was not only a question of the boy's going
+supperless&mdash;nor her courage, nor of burned porridge and Madam's lifted
+eyebrows when it was tasted, which to the bond-girl was "Worse 'an a
+lickin';" it was that further one of the grandmother's inquiries. How
+should she answer them?</p>
+
+<p>She loitered as long as she could, but the evil hour could not be
+indefinitely postponed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> Madam's habits were as exact as those of her
+ancient clocks, and precisely as the four of them were striking six the
+little silver bell tinkled in the dining-room.</p>
+
+<p>With an air of every-day indifference, Alfaretta dished the burned
+porridge upon a delicate china platter and filled a cut-glass pitcher
+with milk. These she placed upon a silver tray and carried to the
+shining mahogany table where the mistress was already seated. Then she
+took her own place behind the lady's chair, as she had been trained,
+ready to serve the simple meal; yet hardly had she stationed herself
+there than the dreaded question came:</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Montgomery, Alfaretta?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear! How not to tell the truth an' how not to lie!" reflected the
+perplexed girl, but not till the question was repeated did she reply: "I
+s'pose he's&mdash;he's somewheres."</p>
+
+<p>Madam's eyebrows were lifted then. "Why, Alfaretta!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Madam. I'm sorry the suppawn scorched. I&mdash;I was terr'ble sleepy
+an' I stopped stirrin' a little minute an' first I knew&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I asked for Montgomery. Did you tell him that supper was served?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Madam."</p>
+
+<p>"Please do so."</p>
+
+<p>Glad of any reprieve from giving the answer she hated to make, the girl
+left the room in haste,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> as if intent upon summoning the lad. But she
+was gone longer than seemed necessary, nor did the waiting grandmother
+hear the boyish voice she loved, despite its stammering; and she was
+herself just rising to look for the lad herself when the maid re&euml;ntered,
+pale and breathless, and evidently frightened in extreme.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE FACE IN THE DARKNESS</h3>
+
+
+<p>Miss Maitland had promptly engaged Deacon Meakin to take Moses' place
+during the latter's enforced idleness, and the arrangement promised to
+be satisfactory to all concerned.</p>
+
+<p>Susanna had observed:</p>
+
+<p>"You couldn't do better, Eunice. The deacon's forehanded himself, but he
+likes money&mdash;all them Meakins do&mdash;an' he's been as oneasy as a fish out
+o' water sence he sold his farm an' moved into the village. A man 'at's
+been used to workin' seventeen hours a day, ever sence he was born till
+he's turned sixty, ain't goin' to be content to lie abed till six seven
+o'clock in the mornin' an' spend the rest the day splittin'
+kindlin'-wood to keep a parlor stove a-goin'. He'll be glad o' the job,
+an' he'll be glad o' the wages, an' he'll break his neck tryin' to do
+more an' better'n Moses ever did. You couldn't do better. It's a ill
+wind that blows nobody good, an' Moseses misfortune is the deacon's
+blessin'."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>There was something else which made the good deacon accept Miss
+Maitland's offer with so much alacrity. According to his own wife:</p>
+
+<p>"The deacon he feels terr'ble sot-up bein' selected to become one the
+family, so to speak, right now on the top of that treasure findin'. I
+ain't seen him walk so straight or step 'round so lively, not sence we
+moved in. An' whatever the truth is in this queer business, he'll fathom
+it, trust him! or bust."</p>
+
+<p>This, to a next-door neighbor, as the gentleman in question set off down
+the street to enter upon his new duties.</p>
+
+<p>So it was the deacon whom Katharine had heard busy about the barn and
+the glimmer of whose lantern had disappeared in the distance. With a
+precaution his predecessor in office had never practised, he had secured
+every shutter and window and locked every door before he crossed the
+driveway between barn and house and entered the kitchen, where Susanna
+was toasting bread for supper. As he blew out the candle in the lantern
+and deposited that ancient luminary on the lean-to shelf, he rubbed his
+hands complacently, and observed:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Widow Sprigg, I cal'late I've done things up brown. Winds may
+blow an' waves may roar, as the poet says, but nobody nor nothing can't
+break into Eunice's buildin's whilst I have the care on 'em. How's he
+doin'?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>As Moses was the only "he" on the premises the question naturally
+referred to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he's all right enough. I mean, right as he can be, stove to pieces
+like he is. One good sign about him&mdash;He's crosser'n fury. All said an'
+done that me or Eunice could to please him, and he won't be pleased.
+Wants them childern, an' the mis'able things have skedaddled somewheres
+an' can't be found."</p>
+
+<p>The deacon recognized an opportunity. He drew his chair up to the
+fireplace, where, above a bed of glowing coals, Susanna was making her
+toast, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"There, neighbor, you look clear tuckered out, an' no wonder with what
+all you've gone through to-day. Hand me the fork. I'll help you. I
+hain't been ma's husband forty year without learnin' how to toast a
+slice of bread. An', my sake! Ain't it all just wonderful! An' what in
+power do you s'pose she'll do with it all?"</p>
+
+<p>Susanna rather reluctantly yielded the toaster, looking speculatively
+over her spectacles at her would-be helper. Here was another man gone
+daft, or apparently so. Then she remarked, testily:</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see what's happened all you men to talk so odd. Here's Jim
+Pettijohn been here a-offerin' his services to help Eunice look after a
+gold mow, or somethin'. An' me that surprised you could knock me down
+with a feather, just to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> see him walkin' up our front path. We ain't
+never had no 'casion for visits from the Squire&mdash;not sence he got to be
+one. Before then, years ago, when he was a humbly little barefoot shaver
+runnin' 'round loose, 'cause his ma was too poor to feed him, why the
+Maitlands used to half keep him. We none of us Maitlands has ever liked
+him, though. And now you&mdash;It ain't for the love of toastin' bread that
+you've set yourself down 'longside this fireplace, Deacon Meakin, and I
+do wish you'd put me out my misery an' tell plump and straight what's
+possessin' this village of Marsden this day!"</p>
+
+<p>"You pretend you don't know, widow?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I don't pretend. I never 'pretended' a thing in my life. I say
+plain an' square what I mean an' no hints nor inyendys about it. Now, I
+ask you as man to man, or widow to deacon, what's all this fuss beyond
+just Moses gettin' his bones broke? There's something, and it seems to
+belong to our folks, yet me nor Eunice don't know a touch about it,
+nuther one. Now, tell."</p>
+
+<p>The slice of bread fell from the two-pronged fork into the fire, but
+neither of this worthy pair observed the fact. For at once the deacon
+plunged into his story, relating the varied rumors which were at that
+moment being excitedly discussed by every other fireside in Marsden, as
+by this; and the grain of truth extracted from the mass was
+that&mdash;something out of the common<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> had happened, yet nobody knew just
+what; that Katharine and Montgomery were the chief actors in the drama,
+with Moses a possible accessory. Also, that to Miss Maitland the whole
+affair was known "root and branch," and that she had been true to her
+character and refused to share her affairs with even the friendliest of
+neighbors.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, Susanna Sprigg, what do you say to that?" demanded the deacon,
+exultantly, when he had finished his garbled narrative.</p>
+
+<p>"I say&mdash;<i>bosh</i>! And you've burned the toast. But I've got enough done,
+anyway. We always 'feed' at five o'clock in the mornin' an' milk right
+after. And you needn't bother to lock the buildin's another night.
+Course, we do have keys an' keep 'em hung in their places, but as for
+usin' 'em&mdash;Why, who in Marsden would steal a cent's worth?"</p>
+
+<p>The deacon felt he had been bidden to take himself away, yet with
+nothing learned; and as he slowly adjusted his plush cap and pulled its
+ear-tabs down, he fixed a facetious glance upon the housekeeper, making
+one more effort toward enlightenment, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"I admit Marsden an honest village, less I never'd a-sold the farm an'
+moved in. But what's been in the past ain't no pattern for the futur'.
+Course, you hain't had no occasion for bars an' bolts, heretofore, but
+hereafter&mdash;hereafter&mdash;with that bag or box or trunk of diamonds&mdash;a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> gold
+box it is, too, they say&mdash;or them big lumps of gold out the
+mine&mdash;prudence is advisable. Good night."</p>
+
+<p>He went out, rather noisily closing the door behind him; and, fairly
+snatching up the plate of toast, Susanna repaired to the room where, in
+an unlighted gloom, Eunice awaited her supper.</p>
+
+<p>"My suz! Eunice, why didn't you light up 'fore this? I meant to do it
+myself, but what with runnin' up-stairs to tend to Moses an' showin'
+that blunderheaded deacon the ways of doin' our chores, I let it go."</p>
+
+<p>Eunice rose to do as suggested. Indeed, she had been sitting so absorbed
+in her own thoughts that she had not observed the coming of nightfall;
+but Susanna interposed:</p>
+
+<p>"You set still, Eunice Maitland, till I get all the lamps lit there is.
+I've got to have a chance to see whether I'm awake or dreamin'. I want
+to see square into your own face, an' learn if you're bein' deceived or
+are deceivin' me. Here's that little mis'able Jimmy Pettijohn&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Little, Susanna?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, little. Always was an' always will be. His outside has growed big
+enough in all conscience, but his inside has stayed the size of a
+pin-point, same as it was born. And Deacon Meakin, that's always had the
+reputation of common sense, a-insistin' that a gold mow has been found
+in our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> woods; or if not that, then a box&mdash;a shiny box of&mdash;My suz!
+Eunice&mdash;Eunice&mdash;what is the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>Miss Maitland had risen and stood staring incredulously at the
+housekeeper. She was trembling violently and her face had turned paler
+than the other had ever seen it. She opened her lips to speak, but words
+seemed slow in coming, and after a moment she sank back in her chair,
+murmuring only:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Susanna! How dreadful!"</p>
+
+<p>"Eunice, be you sick?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. Oh, no, no."</p>
+
+<p>"Then there's somethin' in this, after all. An'&mdash;an'&mdash;you never told
+me!" cried the widow, for the first time in her life feeling really
+angry with this good friend.</p>
+
+<p>"I couldn't tell you, dear Susanna. I could tell nobody. It does not
+concern&mdash;any one now living."</p>
+
+<p>Her hesitation was not lost upon the eager woman opposite, whose
+curiosity was greater even than her anger; making her demand, promptly:</p>
+
+<p>"Which was it? Box or mow?"</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot tell you. I shall not say another word upon the subject. Where
+are the children?" But though the tone was decisive, it was also very
+gentle; and now smiling across to her irate housemate, she added: "Be
+faithful to me in this matter, dear friend, as you have always been in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>
+others. The secret is not mine to impart. You will help me to silence
+all these dreadful rumors by simply ignoring them. Nothing has happened,
+save Moses' trouble, to affect our life in any way. I am astonished that
+people should make so much of so little, and I am both surprised and
+disappointed that any rumors have been set afloat. It seems impossible
+to trust anybody, nowadays, even a child! But where are the two who
+belong to us? Where is Katharine? Where is Montgomery? He should be
+going home, or his grandmother will worry. But be sure to put him up a
+basket of food. There's that half of a boiled ham, and yesterday's bread
+was extra fine. A loaf of that and a square of gingerbread should
+satisfy him for the bread-and-milk dinner he was forced to put up with.
+He was very helpful in running errands, I must not forget that."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Eunice continued talking as if she wished to recall to herself all
+the good qualities of one who had bitterly disappointed her. How could a
+Sturtevant be so dishonorable? Or was it a Maitland? Which of the two
+young things who had found the box and had given her their promise, had
+so soon broken their word? For, of course, only by and through them
+could these wild rumors have been set astir.</p>
+
+<p>Susanna had listened in silence, which was not her habit. She was still
+disappointed and hurt, and was trying in her own mind to put several<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>
+things together. But she rallied as Eunice paused, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know where they are, ary one. The Squire he was after Monty,
+hot foot. 'Twas him, he said, 'at had set the yarn a-goin'. After all,
+it might be one his own wild goose make-believes, if&mdash;if <i>you</i> hadn't
+owned it was true. Of course, I'll do what you want. I always have, or
+tried to; but I will say this much, Eunice Maitland, 'at I don't feel
+you've the confidence in me you ought to have. That's all. I'll say no
+more. And as for where them two oneasy young ones are, I can't guess. I
+heard 'em talkin' or I heard Monty, up in the hay-mow, just after the
+Squire wanted him. I heard him as I was crossing the gravel road to the
+barn, yet when we got there an' called to him&mdash;he simply wasn't. He
+knowed he'd been doin' wrong, most like, else he'd have come down."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you tell him that it was Squire Pettijohn who wished to see him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Course. I thought that would scare him into comin' right away."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Maitland laughed, and answered: "My dear, misguided woman! You
+might have known Monty well enough to understand how fast he would
+disappear in some other direction. He has probably gone home and
+Katharine with him. I hate to put any further task upon you, but I&mdash;I'm
+rather upset by to-day's events and shall<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> have to ask you to go for
+Kate. I must tell her to remember hours and always be on hand at
+meal-time. She is a winning child in many ways, but&mdash;I fear I'm too old
+to get used again to any child."</p>
+
+<p>Susanna went out without a further word. In her heart she was glad of
+the rather long walk to Madam Sturtevant's, since during it she would
+have opportunity to stop at some neighbors' doors, hear what they had to
+say, and promptly disabuse their minds of whatever wild notions they had
+that day acquired. For despite her personal vexation with Eunice she was
+loyal to her, and felt that she had but to say "Bosh!" in her most
+emphatic way to any rumor repeated in order to dispose of it. Mistaken
+woman! As well try to stem the ocean's flood as to silence a secret once
+betrayed!</p>
+
+<p>These several calls, brief though they were, brought her somewhat late
+to Madam Sturtevant's, and at that very moment when Alfaretta rushed
+into the dining-room, frightened and breathless. Now the Widow Sprigg so
+rarely paid a visit to the Mansion that she meant to make this one as
+formal as possible; so, instead of tapping at the side door, she stepped
+to the front one and gave a resounding whack upon the big brass knocker.</p>
+
+<p>"Ouch!" screamed Alfaretta.</p>
+
+<p>"Why&mdash;what's that!" exclaimed the Madam. After-dark callers were an
+unknown thing at that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> house, and instant premonition of evil chilled
+its mistress's heart.</p>
+
+<p>"D-don't be s-s-scared!" said the little maid, hurrying to the lady's
+side and clinging to her skirt, stammering as readily as Montgomery
+would have done and ostensibly to reassure her mistress, but, in
+reality, for her own protection. Madam could be so stately and grand
+that she must awe any intruder who looked upon her, and behind her black
+skirt the girl felt safer.</p>
+
+<p>"Scared, Alfaretta? How absurd! But coming so suddenly upon our quietude
+the summons surprised me. Take the candle from the side table and open
+the door."</p>
+
+<p>The Mansion was still lighted by candles which its mistress herself
+prepared, molding them in tin molds exactly as had been done by the
+first lady who had ever ruled there, but for economy's sake as few were
+burned as possible. One now glimmered upon the supper-table and another,
+unlighted, waited elsewhere for just such an emergency&mdash;but an emergency
+so long delayed that Alfy had never expected it to arrive.</p>
+
+<p>She had learned to polish the antique stick to a dazzling brilliancy,
+its snuffers and extinguisher as well, "in case we should have an
+evening call," being the weekly remark that accompanied the polishing.
+But till now the wick of the candle thus prepared had remained white as
+when removed from the mold, and Alfaretta's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> hand trembled as she now
+left her ambush of black serge and tried to obey.</p>
+
+<p>"Take care, child! You're lighting the candle&mdash;not the wick! Take
+another lighter and try again."</p>
+
+<p>Even matches were a luxury to be reckoned with in that impoverished
+home; and besides, all the family had always used paper "lighters"
+daintily twisted, and crimped at top, nor was Elinor Sturtevant one to
+go behind her own traditions. But, at that moment, Alfaretta had already
+wasted three lighters without igniting the new wick when again that loud
+knocking was repeated.</p>
+
+<p>Madam's patience fled.</p>
+
+<p>"You clumsy child! Don't delay any longer. Whoever it is will think us
+most inhospitable. Take this one already burning and go to the door at
+once."</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I dassent!" quavered Alfaretta, retreating toward the kitchen.</p>
+
+<p>"You&mdash;dare&mdash;not? How ridiculous. Then I will go myself! though when one
+has a maid one expects her to attend the door. That's a point upon which
+I am very particular. Remember that, in future."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes'm," murmured the girl, absently. There were so many "points" upon
+which the old gentlewoman insisted that some of them fell on unheeding
+ears. At present, she was conscious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> only of two things: she must either
+remain alone behind in a dark room or she must go with her mistress and
+face whatever lay beyond that great front door. Deciding the latter
+course to be preferable, she timidly followed the vanishing candle down
+the long hall to where a barricade of bars and chains and bolts made
+admission from without a matter of some moments.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold the candle, Alfaretta, while I unfasten the door," commanded the
+Madam, and the girl had to obey. But her hand shook so that she
+scattered "droppings," which even at that moment did not escape the
+mistress's critical eye and which would have to be cleaned up as soon as
+morning came.</p>
+
+<p>At last the door was opened, and to Madam Sturtevant nobody was visible
+save Susanna Sprigg, wearing her Sunday bonnet and her most polite
+manner, while her spectacles gleamed like balls of fire as the
+candle-light fell upon them. But what Alfaretta saw was another face, so
+wild and fierce and terrible to look upon that her heart almost ceased
+beating. A white and haggard face, that seemed imprinted upon the
+darkness as if it belonged to no body nor substance but was a ghostly
+apparition of the night. All the eerie stories the poor child had heard
+during her life at the "County Farm," from the lips of the garrulous
+pensioners who had nothing better to do than invent them, came back to
+her now; and as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> the face appeared to be coming nearer, growing more and
+more distinct, she uttered a piercing shriek and slammed the door with
+such violence that the candle went out and the darkness she dreaded
+enveloped them all.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+<h3>A STURTEVANT&mdash;PERFORCE</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Alfaretta!" cried Madam Sturtevant, "what does this mean?" Something of
+the girl's panic had seized her, also, though she tried to hide her own
+agitation by sternness.</p>
+
+<p>"My suz, Alfy Brown! What ails ye? You nigh knocked me down, slammin'
+the door right in my face, that way!" exclaimed Susanna, who had,
+fortunately, stepped within before this strange thing had happened. She
+was herself in an excited mood, having passed through what she had
+during the past day, and having had her mind further disturbed by the
+tales she had gathered during her progress. Now here at the Mansion,
+where was always dignified composure and serene hospitality, to find
+such tardy admission and such hysterical welcome&mdash;it was too much! Her
+reflections were swift and angry, and while all still stood in the dark,
+as yet too surprised to move, she demanded, crisply: "I want
+Katharine."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Come this way, Mrs. Sprigg. Let me take your hand and lead you. I'll
+soon get a light, and please excuse Alfaretta. I don't understand what
+has happened to her. Don't cling to me like that, child. You hinder me."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, didn't you see&mdash;It?" whispered the unhappy little maid, paying no
+heed to her mistress's words, but clinging all the closer to her in a
+fresh access of terror as she heard, or fancied that she did, footsteps
+on the piazza without.</p>
+
+<p>Susanna's anger cooled in a new curiosity, and she said:</p>
+
+<p>"You needn't bother to lead me, Madam Sturtevant, I know the ins an'
+outs of this old house pretty well, even if I don't come to it often.
+You go right on ahead an' strike a match; an' Alfy Brown, let go her
+skirt. Your manners this night ain't none your mistress's teachin', I
+know that. They must be some left over from the 'Farm.'"</p>
+
+<p>Now Susanna must have been sorely tried to have reminded the girl of her
+unfortunate start in life, and Madam hastened to cover the remark by
+saying: "There, that's better!" and rising from the open fireplace where
+she had relighted the candle from the carefully covered embers. It had
+been so mild until now that only a fragment of fire had been kept upon
+the hearth, where, however, it was never permitted to wholly die "from
+equinox to equinox." Fortunately for the comfort of the household, there
+was woodland<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> sufficient still belonging to the estate to supply all
+necessary fuel, and in cold weather this impoverished gentlewoman
+enjoyed her blazing wood fires&mdash;a luxury which even wealthy people
+cannot always command. Miss Maitland made it Moses' business to see that
+the Mansion wood-piles were high and broad, long before the autumn came,
+and the hardship of splitting smaller sticks for kitchen and kindling
+fell upon the reluctant Montgomery.</p>
+
+<p>Susanna watched the candle-lighting with real admiration. Neat as she
+was herself, she had never yet attained to that exquisite daintiness
+with which Madam Sturtevant did all things; and she now exclaimed, with
+keen appreciation:</p>
+
+<p>"My suz! You do beat all! Why, most anybody tryin' to light a taller
+candle by wood coals would ha' melted the candle&mdash;but you hain't dripped
+a drip. Where's the children? I've come for Katy. She's a terr'ble hand
+for runnin' away, or, ruther, for not bein' where she should be when
+wanted. The wind has riz awful. It don't rain none yet, but's goin' to
+right off. I didn't think to fetch an umberell an' couldn't have used it
+if I had. Not again' this blow. Alfy, you call Katharine, and we'll
+start back prompt. No, thank ye, Madam, I won't stop to set down, not
+this time. Eunice, she's alone with Moses so helpless, an' I don't
+believe half the shutters is tight nor nothin'. Seems if a body had
+more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> on their hands than they could 'tend to times like these. Why
+don't you move, Alfy? An' not stand stock starin' still, like an idjut?
+If the wind sounds that way indoors, what you s'pose it is outside? An'
+that child hain't got a thing on but that white ducky dress and maybe a
+hat. She wasn't fixed proper for livin' in the country, though she does
+become her clothes real likely. She's clear Maitland, Katy is, an' as
+like Johnny was as two peas in a pod. I can't help lovin' her, try as I
+will," concluded the widow, so exhausted by her own volubility that she
+unconsciously sat down to rest herself, even though she had earlier
+declined her hostess's offer of the spring-rocker by the sewing-table.
+"A chair 'at looks comf'table enough to take a nap in its own self," as
+she had once observed concerning it.</p>
+
+<p>Thus enabled to edge in a remark of her own, Madam replied, with some
+anxiety in her tones:</p>
+
+<p>"The little Katharine has not been here. Not that I know. Has she,
+Alfaretta?"</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I hain't seen her," faltered the maid, shivering as a fresh gust of
+wind rattled the casement and a flash of lightning made everything
+visible without. But she had closed her eyes against whatever might be
+revealed and still delayed her mistress's direction:</p>
+
+<p>"Go and look for Montgomery and see if he knows anything about
+Katharine;" then, turning to Susanna, she added: "I am so glad that
+they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> are going to be such friends. It's a good thing for a growing boy
+to be associated with a young lady of his own&mdash;his own position in
+life."</p>
+
+<p>Susanna sniffed. She was democratic by profession and did not feel
+called upon to explain that as a matter of fact there was nobody living
+so appreciative as herself of "good family"&mdash;as represented in Marsden
+by the Sturtevants and Maitlands. She merely ignored the remark,
+starting from her seat as a terrible blast set the old Mansion trembling
+on its stout beams and an east side shutter blew from its hinges.</p>
+
+<p>"My suz! We've never had such a storm sence I can remember, an' Katy in
+nothin' but ducks! Eunice has wrote right away, soon's she made up her
+mind to keep her, to that stepmother o' hers to take an' buy the child
+some good strong shoes an' dark warm dresses, fit for a girl to wear in
+a country village. She's goin' to begin school, soon's town meetin's
+over an' Moses'll have time to drive her there. Oh, I forget he's broke.
+Well, she'll go sometime, if the proper clothes come an' things turn out
+accordin'. But come she must now, an' to oncet, if she's anywhere's
+hereabout, 'cause I dassent stay a minute more. I shall be blowed off my
+feet, I 'low, an' I wish, I do wish, I hadn't wore my best bunnit."</p>
+
+<p>"Take it off and leave it here, Susanna. I will lend you a scarf to tie
+over your hair, and Montgomery shall carry it home to you in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>
+morning. I will go myself and see if the children are on the place.
+Though I doubt it, if Alfaretta hasn't seen them, or if they haven't
+come in here to be with us during the storm. Maybe it will soon pass.
+Wouldn't you better wait and see?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not a minute longer 'an to look," answered the widow, really more
+alarmed for the comfort of her home folks than for herself. Laying her
+bonnet carefully upon the side table, she followed Madam into the
+kitchen, yet would not permit that lady to explore the barn as she set
+out to do.</p>
+
+<p>"Come along with me, Alfy, but get a lantern. I hear the barn door
+swingin' an' old Whitey mooin' as if even she was scared. You or Monty
+must ha' been careless about shuttin' up to-night, which uther one of
+you done it, or didn't do it."</p>
+
+<p>A lantern was procured and lighted, but there Alfaretta's assistance
+ended. Nothing would have induced her to visit that barn again that
+night, no matter how well protected by such a valiant woman as the Widow
+Sprigg. As the latter disappeared toward the outbuildings, carefully
+shielding the lantern with her shawl, Alfaretta's conscience drove her
+to say:</p>
+
+<p>"It ain't no use. She won't find him. He&mdash;he ain't there."</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't there? Then why, child, did you do such a rude thing as to let
+her go on a useless errand? I really don't understand what has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> come
+over you to-night. You are trying my patience severely."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes'm," admitted the bond-maid, meekly.</p>
+
+<p>Madam laid her hand upon the girl's shoulder and turned her face toward
+the light of the candle which she was herself holding behind the
+uncurtained kitchen window, the better to guide Susanna on her way.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me, child, what has frightened you so? Do you know where my dear
+grandson is? It terrifies me to think he may be somewhere out-of-doors,
+unprotected in this tempest. Did he go fishing? Nutting? To play ball?
+Do you know where he is?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes'm," again answered the little maid, but to which of these several
+inquiries was not disclosed. At that moment a blinding flash of
+lightning illumined the whole space between house and barn, showing
+Susanna wildly flinging her arms aloft, her lantern flying in one
+direction, herself in another, while distinctly silhouetted against the
+glare was another figure, so strange and uncouth that even Madam
+retreated a pace in sudden alarm.</p>
+
+<p>They could hear Susanna still screaming as she fled, but a second flash
+showed the man who had alarmed her standing motionless on the spot where
+they had discovered him.</p>
+
+<p>Whoever or whatever he might be, it wasn't a pleasant situation for
+these two, so isolated from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> their neighbors, and without even
+Montgomery's presence. Mere lad as he was, he was still something
+masculine, and at least his grandmother believed him to be a very hero
+for courage. But he was not there to "protect" them from the possible
+annoyance of this unknown creature, and now, gently leading the
+frightened maid, Madam went back to her untasted supper and sat down in
+her place. She also motioned the girl to take a chair close beside her
+own, and when she had done this, again asked:</p>
+
+<p>"What frightened you so, just as Widow Sprigg arrived? Did you see this
+man&mdash;outside&mdash;then?"</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I didn't see a man. I saw a face! I'd finished milkin' Whitey and
+a'ready 'twas gettin' dark awful fast an' early. I felt the wind blowin'
+and I knew the back shutters was loose. So I scuttled 'crost to pull 'em
+to, lest they got blowed clean away, an' there&mdash;there&mdash;right in the
+square of window by the old box-stalls was&mdash;was&mdash;the face! I got one
+look, 'cause first off I couldn't somehow move hand or foot, an' I saw
+how white it was, how its eyes blazed, how wild and stand-uppish its
+hair was, an' it smiled&mdash;Oh, what a dreadful smile! An' then I knew
+'twas a ghost! It's just the night for 'em, such as I used to hear the
+old folks talk about out to the 'Farm,' An' which of us do you suppose,
+oh,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> which has got to die? 'Cause it's a 'call,' a 'warnin',' to
+somebody."</p>
+
+<p>The little maid's terror was so real and her mental suffering so intense
+that the Madam pitied her profoundly, though she smiled as she answered:</p>
+
+<p>"I wish it may prove nothing more troublesome than a 'ghost,' a creature
+of one's imagination. Ah, my child! When you reach my age you will know
+that the only 'ghosts' who can really trouble us are our unhappy
+memories. I suspect that it is one of those 'tramps,' for which Susanna
+is always looking, but who have thus far avoided peaceful Marsden.
+Unlucky woman! whose first meeting with her expected 'tramp' should be
+on such a night and alone. Wind or no wind, she'll make a short journey
+of the long road home."</p>
+
+<p>Already, safe once more in the sheltered dining-room which was on the
+side of the house least exposed to the storm and that did not face the
+outbuildings, the housemistress's confidence returned. If only
+Montgomery were with her, so, that she knew him also safe, she would
+have been content. As it was, even, she began to think kindly and
+pityingly of whatever poor wretch had sought shelter at her door. If he
+didn't smoke, and so endanger the buildings, she wished he would seek
+cover with old Whitey till the storm was past.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, one crouching in the hay-strewn bay, hugging a squirming dog
+for company, and one lying upon a narrow stretcher beneath the
+eaves,&mdash;the missing Katharine and Montgomery listened to the roar of the
+tempest and believed that the very day of doom had arrived. Neither had
+ever heard anything like that wind. Indeed, none in Marsden ever had,
+and the morning was to reveal many ruined buildings and uprooted trees.
+But thus far the darkness hid all this, and Widow Sprigg raced homeward
+unharmed save by the rain, which now began to fall in torrents.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Maitland was watching her arrival in great anxiety. She had early
+secured every door and shutter, save at this one window which commanded
+the path from the gate. Here she had placed a brightly burning lamp to
+act as beacon to the wanderers, and she had also set the fire to blazing
+brightly. Before the fire hung warm clothing for the pair, and, having
+done all that she could think of for their comfort, she had passed to
+and fro between the sitting-room and Moses' chamber. He was almost as
+uneasy as the storm itself; alternately berating himself for a "fool,"
+and speculating upon the deacon's management of affairs at the barn.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll bet&mdash;I'll bet a continental he never cut the fodder for the cattle
+but just give it to 'em hull! He was no 'count of a farmer, the deacon
+wasn't. Good man, yes. I ain't sayin' he ain't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> that; but did it ever
+strike you, Eunice, that most good folks is pesky stupid? Or 'clever'
+ones, uther? I call it plumb equal to tellin' you you're a reg'lar
+tomnoddy to say a fellar's uther 'clever' or 'good.' I 'low little
+stutterin' Monty Sturtevant could ha' done the chores well enough till I
+get 'round again, an' I could ha' bossed <i>him</i>." Then, after a moment:
+"But I can't boss the deacon."</p>
+
+<p>"No, you poor old grumbler! I reckon he isn't that kind. And your
+judgment of your neighbors is a bit extreme. Never mind. It's such a
+good sign to hear you scold that I'm encouraged to think you'll soon be
+well again. Now I'll go down and be ready to open the door for Susanna
+and Katharine. It's terrible to have them exposed to this storm."</p>
+
+<p>But there was nobody visible, and at length Miss Eunice felt assured
+that she should not see them till the tempest lulled. So she returned
+once more to the kitchen-chamber, to comfort its occupant and herself as
+well. She had just remarked, for the third time:</p>
+
+<p>"No! I'm sure Elinor would never let them set out in such weather as
+this. She has kept them to supper, and I do hope Susanna will have
+forethought enough to decline the ham and bread she carried for Monty,
+and confine herself to whatever the family was to have had by itself.
+Susanna is very hearty, I'm glad to say&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Eats so much it makes her thin to carry it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> around!" growled Moses,
+interrupting. "As for Montgomery, that little shaver's never had&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>What he would have added is not known.</p>
+
+<p>Out upon the kitchen stairs sounded the rush of sodden feet, which
+seemed to stumble from sheer weariness even in their maddened haste; and
+the next instant there burst into the room what looked like a wretched
+caricature of poor Susanna. Bonnetless and spectacle-less, her gray hair
+streaming in snake-like strands, her garments dripping pools, her fine
+black Sunday shawl trailing behind her like a splash of flowing ink, she
+dropped upon the floor gasping and sobbing, and, apparently, at her
+wits' end.</p>
+
+<p>A second's hesitation at touching so draggled and dripping a creature
+held Eunice aloof; and then she was down beside her friend, wiping the
+rain-wet face and begging to be told what had befallen.</p>
+
+<p>"Surely, something worse than a storm has brought you to this pass, my
+poor dear. You look frightened&mdash;you tremble&mdash;You&mdash;Oh, Susanna! Where is
+Katharine? Has harm happened her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Her? 'Tain't her! It's me. It's come at last, an' I always&mdash;knew&mdash;it
+would. Oh, say! Am I alive or&mdash;or&mdash;dead?"</p>
+
+<p>Then as the absurdity of her own question flashed upon her, she began to
+laugh hysterically,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> and soon to sob with equal fervor. She was wholly
+overdone and unnerved, and, realizing that nothing could be learned till
+she was calmer, her mistress put no further inquiries, but led her away
+down the stairs, still dripping moisture,&mdash;a fact that no stress of
+emotion could hide from the critical sight of two such housekeepers.</p>
+
+<p>"Them stairs! An' I washin' 'em all up clean just afore sundown! Lucky I
+hadn't put down the carpet yet, though I'd laid out&mdash;Oh, my suz!"</p>
+
+<p>This was the first coherent sentence, if such it can be called, which
+escaped the terrified woman, while she was being undressed and freshly
+clothed in the warm things Eunice had provided.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear heart. But never mind the stairs. Did you find Katharine?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nuther hide nor hair of her. Likely she's gone visitin' some the
+village little girls. She's that friendly she's been into most every
+house a'ready. She's safe enough. She won't never come to harm, Katy
+won't. But, Eunice, he's come! I've seen him!"</p>
+
+<p>"Who's come? What 'him,' dear?" asked the other, gently, and thinking
+that exposure and fright had made this usually clear-headed Susanna a
+little flighty. "Here, take a cup of tea. I made it fresh but a few
+minutes ago. It will refresh you and quiet you wonderfully."</p>
+
+<p>Now, as a rule, the Widow Sprigg needed no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> urging to drink her favorite
+beverage, which, like many another countrywoman,&mdash;more's the pity!&mdash;she
+kept steeping on the stove all day long. But now, for an instant, she
+looked doubtfully upon the cup; then, as a sudden whim seized her,
+caught it up eagerly and again ascended the stairs to Moses' bedroom. He
+lay motionless, his leg kept taut by a ball and chain and his poor body
+encased in plaster, but he could use his arms and eyes, the one thrown
+restlessly here and there and the other glittering with impatient
+curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, there, Moses Jones! How many times have you jeered an' gibed at
+me for believin' in 'tramps'? Wasn't 'none,' was there? Well, there
+<i>is</i>. I've seen him. <i>He&mdash;he chased me!</i> All the way from the Mansion
+till I got clean to the post-office&mdash;an' then&mdash;then&mdash;he&mdash;he cut for the
+woods! Oh, my suz! Be I dreamin' or awake?"</p>
+
+<p>The recalling of her frightful experience again so unnerved her that she
+sat down trembling on the edge of Moses' cot, and would have spilled her
+tea had not Eunice caught the cup in time to prevent.</p>
+
+<p>"You're crazy!" retorted Mr. Jones, unconvinced. "And there ain't no
+call, as I can see, for you to set down on my broke leg. That awful ball
+the doctor tied to it'll keep it straight enough, I 'low."</p>
+
+<p>Susanna sprang up as if she had been tossed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> to her feet, her face
+quickly becoming normal and compassionate again.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I didn't mean to do that! I hope I hain't hurt it none," she
+apologized, frankly distressed.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, seein' 'at you didn't touch it, I 'low there ain't no great harm
+done. I was only providin' against futur' trouble. Now go on with your
+'trampy' talk."</p>
+
+<p>By this time Susanna was able to give an account of the man she had seen
+on Madam Sturtevant's premises, and who, when she ran, had soon followed
+in pursuit. According to her highly embellished version, his attire had
+been collected from somebody's rag-bag, his hair and beard had never
+known shears or razor, his eyes were as big as saucers and gleamed with
+an unholy light, and his color was like chalk. But fierce! There was no
+word could describe the ferocity of the terrible creature's pallid
+countenance! and, as for speed&mdash;Well, Susanna herself had made the
+record of her life, yet he, with several minutes' disadvantage, had
+actually overtaken her and grabbed at her shawl. Witness! said shawl
+dragging behind her when she entered.</p>
+
+<p>"Hm-m! What puzzles me is that any tramp&mdash;any tramp in his
+senses&mdash;should take after an old woman like you, Susanna. An' how in
+reason did you get a chance to investigate the cut of his features an'
+the state of his wardrobe in the dark, as it is?" inquired Moses,
+humorously.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But there was no humor in Susanna's grim countenance, as she
+contemptuously replied:</p>
+
+<p>"How but by the lightnin'? Playin' all around everything every minute,
+makin' more'n daylight to see by. An', though I was scared nigh to
+death, for the soul of me, I couldn't help lookin' 'round every now an'
+again to see what he was like. I'd never had a chance to see a tramp
+afore, an' I never expect to again, so I had to improve my opportunity,
+hadn't I? Scared or no scared."</p>
+
+<p>This view of the situation made both her hearers laugh; but in Moses'
+mind was slowly growing a desperate regret, which finally expressed
+itself in the exclamation:</p>
+
+<p>"An' to think I hadn't even been elected constable, an' hadn't no chance
+to arrest the first tramp an' vagrant ever set foot in this village of
+Marsden!"</p>
+
+<p>Back at the Mansion there was no further disturbance. Madam Sturtevant
+comforted herself with the supposition that her grandson was at the home
+of some boyish chum or other; and she even ate a considerable portion of
+the now cold porridge, steadfastly refusing Alfy's entreaty to take some
+of the good things which Susanna had brought for him.</p>
+
+<p>"You may eat your supper in here to-night, Alfaretta, at the little
+table; but that basket was for Montgomery, and we will leave it to him
+to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> open. We shall get our share of its contents, never fear."</p>
+
+<p>With more faith in the lad's generosity, where appetite was concerned,
+than Alfaretta had, the grandmother set the basket aside in the closet,
+and took up her knitting of stockings for her boy's winter wear.</p>
+
+<p>And then, as if he had felt himself under discussion, or more likely&mdash;as
+Alfy surmised&mdash;had smelled the odor of good things even through many
+partitions, the door softly opened, and there appeared a tumbled head, a
+frightened face, and a pair of beseeching eyes. Whatever reproof was in
+store for him, he meant those eyes should do their part toward modifying
+it.</p>
+
+<p>And for a time all went well. Madam was so full of the incident of the
+tramp and the horror of the storm that she forgot to ask him where he
+had so long delayed, and how it chanced that he was so perfectly dry.
+However, this all came out of itself. While she was describing the gust
+which had blown the shutter free, he burst forth:</p>
+
+<p>"I-I-I heard that! Yes, siree! An' I thought the whole r-r-r-roof was
+goin'. An' then I w-w-went to sleep a s-s-s-sp-ell. When I woke up,
+'twas so p-p-pit-chy dark I dassent stay no l-l-longer."</p>
+
+<p>With which he coolly sliced himself a portion of the ham which his
+grandmother had promptly produced. She watched him in silence for a
+moment,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> then, as a sudden thought occurred to her, demanded:</p>
+
+<p>"Montgomery, have you been in the secret chamber again? Was Katharine
+with you?"</p>
+
+<p>With his mouth full, he stammered: "Y-y-yes, I've been. You never said
+not. But K-K-Katharine she w-w-wasn't with me."</p>
+
+<p>"Montgomery, where is she? It was for her Susanna came. Eunice does not
+know, nobody has seen her, can you tell where she is? You were at The
+Maples all day&mdash;you played with her&mdash;<i>where is she</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>Even in her sternest moods, "Gram'ma" had never been like this. And all
+at once a horrible chill ran down poor Monty's back. Memory returned;
+all his treachery; his unchivalrous desertion of a helpless girl in a
+dangerous place; and, to his honor be it said, did for a moment turn him
+deadly sick. But his natural temperament soon rallied. Of course she
+would have found a way to get down and out. Yet,&mdash;and again he felt
+faint,&mdash;what if she had not? What if she had had to pass the hours of
+this dreadful storm on the top of a hay-mow under a barn roof, where,
+even on mild days, a strong breeze blew through.</p>
+
+<p>Madam leaned forward, austere, intent. "My son, tell me everything."</p>
+
+<p>Under the spell of those piercing eyes, he did tell. Indeed, he was glad
+to tell. He felt she would find a word of comfort for his remorseful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>
+conscience. Alas! the word she did find was simply this:</p>
+
+<p>"Montgomery, put on your jacket and go to Aunt Eunice's at once."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Gr-gr-gram'ma!</i> In this awful s-s-storm? An' that t-t-tramp?"</p>
+
+<p>There was no relenting. The gentlewoman's glance was now not only stern
+but scornful, as she returned:</p>
+
+<p>"Are you a Sturtevant, and ask me for delay?"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>BUT&mdash;STURTEVANT TO THE RESCUE</h3>
+
+
+<p>All the conflicting emotions which whirled through Montgomery's mind
+pictured themselves in his face as he confronted the stern old
+gentlewoman opposite. The silence in the room was unbroken save by the
+roar of the tempest, and it seemed an age before she asked, coldly:</p>
+
+<p>"Are you afraid?"</p>
+
+<p>But there was no hesitation as he hastily stammered:</p>
+
+<p>"Y-y-yes, gr-gram'ma, I am afraid. So 'fraid I&mdash;I&mdash;can't hardly think
+nor feel nothin'. B-b-but&mdash;<i>I'm&mdash;going</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>His ruddy cheeks were now colorless save where the freckles spotted
+them, and his great eyes seemed to have grown in size; but though there
+was piteous terror in their blue depths there was no flinching from the
+duty. It took him a long time to button his jacket and adjust his cap.
+He even inspected his shoe-laces with a hitherto unknown care, and
+thoughtfully placed a stick<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> of wood upon the dying embers. He
+wished&mdash;oh, how devoutly he wished&mdash;that he had been born just a common
+boy, like Bob Turner, or any other village lad, and not a Sturtevant!
+These hateful traditions about family and gentlemen&mdash;Cracky! How that
+wind did blow! That tramp&mdash;Well, he dared not think about the tramp, and
+there was nothing more he could find to delay the awful moment of
+departure. With a last imploring glance toward Madam, to see if there
+was no relenting, or if she would not suggest some easier way, "'cause
+she knows all 'b-bout honor an' such p-pl-plag&mdash;uey things,"&mdash;yet
+finding none, he dragged himself to the side door, fumbled a moment with
+the latch, and went out.</p>
+
+<p>Had he known it, Madam Sturtevant was suffering more than he. She would
+far rather have faced the elements and the darkness on that mile-long
+walk, unused to exposure though she was, than have sent this last
+darling of her heart out alone and unprotected. Indeed, she sat so
+still, and looked so anxious for a time after he had gone, that
+Alfaretta ventured to touch her hand, and to comfort, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you worry, dear Madam. Nothin' 'll happen to Monty. Mr. Jones,
+he's well acquainted with him, an' he says 'at Monty's got as many lives
+as a cat. He's fell down-stairs, an' out of a cherry-tree, an' choked on
+fish-bones, an'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> had green-apple colic, an' been kicked by Squire
+Pettijohn's bull, an' tumbled into Foxes' Gully,&mdash;and that ain't but six
+things that might ha' killed him an' didn't. Besides, Monty's a good
+runner. Why, Madam, he's the fastest runner goes to school! True. He's
+more'n likely half-way there whilst we're just a-talkin'. Shall I fetch
+your specs an' the <i>Chronicle</i> newspaper? Readin' might pass the time
+till he gets back, an' I guess&mdash;I guess I won't be too scared to wash
+the dishes in the kitchen, if&mdash;if you'll let me leave the door open
+between."</p>
+
+<p>Alfaretta had enumerated the various disasters which had befallen
+Montgomery upon finger after finger, and with such perfect gravity that
+the anxious grandmother was amused, in spite of her fear, and felt
+herself greatly cheered. With a kindly smile, she answered:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Alfy, please do bring it; and, of course, you need not close the
+door. We are sadly late with the work to-night, but you may sit up till
+my son comes back. You are a dear, good child, Alfaretta, doing your
+duty faithfully in that state of life to which you were born, and you
+are a comfort to me."</p>
+
+<p>The happy girl fairly flew to bring the "specs" and the last number of
+the religious weekly which Eunice regularly sent to her old friend.
+Conscience was rather doubtful about that ever faithful performance of
+duty; but why worry?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> Praise was sweet, doubly sweet from one so fine a
+pattern of all the virtues as her mistress, and Alfaretta had found
+comfort for her own self in comforting another. Besides, now she was
+either getting used to it, or the storm was lulling, for the blinds did
+not rattle as they had, and that mournful soughing of the wind in the
+tall chimneys had nearly ceased.</p>
+
+<p>The bond-maid had rarely "done" her dishes so swiftly or so well, and,
+having set them in their places, she put out the kitchen candle, fetched
+her knitting, and sat down on her own stool beside the fireplace. For a
+wonder she was not sleepy. Too much had occurred that day to fill her
+imagination, and now that the "face" which had terrified her was safely
+out of sight, she began to recall it with a sort of fascination. If it
+were a ghost, it must have been that of somebody she had once known, for
+it was oddly familiar. The heavy features had a ghastly resemblance
+to&mdash;Who could it be? Uncle Moses? Mr. Turner? The stage-driver? No, none
+of these; nor of any old pensioner at the "Farm." Then, suddenly, she
+thought of Squire Pettijohn, terrible man, who had used to visit that
+"Farm," inspect its workings, suggest further extreme economies, where,
+it seemed to the beneficiaries, that economy had already reached its
+limit, ask personal questions, such as even a pauper may resent, and
+make himself generally<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> obnoxious. Alfaretta had frankly hated him, and
+had never been more thankful than when she was assigned to Madam
+Sturtevant rather than to Mrs. Pettijohn&mdash;both ladies having entered
+application for a "bound-out" servant at the very same time. Already
+ashamed of misfortunes which were not at all her own fault, she had
+resented his pinching of her ears, his facetious references to her
+worthless parents, his chuckings under the chin, and the other personal
+familiarities by which some elderly people fancy they are pleasing
+younger ones.</p>
+
+<p>"Madam! May I speak?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, Alfaretta. I haven't been able to keep my thoughts on my
+paper. I shall be glad to hear anything you have to say."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then! I'd hate to think it of any&mdash;any <i>good</i> ghost, but there
+was somethin' 'bout that <i>face</i> 'at made me remember somebody I'd seen,
+an' the somebody was&mdash;Squire Pettijohn!"</p>
+
+<p>"Child, how absurd!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes'm, I s'pose it is. But there was them same big eyebrows standin'
+out fur from this white <i>face</i> as his'n does from his red one. There was
+the same sort of bitter look in the eyes, only these ones was afire.
+Ain't that queer?"</p>
+
+<p>"Exceedingly queer. So queer that you must banish the notion at once
+from your mind. I am convinced that it was some poor, homeless wanderer
+estrayed into this quiet, and, I fear, inhospitable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> village, where
+there is no provision for such as he. I'm sure I wish he were safely
+housed in one of our own outbuildings rather than roaming the fields on
+such a night. Even an old blanket thrown into one of the box-stalls
+would have been comparative comfort."</p>
+
+<p>"Y&mdash;es'm," assented Alfaretta, with small enthusiasm. But what she did
+like to hear was Madam's talk of the old times when the now empty stable
+was full of spirited horses, when guests filled the silent rooms, when
+servants were many and the larder abundant, and life and laughter ruled
+where now were only memories. It always sounded like make-believe; and,
+humble poor-house child though she was, Alfy delighted in make-believe.</p>
+
+<p>A hint was commonly sufficient to set the house-mistress reminiscent,
+and once started upon such retrospections she was as contented to
+continue as her little maid to listen; and now there followed for the
+pair an hour of real enjoyment.</p>
+
+<p>Once really past the threshold Montgomery's reluctance vanished. If he
+had anything disagreeable to do he liked to get it over with at once.
+The walk to The Maples in that storm was certainly disagreeable, as
+would, doubtless, be his reception there. He wouldn't think about that
+part of the affair till it faced him, and he wouldn't let any grass grow
+under his feet for loitering upon his road. Then a thought of
+Katharine,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> alone and in terror, roused all his real manliness, so that
+he cared no further for anything save to set her free. He would now
+promptly have knocked any other boy down for calling him the hard names
+he called himself all the way from the Mansion to Aunt Eunice's, and he
+disdained to think of tramps, thunder-claps, or broken tree-limbs, even
+though he stumbled over some of these along the path. Despite the
+obstructing wind, he had never run so swiftly, and the resounding whack
+he gave the Maitland knocker startled all within the house.</p>
+
+<p>Poor Aunt Eunice required but little now to set her nerves a-quiver, and
+was anxiously pacing the sitting-room floor, wondering how and where to
+begin that search for little Katharine, which must be deferred no
+longer. But after the first shock of the summons she ran to answer it,
+feeling sure that here was news at last; and there almost fell into the
+hall a drenched, breathless lad, who could only stammer, feebly:</p>
+
+<p>"H-h-hay&mdash;mow!"</p>
+
+<p>Then he dropped upon the floor to catch his breath.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Maitland stared at him, wondering if here was another storm-crazed
+victim. Then she remembered that "H-h-h-hay&mdash;mow!" was the one and only
+word the boy had uttered during that scene of the brass bound box. Now
+again<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> just "H-h-hay-mow!" She passed her hand wearily across her eyes
+trying to understand.</p>
+
+<p>Then said the last of the Sturtevants, recovering, and stammering but
+slightly in his earnestness:</p>
+
+<p>"F-fetch a lantern, quick! We went up h-h-hay-mow huntin' eggs&mdash;an' mine
+are in the s-s-s-secret ch-amber&mdash;an' Squire c-come, an' I skipped
+an'&mdash;forgot!"</p>
+
+<p>The boy was himself so familiar with the premises that he knew exactly
+where to find the lantern, and, having confessed his fault, he ran to
+light it. He was also first at the barn, though Miss Maitland and
+Susanna both followed promptly and unmindful of the rain.</p>
+
+<p>But alas for Deacon Meakin's overcare! He had not only locked the doors,
+but he had hidden the keys.</p>
+
+<p>Susanna sped back to the house, seeking on the shelf where he had placed
+the lantern for them, but failing to find them, while at Eunice's
+direction Montgomery felt everywhere under the flat stone which served
+as door-step to the main entrance. In the crannies of window casings, at
+the tops and bottoms of all the doors, in the cattle-shed and
+poultry-house, in any sort of place where a Marsdenite would naturally
+deposit keys, they searched without avail.</p>
+
+<p>Then Miss Maitland bethought herself that if Katharine were still within
+the barn and heard<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> all this attempt at forcing an entrance she would be
+further frightened, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"We must break the glass in that window behind the stalls, and you,
+Montgomery, must climb through. As soon as you are within, call to the
+poor child and tell her that we are outside and have come to get her.
+Then you hand us out some heavy tools,&mdash;an axe, if you can find one,
+would be best,&mdash;and we'll break down the door."</p>
+
+<p>With that the lady herself took a stone from the barn-yard wall and
+crashed the glass, but Susanna interposed:</p>
+
+<p>"You go right back into the house, Eunice Maitland, and not stay out in
+this damp to get your death of cold. And no need to break good doors.
+Katy ain't no bigger'n Monty, nor so big, an' a hole he can get into she
+can come out of. Trust her!"</p>
+
+<p>Miss Maitland would not go indoors, but she did fold the shawl she had
+caught up more closely about her and retreated to the shelter of the
+cowshed, while Susanna stood listening beneath the window through which
+Monty had swiftly disappeared. Fortunately, the storm had greatly abated
+and there was less external noise to drown the sounds within, where
+Montgomery was now shouting at the top of his voice:</p>
+
+<p>"K-K-Kath-arine! Katy! K-Kitty-kee-hotee!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yelp! Snip! Snap! Gr-r-rrr!" came in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> response, and Katharine waked
+from the dreamless sleep into which exhaustion of grief and terror had
+thrown her.</p>
+
+<p>At first she could not comprehend what it all meant. She could only make
+an effort to restrain the angry pug now escaping from her arms. Then she
+saw Montgomery's face at the opening above the bay, brilliantly
+illuminated by the lantern held close to his head as he peered inwards
+preparatory to a leap. With a scream half of relief, half of dread lest
+she should again be deserted, she ran toward the window and held her
+arms up.</p>
+
+<p>The light disappeared, but before she had time for a fresh fear, she
+felt her hands clasped by Montgomery's sturdy ones, and she was bidden:</p>
+
+<p>"Give a s-s-sp-spring&mdash;an' I'll haul you!"</p>
+
+<p>She tried once, twice, and again, but there was no "spring" left in the
+usually active limbs, and she sank back to the bay, sobbing:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I can't! I can't! I've tried and tried and tried! But I shall never
+get out. Never, never, never." And it was proof of the suffering she had
+undergone that there was no indignation left against the boy who had
+caused it, but only a hopeless acceptance of a terrible position.</p>
+
+<p>This was too much for Monty. He would far rather have had her rail at
+him than sob so heart-brokenly. He began to sob himself in sympathy, and
+called back:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"D-d-don't! Qu-qu-quit it! See. Look up. I'll h-h-hang the lantern on
+the sill. I d-d-dassent take it down there, might s-s-set fire to the
+hay. I'm all r-r-right&mdash;I mean you're all r-r-right. Get out the way.
+I'm c-c-c-comin'!"</p>
+
+<p>In an instant he had leaped down beside her and put his arm around her
+quivering shoulders. In all his life he had never been so sorry for
+anybody or anything as now for her and for his own neglectful
+selfishness, which had brought her to such a pass. Yet, heedless Monty
+had had many causes for regret during his previous career!</p>
+
+<p>"I thought I should die! Oh, it was so awful! I thought I should
+certainly die here alone in this place. The wind would almost tear the
+roof off, and Punchy howled&mdash;he thought he was dying, too, maybe. But it
+was he kept me from it&mdash;quite. I never loved him so in all my life!
+Can&mdash;is there a way&mdash;you've got in, too, but is there a way out? I was
+hungry, I thought I would starve. Then I forgot that&mdash;listening. And the
+lightning&mdash;I was sure it had struck again and again. I waited to see the
+hay blaze up. Lightning always does strike barns, doesn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>With a philosophy beyond his years Montgomery changed the subject.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall have to boost you, i-i-if you c-c-can't climb without. P-p-put
+your feet right<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> th-th-there&mdash;I'm b-bo-boo-boostin' my best! Catch hold
+the s-sill! Cracky! Up you g-g-go!"</p>
+
+<p>Up she went, indeed, fear forgotten, every nerve strained, eager already
+to attain and excel in this new feat of climbing. Folks who lived in the
+country had to climb&mdash;or perish&mdash;it seemed. And once upon the sill she
+rolled over it to the broad floor of the barn and felt herself at last
+in safety.</p>
+
+<p>But there still remained that other climb, to reach the broken window
+and through it freedom and friends outside. However, this was a trifle.
+Montgomery brought a short ladder, which he placed beneath the window
+that he had had the forethought to unbolt from the outside, and when the
+sash rolled back in its groove Katharine was already on the ledge,
+Susanna's strong arms clasping her and Aunt Eunice standing near.</p>
+
+<p>Such an hour as followed! Such indigestibly delightful foods as Susanna
+brought from her storeroom&mdash;harbingers of holiday feasts to come&mdash;and of
+which the children were permitted to partake without any harm or
+restriction.</p>
+
+<p>"Let the poor little creatur's get their stummicks full for once, sence
+nary one hain't had a mouthful of victuals, scurce that, to-day," cried
+Susanna, herself feasting her eyes upon the now joyous faces of the
+youngsters.</p>
+
+<p>Then what a tap-tap-tapping sounded on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> the floor of the kitchen
+chamber! Aunt Eunice interpreting the same to mean:</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Moses is feeling left out of all our rejoicing and feels
+aggrieved. He wants us all to come up and tell him the whole story,
+since he cannot himself come to us. But alas for Deacon Meakin! I don't
+envy him his forthcoming interview with my hired man to-morrow morning.
+It is Moses' right to still direct matters, even if he cannot work. Both
+men are what Mrs. Meakin calls 'sot,' and I foresee some jarring of
+wheels, so to speak, before they run smooth. But let us go up at once,
+and then Monty must be starting home."</p>
+
+<p>The boy sighed. This was all delightful. Badly as he had behaved, he had
+received no reproof. Instead of that, there was such rejoicing over
+Katharine's safety that his sins had, apparently, been forgotten. Yet it
+must end&mdash;there still remained the long and desolate road home!</p>
+
+<p>Monty talked as fast as ever a boy could, nor did Katharine's tongue lag
+far behind, and for a time Moses listened eagerly. Then there came pangs
+of physical suffering which banished interest in all else, and while he
+was meditating how now best to rid himself of his guests, the hall clock
+struck nine.</p>
+
+<p>"Nine o'clock! My suz! I didn't know it was half so late!" cried
+Susanna, honestly surprised.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> "Time you was home and abed, Montgomery
+Sturtevant, keepin' your poor grandmother up all hours like this, just
+account your pranks. My suz! and such a day. May I never see another
+like it!"</p>
+
+<p>"Amen!" echoed poor Mr. Jones, so devoutly and in a voice of such
+suffering that they all silently withdrew.</p>
+
+<p>"Only nine o'clock? Does nobody ever sit up till a respectable hour,
+here in Marsden? Why, at home, our evenings never began till after this
+time," remarked Katharine, now so wide-awake, and, it must be confessed,
+having had her nerves freshly excited by the recital of her woes to the
+sympathizing ear of Uncle Moses.</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh! N-n-nine o'clock's n-n-nothing," assented Monty, who had never
+been out so late before in all his life.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't it?" asked Aunt Eunice, smiling. "Well, all the same, though it
+is rude to dispatch a guest, I'm sure it is full time for you to be with
+your grandmother, as Susanna justly remarked. She is doubtless anxious
+about you; and as for you, Katy dear, you are living in quiet Marsden
+now and not your city home."</p>
+
+<p>The storm was fully over when they opened the great front door, and the
+moonlight set all the rain-drenched shrubs and trees a-glitter, so that
+Katharine exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, look! It seems as if the world was just<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> laughing at itself for
+having been so naughty a little while ago!"</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Eunice gave the child a little squeeze, thinking how "Johnny" would
+have had just such a fancy, and Monty, wondering if all girls had queer
+ideas, bade them good night and started whistling down the path.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll stand here till you get beyond the first big tree, my lad, and
+we'll follow you in our minds all the way," said Miss Maitland, kindly.
+Then to Katharine she added, softly: "He's doing that to keep his
+courage up."</p>
+
+<p>"All the same he whistles beautifully," answered the girl, loyally. "If
+he could only speak as well as he whistles it would be splendid. Why, up
+there on the hay-mow to-day, some sort of bird&mdash;I think he said it was a
+meadow-lark, or skylark, or something&mdash;anyhow, it sang ex-quis-ite-ly!
+And he mimicked it so well I almost thought another bird had come
+through the window into the barn. He's a real nice boy, Monty is,
+but&mdash;but he needs some 'retouching,' as papa darling used to say of his
+pictures."</p>
+
+<p>"God bless him&mdash;and his own 'Kitty Quixote,'" murmured the old guardian,
+touched to a tender softness by&mdash;ah, many things! and promptly
+marshalling her latest charge to bed.</p>
+
+<p>Lights were out all along the street as Montgomery's passing whistle
+disturbed the early naps of these quiet folk, who had been so greatly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>
+interested and wearied by that day's unusual events. But the clear,
+birdlike tones were comfort to one harassed wanderer.</p>
+
+<p>Shivering in his wet rags, he crept out from the shelter of a porch to
+hearken, as those boyish lips sent forth in flute-like tones the melody
+of "Home, Sweet Home." Hearkening, he followed, fearing he should lose
+the music which impressed him, all unknowing why; and as the whistler
+left the last village house behind him and set out to run over the long
+stretch of lonely road, which lay between that and the Mansion, the
+follower also ran.</p>
+
+<p>Had Montgomery known this his pace would have been even swifter than it
+was, and the mere fear he now felt would have become abject terror.</p>
+
+<p>But he did not know; and the unknown tramp soon lagged far behind. He
+had neither strength nor desire left to overtake the fleeing lad, since
+the whistling had ceased, and consciousness of his own misery returned
+upon him. So, presently he left the highway and limped across the fields
+toward the woods where instinct told him was safe hiding; and Montgomery
+reached the stately home of his forefathers in good time. Between the
+man and the boy there seemed no possible connection, yet circumstances
+were already linking their lives together as with a chain.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+
+<h3>ON A SATURDAY AFTERNOON</h3>
+
+
+<p>When Deacon Meakin found that a barn window had had to be broken because
+of his forgetfulness to mention where he had put the keys, he insisted
+upon paying for and inserting the new glass himself. This distressed
+Miss Maitland and delighted Moses; but the new caretaker carried his
+point, declaring:</p>
+
+<p>"If I can't do that I'll throw up the job. My own hired men, 'fore I
+moved in, had to pay for their breakin's, and sence I've turned myself
+into a hired man, well, it's a poor rule that don't work both ways, as
+the poet says, an' what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander,
+or visy versy. There'll be no foolin' done on these premises whilst I'm
+in charge, an' the very first thing I'll tackle is&mdash;cleanin' up."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, is that necessary? Beyond the work that comes with every day?
+Surely, Moses is very neat," protested Eunice, on behalf of her old
+disabled helper.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Hm-m. There's neatness&mdash;an' neatness; an' my friend Jones, he's a
+fisherman first, an' a farmer afterward;" returned the deacon, grimly.</p>
+
+<p>The real truth was that the deacon had an idea of the wonderful casket's
+being hidden somewhere in that barn. As he reasoned with himself: "A
+barn's the least likely place for robbers to search for hid treasure,
+whether it is a gold box or a gold mine. Eunice, she is long-headed. She
+wouldn't want things in the house that might induce folks' breakin's in,
+more particular sence Widow Sprigg seen that tramp. She was tellin' me
+'bout it when I come on the place this mornin'; an' nobody needn't tell
+me it was just to get a girl out the bay that that winder was stove in.
+That's all cock-an'-bull yarn; to throw me an' others off the track. But
+I'll find out, I'll find out."</p>
+
+<p>Which shows how far one's imagination may lead in the wrong direction;
+and also explains why the curious, but well-meaning, man put himself to
+endless trouble, yet also did his own part in silencing the rumors of
+the previous day. Though, of course, his labors occupied him for several
+days, since the barn was big and his work so thorough. After emptying
+and refilling every bin and box, after cleaning every set of harness
+which had or had not been used for years, brushing the few cobwebs from
+the rafters, sweeping<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> the floors over and over, he repaired to the
+hay-mow and industriously forked over the whole mass.</p>
+
+<p>While he was engaged in this operation Susanna visited the barn and
+asked if he had gone crazy. His answer was:</p>
+
+<p>"No, not crazy, but come to common sense. Don't suppose I'd feel very
+Christian-like, do ye, to loaf around doin' next to nothin' an' lettin'
+a neighbor's hay heat? Might burn ye all up in your beds."</p>
+
+<p>The widow re&euml;ntered the house laughing, but indignant. "Says your hay's
+in danger o' heatin', Moses! As if you hadn't cured it till it was dry
+as tinder 'fore you mowed it up. Well, 'twon't do no harm, an' will keep
+him out of mischief. He's a reg'lar poke-noser, Deacon Meakin is. But
+he's routed them hens so there won't be no more egg-layin' in high
+places, breakin' a body's neck to hunt 'em. But, my suz! I wish you
+could ha' seen that man's face when he handed me over your
+fishin'-tackle. You'd ha' thought 'twas poison, the way he touched it."</p>
+
+<p>Moses was both angry and amused, but contented himself with remarking:</p>
+
+<p>"Si Meakin never could catch fish even when he was boy goin' to school.
+He was always a gabbler, an' fish has got sense. They won't bite for
+noisy folks. Slow an' gentle, bide your time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> an' keep your mouth
+shut&mdash;that's fishin' for ye. Oh, shall I ever get to go again!"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure. But it's time for your chicken broth. I've stewed it down rich
+an' tasty, an' there's one good thing 'bout broken legs an' ribs: they
+ain't broken stummicks. I'd ruther you'd have forty broken legs than the
+dyspepsy, 'cause when I take the pains to cook good victuals, I like to
+have 'em et. Now, turn your head a mite. Here's a nice new straw to
+drink your broth through, an' a pile more for you to chew on, like
+you're always doin'. Seems if a man must always have somethin' in his
+mouth, an' if it ain't tobacco it's straws. Spriggs he&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't give me no 'Spriggs,' to-day; I couldn't stand him. You've told
+more things 'at Spriggs done in his thirty years of life than would ha'
+kept most men busy till they was a hundered!" cried Moses, petulantly.
+"And if Kitty Keehoty, or Monty, ary one, comes 'round, do for pity's
+sake send 'em up. Here I lie, ball-an'-chained to a bed and things&mdash;Oh,
+dear!"</p>
+
+<p>It was Saturday and a busy time for the housekeeper. She had neither
+leisure nor inclination to argue with a fretful patient, so went away
+and left him to himself. But she found his desire for Katharine's
+society an excellent thing. As she had said of Deacon Meakin, "it kep'
+her out of mischief" to act as nurse to the injured<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> farmer, and he now
+delighted in her. The stories of her old life in the Southern city were
+almost like the fairy-tales she retold from printed books; and her
+little provincialisms of speech amused him as much as his country
+dialect did her. She had soon dropped into the habit of taking his
+meal-trays to him and strictly enforced his eating a "right smart" of
+all the nourishments provided.</p>
+
+<p>At noon of this Saturday she was perched upon the edge of his cot,
+daintily feeding him with bits of food she had cut up, when there was a
+clatter of feet upon the stairs, and, breathless as usual, Montgomery
+rushed in, announcing, without even a nod to Moses:</p>
+
+<p>"I-it-it's true! Mis' Turner's seen it in her w-w-wood-shed! Widow
+Sprigg wasn't m-m-mis-took!"</p>
+
+<p>"Say 'mistaken,' Montgomery Sturtevant, and say it slow," corrected
+Katharine, severely, yet immediately turning an inquiring look toward
+Uncle Moses. Thus far her efforts to improve her playmate's speech had
+been a safe secret between the two. They hoped to keep it such until the
+lad could speak a "whole piece" without stammering.</p>
+
+<p>But the hired man had not observed her remark, or, if he had, probably
+considered it but one of her naturally dictatorial sort.</p>
+
+<p>"A reg'lar tramp, Monty?" he asked, eagerly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"R-r-r-regular. Mis' Turner'd put her p-p-pies out to cool on the
+wood-shed r-r-roof an' they was six seven of 'em, an', sir, w-w-w-when
+she went t-t-t-to take 'em in one was g-one! Yes, sir! An' she seen
+somethin' b-b-b-lack scooting cross lots, l-l-li-lic-lick&mdash;ety
+c-c-c-ut!"</p>
+
+<p>"Monty, if I were you, I wouldn't try to say 'lickety-cut,' till&mdash;"
+again reproved the girl-teacher, still forgetful of secrecy. And again
+Mr. Jones ignored her, asking the boy:</p>
+
+<p>"Where was Bob, son of Mrs. Turner, about that time?"</p>
+
+<p>"F-f-fudge! I don't know. Somewhere's r-r-round, m-maybe. But it wasn't
+him. 'Twas a b-b-bigger, b-b-be-beard-d-er feller'n him."</p>
+
+<p>"You said 'six seven' pies. If she didn't know how many she made how'd
+she know she lost any?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, sir! An' there was old Mr. Witherspoon, d-dr-driv-in' down
+mountain with a load o' c-c-carrots, he&mdash;he seen him cr-cr-cross&mdash;in'
+Perkins's corn-field an' he t-thought 'twas a sc-sc-scarecrow, till it
+walked. Sc-sc-sc-scarecrows couldn't do that he kn-kn-knew, an'&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Although Eunice had done her utmost to keep the story of the brass bound
+box a secret from even her own household, it was inevitable that
+knowledge of it should come to the ears of the sick man, since it was
+the chief interest of the many neighbors who called to see him. Yet all
+he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> could gain from his callers was the vague suspicion each
+entertained. He meant now to get at the facts of the case. Montgomery
+had spread the tale, but had strangely kept silence with him, his old
+chum. Montgomery should speak now, or Moses would know the reason why;
+and if he still declined to explain matters he should be punished by
+being left out of the next fishing-party Uncle Mose would organize&mdash;if
+he ever fished again! He interrupted, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind Witherspoon an' the carrots, Monty. Nor tramps, nuther.
+Sence I ain't constable, to do it myself, I hope the poor creatur' won't
+get 'rested. Don't know where'd he be stowed, anyway, in this benighted
+Marsden, where there ain't neither a jail nor a touch to one. What I
+want to know is: What did you find in Eunice's woods?"</p>
+
+<p>Monty did some rapid thinking, the question had been a surprise, but he
+answered, promptly:</p>
+
+<p>"N-n-not-nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"Montgomery Sturtevant! How dare you? An' I will say that's the first
+lie I ever heard you tell. You're bad enough, oh, you're as bad as you
+need to be, but&mdash;a liar! Whew!"</p>
+
+<p>The lad sprang to his feet, furious. His hands clenched, and it was well
+that his accuser was a disabled old man, else the "hot blood of the
+Sturtevants" might have driven their young<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> descendant to do desperate
+deeds. As it was, he choked, glared, and finally stammered:</p>
+
+<p>"I-if you was a boy, an' not old l-li-like you are, I'd make you
+t-t-take that back, or&mdash;k-k-kill you! It's the tr-tr-truth! I don't lie!
+Do I, K-K-Katharine?"</p>
+
+<p>The girl had never seen anybody so angry. Her own temper was quick
+enough, but its outbursts short-lived, and she certainly had never had
+the least desire to "kill" anybody. Montgomery looked as if he meant it,
+and in distress she threw herself upon him forcibly, unclasped his
+clenched fingers, and begged:</p>
+
+<p>"Don't say that, Monty! Oh, don't say such dreadful things!" Then faced
+around toward the cot, declaring: "He didn't 'lie,' Uncle Moses. It's
+true. He didn't find&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Oh, she had almost betrayed herself in her eagerness to defend her
+friend.</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't find what, 'Kitty Keehoty'? An' if you didn't yourself, lad,
+why, you was along at the time. How else&mdash;But I'm sorry I used that
+hateful word. I don't blame you for your spunk. I'd knock a feller down
+'at called me 'liar' to my face, even now, old an' bedrid' as I be. I
+take it back an' call it square&mdash;if you will. But tell the hull business
+now, to your poor old fishin' teacher, an' let's be done with mysteries.
+Eunice, she's as mum as an oyster; an' Susanna, she talks a lot of
+explaining yet don't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> explain nothin'. What's all about, anyway, that's
+set Marsden crazy? Why, one man come to see me, was tellin' of
+searchin'-parties ransackin' our woods, prospectin', or somethin'. D'ye
+ever hear such impudence? Why, if I was constable, I'd arrest every
+man-jack of 'em that's dared to put pickaxe or spade in our ground! I'd
+have the law on 'em, neighbor or no neighbor. Well, they won't find a
+thing. 'Cept maybe a few chestnuts or such. As for gold&mdash;Hm-m! But
+somethin' was found&mdash;what was it, Monty?"</p>
+
+<p>The lad's anger was ebbing, but he was still in an unfriendly mood.
+Besides, he remembered the promise he had made to Aunt Eunice,&mdash;broken
+beforehand,&mdash;and resolved that he would keep silence now, even if the
+harm were already done. So he closed his lips very tightly, and looked
+steadily out of the window. Katharine followed this good example, and
+the pair seemed wholly absorbed&mdash;in nothing at all.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't you speak? Are you both struck dumb all to oncet? Is that the
+manners you think's polite?" demanded Mr. Jones, testily.</p>
+
+<p>Then Monty spoke. "Gr-gram-ma sent me to ask how you w-w-were. I'll go
+an' tell her."</p>
+
+<p>"Won't you stay and play? And, oh, let me tell you. Mr. Deacon Meakin is
+cleaning up the barn just splendidly, and it will be all ready for&mdash;you
+know what!" cried Katy, excitedly, and forgetful of the keen ears of the
+man on the cot.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> She was reminded of them, however, when he again
+demanded:</p>
+
+<p>"What's that? What'll the barn be ready for? I want you young ones to
+understand there's to be no monkey shines of any sort whilst I'm laid
+up. An' you're a sassy pair, the two of ye!"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't mean to be saucy, but you make me. And I guess you must be
+getting well very fast, 'cause widow says that being cross is a good
+sign&mdash;and I'm sure you're perfectly horrid, so there!" cried Kate,
+pertly, and seizing Monty's hand hurried him down the stairs.</p>
+
+<p>She had no sooner reached the bottom of them than she regretted her
+impertinence, and would have returned to apologize, had not Aunt Eunice
+just then appeared in the doorway, wearing her street things, while
+Deacon Meakin was also bringing the top-buggy around from the
+carriage-house. Katharine loved driving, of which luxury she had had
+very little; and the few times she had been out with Miss Maitland since
+her arrival at The Maples had been her happiest hours. The whole
+countryside was rich in autumn coloring, and through her artist father
+the child had learned to "see things." She was continually surprising
+all around her by finding such a store of beauty in every simple thing.
+A yellow or scarlet leaf was far more than that to her; it was a picture
+of varying tints and shades, which she would study with keenest
+interest. She had pointed out to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> Aunt Eunice, upon that last drive
+up-mountain, at least twenty-five tones of green, and had seized the
+reins suddenly to stop old Dobbin that she might gaze her full upon a
+decrepit cedar-tree robed and garlanded with scarlet woodbine. Marsden
+village might seem dull to her after her city life, but nature more than
+compensated; so that now her fear was not that she must stay, but that
+her guardian&mdash;perforce&mdash;would tire of her.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, aunty! May I go?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Katharine, not to-day. I am going to visit an old friend, who is
+very ill. I do not know when I shall be back, but be a good girl and do
+whatever Susanna tells you. Good-by. Good-by, Montgomery. Please give my
+love to your grandmother, and thank her for sending to inquire after
+Moses."</p>
+
+<p>Then the lady stepped into the buggy, the deacon chirruped to Dobbin,
+and they rode away. At the same moment came a shrill whistle from the
+street, and Monty ran to the gate. Bob Turner and a lot of boys were
+waiting near, rods over their shoulders and fish-hooks in their pockets,
+intent upon a Saturday half-holiday at their favorite sport. Besides
+their tackle they had great sacks of burlap, or canvas, because when
+they had caught all the fish in the river they expected to gather all
+the chestnuts in the woods. In any case, they were bound for a good
+time,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> and Montgomery did not hesitate in joining them. He delayed just
+long enough to go into the house and secure Moses' oldest line and rod,
+catch up a basket for nuts, and was off, leaving a very lonely girl
+standing on the path and wishing most earnestly that she had been born a
+boy so she, too, might do things worth while. She had already heard so
+much about the delightful art of angling that she longed to try it for
+herself; but with Uncle Moses helpless, and Monty&mdash;so mean!&mdash;He might
+have taken her. He might have stayed and talked over their secret
+scheme, which Deacon Meakin was unconsciously furthering by his ultra
+tidiness. He might, at least, have promised to bring her some chestnuts.
+But he had done none of these thoughtful things. He had been just
+plain&mdash;boy! Girls? Were there any she might visit uninvited? Aunt Eunice
+was very particular about that. She had explained that the Turner girls,
+Sophronia Walker, and even the Clackett sisters, Mercy and Lucinda, had
+many household duties to perform. Especially on Saturdays were their
+services in demand, since at this time of year there was pickling and
+preserving, soap-making and carpet-weaving; even among the more thrifty
+households "butchering and packing." Most families deferred the latter
+operation until much colder weather, but, as Susanna expressed it,
+"there's some in Marsden township 'at if they knowed they was to be
+hung<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> 'd want it done the day afore, they're so forehanded." Even the
+widow herself, Katharine fancied, leaned a little toward this
+"forehandedness," since she made fruit-cake six months before it was to
+be eaten; and on that memorable night of the storm had actually produced
+for each child a piece of the same sort of cake, meltingly luscious and
+moist in one's mouth, with the statement that it had been baked just
+seven years before. And when Katharine had exclaimed in amazement, had
+replied:</p>
+
+<p>"My suz! That's nothin' to what some keeps it. Mis' Turner, she's got
+part her weddin' loaf yet, an' she's been married more years 'an I can
+exactly recollect; while her own mother has some 'at's twenty-five years
+old. Fact. Hers is gettin' ruther dry, but it's always been kep' in a
+stone crock in a tin case an' only opened a-Thanksgiving time, when
+everybody in the hull connection is to dinner, and is give a tiny bit
+for remembrance' sake."</p>
+
+<p>Thinking over her guardian's information, there seemed to be no house
+where the young folks would have leisure for company, and the home
+prospect was rather lonely.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, for even a little Snowball to play with! Uncle Moses&mdash;I was rude to
+him, but he's so cross I can't go back and be shut up with him this
+beautiful afternoon. If I go just to say that I'm sorry he'll make me
+tell him a lot of stories<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> to prove my sorrow. That's one of his ways.
+The Widow Sprigg is sufficient unto herself and her scrubbing&mdash;of a
+Saturday. I've found that out. Deacon Meakin isn't at the barn and I
+might go there, but he's spoiled the barn for me. I feel just as if I
+was in somebody's parlor, some Marsden body's parlor, that's so much in
+order it makes everybody who goes into it as stiff as itself. I've found
+that out, too, going calling with Aunt Eunice. I wish&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Susanna suddenly called out to the girl sitting upon the porch step and
+thus ruefully communing with herself:</p>
+
+<p>"Ka-ty! Katharine!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Widow Sprigg! Here I am&mdash;coming. What is it? Something to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I should say 'twas somethin' to do! Here's that wild-headed Monty
+took an' scampered off just as I was takin' this batch of punkin pies
+out the oven. Eunice wants me to send a couple of 'em to Madam, an' this
+currant-jell-roll. I laid out to add a loaf of brown bread an' a pat of
+butter, 'cause, say what they will, an' let Madam Sturtevant be as good
+butter maker as they claim, I 'low old Whitey's milk can't hold to
+richness alongside our young Alderneys; an' besides, can't be much milk
+left for butter after Monty an' Alfy's drunk their fill. 'Tain't much
+besides milk they do get, nuther, 'cept what we send 'em. Well, it's
+most like two families bein' one the way<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> Eunice she feels. I wonder,
+could you be trusted to carry the things to the Mansion?"</p>
+
+<p>"Could I not?" cried Katharine, gaily, skipping about the kitchen in her
+fanciful way at this prospect of a change. "And I'd go that cross-fields
+road Monty showed me. Over the meadows amongst the goldenrod, past the
+stone walls where the woodbine and clematis run over each other trying
+to make the old gray rocks beautiful. There's a corn-field down beside
+the river so like a picture papa painted that I can almost see his dear
+hand holding the brush. And the forest is like a great palette set full
+of reds and blues and greens and yellows, out of God's own color-box.
+Oh, it's such a glorious old world, Susanna, and I'm so glad, so glad to
+be alive!"</p>
+
+<p>The widow put her arms akimbo and looked at Katharine over her
+spectacles, as she might have studied some new and rather formidable
+insect. Then she remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"My suz! you didn't look none too peart when I first called ye. If I'd
+had an opinion to give I should ha' give it that you was down in the
+mouth. Well, never mind. You're a funny child, but I guess you'll make
+some kind of woman if you live long enough. Hand me down that basket
+from the second pantry shelf, whilst I wrop that jell-roll in a napkin.
+Take notice of the basket. Eunice, she had it made to the
+basket-maker's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> up-mountain. She's dreadful good to the basket-makers,
+Eunice is."</p>
+
+<p>"Widow Sprigg, I think she's 'dreadful good' to everybody&mdash;to everybody
+lives. Yet she looks so sort of stern and dignified sometimes I feel
+afraid of her. But it is a curious basket, truly. What&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Watch an' see, an' don't ask so many questions. Girls' eyes ought to
+save their tongues."</p>
+
+<p>The basket was beautifully woven of finest willow, and was like a tiny
+cupboard in the matter of shelves, each shelf fitted with a little rim
+to keep whatever might be placed upon it from slipping off. There were
+six of these shelves, all removable at will, and Susanna now took out
+all but two. Upon these she placed the pies, and in the larger spaces
+left bestowed a monster loaf of brown bread, the jell-roll and the
+butter. As there was still a small part unfilled she added a tumbler of
+strained honey, covered the whole with a napkin, hooked down the lid,
+and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Now get your hat and jacket. See 't your shoes is tied; them silk
+strings is too fancy for use. Got a handkerchief? All your buttons
+fastened? Feel just comf'table everyways?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you dear old caretaker! I'm what Uncle Moses calls as 'right as a
+trivet,' whatever that may be."</p>
+
+<p>Katharine sped away for her jacket, and in passing a hall shelf noticed
+lying upon it a pile of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> Uncle Moses' "tackle," including a wonderful
+jointed rod that he had always thought too fine for use, but one which
+her own father had sent as a gift years before she was born. It had been
+brought forth and exhibited to her, and had since reposed among less
+valuable belongings in this conspicuous place. Her father was much in
+her mind that day, and the rod seemed to bring him even nearer. A whim
+seized her. Since there was nobody to teach her about fishing she would
+even teach herself. What her father had done as a little boy must be
+right for her, his child. So, when she left the house a few minutes
+later, the rod was in her hand, line and fish-hooks in her pocket. Nor
+had she thought it necessary to mention this fact to Susanna when she
+appeared before the housekeeper to receive her basket.</p>
+
+<p>"Take dreadful care of it, Katy. I know it's heavy, but 'twon't be only
+one way. It'll be empty comin' back, and I do hope the victuals will eat
+well!"</p>
+
+<p>They were destined to "eat" uncommonly "well;" but, alas! not by the
+mouths for which they were intended.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER XV.</h2>
+
+<h3>BY THE OLD STONE BRIDGE</h3>
+
+
+<p>One came down into the long, main street of Marsden village from a hill
+at either end, and through an avenue of trees whose branches met
+overhead. There were a few side streets, with scattering houses, and the
+"Crossroads" nearly midway of the chief thoroughfare, with its four
+corners occupied by the church, the schoolhouse, the post-office, and
+the tavern. On the north side the ground rose gently for a distance,
+then climbed abruptly to the "mountain," in reality but a high, wooded
+hill. On the south there were rich meadows, wide pastures, and the
+winding noisy river, that darted here and there through the valley as if
+having no mind of its own which way it should run. On this south side
+was also the great forest called "Maitland's woods," that already
+Katharine had learned to love almost as warmly as did Aunt Eunice. To
+the latter the forest was as something sacred, a spot where nature
+should have her will and not despoiling man. When firewood must be cut
+from it, for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> coal was an unknown fuel in Marsden, she went herself to
+select such trees as must be sacrificed&mdash;always the unsightly ones which
+storms had broken, not trusting even Moses to cut one till she had
+condemned it.</p>
+
+<p>As that unfortunate man had observed:</p>
+
+<p>"If Eunice she had let me trim out the under-bresh now an' then I
+shouldn't ha' broke my leg a-stumblin' over old tree-roots. But, no!
+Things must be kep' just as they was in the old Colonel's time, no
+matter what! She 'pears to think that timber's got as much feelin' as
+folks, an' I 'low there ain't no other oaks an' pines an' maples to
+compare with 'em left this section of the State. It makes me plumb wild
+to lie here helpless, an' think o' them villagers a-trompin' her brakes
+an' scarin' them gray squir'ls that there's so few of, anyway, let alone
+the birds an' chipmunks! Oh, hum!"</p>
+
+<p>Surely, there was no lovelier spot in the world, so Katharine felt,
+finding the basket rather heavy, and running across fields the sooner to
+be rid of it. But this by-path led to the river and a quaint old-time
+bridge which spanned it; and here the girl meant to rest and give
+herself a lesson in angling. Setting her basket down in the shade of
+some alder-bushes, she swung her feet over the stone ledge of the bridge
+and prepared to arrange her tackle. To fit the jointed rod into a
+desirable length was simple enough, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> to attach the line with its
+hook as easy; but there trouble began.</p>
+
+<p>"I never thought a thing about bait, and where shall I get it? I suppose
+the ground is just as full of worms here as it is in the garden where
+the boys dig them. But&mdash;ugh! Shall I dare to touch one if I find it?"
+she asked herself. Then as promptly exclaimed: "I must! I just must!
+I'll catch the nicest fish out the water and take it home to Uncle Moses
+for his supper. Susanna will cook it, I'm sure&mdash;or, maybe, let me do it
+myself. Then I'll take it to that poor sick man on one Aunt Eunice's
+prettiest dishes, and he'll forgive me for saying such impudent things
+to him. It will make it easier to apologize if I have a gift in my
+hand," said this wise little maid. Unfortunately, she said it aloud,
+having the bad habit of talking to herself whenever there was nobody
+else to talk to.</p>
+
+<p>Then, picking up a sharp stick, she resolutely set to work to unearth an
+angleworm. But this was difficult. The mold was hard and sunbaked, and
+the stick of little use. Its point broke repeatedly; yet the longer she
+labored the more determined she became, and finally she did succeed in
+driving a red earthworm from its haunts. No sooner had it come to the
+surface than she sprang away in disgust, exclaiming:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you nasty, dirty, squirmy thing! I wouldn't touch you for anything!
+Indeed, I'll<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> never learn to fish if I have to handle such beasts as
+you. Monty takes them in his fingers, and even cuts them in pieces if he
+doesn't have enough without. The horrid boy! He says it doesn't hurt
+them, that they're so used to it, an' till this minute I never thought
+how little sense there was in that. I&mdash;I guess I'll put a leaf on the
+hook and throw that in. I should think a fish would rather eat a nice
+clean leaf than a worm."</p>
+
+<p>Selecting a bit of the red sorrel growing near, she baited her hook and
+cast her line. She had learned how to do that from seeing Uncle Moses
+test his various rods at home, and set herself to wait and watch with
+the "patience" he prescribed for any successful angler.</p>
+
+<p>Waiting, she fell to day-dreaming, and, for her further ease in this
+line, curled herself down in the shade of the alders and closed her
+eyes. Beautiful pictures came to her behind those shut lids, none more
+lovely than this very scene of which she fancied she was the only living
+human feature.</p>
+
+<p>"All alone in God's beautiful world! With the sky so blue and white; the
+woods so&mdash;so every wonderful color; the river so dark and babble-y,
+chattering over the stones that it had more to say than it had time to
+say it in; the birds singing and flying; the air so soft and warm; and
+nobody here but me! Well, I'm glad that even I am here, just a little
+girl like me, to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> tell Him there is somebody who sees and thanks Him!"</p>
+
+<p>Then away she drifted into thoughts she could not have framed in words,
+but which kept all fear from her and filled her young soul with a
+longing to be good and to do good.</p>
+
+<p>But she was not alone as she believed. Among those same alders lining
+the river bank lay another of God's creatures, whose dreams were unlike
+the child's, indeed, but upon whose clouded mind the beauty of that hour
+was not wholly lost. He had been asleep, as she afterward declared she
+had not been, and her converse with herself aroused him. He had lain
+down where the bushes screened him well&mdash;for hiding was a second nature
+to this man&mdash;and he did not move when he awoke. He merely fixed his eyes
+upon Katharine as he saw her through the branches and watched what she
+would do. He saw her fix her tackle, her struggle with herself
+concerning the earthworm, and smiled dully. Once he had fished from that
+same bridge. From among many later and less pleasant memories that stood
+out as clearly as anything in these later days was ever clear to this
+unfortunate. Ah! the girl was going to sleep! and he would fish again!</p>
+
+<p>Very slowly and cautiously, lest he should awaken her, he crept forward
+through the bushes, out upon the bank where the smooth grass made
+creeping easier, inch by inch forward till he had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> come face to face
+with her. Then a sudden grasp at the rod in her hand and she awoke,
+sprang to her feet, beheld him, and in her fear leaped backward,
+unheeding where she set her foot. It had chanced to be upon a loose rock
+which rolled downwards with her, and she felt herself falling into the
+stream.</p>
+
+<p>But she did not reach the water. Her skirts were clasped firmly and
+herself dragged backward, to be dropped upon the ground with more force
+than needful. It was all done in a second or two of time, but it
+sufficed to show her that she had escaped one peril but to encounter
+another. The man who had pulled her from the river, the man who sat now
+close beside her, was Marsden's much discussed&mdash;tramp!</p>
+
+<p>For a moment her heart almost stopped beating, and she turned her eyes
+with a hopeless glance across the fields by which she had come. Oh, how
+wide they were and how desolate! All their glorious beauty faded from
+her vision till they seemed but an endless waste between her and safety.
+Oh, if she had only gone by the straight and longer road, instead of
+yielding to a whim she had not dared to speak of to Susanna! If she
+hadn't stopped to fish she would already have been at the Mansion, which
+now it seemed she would never see again. A tramp. It was the one thing
+in the world of which she had the greatest fear, and the behavior of
+Widow Sprigg, as well<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> as the other villagers, had convinced her that
+here was a tramp of the worst variety.</p>
+
+<p>Then her sense of what was "fair" made her force her eyes toward her
+unwished-for companion. To her surprise he was not paying the slightest
+attention to her, and he didn't look so&mdash;well, not so fearfully wicked.
+He certainly was clothed in the poorest and dirtiest of rags. His bare
+feet showed through the holes in his shoes. His hat had a brim but
+half-way around. His hair had not seen a comb for so long that he must
+have forgotten what a comb was like. His face was roughly bearded, but
+it was very pale and not so dirty as his hands. His eyebrows stood out
+at an angle above his wild eyes, and were the bushiest she had ever
+seen, except Squire Pettijohn's. He wasn't a bit like that sleek and
+portly gentleman, yet, even as he had done in Alfaretta's case, he
+brought the village potentate to mind. And&mdash;what was it he was doing?</p>
+
+<p>With an old clasp-knife he had drawn from his rags he was digging bait!
+Not as she had dug, with timid, tentative jabs from the point of a
+stick, but systematically, thoroughly, just as Monty would have done. He
+had found a spot where the earth was soft and rich, and was wholly
+absorbed in his task. So absorbed that Katharine felt it safe to attempt
+flight, and got upon her feet.</p>
+
+<p>But he pulled her roughly down again. Yet he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> showed no enmity toward
+her, and with the swift intuition of youth she comprehended that he
+wished her to stay and see him fish. He, the tramp, was to give her her
+first lesson in angling! What, what would Uncle Moses say?</p>
+
+<p>Always quick to see the comic side of any incident, Katy laughed. She
+couldn't have helped it even if he had struck her the next instant. He
+didn't strike, he merely laughed in response&mdash;his first laughter of many
+days. Then he looked into her face, stared, and stared again. Stared so
+long that Katharine put her hand to it wondering what was amiss. When he
+turned his gaze aside he fixed it on the chattering river and became
+oblivious to everything else. Within his brain there was working another
+memory, evoked by her brown eyes; eyes so like her father's that when
+she sometimes looked at Susanna, that good woman begged her turn her
+glance away, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"You're so like Johnny you give me the creeps!"</p>
+
+<p>Susanna was often getting the "creeps," and Katy wondered if she had
+given them to this poor wretch also, since, though he had seemed so
+anxious to fish a few moments ago, he had now apparently forgotten all
+about it. She gathered all her courage and put out her hand to take the
+rod.</p>
+
+<p>"If you please, mister, I must be going now. Will you give me my
+things?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Bime by. Wait. Don't talk. In a minute I'll have a whopper."</p>
+
+<p>It was a relief to hear him speak in such an ordinary way. She had
+supposed that the language of tramps was something wholly vile. His
+voice was husky, but that might be from illness, for he certainly did
+look ill. Well, if he wanted her to stay she would better please him. He
+would tire of keeping her there after awhile, or so she hoped. Even a
+tramp couldn't go on fishing forever, and somebody might come.</p>
+
+<p>He was really very skilful. Almost as soon as Uncle Moses could have
+done so he had landed his first catch and left it floundering on the
+bank. Katharine had never thought about the cruel side of angling. It
+was left for this forlorn creature to teach her that of this pretty
+pastime there is something else than lounging beside charming waterways
+and beneath green boughs. Angleworms might not suffer much, might even
+get used to being tortured, as Montgomery averred; but how about that
+beautiful shining thing done to slow death on the sward beside her? A
+new pity for this humbler of God's creatures made her forget her
+lingering fear of the man. With a cry she snatched the rod from his
+hand, exclaiming:</p>
+
+<p>"You sha'n't do that any more! It's wicked! Oh, the poor, pretty thing!
+We have taken away its life and we can never give it back again. I feel
+as if I had seen murder done. I understand<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> Aunt Eunice now about the
+poultry. Oh, it is dreadful!"</p>
+
+<p>This was the girl's first knowledge of killing, and she was extreme in
+her revulsion as she was in all things. But her emotion was a good thing
+because it recalled her to the fact that she had something else to do.
+She must be about it at once, and if the man followed or annoyed
+her&mdash;why, she must trust she could escape him.</p>
+
+<p>Rapidly unfolding the rod, she was conscious that the tramp was again
+regarding her with that intent gaze which had nothing menacing in it,
+but was rather wistful and sad. He did not resent her stopping his
+sport, and, turning away from her, he picked up the fish and tossed it
+back into the water. Then she went a few steps to where she had placed
+the basket and drew it out from the alders.</p>
+
+<p>Now his whole attitude changed. He had not suffered greatly from hunger
+heretofore. The gardens and fields were too rich just then with fruits
+and vegetables, and nobody missed a few potatoes from the heaps dug, nor
+corn from the shocks. There were apples galore, and in some orchards
+pears and even plums. The stone walls bordering the farms were hung with
+wild frost-grapes, while the nut-trees offered their abundance to
+whomsoever would accept. Beneath these same trees there was game to be
+ensnared even by one who carried no gun, and as for poultry-yards,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>
+nearly every householder had one. Nobody, not even a tramp, need go
+hungry on that countryside, unless his scruples prevented him from
+helping himself.</p>
+
+<p>This particular tramp had no scruples of that sort whatever. As
+Katharine picked up her heavy basket, he was upon his feet and relieved
+her of the burden at once. She tried to retain her hold of the handle,
+but was no match for him in strength, and had to watch him drop down
+upon the bank, tear apart the two halves of the cover, and explore the
+contents.</p>
+
+<p>She made one effort to rescue Susanna's good things from this "thief,"
+as she now knew him to be, but he flung her hands aside so rudely he
+hurt them; and when she cried to him: "You mustn't! You must not touch
+those things, they aren't mine!" he did not notice her.</p>
+
+<p>Already one pumpkin pie was half-devoured. Uncooked food from the fields
+may, indeed, prevent starvation, but here was luxury. If "the proof of
+the pudding is in the eating," Susanna Sprigg should have been highly
+flattered. Katharine had never seen anybody eat as this man did. Before
+she could say, "Well, you sha'n't have the basket, even if you do steal
+the things from it!" the first pie had wholly gone. He tried a little
+variety: broke the brown loaf in two, and, unrolling the pat of butter,
+generously smeared it, using his dirty hands for knife.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 335px;">
+<img src="images/i230.jpg" width="335" height="500" alt="&quot;ALREADY ONE PUMPKIN PIE WAS HALF-DEVOURED&quot;" title="" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;ALREADY ONE PUMPKIN PIE WAS HALF-DEVOURED&quot;</span>
+</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This was wretchedly disgusting but&mdash;fascinating. It reminded the young
+Baltimorean of feeding-time at the Zoo. She also dropped upon the sward
+to watch, and to recover her basket when he should have done with its
+contents.</p>
+
+<p>He left none of them. The honey followed the bread and butter, and the
+jell-roll followed the honey. Then he returned to his first delight and
+finished the second pie. By this time satiety. Full fed and rested he
+crawled back among the alders and lay down to sleep. Crawled so far and
+so deep among them that even the watching girl could scarcely see him.</p>
+
+<p>But she had no desire left for further observation. He had proved
+himself a harmless bugaboo, and she would not be afraid of him, meet him
+where she might&mdash;so she felt then.</p>
+
+<p>Yet there remained some ugly facts to be dealt with. One, the empty
+cupboard at the Mansion, always so faithfully replenished for the
+Sabbath by the untiring care of Aunt Eunice. One, the cherished rod that
+had snapped asunder as she forced it from the tramp's grasp. And
+one&mdash;the well-deserved anger of the Widow Susanna Sprigg.</p>
+
+<p>She gathered what comfort she could, hoping against hope that for once
+Madam Sturtevant had made provision for her own Sabbath feasts; and
+that, though the rod might be broken, and because of its association not
+to be replaced, she could buy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> another even better. She had ten dollars
+of her own, her very own. It was as yet unbroken even if in her
+intention she had already expended it on many, many things. But there
+remained that other formidable fact&mdash;the Widow Sprigg.</p>
+
+<p>How meet her inquiring glances? How convince her that she was still
+worthy of trust who had proved herself unworthy? How endure the torrent
+of indignation, certain to be let loose upon her when she reappeared at
+the kitchen door?</p>
+
+<p>Well, she had the basket! That was yet another and comforting fact. She
+hugged it close as she entered the back yard where the housekeeper was
+washing the stone path with a vigor as great as if it were the beginning
+and not the end of the day. As the gate-latch clicked Susanna looked up,
+and Katharine saw that she was "just as cross as she always is on
+Saturday afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>"My suz! You back a'ready?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Susanna."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what you so mealy-mouthed about? You ain't nigh so peart and
+hop-skippin' as you was when you started. Didn't you get a good welcome
+to the Mansion? Wasn't Madam to home? Don't squeeze that basket so
+tight. Eunice won't admire to have it smashed."</p>
+
+<p>"I won't smash it, Susanna."</p>
+
+<p>Katharine wondered why she should be so afraid of this sharp-tongued
+woman when she hadn't been really afraid of the disreputable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> tramp. She
+wondered why she couldn't burst forth with her story, which certainly
+was a strange one, as sure of sympathy here as she would have been with
+Aunt Eunice. Perhaps that dear, if dignified, old lady had returned, and
+if so she would go straight to her.</p>
+
+<p>"Has aunty come, Widow Sprigg?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. She hain't. Nor likely to. Word's come, though, that we needn't
+look for her till we see her. That sick woman is so glad to have her
+she's goin' to keep her over Sabbath, an' I warn you, what with Moses on
+my hands an' the hull house to look after, I want no monkey-shines from
+you. Well, what did Madam say? Didn't she think my butter was as good as
+hers? Hey? What?"</p>
+
+<p>Hope died in Katharine's breast. At first she had loved Susanna best,
+better than Miss Maitland. Now, for just one look into Eunice's face!</p>
+
+<p>But she wouldn't be a coward. Feeling that she had done something very
+wrong, yet not knowing how she could have helped it, she looked straight
+into Susanna's eyes, and answered:</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't seen Madam Sturtevant. I didn't go there."</p>
+
+<p>Over the rest of that interview it is well to draw a veil.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE COTTAGE IN THE WOOD</h3>
+
+
+<p>After having cried herself to sleep in the sitting-room chamber, feeling
+very lonely and forlorn because Aunt Eunice was not in her own adjoining
+room, Katharine awoke to find another beautiful day gladdening the world
+and herself as well. Who could be unhappy with such sunlight shining
+through such golden maples, underneath a sky so blue?</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"Every day is a fresh beginning,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Every morn is the world made new,"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>sang the girl, springing from bed and running to her bath; a daily habit
+which surprised and pleased both Miss Maitland and the housekeeper,
+accustomed as they were to the rebellion of young Marsdenites to even a
+weekly tubbing. A habit which had done much to win Eunice's favor toward
+the "second Mrs. John," and between whom and herself now existed a
+friendly and frequent correspondence. "She is a good woman,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> intensely
+practical; and Katharine is a good child, intensely romantic; and not
+all good people may live comfortably together. But there is no 'cruel
+stepmother' in her, and I mean to invite her and the little Snowballs
+out to visit us next summer. It shall not be my fault if there does not
+yet grow the closest affection between Johnny's chosen wife and Johnny's
+daughter," had remarked the mistress of The Maples, some time before.</p>
+
+<p>To which Susanna had pertinently replied:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, next summer ain't tetched yet, an' we may all be in our graves
+before that time."</p>
+
+<p>"Very true, my friend, though I don't expect to be in mine," answered
+Eunice, cheerfully, and wisely changed the subject, though not her
+intention.</p>
+
+<p>Not only had Katharine forgotten her unhappiness of the night before,
+but Susanna had also rested and recovered her good nature. She felt that
+it would never do for an old lady like herself to apologize to a child
+for the hard words spoken "in the way of discipline," but now that she
+had had time to think it over she did not see how Katy had been so
+greatly to blame. Besides, she was just wild to ask questions concerning
+the tramp, and privately looked upon the little girl as a very heroine
+for bravery, in that she had neither fainted nor been greatly afraid
+during her interview with the wanderer.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Katy had been given a bread and milk supper and sent to her room,
+feeling herself in disgrace. She had not even been allowed to visit
+Moses and offer her apologies for her rudeness to him; so that if it had
+not been a wholly "black" Saturday, it had been a very dark Saturday
+evening.</p>
+
+<p>But Saturday was past, a beautiful Lord's Day was blessing His earth,
+and it was not for His children to keep offence with one another.</p>
+
+<p>As her own overture to a Sabbath peace, Susanna went to the foot of the
+stairs and called, in her cheerfullest voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Time to get up, 'Kitty Keehoty'!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes! Good morning, Susanna! I've been up ever so long&mdash;much as ten
+minutes, I guess."</p>
+
+<p>"Flannel cakes an' maple syrup for breakfast," returned the housekeeper,
+as a parting salute, and really very happy to have all clouds blown free
+of the domestic sky.</p>
+
+<p>Moses had already breakfasted, and had by this time become so far
+accustomed to his hard position on the cot that he had ceased to grumble
+at it. That is, he had not grumbled on that morning, and had forgotten
+his growls of yesterday. He was ready with a smile for his little nurse
+when she came in with the new copy of the <i>Chronicle</i>, to read him a few
+paragraphs while Susanna fried the cakes. Later, she brought a big bunch
+of chrysanthemums and put them on his bureau; then tidied the room even
+beyond<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> its usual order, since on Sundays, when his neighbors had
+leisure, the invalid was sure to have many visitors.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, as Susanna informed Katharine at breakfast, Deacon Meakin
+himself was coming to sit the whole afternoon with his afflicted
+predecessor. Kate, herself, was to go alone to church in the morning,
+and remember that she was to behave exactly as if Eunice were beside
+her. In the afternoon, during the deacon's temporary charge of the
+house, Susanna would take Katharine on that long promised walk to "my
+cottage."</p>
+
+<p>"I've been terr'ble anxious 'bout it ever sence that tramp come to town,
+an' now sence you've seen an' talked with him, an' I know that he's
+runnin' 'round loose still, I must go take a look. That's the worst o'
+prope'ty, it's a dreadful care."</p>
+
+<p>"But it must be just delightful to own such a cute little cottage as
+yours, all vines and trees&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"The chimbley smoked," interjected the widow, feeling free to disparage
+her own "prope'ty," though she would have resented such a remark from
+another.</p>
+
+<p>"That could be fixed, I reckon. When I saw it from the stage, coming, I
+thought it was just like a doll-house, or a child's playhouse."</p>
+
+<p>"Huh! You did, did you? Well, let me tell you, Katharine Maitland, that
+house is a good one. Spriggs, he had it built first-class, with a room
+finished off in the roof&mdash;attic, he called it&mdash;three<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> good rooms on the
+ground floor, white-painted clapboards an' reg'lar blinds, green blinds
+with slats turnin' easy as nothin'. Not like the old-fashioned wooden
+shutters, so clumsy 't you can't see out to tell who's comin' along the
+road without openin' the hull concern. And it has as good a system of
+water as Squire Pettijohn's, only not so big. Sprigg, he bricked it all
+up, hauled the bricks himself clean in from the county town, an' it's
+got a manhole 'twill let ary man down it that wants to go. My house may
+not be as big as the moon, but it's got as good a system of water as
+Eunice's even."</p>
+
+<p>Katharine's eyes twinkled. Until she came to Marsden she had never heard
+of a cistern; all the water used in her city home had been piped into it
+from a reservoir, which supplied all the other houses also; but she had
+learned what Susanna meant by "system," because the Turners had had
+theirs cleaned out only the week before.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the 'manhole,' Susanna?"</p>
+
+<p>"My suz! You do ask the ridicylousest questions. It's a hole left in the
+top for folks to go down into it, if they want to."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I shouldn't think they'd ever want to. And the Turners' manhole
+must be very small, smaller than yours, maybe; because they sent Bob
+down to clean it, and he got stuck coming out. His mother was scared
+almost into a fit, and the girls cried and Mr. Turner&mdash;said things.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> He
+told Bob if he ever got him out alive he'd teach him to live on light
+rations for awhile. Bob's so fat, you know. It was so funny, and yet I
+was frightened, too. I suppose if he had stuck too tight they'd have had
+to break the bricks away, but he squeezed through all right. He hasn't
+spoken to me since, though. Just because I laughed."</p>
+
+<p>"My suz, Kitty! if you ain't the greatest one for bein' everywhere 't
+anything's goin' on. You hain't been here but a month, yet you know more
+folks, been into more houses, seems if, than I have, who've lived here
+all my life. An' the idee! Tearin' away good bricks just to get a
+wuthless boy out, like that Bob. I cal'late his pa would ha' thought
+twice 'fore it come to that. He'd have made the young one scrouge
+himself up dreadful narrow an' wriggle himself free, somehow. But there.
+No use worryin' about my system, 'cause I had the leader-pipe turned
+t'other way so no rain could run into it. It's as dry as a floor now. My
+suz! What a long walk it is, an' how warm it does keep. I never knowed
+such a fall, no weather fit for killin' nor nothin', but just like
+midsummer," bewailed Susanna, lagging on the long woodland path.</p>
+
+<p>"I never knew such a fall, either. I never dreamed that the world could
+be so lovely. I have only been in the country a fortnight at a time in
+August, until I came to Marsden, but I love it, I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> love it! And I think
+you're dressed too warm. What made you put on that heavy wool gown and
+shawl? And a veil, too. I should think you'd roast, and your face is the
+color of boiled lobster," said Katharine, with hapless frankness.</p>
+
+<p>Their talk had been along the way, and their goal was already in sight
+through the trees. Poor Susanna had scarcely breath to retort, but
+managed to say:</p>
+
+<p>"Ain't it the time o' year to put on thick clothes? an' am I to blame if
+the weather don't know its own business?"</p>
+
+<p>Then, for a peace-offering, Katharine handed her companion a beautiful
+fern, which the widow tossed aside contemptuously, with:</p>
+
+<p>"Huh! What do I want with a brake? Eunice, she litters the house with
+'em bad enough. I ain't a-goin' to add to the muss. Well, here we be,
+an' there's the key. I've come here alone time an' time again an' never
+felt the creeps a-doin' it afore to-day. But&mdash;my suz! I wouldn't ha'
+come now without you to keep me comp'ny, not for anything."</p>
+
+<p>"That's flattering! Am I so brave, then?" asked the girl, giving the
+housekeeper a sudden little hug.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you be. But, my suz! You needn't knock my bunnit off with your
+foolishness. Seems if this key's gettin' rusty, or else&mdash;can't be the
+door's unlocked, can it?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure I don't know. I was never here before." Then, as the door
+opened, sniffing a little at the musty odor incident to a tightly closed
+apartment: "Whew! It needs airing, anyway. Let's throw up all the sashes
+and set the blinds wide, then it will be the sweetest little cottage in
+the world."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you may. And when you've done these down here, you might&mdash;you
+might go up attic and open that winder, too. It's there I've got my
+things stored that I've been layin' out to show you, soon's I could. Me
+an' Moses an' Eunice is all a-gettin' old. It's time somebody younger
+an' likelier to live longer should know. This walk to-day tells me 'at I
+ain't so spry as I used to be. No tellin', no tellin'. We're here now,
+an' there some other time, an' life's a shadder, a shadder," ruminated
+the widow, sitting down on the door-step, and not anxious, apparently,
+to enter the cottage first.</p>
+
+<p>Which fact Katharine was quick to observe and comment upon, with a
+laugh: "Oh, you blessed old coward! You're afraid that tramp has shut
+himself up in your 'prope'ty,' and you'll come upon him unawares. You'd
+'risk' me, just as Monty 'risked' Ned Clackett to climb the schoolhouse
+roof after a ball, not daring to go himself. Well, here goes! You keep
+watch without while I search within."</p>
+
+<p>Susanna laughed. She was afraid, and owned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> it frankly; but after
+Katharine had ransacked the few rooms thoroughly, peeped under the bed
+in the kitchen-bedroom, opened the few closet doors, and even examined
+the wall cupboard, she gathered courage to enter, and promptly led the
+way up-stairs.</p>
+
+<p>The little home was plainly furnished, but represented the romance of
+her life to old Susanna. Memories of her youth came back and softened
+the asperity of age, her wrinkled face taking on gentler lines and her
+harsh voice a tenderer tone. But to-day she was in haste. She felt
+herself needed at The Maples, even with the capable Deacon Meakin left
+to "hold the fort," as he expressed it. Going to a chest of drawers she
+opened the top one and displayed a store of blankets, different from
+those Katharine had seen. They looked like very coarse and heavy
+flannel, and were yellow with age. "Them was part of my fittin' out. I
+spun an' wove 'em myself, whilst Sprigg an' me was walkin' out
+together," she explained, carefully peering into the folds of the cloth,
+in search of any vagrant moth.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, how in the world could you do that? I thought when one spun and
+wove they had to have wheels and looms and things. How could you carry
+such about with you, even with Sprigg, I mean Mr. Sprigg, to help?"</p>
+
+<p>Susanna looked over her spectacles more hurt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> than angry. But she saw
+only honest surprise on the girl's face, and, after a pause, explained:</p>
+
+<p>"'Walkin' out together' means keepin' comp'ny; as men an' women do
+who've promised to marry each other."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, an engagement! I remember quite well, too well, when papa and Mrs.
+Snowball 'walked out together.' It quite did away with the delightful
+'walkin' out' I had always had with him before that time."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Katy, be sure if Johnny picked her out she was the right one, an'
+me an' Eunice hopes to see the pair of ye good friends yet. We're layin'
+out to have all them little Snowballs down here, or up here, next
+summer, if we live to see another summer, an' make up our own minds as
+to how things is. We've settled that."</p>
+
+<p>Which shows that even strong-minded women like Susanna may sometimes
+change their minds; also lay claim to ideas not originally their own.
+But the effect upon Katharine was to sober her completely, and, oddly
+enough, make her a bit homesick for the old life and the noisy little
+brothers. She fell to thinking about them so earnestly that she scarcely
+heard what else the widow was saying, until she was touched upon the
+arm, and bidden:</p>
+
+<p>"Now, look sharp an' remember. Here 'tis, my shroud an' all goes with
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"Your&mdash;w-h-a-t?" gasped Katharine.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Susanna again looked her surprise, but she was perfectly calm, even
+cheerfully interested; and, to enlighten the other's ignorance,
+patiently explained.</p>
+
+<p>"I said my shroud, that I am to be wropped in when I'm buried. I made it
+years ago, an' styles has changed some, I hear. But this is good, an'
+'ll be easy for 'em that does it to put on me. It's keepin' real well,
+nice an' white. Here's the suit of underclothes goes with it, all new,
+white stockin's&mdash;loose an' roomy, an' pins an' needles an' thread&mdash;not a
+thing wantin', so fur as I know. Why, child, what ails you? You look as
+if you had seen a ghost."</p>
+
+<p>Poor Katharine was so shocked by this revelation which the other made so
+calmly, that she had turned quite white, and found some difficulty to
+control her voice, as she returned:</p>
+
+<p>"It's so&mdash;so horrible, so ghastly! Right here in all this glory of life
+to be anticipating the grave! Give the dreadful things to me. I hate to
+touch them, but I'll make myself. I'll carry them right down into the
+kitchen and make a fire in the stove and burn them up, up, up! Oh,
+Susanna! how could you?"</p>
+
+<p>The old housekeeper was in her own turn as genuinely surprised. In many
+a household she knew just such provision for a sad day had been made.
+She had even once assisted at a "bee," where several women had assembled
+to prepare<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> a burial garment for an old, bedridden neighbor, who, less
+"forehanded" than Marsdenites in general, had neglected to provide one
+for herself. The careless creature was living yet, and likely to outlive
+many a stronger woman, but that didn't matter. However, such ignorance
+as Katharine's did not surprise her so much as it would have done had
+the child's "raising" been in the more favored environment she had
+herself enjoyed. Of course, she did not yield her treasures to the
+destruction suggested. She merely closed that drawer and opened another;
+and here, indeed, her whole bearing changed. Uncovering a big
+paste-board box, she showed a quantity of little garments, oddly
+fashioned, but beautifully preserved, the very folds in which they had
+been laid away still crisp and fresh.</p>
+
+<p>Over and over the time-yellowed muslin her work-knotted fingers passed
+and repassed. Her touch was the touch of a mother upon her first-born,
+and the years that had been between the day of his coming and this were
+forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>Katharine watching, understood. Her sympathy brought a moisture to her
+own eyes, which now regarded the childless old woman in a new and
+reverent light. Never again would Susanna be just the same to her young
+housemate that she had been. The girl was learning life. Yesterday her
+lesson&mdash;that not all of God's vagrants are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> vile; to-day&mdash;that all
+sharp-tongued women are not viragoes.</p>
+
+<p>After a time, said the widow, simply: "Them was my baby's," and softly
+closed the drawer.</p>
+
+<p>They were well on the way home when Susanna suddenly exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"My suz! Ever see such a simpleton? I clean forgot to lock the door; an'
+that kitchen-bedroom winder, I doubt that you went near it."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I didn't. I forgot, too. Never mind, you sit here and rest. I'll
+run back and fasten the whole house, and won't be long. Or you go on
+toward home and I'll overtake you."</p>
+
+<p>"Sure you just as lief? Well, I don't s'pose you would be afraid now,
+after I've been there with ye to show you there wasn't nothin' nor
+nobody there, an' I 'low I'd ought to be back soon's I can," responded
+the housekeeper.</p>
+
+<p>"Afraid? Why, it was you yourself was afraid, you dear old make-believe!
+But go on, just the same. I'll make haste," cried Kate, laughing at the
+other's altered mind, and immediately darting backward through the
+forest toward the cottage.</p>
+
+<p>The Widow Sprigg walked forward, slowly; pausing here to pick up a nut,
+or there to examine a tree which she would tell Eunice might better be
+felled. As she walked she became uneasy, feeling that she had really
+imposed an unpleasant, possibly perilous, task upon the girl she scolded
+so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> freely yet already loved so dearly. Gathering a sprig of wintergreen
+she chewed it thoughtfully, and scarcely knew when she turned back to
+retrace her own steps to the cottage and learn what had befallen
+Katharine, who surely should have been in sight long before.</p>
+
+<p>She came, at last, breathless and excited, catching the widow's arm and
+dragging her farther into the wood, but saying nothing save that
+imperative: "Come! Oh, come quick! Quick! We may be too late!"</p>
+
+<p>Perforce the other "came," and there, on her kitchen-bedroom bed, lay
+Marsden's "tramp," seemingly sick unto death.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVII.</h2>
+
+<h3>A SELF-ELECTED CONSTABLE</h3>
+
+
+<p>If Susanna could ever have been "knocked down with a feather," as she
+often averred, she might have been then.</p>
+
+<p>Indignation, consternation, amazement, all the emotions which have to be
+expressed in polysyllables, pictured themselves on her countenance as
+she paused on the bedroom threshold and looked at the intruder over her
+spectacles, through them, and below them. He lay face down upon the
+pillows, his dirty boots reposing on her choicest log-cabin quilt, and
+his groans fairly chilling the blood even in her veins, used though she
+was to the habits of men in illness. Moses, in his groaniest days, had
+rarely equalled this.</p>
+
+<p>After the moment's pause her mind worked quickly, and she expressed it
+in words, spoken more to herself than to Kate, close beside her.</p>
+
+<p>"He mustn't lie there, that way, with them filthy old shoes on. He acts
+as if he was at the p'int o' death, though folks a-dyin' don't gen'ally
+caterwaul like that. I bet I know what ails him!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> It's them pies an'
+things he stole! If 'tis, I'm glad of it, serves him right!" she
+finished, triumphantly, and in her satisfaction went so far as to
+approach the bed and shake the man's shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>At first he paid no attention to her, and his groans did not cease,
+though they became rather intermittent, as if the paroxysms of pain were
+less frequent. Finally, her voice, now pitched to its shrillest,
+penetrated his consciousness, and at her question: "What's the matter
+with ye? Got the colic?" he turned upon his side and his face was
+revealed.</p>
+
+<p>Then, indeed, did Susanna's countenance undergo a more wonderful change.
+All the emotions which had earlier crossed it concentrated in one
+prolonged stare, while she felt her strength oozing from her till she
+knew she should fall. Her hand left the stranger's shoulder and dropped
+limply to her side, her jaw fell, and she would have sunk down upon the
+floor had not Katharine slipped a chair forward to receive her. Upon
+this she settled, still staring and speechless; and as if he, too, were
+profoundly moved, the tramp ceased groaning altogether and fixed his
+burning gaze on her. So they remained, and for so long, that Kate grew
+frantic, and begged:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Susanna! what is wrong? Why do you look at him like that? Why does
+he look at you? Is he dying? Do you know him? Does he know you? Can't we
+do something for him? It's so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> dreadful to see anybody suffer. Even he,
+poor fellow, who&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The Widow Sprigg held up a shaking hand protesting against this volley
+of questions and answering none. But after a little time the woman in
+her got the better of the judge, and, rising, she went to the wall
+cupboard and took from it a bottle containing brown fluid and plainly
+labelled, "Cholera Mixture. Poison." Pouring a generous dose into a
+glass, she diluted it with water and was returning to the bed when
+Katharine caught her hand to stay it, crying:</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Susanna! How dare you? That's marked poison!"</p>
+
+<p>The widow shook the girl's hand off, calmly replying:</p>
+
+<p>"My suz! I guess I know what I'm about. That 'cholera mixture' 's one
+the old doctor's own prescriptions, an' I've give more of it to more
+folks 'an you could shake a stick at. It's marked 'poison' so's to keep
+childern like you from meddlin' with it. A dose of it won't hurt nobody,
+an' if his malady is the sort I cal'late, I'm treatin' him like the Good
+Samaritan would on the Sabbath Day. I've made it a powerful dose, an' I
+'low it'll settle his hash one way or other. But I hate to touch him. I
+certainly do."</p>
+
+<p>A last faint moan issued from the sufferer, and his eyes turned upon the
+girl. He looked so wan and so forlorn that her own natural repugnance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>
+left her, and she caught the medicine-glass from Susanna to present it
+to the sick man's lips. He opened them and drank obediently, even
+smacking his lips over the fiery mixture, and Kate, having finished her
+task, hastily withdrew to the outer room.</p>
+
+<p>But what had come over the Widow Sprigg? Her whole manner had changed.
+Fear seemed to have left her and a stern determination taken its place.
+Katharine could only observe, wondering, as the mistress of the cottage
+caught up a pail, and going to the well drew it full several times,
+throwing out all but the last pailful, which she brought back into the
+house and set on a table in the bedroom. Beside it she placed a dipper,
+and observed:</p>
+
+<p>"That water's all right. Moses, he had the well cleaned out for me only
+last month. We always do do it twicet a year, lest somebody comes along
+an' drinks it stale. More'n that, the well's fed by a spring, runnin' in
+an' out, so really don't need any cleanin', but&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Such solicitude on account of that detested tramp! It was amazing. Yet
+her next procedure was even more so. Going up-stairs, she looked that
+the window was shut, and the nail, its only fastening, put in above the
+lower sash. Anybody inside could have opened it, of course, but that did
+not occur to her. Each of the windows was thus treated, and, beckoning
+to Katharine,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> she led the way out-doors. The door was locked on the
+outside and Susanna started homeward. She was no longer a weary or a
+sad-faced woman. She was alert, silent, but unmistakably cheerful.</p>
+
+<p>Kate kept close pace with the now swift steps of the housekeeper, and
+finally ventured to ask: "Who is he?"</p>
+
+<p>"We may not all hope to be constables, but some of us is constables
+without ever runnin' for office! Well, well, well! I shouldn't be
+surprised if the end o' the world happens along now, any time," said
+Susanna, irrelevantly, and fell into such a brown study that Katy dared
+not interrupt her, and the rest of the way home was passed in silence.</p>
+
+<p>The deacon was waiting restlessly. He had not liked to desert his post
+and leave the disabled Moses alone in the house. Neither had he liked to
+lose his Sunday afternoon nap, well-earned refreshment of a diligent
+man. One other thing he had not liked: Moses' flat refusal to discuss
+their employer's affairs. This had led to other controversies, and two
+disgruntled men were ready to greet the tardy wanderers.</p>
+
+<p>"Hm-m. Thought you never was a-comin' back. That's all the sense a silly
+woman has; let her get off grounds an' she don't know when to step on to
+'em again. The deacon, he's been purty patient, but&mdash;I guess we'll be
+better<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> friends if we part for a spell now," was Moses' greeting; and,
+instead of resenting it, Susanna said never a word.</p>
+
+<p>In silence she brought him his cup of beef tea. In silence she went out
+and fed the poultry; came in and gave Sir Philip his bowl of milk and
+Punch his plate of scraps. She had long since taken the feeding of both
+animals upon herself, declaring, with some show of truth, that they did
+not dare "muss around" for her as they did for Eunice or Kate.</p>
+
+<p>Till it was supper-time she sat in absolute silence beside the
+sitting-room window, her eyes fixed upon vacancy, and an expression of
+great perplexity.</p>
+
+<p>Katharine bore this as long as she could, then stole softly up to the
+hired man's room, careless whether he were asleep or not. She had not
+been bidden to secrecy, and, finding him awake, she poured out the story
+of the afternoon so fast that her words fairly tripped each other up.
+Then Moses made her go back and tell it all over again, and when she had
+finished, exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"Beats thunder! A silly woman! An' me, a man! Bedrid here, like an old
+block of wood, an' her&mdash;She thinks she's arrested somebody, Susanna
+does! She thinks she's made herself into a constable, does she? Turned
+her house into a jail&mdash;an' forgot to fasten the winders outside! Ho! Ho!
+Silly women!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The disappointed old fellow got as much enjoyment as he could out of the
+situation, and was more than delighted by thought of a tramp's shoes
+smirching the log-cabin quilt. It served the widow right, he maintained,
+because she had wasted so much labor on the thing. "Bought good new
+Merrimac print, she did, an' then set there o' nights a
+snip-snip-snippin' it up into little scraps an' sewin' 'em together
+again. If a woman'll do that, it's proof what sort o' brains she's got."
+Then, with sudden energy, he advised: "Don't you never let her set you a
+sewin' patchwork, Kitty Keehoty. It's all on a piece with knittin'
+mittens for the Hottentots&mdash;a waste of time. A waste o' sinful time, I
+mean a sinful waste of&mdash;Oh, hum!"</p>
+
+<p>She waited till he had cooled off from his own vexation, and then asked:</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Moses, will you tell me all about Montgomery's father?"</p>
+
+<p>If she had surprised him before she startled him now. Flashing his keen
+old eyes upon her, he asked in return:</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you want to know? Who egged you on to say that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nobody. Why, surely, nobody at all. But it seems so queer that none
+talk of him, yet of his mother speak so often and so lovingly. Aunt
+Eunice says she was a Marsden lady, a farmer's daughter, and 'as lovely
+as a flower.' Even<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> Madam, who didn't like her at first, grew to be fond
+of her and to call her 'my sweet daughter.' But when I asked Monty of
+his father, and had told him all about mine, about everything, about the
+second Mrs. John, the Snowballs, and all&mdash;he just said: 'I guess I'll go
+hunt old Whitey,' and off he went, without saying 'excuse me.' His face
+was as red as red, and there came a queer look in his eyes as if&mdash;as if
+he was ashamed. Was his father a wicked man, Uncle Moses?"</p>
+
+<p>Quite diverted by this time from his own vexations, the hired man lay
+silently thinking for a moment. Then he said:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, little Kitty Keehoty, I hain't seen that your warm heart gets any
+colder toward folks when they get into trouble 'an when they don't. That
+tramp, now, that stole your victuals&mdash;Oh, I know! I did know last night,
+though you didn't know that I knowed&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"'I saw Esau kissing Kate, Esau saw that I saw,'" quoted this other
+Kate, in laughing interruption.</p>
+
+<p>Moses laughed, too, as he was glad to do. He had had enough of gloom and
+grumble for that sweet Lord's Day, now so near its close. And though the
+story he was going to tell was anything but a bright one, he meant to
+tell it in such wise that his young listener should be the tenderer and
+more compassionate because of hearing it.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Keehoty, it's ruther a long yarn. That<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> is, it goes a good way
+back, clean to the old Squire's time&mdash;no such a Squire as Pettijohn,
+forename James, mind ye&mdash;but a good, high-sprung, old-fashioned
+gentleman; with high-up English blood in his veins, an' a reg'lar
+English temper to balance the blood. Never did a dirty trick in his life
+nor an unjust one&mdash;except to his own and only son. That was Monty's
+father, poor little stutterin' shaver! Well, along of his late years the
+old Squire had bad feelin's in his head, suffered terr'ble agony, an'
+hardly knowed what he did do or say. He got a notion that he was goin'
+to be robbed, an' used to carry 'round with him a cur'ous old box that
+folks said held his bonds an' money an' the old family jewels that had
+been brought over from England a hunderd years afore. If he went
+a-ridin'&mdash;an' he was the splendidest horseman ever seen in these
+parts&mdash;he'd have the thing on the saddle afore him. If he druv, 'twould
+be in the box o' the carriage-seat. Nobody ever seen the inside that
+box, an' 'twas 'lowed there wasn't none could open it, except him an'
+the Madam."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" gasped Katharine, leaning forward, breathlessly intent. Naturally
+such close attention flattered the narrator, who went on with renewed
+earnestness:</p>
+
+<p>"The old Squire an' his son didn't hit it off together very well. Never
+did from the time Verplanck, 'Planck he was called for short, was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> born.
+He was a good deal like Monty is, only more oneasy&mdash;if anybody could be;
+an' from the time he could toddle he was hand in glove with Jim
+Pettijohn's little tacker, Nate. Nate, he wasn't so smart as some folks.
+Not a fool, uther, an' consid'able better'n half-witted, but
+queer&mdash;queer. He just worshipped Planck Sturtevant, an' where you see
+one you see t'other, sure. Well, they growed up, an' Planck got married.
+That seemed to 'bout break Nate's heart, an' he got queerer an' queerer.
+Old Squire got queerer, too. Nothin' Verplanck could do or say was right
+in his father's eyes; an' though he managed to work the farm fairly
+well, he never made any money off it, an' that made the old man mad.
+Planck, he bore it patient for a spell, 'cause his wife&mdash;she that was
+Elizabeth Morton from up-mountain&mdash;thought the world an' all of the old
+folks an' they o' her. She'd been raised on a farm an' could an' did
+turn her hand to every sort o' work, but 'twasn't no use. She loved
+them, but she loved her husband better; an', one night, after there'd
+been more hard talk 'an common 'twixt the Squire an' Verplanck, there
+was three folks missin' from Marsden township. They was somethin' else
+missin', too, an' that was the queer brass bound box with all the
+Squire's money an' vallybles. The hired man told 'bout the box, else
+nobody might ever have heard that part. He was carryin' in the day's
+wood next mornin' an'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> overheard the Squire an' the Madam talkin' 'bout
+it; him callin' his son a 'thief,' an' forbiddin' his name ever to be
+spoke in that house again. She declarin' that no child of them two
+honest people could ever be a thief. Hot an' heavy they had it, though
+nobody had ever heard them two quarrel afore. An' right on top of that
+stalks in Jim Pettijohn&mdash;him that's a sort o' Squire, a justice of the
+peace, now&mdash;an' demands his son. He'd let the feller grow up without
+good trainin' or lookin' after of any kind, though 'twas needed bad
+enough. All Nate did know, or the little he knowed, was badness an'
+deviltry. Why, he used to go with your own pa, Johnny, consid'able, an'
+'peared to like him almost as well as he did Verplanck, an' many's the
+time I've had the three on my hands a-fishin'. But Johnny didn't tackle
+much to ary one them other boys. He was all for trompin' 'round by
+himself, drawin' pictur's on whatever come handy, or lyin' under the
+trees a-dreamin' the summer days through. In the winter he'd dream afore
+the wood fire just the same idle way, an' finally he dreamed himself out
+o' Marsden an' run away to be an artist. Eunice, she was set an'
+determined he should be a minister, else maybe 'twouldn't never ha'
+turned out as it did. But Johnny was good, good clean through to the
+core, parson or artist or what not; an' 'twasn't o' him I set out to
+tell. An' I must<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> hurry up, anyway, 'cause Susanna she'll be in purty
+soon, an' that'll end all our nice time."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Uncle Moses! I like Susanna better to-day than I ever did before.
+She showed me the real inside of herself, and it isn't half as crusty as
+the outside."</p>
+
+<p>"Huh! What'd she do to manage that? She seems powerful still an'
+sot-lookin' sence she come back from inspectin' her 'prope'ty.' By the
+way, did you happen to notice whuther the slat top to that cistern o'
+hers was over the manhole? Out in the open shed, or lean-to? 'Cause
+she's a great notion of leavin' it off to 'air'&mdash;as if a cistern that
+hasn't had no water in it for fifteen twenty years wasn't dry as a
+pipe-stem a'ready or needed 'airin''! Gen'ally, after she's been out
+there I take a look 'round myself. I wouldn't admire to have anything,
+even a tramp, fall down that cistern, though it might not hurt 'em much,
+'cause it's shallower 'n it's broad. A real good 'system,' I 'low, even
+if that everlastin' Sprigg did build it. But what's the inside o'
+Susanna 't you saw an' liked?"</p>
+
+<p>"She showed me her baby's things, an' looked as sad as if it had died
+only yesterday. But she showed me, too, her shroud&mdash;her <i>shroud</i>! Just
+think of it, Uncle Moses! And that was horrible."</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh! That's nothin'. Lots of women has 'em laid by. Same's some
+fool-men has a coffin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> built an' kep' handy. As for me, I'm goin' to
+worry 'bout things only up till the day o' my death, an' not a minute
+beyond. But, I was tellin' of Verplanck Sturtevant, an' must finish the
+job. Squire, he had always given the cold shoulder to Jim, an' despised
+him out an' out. Jim was crafty an' underhand, Squire was open an' above
+board&mdash;an' them two kinds don't mix. Still, Jim had been able to get his
+claw on the Squire's meat, so to speak; that is, he'd made money
+himself, lawin' an' grindin' the face of them worse off 'an he was, an'
+the Squire needin' ready cash, to make some improvements he'd better ha'
+let alone, Jim advanced it an' Squire give a mortgage. That was the
+beginnin', an' now, they say, Pettijohn owns about every acre of the old
+Sturtevant property, an' could turn the Madam out any day. Yet, somehow,
+he dassent. Indeed, I'd like to see the man could walk straight up to
+that old lady an' say: 'Your house is mine. Please to get out.' Out
+she'd go at the first word; head up, back straight as one her own hall
+chairs, but a look in her eye that that man wouldn't forget in his
+lifetime. Verplanck, he was of the same sort&mdash;prouder'n Lucifer; an'
+even if she'd knowed where to send for him his mother would ha'
+understood 'twouldn't done a mite o' good. But she didn't send. She
+obeyed her husband to the last say-so. An' he didn't live long after
+that, anyway. Elizabeth, she come back,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> bringin' Monty with her; but
+her own folks tell as how there was never a thing said betwixt even them
+two, except Elizabeth sayin': 'I've come home, Mother Sturtevant, to
+bring your grandson to the old place. I haven't long to live; but
+Verplanck will never come till he has made a fortune and redeemed
+everything. Let us not talk of him.' They never did. Where he was or
+how, his old mother could only guess. Then Elizabeth died and there was
+just them two&mdash;Madam an' Montgomery&mdash;left in the Mansion. Every year she
+let Jim Pettijohn get a tighter clutch on the property, till, as I tell
+ye, he prob'ly owns all.</p>
+
+<p>"That's all of Monty's father. 'Twas ten years or more ago when
+Elizabeth fetched him; why, my sake! it must be full twelve or up'ards,
+but time does fly so I forget. I never believed Verplanck stole a thing.
+I misdoubt if the box ever was took. The Squire bein' queer might ha'
+hid it somewheres, more'n likely. But there's them that does believe,
+an' I hear the Madam's amongst 'em. She's searched the Mansion from A to
+Izzard, knowin' every crane an' cranny of it, an' found nothin'. So
+that's why Monty's face got red when you asked about his father.
+Marsden's like every other village, full o' gossip, an' what his
+grandmother has tried to keep from him hearin' there's been plenty loose
+tongues to let slip. More'n once I've seen the poor little shaver sit
+broodin' an' solemn as if his heart<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> was breakin', an' I've fancied he
+was thinkin' 'bout his pa. But he ain't one the broodin' kind, thanks
+be; an' the very next thing I knowed he'd be up to some mischief or
+other, lively as a cricket. But don't you ever let on what I've told ye,
+'less he speaks of it himself. I'm glad you're good friends, an' likely
+enough he'll out with the hull business an' all he's thought an' felt
+about it. If ever he does, Kitty Keehoty, you remember that it's a
+woman's part&mdash;such women as Eunice an' the Madam an' her that was
+Elizabeth Morton&mdash;to comfort an' cheer them 'at are downcast. Though I
+needn't caution ye, I guess, sence I found out some time ago that you've
+got a power o' sympathy in your fly-about little body. Hm-m. I've 'most
+talked the legs off the iron pot, hain't I? It's time to quit,
+an'&mdash;hark! Them's wheels! They're drivin' in here. They're on our
+gravel, sure. Look out the winder, child, an' see who 'tis. I'm most too
+tuckered out for more comp'ny to-night. The deacon, he's a good man, but
+he dreadful fatiguin'."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>REUBEN SMITH, ACCESSORY</h3>
+
+
+<p>The wheels belonged to Squire Pettijohn's buggy, in which were seated
+Aunt Eunice and himself. This was a combination which, as Katy related
+it from the window, greatly astonished Moses. Yet there was nothing
+surprising in the fact, after all. The gentleman had chanced to be
+up-mountain, calling at the same house where Miss Maitland was visiting,
+and had offered to take her home, hearing her say that she was anxious
+to be there early on the morrow.</p>
+
+<p>She had not enjoyed her ride, yet blamed herself for her aversion to a
+neighbor who, if not a gentleman, had learned sufficient good manners to
+conduct himself as nearly such. The worst annoyance he had given her was
+by continual and roundabout references to what had happened in the
+forest. The more she evaded his questions the more direct they became,
+till she was almost forced to tell everything or be imputed a liar.</p>
+
+<p>As they turned into the village street he made a final effort for
+enlightenment, saying:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You must know, Miss Maitland,"&mdash;he did not call her "Eunice" to her
+face as he had done behind her back to Susanna,&mdash;"you must know that in
+keeping this treasure, or whatever was found in your woods, a secret
+from others, you are injuring somebody. They say you are conniving at
+the escape of a tramp, even. A tramp! One of those dangerous creatures
+which infest our State, but have not before invaded Marsden. I flatter
+myself that I&mdash;that I&mdash;have so far prevented their coming, and I am
+certainly making it my business now to unearth this one who, I am told,
+lurks principally in your forest. You are a large-hearted, generous
+lady, Miss Maitland; one who is an honor to her township and whom I am
+proud to call a neighbor&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed? I thank you," said Aunt Eunice, stiffly.</p>
+
+<p>Squire Pettijohn ignored the interruption. He meant to make the most of
+this unlooked-for chance to satisfy his curiosity and his
+self-importance, and continued as if she had not spoken:</p>
+
+<p>"But who, I fear, sometimes lets her heart run away with her head. In
+pitying the individual, namely, the tramp in present question, you
+should also remember that you are endangering the community."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense. But may I ask, in turn, from whom you gained your information
+that I protected the tramp?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Hm-m&mdash;Er&mdash;Ah! I believe it was Mrs. Turner who said that you said you
+'hoped if any poor hungry wretch strayed into this village of plenty he
+would get enough to eat for once.' That you 'had always regretted we had
+no really poor people in Marsden, where they could be cared for, and so
+lessen the number of starving persons elsewhere.' Mrs. Turner made a
+personal application of the remark, and suggested that if it had been
+<i>your</i> pies which had been purloined you might feel differently."</p>
+
+<p>Eunice laughed as gaily as a girl, and exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"So it has grown to be 'pies,' has it? The last time I heard the matter
+mentioned it was one possible pie, and Robert, as well as a tramp, had
+been in the locality where they were set to cool. Besides, it would be
+an excellent thing if they had all been taken. Mrs. Turner is a nice
+woman, but she can't make pastry fit to eat, as witness her husband's
+dyspepsia. Monty says they have pie at the Turners three times a day,
+and it's a paradise for hungry small visitors who can digest anything.
+Indeed, I am surprised to learn I gave my neighbor offence on this same
+pie subject. We talked for some time over it and she fell into my idea
+that fruit for dessert would suit Mr. Turner far better than pastry, and
+save her a world of trouble. It would also diminish the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> number of the
+children's playmate 'droppers-in' at meal-times. Yes, I am surprised."</p>
+
+<p>They had come within sight of The Maples, and Squire Pettijohn had, with
+apparent carelessness, let back the top of the buggy so that any who
+cared might observe him riding with the mistress of that fine old estate
+and the present centre or heroine of so much mystery. This was an
+unusual thing to do, for letting carriage-tops back is apt to crack the
+leather, and "Jim" Pettijohn cracked nothing which could be preserved.
+Eunice comprehended and smiled quietly in her corner of the seat,
+talking at length as she had done to stave off any further prying into
+her affairs.</p>
+
+<p>Even yet she was not to be let free. Said the gentleman, with a
+preliminary cough:</p>
+
+<p>"I do hope and trust, dear Miss Maitland, that you will forego a
+mistaken expression of sympathy, should an appeal be made to you, and
+assist me as a magistrate to nip this evil in the bud. In other words,
+to send this vagrant to the lockup at the earliest possible moment. As I
+observed, you owe it to your community to protect it, not endanger it."</p>
+
+<p>Eunice turned her glowing eyes upon him. "And I owe to the Great Father,
+who has given us this day, to be good to every child of His, however
+humble. If the tramp comes to my door he shall be fed. If he needs
+shelter I will shelter him. If he needs clothing I will clothe him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>
+Why, look, man, look!" spreading her hand wide to point out the lovely
+surroundings: "Should anybody come into all this and go away not the
+better for it? How do we know what chance has brought this stranger
+hither? Or what and where his life began? Maybe, in just some such
+favored country village; and once, at least, he was&mdash;somebody's son."</p>
+
+<p>The tenderness of her compassionate tone but hardened the other's
+purpose.</p>
+
+<p>"Huh! If he were my <i>own</i> son, even, I would have the law on him to the
+fullest extremity!" he answered, harshly; and Eunice shivered,
+remembering, as he seemed to have forgotten, that poor son of his who
+had gone astray and might be roaming the world then, as was this unknown
+who had so stirred the lawyer's wrath.</p>
+
+<p>Baffled yet persistent, as he helped her alight at her own threshold,
+the Squire put one more sudden question:</p>
+
+<p>"But, after all, there was something&mdash;<i>something</i>&mdash;found in your woods
+that day, wasn't there?"</p>
+
+<p>It was not even in Eunice's patience to endure thus much. Caught
+unawares, she burst out, indignantly:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, there was something found, but it does not concern anybody to know
+what. Thank you for your courtesy, and&mdash;good evening."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span></p><p>The lawyer drove homeward satisfied. She had admitted "the find." He
+would now proceed to unearth it. Incidentally, he would unearth the
+tramp, but that was, in his estimation, a secondary matter.</p>
+
+<p>Eunice re&euml;ntered her home, glad to be there, but as Susanna saw at first
+greeting, "all stirred up and upsot." She would not allow herself to
+talk till she had recovered her composure. She even promptly, though
+affectionately, dismissed Katharine to her bed, reminding her that the
+morrow brought school again and she must be awake early.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl was disappointed. She had longed for a long, cosy talk
+with her guardian over so many, many things. Not least of all concerning
+the brilliant scheme which had occurred to her and Monty that day on the
+hay. Nor did it please her any too well to lie and listen to the voices
+of Eunice and Susanna, murmuring on and on indefinitely, in the
+sitting-room below. Commonly the housekeeper went early to sleep on
+Sunday nights, for it was her habit to rise before daybreak and set
+about her Monday washing. To-night the great clock struck eleven,
+actually eleven, before this conference broke up; only to be resumed at
+intervals during the next morning, whenever the pair were alone.</p>
+
+<p>However, Katharine had other matters on hand so absorbing that even the
+mysteries of tramp and brass bound box sank out of mind. She was off<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> to
+school a half-hour before time, and strangely enough Montgomery was
+equally prompt. Together they repaired to the wooden bench under the
+beech-tree, and while the lad suggested things to be written down, Kate
+wrote them rapidly on little slips of paper, which suspiciously
+resembled a leaf from a copy-book.</p>
+
+<p>Other scholars came along and stared, wondering what had sent this
+usually tardy boy so far in advance of the bell. Little girls tittered.
+Phrony Walker tossed her braid flippantly over her shoulder, casually
+displaying a new hair ribbon with which she meant to impress the city
+girl who wore and needed none. Sophronia's hair did not kink and curl as
+Katharine's did, but it was "a hunderd times as long and a great deal
+prettier colored." Kate had said so herself, yet here was she who was so
+generously admiring, almost covetous, calmly unobservant of braid,
+ribbon, and all.</p>
+
+<p>Martha and Mary Turner came, swinging their lunch-basket between them,
+delightfully conscious that in its depths were stored three apple
+turnovers, one for each of them and one for Kitty Keehoty, who was never
+allowed to carry pie to school. With a child's fondness for the
+indigestible, she had once declared that Mrs. Turner's turnovers were
+"sim-ply de-lic-ious," and they had teased their mother ever since to
+make one for their new friend. But they stopped short at sight<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> of the
+light and dark head so close together over something they did not know
+about, and when Martha drew nearer and informed the dark-haired
+scribbler that she had "brought it," Kate merely nodded her head and
+continued scribbling.</p>
+
+<p>Bob and Ned arrived, tackle over shoulder, intent upon playing hookey at
+afternoon session, and disgusted that Monty was so little excited by
+their grimacing pantomime, as they demonstrated how they would escape to
+the woods and invited his company. Then they tried ridicule, calling
+"girl-boy, girl-boy," as loudly as they dared, with Katharine's scornful
+glances upon them. Monty grew fiery red and tossed his blond head as if
+shaking an obnoxious insect from it, but did not cease to scratch it for
+ideas, which he whispered to his companion as fast as he dug them out.</p>
+
+<p>Even when the teacher came and Kate sprang to her feet to bid him her
+always courteously ready "Good morning," also dragging Montgomery to his
+own feet as a reminder of what was correct, that excited, exalted
+expression left neither young face.</p>
+
+<p>Matters continued thus all through school. Monty was worse than ordinary
+in the matter of lessons, and that was saying much. Katharine, having
+had better advantages, stood far in advance of her class, so had no need
+to study, and kept her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> slips of paper in her book all the time she sat
+at her desk. She was not a rapid writer and she certainly had a deal of
+writing to do. At recess the before-school performance was repeated; and
+when the truants, Bob and Ned, disappeared in the direction of the
+"Eddy" after "noonin'," Monty failed to send one regretful glance
+thither. He was more occupied in watching the face of the clock than
+anything else, and as soon as dismissal-bell rang, darted from the
+schoolroom as if propelled by a gun. Just then, too, the first warning
+notes of Reuben Smith's horn came floating through the trees and down
+the street, and thereafter all that was seen of the boy was a pair of
+heels vanishing in air.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what in the world ails Monty? And say, Katy, didn't you like your
+turnover?" asked Martha Turner, drawing near to her heroine and showing
+that she felt somewhat aggrieved.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Monty's all right. He&mdash;Don't you worry. You'll all know sometime.
+And didn't I eat it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. You ate it fast enough, but you didn't say whether you liked it or
+not. I think ma, she&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you dear thing! Of course I liked it; and please make my regards to
+your mother and tell her that I thank her very much. It was the nicest
+turnover I ever had, and&mdash;and it was the first one."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>To an older mind this might not have been so convincing an argument, but
+it satisfied Martha. She considered that Katharine Maitland had the
+"perfectly sweetest manner of any girl in the world," and was daily
+trying to improve her own by the pattern set. "Make my regards." She had
+never heard that phrase before, but it impressed her as very stately and
+"Miss Eunicey," so put it away in her memory for future use. She was
+further delighted by Katharine's begging her and Mary to walk home with
+her, as far as they went her way, for she had something to talk over
+with them.</p>
+
+<p>But when she revealed this "something" it proved not so much after all.
+She merely inquired exactly how many boys and girls there were in their
+school and out of it. "I want to get the name of every single child that
+isn't more than sixteen years old. As much younger as you please, but
+older than that would be grown-ups. At least, they would be in
+Baltimore."</p>
+
+<p>That settled it. Whatever was done "in Baltimore" seemed to these young
+provincials as the acme of correctness; little knowing that to a wider
+world even "Baltimore" was also provincial.</p>
+
+<p>But it was easy enough to "count noses," as Mary phrased it, and the
+list of names Katharine had already prepared swelled considerably. She
+wrote as she walked, the cover of her book her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> desk, and with such
+haste that the writing was almost illegible. However, a trifle of that
+sort could be overcome.</p>
+
+<p>"No, Mattie, I know it isn't very plain, but I guess I'll make it out.
+Let's hurry. Reuben Smith's blowing his go-away horn, and I want to
+see&mdash;Oh, yes! There he is! The stage-driver keeps blowing every little
+while, yet he keeps talking, too, so I know it's all right! Oh, just
+fancy! It's going to be perfectly, perfectly splendid! Oh, you dear,
+dear things!"</p>
+
+<p>Katharine's playmates were accustomed to being caught up and hugged
+whenever anything pleased her more than common, and she was usually as
+free in explaining her delight as in expressing it physically. But she
+explained nothing now. She merely squeezed their hands, and stared at
+Mr. Smith still arguing with Montgomery, till suddenly looking around
+she saw their puzzled faces.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind me, girls. I can't tell yet, not just yet, because it's a
+beautiful secret. But you'll all know right soon. You're going to be in
+it, too; we're all going to be in it! Oh, the happy old man! Oh, the
+fun! Oh, the queer crazy decorations! I believe <i>I'm</i> just too happy to
+live! But the stage is going and I must run to Monty. Good-by. Be sure
+to be at school to-morrow. Then you'll know."</p>
+
+<p>Reuben Smith mounted to his high seat, blew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> a farewell blast on his
+ancient horn, and drove away out of the village, while Montgomery fairly
+tumbled over himself in his haste to meet Katharine, who greeted him
+with the question:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, will he do it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Y-y-y-ye-es!" gasped the breathless lad, and sat down on the edge of
+the path to recover.</p>
+
+<p>For once careless of dust, Kate dropped down beside him and counted
+questions off upon her fingers so fast that Monty could only nod his
+head in acquiescence. Then she drew a small chain purse from her blouse
+pocket, where it had been carefully pinned ever since she left home in
+the morning. From this she took a pile of new one-dollar bills&mdash;ten in
+all&mdash;and laid them one by one on Montgomery's outstretched palms. It was
+the largest amount of money Kate had ever owned, it was almost the
+largest the boy had ever seen. A feeling like awe stole upon him and he
+whispered,&mdash;without a stutter,&mdash;"S'pose he should lose it!"</p>
+
+<p>"That's a good boy. Monty, you're improving so fast, you'll beat the
+time I set for you to conquer in. Have you said your piece to-day? And,
+of course he won't lose it. Men don't lose things. Except Uncle Moses
+his 'specs' and the deacon his two-pronged fork, that's never in the
+hay-mow when he wants it there. Stage-drivers don't lose, anyway, and
+I'm glad it's you, not I, who have to deal with him. He doesn't like me
+much. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> <i>was</i> saucy when I came. I don't think I am quite, not quite so
+saucy spoken as I was when I came. Do you, Monty?"</p>
+
+<p>"O-o-oh, not n-n-nigh!" he easily replied, never having thought at all
+about it. He was still entranced with the possession, even temporary, of
+such vast wealth as he was now bestowing in an old and hitherto useless
+purse. The crisp new bills. How fat they made it! How utterly and
+entirely delightful was this girl from the outside world who had such
+wonderful ideas and the ability to carry them out!</p>
+
+<p>Then the purse was put away in the innermost of all his many inner
+pockets, and around his blouse, beneath his jacket, Monty fastened a
+leather strap. Buckling this so tight he could hardly breathe, and
+fastening the coat over all, he slapped his chest admiringly, and
+valiantly declared:</p>
+
+<p>"A-a-anybody get that a-a-away from me'll have to k-k-kill me
+f-f-first!"</p>
+
+<p>Katy jumped up. "Let's go ask Aunt Eunice about the pumpkins!"</p>
+
+<p>In an instant they were off down the street, and some, looking out of
+window as they raced past, remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"There they go again, Sturtevant and Maitland, each generation as close
+friends as the other. But chummy as they've been ever since<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> Johnny's
+girl came to Marsden, there's something more than common on the carpet
+now."</p>
+
+<p>There certainly was. They burst in upon Miss Maitland's solitude,
+forgetful to tap at door as they both knew they should, and
+simultaneously besought the startled lady:</p>
+
+<p>"Please, Aunt Eunice, may we have all the pumpkins in the south
+corn-field?"</p>
+
+<p>At least, that was what Katharine said. Monty's request was proffered
+stammeringly but not less earnestly, and he said "punkins" with no
+attempt at correctness of speech.</p>
+
+<p>"Children! What a pair of noisy creatures you are! Where have you come
+from? You are late if just from school. And, Montgomery, does your
+grandmother know that you are here?"</p>
+
+<p>"N-n-no, Aunt E-E-E-Eunice. Nev' mind her. She w-w-won't care. C-c-c-can
+we?"</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;don't think I quite understand. Did you ask me for a pumpkin? Please
+repeat."</p>
+
+<p>"'A pumpkin'&mdash;that's one; no, indeed!" said Katy, scornfully. "We want
+the whole field full of them. We sha'n't hurt them any, Monty says, and
+he knows 'bout country things better than I do." Here she bestowed such
+an approving smile upon her comrade that he flushed and smiled
+beatifically. There were so few, so very few, things in which he could
+really excel this superior city creature, yet she was so generous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> as to
+perceive them even before he did himself.</p>
+
+<p>Just then Susanna came in greatly flurried, and, catching Eunice's arm,
+tried to draw her hastily out of the room. Miss Maitland herself had
+swiftly caught her housemate's perturbation. Indeed, she had already
+been perturbed when the children intruded upon her, and had, apparently,
+now forgotten them.</p>
+
+<p>Katharine saw their opportunity slipping from them, and opportunity was
+something that girl never wasted for want of readiness to seize it.
+Running after the departing lady, she clasped her skirt and stayed her
+long enough to put her question once more:</p>
+
+<p>"May we, aunty? Oh, please, before you go, say&mdash;yes!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Why, of course, yes, yes," returned the lady, all unheeding unto
+what she had given her consent.</p>
+
+<p>But she was to learn. Ah, yes! She was to learn in good time.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIX.</h2>
+
+<h3>WHAT THE MOON SAW IN THE CORN-FIELD</h3>
+
+
+<p>October had now nearly gone, and there was a chill in the air which
+would, under ordinary circumstances, have made both Eunice and Susanna
+pause before setting off into the woods at that hour in the afternoon.
+Certainly they would not have gone without wraps and shawls galore, but
+neither paused now. As swiftly, almost as secretly, as two guilty
+schoolgirls would have started upon some surreptitious adventure, they
+left the house by the back door and passed through the back garden. From
+thence they struck into the path to the woodland and hurried forward.
+Between strides the widow managed to interject a few explanatory
+sentences.</p>
+
+<p>"I got the wash off the line." Pause. "An' I got oneasy." Another pause.
+Resuming: "I felt druv to go out there, alone even, an' see. What you
+said about starvin' him worked on me, dreadful. I took a basket o'
+victuals. Bad as he is&mdash;Oh, my suz!"</p>
+
+<p>"Walk slower, Susanna. We shall be overdone<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> if we keep this pace. What
+then?" asked Miss Maitland.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I went. I run 'most all the way. I got there&mdash;an' he wasn't. He
+wasn't at all!"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean that he had left the cottage?"</p>
+
+<p>"My suz! I should think he has. He's left, an' my log-cabin quilt's
+left, an' my best feather tick, an' pillows, an' a pair blankets&mdash;that
+kitchen-bedroom bedstead's stripped as clean as 'twas the day it was
+born&mdash;I mean, sot up. Now&mdash;what do you think of that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think&mdash;Oh, what a miserable business it all is! I am so worried I
+cannot sleep. Right and wrong, right and wrong, like the pendulum of the
+clock the two sides of the matter swing in my mind till I'm
+half-distracted. I hardly know what I am doing or saying, I am so
+anxious to do the best for everybody, yet what is best? I have a fear
+that those children asked me something absurd a few minutes ago, and I
+said 'yes' to them without comprehending. I think they said 'a field of
+pumpkins.' What could they want with a field&mdash;<i>a field</i>&mdash;of pumpkins?"</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't want 'em, of course. Some their silliness. Don't worry. What's
+punkins, anyhow, compared with that log-cabin quilt?"</p>
+
+<p>"Little, to be sure. And I hope it isn't really lost. Are you certain
+that the poor wretch is he you said?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"As sure as I draw my breath," averred Susanna, solemnly.</p>
+
+<p>"Then Squire Pettijohn must never know," said Eunice, with equal
+solemnity.</p>
+
+<p>After that they hurried silently onward again, reckless of the fact that
+they had left a bedridden man alone in the house, for although the
+deacon was still about his evening chores, such kept him wholly outside.
+As for Katharine, she might or might not be on hand if Moses summoned
+her. Evidently she and her boy-chum had some fine scheme on hand and
+were away to put it in train, since they had both been more than
+commonly excited and eager.</p>
+
+<p>Never mind. There are times in life when its commonplace affairs must
+yield to the extraordinary. These two quiet householders had come to
+such a time on that late October day.</p>
+
+<p>They had walked almost as far as Susanna's cottage when Eunice paused,
+and held her companion also back, as she pointed through the darkening
+wood to a wild-looking creature prowling among the trees. He was
+evidently looking for something. His search so earnest and troubled that
+the caution he had heretofore displayed had deserted him. Stooping,
+poking among the leaves and bracken, rising, moving toward another tree,
+stooping again&mdash;repeating endlessly this same proceeding, the watchers
+soon tired of simply observing him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Stay here, Susanna. You were right. It is he. I will go and speak to
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"Alone? Oh, Eunice, don't! Let the old quilt go! I wish I hadn't told
+ye. Besides, who'd ever want to sleep under it after he'd touched it?"</p>
+
+<p>But though she caught at her mistress's hand to prevent such
+foolhardiness, Susanna could not stop her. She was walking swiftly
+toward the searcher and almost noiselessly, and had come up to him
+before he was aware. When she was close at his side, so close that her
+firm fingers rested on his ragged shoulder, he discovered her and
+started away. But she held him quiet, more by her will than her grasp,
+while, looking steadily into his eyes, she spoke his name, gently,
+kindly, as one who welcomes a long absent friend:</p>
+
+<p>"Nathan! Why, Nathan! How glad I am to see you!"</p>
+
+<p>The tramp no longer struggled to free himself, but as if spellbound by
+her gaze returned it in silence. Gradually there stole over his haggard
+features the light of recognition, and, instead of remembering later
+events, his mind reverted to his boyhood.</p>
+
+<p>"Be you Miss Eunice? But&mdash;I hain't got my lesson."</p>
+
+<p>Again he would have slunk away expecting a reprimand; yet none came.
+Quite to the contrary, Miss Maitland's own face brightened and she
+laughed, answering:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Never mind the lesson, laddie. We're not little boy and young woman
+to-day, Sunday scholar and Sunday teacher. We're just two old friends
+well met, with other things to learn besides printed lessons. What have
+you lost? Can I help you find it?"</p>
+
+<p>"A box. His'n. I fetched it safe so fur&mdash;an' now&mdash;now&mdash;I can't see it
+nowhere. Planck'll frown an' make me feel mean. I promised&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>There a pitiful stupidity took the place of the intelligent recognition
+he had momentarily displayed, and he resumed that fruitless search under
+the trees.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait, Nathan. Maybe I know. Maybe I can help you. The box was an old,
+old box. It was of mahogany, heavy, bound with brass, with neither key
+nor keyhole, and only those who had been shown how could open it. Is
+that the one, Nathan?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes! It's all safe inside. He put it there&mdash;just when&mdash;just&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>With a sudden outburst of grief he began to weep. The great tears ran
+down his dirty cheeks and streaked them. His breath came in great
+blubbering sobs which he made no effort to check.</p>
+
+<p>Eunice Maitland also went back in spirit many years and saw before her
+now, not the repellent vagrant, but a forlorn child who must be
+comforted. Without shrinking she clasped his vile hand in her dainty one
+and turned him back<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> toward Susanna's cottage. That good soul had now
+drawn near and was herself crying bitterly. Why&mdash;she could hardly have
+explained. Surely, not from any affection for Nathan Pettijohn, returned
+rascal, nor from any sentimental memory of bygone years, such as her
+mistress's; but just naturally, in sympathy with two other tear-wet
+faces. She found the tears a relief. Indeed, they all appeared to do so,
+and began to retrace the way to the woodland cottage with swifter steps.
+The two women, because they were feeling the cold and now realizing what
+a foolish thing they had done in coming out unprotected from it. The
+vagrant, because it was his nature to follow rather than lead. Arrived
+there, they found the door wide open and the furnishing sadly
+disordered. Evidently, Nathan had rummaged the place thoroughly.</p>
+
+<p>The Widow Sprigg had long since dried her unaccountable tears, and was
+freshly indignant at the state of affairs. So soon as they were within
+doors she turned upon the intruder, and demanded:</p>
+
+<p>"What did you mean by such doin's as these, Nate Pettijohn? Ain't you
+ashamed to destroy folkses prope'ty this way? Where's my log-cabin
+quilt? My pillows? All my things?"</p>
+
+<p>The man paid no heed to her, but fixed a hungry gaze upon the basket she
+had brought earlier in the afternoon, and Eunice interposed:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Wait, Susanna. Let us feed him first, and hear his story afterward."</p>
+
+<p>With that she opened the basket and set fresh food before him, while,
+with that thoughtfulness which was so constantly belying her sharp
+tongue, the cottage mistress went to the well and brought in a fresh
+pail of water. Though not as ravenous as he had been that afternoon by
+the riverside, he even now devoured, rather than ate, the sandwiches and
+cakes, swallowing them noisily and so rapidly that what the housekeeper
+had supposed would be sufficient to last any one for at least
+twenty-four hours disappeared in less than as many minutes.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my suz! If that don't beat the Dutch! I shouldn't think, if I
+hadn't knowed better, 'at you'd seen a mouthful o' victuals sence you
+scooted out o' Marsden a dozen years ago! An' as for manners&mdash;why, our
+pigs is better behaved. Water? Drink your fill, an' then, Nate
+Pettijohn, you walk right straight out to that wash-dish in the lean-to
+an' scrub yourself well. Of all the dirty creatur's&mdash;Why, what?"</p>
+
+<p>The vagrant had been seized by a violent fit of coughing, so fierce that
+it threatened hemorrhage; and Susanna's wrath died.</p>
+
+<p>"Consumption!" she whispered to Eunice, and shivered. It was of
+consumption "Spriggs, he" had died.</p>
+
+<p>The paroxysm passed and left its victim exhausted.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> With a longing for
+rest, he tottered out of the kitchen into the lean-to, but not to wash
+as its owner had suggested. He went directly to the now uncovered
+manhole of the cistern and slowly descended a short ladder which
+protruded from it and had always hitherto hung upon the wall. The women
+watched him in astonishment, then Susanna hastily procured a candle,
+and, lighting it, held it above the opening.</p>
+
+<p>As she had herself once said, the cistern was as dry as possible, and
+was in reality like a low-ceilinged little room, with the manhole for
+sky-light. Into this place the vagrant had tossed the missing bedding,
+and with his habit of hiding had bestowed himself upon it. In all
+probability, he had rarely occupied so snug and comfortable, though
+peculiar, a bedchamber.</p>
+
+<p>"My&mdash;s-u-z!" gasped the widow, and sat down on a wash-bench to recover
+from her amazement.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Maitland said nothing, yet an expression of great satisfaction
+settled upon her countenance, and, motioning her friend back into the
+kitchen, explained its cause.</p>
+
+<p>"Nathan himself has decided what should best be done with him. He is
+perfectly safe and comfortable in that cistern. It is warm and
+sufficiently aired. He will not be apt to build a fire, as you feared,
+especially if we see to it that he has enough to eat. Nobody will think
+of looking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> for him in such a place, even though, as he declared he
+should, his father organizes a search for him. Unhappy father, if he
+does, and&mdash;poor, unhappy son. He looks very ill, and he certainly is no
+more intelligent than when he went away. But he is evidently faithful to
+Verplanck Sturtevant, as he always was. It is he that has brought back
+and for safe-keeping, presumably, hidden the brass bound box that
+Katharine found, and that has led to so many wild rumors. Do you not
+think we would better leave him undisturbed for the present, until I can
+secure better clothing for him? Also, can decide that awful
+question&mdash;whether or not to tell Elinor the stolen box is found. It will
+be like deliberately trying to break her heart over again if I give it
+to her and it is empty. Yet, it is not mine, and it rests on my
+conscience like an actual weight. Do advise me, Susanna."</p>
+
+<p>From which it appears that the widow's curiosity had already been
+satisfied concerning the fabulous "find" in the Maitland forest, and she
+readily assented to her companion's idea.</p>
+
+<p>"No, Eunice, we couldn't do better. Let him be. Poor wretch, he won't
+trouble nobody long, by the sound o' that cough. An' if Squire Pettijohn
+is mean enough an' onfeelin' enough to treat him like he vowed he would
+ary tramp, 'even his own son,' I guess we can let the Lord 'tend to
+<i>him</i>. He wouldn't know another day's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> peace, not if he's human; 'cause
+once that mis'able creatur', no matter what he is now, was a baby&mdash;a
+baby in arms. But&mdash;my suz, Eunice! I've just figured it out! How can the
+Squire 'rest anybody? He ain't no constable. Nobody ain't a constable
+here in Marsden. Ain't been none sence Isaac Brewster died, an' nobody
+would take his place. 'Less I'm one, myself, as Moses said."</p>
+
+<p>At which she laughed heartily, then hastily added:</p>
+
+<p>"But we must be gettin' home to oncet. I'll step up attic an' get a
+couple o' shawls to wrop 'round us, heads an' all. I do hope we shall be
+pervented from takin' cold temptin' Providence the way we have, at our
+time o' life. Nate, he won't stir no more to-night. He's too tuckered
+out an' too well fed. Sleep's the best medicine for him, so we'll shut
+up quiet like an' start. But where in the world'll you get clothes, as
+you said? Man's clothes, you an' me, old women without a man betwixt us,
+except Moses, an' it bein' kep' secret from him still. If you tell him
+he'll tell the deacon, an' what the deacon knows belongs to the hull
+community."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll find them, Susanna; I'll send an order for all he needs by the
+morning stage."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell Reub Smith! My suz! Might as well proclaim it from the church
+steeple!"</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed. I shall not tell him, but simply<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> send an order by him when
+he goes to town in the morning."</p>
+
+<p>Then they hurried home, and Miss Maitland rested better that night than
+she had done since the children brought her the brass bound box from out
+the forest.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Next morning Monty "hooked school." Not that this was an extraordinary
+thing to happen, although its purpose was mysterious. He did not seek
+either woods or river, for nuts or fishes, but hung about the
+post-office till Reuben Smith drove tooting down South Hill into the
+village street on his way outward toward the county town. The stage drew
+up with a jerk, Reuben stepped down with unusual liveliness, and behold!
+there were two patrons ready with orders to be executed.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Eunice and Montgomery Sturtevant. They faced each other in mutual
+surprise. Each held a sealed letter in hand and each was in haste. The
+lady spoke first: "Why, Monty! Is your grandmother trusting you to take
+care of her business matters already? That's fine."</p>
+
+<p>"N-n-no, Aunt Eu-Eu-Eunice. I-I-I-I&mdash;" The afflicted lad had never
+stammered worse nor seemed so uncomfortable.</p>
+
+<p>Puzzled, but too well-bred to pry into other people's affairs, Miss
+Maitland finished her directions to the stage-driver and general
+express<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> agent for the village, and went home. Montgomery's relief at
+her departure made Reuben laugh, but he liked the lad and listened very
+patiently to the almost endless details stammered at him. Then he most
+carefully, with an exaggerated caution indeed, bestowed the fat envelope
+which contained ten whole crisp new dollars where nobody but himself
+would be apt to look for it&mdash;not in the wallet with his other
+commissions, but in his boot! This gave the whole transaction a touch of
+the romantic, and suggested possible "hold-ups" in a way to set Monty's
+eyes a-bulge. Then the stage rattled away to the north, and the day's
+monotony settled upon Marsden village.</p>
+
+<p>There was much whispering that day in school, and a prompt departure
+from the building at close of the afternoon's session. It had been
+noticeable, also, that at "nooning" every scholar, old or young, had
+repaired to the rear of the play-ground, out of hearing of the teacher.
+There they had grouped themselves about Katharine Maitland, with
+Montgomery Sturtevant as her supporter, and had listened breathlessly to
+some matter she divulged. Only one sentence had reached the master's
+ears, as he tapped the bell for them to come in again to later lessons:</p>
+
+<p>"Everybody don't forget a knife. And everybody'll get an invitation
+to-morrow. Then everybody will understand, and if everybody isn't
+perfectly delighted, I shall be surprised. Teacher<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> will have his, too;
+I'm workin' on it with nice red ink."</p>
+
+<p>That some exciting affair was on foot, and that he was to be included in
+it was evident; and being himself not many years older than his "big
+boys," he was patiently indulgent over the many blunders at recitations
+which followed.</p>
+
+<p>Never had Marsden school children arrived at their respective homes so
+early, nor so promptly availed themselves of parents' satisfaction in
+this promptness. Books were bestowed in tidiness, lunch-baskets hung in
+place, and in every house in the village there was simultaneously
+preferred the request:</p>
+
+<p>"May I go out to play?"</p>
+
+<p>Consent obtained&mdash;and what mother could refuse it to so deserving a
+petitioner?&mdash;there followed a stampede of youngsters toward Eunice
+Maitland's south corn-field.</p>
+
+<p>Late October brings early nightfall, and even playtime seems over with
+the dusk, but that night there were many, many empty places at waiting
+supper-tables, and many mothers' ears grew anxious listening for the
+clatter of young feet which came not.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 340px;">
+<img src="images/i291.jpg" width="340" height="500" alt="&quot;BUT THE LATE RISING MOON LOOKED DOWN UPON A CURIOUS
+SCENE&quot;" title="" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;BUT THE LATE RISING MOON LOOKED DOWN UPON A CURIOUS
+SCENE&quot;</span>
+</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But the late rising moon looked down upon a curious scene. Throughout
+that same south corn-field had been scattered hundreds of golden
+pumpkins ripe for the harvest; and all among them, each with his or her
+allotted pile of the great fruit, was every truant youngster. Corn
+shocks had been overturned for the more comfortable seating of the
+toilers, and knives gleamed in the moon-rays as the diligent fingers
+fashioned Jack-o'-lanterns sufficient in number, as Monty declared, to
+"l-l-light the w-w-wh-whole world!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER XX.</h2>
+
+<h3>UNINVITED GUESTS</h3>
+
+
+<p>Katharine escaped the chiding she deserved because, when she re&euml;ntered
+the house, Miss Eunice was engaged with company and Susanna was
+preparing a tray of refreshments to be served the guests. Montgomery
+escaped because Madam supposed he had been at The Maples where so much
+of his time was now passed. He went supperless to bed, but Katharine,
+most guilty of all delinquents, fared sumptuously upon a portion of the
+dainties from the housekeeper's "company tray." The Turner trio of
+culprits ate wedges of cold pumpkin pie, eaten standing by the kitchen
+sink, and went to bed to dream that all the world was made of pumpkins
+which it was their destiny to consume before a general illumination
+began. At least, that was what Martha dreamed, and, having roused the
+other pair to relate it to them, they were sleepy enough to believe they
+had dreamed it, too.</p>
+
+<p>Other children&mdash;But why prolong the story? Many of the pumpkin artists
+had reason to remember<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> that night for some time to come; yet not one
+ever admitted that they had not found their fun outweigh their
+punishment.</p>
+
+<p>Some days previous Katharine had put a very mild request to Aunt Eunice,
+in the words:</p>
+
+<p>"Aunty, would you mind if I had a little Hallowe'en party? Out in the
+barn, where it wouldn't be any trouble to anybody?"</p>
+
+<p>And the lady, always glad to make her young charge happy, had replied:</p>
+
+<p>"Why, no, dear. Certainly, you may have one if you wish."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, thank you, thank you, you darling Aunty Eunice!" springing up to
+hug her guardian ecstatically. Then, with her young cheek against the
+older one: "And would it be too much to ask&mdash;Deacon Meakin to&mdash;to stay
+away that day?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Katharine, that couldn't be. Besides giving him offence, how could
+we spare him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Monty and I could do the chores. Bob Turner could milk. Bob's a
+first-rate milker, Martha says so."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well. Maybe it can be arranged. I'll see."</p>
+
+<p>"Because, Aunt Eunice, it's to be such a beautiful benefit to&mdash;Oh, I
+forgot. But if he could stay at home just once; he's so what Widow calls
+'pernickity,' and he says children ought to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> born 'growed up.' They
+can't be that, can they? So I do think, I just do think they might be
+let to have some nice times without folks scolding and acting hateful."</p>
+
+<p>"The deacon doesn't mean to be hateful, Katy. We'll see."</p>
+
+<p>Fortune favored the child as it so often did. After a particularly
+wearisome contest of wills between the original hired man and his
+successor, the deacon resigned his position and left in a huff. A
+neighboring youth was sent for to take his place, but, as far from being
+a hindrance to Katharine's schemes, proved her very best ally.
+Montgomery knew William well, and his wheedling, if stammering, tongue
+soon persuaded the young man that in furthering the success of the party
+he was furthering his employer's also.</p>
+
+<p>In due time every boy and girl in the township received a laboriously
+written invitation, and all accepted, of course. This was understood
+without the trouble of replies.</p>
+
+<p>Even the schoolmaster was not forgotten, though he waited until school
+was dismissed before he opened his neatly folded bit of paper, and read:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"The favor of your presence is requested at the Big Barn of
+Miss Eunice Maitland at The Maples, on the evening of October
+31st, to a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> Hallowe'en Corkis. At seven o'clock by the church
+steeple. Please bring your teaspoon with you.</p></div>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 20em;">"Yours respectfully,</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 25em;">"<span class="smcap">Katharine Maitland.</span>"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>This unique invitation was the joint production of Katharine and
+Montgomery. The first part was hers, recalled from wedding-cards often
+seen at her old home in the city; the latter part was due to Monty's
+forethought. Katharine had never heard of a "corkis;" but, by way of
+dabbling in politics through loiterings at the village store, the boy
+had acquired some technical terms, and insisted that this was what best
+befitted their case. As he could not spell the word, and she couldn't
+find it in the dictionary, though she searched all the "Cor" columns
+through, she adopted phonetic spelling with the above result. Also,
+since there was as much variety in "time" as there was in clocks, the
+guests were advised to regulate their arrivals by the biggest one
+visible. As to the teaspoon clause&mdash;that was positively necessary. "How
+could a boy eat ice-cream without a spoon? And how could anybody, even
+Aunt Eunice, who had a trunk full of silver, lend a body spoons enough
+to go around, admitting that one dared ask for them? For if everybody
+came who was asked, and everybody certainly would since they hadn't been
+polite enough to send regrets<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> (even before the cards were out), what
+would a body do, I should like to know?"</p>
+
+<p>As there was altogether too much body in this argument for Montgomery he
+yielded the point and waited the great event with what patience he
+might. Not so much patience was required, however, since there was much
+labor to accomplish. William hitched up the team, thoughtfully taking an
+opportunity when Miss Maitland had gone to pay a visit to the distant
+Mansion, and brought the field full of Jack-o'-lanterns up to the barn;
+into which, carefully keeping the sound sides of the pumpkins toward the
+kitchen windows and Susanna's eyes, he conveyed them. Then the doors
+were closed and the decorating began.</p>
+
+<p>"C-c-can't make 'em hang," lamented Montgomery, after a few moments'
+unsuccessful effort.</p>
+
+<p>"Course not. That string's too light. Wait. I'll fetch something," said
+Katharine, as decorator in charge. Then she sped into the house and
+borrowed Susanna's clothes-line.</p>
+
+<p>"My clothes-line, child? What on earth for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you'll see sometime. I sha'n't hurt it!" returned the eager girl,
+skipping away.</p>
+
+<p>The widow was glad to have "the children" out of the way for the time
+being. She, also, was planning a "surprise," for Eunice had told her of
+Katharine's "little Hallowe'en party," and the good housekeeper
+determined that not a single<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> young guest should return home after that
+event without carrying a report of a fine repast.</p>
+
+<p>As she said to Moses, when fixing him up for the day:</p>
+
+<p>"It does seem good after all our worries lately to do somethin' just
+plain plumb foolish, like lettin' young ones have a nice time. Me an'
+Eunice, we have more on our minds 'an we let on to you, but I'm goin' to
+forget 'em."</p>
+
+<p>"Forgettin' your mind won't be no great job, nor loss nuther. Wouldn't
+be much matter if 'twasn't never found again," he retorted,
+half-facetiously, and half-vexed that, as she hinted, there were still
+confidences withheld from him.</p>
+
+<p>Susanna ignored his playfulness, and went on as if he had not
+interrupted:</p>
+
+<p>"I'm goin' to make jumbles, an' little frosted cakes, an' teeny-tiny riz
+biscuit, an' raisin-loaf. I've got a ham on b'ilin', an'&mdash;my suz! It
+most makes me feel a dozen years younger, just the mere idee of havin' a
+childern's party. We hain't had none sence Johnny run away, an'&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, hum! An' here I must lie like a log o' wood an' no share in it. Me
+that always thought more of young ones 'an you did. Anyhow, I don't see
+what great call <i>you</i> got to mix up in it. S'pose you expect to be
+invited, don't you? What you goin' to wear? White with pink ribbons,
+like all the other little girls?" demanded the imprisoned man.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, I hain't thought much about my clothes, but I did lay out to wear
+my common sense an' trim it with a wreath o' good nature, an' maybe a
+sprig of patience fastenin' the hull. Never mind, Moses. Maybe you'll
+get more share in it 'an I shall. Somethin' may happen to keep me from
+enjoyin' myself any more'n you are this minute. An'&mdash;my suz! I smell
+that ham water b'ilin' over this instant. An'&mdash;what next! There's Kitty
+Keehoty comin' out the tool-house with that roll o' grapevine wire that
+you put away so careful&mdash;an' it's most more'n she can lug. But she'd
+tackle it. She'd tackle it if it was twicet as heavy. She's got more
+ambition an' gumption than ary young one I ever knowed. My suz! She
+couldn't carry it, after all, so she's put it down an' is draggin' it.
+She looks a pictur'! Her hair blowin' all 'round her head, her cheeks
+like roses, her feet fairly dancin' with happiness, her eyes like stars.
+Well, a body'd ought to take a bit o' trouble, now an' then, whilst
+they're little. It does take such a mere mite to make childern pleased.
+She&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Poor Uncle Moses could bear no more. There had never been so many
+interesting things happening as since he had been in bed, unable to take
+part in them. Within his age-worn body beat the heart of a little child,
+and he was nearly frantic, imagining what might be going on beyond those
+closed barn doors and he shut out.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Clear out, Susanna Sprigg. Get away from that winder. Don't ye let me
+hear another word about that party. If a miracle happens so's I can go
+to it, all right. If not&mdash;the sooner you look after that ham the
+better."</p>
+
+<p>Susanna turned from the pane, saying quite gently:</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know as the days of miracles is past. Seems if there was some
+been done right here in Marsden township. I am sorry for ye, Moses. I'd
+almost ruther stay to home myself than have you miss the fun. Maybe you
+won't. Maybe a fresh miracle will be done. Maybe I shall see you the
+chief sinner in the synagogue, I mean the most invited comp'ny&mdash;My suz!
+You know what I mean better'n I can say it. I'll fetch you up a
+sandwich, soon's that ham is cooked."</p>
+
+<p>She hurried below, and the unhappy hired man turned his face from the
+light and went to sleep, or tried to, though the odors of good things
+wafted to him from the kitchen beneath kept his thoughts on the
+disturbing party and angered him against the two children he loved.</p>
+
+<p>"Should ha' thought they'd waited till I was up an' 'round again.
+'Twouldn't have hurt 'em an' would ha' been showing some decent feelin'
+fer me," he grumbled. And little did the old man dream that he was,
+indeed, the very heart and centre of the whole festivity!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Oh, what a day that was! The toilers in the barn sent in word that they
+were too busy to stop for any dinner, and Susanna retorted that she was
+herself fully too busy to cook it for them. Everybody had a slice of
+bread and butter and a glass of milk, which didn't take a minute to
+dispose of. Even the mistress, who had returned, fared thus.</p>
+
+<p>That afternoon Reuben Smith tooted up to Miss Maitland's front gate and
+handed out a paste-board box, very large and weighty, which Susanna
+hastily received and carried into the house. There it was hurriedly
+opened behind closed doors by Aunt Eunice, with her housemate to assist,
+and was found to contain a new suit of men's clothing, with all
+accessories needful.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll carry them to poor Nathan at once, and make sure he puts them on.
+Then, if you're willing, we'll light a fire in your stove and burn all
+his old rags," said the mistress.</p>
+
+<p>"Not alone, Eunice Maitland, not alone!" cried the old housekeeper, who
+wouldn't have missed this business if all the jumbles she had made had
+burned themselves to a crisp. Fortunately, they were out of the way, and
+though she had mixed dough for raisin-cake she hadn't yet put in "the
+lightenin'." "If we start to oncet there ain't nothin' to harm, an' the
+childern's so busy they'll never notice. Moses is asleep. Let's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> go
+right away. My suz! Seems if I couldn't wait to make that poor feller
+into a decent man!"</p>
+
+<p>As excited and eager over their own secret as the young folks over
+theirs, they seized bonnets and wraps, and, carrying the box between
+them, slipped unobserved from the house in the direction of the woods.</p>
+
+<p>Thus it chanced that they did not see what an unusual thing the
+stage-driver did; how that, leaving Miss Maitland's parcel at the front
+of the house, he drove by a roundabout lane to the back door of the
+barn, and there set down, with William's help, two barrel-like tubs,
+weighty with broken ice and carefully covered with bits of old carpet.
+Similar tubs had sometimes been brought to Marsden by the same
+messenger, but only for such occasions as the Fourth of July or the
+Sunday-school picnic. Never before for any private function, and the
+news of the present arrival spread swiftly through the village,
+suggesting to interested parents that, though themselves uninvited, it
+might be as well to go along and see what the children were doing!</p>
+
+<p>And it came at last! The delightful hour, the culmination of all this
+preparation. At last, at last, the wheezy clock in the church steeple
+announced that it was seven o'clock!</p>
+
+<p>Then from out the many homes of Marsden and its by-ways issued the eager
+guests. Girls in white frocks; boys in Sunday suits; all uncomfortable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span>
+in freshly donned winter flannels&mdash;since this was to be a sort of
+out-doors party and there must be no afterclaps of croup; and elders in
+their second-best attire, worn with an affected indifference of its just
+happening so.</p>
+
+<p>Said Mrs. Turner to Mrs. Clackett: "Course we wasn't asked. It's just a
+children's party that Johnny Maitland's little girl is giving as a sort
+of youngsters' 'infair.' Pa and me thought 'twas better to come along
+and see the children got there safe, them not being used to going out
+evenings."</p>
+
+<p>To which her neighbor replied: "Yes, we feel that way about our girls
+and boy. But I confess, we're sort of curious to know what the 'Corkis'
+part of the invitation means. Clackett, he says he guesses Katy meant
+'caucus,' but that don't throw no more light on the matter, if it does.
+What on earth a lot of young ones want with a 'caucus,' beats me. But
+here we are, and&mdash;My! Isn't it pretty?"</p>
+
+<p>Pretty it was, and far, far more than pretty. To these unused eyes such
+a scene as might have come from fairy-land. Even to Aunt Eunice, newly
+admitted, the old barn seemed an unknown spot; and she sat enthroned
+upon her seat of honor&mdash;an oat-bin transformed by cushions of straw and
+sheaves of corn&mdash;amazed but equally delighted. The whole great structure
+was ablaze with radiance. Susanna's clothes-line and Moses' grapevine
+wire supported grinning Jacks innumerable.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> The glowing yellow heads
+looked down from rafter and beam, peeped from the stalls, dangled from
+stanchions. Between them gleamed also oddly shaped Chinese lanterns, and
+these were a form of illumination wholly new to that inland village.
+There were sheaves and vines and branches everywhere, and those who
+observed could scarcely believe that the whole transformation, save and
+beyond the carving of the pumpkins, had been wrought by three pairs of
+young hands.</p>
+
+<p>What cared happy Kitty Keehoty that of all her crisp ten dollars there
+remained but thirteen cents? Hadn't they paid for all these shining
+candles, those tubs of cream, the grotesque lanterns which her new
+friends so admired, and the heaps of candy on the table at the far end
+of the great floor? The table was improvised by a couple of planks laid
+upon barrels and covered by a cloth borrowed from the linen closet. It
+would have been covered with nothing else, save the candy and a pile of
+wooden plates for the cream, had not Susanna produced her own
+surprise&mdash;in such stores of cakes and sandwiches and toothsome dainties
+as made the small giver of the function open her own eyes in amazement.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, how delightful it all was! And didn't the pleasure in so many faces
+more than pay for the ten dollars spent and the proudly weary widow's
+hours at an oven door?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But how they came! So fast, so eager, so cordially willing to be
+pleased! All the young guests who had been bidden by such a painful
+outlay of pen and ink, and all their fathers and their mothers, "their
+uncles and their aunts and their cousins!" All the merrier, all the
+better, all the surer of success! For the best was yet to come. The
+delicious, ambitious, loving secret scheme which had originated in the
+teeming brain of Kitty Keehoty, and, aided and abetted by Montgomery,
+her knight, was now to be divulged.</p>
+
+<p>"My&mdash;suz!" quoth Susanna, dismayed by the vast proportions of
+Katharine's "little party," "however&mdash;shall I give such a
+multitude&mdash;even a bite apiece?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll help!" cried Mrs. Clackett, quite understanding "a bite apiece"
+meant no personal violence. "I've lots of stuff baked at home. I'll
+fetch a basket of it in a jiffy."</p>
+
+<p>"I, too!" echoed Mrs. Turner, and the pair set briskly homeward in
+neighborly kindness. Other matrons, not to be outdone, also disappeared
+from the assembly for a brief time; and soon thereafter William was
+called upon to improvise another table, till both were groaning with the
+weight of good things.</p>
+
+<p>"My! It's most like a Sunday-school picnic, ain't it?" exclaimed the
+village seamstress, who at seventy years still had the same innocent
+enjoyment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> in such affairs as she had had at seven. "But, hush!
+Somethin's a-doin'!"</p>
+
+<p>Something was certainly "a-doing!" There was a great bustle and stir at
+the double doors and in came Deacon Meakin, William, Mr. Clackett, and
+the schoolmaster, carrying a cot between them on which lay Moses Jones,
+at last minus his ball and chain, and feeling as if he didn't know
+himself&mdash;so utterly amazed was he. Amid a sudden outringing cheer the
+cot was carefully deposited in an open space that had been kept for it,
+close beside that throne where Eunice still sat smiling in gracious
+hospitality.</p>
+
+<p>The fresh excitement incident to this arrival had scarcely died, when
+Madam Sturtevant appeared, with her small handmaid in train. The lady
+had been somewhat doubtful about accepting the invitation for herself,
+having been informed by her grandson that, outside The Maples' family,
+she was the only grown-up so favored except the schoolmaster; and she
+was more than doubtful for Alfaretta. For a time the anxious girl's fate
+hung in the balance. It did not strike Madam as just the correct thing
+to take a servant&mdash;Alfy was really that, of course&mdash;to a Maitland party.
+Yet the child had just as good blood in her veins as many others who
+would attend, even if her lot in life were less fortunate. Besides, was
+it right to disturb her quiet habits by such frivolity? While the matter
+was pending, Alfaretta could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> only calm her perturbed mind by gathering
+every belated daisy she could find and testing her fortune upon its
+white petals. "Shall I be let to go? Shall I not?" Mostly, the daisies
+said: "I shall!" Yet it was old Whitey who, after all, decided the
+question.</p>
+
+<p>That mild-eyed bovine had the spirit of an Arab steed. Had she been born
+a colt and not a calf she would have "pricked it o'er the plain" with
+the best of her race; but being merely a somewhat venerable cow, she
+could only wander. In the wide fields still surrounding the Mansion
+there was sufficient pasturage for many cows, and certainly too much for
+one; so there was not the slightest reason why she should trespass upon
+village dooryards except the fact that she delighted to do so. Broken
+gates, which there was nobody to repair, made wandering easy; and it may
+be that she had, in part, acquired the habit in the days of her youth,
+when Verplanck Sturtevant had 'tended her as his son did now. Both
+masters were far better content elsewhere than at home, and Whitey fully
+shared their preferences. She had wandered again, some two days since,
+and had not returned at nightfall, as was her habit. Therefore,
+remembering that at the "Hallowe'en Corkis" there would be many children
+assembled, and that children "know everything" of village happenings,
+Madam had come, meaning to ask for news.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>So the daisies had it, truly; and to the young bond-maid the longed-for
+happiness had been given.</p>
+
+<p>When Madam had been assigned a place beside Miss Eunice, and the murmur
+of voices had recommenced, somebody struck a bell and every ear and eye
+became attentive. Katharine did not know whether this were the approved
+method of bringing a "Corkis" to silence, but it was one that served in
+school and proved to do so here. While the silence lasted and the
+crowding guests craned their necks forward, she was seen to lead, push,
+or in some manner propel a reluctant boy toward a ladder resting against
+the hay-mow and in full sight of most.</p>
+
+<p>The boy was Montgomery, of course, and he was positively shaking with
+fright; but the girl whispered something in his ear&mdash;"For Uncle Mose!"
+and he rallied to his duty. Tossing off her guiding hand, he ran to the
+ladder, mounted it half-way, and faced about upon the multitude. He had
+been well tutored. He fixed his eyes not upon the faces below but at an
+exalted roof-beam, and addressing that began:</p>
+
+<p>"Girls and boys, gentlemen and ladies: You have been invited here
+to-night to enjoy yourselves and to make somebody else enjoy himself.
+That somebody is Uncle Moses Jones, whom we all love, and who has had
+lots of trouble and broken bones lately. Next Tuesday is going to be
+election<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> when our fathers and mothers vote, or&mdash;or&mdash;fathers do, anyway.
+If we ask our folks to do things they generally do them. What I ask now
+is that every one of you shall ask your father to vote for Uncle Mose to
+be constable, and I now nomernate him to be a constable. All in favor of
+his being constable&mdash;say 'aye!'"</p>
+
+<p>Amid the uproar of "ayes" that followed Monty jumped headlong from his
+rostrum and would have run straight to his grandmother, had not Kitty
+Keehoty caught him midway and hugged him her stoutest, crying: "Oh, you
+splendidest brave boy! You did it, you did it! You never tripped once.
+You never stuttered a single stutter from beginning to end! Who says you
+sha'n't be President some day, an' be nomernated in a grown-up corkis?
+But&mdash;my sake, Montgomery Sturtevant! You forgot the most important part.
+I'll have to say that myself, 'cause it's that will count. That will be
+the promise."</p>
+
+<p>Another stroke of Aunt Eunice's table-bell and a white-clad little
+figure was in Monty's place upon the ladder, holding up her hand for
+close attention. Without preliminary she informed the audience that
+there was one thing had been forgotten, and that was "the cranberries."</p>
+
+<p>"Right by the head of the table is a basket of cranberries. <i>A cranberry
+is a promise.</i> There's another empty basket beside the full one.
+Everybody,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> girl or boy, who wants Uncle Moses to be constable must take
+a cranberry out one basket and drop it into the other; and&mdash;<i>those who
+don't drop cranberries can't have&mdash;ice-cream!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Squire Pettijohn had come&mdash;in a case of general town interest as this
+seemed to be it was important the great man should be present&mdash;and it
+was he who cried so loudly: "Hear! Hear!" and it was he, also, who
+started the laughter which followed, and pinched Kate's cheek as she
+passed him, saying something about "intimidation" and "lobbying," at
+which there was more laughter&mdash;Katy wondering why.</p>
+
+<p>But the laughter did not continue long, since it was surely now time for
+supper; and, having swiftly decided that however little she might like
+him, yet the Squire's influence might be a powerful factor in carrying
+out this secretly designed plan of the children's, Miss Eunice was just
+descending from her oat-bin throne to ask him to open the feast, when
+another slight commotion occurred near the door. A woman screamed, and
+every eye turned upon two tardy and uninvited guests, who, leading each
+other as it were, now entered the scene.</p>
+
+<p>Whitey, the cow, and Nate Pettijohn&mdash;tramp!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXI.</h2>
+
+<h3>A NEIGHBORLY TRICK OF THE WIND</h3>
+
+
+<p>THE silence which followed lasted for a long time, during which Whitey
+stared mildly about upon her many acquaintances as if daring one of them
+to accuse her of vagrancy. Nathan, newly clothed and decent of apparel,
+but, as to unkempt hair and besmirched skin, still unmistakably the
+tramp, let his wild, frightened eyes roam ceaselessly from one guest to
+another till, finally, they fixed their gaze upon one face and rested
+there.</p>
+
+<p>The face was that of Squire Pettijohn, hitherto complacent,
+self-satisfied village magnate. Now suddenly grown haggard and old,
+confronting that other face so curiously like his own. His son! Whose
+scant intelligence had always been a shame to him and because of which
+he had given neglect where care should have been. Whom he had been
+secretly thankful to lose and whom he had hoped would never again be
+found.</p>
+
+<p>But he had found himself, and for a time the misguided parent and most
+unhappy child studied<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> each other in mutual shrinking and dismay. All
+the adult guests recognized poor Nathan, now restored to the outward
+semblance of the decent citizen he had once been, and understood how it
+was that in their fleeting glimpses of the recent "tramp" there had been
+something puzzlingly familiar. The children gathered in knots, staring
+and quiet, and more than half-afraid. Unconsciously they felt that here
+was tragedy where but a moment since had been their merry comedy.</p>
+
+<p>Then Katharine, as little lady of the feast, resolved to end this
+dreadful silence which was spoiling all the fun; and, running to
+Nathan's side, took his hand in hers and led him forward, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"This is a friend of mine, people, and he's just in time for supper. I
+know him very well. I spent an afternoon with him down by the river, and
+you ought to know him, too, Uncle Moses, 'cause he's such a good
+fisher."</p>
+
+<p>Then she pushed Nathan's soiled hand toward the man on the cot, who
+hesitated for one second, glancing toward the Squire's set face, then
+grasped it cordially, exclaiming:</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Nate, hello! When'd you come to town? Hain't never lost your vote,
+have ye? 'Cause I 'low you'll have to cast it for me for constable next
+Tuesday, sence I've just been nomernated for the office. Hey?"</p>
+
+<p>The tramp's eyes left his father's person and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> looked down upon the
+genial, helpless man beside him, and a slow smile stole into them.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello, Uncle Mose. I've got here&mdash;eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you've got here, got home, all right. Better stay now. We're
+all&mdash;I say we're <i>all</i> glad to see ye. Marsden ain't such a big
+community she can afford to lose anybody. Where'd ye hail from, anyway?"</p>
+
+<p>The hired man had grasped the situation promptly. Recognizing Nathan, he
+also recognized, as he supposed, the solution of the mysteries which had
+surrounded him of late. Eunice and Susanna had found the vagrant out,
+and had kept his identity secret, fearing the Squire. Now to Moses'
+intense satisfaction in his nomination&mdash;irregular though it was&mdash;was
+added the reflection that no harm could result, since at present there
+was no constable in Marsden, nor would be one until he himself was
+elected. He would be elected, of course. There was now no doubt of that.
+Kitty Keehoty, bless her! had put her small hand to the wheel of fortune
+and given it a whirl which was fast sending all good things his way.
+Then, if he was so favored, should his first official act be the
+punishment of a fellow townsman? A fishing townsman, at that? Not if he,
+Moses Jones, knew himself; and though he was still a "bedrid block o'
+wood," the block was fast repairing and would soon be as good as a
+freshly growing tree.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"From&mdash;from him. From Planck. I&mdash;I come to bring the box. But&mdash;I lost
+it. Oh, Madam! he sent it to you&mdash;he was dyin' then&mdash;and I've lost
+it&mdash;I've lost it! Planck'll be mad. He'll scowl and talk&mdash;Has anybody
+seen Planck's box?"</p>
+
+<p>The forlorn fellow had left Moses' side and crossed to where Madam
+Sturtevant sat rigidly upon her elevated throne. The memories this
+returned wanderer had roused in her were so painful that they seemed to
+strangle her. Her throat grew dry, her lips parched, and her gaze was
+glued to the face of the vagrant who had been her lost son's chosen
+companion, vassal, possible friend. Why, why had he come?</p>
+
+<p>Eunice laid her hand on the gentlewoman's arm. She felt that this
+tension must be loosed, even at the cost of fresh pain. "Elinor," said
+she, "you have borne much. Can you endure a further shock? it may be of
+fresh sorrow, but it may be of joy. Your brass bound box is found.
+Nathan brought it, Katharine found it, I have it."</p>
+
+<p>Squire Pettijohn coughed, and strode majestically forward. He was once
+more the man of position who must see to it that his townsmen's
+interests were protected. This woman had maligned him. He had heard that
+she complained of his usuries, that he had taken advantage of her
+misfortunes, that he was a hard and cruel man. Worst of all to him&mdash;had
+said that he was not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> a gentleman! Conquering his disappointment at
+Nathan's return, he improved his opportunity of punishing and humbling
+her.</p>
+
+<p>"Madam Sturtevant, ah&mdash;er&mdash;hm-m&mdash;at the time your guilty son
+disappeared, taking my son&mdash;whom his influence had ruined&mdash;with him, it
+was said that a certain casket of valuables disappeared as well. In
+behalf of the interest Marsden took in the case, and of my own&mdash;my own
+personal interest, I demand that if that casket has been restored it
+shall be opened here in the presence of your townsmen. I&mdash;er&mdash;my
+accommodation in times of your necessities, the large amounts now due
+me&mdash;I claim the right, the authority to say&mdash;Let the casket be
+produced."</p>
+
+<p>Madam said nothing. She fixed her large eyes, still guiltless of
+spectacles (save in the privacy of home), and regarded him as she might
+have regarded some reptile.</p>
+
+<p>Nathan seemed struggling with words which fear of his father prevented
+his speaking. But Miss Maitland stepped down, and, by a nod, summoned
+others to her, so that the vagrant presently felt himself surrounded by
+a group of kindly faces, which beamed upon him in protection. William,
+Deacon Meakin, the chivalrous schoolmaster, Susanna, and Katharine,
+quite unafraid to fling her small arm around his stooping shoulders and
+to pat them encouragingly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Then Aunt Eunice went out, but was back again so quickly she had hardly
+been missed. She carried her hands quite high, so that all might see the
+strange, glittering, brass bound box they held, and, going swiftly
+forward, laid it on the Madam's lap, who recoiled from it, at first
+shrinking back and letting her clasped hands drop limply to her sides,
+yet rallied her courage and her pride as Eunice's tone of command
+touched both.</p>
+
+<p>"Open it, Elinor. It is right. It is just. Let the truth be known at
+last."</p>
+
+<p>Everybody crowded forward, the Squire among them, as with a simple
+touch, known only to the initiated, the keyless casket was unbanded and
+opened to the sight of all. Those who had anticipated the blaze of
+jewels, or, at least, the bulk of valuable papers and bonds, fell back
+disappointed. The box was absolutely empty save for a small folded sheet
+which looked like an ordinary letter.</p>
+
+<p>A sigh, like a great sob, swept over the multitude, and now the fear
+which had troubled the tramp vanished, and, breaking free of the group
+about him, he laid his hand on Madam's knee and cried, exultantly:</p>
+
+<p>"I did it! I fetched it safe. I was sick&mdash;oh, I was sick!&mdash;I was in
+jail&mdash;I was on an island&mdash;I was shipwrecked&mdash;I was in the water, with
+big, big waves&mdash;I was&mdash;so long, so long. But I wore it on a strap around
+my neck. Planck wrote it all and sealed it and put it in the box.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> Then
+he died, and I had promised; so I had to come, else I would have died,
+too. I wanted to, without Planck. But we'd told it to each other. We was
+good friends. Planck never called me 'fool,' not once, not in all our
+lives. When he went away with not a cent in his pocket, I couldn't stand
+it. Old Squire was rough. Old Squire was rich. Planck should be rich,
+too, just one little box full, anyway. But&mdash;He wrote it all down&mdash;read
+it, read it. Read it out real plain, like he was saying it again. My
+head aches. I can't think. Planck could think. But&mdash;Planck is dead."</p>
+
+<p>In a dull despair the poor wretch who had journeyed so many leagues,
+across so many lands, through so many weary years, dropped his face in
+his hands, and wept like a child.</p>
+
+<p>But with dry eyes, if tremulous hands, Elinor Sturtevant opened the
+letter as she had been besought. It bore date of a day long past, and
+address of Majomba, Africa, in the familiar script of her idolized son;
+yet keeping nothing secret to herself, she did "read it out," and this
+it was:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">My Dear Mother</span>:&mdash;I send my farewell to you from this distant
+corner of the earth, where I came seeking fortune and finding
+death. Nathan has just got well of the fever from which I am
+dying, and promises to carry this letter to you.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> I have no
+money to send it by post even if I did not think it kindness to
+entrust him with it. He has loved me, been faithful to me even
+unto death, and it will be a last trust to comfort him. I
+foresee that he will have many vicissitudes before he reaches
+home&mdash;if ever he does; though it is my prayer that he may and
+that dear old Marsden will receive him kindly.</p>
+
+<p>"It is his wish, and it is but just, to explain that he stole
+your brass bound box, in which I enclose this, and why. Simply
+for my unworthy sake. He believed that it held money, and a
+fear that I would be angry with him if I knew of the deed, made
+him keep it secret for a long, long time. Then once, in dire
+necessity, after Elizabeth was gone, he did confess and give it
+to me, and we opened it together.</p>
+
+<p>"It was absolutely empty. I tell you this, dying; when a man
+speaks the truth. If ever it held valuables they had been
+removed, and, presumably, by my father. I supposed you, also,
+knew this, and so would not break the silence my angry pride
+imposed for the sake of a mere empty box. Do not blame poor
+Nate&mdash;he is scarce blameworthy, and he has loved me blindly all
+his life. So would he have loved his austere father if he had
+had a chance. And of all the lessons my life has brought me
+this I hold the highest&mdash;that love is best.</p>
+
+<p>"I think of Elizabeth, sweetly resting under the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> turf at home.
+I think of my little son, and pray our Heavenly Father to be
+kinder to him than his earthly one has been. I think of my
+mother, whose heart I broke, and, dying, I cry&mdash;God bless her.</p></div>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 25em;">"<span class="smcap">Verplanck</span>."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>When the clear old voice quavered into silence there was not a dry eye
+left among the enrapt listeners. There was not a heart of man or woman
+that did not feel a sting at its own unjust judgment of the past. Nor
+was there one, either old or young, who did not pity rather than blame
+the poor sinner who had "loved much."</p>
+
+<p>Some one was seen to go softly away. It was Squire Pettijohn, forgetful
+of his dire threat against any son of man who dared to "tramp" God's
+earth, unwarranted. Squire Pettijohn, with head bowed, heart humbled,
+who had always branded another man's son as "thief," only to find that
+self-confessed offender the child of his own home. Nobody sought to
+hinder him. In silence let him suffer his own shame&mdash;that would be
+punishment sufficient.</p>
+
+<p>Madam sat so long with the opened box and letter in her lap, and with
+her eyes staring so at vacancy, that Katharine could not bear it. Nor
+could she bear that Monty should cry, as he was doing in that dreadful,
+quiet way. Boys shouldn't cry&mdash;it meant something terrible when they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span>
+did. Besides, why should he now, anyway? The knowledge of his father's
+death was nothing new; and here was all the mystery explained, and the
+suspicion which had clouded his name completely removed.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Monty, darling, splendid Monty! Don't! Don't! You ought to be the
+gladdest boy who ever lived. See. Look at your grandmother. She isn't
+saying anything, and there is sorrow in her face, but there's wonderful
+pride in it, too. Why, think, boy, think! If for years and years you had
+thought somebody you loved was bad and then suddenly found they were
+good, after all, would you cry? No, indeed. Anyhow, I shouldn't. I
+should just hip-hip-hurrah! Three cheers for your father, that all can
+talk of and love now, and was, Uncle Moses says, one of the splendidest
+boys ever grew up in Marsden. Only he didn't like to stay at home, and
+that got him into trouble. That took away his chance of ever being
+President. But you can be if you want to. Any boy who stays at home and
+cures his own stuttering by just taking care and practising and going
+slow&mdash;and being dreadful nice to his grandmother&mdash;or mothers and
+fathers, like Ned's and Bob's&mdash;they can grow up to be Presidents or
+constables, 'ary' one. Let's give them, the cheers! Three for Montgomery
+Sturtevant, who's never going to do a wrong thing again, because he's
+found a father to talk about and love, just<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> as I do 'Johnny,' who was
+mine! Three cheers for Nate Pettijohn, who brought the good news home!
+Three cheers for the brass bound box, that tried to be a gold mine, but
+turned out something ever and ever so much better! And three times three
+cheers for Uncle Moses Jones, who is going to be constable, after all,
+and looks this minute as if he wanted to arrest me, the first one,
+because I don't fetch him his supper, and who knows as well as I do that
+all that ice-cream is melting lickety-cut, while I stand here talking!
+Hip! Hip! Hurr-a-ah! And a tiger! Hip&mdash;hip&mdash;hurrah!"</p>
+
+<p>How the rafters rang! and how surprised was every one to hear a girl, a
+mere little girl, deliver such an oration, and with such an entire
+forgetfulness of self. Not knowing then how great her heart was nor how
+she longed to make glad every single person in the world, even though
+most of her schemes went so wide of the mark that her own father had
+dubbed her his little "Quixote."</p>
+
+<p>This brought all the company safely back from the realm of sentiment and
+deep emotion to the commonplace level of hunger and good cheer awaiting
+it. So Eunice Maitland herself led the way to table with Nathan
+Pettijohn close beside her, and, since there were no chairs to sit upon,
+took her stand at the end, and, bowing her graceful old head, gave
+silent thanks to the Giver of a feast so glorious as this had proved.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Even Madam, who could not be persuaded to leave her lofty isolation upon
+the oat-bin, nor to loose her hold of her brass bound box with its
+precious enclosure&mdash;so much more valuable than the diamonds which had
+once sparkled within it&mdash;even she did consent to taste of that rare
+delicacy which had come to Marsden in ugly wooden tubs. Her portion,
+though, was brought upon a china dish, because Susanna feared the
+gentlewoman's fastidious palate would dislike the flavor of a wooden
+plate. But then, intimate as she was through hearsay with the Mansion
+household, Susanna had yet never heard about burnt suppawn, and how an
+old-time gentlewoman can eat it without grimacing, even though she choke
+in the event. And Alfaretta&mdash;Her happiness must be guessed at. There
+isn't time to tell it; nor how many times her wooden plate was filled
+and refilled. It seemed to Katharine, observant, as if the poor girl's
+mouth opened and closed like a trap over every morsel presented to it,
+and that there was no evidence of swallowing. But, then, Alfy had never
+before attended a Hallowe'en Corkis, and probably never would again.</p>
+
+<p>Still observant, Katharine saw Aunt Eunice's dear face grow more and
+more thoughtful, yet with a thoughtfulness in no measure sad. Finally,
+she left Nathan to Mrs. Clackett's care and hastily crossed the room to
+Madam's side.</p>
+
+<p>"Elinor, do you remember how hard the old<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span> Squire tried to tell us who
+were watching his last hours of something that troubled him? And how we
+failed to comprehend?"</p>
+
+<p>"Surely, Eunice, I remember," answered the old wife, slightly aggrieved.
+"Why should I not if you do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because one night when you had dropped asleep he roused, almost like
+himself again, and saw me. Then he said: 'Eunice, I am very forgetful.
+But I remember something now that I must tell Elinor.' I was so foolish,
+I fancied some other time would do, and you were so tired. I couldn't
+bear that you should be awakened, and nodded toward the sofa where you
+lay. He seemed to understand, and murmured: 'Never mind. I'll tell you.
+There is provision ample. He didn't take it. I accused him because I
+missed it. I&mdash;I&mdash;secret chamber&mdash;Oh, my head!' Then he dropped away
+again, and afterward came only those hopeless efforts which you saw as
+well as I. Now, I believe I've had an inspiration. Verplanck's father,
+sane, recalled the fact that he had wrongly accused his son while his
+mind wandered. It was he who had emptied the brass bound box and
+bestowed its contents in some place he felt was safer. In the secret
+chamber, I believe. Let us go and search for them!"</p>
+
+<p>"Eunice, how silly! As if I hadn't ransacked every inch of every room in
+the old Mansion&mdash;all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> for nothing. Besides, what could one do at night?"</p>
+
+<p>"What may we not do? What is one pair of eyes to many? What one tallow
+dip to a hundred Jack-o'-lanterns, lighted with real 'store' candles?
+May we try? Shall I give the word?"</p>
+
+<p>Madam stood up. She was so happy in her letter that she cared not what
+else might happen. Besides, it was impossible to avoid sharing the
+enthusiasm shining in the face of her lifelong friend.</p>
+
+<p>"Eunice, you are positively as childish as Katharine herself. But do as
+you please, do as you please. All the world is welcome to the Mansion
+now that it's honor has come home! And, servantless almost as I am, I
+can comfortably feel that there is no room, nor closet even, in the old
+place that is not fit for the inspection of every Marsden housewife.
+Yes, thank God! I have never felt myself demeaned by any household task
+that presented, and cleanliness is part of pure religion. Do as you
+like, dear, do as you like."</p>
+
+<p>This was glorious! All Marsden felt that the night held too much of
+wonder to be true. After the party, after the restoration of the brass
+bound box, after Nathan Pettijohn's rehabilitation, after the
+establishment of Verplanck Sturtevant's innocence, after Moses'
+nomination, after the fine feast, to be admitted, to visit and
+examine&mdash;nay, more,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> authorized to pry into the famous but exclusive
+Mansion&mdash;Well, words simply failed.</p>
+
+<p>The elders in that astonishing procession conducted themselves more
+hilariously than their children. Each armed with a grinning Jack, and
+somebody driving Whitey as a snowy guide, they marched two abreast down
+Marsden thoroughfare, into the Mansion grounds, through the wide
+entrance hospitably thrown open, into and over the house as will or
+curiosity dictated.</p>
+
+<p>But everywhere with eager eyes, searching, hoping for the stately
+impoverished mistress of the Mansion that her treasures might be found.</p>
+
+<p>Only the most nimble followed Monty and Katharine up the queer stairs of
+the "old part" into the chamber under the eaves where soldiers had once
+lain hidden. But even they, with their gleaming Jacks, were sufficient
+to set the whole low room aglow, yet was there no longer need for
+search.</p>
+
+<p>The wind, which had done such devastation in the town, which had blown a
+welcome tramp back to his native haunts, had done even more. It had
+revealed the secret of years. Part of the chimney lay heaped on the
+floor, and among the fallen bricks and stones appeared a big tin box. A
+most ordinary box, such as many people use for insignificant belongings.</p>
+
+<p>Somebody dubiously suggested that "It might be <i>it</i>!"</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 344px;">
+<img src="images/i326.jpg" width="344" height="500" alt="&quot;EACH ARMED WITH A GRINNING JACK, AND SOMEBODY DRIVING
+WHITEY AS A SNOWY GUIDE&quot;" title="" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;EACH ARMED WITH A GRINNING JACK, AND SOMEBODY DRIVING
+WHITEY AS A SNOWY GUIDE&quot;</span>
+</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>There was nothing dubious about Montgomery. Tossing his lantern to Bob
+Turner, he seized the tin case and scampered down the ladder stairs with
+a speed nothing but habit could have secured. Rushing into the ancient
+drawing-room, so oddly lighted now, he flung himself headlong upon
+Madam, stammering excitedly:</p>
+
+<p>"Gr-gr-gram-ma! I've found i-i-i-it!"</p>
+
+<p>Madam remembered the box, so valueless in itself. She had not seen it
+for years. She had no faith that it held aught but trifles now. Let the
+good neighbors see. A simple turn of the wrist, the commonplace key
+clicked in the lock, the flat cover fell back and&mdash;the lost treasure was
+revealed! All the missing jewels in their cases, all the bonds whose
+value would more than lift the mortgages upon the fine old property, all
+the gold in canvas sacks which would take Montgomery through college and
+train him for that possible Presidency to which he aspired.</p>
+
+<p>Was ever such a night? Was ever such honest neighborly rejoicing? And
+were ever Marsden townsfolk so late out of their comfortable beds? For
+the candles in the Jacks had long burned out before that procession of
+happy people took their now darkened way homeward and Kitty Keehoty's
+Hallowe'en Corkis came to its final end.</p>
+
+
+<h4>THE END.</h4>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Brass Bound Box, by Evelyn Raymond
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+</pre>
+
+</body>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Brass Bound Box, by Evelyn Raymond
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Brass Bound Box
+
+Author: Evelyn Raymond
+
+Illustrator: Diantha W. Horne
+
+Release Date: April 6, 2009 [EBook #28509]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BRASS BOUND BOX ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by D Alexander, Josephine Paolucci and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE BRASS BOUND BOX
+
+BY EVELYN RAYMOND
+
+AUTHOR OF "THE DOINGS OF NANCY," "MIXED PICKLES," "MY LADY BAREFOOT"
+
+ILLUSTRATED BY DIANTHA W. HORNE
+
+[Illustration]
+
+BOSTON DANA ESTES &
+COMPANY PUBLISHERS
+
+
+_Copyright, 1905_
+BY DANA ESTES & COMPANY
+
+_All rights reserved_
+
+THE BRASS BOUND BOX
+
+_COLONIAL PRESS
+Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co.
+Boston, Mass., U. S. A._
+
+[Illustration: "AT LAST IT WAS OUT"]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER                                  PAGE
+
+I. LEGACY AND LEGATEE                     11
+
+II. MASTER MONTGOMERY STURTEVANT          25
+
+III. WHY MONTY DID NOT GO A-FISHING       40
+
+IV. FOXES' GULLY                          50
+
+V. CHESTNUTS AND GOLD MINES               64
+
+VI. THE BRASS BOUND BOX                   82
+
+VII. THE GRIT OF MOSES JONES              95
+
+VIII. HAY-LOFT DREAMS                    110
+
+IX. SQUIRE PETTIJOHN                     126
+
+X. ALFARETTA'S PERPLEXITY                142
+
+XI. THE FACE IN THE DARKNESS             154
+
+XII. A STURTEVANT--PERFORCE              168
+
+XIII. BUT--STURTEVANT TO THE RESCUE      187
+
+XIV. ON A SATURDAY AFTERNOON             203
+
+XV. BY THE OLD STONE BRIDGE              220
+
+XVI. THE COTTAGE IN THE WOOD             234
+
+XVII. A SELF-ELECTED CONSTABLE           248
+
+XVIII. REUBEN SMITH, ACCESSORY           263
+
+XIX. WHAT THE MOON SAW IN THE CORNFIELD  278
+
+XX. UNINVITED GUESTS                     292
+
+XXI. A NEIGHBORLY TRICK OF THE WIND      310
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+                                                                       PAGE
+
+"AT LAST IT WAS OUT" (See page 81).                            Frontispiece
+
+"He now lay stretched upon his owner's lap as she still sat on
+  the floor"                                                             27
+
+"'I feel so queer every little spell, an' I must get home'"              97
+
+"There, all anxiety forgotten, they dreamed dreams and saw visions"     120
+
+"Ma'am Puss extracted her own supper in advance of the family's"        148
+
+"Already one pumpkin pie was half-devoured"                             230
+
+"But the late rising moon looked down upon a curious scene"             290
+
+"Each armed with a grinning Jack and somebody driving Whitey
+  as a snowy guide"                                                     324
+
+
+
+
+THE BRASS BOUND BOX
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+LEGACY AND LEGATEE
+
+
+Marsden was one of the few villages of our populous country yet left
+remote from any line of railway. The chief events of its quiet days were
+the morning and evening arrivals and departures of the mail-coach, whose
+driver still retained the almost obsolete custom of blowing a horn to
+signal his approach.
+
+All Marsden favored the horn, it was so convenient and so--so antique!
+which word typified the spirit of the place. For if modest Marsden had
+any pride, it was in its own unchanging attitude toward modern ways and
+methods. So, whenever Reuben Smith's trumpet was heard, the villagers
+knew it was time to leave their homes along the main street and repair
+to the "general store and post-office" for the mail, which was their
+strongest connecting link with the outside world.
+
+Occasionally, too, the coach brought a visitor to the village; though
+this was commonly in summer-time, when even its own stand-offishness
+could not wholly repel the "city boarder." After the leaves changed
+color, nobody went to and fro save those who "belonged," as the
+storekeeper, the milliner, and Squire Pettijohn, the lawyer; and it had
+been ten years, at least, since Reuben's four-in-hand was brought to a
+halt before Miss Eunice Maitland's gate. Now, on a windy day of late
+September, the two white horses and their two black companions were
+reined up there, while the trumpet gave a blast which startled the
+entire neighborhood.
+
+"My heart was in my mouth the minute I heard it!" declared the Widow
+Sprigg to a crony, later on; although this curious disarrangement of her
+anatomy did not prevent the good woman from being foremost at the gate
+to learn the cause of this salute, thus rudely anticipating her
+mistress's rights in the case. Therefore, it was upon a time-damaged,
+cap-frilled countenance that Katharine Maitland's dismayed glance fell
+as she sprang from the stage and inquired:
+
+"Are you my Aunt Eunice?"
+
+"Your--Aunt--Eunice! Thank my stars, I ain't aunt to nobody!" returned
+the widow, almost as much alarmed by the appearance of this strange
+maiden as she had been by the coachman's blast.
+
+"It is a matter of thankfulness," retorted the girl, pertly, and
+surveying the other with amused and critical eyes, which made Susanna
+Sprigg "squirm in her shoes."
+
+Reuben now slowly climbed down from his high seat, and removed from the
+rumble a great trunk, a suit-case, a parcel of books, and a dog-basket;
+and the stranger at once occupied herself in releasing from his confined
+quarters a pug so atrociously high-bred that Susanna instantly
+exclaimed:
+
+"My stars! That dog's so humbly he must ache!"
+
+Katharine would have given a crisp reply had not her attention been
+distracted by Reuben's movements, who was waiting to receive his fare,
+yet in such terror of the pug's snapping jaws that he was stepping up
+and down in a lively fashion, as he rescued one foot and then the other
+from his enemy's attack.
+
+"'Pears to blame _me_ for bein' shut up in that there basket, don't he?
+When anybody knows 'twasn't my fault at all. I hain't enj'yed the trip
+no more'n what he has, hearin' him yelp that continual, an' I must say I
+didn't expect, at my time o' life, to commence drivin' stage for dogs.
+Here, sis, is your change. Good day to ye, an' a good welcome, I hope."
+
+"Humph! You don't speak as if you really 'hoped' it, but quite the
+reverse!" returned Punch's mistress, more shrewdly than courteously.
+
+"Dreadful smart, ain't ye?" said Reuben, and drove away, putting his
+horn to his lips, and thereby drowning any further remarks which the
+stranger might have addressed to him.
+
+Lifting the ungainly brute in her arms, the girl now turned and surveyed
+the house beyond the gate, her heart far heavier with homesickness than
+seemed consistent with her outward, flippant bearing.
+
+What she saw was a wide, rambling frame house; wherever they showed
+between the clambering vines which encircled it, its clapboards
+glistening white and its shutters vividly green. The few leaves still
+left upon the vines were scarlet, while behind the low roof rose maples
+in the full glory of their autumn reds and yellows. The long front yard
+was green and well kept, and the borders beside the path were gay with
+chrysanthemums, though between these showed the frost-blackened foliage
+of tenderer plants. Upon the porch was a woman with a shawl over her
+head, apparently shivering in the wind which tossed the maple boughs,
+and awaiting an explanation of this arrival.
+
+"A pretty picture!" admitted Katharine, who fancied herself artistic,
+"but so lonesome it gives me the hypo! And that--that, I suppose, is my
+Aunt Eunice. Well, Punch, come on! Let's get it over with!"
+
+The Widow Sprigg had remained motionless, but keenly observant, and her
+thoughts were:
+
+"If that ain't a Maitland, I never knew the breed. And I reckon I do
+know it, bein's me an' my fam'ly has lived cheek by jowl with them an'
+their fam'ly since ever was. But which Maitland it is, or what in reason
+she's come for, beats me."
+
+Then, as the stranger walked coolly through the gateway, leaving her
+luggage on the sidewalk outside, Susanna sniffed, and remarked--for
+anybody to hear who chose:
+
+"What's that mean? Expect me to fetch an' carry for such a strappin'
+girl as that? Well, not if I know Susanna Sprigg, an' I think I do."
+
+Whereupon, the widow, long time "assistant" to her more affluent
+"neighbor," Miss Maitland, shrugged her shoulders at the wind and this
+absurd notion, and followed Kate. She wouldn't have missed the interview
+between that young person and her enforced hostess "for a farm," and yet
+she was extremely anxious concerning the trunk and the parcels. But
+curiosity prevailed over caution, and she was in time to hear the rather
+nervous inquiry:
+
+"Are you my Aunt Eunice--so called?"
+
+"I am Eunice Maitland, and though I am not aunt in reality to any one, I
+have been lovingly nicknamed 'aunt' by many of my kin. But no matter
+what our relationship, you are a Maitland, I am sure, and I am very glad
+to see you in Marsden. Come in, come in at once. The wind is chill, and
+you have had a long ride," responded the precise old gentlewoman,
+extending her hand to Katharine, and cordially attempting to draw the
+girl within the shelter of the great hall.
+
+But this hospitable attempt was rudely misunderstood by Punch, who
+snapped at the hand, and caused its owner to withdraw it hastily,
+saying: "It will be better to leave your dog outside."
+
+"Leave my dog outside! Leave Punch, my--my--my darling! Oh! I can't do
+that. He has been so tenderly brought up, and is so sensitive to the
+cold. He has really suffered on that dreadful ride."
+
+Miss Eunice frowned slightly, and merely remarking, "Very well, bring
+him in, though I caution you against Sir Philip. He is old and
+irritable," led the way through the wide hall into a sitting-room
+beyond, where a wood fire was burning on the hearth, and the furnishings
+were of the sort in vogue a hundred years ago. Even the disturbed young
+visitor thought she had never seen anything so charming as that simple
+interior, where everything was in keeping, and so spotlessly neat, and
+over which fell the cheerful radiance of the blazing logs.
+Unceremoniously dropping Punch, she clasped her hands in admiration,
+exclaiming:
+
+"Oh, how quaint! How interesting! How unlike anything I expected to
+see!"
+
+Although Miss Eunice was gratified by this tribute to her familiar
+surroundings, she fancied that its expression was overdone, and resented
+its seemingly patronizing insincerity. Placing a chair directly in the
+glow of the fire, she invited Katharine to take it, while she herself
+sat down on a straight-backed settle beyond.
+
+Sensitive to feel the lessening cordiality of her hostess's manner,
+Katharine hid her feeling behind an added flippancy, as she tossed her
+palms outward, in a manner wholly natural to herself, but which the
+house-mistress again fancied an affectation, and exclaimed: "Well!"
+
+"Well?" returned Miss Eunice, quietly but inquiringly.
+
+"Well, I suppose you're the legatee and I'm the legacy. I hope you won't
+be half as unwilling to accept me as I am to be left to you. If you are,
+there'll be some high times in Marsden."
+
+This mixture of frankness and bravado brought a second frown to Miss
+Maitland's fine face, but she said, quite courteously:
+
+"Kindly explain, my child, who you are, and to what I am indebted--"
+
+"For the nuisance of your legacy," interrupted the girl, excitedly, and,
+thrusting a sealed letter into the other's hand, drew back in her own
+chair and covered her face with her hands. Under all her self-confident
+manner her heart was throbbing painfully, and she felt as if she must
+get up and run away. Somewhere in the great forest through which Reuben
+had driven his coach lay an apparently deserted little cabin, which had
+attracted her by its overgrowth of woodbine--that hereabout seemed to
+envelop everything upon which it could clasp its tendrils--and whose
+memory now returned to her invitingly. Exiled from her own home, an
+alien here, such a spot as that would be a haven of refuge. She had not
+known exactly what was in the letter she had tossed Miss Maitland, but
+she had guessed sufficiently near to know its contents could not be
+flattering to herself. Beneath her hiding hands her cheeks were flushing
+with shame when she heard her name spoken with utmost gentleness and
+affection.
+
+"So you are John's only child! I should have known it without being
+told, only it is so many, many years since he left me, a wild little lad
+who found the old home too dull. He was not as close of kin as some
+others I have reared here, and he was but fifteen when he went away. But
+I have always loved him, and hoped for his return; and now--"
+
+"Oh, my stars!" inadvertently exclaimed the Widow Sprigg, thus
+disclosing the fact that she had been listening beyond the door.
+
+"And now, Susanna, I smell your bread scorching," went on the mistress
+as calmly as if the other had not betrayed herself. Then, when the
+kitchen door had been slammed by the retreating hand-maiden, with an
+emphasis that said as clearly as words that her mistress might go on and
+talk, and things might happen enough to turn a body's head, for all she,
+Susanna Sprigg, cared or noticed, so there! Miss Eunice left her own
+seat, and, going around to Katharine's, gently drew the hiding hands
+away from the troubled young face, and, putting the letter into them,
+said: "There, my dear, read it."
+
+"No, no! I can't! I won't! I hate it. I hate her, and
+all--all--belonging to her! I never want to see or hear of her again.
+And I won't stay. I see you don't want your legacy, and I'll go at once.
+I have ten dollars, I can live--"
+
+"Why, there's some mistake, little girl. This is from no 'her,' but--a
+message from the dead."
+
+The sudden break in the quiet old voice touched the listener more than
+the words, and she mechanically took the letter as she repeated:
+
+"A message from the dead? What can you mean?"
+
+"Read it and see."
+
+Then Katharine read what her idolized father had written many months
+before, when the knowledge of his own approaching death had come to him;
+and it seemed to her that it was his own voice saying:
+
+     "DEAR AUNT EUNICE:--For dear you are, notwithstanding all these
+     years of silence, during which your wild little lad has grown
+     into a busy, care-burdened man. That you heard of my first
+     marriage, and my wife's early death, leaving me with one little
+     girl--your legacy--I know; because that all happened before the
+     habit of our correspondence lapsed. But you may not know that
+     two years ago I married again, a widow with four little sons;
+     and though she has been the best of wives to me, she and my
+     darling Katharine have not been happy together. Kate is a
+     passionate, self-willed, but great-hearted child, so full of
+     romantically generous impulses that I long ago nicknamed her my
+     'Kitty Quixote.' Her stepmother's nature and temperament are of
+     quite another mold; and knowing what I have just learned
+     concerning my own health, I foresee nothing but misery for
+     these two, should they be left to live together without my
+     presence.
+
+     "So, since my motherless daughter is my most precious
+     possession and you have been my most devoted friend, I find it
+     the most natural thing in the world to bequeath my treasure to
+     my friend. If, for any reason unknown to me, you cannot accept
+     my legacy I have made other arrangements for Katharine's
+     future, which you can learn by applying to my lawyers, Messrs.
+     Brown and Brown, Blank Street, New York.
+
+     "My wife knows of this letter, and we have arranged that after
+     my death, should it occur, Kate is to remain with her for six
+     months, as a final test of their ability to live happily
+     together, and for the benefit of the schools in this city. At
+     the end of that time, if these two well-meaning but uncongenial
+     people decide that it is wisest to part, 'Kitty Quixote' will
+     be sent to you, to do with as you see fit. In any case, she
+     will be no pecuniary charge to any one; her own mother's little
+     fortune, with such a portion of mine as is justly hers, being
+     all-sufficient for ordinary needs.
+
+     "In loving remembrance of my boyhood, made happy by your care,
+     and in firm reliance upon your friendship, your troublesome
+     John bids you farewell."
+
+Katharine had expected to find the sealed letter she had been
+commissioned to deliver to Miss Maitland but a complaining missive from
+her stepmother, setting forth the girl's faults and failures with that
+accuracy of detail so characteristic of the "second Mrs. John." That
+lady's handwriting upon the envelope had helped her to this impression,
+yet so honest was she that she had not once thought of protesting or
+refusing to deliver it. The revulsion of feeling was now so strong that
+she could not restrain her tears, nor the impulse to throw herself
+headlong upon Aunt Eunice, crying wildly:
+
+"Oh, it's all true! But he loved me, my father loved me, bad as I am!
+And for his sake I wish--I wish I could be good. So folks, his folks,
+or--or anybody could stand it to live with me! But I can't. I've tried.
+I've tried ever so hard, yet the goodness gets down below and the
+badness stays on top, and then things go--smash!"
+
+Aunt Eunice waited a moment, then replaced Katharine in her chair,
+thinking what a child she still seemed, despite her fourteen years and
+her city training. Also, recalling with a thrill of pride that she
+herself, at fourteen years, had been the head of her own father's
+widowed home and a woman, by contrast. "Though I was reared in Marsden,"
+she complacently reflected, as she said:
+
+"I should be glad to hear whatever you choose to tell me, my dear, of
+your life. Especially, what caused the final break between you and Mrs.
+Maitland."
+
+"Why, it wasn't badness at all, that time! It was meant in kindness.
+Some other girls and I had fixed up a sort of house-picnic for
+washer-woman Biddy's children, who were all down with the measles, and
+just to amuse them I took stepmother's boys, the four young
+Snowballs--haven't they the absurdest name?--along; and she--she didn't
+like it. She said things. That I'd wilfully exposed them to danger,
+though I ought to be as careful of them as if they were my real
+brothers. And there I was trying to be, only she didn't understand.
+Then, another day, not long before, I coaxed some big boys who have a
+naphtha-launch to give the 'Balls a sail on it down the bay. The thing
+happened to explode, and, though nobody was hurt, she went on just
+terrible because I'd taken the children without asking her. How could I
+ask her when she was off shopping, or somewhere, just at the very moment
+the idea popped into my head? And nothing befell the little fellows
+except getting their clothes wet, and they always needed washing,
+anyway. The nice part of it was that they were scared into behaving
+themselves as they should for a whole week afterward, and she might have
+been pleased. But it was always like that. I'd have perfectly lovely
+plans for making everybody happy, all around, and they'd all end just
+the other way. So here I am. Mrs. John has cast me off; do you accept
+me?"
+
+"First, let me ask if you were accustomed to speak of your father's wife
+in that manner?"
+
+The girl was surprised by the other's tone, yet promptly answered:
+"Certainly. Everybody amongst father's artist friends called her either
+'the second Mrs. John,' or 'Stepmother.' Either one it happened. Why?"
+
+"It was most disrespectful."
+
+At this uncompromising reply, Kate stared, exclaiming: "Why, you're a
+truth-teller yourself, aren't you?"
+
+"I am. Did you not suppose so?" returned Miss Maitland, amused.
+
+"Well, you see, I've been told you were very agreeable, and most of the
+really agreeable people I know lie like the mischief."
+
+"Katharine!"
+
+"Fact. And I've got into more scrapes for telling the truth than for any
+other thing I've done, except being kind to the little Snowballs.
+But--hark! What's that? Punch--_Punch_--You flippety-cap woman! Stop!
+Stop! Stop!"
+
+An eruptive, agonized bark from the hall sent the girl thither at a
+bound, while Miss Eunice hastily followed, anxiously crying: "Philip!
+Sir _Philip Sidney_!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+MASTER MONTGOMERY STURTEVANT
+
+
+Wildly beating the air with a long-handled broom, her cap-frills flying,
+her spectacles awry, the Widow Sprigg was vainly endeavoring to restore
+peace between Punch, the newcomer, and Sir Philip Sidney, the venerable
+Angora cat which had hitherto "ruled the roost."
+
+The pug, with a native curiosity almost as great as Susanna's own, had
+slipped from the sitting-room unobserved and had wandered to the warm
+kitchen where Sir Philip lay asleep on his cushion, unmindful of
+interlopers till an ugly black muzzle was poked into his ribs, and he
+found his natural enemy coolly ruffling his silken fur.
+
+Until then, Miss Eunice had boasted of her pet that he was as like his
+famous namesake as it was possible for any animal to be like any human
+being, and quoted concerning him that he was "sublimely mild, a spirit
+without spot." Indeed, Miss Maitland's beautiful "Angory" was one of
+the show animals of Marsden. He had been brought to his mistress by a
+returning traveller more years ago than most people remembered, and had
+continued to live his charmed and pampered life long after the ordinary
+age of his kind. With appetite always supplied with the best of food,
+his handsome body lodged luxuriously, it was small wonder that hitherto
+he had worn his aristocratic title with a gentleness befitting his
+historic prototype.
+
+Now, suddenly, the pent-up temper of his past broke out in one terrific
+burst; and he bit, scratched, tore, and yowled with all the ferocity of
+youth, while Punch, realizing that he had stirred up a bigger rumpus
+than even his mischievous spirit desired, vainly sought to elude his
+enemy's attacks.
+
+"Why, Philip! Sir Philip!" cried Miss Eunice, stooping to grasp her
+favorite's collar, and by his unlooked-for onrush against her own feet
+losing her balance and falling to the floor.
+
+"Punch! You bad, bad dog! There--you woman! Don't you dare--don't you
+dare to strike him with that awful broom! If he needs punishing--I'll
+punish him myself! Oh, what a horrid place, what horrid folks, what a
+perfectly fiendish cat!" shrieked Kate, folding both arms tight about
+the pug's fat, squirming body, and rushing out-of-doors with him. But by
+this time his courage had returned, and, wriggling himself free, he
+rushed back to the battle.
+
+[Illustration: "HE NOW LAY STRETCHED UPON HIS OWNER'S LAP AS SHE STILL
+SAT ON THE FLOOR"]
+
+Alas! that exciting affair was all over. Sir Philip's unwonted anger had
+proved too much for his strength, and, utterly exhausted, he now lay
+stretched upon his owner's lap as she still sat on the floor, stroking
+and caressing him most tenderly.
+
+Katharine had followed Punch back to the kitchen, and was as startled as
+he was proud at the sight before them. Cocking his square head on one
+side, curling his tail, wrinkling his nose, and protruding his pink
+tongue even more than usual, he regarded his fallen foe with such
+comical satisfaction that Katharine's alarm gave place to amusement, and
+she laughed aloud. But the laugh died as quickly as it had risen when
+Aunt Eunice looked up and said, reproachfully:
+
+"I fear it has killed him, poor fellow!"
+
+"Oh, no, no! A little bit of a scrap like that kill a cat? I thought
+they had nine lives, and such a trifle--Why, Punch is as fresh as a
+daisy, and that proud! Just look at him!" cried the girl. Yet her
+enthusiasm was dashed by the expression of deep sorrow on Miss
+Maitland's face, and there were real tears in the widow's eyes as she
+now advanced, broom in hand, though without apparent anger, to sweep
+Punch out of the room.
+
+Katharine was too surprised to protest, beyond quietly motioning the
+broom aside and lifting the now submissive pug to her shoulder, where he
+perched calmly contemplative of the disaster he had evoked.
+
+"There, Eunice, don't fret. What can't be cured must be endured, you
+know, and even a cat can't die but once. Only he was _such_ a cat! We
+sha'n't never see his like again, an'--Take care there, sis! Don't you
+know he always hated water?" exclaimed Susanna, resting upon her
+broom-handle, and bending above her anxious mistress till a dash from
+the dipper deluged both cat and lap.
+
+Yet now full of sympathy and regret Kate did not pause in her work of
+restoration, and either the bath did revive Sir Philip or he had been on
+the point of recovery, for he suddenly sprang up, shook his drenched
+head, and staggered toward his cushion on the hearth, where he lay down
+and proceeded to smooth his disordered fur.
+
+Then Kate put her arms around Miss Maitland and helped that lady to her
+feet, saying, earnestly:
+
+"Oh, I am so sorry, and I am so glad! but it will never happen again.
+Poor old Sir Philip won't be in a hurry to fight, and Punch never does
+if he can help it. Do you, you darling?" she finished to the perplexed
+dog, which she had unceremoniously dropped from her shoulder when she
+had rushed for the water.
+
+The pug gave a funny little wink of one intelligent eye, as if he fully
+understood; then slowly waddled across the rag-carpeted floor and curled
+himself up at a safe distance from Sir Philip, upon whom he kept a wary
+watch. But he was a weary dog by that time, and so glad of warmth and
+repose that he left even his own damaged coat to take care of itself for
+the present.
+
+However, if he was calm, the Widow Sprigg was no longer so. Kate had not
+only drenched the cat and his mistress, but she had left a large puddle
+in the very centre of Susanna's "new brea'th" of rag carpet, its owner
+now indignantly demanding to know if Miss Eunice "was goin' to put up
+with any such doin's? That wery brea'th that I cut an' sewed myself, out
+of my own rags, an' not a smitch of your'n in it, an' hadn't much more'n
+just got laid down ready for winter. An' if it had come to this that
+dogs and silly girls was to be took in an' done for, cats, or no cats,
+Angory or otherwise, she, for one, Susanna Sprigg, wasn't goin' to put
+up with it, an' so I tell you, an' give notice, according."
+
+During the delivery of this speech the widow's black eyes had glared
+through her spectacles so fiercely that the young visitor was alarmed,
+and said to Aunt Eunice, appealingly:
+
+"Oh, please don't let her go just because I've come! I'll not stay
+myself, to make such trouble, even if you'll have me--and you haven't
+said so yet. There's that boarding-school left--"
+
+Miss Maitland ignored the appeal, but looking through the window
+remarked to her irate assistant:
+
+"That luggage shouldn't be left on the sidewalk, Susanna. Get Moses to
+help you bring it in. If a tramp should happen to pass he might make off
+with it."
+
+By which quiet rejoinder Kate understood that she had been "accepted;"
+also that the house-mistress was not disturbed by the threat of her
+handmaid. Indeed, she discovered afterward that it was the widow's habit
+to threaten thus whenever her temper was a trifle ruffled; also, that
+nothing save death was apt to sever her relationship with the Maitland
+family, which she held far dearer than her own.
+
+"Tramps? Do you have tramps in this out-of-the-way village? I'm afraid
+of tramps, myself, and they're about the only things I am really afraid
+of," said Kate, following Aunt Eunice back into the sitting-room.
+
+"I never knew one to pass through Marsden, and I've lived here always;
+but Susanna has read of them and their depredations, and is constantly
+on the lookout for one. Except for the trouble between the cat and dog
+she wouldn't have left your things in the street a moment after she had
+satisfied her curiosity concerning you. But you will like Susanna when
+you have become accustomed to her. A better-hearted woman never lived."
+
+To this assurance the girl replied with a doubtful laugh and the words:
+
+"I never should have dreamed it;" then stationed herself at the window
+to watch the proceedings outside.
+
+The Widow Sprigg had vanished through a back kitchen and now appeared
+around the corner of the house, having in tow an elderly man, who
+followed her with evident reluctance. She had thrown on a "slat"
+sunbonnet, and pinned a red shawl about her shoulders, but had shaken
+her head so vigorously that the shawl had slipped down and the sunbonnet
+back, while the frills of her muslin cap waved blindingly before her
+spectacles.
+
+"Who is that? Is he 'Moses'? Does he live here?" asked Kate, laughing
+not only at the appearance but behavior of the two.
+
+"Yes. He is my hired man. His name is Moses Jones. He is not as old as
+he looks, and is one of our likeliest citizens. He's quite intelligent,
+and has even been mentioned for a constable--if Marsden should ever need
+one. If enough city people should come here to warrant such an office,"
+finished the lady, with unconscious sarcasm.
+
+Kate's head came around with a jerk. "Constable? That's a policeman,
+isn't it?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And is it only 'city people' who do wrong and need arresting? Because,
+you see, I'm a 'city' person myself, and resent that idea!" laughed the
+girl, mischievously. Yet the next instant she regretfully observed that
+she had again annoyed her dignified hostess.
+
+Indeed, the annoyance was so great that Miss Maitland's brow clouded,
+and her eye swept the stylishly garbed small figure at the window with
+renewed misgiving. She knew little of the latter-day young folks, with
+their study-sharpened intelligence, their habit of repartee, and their
+self-assumed equality with their elders. Such few of the Marsden lads
+and lasses as visited her belonged to the old-fashioned families, and
+were trained to strict habits of obedience, and "to speak when they were
+spoken to." They were supposed to have no opinions on any subject save
+such as were formed for them by their parents and guardians; and--well,
+they were altogether different from this alert, dark-eyed maiden, who
+had been in the house less than an hour, yet had already upset it to a
+degree!
+
+Kate's gaze had again returned to the scene without, and she had
+forgotten her momentary regret, as she observed, from time to time:
+
+"She's the funniest thing I ever saw, and he's funnier than she! He
+doesn't want to lift the trunk. No. She doesn't want him to. Yes, she
+does. She's getting mad. He won't do it her way. She won't do it his.
+They're both coming in and leaving it on the sidewalk. He's saying
+something to her and now she's faced about again. Maybe he said 'tramp,'
+because she's looking all up and down the street as if she were scared,
+and he's laughing. I guess he's laughing--he shakes as if he were, yet
+his face is as sober as ever. Now they're off! Here they come. But do
+look, Aunt Eunice, oh, do look! He's just barely lifting his end off the
+ground, and she's raised hers real high. She's doing the most of the
+work, I believe, yet he's crouching down as if he were half-crushed by
+the weight. The idea! He sha'n't do that! I won't let any woman be
+treated that way!"
+
+Out she sped, leaving all doors open and thus obliging Miss Maitland to
+close them after her or let the rooms be cooled by the inrush of wind.
+But her swift comprehension of the habits of the two household helpers,
+and her vivid description of their present movements, had so amused the
+lady that she also took up a point of observation, and was just in time
+to see Katharine indignantly push Moses' hand from the trunk-handle and
+seize it herself. It was evidently a heavier load than she had expected,
+for, at first, her end went down even lower than when Moses held it,
+yet she rallied instantly, and with all her might lifted it to a level
+with Susanna's, who was as instantly won by this action, and exclaimed,
+exultantly:
+
+"There, Moses Jones! What did I tell you? Ain't no heft in it, not a
+mite. Nobody but a man--a man--would make such a how-de-do over a trunk.
+Just a trunk!"
+
+The infinite scorn of words and manner provoked nothing further from her
+"shif'less" housemate than another silent chuckle, and a keen glance at
+Katharine from beneath his bushy eyebrows.
+
+Yet he did look a trifle ashamed when his mistress herself opened the
+hall door again to admit the trunk-bearers, and without more ado hurried
+back to the sidewalk and brought in the rest of the luggage. It was
+noticeable that he no longer stooped or affected fatigue; and that as
+soon as Susanna let go the trunk at the foot of the stairs he
+immediately shouldered it, like the lightest of parcels, and carried it
+swiftly above. Then, pausing at the top of the flight, he asked, in a
+brisk tone:
+
+"Which room, Eunice?"
+
+"The sitting-room chamber, Moses."
+
+Katharine listened, astonished, then exclaimed:
+
+"Why--I thought he was your 'hired man.' That's servant, isn't it?"
+
+"About the same thing, my dear," answered Miss Maitland, smiling ever
+so slightly, and quite conscious that Susanna's black eyes and keen ears
+were alert for her reply.
+
+"But he called you by your first name! just as if he were your brother,
+or--or--somebody."
+
+"There is little giving of titles in Marsden, Katharine, but that does
+not imply any lack of respect. Moses and Susanna and I were schoolmates
+together in the little red schoolhouse at the crossroads, and none of
+us--none of us--wish to forget it. The same old schoolhouse where your
+father learned his letters, and where you will go if you are happy
+enough with me to remain. Now, Widow Sprigg, let John's little girl see
+what sort of a supper you used to fix for him when he was hungry."
+
+All fancied slight at the term "servant" thus atoned for by the formal
+"Widow Sprigg," and her favor swiftly won by Kate's behavior with the
+trunk, the housekeeper departed in high good-humor, her cap-strings
+flying, spectacles pushed to the top of her head, and cheerily
+remarking:
+
+"So she shall, so she shall. I'll show her. For Johnny was the boy to
+eat an' enj'y his victuals. 'Twas a comfort to cook for him, he was that
+hearty. I'll have it ready in the jerk of a lamb's tail."
+
+Moses came down the stairs and went out "to do his chores," casting
+another keen glance at the stranger ascending them with Miss Maitland
+to the sitting-room chamber. For the girl's marked resemblance to a boy
+he had known and taken fishing many a time, he was inclined to like her;
+but because of the probable altered household life, and her swift
+perception of his whimsies, equally inclined to dislike; and he shifted
+the straw from one side of his mouth to the other, reflecting:
+
+"Well, it's more'n likely she an' Eunice won't gee. Eunice has raised
+six seven of her folkses' childern, an' I 'lowed she'd got done; but
+there ain't no accountin' for silly women--silly women. Get out, there,
+you! Strange that a body can't leave a gate open a single minute here in
+Marsden village, without somebody's stray cattle trespassin'. Get out, I
+say!"
+
+The plump white cow, which had obtruded its nose through the gateway,
+calmly withdrew it and proceeded on its way undisturbed by Moses'
+frantic gestures. Miss Maitland's was not the only dooryard in the
+village where grass was still abundant, and Whitey knew it.
+
+"That's old Mis' Sturtevant's critter again! She's no right to turn it
+loose to feed along the street, that-a-way. Course, she's set Monty to
+watch, an' he's gone off a-fishin'. That's as plain as a pike-staff.
+Pshaw! Folks so poor they can't feed their stawk hain't a right to keep
+any, I declare! When I get to be constable I'll straighten some things
+in Marsden township that's terrible crooked now; an' the very first one
+I'd complain of or arrest would be that lazy little stutterin' Monty
+Sturtevant!"
+
+"W-w-w-wo-would it?"
+
+The voice came from beneath the white lilac bush, but it seemed to come
+from the earth, and Katharine, at the just opened sitting-room chamber
+window, saw the whole affair, and laughed aloud.
+
+Her laughter startled the intruder as much as he had startled Moses, and
+he came out of hiding, demanding:
+
+"W-w-who's t-t-that? Aunt Eu-Eu-Eu-Eunice got comp-p-pany?"
+
+"Yes. But that's no concern of yours," snapped the hired man, "and you
+best go 'tend your cow;" finishing his advice with a threatening nod.
+
+"Oh, f-f-f-fudge! Wait till you get to _be_ co-co-constable, then shake
+your h-head. W-w-who is it, I say?"
+
+"I hain't been told, but I 'low she's some cousin forty-times-removed to
+Eunice, come to sponge a livin' out of us. But she needn't worry you
+none. She hain't come to your house to upset things."
+
+"G-g-glad of it!" returned this ungallant young Marsdenite. "But say,
+Un-un-uncle M-Mose."
+
+"Now, Monty, none o' that. I know what's afoot when any you boys begin
+to 'uncle' me, an' I say 'No.' I ain't goin' to give up my night's rest
+for a fishin'-trip. You hear me?"
+
+"B-b-but, Uncle Mose! I've got the b-ba-bai-bait all dug, and it'll be
+p-p-pr-prime for fishin'. Say, Uncle Mose, we haven't had a s-s-s-single
+speck o' fresh me-me-meat 't our house for a w-w-w-week!"
+
+"Montgomery Sturtevant! That ought to make you stutter an' choke! Eunice
+sent your grandma a pair o' pullets no longer ago 'n yesterday. You--"
+
+But Monty had already departed to summon his chums for an evening's
+sport. Well he and they knew that the shortest road to the hired man's
+heart was by the suggestion of hunger; and the surest way to secure
+parents' consent was the announcement:
+
+"Uncle Moses'll take us fishin', if you'll let us go."
+
+Moses again turned his face chore-ward; yet it was noticeable that he
+paused to examine his "tackle" before he fed the poultry, and that he
+softly whistled as he went about his work. He was even first at the
+rendezvous, on the old "eddy road;" and though others joined him there,
+Montgomery--at once his dearest delight and greatest torment--did not
+appear.
+
+Alas! at that moment the impecunious heir of all the Sturtevants was
+himself in anything but a whistling mood; and was thinking direful
+things concerning a girl with whom he had not yet exchanged a word.
+
+"The h-h-h-hateful young one! Un-un-uncle Mose said 'none o' my
+wor-r-ry,' an' that's all he k-k-knew! Plague take her! W-w-what she
+come to M-M-Ma-Marsden for an' drive me plumb cr-cr-craz-crazy!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+WHY MONTY DID NOT GO A-FISHING
+
+
+Montgomery's love of gossip was his own undoing. When, after the manner
+of Moses, worthy guide, the young angler had put his own fishing-tackle
+in order, he sought the dining-room, where supper awaited. For once he
+was on time, and received a word of commendation from his grandmother,
+which so elated him that he mentally reviewed the day's events for a bit
+of news with which to enliven her monotony. Then like a flash arose
+before him the picture of an unknown girl at Miss Maitland's window.
+This was something worth telling, indeed.
+
+With his mouth full of chicken, remnant of Eunice's pullets, he burst
+forth.
+
+"A-a-aunt Eunice's got comp'ny."
+
+The punctilious old lady opposite raised her thin hand, protesting: "My
+son, you should never attempt to talk when you are eating."
+
+Nothing abashed, the boy swallowed hastily and reiterated his statement.
+At which Madam Sturtevant exclaimed, with as much excitement of manner
+as she ever showed: "Company? Dear Eunice entertaining guests? Why, son,
+how did you learn that? Who are they, pray?"
+
+"D-d-didn't say 'g-guests.' She's a g-g-gir-rl. How I learned, I
+s-s-saw. With my own eyes. M-m-more chicken, g-gramma."
+
+"Yes, dear heart. It is delicious poultry, and so sweet of Eunice to
+remember us. We were always close friends, and she is still a lovely
+woman. So fresh and young looking. But then, Eunice never married nor
+was widowed, nor exchanged wealth for poverty, nor reared a--a
+grandson," concluded the dame, fixing a too thoughtful gaze upon
+Montgomery's freckled face, whose only aristocratic feature was a pair
+of exceptionally fine eyes. Her mind was already wandering back into
+that past which held so much more of interest to this decayed
+gentlewoman than the present; but, wriggling under her survey of
+himself, the lad reminded her that Miss Maitland had also had her
+trials, in that:
+
+"Un-un-uncle Mose s-says she's raised s-s-s-six sev--en other folks'
+ch-ch-ch-childern, anyhow."
+
+"Sixty-seven children! My dear, you must certainly have misunderstood.
+But no matter. Finish your food at once. Our duty is plain. I dislike
+going out, except on Sundays, and especially at evening, yet dear Eunice
+would think me most remiss if I delayed to pay my respects to any guest
+of hers. I am dressed sufficiently well for an informal visit, but--"
+here the old lady put on her glasses and critically regarded her
+grandson's attire, then remorselessly continued: "But you, my son, must
+take a bath and put on your best suit. As soon as possible; because the
+stranger will be tired and wish to retire early. Finished? That is well.
+Strike the bell for Alfaretta."
+
+Though his plate was still heaped with the choice portions of the fowl,
+which his doting grandmother had preserved for him, and though he was
+still hungry, unlucky Monty sank back in his chair, a limp, crestfallen
+lad. With his dejected stare fixed upon her unrelenting face, he
+stammered forth:
+
+"B-b-but, g-g-gr-gramma! I'm goin' a-f-f-fishin'!"
+
+"Nonsense. Get ready immediately," said Madam, rising from table, and
+measuring out the supper portion of Alfaretta, the one small servant of
+a house which had once sheltered many.
+
+Then he also rose, but so languidly that "Alfy" stared, and, glancing
+toward his still full plate, inquired: "You sick?"
+
+"No, I ain't. I'm m-m-mad!"
+
+"At me?"
+
+"N-no. Y-y-yes. You're another of 'em. She's a g-g-girl. I've got to go
+s-s-s-see her! Just a p-p-plain girl!"
+
+The infinite scorn with which this reply was hurled at her touched
+Alfaretta's pride. Was she not, also, a girl? Said she, with intent to
+"get even" for some of his former toplofty remarks: "Oh! I thought you
+was goin' fishin' with Uncle Mose. I saw Bob Turner go past, quite a
+spell ago, and he was whistlin' like lightnin'. And I heard you say,
+more'n once, 't _you_ 'hadn't no man to boss you--you could do as you
+pleased."
+
+"So I can when--when g-g-gr-gramma ain't r-r-round," replied he, so
+meekly that Alfaretta relented. She had been intending to add the
+contents of Monty's plate to the less appetizing portion set out for
+herself, but now determined to put aside for a future luncheon whatever
+he had left. Food was never overabundant at the Madam's, and Alfaretta
+made it her business that none of what there was should ever go to
+waste.
+
+"Never mind, Monty. To-morrow ain't touched yet, an' there'll always be
+fish in the pool," comforted the little maid with real sympathy, for,
+despite the fact that he teased her continually, she loved him
+sincerely.
+
+But he merely banged the door behind him as he departed to his toilet,
+feeling himself the most abused of mortals. For if there was anything
+which this "last of the Sturtevants" hated worse than paying a visit it
+was taking a cold bath in a tub, an ordinary wooden wash-tub! To have
+both bath and visit imposed upon him in one fell hour, was an
+undreamed-of calamity.
+
+Therefore, it was a very different appearing youth from his ordinary
+merry self who was presented to Katharine in Miss Eunice's lamp-lighted
+sitting-room an hour later. In outward matters, also, a vastly improved
+one, since his rough denim blouse and overalls had been exchanged for a
+fairly modern suit, thoughtfully supplied him by wealthier relatives;
+his tangle of close-cropped curls brushed smooth, and his face freed
+from all spots save freckles.
+
+"Katharine, you may take Montgomery over to that little table where the
+photograph albums are, and show them to him. You and he should be good
+friends, as all the Sturtevants and Maitlands have been for generations
+before you," said Miss Eunice, after the presentation had been made, and
+during which ceremony Monty had wisely refrained from speech.
+
+"Come on, then, and I'm awfully glad to see you. I began to think there
+wasn't a single young person in this Marsden, for all I've seen so far
+have been gray-haired," said Kate, leading the way to the table, where a
+shaded lamp shed a pleasant radiance. But, having arrived there, she
+coolly pushed the albums aside, and remarked:
+
+"I hate looking at photographs. Don't you? They're commonly so
+inartistic. I'd much rather talk."
+
+By this time Monty was staring with wonder at this creature, who was one
+of the despised "girls," who had laughed at him from the window, and
+whose speech and appearance were so unlike those of all other girls he
+knew. She didn't act shy nor silly, nor drop her g's, nor pretend
+"politeness," nor wear her hair or clothes as they did. She was just as
+frank and unabashed as a boy among boys, and the visitor began to be
+glad that he had come. It would be something worth while telling at
+school to-morrow, that he had already made acquaintance with Aunt
+Eunice's unexpected company, and that she was real nice.
+
+Something of her charm vanished, however, when she ordered,
+peremptorily: "You begin."
+
+Now, although the boy outwardly made light of his own affliction, he was
+in reality extremely sensitive concerning it, and naturally he was not
+inclined to open conversation with this stranger whose own tongue was so
+glib. He, therefore, contented himself with turning his great blue eyes,
+fringed with such wonderful lashes, full upon her, and smiling
+beatifically. So cherubic was his expression, indeed, that at that
+instant Madam, chancing to turn her gaze that way, touched Miss
+Maitland's arm and directed that lady's attention toward him,
+whispering:
+
+"Isn't he lovely? Isn't he clear Sturtevant?"
+
+"Yes, he is Sturtevant, indeed," assented Aunt Eunice, but with a sigh
+that did not betoken satisfaction. "He has the Sturtevant vanity,
+Elinor, to the full. You should correct him of it at once. He's a fine
+lad--in some respects."
+
+It proved that Montgomery was to be corrected, and at once, though not
+by his indulgent guardian. It was Katharine's part to do that, as she
+opened her own dark eyes to their fullest, and exclaimed:
+
+"Well! You're the first boy I ever saw make goo-goo eyes! The very first
+boy. They're quite pretty, but I'd rather hear you talk than look at
+_them_. Tell me things. I've come to this village, and I've got to stay.
+I'm a legacy. I'm left to Aunt Eunice yonder, and she can keep me long
+as she likes. When she doesn't like, she can send me to boarding-school.
+I'm an orphan. I hope she _will_ like, because I love her already, only
+she's so correct I know I shall shock her a dozen times a day. I'm
+fourteen years old. My home was in Baltimore. I came on to New York
+yesterday with a friend of the second Mrs. John's--I mean, of Mrs.
+Maitland's--and stayed there last night. To-day I came on the train as
+far as it went, then in the stage with the queer driver blowing a horn.
+It was just like a story-book. This home, too, and everybody might be
+out of a story-book, all so unlike anything I ever saw. But, I beg your
+pardon. I've just thought that, though you seem to hear well enough,
+maybe you are dumb. Are you? Because if you are I can talk a little
+myself in the sign language."
+
+This was too much. Monty burst forth in self-defence, and to stop that
+running chatter of hers:
+
+"N-n-n-no! I-I-I-I--"
+
+Then silence. Katharine had never before met a person who stammered, and
+she was utterly astonished. At that moment, also, there was a lull in
+the animated conversation which the two old ladies opposite had hitherto
+kept up, so that Montgomery's loud yet uncertain protest fell like a
+bomb on the air.
+
+However, the silence was not to last. Katharine recovered from her
+surprise, and demanded, indignantly:
+
+"Why do you say 'I-I-I-I'? Are you mocking me? because if you are, I
+consider that more ungentlemanly than to make eyes."
+
+"No, Kate, Montgomery is unfortunate. He stutters. You should apologize.
+To jeer at the infirmity of others is the depth of ill-breeding,"
+interposed Miss Maitland, hastily crossing the room and laying a
+reproving hand upon the girl's shoulder. Then she continued, smiling
+affectionately upon the lad: "But we who all know and love Montgomery
+are sure that he will, in time, overcome his impediment. 'Tis only a
+matter of practice and patience."
+
+The boy made no reply, but sat with down-bent head and flushing face,
+wishing again, as when this dreadful visit was appointed him, that
+Katharine Maitland had never set foot in Marsden village. Longing, too,
+with a longing unspeakable, to retort upon her with a volubility and
+sharpness exceeding even her own. But all unconsciously his pride had
+received just the sting needed, and his angry thought, in which there
+was no halting stammer, was this:
+
+"I'll show her! I'll let her see a Sturtevant is as good as a Maitland
+any day! I ain't vain. She sha'n't say it. I have got nice eyes, folks
+all say so, and it's easier to talk with them than with my crooked old
+tongue. But I'll conquer it. I will. Then I'll show her what kind of a
+girl she is to dare--"
+
+To dare what?
+
+In all his previous ignominy there was naught compared with this. For
+here was Kate, remorseful, warm-hearted Kate, who never meant to give a
+single creature pain, yet was forever doing it, Kate--down upon her
+knees clasping Monty's neck with her arms, kissing and beseeching him
+"not to mind," exactly as she would have kissed the smallest of all the
+Snowballs, and not resenting it in the least because he did not
+instantly respond to her entreaties.
+
+Respond?
+
+For the space of several seconds it seemed to the lad that his head was
+whirling on his shoulders like a top. Then, with all the rudeness of
+his greater strength, he flung the demonstrative girl aside and rushed
+from the house. One idea alone was clear in his troubled brain: that he
+must get away from everything feminine and go where there were "men."
+The fishing-pool. Uncle Moses and the boys. The thought of them was
+refreshment, and put all other thoughts, of disobedience and its like,
+far from him. Striking out boldly, yet half-blindly through the dim
+light, he crossed Miss Maitland's orchard, took a short cut by way of
+the great forest--which he nor no other Marsden lad would ordinarily
+have entered alone after nightfall--on past the "deserted cottage" in
+the very heart of the wood, and then--oblivion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+FOXES' GULLY
+
+
+When next Montgomery opened his eyes his head lay on something soft, and
+he confusedly tried to understand what and where it was. But thought
+seemed difficult, and he closed his lids again, wondering what made him
+feel so weak, and drowsily deciding that he must be in his own bed and
+this the middle of the night.
+
+In one thing he was correct--it was the middle of the night; a later
+hour than the boy had ever been absent from home, even upon the most
+prolonged of fishing-trips. Yet the softness beneath his head was not
+that of a pillow in its case, but the lap of a white-frocked girl, who
+was holding him tenderly and sobbing as if her heart would break.
+
+"W-w-wh-where 'm I a-at? Who's a-c-c-cr-cry--in'?"
+
+"Oh, you darling boy! you didn't die, did you, after all! Oh, I'm so
+glad, so glad, so glad! And I thought I had killed you. I'd never
+killed anybody before, though stepmother said I'd tried. I mean I--I
+suppose I scared you some way, I don't see how, for the minute I was
+good to you and sorry, you ran away."
+
+Montgomery moved uneasily. He began to remember events distinctly; quite
+too distinctly, in fact. He had run away from that horrid girl, and he
+had forgotten the ravine beyond "deserted cottage." He had fallen down
+it and hit his head. He could recall the dreadful sensation of pitching
+forward into a seemingly bottomless pit, and shivered afresh at the
+memory.
+
+Feeling him shiver thus, Katharine drew her white skirts around his
+shoulders, and cossetted him as if he had been a baby. He tried to
+wriggle away from her on to the ground beyond, but this she sturdily
+prevented, and the late-rising moon cast its light just then upon a
+face, oddly set and determined for that of so young a girl.
+
+Finding himself helpless in that strange weakness, Monty ceased to
+wriggle, and demanded: "How y-y-y-you get here, a-a-a-nyway?"
+
+"Oh! I just followed. When you ran away I ran after."
+
+"A-a-a-aunt Eu-Eu-nice let you?"
+
+"I didn't stop to ask her permission. I saw I'd hurt your feelings, and
+I couldn't let you go without telling you I was sorry. But, you see, I
+never before knew anybody who stammered, and I didn't think how rude I
+was to mention it. Not till Aunt Eunice pointed it out. I do beg your
+pardon, sincerely. Will you forgive me?"
+
+It was not in the spirit of any Sturtevant, past or present, to decline
+an apology so sweetly and earnestly offered. Besides, that was as it
+should be. Humility was the correct attitude for insignificant girls
+toward such superior creatures as boys, and Monty waxed magnanimous,
+replying:
+
+"Oh, y-y-es! I'll f-f-forgive you. But I don't see. G-g-gir-ls can't run
+like boys."
+
+"Can't they, indeed? Well, you ran like a hare, and I just as fast.
+There was mighty little space between us, honey, and you may believe it.
+How else should I have known the way? I had to keep you in sight, of
+course. It was so fearfully dark in that forest that I nearly lost you
+once, but I could hear if I couldn't see; and it wasn't so bad when we
+got outside again. Yet whatever should make you, a boy--a boy!--go and
+hurl yourself over a precipice, when you knew all the time it was there,
+while I, a girl--a girl, if you please! who didn't know a thing about
+it--stopped short on the brink, amazes me. Explain it, won't you?"
+
+"Oh, f-f-f-fudge! Must be aw-aw-awful late. Moon don't rise now t-t-till
+'most m-m-morning," observed Montgomery, declining explanations, and
+wondering how she had perceived his distaste for girls. Besides, he was
+rapidly regaining strength, and now when he raised himself an
+inspiration came to him. The inspiration found voice in the words:
+
+"M-m-m-might's well be hung for a s-s-s-sheep as a l-l-l-lamb."
+
+The observation was apparently so senseless and Katharine's love of
+mimicry so strong that she couldn't help replying and laughing:
+"J-j-j-just as w-w-well. But where's the s-s-s-s-sheep and l-l-lamb in
+the case?"
+
+Montgomery did not now resent her imitation of his very tone. He even
+condescended to laugh back; then ungallantly remarked: "I wish y-y-you'd
+go h-h-home."
+
+"Meaning to Aunt Eunice's. That's exactly what I want to do. So let's be
+off."
+
+"I s-s-said y-you," corrected Master Sturtevant, rising and taking a few
+cautious steps to test the state of his legs. He found them usable,
+though rather wobbly about the knees, and would have started off across
+the ravine's bottom had not Katharine caught and held him. She was
+herself shivering violently, but only from the cold of an autumn
+midnight, against which her light summer dress was small protection. She
+ached from long sitting on the stony ground, and from holding the heavy
+shoulders of her companion. She was frightened by the lateness of the
+hour and the intense loneliness of the place; and she felt that she had
+sacrificed herself for just the very meanest boy who ever lived. Though
+she was not a girl who often cried, tears came then, and that worst of
+all feelings--homesickness--seized her and turned her faint.
+
+Poor Monty! Here was a situation, indeed, for a boy who despised girls!
+Yet also a boy who was a gentleman by birth; so that, while his first
+impulse was to run away, his second was to offer such comfort as he
+could.
+
+"W-w-what you cryin' for, a-a-anyway? I-I-I'm all right, I guess."
+
+"Well, if you are, I'm not. I'm just as anxious to go home as you are,
+only how can I? I don't know the way, and I'm afraid. I'm afraid of
+everything! Of that terrible forest, of Aunt Eunice's anger, of her
+refusing to keep me and sending me off to that boarding-school, of--Oh,
+dear! I wish I was back in Baltimore!"
+
+Never had the cold countenance of the second Mrs. John or those of the
+round little Snowballs seemed so humanly lovable to Katharine as they
+did at that moment, remembering them in her banishment.
+
+"F-f-fudge! Q-q-quit it! If we're goin' to get scolded for part, might's
+well b-b-be for the w-w-w-whole. 'Tain't far to the pool. We can go
+f-f-fishin', after all, if you behave. I th-th-thought you was good as a
+boy, an'--Will you?"
+
+Kate dried her eyes. She didn't enjoy grief, and the prospect of any
+novelty was delightful. She forgot that she was cold, that it was late
+and she was where she should not have been at such an hour, and
+exclaimed, with an eagerness equal to Montgomery's own:
+
+"Oh, let's! I never went fishing in my life!"
+
+"Come on, t-th-then!" cried the relieved lad, now readily taking her
+cold hand and setting off with all the speed he could attain.
+
+The moon was shining brilliantly, making every object as distinct as
+day, and to the city-reared girl the scene was like fairy-land. Her
+spirits rose to the highest, and none the less, it may be, because all
+the time she was conscious of a certain daring and danger in their
+escapade; and her pace more than outstripped Monty's as they crossed the
+short distance to the river, warming themselves by their own speed, and
+listening intently for the sound of voices which should have reached
+them long before.
+
+"Oh, I'm so delightfully goose-fleshy! This is the most thrilling
+adventure of my life! I begin to feel as if I were part of a story-book
+myself, like all the rest of Marsden!" said Kate, half-breathless with
+running, when her mate came to a sudden halt among the shadows of the
+trees beside the famous pool.
+
+"S-s-s-sh!" warned the other, leaning forward at the risk of a tumble
+into the still, deep water, listening and peering up and down the
+stream. Then, with disappointment depicted in every line of his
+suddenly weary body, he gloomily stammered: "Th-th-th-they've gone
+home!"
+
+There was nothing left but for themselves to follow; but surely, there
+were never fields so wide and rough as these over which Master
+Sturtevant now guided Katharine; herself, also, so tired from her day of
+travel and her night of adventure; and finally, feeling as if the
+stubble pierced every inch of her thin shoes, and that she could endure
+the discomfort no longer, she begged:
+
+"Oh! please do go by some road, and not on this grass any longer."
+
+"Huh! 'T-t-tain't grass. Oat-st-st-stubble," he explained, doggedly
+keeping on his way, which he knew was shorter, and for the further
+reason that he could rid himself of her at Miss Maitland's back garden
+fence. From there he meant to make his own rapid transit to his
+grandmother's low kitchen roof and through a window to his bed, as he
+fondly hoped, forgotten and unobserved. He didn't intend that any
+strange girl should throw all his plans agley, for she had done more
+than mischief enough already. Yet even as he spoke, he looked furtively
+around and was dismayed to see how white she was, and how big and
+troubled her dark eyes were. Fudge! They were even larger and finer than
+his own blue ones, yet she had not once seemed conscious of the fact.
+
+It was the Madam's opinion that "blood would tell," and the good blood
+of many past Sturtevants stirred now in their descendant's veins,
+rousing his unselfishness, and making him say:
+
+"F-f-fudge! You look b-b-beat out. I'll go the road, all right. I don't
+m-m-m-mind it--m-m-much, not much;" for even chivalry could not prevent
+this last truthful word of regret.
+
+So by the road they went; and by the road--retribution came. Nemesis in
+the form of Moses Jones; no longer in a mood to be "uncled" by any boy,
+not even Montgomery, and in his sternness grown almost unfamiliar. He
+was not alone. Two neighbors were with him, and, despite the fact that
+the moon was shining, all three men carried lighted lanterns. They were
+overcoated and muffled to a degree, and Moses' first action was to
+unfold a great shawl which he had carried on his shoulder, and wrap Kate
+in it. He did this in silence, not so much as asking "by your leave,"
+and not observing that he was smothering her at the same time. Then he
+took hold of her arm through the folds of the shawl, and, facing about,
+started back along the route he had come.
+
+They were well outside the village limits, and a weary tramp yet lay
+before them, the longer strides of the men taxing the fatigue of the
+children, till it seemed to them both as if they must fall by the way.
+That terrible silence, too, and the firm grip of her arm, made Kate
+wonder if Mr. Jones had suddenly become a constable in fact, and if she
+were the first victim to be arrested. Once she wriggled herself free
+from her captor's hand, only to find herself again secured and even more
+rigidly.
+
+As for poor Montgomery, the pain and confusion had returned, and he
+could think of nothing save that tormenting headache. His temple was
+swollen and throbbing, and the one idea he still retained was a longing
+for rest. It seemed to him that he had been hurried and tramping along
+ever since he was born. That never had he done a single thing besides
+lifting one heavy foot after another and planting each a bit farther
+along that glaring road. The lanterns bobbed about outrageously, as if
+they were trying to make him more dizzy still; and he scarcely knew when
+they entered the now deserted village street and came to a halt at Miss
+Maitland's gate.
+
+There, he fancied, some women rushed out and grabbed Katharine, for he
+dimly saw her borne away into the house where more dazzling lights were
+gleaming. To avoid their bewildering rays he closed his eyes a moment;
+and when he opened them again he found himself being carried swiftly
+homeward in Moses' strong arms. He being carried! like one of Mis'
+Turner's babies! More ignominy still. As if his having been coddled and
+wept over by a strange little girl hadn't been mortifying enough. But
+his own voice sounded queer to him as he tried to say, with
+unstammering distinctness and dignity:
+
+"You--needn't carry me n-n-none, Un-un-uncle Mose. What you doin' it
+for? Put me d-d-down!"
+
+The other two men had vanished, and there was nobody to hear Uncle
+Moses' tender, troubled answer:
+
+"Why, you poor little shaver, lie still. I don't know what's happened
+ye, nor what sort of scrape you've been in. You an' that t'other one,
+who's come to turn things topsyturvy. But betwixt the pair of you you've
+nigh druv two old women crazy, and set the whole village a-teeter. Just
+because I walked through it ringin' a bell an' cryin', like any
+respectable constable would have done if I'd been one, and this 'most
+makes me feel I am, just cryin': 'Child lost! Boy lost! Girl lost!' and
+a couple the neighborin' men j'inin' in the search, with our lanterns
+lit, sence we didn't know what sort of a hole or ditch you might fell
+into--"
+
+"F-F-Foxes' Gully!" exclaimed Montgomery, no longer resisting the relief
+of walking on somebody else's feet, so to speak.
+
+Uncle Moses stopped short, amazed and alarmed. "What? What's that you
+say?"
+
+"F-f-fell down it. An' she come to say she was s-s-s-sor-ry."
+
+"And wasn't killed? Well now, and forever after, I'll believe in
+guardeen angels! Fell down it an' wasn't killed! But what made ye?
+Hadn't you any sense? Why, there's been more'n a half-dozen cattle
+killed in that plaguey hollow sence I can remember. Yet you wasn't.
+Well, I'm glad of it," and though this seemed a very mild expression of
+his satisfaction, the sudden squeeze which Moses gave his burden
+emphasized it sufficiently.
+
+For a few minutes neither spoke again, then Monty suddenly asked: "How
+many you catch, Un-un-uncle Mose?"
+
+"Enough for breakfast. But I missed ye, sonny, I missed ye. An' I'm real
+glad you wasn't killed. As for that t'other one, I declare, I wish't she
+hadn't come. 'Peared like Eunice would lose her seventy senses,
+a-worryin' lest the child take cold or get hurt or somethin'. And there
+she has landed on her feet sound as a cat. Though speakin' of cats, Sir
+Philip has had the bout of his life, and he looks pretty peaked to me.
+But here we are to home, an' your grandma ain't likely to scold you none
+if you just mention to her 'Foxes' Gully.' 'Twas one of the Sturtevant
+calves got killed there, the very first off, an' she will remember. As
+for me, a respectable hired man, kep' out of my bed like this--why,
+sonny! Soon's you get over it I'll teach you a lesson you'll remember!"
+
+So, still grumbling and petting, Moses set his burden down in Madam
+Sturtevant's presence, and saw her open her lips to reprove her erring
+grandson, then as suddenly close them again and strain the boy to her
+heart, while her stately figure shook like an aspen. But Moses knew the
+lady's temperament of old, and how her alternate severity and indulgence
+had been bad for the child she idolized, and, fearing that severity
+might have the upper hand now, when it was least needed, he remained
+long enough to mention:
+
+"Nothin' much the matter with the little shaver, Madam, only he fell
+down Foxes' Gully, and is--he's sort of tuckered out."
+
+Then he quietly withdrew, and of Montgomery Sturtevant he had no further
+glimpse during what he himself termed "a consid'able spell."
+
+As for Katharine, she was sound asleep long before Moses returned from
+Madam Sturtevant's. To the anxiety and reproof with which she had been
+received, she had, fortunately, but little to say beyond the statement
+that, "I went to apologize, and I stayed to--to fish, I guess." The
+relief of being safe indoors again was all she realized, just then, and
+she submitted to being warmed, blanketed, and dosed with hot sage tea,
+with a meek humility that won her pardon.
+
+Indeed, when at last the dark curls rested on the pillow, and the
+childish face softened in slumber, she looked so like Aunt Eunice's lost
+"little John," that the lady stooped and kissed her for his sake. But
+she confided to the faithful Widow Sprigg, who had also watched and
+waited:
+
+"I'm afraid, Susanna, that our peaceful days are over. While she was out
+to-night, and I knew not where, and I was so troubled and anxious, I
+felt that it would be wrong, really wrong to burden myself with such a
+charge. For years her father left me ignorant of how his life was
+passing, and it seemed to me he had no right to impose the care of his
+daughter upon me, just because I had once tried to be good to him and he
+had once seemed to love me. And I knew it would be hard for you and
+Moses, too. We're all old together; and to rear another child--such an
+odd child, at that--I wonder, is it right?"
+
+Now it so chanced that old Susanna had been entirely won by the manner
+in which Kate had chosen to be undressed and tended by the servant
+rather than the statelier mistress. Also, in the old days when "Johnny"
+had been with them, though the aunt had loved she had, also, reproved
+him; but childless Susanna, whose own little son had died, simply loved
+and never reproved. She now answered, promptly:
+
+"Yes, Eunice Maitland, it's as right as right. She wouldn't have been
+sent if she hadn't been meant, would she? And she's the cut an' dried
+image of her own pa, bless him. Send her off? Course you'll do nothin'
+o' the kind. If you do, I'll leave, an' you can get somebody else to
+take my place. So there, that's my say-so, an' you're welcome to it."
+
+At the thought of Katharine's mobile little face being a "cut and dried
+image" of anybody Miss Eunice smiled, and her perplexity vanished--for
+the time, at least. Then, hearing the kitchen door unclose, she
+remarked:
+
+"Well, I hear Moses coming in, and we three old people must get to rest.
+I am surely obliged to you for the help and comfort you are to me,
+Susanna, and to Moses, too. We'll do the best we can, and day by day."
+
+"Certain, Eunice. That's the way to live, an' all's well 'at ends well,
+as we hope she will--this little orphant thrust upon us without no
+druther of our own, an' a bad beginnin' gen'ally makes a good ending;
+an' I 'low I'd best take one more peek into the sittin'-room chamber,
+afore I go to bed myself. Good night. Don't worry. I've fixed fish-cakes
+for breakfast."
+
+With which comforting assurance for the morrow, the Widow Sprigg took
+herself out of the room, and quiet fell upon the old home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+CHESTNUTS AND GOLD MINES
+
+
+"May I help? I think I could do that. It doesn't look hard," said
+Katharine, wandering into the kitchen where Susanna was seeding
+raisins--more raisins than the girl had ever seen together, save at a
+grocer's counter. "What are you doing it for?"
+
+"Fruit-cake. For Thanksgivin' an' Christmas. I ought to of done it long
+ago, but the weather kep' so warm, an' one thing another's hendered. I'm
+all behind with everything this fall, seems if. I've got to make my soft
+soap yet, and--Laws, child, what do you lug that humbly dog all round
+with you for? A beast as ugly favored as he is ought to do his own
+walkin', and would, if he belonged to me."
+
+"That's just why, I suppose. Because he 'belongs.' And because he isn't
+old. Not so very. He isn't gray, anyway."
+
+The Widow Sprigg looked over her spectacles and saw such a dejected face
+that she immediately suggested caraway cookies. A delicacy which had
+used to bring smiles to "Johnny's" countenance, even after he had
+suffered that worst of all boyish trials,--a "lickin',"--and if there
+was anything in heredity should restore cheer to the heart of "Johnny's"
+daughter.
+
+"No, thank you. But I'd like to help. I shall--shall burst if I don't do
+something mighty soon," said Kate, excitedly. "I am hungry, but it's for
+folks, not cookies. And why do you make cake for Christmas now when it's
+forever and ever before it will come?"
+
+"'Tain't so much for Christmas. Marsden folks don't set no great store
+by any other holiday than Thanksgivin'. Another why is that fruit-cake
+ain't fit to put in a body's mouth afore it's six seven months old at
+the least. This here won't be worth shucks, but Eunice says better late
+'n never, an' if it ain't ripe then t'will be for Easter. We never used
+to hear tell of Easter, here in Marsden, till late years. Though Madam,
+she always kep' it. She's met with a change of heart, however, sence she
+became a Sturtevant, an' I'd ruther you wouldn't mention it, as comin'
+from me, but--" here Susanna leaned forward and whispered,
+sibilantly--"they say she used to be a Catholic when she was a girl!
+Nobody lays it up ag'in her, an' folks pertend they've forgot it; and if
+there is a good Christian goin', I 'low it's Madam Elinor Sturtevant.
+Your Aunt Eunice--though she ain't your real aunt at all, only third
+cousin once removed--she was promised to Schuyler Sturtevant, Madam's
+husband's brother, but he was killed out on a fox-hunt, an' she ain't
+never married nobody sence. That's one why she an' Madam are such good
+friends, most like sisters; as they would have been hadn't things turned
+out different. But there, my suz! Don't stan' there lookin' so wishful.
+Put the dog in the lean-to an' shut the door. There's a strong air comes
+through it an' I feel it, settin' still. Then you can tie my check apern
+over your white frock. Don't you never wear no other kind of clothes,
+Katy? 'Cause I don't know who'll do your washin' an' ironin', if you
+don't."
+
+Having finished a certain portion of the raisins, Susanna rose, washed
+her hands and tied the apron around Katharine's neck, bringing the
+strings forward under the arms with such firmness that the band choked
+the girl, and made a puffy blouse of the gingham. The whole arrangement
+was so uncomfortable that it was promptly taken off and hung upon its
+nail.
+
+"I can't endure that, you know. If I must wear an apron, like a coon,
+I'll have one that fits. Why do I need it, anyway? This dress is only
+white pique, and wears like iron. I heard stepmother say so when she
+gave it to the dressmaker. She never bought me anything but piques and
+ducks and things that would stand wearing without tearing. I mean--May
+I do this many?"
+
+Susanna fairly snatched the dish away and shook her helper's fingers
+free from the cluster of raisins she had lifted, exclaiming:
+
+"Why, I am surprised at you, Katharine Maitland! You takin' a bath every
+mornin', in cold water, too, an' keepin' yourself so tidy all the time,
+to go an' stun raisins after handlin' a dog! Wash 'em, an' clean your
+nails with this pin, an' tie that apern back--loose if you want--but
+wear it you must, or I won't be responsible for no smutch you get on
+you. Here's your basin for the hull ones; an' here's an earthen bowl for
+them 'at's done, an' a penknife to do 'em with. I declare! It's more
+work to get you ready to 'help' than 'twould be to do it all myself."
+
+Katharine's spirits rose. Though she blushed at the reprimand for
+untidiness, a kind of reproof she seldom deserved, she was so accustomed
+to corrections that she scarcely listened to any, and sprang to a seat
+on the end of the great table with an outburst of rollicking "rag-time"
+song.
+
+Safe to say that that sort of music had never before been heard within
+the dignified walls of that old mansion, and though Susanna was
+delighted to see "Johnny's girl" happy again, she was, also, somewhat
+shocked.
+
+"Why--why, Katy! What's that you're saying? Don't sound like reg'lar
+English. Not like 'Old Lang Syne,' nor 'The Old Oaken Bucket,' nor
+'Send Round the Bowl,'--nor--My suz, child! What be you doin'?"
+
+"Just, 'Sendin' Round the Bowl,' since you like it!" cried Kate,
+hilariously spinning the receptacle which had been given her for the
+"stunned raisins" across the table to where Susanna sat; then adding,
+mischievously, "And that's the first time that I knew that 'Old Lang
+Syne' was good English; I thought it was Scotch. As for 'rag-time,' all
+papa's friends said I could do it excellently well. You see, I was
+brought up with the coons and can mimic them easily. And you should see
+me do a cake-walk. I will after I've helped you awhile."
+
+Susanna looked rather foolish at being herself set right. She had never
+aspired to much literary knowledge, but she did know that the words
+Katharine had sung were senseless, though they might sound funny. To
+cover her annoyance she demanded, rather crisply:
+
+"What do you mean by 'coon' and 'duck'? Your pa always had odd notions,
+but I never 'lowed his daughter'd be raised with coons and ducks and
+animals of that natur'. I give him credit for some sense, even if he did
+paint pictures for a living."
+
+Katharine's eyes flashed, then softened till they were on the verge of
+tears, and she announced with a finality that brooked no contradiction:
+
+"My father was the sensiblest, cleverest, dearest gentleman that ever
+lived. If I didn't come 'up' as I was 'brought' it wasn't his fault. And
+I'd rather not talk about him--not yet. Not to-day. 'Coons' are the
+colored people. Baltimore's full of them. They're our servants.
+Stepmother says they're worthless, nowadays, and I know she was always
+changing them. But they're the only kind we have down there. We couldn't
+get nice white ones like you. Why--what's the matter?"
+
+The Widow Sprigg had risen very suddenly. Her face had flushed and a
+glitter come into the eyes behind the big spectacles, while her lips had
+closed with a sort of cluck. Leaning across the table, she demanded:
+
+"Give me that bowl, please. I don't need no more your help."
+
+Katharine extended the bowl, as desired, her own face clouding again at
+sight of the other's darkened one. And she fairly jumped as the
+housekeeper asked:
+
+"Where's the raisins?"
+
+"Oh! the raisins? Why--I hadn't begun yet. I ate the few I seeded. I'll
+begin now. I can work right smart if I try."
+
+"Huh! go clean yourself an' clear out. I like to have my kitchen to
+myself."
+
+Kate leaped from the table, having that odd homesickness stealing over
+her again, and as much to dispel her own gloom as to keep her word,
+which she never broke if she could possibly help it, she cake-walked
+down the long kitchen with the gravest of faces and the most ludicrous
+of gestures. Down and back, down and back, head thrown sidewise over her
+shoulder, body bent at an angle which threatened a tumble backwards, and
+her feet alternately tossing the engulfing apron high on this side, then
+on that, and now become utterly oblivious of Susanna in her earnestness
+to distinguish herself--the girl seemed the absurdest creature it had
+ever been the housekeeper's lot to see.
+
+She still felt insulted by Katharine's term of "servant," but could not
+repress a smile, and turned into the pantry to hide that telltale
+weakness.
+
+Looking in through that same pantry window, his mouth agape, his eyes
+twinkling, was her housemate and natural enemy, Moses. Hitherto he had
+taken slight notice of the small new member of the household, and Kate
+had been rather afraid of him. It would, therefore, be killing two birds
+with one stone, or punishing two annoying people at one time, to pair
+them off together, thought Susanna, remarking:
+
+"Well, Mr. Jones, when you get done staring at the monkey-shines of that
+young one you can just take her in charge a spell. Goin' to the
+wood-lot, ain't ye?"
+
+"You know I be. Said so at breakfast, didn't I? Silly women always do
+have to have idees druv into their heads, like nails, 'fore they can
+clinch 'em. Eunice 'lowed that we'd ought to have a lot more small
+sticks chopped," answered the man who managed the estate but was
+presumably managed himself by Miss Maitland. He had his axe over his
+shoulder, and had merely stopped at the pantry window, kept open for his
+benefit, to take a drink from the pail of buttermilk which stood there.
+
+"Well, Eunice has gone down to Madam's. And I've no time to bother, and
+you'll have to take her 'long with ye. If she ain't under somebody's eye
+no tellin' what'll happen. Harm of some kind, sure's you're born."
+
+Moses was about to retort and decline, but a second glance at the child,
+who had now finished her cake-walk and was listening to her elders,
+reminded him that, as yet, he had heard no details of that night's
+escapade when his beloved Monty had so wonderfully come out safe from
+peril of death. This had been some days before, and rumor had it that
+the lad was still confined a prisoner in his chamber. Whether because of
+real illness or for punishment, nobody knew, nor dared anybody question
+the dignified Madam. Eunice had heard the rumor that morning and had
+immediately gone to see her friend and offer her own service as nurse,
+should nursing be necessary. Therefore, it was more to please himself
+than oblige Susanna, that he called through the window:
+
+"Sissy, do you like chestnuts?"
+
+"Oh, I love them! Why? And please, please don't call me 'Sissy.' It
+makes me feel so silly. My name is Katharine Maitland, though at home--"
+there came a little catch in her throat, which nobody else
+observed--"they used to call me 'Kitty Quixote,'" answered the girl,
+running to the window, and looking through the half-closed blind to the
+hired man.
+
+"Hm-m. Ke-ho-ta. Kehota? Kee-ho-tee? Why, I thought I knew the Maitland
+family, root an' branch, twists an' turns an' ramifications, but I never
+heerd tell of a Keehotey amongst 'em. Not even 'mongst their wives'
+folks, nuther. Your own ma was a Woodley, and your pa's second was a
+Snowball, Eunice says, so how happens--"
+
+"Oh, you dear, funny old fellow! Quixote wasn't any of our folks, but a
+fiction-y man, who was always doing chivalrous things in the wrong
+place, or where there was no occasion, as papa said--just like me. Wait
+till I come, please. I'll put on my hat and jacket and be back in a
+minute. For I've guessed what you mean about liking chestnuts. I'm to go
+to the wood-lot with you and gather them for myself. And I never,
+never, never in all my life gathered chestnuts! I've just bought them
+from the stands."
+
+Away she flew, leaving Susanna rather doubtful of the success of her
+intended punishment. From present appearances Katharine was going to
+enjoy a morning in the woods with Moses far better than she would have
+done in the kitchen seeding raisins.
+
+"An' she must have et as much as two whole bunches, even in that little
+spell. So, after all, it's a good thing for the cake, 'lowin' 't we want
+to have it rich in fruit, that she is goin'. But Eunice will have to see
+about her clothes. The idee! Wearin' white every day same as if it was
+Sunday in the summer-time. She told Eunice that her stepmother thought
+white was the sensiblest, for it would wash and bile, and she always
+needed bilin'. But she looks real peart, and sort of different set-up
+from Marsden girls in that little blue flannel suit she wore to come in.
+Dress an' coat an' hat all the same color, an' fittin' her's if she'd
+been run into 'em, yet easy-loose, too, an' not a bit of trimming on
+anything," continued Widow Sprigg with herself, having none other
+present with whom to commune; and, as Katharine reappeared, garbed in
+the same blue coat and hat, with her short dainty skirts showing below
+the coat and her face now glowing with anticipation, remarking aloud:
+"Well, your step-ma may not have been any great shakes for
+pleasantness, but she did manage to make you look real neat."
+
+"Oh, she had beautiful taste! Everybody said that. When she was dressed
+to go out herself she always looked so just right that nobody could tell
+what at all she wore; and that, papa said, was the perfection of
+dressing. Indeed, do you suppose that my father, an artist, could have
+married a person who would offend his eye all the time? Why, what is
+that for, Susanna?"
+
+While Katharine had been discussing her stepmother, the widow had been
+filling a quaint, old-fashioned, tight covered basket with caraway
+cookies and a red apple. The basket had a wreath of flowers painted on
+its sides and another on its cover. It was carried by two slender
+handles, and was unlike any which Kate had ever seen.
+
+"There, deary, that is a lunch to eat whilst you're in the woods; crisp
+air makes a body hungry. Moses'll show you where the spring is, and
+there's a gourd dipper hangs by it to drink out of. But take dreadful
+care the basket. It was your own pa's meetin' one."
+
+"My father's 'meeting one.' What was that? and how fearfully old it must
+be. 'Cause he ran away when he was a little boy, only a year or so older
+than I am now."
+
+"He was old enough to have had more sense, and so're you. A
+'meetin'-basket' was a basket to take to meetin', course. What else you
+suppose? We didn't have two three hours betwixt times, them days. We
+went in the morning and stayed till the afternoon service was over. We
+took our dinners with us an' et 'em on the graves in the graveyard back
+the church. Moses an' Eunice an' me gen'ally took all we needed in the
+big willow, but the childern liked their own by themselves. They used to
+eat in the hollow below the graveyard, and if any of 'em got too noisy,
+or played games wasn't Sabbath ones, one the deacons or head men would
+go down an' stop 'em. Oh, childern was raised right in them days, an'
+grown folks, too!"
+
+This was all very interesting, and Katharine received the old round
+basket, which her dead father's boyish hands must have treated gently,
+indeed, to have left it so well preserved, with a reverent feeling that
+he must be there and see her. She hoped he did. She wanted him to know
+that she was back in his old home, following the haunts which he had
+loved, knowing the very same people who had cared for him. She wondered,
+as many an older person has wondered, if he did know, and she put the
+question eagerly to Susanna, who was herself so old and should,
+therefore, be so wise.
+
+"Oh, Widow Sprigg! Do you believe he can see me, does know, is glad? Do
+you suppose that right now, while I hold this basket, his basket, up
+high toward the sky, careful and loving and not afraid, he is looking
+down and loving, too? _Do_ you?"
+
+Susanna pushed her spectacles very high, indeed, that she might better
+observe this strange child who now confronted her with gleaming eyes and
+that exalted expression; and the face startled her. She was not much
+used to children, and this one was of a sort so novel that she made one
+uncomfortable. She'd have given "Johnny's girl" the old egg-basket
+instead of this "meeting" one, could she have foreseen results. But she
+could and did bring the girl out of the clouds with the exclamation:
+
+"My suz! You're enough to give a body the creeps. All I meant was that
+Johnny was a good boy and took care. If you want to be like him you'll
+take care, too. When he didn't take care, it was Moses' business to lick
+him, an' if you keep him much longer at that lane gate, he'll feel like
+lickin' you, too. So, off with you."
+
+Katharine lowered the basket. Also, lowered her gaze from the ceiling it
+had seemed to pierce till it rested on the old woman's face. What she
+saw there was something very different from what the harsh words had
+suggested, and, with an impulse of affection, she threw her arms, basket
+and all, about Susanna's neck and kissed her ecstatically.
+
+Poor Widow Sprigg caught her breath and gasped it back again before her
+surprise allowed her to say: "There, there, deary, run along. Don't
+keep Moses waitin' a minute longer. He'll be terrible cross. Yes, you
+can take Punchy. I'd ruther you'd take him 'an not, for Sir Philip looks
+peakeder 'n ever to-day. The very sight o' that humbly dog 'pears to
+make him sick. After you've et your cookies you can put your chestnuts
+in the basket to fetch 'em home--if you get any."
+
+Moses had lost his patience, as was to be expected, but he soon regained
+good nature while Katharine related to him all that her father had once
+told her of the famous Don Quixote for whom he had nicknamed her. Then,
+in turn, he pointed out to her the old meeting-house and graveyard, long
+since disused, where the Marsdenites had repaired to take their Sunday
+lunch.
+
+"But it was so--so funny! So absurd, so sort of--of ghastly, wasn't it?
+But what a perfectly glorious place for a hallowe'en party--if there was
+anybody to give a party to. I wish there was somebody to play with,
+Uncle Moses."
+
+Moses ignored the wish. He was not anxious that Katharine should enlarge
+her acquaintance, which would mean more trouble for all concerned. He
+merely continued to discourse upon the ancient customs, of how not only
+did the people bring their dinners to the church, but the mothers their
+babies, with rocking-chairs furnished galore by the congregation, and
+ranged in the roomy vestibule. There the mothers could sway their
+offspring gently to and fro without losing their own religious
+privileges or disturbing anybody.
+
+Kate listened in silence till a bend of the road hid the meeting-house
+from view, then exclaimed:
+
+"I can see the whole picture. I mean to paint it when I grow up. But I
+shall give the babies cherubic faces, like the old masters, because I
+suppose most of them are angels now. I hope they know I'm thinking about
+them, and I wonder if papa sees any of them there, up in heaven. What do
+you think?"
+
+Even as Susanna had done, the hired man stared at Katharine, saying:
+
+"I think--I don't know what I do think! I think I know some of them
+babies that grew up to be anything but angels. If they'd been made into
+angels a little earlier in their lives 'twould ha' been better for
+Marsden, an' I shouldn't feel it my painful duty to 'rest 'em when I get
+to be constable--if ever I'm elected," and then Moses sighed so
+profoundly that Katharine's thoughts flew from this old-time
+reminiscence to the present day's ambitions. Slipping her hand softly
+into the one of his that swung at his side, she gave it a little
+squeeze, and asked:
+
+"Do you awfully want to be a constable? Just awfully, Uncle Mose?"
+
+There was so much of sympathy in the small face at his elbow that Mr.
+Jones was caught unawares.
+
+"Well, 'Kitty Keehoty,' wild horses wouldn't have drug it out of me to
+anybody else; but I don't mind lettin' on to you, just you, that I'd
+admire to be one. I'd like it real well. But, that's nuther here nor
+there. Likin' things an' havin' 'em is as different as chalk an' cheese.
+An' here we be to the woods. The best chestnut-trees is yender, the best
+shellbarks t'other way. 'Tain't time for hickories yet, not till a
+heavier frost comes, but chestnuts you've got to get early if you get
+any at all. The squirrels an' boys are smart round this way. Why, 'most
+every year they gather Eunice's nuts off her own trees, then march up to
+her front door an' sell 'em to her. Fact. An' the silly woman only
+laughs an' says she don't begrudge 'em a little pocket-money. An' she
+don't need. Eunice is real forehanded, Eunice is; and does seem 't the
+more she gives away the more comes in. Now, I'll cut a saplin'-pole an'
+thrash a tree for you. Then, whilst I'm choppin' down in that clump of
+pines over there, you can be pickin' up nuts. Make up your mind to prick
+your fingers with the burrs. A body has to fight for most anything worth
+while."
+
+"Oh, if I only had somebody to pick them up with me!" sighed Kate, as
+she fell to work. Then her thoughts travelled far afield, for a
+delightful notion had taken possession of her, and her young brain was
+teeming with a scheme so great it was--well, it was fully worthy of
+itself.
+
+Almost unconsciously she gathered the fallen chestnuts, scarcely
+realizing the novelty of the task so absorbed was she in her sudden
+Quixotic project. Yet, as she groped among the brown leaves at the foot
+of her tree, her fingers came in contact with something wholly different
+from chestnuts or their thorny burrs. It was hard as a stone, yet it
+wasn't a stone. It was half-buried in the leaf-mold and moss, though the
+rain of the previous night had washed it free in one corner.
+
+That corner glistened so that it dazzled the digger's eyes, and she
+exclaimed aloud:
+
+"Oh, I've found a gold mine! Right here in Aunt Eunice's woods. I must
+get this great piece of gold out and take it to her. And I won't tell
+anybody, not anybody, not even Uncle Moses, till I've told her. For
+whatever is in her woods must be hers, of course."
+
+Away went the last great scheme, which had been wholly connected with
+Mr. Jones and his aspirations for town office; and up rose another far
+more gigantic, by which everybody who was poor, "everybody in the whole
+wide world," should benefit. For, of course, the mine was to be
+inexhaustible, and Aunt Eunice would be able to give away money
+hereafter without stint or measure.
+
+If only she could get out that first great shining lump of gold!
+
+And at last it was out, yet, after all, no gold whatever. Something
+almost as splendid, though, since this was a mystery. A mystery with a
+capital M! For if there were no mystery in the matter why should anybody
+hide that strangely shaped, glittering brass bound box beneath a
+chestnut-tree?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE BRASS BOUND BOX
+
+
+A moment later Kate had sped through the wood to the spot where Moses
+was chopping, exclaiming:
+
+"Oh, Mr. Jones, I've got to go home, back to Aunt Eunice's right away,
+quick. Is there a shorter way than we came, or can I find that by
+myself? Please tell me, quick, quick!"
+
+Moses paused in his work and looked at the girl in great surprise. None
+of his fishing-mates, if given such a chance as she had, would have gone
+home till driven there; for the chestnuts had rattled out of their burrs
+at a fine rate when he had threshed the trees, and it was impossible
+that she should have gathered all or even many.
+
+"Why, little Keehoty! Tired a'ready? An' I was plannin', by an' by, to
+make a speck of fire in a safe place I know an' roast some the nuts.
+Ever et hot roast chestnuts out in the woods?"
+
+"No, no, never! Oh, dear! I'd like to. It--it makes me terribly hungry
+to hear you speak of them, but--I must go home. Something has happened.
+Something so important, I must, I must. Is there a shorter way? And if I
+go by myself shall I meet a tramp?"
+
+"'Tramp!' Bosh! That's Susanna's foolishness put into your head a'ready.
+I only wish I could see a tramp, just to know the breed. But what is it
+so important, if you please?"
+
+"I can't tell you."
+
+Moses whistled. "That's plump spoke, anyhow. Why can't ye? Are you sick?
+Got a pain anywheres? Pep'mints are good for the stummick-ache, an' I
+always carry a few in my pocket. See?" said the kindly old man, pulling
+forth a paper bag and alluringly displaying its pink and white contents.
+
+But to his further surprise Katharine declined the "pep'mints" and
+indignantly denied the stomach ache, declaring that she must go home and
+at once, and asking "which way first."
+
+"Foller your nose, I reckon," retorted Mr. Jones, rather testily. He had
+enjoyed the tale of Don Quixote, had taken a sudden fancy to Katharine,
+had discovered that she knew "Oh, lots and lots more of stories just as
+delightful," and had intended to do a small amount of chopping that day,
+but a large amount of resting. The forest was in a glory of color, the
+air was "mild as midsummer," and in his capacious pocket he had brought
+his "tackle." His axe would furnish a couple of rods, and Katharine
+should have her first lesson at angling in the near-by brook, where
+trout were plentiful, it mattering little to this embryo constable what
+the game laws were; and it would have amazed him to learn that had he
+been in office he would have had to fine himself as the first, chief,
+and habitual trespasser. Now all this pleasant prospect was altered, and
+Moses "never liked to have his 'rangements upsot."
+
+"Nor do I. Oh, dear! The more you talk the more I want to stay, and the
+very more I mustn't. Good-by, I'm going. You can have the caraway cakes
+and the red apple, and please, please take care my father's
+'meetin'-basket.'"
+
+But he laid a detaining hand upon her arm, and demanded:
+
+"First tell me what you've got under your jacket!"
+
+At her mention of the "meeting-basket" he had glanced across to the
+chestnut-trees and had seen that precious receptacle carefully hung upon
+a low branch out of harm's way. Yet here was the girl, hiding something
+beneath her long blue coat, and acting as if she had great ado to keep
+it there. It must have been a heavy, slippery something, because all the
+while she talked she kept hitching it up and clenching it till her
+knuckles turned white under the strain.
+
+"I can't tell you, please," was the exasperating reply, as she wriggled
+her arm free and set off at a swift pace.
+
+Again Moses whistled, but now in disappointment rather than surprise. He
+would have stoutly denied that he, a man, was possessed of curiosity
+such as he attributed wholly to "silly women," yet it is certain that he
+suddenly found the beautiful forest a disagreeable place, and reflected
+that it was his duty to follow the young stranger.
+
+"She's queer actin', at the best, an' sharp as a razor; but what caper
+she's up to now beats me. Eunice ain't to home, an' Susanna never had
+sense. If there's anything goin' on there'd ought to be a man 'round
+with some sort of judgment in his head. Don't know what need there is
+for more small wood bein' cut, anyway. We've got two woodsheds full of
+kindlin' a'ready, besides the big ones of cord-wood for the reg'lar
+fires. We could stand a siege an' not suffer, though Eunice never does
+feel content 'less she's got fuel enough ahead to last two years. Hm-m.
+It's gettin' too hot to chop, anyway. Must be Indian summer comin' on,
+though I claim 'tain't due till November. Susanna, now, _she_ says
+October, an' Eunice, _she_ calls that warm spell we always have the
+first the winter an Indian summer. Seems if there was as many Indian
+summers as there was folks, most, but I don't care. It's somethin' or
+other warm enough to-day, an' I'll go home. I can set in the barn an'
+sort apples. That won't be a heatin' job, an' 'll give me a chance to
+have an eye on things. Oh, hum! I wish Monty would happen along.
+Strange! how I miss that worthless, stutterin', big-hearted little
+shaver! I wouldn't offer to take _him_ fishin' more'n once without bein'
+took up on my word."
+
+His cogitations at an end, his belongings secured, and his little-used
+axe again over his shoulder, Moses went down to the chestnut-tree and
+secured the "meeting-basket." But he was surprised to see how the leaves
+at the foot of it had been scattered about, and that there was a hole in
+the ground itself. There was also in this hole the imprint of something
+square and solid, for the moist leaf-mold still retained the shape of
+the brass bound box, and heaped at one side were the nuts Kate had
+collected ready to put in the basket when once it should be empty.
+
+"Must ha' been somethin' 'important,' sure enough, or she'd never have
+left them nuts. Well, I guess I can store 'em in my pockets, an' I'll
+coax her secret, whatever 'tis, out of her by givin' them back to her,"
+mused this incurious man.
+
+As fast as she could, and keeping an occasional glance upon certain
+trees she remembered, Kate made her way back through the wood. But it
+seemed confusing now and the ground rough. Coming in she had thought the
+ferns and fallen branches "mighty pretty," but going out they hindered
+her. The box, too, was heavy and difficult to hold, though as soon as
+she was out of sight of Moses she took it from beneath her coat and
+balanced it upon her arm. Then she laughed at her own precaution,
+thinking how foolish she had been to hide it, for, of course, he would
+know about it eventually.
+
+"Only it is Aunt Eunice's, and I want her to see it first of all. I
+wonder what is in it. And I wish it wasn't quite so heavy. Can it be
+filled with gold? or diamonds, maybe. Oh, if it were diamonds--think!
+Oh, dear! there goes my shoe-string untied again, and it trips me up so.
+I must stop and tie it and see if I am going right. Seems as if I ought
+to see that old church by this time, yet the trees are just as thick as
+ever--or thicker. Now, old string, I'll knot you so tight you'll bother
+me no more till I go to bed."
+
+Placing the strangely fashioned box or casket carefully on a large
+stone, Katharine flung herself down to tie her shoe. Which, having done,
+and finding her position restful, it was natural that her imagination
+should dwell upon the treasure she had found; and once at her
+day-dreams, Kate was very apt to forget other things. Nor did she rouse
+from her reverie till somebody close at hand demanded:
+
+"I-I-I say! W-w-what's that?"
+
+Instantly upon her feet she faced the intruder, vainly trying to hide
+with her short skirts the glittering casket, as she demanded, in return:
+
+"How dare you come upon a person that way? Why--you might have
+frightened me into a fit. I don't like to be scared."
+
+"Oh, f-f-fudge! I saw you if you d-d-didn't see me. What is t-t-that?"
+
+Katharine coolly sat down upon the casket and thus effectually screened
+it from view. "I thought you were sick, or--or shut up. Aunt Eunice went
+to see if you needed nursing."
+
+Montgomery sat down beside her. The small boulder upon which she had
+placed the box was round, and it was difficult to maintain one's
+position upon it without slipping. Doubly difficult if one were perched
+upon a sharp-angled cube, and one's pique skirt was stiffly starched. He
+comprehended the situation and meant to be upon the spot when the
+slipping occurred. He really didn't care very much to know what she was
+hiding, but was grateful for a chance to tease somebody.
+
+During the few days of his retirement he had not enjoyed that privilege.
+The fact was that it was Alfaretta, not he, who had been ill; and that
+he had been promoted--or degraded--to her position in the household. It
+all depended upon the point of view; his grandmother maintaining that he
+should feel proud to have the chance of serving her, who was unable, or
+unaccustomed to serving herself, and he feeling that to be tied up in a
+girl's pinafore and with bared arms set to washing dishes, peeling
+potatoes, and scrubbing floors was a disgrace. In vain did the stately
+old gentlewoman show him by her example that one could cook and clean
+and still be dignified; her grandson remained unconvinced and
+rebellious. He didn't believe that poor Alfaretta was sick. He knew she
+was shamming just to get out of her work and make him do it for her. And
+as for his being set to carry trays to a bound-out girl from the
+almshouse--that was the bitterest drop in his cup of woe. He had been
+sternly prohibited from "hectoring" the little maid, and the prohibition
+sat heavily upon him. So heavily, indeed, that no matter who had crossed
+his path when he was again liberated, that person was doomed to suffer
+what Alfy had been spared.
+
+That person proved to be "Kitty Quixote," never more worthy of her name
+than as she sat in the forest dreaming marvellous dreams of the future;
+of wrongs to be righted, of poverty banished, and all dependent upon the
+unknown contents of a brass bound box. Under other circumstances she
+would have rejoiced to see Montgomery, as the only young creature of her
+own species yet met in Marsden, but not with this wonderful mystery upon
+her mind. When he had appropriated a full half of her boulder,
+uninvited, she waited a moment, then icily inquired:
+
+"Where are you going?"
+
+"N-n-n-nowhere."
+
+"That's a good place. When?"
+
+"Oh, b-b-bime-by," answered the lad, with easy indifference.
+
+"You might be late," suggested Katharine, sweetly, yet inwardly longing
+to mimic his stammering speech.
+
+Then, all at once, she began to slide. There had been no perceptible
+movement on Montgomery's part. Assuming an indifference as great as his
+own, Katharine had leaned forward to inspect her second shoe-string, and
+afterward attempting to regain her former uprightness, felt, instead,
+that she was slipping downward. She landed angrily upon her feet, and,
+facing about, she upbraided him as a "rude, unmannerly boy."
+
+However, the mischief was done, her secret was out. Monty forgot his
+desire to "plague her" in his surprised curiosity. Bending over the box
+he examined it critically, and finally announced:
+
+"T-t-that's the most b-b-beautifullest thing I ever saw. W-where'd you
+get it?"
+
+"Found it. But it isn't mine. It's Aunt Eunice's, and I think you are
+horrid mean. I didn't want a person should know anything about it till I
+could put it into her own hands, and then you went and came. Now the
+whole charm of it is gone. Oh, dear!"
+
+Montgomery ignored her unflattering remarks, and, lifting the casket,
+exclaimed:
+
+"H-h-h-heavy! H-h-heavier 'n lead. What you s-s-s-suppose is in it?
+Where'd you find it? W-w-w-when?"
+
+Since secrecy was no longer possible, Kate was only too glad to tell
+everything, and now all desire for teasing had left the listener. He was
+even ashamed that he had forced the girl from the rock, though glad of
+the result, and in another instant both tongues were busy with
+speculation concerning the astonishing find.
+
+"It's so queer. It has no opening that I can see, for this broad band
+around the middle looks perfectly smooth, as if it were all in one
+piece. The band won't slip down nor up. The corners, the brass tips,
+don't budge. It's a perfect cube--let's measure. Yes. Just as big one
+way as another. The wood is as fine as satin and looks as if it had been
+polished to the last degree. Do you suppose it is brass or gold that
+trims it? And where, where did it come from? The earth on it was so
+fresh I don't believe that it had been buried but a little while, and
+oh, I'm just wild to know all about it. Come on. Let's go home. You may
+carry it part of the time. But don't drop it. Don't, for your life!"
+chattered the girl, placing the box in Monty's outstretched palms and
+anxiously regarding his manner of holding it.
+
+His face was a study. Boys, in general, are supposed to be intensely
+practical and less gifted with imagination than girls, but this is a
+mistake. Youth is the time for air-castle building, and whether it be
+lad or lass who "dreams" there is but little difference. Poor Monty!
+Unable to put his soaring thoughts into speech as his companion so
+readily could, he had to be content with just thinking them. But as he
+turned his beautiful eyes upon her she understood all that he would have
+said and clapped her hands, crying ecstatically:
+
+"Oh, I'm so glad! You're one can make-believe everything lovely, too! I
+see it. What fun we'll have! Let's begin at once. We're in the enchanted
+forest. We've been enchanted ourselves. But the fairy king has come and
+shown us where to find the magic treasure that will unlock the whole
+world for us and make us back into the real prince and princess that we
+are all the time, though other people don't know it. He has given us the
+magic box with the key in it, only he has forgotten to tell us how to
+open it. We are on our way now to the Wise Woman. The Wise Woman lives
+in the stone castle beyond the forest, and she will show us how to open
+the box and to use the key. Because the box was hers once, before she
+gave it to the fairy king to keep for us. She knew that one day we
+should come into the forest and that all would happen that has happened.
+That's what makes her the Wise Woman. She has lived a long, long time.
+So long that her hair is quite gray and there are wrinkles around her
+eyes. But the eyes are still clear and gentle and there is a pretty pink
+color in her cheeks. She wears a soft gray gown with an old-fashioned
+kerchief crossed over her breast, and sometimes, most always, there is a
+flower thrust into the lace kerchief. Her hands are white and slender
+and blue veined, but they look old, and her voice is sweet and gentle
+like her eyes. Yet sometimes--sometimes, when other people who are not
+at all wise but very troublesome come before the Wise One and displease
+her, a little sharp fire gets into the eyes and a sour little tang into
+the voice, and then the Troublesome One wishes she hadn't come!"
+
+They had been walking swiftly toward the village, for to Montgomery
+every step of the way was so familiar that he need not look for
+landmarks, and his eyes had remained fixed in fascination upon the
+girl's radiant face as she spun this fairy-tale without stop or
+hesitation. It had been as real to him as to her, but now there came
+over him a disappointment even more real. Pausing abruptly on the path,
+he burst forth, indignantly:
+
+"Oh, f-f-f-fudge! That Wise Woman's nobody but Aunt Eu-Eu-Eu-nice!"
+
+At the same moment something heavy crashed through the underbrush, and a
+man fell sprawling at their feet.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE GRIT OF MOSES JONES
+
+
+An axe flew gleaming through the air and Montgomery vanished, the brass
+bound box with him.
+
+Katharine was too startled to move, and stood listening to the
+distressing, almost blood-curdling groans which issued from the man's
+lips, as, for a moment, he lay face downward before her. Then she
+recognized the apparel of Moses Jones and bent over him pityingly.
+
+"Why, Uncle Mose! What is the matter?"
+
+For only answer more groans, which presently began to thrill her with an
+unspeakable terror. What made him do that? What had befallen him? Was he
+dying, and she alone with him, there in the strange forest? The thought
+was torture, and, nerving herself to the task, she laid her hand upon
+him, though her repugnance to the act was a fresh torment. It had always
+been one of the girl's peculiarities that she could not bear to touch
+any ailing thing. She would wait upon people who were ill most
+cheerfully, even eagerly, but she hated to come in personal contact with
+them. It had been so even in the case of her father whom she idolized,
+and had been one of the small items in stepmother's list against her.
+But she had heard so much upon the subject then, and of its enormity,
+that she had set herself to overcome the failing, since failing it was.
+And had poor Moses known it, she would almost rather have borne his pain
+herself than to have helped him turn upon his back as she did. To do
+more for him than this was impossible, and again she besought him to say
+how he was hurt.
+
+Finally, he opened his eyes and glanced about him, then angrily shook
+his fist toward a projecting tree-root which had been hidden from his
+sight by a group of ferns and over which he had stumbled.
+
+"That's it! That's the mis'able thing 'at done it!" he cried, then
+groaned again, but weakly. The pain had suddenly become so severe as to
+turn him faint while the brilliant branches overhead began to dance and
+sway before his dizzy sight as no wind could make them do. "I--I'm
+gettin' light-headed. Help me up, Keehoty. I'm broke. I'm broke all to
+smash. My leg--my side--oh, oh, ouch!"
+
+[Illustration: "'I FEEL SO QUEER EVERY LITTLE SPELL, AN' I MUST GET
+HOME'"]
+
+His increasing pallor frightened Katharine till pity overcame
+repugnance, and with a strength unknown before she clasped her arms
+about his neck and struggled to lift him to his feet, all the while
+protesting: "You mustn't be broken! You can't be. Just a little crooked
+root like that and a big man like you. Not quite so hard, please! Not
+quite so tight! 'Cause you're pulling me down instead of me you up.
+There, that's better!"
+
+Susanna had often declared that Moses was "just like ary other man,
+scared to death if even his little toe ached," and it was true that he
+was so unused to illness that his few attacks of it had always
+frightened him. Yet now he realized that something far worse than
+ordinary had befallen, and that he must rally his grit and his strength
+together. With an heroic effort he got upon his feet--or foot, for one
+was useless, and braced himself against the tree-trunk beside them.
+
+"Now, sissy, go find an' fetch my axe that got flung off my shoulder
+when I stumbled. I didn't think when I brought it to chop with 'twould
+prove a crutch for broken bones. Oh, I wish we wasn't so far from home.
+I wish you'd kep' in the right road an' not come flarrickin' clear off
+here out the beaten track."
+
+"Why--isn't this the right, the shortest way back?" asked Katharine,
+surprised.
+
+"No, 'tain't. I s'pose all trees look alike to city gals, but don't stop
+to gabble. Find the axe. Pick up your basket. I feel so queer every
+little spell, an' I must get home. That shin-bone's broke, true as
+preachin', an' six seven my ribs, by the feel of 'em, for my foot
+wobbles 'round as if it was hung on a string, an' my side! The axe,
+Keehoty, the axe!"
+
+She found and brought it, weeping bitterly. She had never felt so sorry
+for anybody as for this brave old fellow who was now forcing himself to
+overcome his own misery for the sake of others. For when she begged him
+to stay still where he was and let her run to the village and bring
+somebody to help he vigorously refused.
+
+"Scare the hull community just 'cause I was fool enough to tumble down
+and crack my leg? Me, an old woodman, that'd ought to have some sense.
+An' Eunice! Why, 'twould scare Eunice out of a year's growth to see me
+fetched home 'stead of walkin' there on my own pins. Half a loaf's
+better'n no loaf, an' one leg's better'n none. As for my plaguey old
+ribs--they can take care themselves. But once we get there you just clip
+it to the doctor's an' have him come 'round an' patch me up. He'll have
+to do it so's I can be workin' reg'lar, 'cause I'm the only man there
+is. Besides, town meetin's comin' on, an'--My sake! I'm beat!"
+
+Beaten he was into the silence which he had dreaded, wherein he realized
+his own agony. He had kept talking to prevent thinking, but had now
+passed beyond that. By nods and glances he directed Kate along the
+shortest way, but it seemed to the sufferer as if the familiar big stone
+house grew steadily more distant rather than nearer.
+
+Katharine never forgot that walk. To her, also, the distance seemed
+interminable, and the firm clutch of his hand upon her shoulder for its
+support almost to break her own bones. His face, when she now and then
+glanced toward it, was pallid with suffering, but his lips were grimly
+shut, defying his own misery. As he shaved only once a week, on Sunday
+morning, his half-grown stubble of beard enhanced his pallor, but did
+not add to his beauty; and Katharine, reared among city folks who made
+such "Sunday habits" their every-day ones, felt something like disgust.
+
+"I'm awful sorry for him, but--but he looks horrid. And he hurts me,
+too. Oh, I wish we had never come into this dreadful forest, pretty as
+it is; but, joy! there's a house. We'll be in the village soon and at
+home. What will Aunt Eunice say? And where did that mean boy go?"
+
+As Katharine's thoughts ran on this wise they were steadily though
+slowly passing over the rough ground of the wood to the smoother fields
+beyond; and as they came in sight of the Maitland barns, there was
+Montgomery peeping around a corner and on the lookout for somebody. His
+release from confinement at home had been the result of Aunt Eunice's
+call, he having been permitted to walk home with her, and to spend the
+day with Katharine. Alfaretta was recovered and able to do her own
+dish-washing, and on the Monday the boy must return to school. So Madam
+had made him array himself once more in his best attire and had duly
+instructed him how young gentlemen of the Sturtevant race should conduct
+themselves toward young ladies of the Maitland family.
+
+Arrived at the stone mansion, Susanna had promptly sent the boy to the
+woods to hunt up his playmate, if he desired her, and in any case to
+remind Moses that he had gone off without killing the chicken for
+dinner.
+
+"You tell him to come right straight back here an' do it now, if he
+wants a bite to eat. I ain't never wrung a fowl's neck nor chopped off
+her head, nor Eunice hain't, nuther, an' we ain't a-goin' to begin at
+our time o' life. Killin' poultry or pigs, ary one, is man's work an'
+not woman's, an' so say to him 't if he wants his dinner he can come
+kill it. He's gettin' so forgetful lately 't he can't remember nothin'
+'cept fishin', an' though he took his axe along I 'low he'll do more
+threshin' nut-trees for that young one than choppin'; an' you remember,
+Montgomery Sturtevant, that you've got on your Sunday clothes; and no
+matter if your rich city relations do give 'em to you without no trouble
+to you nor your grandma, 'at you ought to take care of 'em and keep 'em
+clean. Don't go climbin' trees with 'em on, but just pick up what's on
+the ground an' you'll eat enough then, fat white worms an' all, to make
+you sick. Katy, she can give you part her cookies, but don't you get
+carryin' on with her little basket, 'cause it was her pa's, an' she's
+goin' to set great store by it. Tell him it's half-past nine if it's a
+minute, an' them old fowls what we're killin' off first is ruther tough.
+I ought to have her in the pot right now, an' there she ain't caught
+yet, runnin' 'round the hen-yard at loose ends, an' I'll try to catch
+her an' that'll help, an--My suz! if that boy ain't half 'crost the
+pastur' an' me not done talkin' to him. The sassy thing! If I'd had my
+way makin' this world there wouldn't have been nobody in it 'cept girls,
+an' them grown up and come to their gumption. But that hen--I'll try
+catch her or she'll never be caught."
+
+Which was very true; as also the fact that before the garrulous
+housekeeper had more than suggested "chicken" and "chestnuts,"
+Montgomery had vanished to set them in train. After all, there might be
+compensations, he thought, for a day wasted upon a girl's society. There
+still seemed to linger upon his palate the flavor of Aunt Eunice's
+pullets, from which he had been despoiled by his first enforced call
+upon her ward, and though he had regretfully heard Susanna say "chicken"
+without the plural "s," he knew that, being himself "company," he would
+get his full share of the fowl, which he trusted might be a large one.
+
+Which explains his presence in the wood and his lingering in the
+barn-yard now, where he could command a first view of any person issuing
+from the forest on the shortest way home. He had retreated here after
+what he had supposed was a robber had fallen at his feet, and at the
+cost of a breathless run had preserved the mysterious brass bound box
+from theft. He had now safely hidden it in the hay-mow, and awaited
+Kate's return to tell her where. It had been almost beyond his power to
+keep the secret from Miss Maitland, even thus long, but loyalty to the
+discoverer had restrained him. And at last there she was coming across
+the pasture, Uncle Moses with her; and what was most astonishing, the
+pair were leaning upon one another in an intimacy which made Montgomery
+feel rather jealous.
+
+"F-f-f-fudge! I didn't know he liked g-g-girls! He's got his hand on her
+s-s-shoulder, an' my, how they do just c-c-cr-creep! Even the pug dog
+just bare w-w-waddles, like he's tuckered out," remarked the watching
+lad to Sir Philip, who had taken advantage of the day's warmth to visit
+the mouse-infested barn and now lay sunning himself on its southern
+threshold.
+
+But at the name of dog the Angora sniffed the air and withdrew with
+dignity to his throne indoors. He had already learned that Punch knew a
+good cushion when he saw it; and, though early provided with one for
+himself, preferred the satin couch of Sir Philip to the carpet-covered
+one which Susanna declared "plenty good enough for ary dog humbly as
+that one." If Punch secured the cushion first he was not easily
+dislodged, and since his one great battle the Angora shrank from
+contest. Evidently Sir Philip judged discretion better than valor, and
+the behavior of the two animals afforded the family much amusement.
+
+Thus deserted of all society save his own thoughts, Monty fixed a keener
+attention upon the slowly advancing pair, and presently exclaimed:
+
+"F-f-fudge! Somethin's happened. Uncle Mose's leanin' on her; she's a
+h-h-helpin' him! She's a w-w-w-wav-in' to me like blazes! That's no
+'how-de-do' salute, that's a 'come r-r-right here' one! He's got his
+axe, looks like, an's l-l-leanin' on it. F-fudge! I bet he's chopped his
+foot 'stead of a t-t-tree!"
+
+Monty's legs flew up and down like the rapidly revolving spokes of a
+wheel as he hurried toward the man and girl. But after one hasty glance
+at the feet of Mr. Jones, and seeing no blood on either, he knew that
+whatever was amiss it was not what he had fancied. Without a word he
+seized the axe from its owner's trembling hand and placed his own
+sturdy little shoulder in its place. Katharine was not crying now, but
+her anxiety altered her appearance strangely, and Moses was wholly past
+speech. Every nerve of his tortured body was strained to reach a spot
+where he could sink down and yield to the dreadful weakness which
+assailed him. Even the hard floor of the barn seemed a paradise of rest,
+and he fixed his eyes upon the wide doorway with a last effort of his
+will.
+
+He did reach it, but there both will and consciousness gave way to the
+strain of the last hour, though the story of his pluck and endurance was
+to make him more highly respected in his native town than he had ever
+been before.
+
+When he sank down fainting the children loosed their hold on either
+side, Montgomery standing still in a frightened wonder, but Kate
+hastening indoors for help. Rushing breathlessly into the sitting-room
+where Miss Eunice was quietly arranging some yellow 'mums in a quaint
+glass jar, she caught the lady's hand with a vehemence which sent the
+flowers in one direction, the pretty jar in another.
+
+"Oh, Aunt Eunice! Come quick, 'cause now he truly must be dead, after
+all. Quick, quick!"
+
+"Katharine--my dear! Why will you do such startling things? My precious
+jar that has held flowers for us these generations just rescued from
+destruction! And the poor flowers themselves--"
+
+"Oh, don't bother! Please, please come. There's only Monty out there,
+and I--I did what I could, but he's dead, anyway."
+
+"Dead, child? Sir Philip dead?" asked Miss Maitland, her thoughts
+instantly reverting to the only ailing member of the household.
+
+"No, Aunt Eunice, but a person, a man--Uncle Moses."
+
+Then, indeed, did Eunice's own hand tremble so that she set the jar she
+had just preserved back on the mantel while her face paled in distress.
+But she caught the girl's guiding hand firmly in her own, called to
+Susanna in the kitchen, and on the brief journey to the "further barn"
+learned the main facts of the affair.
+
+Two hours later Katharine and Montgomery sat down in the kitchen to a
+dinner of bread and milk, while over the rest of the house hung a
+strange silence which made even its former quietude seem noisy by
+contrast. Aunt Eunice had gone to lie down, being greatly shaken by the
+sad accident, which, while being much less tragic than the death
+Katharine had reported, was trouble sufficiently serious. In the kitchen
+chamber above, Moses' own room, they could hear Susanna softly stepping
+about in list slippers, only the jar of the floor beams betraying her
+movements, and occasionally a muffled voice, strangely unlike the gruff
+tones of the hired man, would float down to them. Sir Philip lay purring
+himself to sleep, after a strenuous season of unrest, during which
+nobody had had time to protect him from mischievous Punch. As for the
+latter, he had been fatigued by his trip to and from the forest, as well
+as his manoeuvres with the Angora, and now took his own rest by
+sleeping with one eye open.
+
+The children themselves were weary. Katharine from the excitement of the
+morning, and Montgomery from physical exercise. He had never done so
+many useful things in his life as he had crowded into the space of two
+short hours. It was he who had summoned the doctor, run back and forth
+between that gentleman's office and Miss Maitland's house, carried a
+plain statement of facts to Madam Sturtevant, as well as a highly
+furbished one to every householder between the two mansions, and had
+manfully attended to Mr. Jones's noon "chores." He had, indeed, already
+a wild ambition to be engaged in the hired man's place, since the doctor
+said that that sufferer would be laid up in bed for at least three
+months.
+
+"I'd r-r-rather do chores any day than go to s-s-school," he announced
+to his companion, swallowing a large bit of bread at the same time, and
+thereby causing that young person to tilt her nose upwards,
+disdainfully.
+
+"You ought to be as nice in your manners out here alone with me as you
+would be in the real dining-room with Aunt Eunice and grown-up company,"
+she reproved, daintily balancing her own spoon with an ease which the
+other would scarcely admit to himself that he admired.
+
+"F-f-fudge. You ain't c-c-com--pany no more. You belong, don't you?"
+
+"I--I guess so. I begin to hope so, for this is the most delightfully
+happening place I ever was in. Though I never was in, to stay, but one
+other. First you fell over a precipice, and then I found a nest of
+little turkeys all dead, out in the black currant-bushes, Susanna says
+they are, that had stolen themselves--whatever that is. Then that
+mystery of a brass bound box; and now Uncle Moses breaking his bones,
+and so much going on. But--Montgomery Sturtevant! That box! What did
+become of it? Would we dare, do you suppose we might go back to the
+woods and find it? It was all your fault. If I hadn't let you carry
+it--All this about poor Uncle Moses has put it out of my mind, but now
+it comes back and it's more important than he is. I'm sure of it. We
+must find it. Come, quick!"
+
+Katharine pushed back from the table and; sprang to her feet, her
+weariness forgotten in this fresh anxiety.
+
+But Monty was neither anxious nor excited; at least, not about the box,
+though he held it scarcely less important than she did. He was busy
+over a "sum" in mental arithmetic, a branch of study he little favored,
+though it had now come to assume considerable importance to him. Yet the
+problem was beyond his capacity, though this keen-witted girl might
+solve it. He'd try her. Therefore, still gurgling his milk, he
+spluttered:
+
+"S-s-s-ay, Katy! if a man, if a m-m-man can earn a dollar a day doin'
+c-c-chores, all the c-c-chores, how much can a boy earn doin'
+h-h-ha-half of 'em?"
+
+"Not a single cent, if I had to pay him, and he were such a boy as you.
+A boy so mean he'd take a brass bound box out of a girl's hands and lose
+it for her, and then wouldn't budge to go get it. You do try me so,
+Montgomery! And there's one thing I know. That is, that if I had the
+management of you I'd break you of that detestable habit of stuttering,
+or know the reason why. It's all nonsense. You can talk as well as
+anybody else, only you're too lazy. Now, will you come?"
+
+To her surprise and to her shame, also, he neither resented her sharp
+speech nor her reply to his money question. Leaning forward, his blue
+eyes took on an earnestness which effectually dispelled all notion of
+vanity in their possessor, demanding:
+
+"C-c-c-could you do it? C-c-can you? _W-w-w-wi-will you?_"
+
+"Yes, I might, could, would, and should--if you'd go find my brass bound
+box!"
+
+"Cross your heart, honest Injun, h-h-hope to d-d-die?"
+
+"No. Neither one. Just plain 'Yes.' I know a way. I've read all about it
+in the Cyclopedia in the big bookcase. I hunted it up right away, that
+first day after the first night when I--I mocked you. I made up my mind
+then, and I never unmake minds, that if you'd be decent I'd cure you.
+It's nothing but a dreadful bad habit, anyway, and easy done. But not
+until you find my--the--Aunt Eunice's brass bound box."
+
+He was gone and back in a flash.
+
+Katharine, starting to follow, paused in the middle of the floor,
+arrested by the sight of him standing in one doorway with the glittering
+casket in his hands, and of Miss Maitland in another staring at that
+which he held as if she saw a ghost.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+HAY-LOFT DREAMS
+
+
+All the pretty pink color which had hitherto tinged the lady's cheek had
+vanished, and she visibly trembled, so that Katharine darted forward to
+her support. But Aunt Eunice raised her hand protestingly, and tottered
+forward to the nearest chair. With dry, white lips, she asked in a voice
+so low it could barely be heard:
+
+"Montgomery Sturtevant, where--where did you find _that_?"
+
+Her appearance alarmed both the children, who fancied she, also, was
+about to faint as Moses had done, yet she did not fall nor did her gaze
+waver; and impelled by its sternness to make reply, Monty finally
+stammered:
+
+"H-h-h-hay-m-m-ow."
+
+"Hay-mow! Impossible!" returned Miss Maitland, becoming a bit more
+natural in appearance, while Kate indignantly turned upon her playmate,
+demanding and denying:
+
+"How dare you? He didn't. 'Twas I--under a tree in your own big forest.
+I dug it up and fetched it--he fetched--there wasn't a hay-mow anywhere
+near it. Oh, Aunt Eunice, it's the Magic Treasure. It holds the key to
+all the world--to all the good things in the world, anyway. And you're
+the wonderful Wise Woman will open it and let us use the gold and
+diamonds and precious stones to make all the poor people rich and glad.
+'Tis yours, I know, and quick, quick!"
+
+With a bound she seized the box from Monty's hands and brought it to the
+disturbed lady, who, when the girl would have placed it on her lap,
+recoiled as from some venomous thing.
+
+"No, no! Don't bring it to me. I wouldn't touch it. It has wrought evil
+already, and so great--"
+
+Then she abruptly paused and steadfastly regarded the quaint old casket
+which, as Katharine had discovered, seemed to have neither lock nor
+fastening, and was in itself a marvellous piece of mechanism. As she
+gazed her thought was busy as painful, but out of the chaos one idea at
+last grew clear: The Brass Bound Box must be safely hidden and none must
+know that it had ever been found. To hide it she would have to touch it,
+no matter how unwillingly. But the secret of its existence must be kept,
+although that secret was already in the possession of these two others.
+
+She called them to her and held out her hands now for the box. They
+approached her with a sort of awe, for there was that still in her face
+which altered its ordinary kindliness. Not that it was unkind, for there
+was even more than usual sweetness in the glance she gave Montgomery,
+yet he felt as if he had been guilty of some terrible sin without in the
+least knowing what or why.
+
+"Children, you are young to be asked to promise so serious a thing as I
+now ask you, but you must promise it, and you must keep your word. Will
+you?"
+
+"I never broke my word in my life, Aunt Eunice! I wouldn't begin now
+after I've grown to be such a big girl," said Katharine, promptly. "But
+it's honest to tell you I hate promises, and I never feel so tempted to
+lie as when I've made one. I'd rather not promise, if you please; and I
+guess--I guess I'd rather not hear any secret. I'll go out and let you
+tell it to Monty alone."
+
+Montgomery shot out a restraining hand and clutched her vanishing
+skirts, while a faint smile stole to Miss Maitland's lips at this
+evidence of moral cowardice. The boy felt, and with justice, that it was
+"Kitty Quixote" who had got him into this scrape, with her wild woodland
+adventures and her fairy-tales, and that it was but fair she should
+share in it.
+
+"Unfortunately, you already know it. What you must promise is--that you
+will never, never speak of this box or its strange reappearance to any
+person, young or old. I shall put it out of sight where it will not be
+easily found again, and then forget it. You must forget it, too. You are
+Sturtevant and Maitland, descendants of honorable men and women, and for
+the sake of your forebears you must hide this thing."
+
+It was all so solemn that Katharine shivered, yet could not help
+wondering a little. "Forebears"--that meant dead people; and how could
+it harm people already dead to have that box found, even supposing it to
+be full of poisons or other dreadful stuff, as she now began to imagine?
+
+Now, if Kate merely shivered and speculated, poor Montgomery was in an
+ague. When he fixed his great eyes upon Aunt Eunice's face they were so
+full of terror that she pitied him, and tried to comfort, saying:
+
+"Don't look so frightened, dear. It's only to keep from speaking of what
+has happened this morning. That's easy, isn't it? Besides, you are so
+young you will not remember long. Other things will drive it from your
+minds. At least, I trust so. In any case, you are in honor bound."
+
+With that she rose as if to dismiss them, and went away toward the
+seldom used west wing of the great house, carrying the box with her. Her
+step was no longer uncertain, but firm and decided. A terrible situation
+had suddenly confronted her, and made, for a moment, even her clear
+judgment dim; but she had swiftly weighed the consequences, pro and
+con, and had settled the wisest course to follow.
+
+Left alone, these young "descendants of honorable men and women"
+regarded one another in dismay; and Montgomery was the first to speak,
+crying out with all the intensity words could express:
+
+"Oh, ain't it a-a-aw-ful!"
+
+"Huh! I don't see anything 'awful' about it, 'cept your hanging on to me
+and making me stay whether or no. That was a dirty mean trick--keeping
+me here when I might have got away without hearing."
+
+"Y-y-you knew it a'ready. An' it _was_ in the h-h-h-hay-mow. I'd hid it
+there the min-ute I g-g-got to the barn, waitin' for y-y-you. But come
+out there n-now. I've got s-s-s-somethin' to tell you," said the unhappy
+lad, far too disturbed to resent her sharpness. At which she became
+instantly regretful, and slipped her arm consolingly within his, as they
+walked toward the great barn, which had from the first seemed to the
+city girl the most delightful of structures.
+
+It was further proof of Monty's dejection that he did not jerk his arm
+away, nor would he have cared at all who saw him thus being petted by a
+"girl." However, once arrived at the great sun-lighted doorway, and
+secure even from Susanna's ears, the trouble came out.
+
+"Oh, w-w-what shall I do? I've told it all over t-t-town, a'ready, an'
+it's no s-s-se--cret at all!"
+
+Katharine stuck her arms akimbo and stared mercilessly at the abject
+creature before her, who seemed to droop and wilt under her gaze as if
+he were sinking through the hay-strewn floor.
+
+"You told it?" she repeated, indignantly.
+
+Monty nodded mournful acquiescence.
+
+"Then you--you--you ought to be set washing dishes again, and kept at it
+for the rest of your life. So there."
+
+One blue eye was raised a trifle in surprise. How in the world had she
+known that? He didn't remember mentioning the cause of his recent
+retirement from public life, indeed, he was positive that this had been
+a "secret" really worth keeping. However, it didn't matter now. Nothing
+mattered except that he, who came of such "honorable" people, had
+betrayed his friends.
+
+"W-w-what'll happen, s'pose?"
+
+"I don't know," answered Kate, slowly. "Something dreadful ought. For
+before it was Aunt Eunice's secret the box was my secret, too. I was the
+first who should have told it, and only to her. You had no right to
+speak of it till I gave you leave."
+
+"Un-un-uncle Mose broke his bones, and I h-h-had to go 'round, didn't I?
+An' when I told about him the o-o-other j-j-j-just slipped out itself.
+T-t-t-that's all."
+
+"Humph! 'All!' And more mischief done than you or I can guess, maybe.
+For though I can't imagine why Aunt Eunice should be so overcome and
+anxious at sight of just a box, there must be some good reason. She has
+seen that box before and it doesn't suggest pleasant memories to her.
+That's plain. She would have been glad if it had never been found, and
+all my pretty romance about treasure and helping people turns out just
+horrid. I wish I had never gone to that wood, then things wouldn't have
+happened. The box would have stayed in its hole, I wouldn't have hurried
+home with it by the long wrong way and met you, and poor Uncle Moses
+wouldn't have followed nor fallen over that root. Aunt Eunice would have
+been like the saying, 'Where ignorance is bliss,' and wouldn't have been
+worried so, and we shouldn't have been forbidden to tell things that I
+wouldn't have cared to tell, if I hadn't been forbidden. And, oh, dear!
+What a terrible hard world it is! and what a lovely old barn! I
+think--Do you suppose I could climb up that hay-mow? Susanna's sure
+there are hens' nests 'stolen' up there, and she needs the eggs. I wish
+we could find them. I wish we could do something--anything that is
+pleasant and so helps us to 'forget,' as Aunt Eunice wished us to do.
+But I guess I can't climb much. I never had a chance to try."
+
+"I'll s-s-show you!" cried the lad, eagerly, and delighted to think
+there was something in which he could excel this clever city girl. With
+a bound he had risen from the floor, where both had sat during the last
+of their talk, had promptly spit upon his palms and rubbed them
+together, then leaped to catch an upright beam. "Shinnying" up to the
+slippery mow with real agility, he there paused and regarded Katharine
+with an expression of great pride. But instead of admiration her mobile
+countenance expressed only disgust, and to his question, "H-h-how's
+that?" she retorted: "Nasty, dirty thing! You go wash your hands before
+you touch a single one of our eggs!"
+
+"'O-o-our' eggs!" repeated Monty, scornfully, to hide his own chagrin.
+"H-h-how long since th-th-they were 'ours'?"
+
+"Oh, dear! Do come down and wash, and let's quit quarrelling. Seems as
+if we never could agree about things, yet we must. We've got to be
+friends if we have to keep Aunt Eunice's secret, for even though you did
+tell it before it was hers you needn't make it worse and speak of it
+again. If anybody asks you about it now, all you must do is to keep
+perfectly still. Not say a word. Let them think what they please, but
+don't you talk. Now, isn't there any other way to go upon the hay
+except by that beam? The Widow Sprigg said she was going up there
+herself soon as she got time, and I'm sure she doesn't do what you did."
+
+"C-c-couldn't do it with--out," asserted the climber, referring to the
+moistening operation.
+
+"I mean she would never 'shinny' up a straight, slivery beam."
+
+"Huh! I s'pose there's a l-l-lad-der, do for g-g-girls," asserted
+Montgomery, indifferently.
+
+"Then show it to me and I'll begin to teach you how not to stammer."
+
+He looked at her sharply, but there was such perfect sincerity in her
+face that he accepted her promise joyfully, and led her to the rear of
+the barn where a rude but strong ladder led from the "bay" at the bottom
+to the top of the hay, almost touching the roof. Jumping from the higher
+board floor of the barn into this bay Montgomery ran nimbly up the
+perpendicular ladder, which was so straight it seemed fairly to tilt
+backwards, like an overerect person, and Katharine followed as best she
+might. She was afraid but determined, and, though the slippery blades of
+the dried grass fell over the rounds of the ladder, making foothold
+difficult, she managed to reach the level beneath the eaves and was
+pulled over into safety by the boy.
+
+"Isn't this delightful? I was never in such a lovely place before, so
+smelly and sweet and warm. I don't wonder hens like it up here, though
+it's scarey coming up. Don't you think so?" she asked, looking around
+upon the lofty mow with curious gaze.
+
+"S-s-scarey? Pooh! That's 'cause you're a girl. G-g-g-irls wasn't made
+to climb. B-boys were. I can climb first-rate. Yes, sir. I c-c-can climb
+anything. I can cl-cl-climb any tree in Aunt Eu-Eu-Eunice's woods. I can
+climb any tree in Deacon Meakin's woods. I--I can climb all the trees in
+Sq-Sq-Squ-Squire Petti--john's woods, top the mountain. I can climb any
+tree in the whole w-w-world! I c-c-co-could climb the church steeple!"
+
+Katharine listened to this boastful statement with interest. She not
+only believed it, but had observed that as Montgomery neared his climax
+his stammering became less pronounced. This coincided with the
+Cyclopedia and suggested the first lesson she should give. But she had
+herself "climbed" to this height for another matter besides instruction.
+To descend with a quantity of fresh eggs for Susanna's depleted larder
+would be to bring one ray of sunshine into that darkened house. For as
+the widow had pertinently inquired of the hired man, only the night
+before, "How can a body cook good victuals without ingrejunce? An'
+what's the greatest ingrejunce in punkin pies if it ain't eggs? Or cake,
+uther?" to which Moses had jocularly replied: "It might be punkin or
+flour." And again, Susanna: "My suz! But you air smart, ain't ye? Well,
+eggs I haven't, an' eggs I shall an' must. An' up that loft I go,
+tromple or no tromple the hay, an' before the sun sets another time on
+this deceivin' world."
+
+Therefore, eggs Katharine would obtain and then instruct; and,
+announcing this decision, Montgomery did his best to aid her in the
+search. Nor was it unsuccessful. There were three nests, safely placed
+beneath the eaves where their builders had supposed in their hen-minds
+that no human being would ever come, while another adventurous fowl had
+lazily scooped a hole in the very centre of the mow and deposited her
+eggs. In any case, eggs there were in abundance, and, having filled
+Montgomery's pockets and Kate's hat with them, they took their own
+well-earned rest upon the fragrant hay beneath the slatted window.
+
+Sunshine and air came through it, and the song of birds in the trees;
+and beyond another distant wide-opened shutter they could see the roofs
+of village homes and the spire of the church which Monty felt he could
+so easily climb. There, all anxiety forgotten, they dreamed dreams and
+saw visions; and in each and all they were both to be good and great and
+world beneficent.
+
+[Illustration: "THERE, ALL ANXIETY FORGOTTEN, THEY DREAMED DREAMS AND
+SAW VISIONS"]
+
+"I shall be a great artist some day. As great as my father, or maybe, if
+one could be--even greater. Because, you see, poor papa had to work for
+money, not for love of his art. I've heard him say so, time and time
+again. When he wanted to paint great pictures he had to paint mean
+little ones, such as common persons liked and would buy. 'Pot boilers'
+he called them, because they brought the cash, the 'fuel,' to keep the
+'pot' a-boiling. Course, we had to have clothes and a house and things
+to eat, and nobody to buy them except papa darling. Maybe, up in heaven,
+he is painting his 'great picture' now. What do you suppose?" asked
+Katharine, gazing through the slats at the blue sky overhead.
+
+"I d-d-don't know much about heaven. I never had time to think.
+T-t-t-th-there's always so much doin'," answered Monty. Yet, following
+Katharine's rapturous gaze skyward, his own blue eyes had filled with
+dreamy speculation, and he began to picture to himself the wonders of
+that world beyond Marsden village which he meant sometime to find.
+
+"B-b-but I'll tell you somethin', Katy Maitland. I'm not goin' to stay
+here always. I'm goin' to be a big man and--and do things," he observed,
+after a prolonged meditation.
+
+"How big? What things?"
+
+"Oh! Big as they g-g-grow. Big as the postmaster. B-b-big as
+Sq-Sq-Squ-Squire Petti--john. I'm goin' to be either a s-s-sailor,
+or--maybe P-P-Pr-President."
+
+"If you're President you'll be a--a, what is it they call them?
+Politicalers, I guess," returned the girl.
+
+"P-p-p-pol-er-tic--ian," corrected Montgomery, with stuttering
+eagerness.
+
+Katharine accepted the correction without comment, though her lips
+twitched and her eyes twinkled; and after a pause she continued:
+"Politicians can do things. They can get folks elected. Anybody to
+anything. Plain storekeepers to be postmasters; postmasters to be
+Senators; Senators to be Presidents; and--and hired men to be
+constables. Can't they?"
+
+"Y-y-yes. Why?"
+
+Katharine sat upright so suddenly that her hat rolled over and the eggs
+spilled from it. However, the hay was soft, and no harm was done, nor
+was her enthusiasm cooled by a trifle of that sort. Clasping her hands
+ecstatically, she exclaimed:
+
+"We must do it! You and I must get Uncle Moses Jones elected constable.
+Now, while he's sick, for a surprise. Won't that be grand?"
+
+"Grand!" assented Montgomery, with such eagerness that he forgot to trip
+in his speech. Then doubt and stammering returned together. "W-w-we
+c-c-c-couldn't."
+
+"Yes, we could, if we had any s-s-sp-spunk!" retorted Katharine,
+heartlessly. "Folks have to be little politicians before they are big
+ones, I suppose, just like children before they are grown-ups. Well,
+you're a little politician now, a teeny tiny one, and it will be just
+splendid practice for you to get a village constable elected. I believe
+that although Uncle Moses and even Aunt Eunice speak so proudly of that
+office, that it isn't as great as some others. I don't know, and I
+wouldn't care at all except for him. But we must do it. I've heard him
+talking with Widow Sprigg how that now the 'law was changed,' 'town
+meeting' was no 'great shakes' any more, for the Presidents and
+constables all got mixed in together till a 'body couldn't tell t'other
+from which.' For his part he'd 'ruther be 'lected in the spring when
+crops was growin' an' tramps a-trampin', though if he was forced into
+it, better one time than never,' and a lot more funny grumble. She told
+him not to worry, that he'd never be 'forced,' much as he'd like it.
+I've decided that he must be elected, and without any 'forcing,' and
+I've the splendidest plan you ever heard. First, I'll give you a lesson.
+Then I'll tell you, else you'll believe I'm forgetting my promise. I'm
+not. I'm only considering the best way to begin. Well, Montgomery
+Sturtevant, that bad habit of yours comes from laziness and nervousness.
+Pure laziness, pure nervousness," she added, with emphasis.
+
+"D-d-don't neither!" denied the stammerer, indignantly. "Ain't got no
+nerves. G-gr-gramma says so, and she knows. She's older 'n you, an'
+she's got 'em worst kind. Always gets 'em when I play the f-f-fiddle."
+
+"Maybe there are two kinds of nerves. She doesn't stammer. Besides
+the Cyclopedia said so, and it tells the truth. Here. Put this
+pebble in your mouth. It's a nice smooth round one. I picked it
+up in the garden and washed it clean. You put it in and then say
+just--as--slow--as--slow: 'Betsy Bobbins baked a batch of biscuit.'
+After you learn to say it slow, without once stammering, then you begin
+to say it faster. Either that or any other jingle that's difficult
+without tripping. 'She sells sea-shells,' or, 'Peter Piper.' Why don't
+you put the pebble in?"
+
+"I don't want t-to. You're mocking me!"
+
+"There! I knew you needn't if you really wouldn't. When you are a little
+angry or in real earnest you can talk well. Listen to me and think if
+I'm not in earnest myself, since I took the trouble to copy all this for
+you."
+
+Thereupon, from the little pocket of her blouse, which had held the
+pebble, the teacher took a folded paper, closely covered with her
+neatest script, and read therefrom paragraphs which alternately plunged
+her pupil into despair or exalted him to extravagant delight. And the
+fortunate result of this first lesson was that when it was ended
+Montgomery had repeated an entire sentence with reasonable smoothness.
+But he had accomplished this without the pebble and with almost
+interminable pauses between words.
+
+"Yet you did it, you did it!" cried Katharine, exultantly; "and now for
+a reward you shall hear the most glorious plan I ever thought out.
+Listen to me, Mr. President-that-is-to-be!"
+
+So Montgomery listened in astonishment, doubt, and delight, after his
+habit of mind; yet also, because of her zeal in his cure, with
+unquestioning allegiance. In any case, it was a scheme that would have
+appealed to him irresistibly and was one full worthy of the brain of
+"Kitty Quixote," so that he was fast outstripping even her ingenuity in
+the matter of detail, when the sudden call of Widow Sprigg fell like a
+dash of cold water upon their glowing spirits:
+
+"Montgomery Sturtevant! You come right down out that mow this minute!
+Here's Squire Pettijohn after you!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+SQUIRE PETTIJOHN
+
+
+Katharine should have grown familiar, by this time, with Monty's
+spasmodic disappearances, but this last was the most amazing of all. It
+seemed that at the sound of "Pettijohn" the hay had opened and swallowed
+him. There had been no other summons and she had heard only a faint
+swish of something sliding, then found herself alone.
+
+"But he'll come back, of course," she reflected, "after he's seen that
+gentleman. Must have been somebody he liked or he wouldn't have hurried
+so. Anyway, I don't mind being here a little while by myself to think
+things out all clear, and a hay-mow is the loveliest place in the world
+for dreaming."
+
+It proved such in reality for Katharine, who, burrowing herself a fresh,
+chair-like "nest" in the sweet-scented hay, laid her head back and fixed
+her gaze upon the clouds floating above the slatted window. Soon her
+lids dropped and she fell fast asleep.
+
+When she awoke the loft was dusky in twilight and she was very cold. The
+wind had risen, and little tufts of the hay about her blew here and
+there, clinging to her clothing and lodging among her short curls.
+Montgomery had not returned, and after lying still a moment longer, till
+she was fully awake, she grew frightened, thinking:
+
+"I never heard such a moaning and whistling as the wind does make up
+here. I wonder if it is always so in a barn, and how I am to get down.
+It was hard enough coming up, but in the dark, like this, and I not
+remembering just where that ladder was; and if I don't find it--what
+shall I do? Yet how silly to be afraid of things, a big girl like me;
+and how impolite of that boy to go away and forget me. No matter how
+much he likes Squire Pettijohn, he shouldn't forget his manners;
+especially since it is I, not that gentleman, who is going to cure him
+of stuttering. And what a stupid I am not to call him! If he's forgotten
+I must remind him."
+
+With that she crept as near the edge of the mow as she dared, and
+shouted: "Montgomery! Monty Sturtevant! Boy! Come back and help me
+down!"
+
+While she listened for a reply she thought of the eggs she had collected
+for Susanna, and crawled back to find her hat and them. The hat she
+slipped over her head, its elastic band clasping her throat, and the
+eggs she stored within her blouse. They were heavy and made it sag
+inconveniently, but she could soon get rid of them if only that wretched
+little Sturtevant boy would come back. She must try again!
+
+"Mon-ty! _Mont--gom--ery!_"
+
+Nothing save the wind soughing dismally among the rafters responded to
+her call, uttered with her loudest voice, and a fresh shiver of fear
+crept over her. Then she rallied, growing angry, which, under the
+circumstances, was the best thing that could have happened. Her
+indignation made her half-forget her terror so that she could plan her
+descent with something like courage.
+
+"Let me think. I noticed that the top of that straight little ladder
+came high above the hay, almost to the roof in one place. I'd better get
+on my stomach and just crawl along, ever so slowly and carefully, till I
+find it. But--hark! Oh, joy!"
+
+From somewhere in the darkness below a familiar yelp and whine sounded
+faintly. The roaring of the wind almost drowned it, yet she recognized
+that Punch had traced and followed her. She had always loved him, but
+never had he been so adorable as at that moment. His unseen presence
+comforted her so that she called back to him quite cheerfully:
+
+"Yes, you precious, beautiful dog! Mistress is up here. She's coming!
+Wait for her, darling, darling fellow!"
+
+It is possible that the ugly-favored little animal appreciated this
+flattery, or he may have had troubles of his own which needed
+comforting. Since his arrival at Marsden, life had not been all
+chop-bones for him any more than it had been all catnip for Sir Philip,
+and the short, gay bark with which he now responded to his mistress' cry
+proved their mutual satisfaction.
+
+At last, Katharine's cautious passage came to a pause as her fingers
+touched the ladder, but she realized that a misstep would send her over
+that precipice of hay into the bay below, which now seemed a gulf of
+unfathomable depth. Inch by inch, with greater prudence than she had
+ever exercised, she moved onward in the gloom, now become almost
+impenetrable, till she got one foot upon a round of the ladder.
+
+"That's good. But I guess I'd see better if I closed my eyes, and I must
+go down it backwards. Now I've both feet on and--dear me! How far it is
+between steps. Why don't people put their rounds closer together, so
+they wouldn't be so hard to climb? I was never on a ladder before except
+a step one, and that not often, and--But I'll manage."
+
+Manage she did and very well, until she had nearly reached the bottom.
+Then, pushing her foot downward where one of the rounds had been broken
+out, it found nothing to rest upon though she stretched it to her
+utmost, and all at once everything seemed to give way and she fell
+backwards. Fortunately, the distance was so slight and the bay so
+carpeted with hay that no serious harm resulted; and when a cold wet
+nose was thrust into her face she sprang to her feet, catching Punch in
+her arms and in her great relief caressing him till he rebelled and
+wriggled himself free.
+
+The wind did not roar so loudly down there, and, presently, she could
+hear things; the sound of somebody moving about on the barn floor, the
+opening and shutting of feed-boxes and stalls, the swish of fodder
+forked to the cows in the shed beyond, and could also see the gleam of
+lantern-light as it was carried to and fro.
+
+"Hello!" cried Katharine, hurrying to the square window through which
+she and Montgomery had leaped into the deep bay, but whose lower frame
+even was so far above her head that she could only touch it by
+stretching her arms to their utmost. She had thought it a big jump then
+and had not considered how she was to return, but now the full
+difficulty of the situation presented itself, and her heart sank.
+
+"Oh, Punchy, dearest! I guess this is a good deal like Susanna's saying,
+'out of the frying-pan into the fire.' Off the hay-mow into the bay. I
+don't see why folks build barns such ways. Why don't they have just
+regular straight floors and things? Wait, pet. Don't rub against my
+ankles so hard, you nearly knock me over. The man'll come back in a
+minute and help us up. I don't see how you ever got down here unless you
+fell down. Hello! Man! _Man!_ Hel--lo! HELP!"
+
+The lantern glimmer appeared once more, but at the extreme end of the
+building, and seemed rapidly receding. Then there came the sound of a
+heavy door slammed forcibly against the wind, the rasp of a bolt in its
+lock, and Katharine knew that she had not been heard, and that she had
+been shut up alone in the great, desolate place.
+
+It was not liking for Squire Pettijohn which had caused Montgomery to
+vanish when called to meet him. Quite the reverse. The name of that man
+of mighty girth and stature struck terror into the soul of every young
+Marsdenite. He was a person of fierce temper and a propensity for
+managing his neighbors' affairs, especially the affairs of his youthful
+neighbors. Report said that his wealth equalled his temper, and that the
+two together made most of the villagers stand in awe of him is certain.
+It was his boast that he represented the cause of law and order in his
+native town, and he often wondered how it had gotten along before he was
+born, or how it would manage when he was dead.
+
+That day he had come home from attending court and found the community
+in a ferment. It would have been excited even by the news of Moses'
+accident and pluck, but the tidings of treasure-finding, scattered
+broadcast by Montgomery during the morning's errands, had stirred its
+profoundest depths.
+
+When the lawyer tied his horse at the post-office, he was greeted by
+statements as various as many. "Miss Maitland has discovered a gold mine
+on her property;" "Monty Sturtevant has dug up buried treasure in
+Eunice's woods;" "'Johnny' Maitland's girl has been sent home to fetch
+Eunice a box of diamonds;" and "There's been gold found right here in
+Marsden township."
+
+These were but the beginnings of the garbled reports which a
+gossip-loving lad had originated; yet all pointed to one and the same
+thing,--Marsden would now become famous. So that more than ever Squire
+Pettijohn felt it good to be a great man in the right place. In all the
+newspaper notices which would follow, his name, also, would appear, and
+notoriety was what he coveted.
+
+Having listened to one and all versions with fierce attention, he
+repaired to his dinner and consumed it in a silence which his observant
+wife knew betokened affairs of unusual weight. But it was not until he
+finished his dessert and pushed back from table that he informed her:
+
+"I am going to Eunice's. Vast wealth has been found upon her premises,
+and she needs me. Deny me to all smaller clients until further notice."
+
+Then, assuming his Sunday attire and stiffest stock, he set pompously
+forth down the tree-bordered street, caning a stray dog here, there
+reprimanding a boy who might be playing "hookey,"--though was not,--and
+shaking his fist at old Whitey, taking her accustomed stroll in and out
+of inviting dooryards. Yet when he came to the wider yard before the
+stone house something of his complaisance left him. "He and Eunice
+Maitland had never hitched." She was always perfectly courteous, and
+never failed to attend the sewing-meetings of the church when they were
+held at his house, and she had even been heard to say that she had "a
+great respect for Mrs. Pettijohn." She might have put a peculiar
+emphasis upon the "Mrs.," but then, everybody has his or her tricks of
+speech which mean nothing.
+
+There was no door-bell at The Maples, but a polished brass knocker
+announced the arrival of any visitor; and it seemed to the worried Widow
+Sprigg as if that "plaguey knocker had done nothin' but whack the hull
+endurin' time sence Moses got hurt. I wonder who 'tis this time!"
+
+Consequently, the door was opened with more impatience than courtesy as
+it now heralded the arrival of the Squire, who was for passing at once
+into the hall had not something in Susanna's manner caused him to
+hesitate.
+
+"Miss Maitland. Is she at home? Will you present my card to her and say
+that I have called in person--in person--"
+
+"Don't see how you could have called any other way," answered the
+greatly tried housekeeper, remembering him rather as "little Jimmy
+Pettijohn," whom her own mother had used to feed and befriend, than as
+the important personage he had since become.
+
+"Ah, Susanna, my good woman, you were always facetious! I would like to
+see your mistress. Please announce me to her and conduct me to the
+drawing-room."
+
+It was a mistaken tone and the widow hesitated at no rudeness which
+would protect the beloved "friend" with whom she dwelt, and whom it was
+her privilege to openly call by the familiar title of "Eunice," which
+this "Jimmy" dared not do save behind the lady's back.
+
+"We hain't got no drawin'-room here, an' Eunice ain't seein' no more
+folks to-day, not if I can help it. I'm sure she won't see no men folks,
+anyway. We've been overrun with them, a'ready, just 'cause Moses has
+broke his leg and a few his ribs. Accidents happen to anybody if they're
+keerless, an' he admits he was. But he's as comfortable as can be
+expected, thank ye, and good day."
+
+"But, Susanna, not so fast. I came to offer my services in regard to
+this--er--gold mine which the little Baltimore girl has discovered."
+
+"W-h-a-t?" gasped the widow in utter amazement. Had the man taken leave
+of his senses?
+
+"The gold mine, or--or hidden treasure--or casket of diamonds,--reports
+vary; yet all agree in the fact that extraordinary wealth has been
+unearthed in the old Maitland woods. Of course, Eunice being unused to
+the management of large affairs and only a woman--a woman--she would
+appreciate the help of an experienced man. I trust my advice may prove
+of benefit to her."
+
+The Widow Sprigg listened with an attention that would have been
+flattering had not her face evinced her incredulity. As it was, she
+stood for a brief time, staring over her spectacles at the big man, as
+if gazing at some curiosity, then she laughed, scornfully:
+
+"Why, Squire, upon my word I'm sorry for ye! Though I don't know who
+'twas 'at made a fool of ye, but fool you have been made, and no
+mistake. Such a balderdash as that! Why, man alive, don't you s'pose if
+anything worth findin' had been found on Eunice's property she'd ha'
+told me the first one? An' me an' her livin' like sisters, so to speak,
+even sence I growed up, savin' the spell whilst Mr. Sprigg, he was
+alive. Two years I spent in my own house 't Mr. Sprigg he built, on his
+own piece of woodland 'j'inin' hers, and she buyin' it off me soon's he
+departed. The prettiest little house in the hull township, 'tis, too,
+an' where I 'xpect to end my days if I outlive her, which I hope I
+won't. An' her needin' business 'advice,' indeed! When there ain't a man
+in Marsden, let alone all the women, can hold a candle to her for
+gumption an' clear-headedness. An' her sayin' to me then, 'Susanna, it
+will do you more good to sell to me an' put your money out to int'rest
+'an to have a lot of wuthless land on your hands, an' you shall keep the
+little cottage for your own as long as you live.' So we done it, an' she
+paid me more'n the market price; an' has left me the house all
+untouched, with my own furniture in it, an' me goin' out there twicet a
+year for spring an' fall cleanin,' an' even leavin' the kitchen-bedroom
+bed made up, case I get the hypo an' feel like bein' by myself a spell."
+
+"I know, I know, Susanna. I've heard of Eunice's generosity to you, and
+of your whimsical retention of an empty house. You ought to let it to
+some decent tenant and get some benefit of it. Upon second thoughts, I
+would advise you to sell it. Now that this treasure has been found you
+might realize well on it. I--Why, I don't know but I might be induced to
+take it off your hands myself, just to do a friendly deed to an old
+schoolmate."
+
+Squire Pettijohn had managed to stem the tide of her garrulity long
+enough to interpose this speech of his own, and to act upon an idea
+which had just occurred to him. The value of the old Maitland forest
+would leap to fabulous height if the rumor that gold had been discovered
+there proved true. But he did not intend to offer much for the "deserted
+cabin," convenient though it might be to the possible mine, upon the
+strength of a mere rumor, and even though the chance existed of the same
+vein of wealth extending even so far. He would first get confirmation of
+the story from Miss Maitland's own lips and would then act with his eyes
+open.
+
+He was not succeeding very well in his errand of "neighborly kindness,"
+for Susanna still held the door so nearly closed that he could not force
+an entrance, even though he kept his foot firmly in the aperture. The
+woman still regarded him with a pitying amusement; yet gradually
+curiosity got the better of her common sense, which told her that he was
+the victim of some hoax, and she inquired:
+
+"Who told you such a yarn, Squire?"
+
+"Please admit me. I am not accustomed to being kept on people's
+thresholds when I take time out of my busy life to call upon them; and
+no one person in especial told me. The talk is in everybody's mouth, and
+the whole village has gone wild over the matter."
+
+"But it must have had some sort o' beginnin'. Wild goose gabble like
+that don't spring full-fledged out the ground, I know. Who--started the
+ridic'lous business?" persisted the housekeeper, almost unconsciously
+opening the door somewhat wider.
+
+Squire Pettijohn improved this opportunity and made his way into the
+hall before she remembered that she had not intended to admit him. In
+any case, she instantly reflected he shouldn't see her mistress, whom he
+had had the impertinence to speak of as "Eunice."
+
+But her reflection came too late. Miss Maitland was already descending
+the wide stairs, and had paused at the half-way landing, to observe who
+was this latest visitor of the many who had called to ask for Moses.
+Called, also, it may be, to learn something further concerning the
+interesting "treasure."
+
+But none save this gentleman had ventured to speak to her of what was,
+in reality, her own affair, and she had not encouraged inquirers to
+remain. Privacy had never seemed so desirable to her as on that fateful
+morning nor so difficult to maintain; and though there was no rudeness,
+her neighbors went away with the feeling that:
+
+"Eunice Maitland's just as proud and reserved as ever. Moses' trouble
+and her own great fortune don't make a bit of difference, and she makes
+you feel, without saying a word, that your room is better than your
+company; and that she'll keep her own counsel in this matter as she has
+always done in smaller ones."
+
+"Good afternoon, Miss Eunice! Accept my hearty congratulations!" cried
+Squire Pettijohn, pushing eagerly forward to the foot of the stairs, and
+bowing to her descending.
+
+"Good afternoon, Squire Pettijohn. You are very kind to come and inquire
+for my poor friend, Mr. Jones. I am glad to tell you that the doctor
+says he will do very well, but sorry to add that he will be a prisoner
+indoors for a long time. Is Mrs. Pettijohn quite well?"
+
+So speaking, and with the manner of one who has expected but one kind of
+interest in affairs at The Maples, yet knowing perfectly well that the
+Squire would never have troubled himself about a "hired man's"
+misfortunes, Aunt Eunice walked with her visitor toward the door. She
+was puzzled by his presence, but did not enjoy it, and was herself going
+just then to read the _Weekly Journal_ to her injured helper. She did
+not take the hint given by the Squire's pause beside the sitting-room
+door, and moved gently forward to the outer entrance, as if to terminate
+the interview.
+
+"Make my regards to your good wife, Squire, and thank her for sending to
+inquire. Moses is much touched and gratified by the good-will of his
+neighbors, and has had many calls already. But doctor says he should
+see nobody except ourselves for the present. Good afternoon."
+
+They had now reached the doorway and Susanna stood at one side, keenly
+observant of the other two, and suddenly breaking into their talk with
+the exclamation:
+
+"Well, Eunice! What do you think's sent Jimmy Pettijohn a-visitin' _us_?
+Not none of Moses' troubles, but to hear about the 'gold mine' was found
+in the big woods this mornin'! Did you ever hear the beat?"
+
+"A gold mine? Surely, he knows how absurd such an idea would be,"
+answered Aunt Eunice, quietly bowing and turning away.
+
+As she disappeared in the hall beyond the stair-way the Squire coughed
+and started to follow, then apparently thought better of it, for he
+merely reproved Susanna with his most judicial sternness, saying:
+
+"If you women would be careful to repeat things as you hear them you
+would save much confusion. It is true I did mention 'gold mine,' but I
+also mentioned a hidden box of treasure. The majority of the villagers
+claimed the latter was what was really found, and--"
+
+"Who started such a cock-an'-bull story? Must have had a beginnin' in
+somebody's mouth."
+
+Susanna had now become not only indignant but profoundly curious. She
+would find out who was responsible for this strange rumor, then she
+would promptly interview that person and cross-examine him as only a
+woman could. But the reply which she received astonished her more than
+the story had done.
+
+"It was that stammering little grandson of the Madam's. He and the
+little girl who's staying here were the discoverers. So I was told,"
+answered the Squire, making ready to depart.
+
+"Well, I declare! If 'twas ary one o' them we can soon settle their
+hash. Come with me, Squire, I saw the pair goin' into the barn a little
+spell ago, an' I hain't seen 'em come out. Katy, she don't know you--an'
+so ain't afraid of ye. She ain't afraid of anything I've seen yet; but
+Monty--Hm-m. I can leave Monty to you to deal with. My suz! If this
+ain't been the greatest day that ever I saw!"
+
+With which remark she led the way to the foot of the hay-mow and sent up
+the summons which had caused Montgomery's sudden disappearance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+ALFARETTA'S PERPLEXITY
+
+
+"Alfy! A-A-Alfy!"
+
+Her name hissed into her ear partially roused the bound-out girl from a
+nap she had been taking with the towel in one hand, an unwiped dish in
+the other. She had the faculty of going to sleep anywhere and any time
+opportunity offered. She now leaned comfortably against the wall beside
+the sink, her eyes closed and her mind oblivious to her surroundings,
+and dimly hearing through her dreams that sibilant call:
+
+"A-A-A-Alfy!"
+
+Then her ear was pinched and she brought back to reality.
+
+"What you doin' to me, Montgomery Sturtevant? I'll tell your grandma!"
+
+"Ain't meanin' to hurt you, A-A-Alfy. I--Don't you d-do that. I--Say,
+I'm goin' to h-h-hide in the s-s-secret chamb--er. Don't you t-t-tell
+anybody. You fetch my s-s-s-supper up after dark. An' some w-w-water.
+Fetch enough to l-l-last--forever! I don't know as I s-s-shall
+ever--ever--dare to c-c-come down."
+
+The Mansion where the Sturtevants had lived during many generations was
+a house even older than The Maples. It was far more quaintly ancient in
+style, and had been one of the many "Headquarters" of our Revolutionary
+generals. The earliest built house in the county, the part first erected
+still stood strong and intact, though little used now. On this portion
+of the Mansion the roof ended sharp at the eaves on one side, and but a
+few feet above the ground; the opposite side being two full stories and
+attic in height. Within this "old part" were many curious rooms, one
+having the peculiarity of seven doors and but one window; a monster
+fireplace, wherein one could stand and look straight up to the sky
+through the great stone chimney, and where still hung a rusty gigantic
+crane, once used for the roasting of meats and boiling of pots; but,
+most curious of all, a perpendicular shaft leading to a "secret chamber"
+beneath the sloping roof. To ascend this shaft one climbed upon small
+triangular steps fitted alternately in the rear corners of it; and it
+was entered through a sliding, spring-secured panel of the
+"keeping-room." No stranger would have discovered that the panel was a
+doorway, and even to Alfaretta it suggested deeds of darkness and
+treachery. The utmost Montgomery had yet been able to persuade her to
+do was to peep fearfully up that uncanny stair-way, from the dimness
+below to the utter gloom at top. To ascend it, as he did, nimbly hand
+over hand--the mere thought of it set her shuddering.
+
+Now he was gone, and--there! She knew it. She heard him softly crossing
+the bare floor of the "old part" in his stockinged feet, heard the rusty
+squeak of the ancient spring-fastening, fancied that she heard--though
+she could not--his swift ascent of the ladder stairs, and--heard no
+more.
+
+But she was now far wider awake than the pinch on her ear had made her,
+and she was terribly disturbed. In that house everybody, meaning Madam
+and herself, did what its young "master" desired. Of course on the
+lady's part there were some exceptions to this rule, but none whatever
+on Alfaretta's. The lad was at once her delight and her torment; in his
+wilder moods teasing her relentlessly, but in his more thoughtful ones
+pitying her for her hard lot in life. Yet, in fact, since the girl had
+been taken from the "county farm" to serve Madam Sturtevant until she
+should be eighteen, she was scarcely poorer than the mistress who
+employed her, and who scrupulously shared her own comforts with her
+charge.
+
+Big as the house was, there was very little money in it. None whatever
+would have been there save for the generosity of distant relatives who
+regularly sent a small cheque to the Madam, as well as a box of clothing
+for the grandson; nor did they even dream that upon that cheque and the
+neighborly kindness of Eunice Maitland the household at the mansion
+existed.
+
+Fortunately, for the present, Alfaretta demanded nothing in the matter
+of wages. When she should be eighteen the, to her, almost fabulous sum
+of one hundred dollars would be her due as well as a decent "fitting
+out" of wearing apparel. Then she would be free to go or stay, work for
+"real wages" for this mistress, or engage herself to another. But
+eighteen was a long way off as yet, and though sometimes a wonder as to
+where she should get the pledged one hundred dollars did cross Madam
+Sturtevant's mind, she put the thought aside as soon as possible.
+Sufficient unto that day would be its own evil, and there had been days
+in the past far more evil than Alfy's coming of age could ever be.
+
+Had relic-hunters known it the Mansion was a storehouse of genuine
+"antiques" which would have been eagerly purchased at fancy prices; but
+Marsden was far out of the line of such persons, and, save in extreme
+necessity, the old gentlewoman would have refused to part with her
+belongings.
+
+Eunice, who was better informed on such matters because of her wider
+reading, had once delicately suggested to her friend that such or such
+an old "claw-foot" was worth a deal of money, and that it wasn't really
+necessary to have four tall clocks, each more than a century old,
+ticking the hours away in that empty house.
+
+But her suggestion was wholly misunderstood. Madam had rather crisply
+replied that she was perfectly capable of winding the clocks on the one
+day in eight when they required it, and hoped to continue so till her
+life's end. Indeed, it had used to be a rather formal little household
+ceremony--that winding of the clocks on every Sunday morning. A ceremony
+that had always been performed by the two reigning heads of the "family"
+in each succeeding generation. It had been Madam's place to walk with
+her husband from room to room and stand beside him while with the queer
+old keys he wound the weights up from the bottom of the upright cases to
+the top, whence they would again begin their slow descent to the bottom,
+reaching it as another Lord's Day came around.
+
+Nowadays, Montgomery, as the last of his race, had been promoted to
+accompany his grandmother on this clock-winding tour, and had once
+innocently asked:
+
+"Did my father use to go with y-you, as I-I-I do?"
+
+Strangely enough, he had never before inquired much about his parents,
+but had somehow imbibed the knowledge that both were dead. His father
+had once "gone away" and never returned; but his mother had come home,
+bringing him an infant, had placed him in the Madam's arms, had taken to
+her bed, and had left it only to be carried to the burying-ground on the
+hill. Of her the old lady often talked, and once when they had carried
+roses to the unmarked grave he had heard her softly quote: "A sweeter
+woman ne'er drew breath, than my son's wife, Elizabeth."
+
+But of that son, her own only child, she said nothing till he asked that
+unfortunate question. Then she had turned upon him with a face so unlike
+her own that he was frightened and needed no command to make him avoid
+that subject forever after.
+
+"Your father is--gone; has died to us. Speak of him no more."
+
+The tragedy of her expression haunted him for a time, and he wondered
+why she was so much more distressed by mention of her son than of her
+husband, since both were dead. However, he soon forgot the matter save
+to obey her wish, though afterward this clock-winding, which he had
+thought a "bother an' n-n-nuisance," seemed fully as sacred an act as
+the church-going which followed it.
+
+This, then, was Montgomery's home and life, and why he who was so petted
+and indulged should put himself in hiding, and, of all places, in that
+dreadful "secret chamber," puzzled Alfaretta.
+
+"He told me not to tell Madam, an' he told me to bring his supper. How
+can I? How dast I? I--I'd be more afraid to go up that stair 'an to walk
+through the graveyard alone at midnight. I would so, Ma'am Puss, an' you
+keep your nose out that suppawn, I tell you!"
+
+The perturbed little maid felt that it was good to have even a cat to
+talk to, and vented some of her vexation by kicking the unlucky animal
+aside from the pot, whose hot contents she was merely sniffing. Suppawn
+and milk was the customary supper at the Mansion, and as its mistress
+liked to have the pudding cooked for a long time and also continually
+stirred during that operation, Alfaretta had become expert in the matter
+of managing. The pot was duly put on at the hour appointed, and the
+Indian meal carefully sifted into the salt, boiling water. When the
+mixture appeared fairly smooth and Alfy's arm was tired the pot was set
+upon the hearth and the young cook went to sleep. When the sleep was of
+sufficient length to cool the porridge Ma'am Puss extracted her own
+supper in advance of the family's, and nobody was the wiser. But to-day,
+Alfaretta had forgotten to remove the pot from the stove while she did
+her "noon dishes" and taken her intermediate nap, with the result that
+the suppawn was burned and even the cat wouldn't touch it. And although
+she had whisked it off the fire as soon as Monty had disappeared, her
+trained nose told her that this was a supper spoiled for everybody. She
+was very sorry for Madam, who would try to eat it, and always bore more
+patiently with her young handmaid than that person wholly deserved, but
+there was a silver lining to that cloud! Montgomery would never touch
+suppawn if it were scorched: therefore, she need carry him none of it.
+
+[Illustration: "MA'AM PUSS EXTRACTED HER OWN SUPPER IN ADVANCE OF THE
+FAMILY'S"]
+
+"Couldn't have got any milk up there, anyway, without spillin' it, Ma'am
+Puss, an' you know it. Goody! Course he'll come down. He'll have to if
+he gets starvin' hungry. No harm done--much. I wonder what he's been up
+to now! Well, I can't help it. I didn't get him into no scrapes. An'
+I'll work real hard the rest the afternoon, hemmin' that petticoat
+Madam's give me to make over for myself. It'll be a real good petticoat
+if I ever get it done, though it's about forty rods around the bottom, I
+believe."
+
+Full of good intentions, Alfaretta carefully set the burned pudding back
+on the stove, wherein the wood fire had nearly gone out, and sat down to
+her task of needlework. In reality, she was a very tired little girl.
+Madam was daintily neat and vigorous for a woman of her years. Never
+very robust, she still exercised what strength she had in a ceaseless
+round of sweeping and dusting. All the empty old rooms were as orderly
+as when there had been many servants to attend them, but this was
+accomplished at a cost of incessant labor and watchfulness, which the
+mistress really enjoyed since it filled her days with "things to do,"
+but which was not so well liked by her bond-maid.
+
+Ma'am Puss curled herself at Alfy's feet and purred herself to sleep so
+soundly that a tame mouse, the girl's own especial pet, came out from
+hiding and scampered merrily about the kitchen floor. The chorus of
+clock-ticks sounded drowsily through the silent house, Madam was taking
+her daily rest on her lounge in the sitting-room, and after a time the
+seamstress's good intentions passed into a maze of dreams. In them she
+seemed to be eternally climbing steep stairs into a chamber of horrors
+tenanted by one starving boy; or she was watching Madam choke to death
+over a lump of hot scorched porridge; or she was being tossed on the
+horns of Squire Pettijohn's black bull,--the terror of all young, and
+some old, Marsdenites,--and from this last dream she awoke to find the
+kitchen quite dark, and Whitey mooing outside the window.
+
+It was Montgomery's place to "tend cow," the lonely remnant of a once
+large herd, but it was Alfaretta's duty to milk it.
+
+"Yes, Whitey! It's all right, an' for once you've come home by yourself.
+A good job, too. Let me see. How fur have I sewed? To there--to there!"
+sleepily murmured the maid, and realizing that she had on that afternoon
+of best intentions accomplished the magnificent distance of two inches!
+"Two inches, if it's a stitch. Two inches a day for--How many days will
+it take to hem--to hem--Huh! I can't bother! But if I'm to go to school
+next quarter as Madam says I may, I'll have to do faster 'n that. Might
+get it ready for my outfit, like Monty says," remarked the sewer to
+herself, laughing carelessly.
+
+Folding the garment neatly, she put it back in the work-basket her
+mistress had given her, and taking her pail, went out to milk old
+Whitey. But first she attended to what was properly Montgomery's part of
+the evening's chores, stalling the cow and throwing into her manger the
+scanty supply of night fodder that could be afforded. Then she sat down
+to milk, and accomplished that operation so slowly that Whitey turned
+her head as far as the stanchions would permit to see what this slowness
+meant.
+
+With the coming of the dusk Alfaretta's perplexities had returned and
+brought others with them. It was not only a question of the boy's going
+supperless--nor her courage, nor of burned porridge and Madam's lifted
+eyebrows when it was tasted, which to the bond-girl was "Worse 'an a
+lickin';" it was that further one of the grandmother's inquiries. How
+should she answer them?
+
+She loitered as long as she could, but the evil hour could not be
+indefinitely postponed. Madam's habits were as exact as those of her
+ancient clocks, and precisely as the four of them were striking six the
+little silver bell tinkled in the dining-room.
+
+With an air of every-day indifference, Alfaretta dished the burned
+porridge upon a delicate china platter and filled a cut-glass pitcher
+with milk. These she placed upon a silver tray and carried to the
+shining mahogany table where the mistress was already seated. Then she
+took her own place behind the lady's chair, as she had been trained,
+ready to serve the simple meal; yet hardly had she stationed herself
+there than the dreaded question came:
+
+"Where is Montgomery, Alfaretta?"
+
+"Oh, dear! How not to tell the truth an' how not to lie!" reflected the
+perplexed girl, but not till the question was repeated did she reply: "I
+s'pose he's--he's somewheres."
+
+Madam's eyebrows were lifted then. "Why, Alfaretta!"
+
+"Yes, Madam. I'm sorry the suppawn scorched. I--I was terr'ble sleepy
+an' I stopped stirrin' a little minute an' first I knew--"
+
+"I asked for Montgomery. Did you tell him that supper was served?"
+
+"No, Madam."
+
+"Please do so."
+
+Glad of any reprieve from giving the answer she hated to make, the girl
+left the room in haste, as if intent upon summoning the lad. But she
+was gone longer than seemed necessary, nor did the waiting grandmother
+hear the boyish voice she loved, despite its stammering; and she was
+herself just rising to look for the lad herself when the maid reentered,
+pale and breathless, and evidently frightened in extreme.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE FACE IN THE DARKNESS
+
+
+Miss Maitland had promptly engaged Deacon Meakin to take Moses' place
+during the latter's enforced idleness, and the arrangement promised to
+be satisfactory to all concerned.
+
+Susanna had observed:
+
+"You couldn't do better, Eunice. The deacon's forehanded himself, but he
+likes money--all them Meakins do--an' he's been as oneasy as a fish out
+o' water sence he sold his farm an' moved into the village. A man 'at's
+been used to workin' seventeen hours a day, ever sence he was born till
+he's turned sixty, ain't goin' to be content to lie abed till six seven
+o'clock in the mornin' an' spend the rest the day splittin'
+kindlin'-wood to keep a parlor stove a-goin'. He'll be glad o' the job,
+an' he'll be glad o' the wages, an' he'll break his neck tryin' to do
+more an' better'n Moses ever did. You couldn't do better. It's a ill
+wind that blows nobody good, an' Moseses misfortune is the deacon's
+blessin'."
+
+There was something else which made the good deacon accept Miss
+Maitland's offer with so much alacrity. According to his own wife:
+
+"The deacon he feels terr'ble sot-up bein' selected to become one the
+family, so to speak, right now on the top of that treasure findin'. I
+ain't seen him walk so straight or step 'round so lively, not sence we
+moved in. An' whatever the truth is in this queer business, he'll fathom
+it, trust him! or bust."
+
+This, to a next-door neighbor, as the gentleman in question set off down
+the street to enter upon his new duties.
+
+So it was the deacon whom Katharine had heard busy about the barn and
+the glimmer of whose lantern had disappeared in the distance. With a
+precaution his predecessor in office had never practised, he had secured
+every shutter and window and locked every door before he crossed the
+driveway between barn and house and entered the kitchen, where Susanna
+was toasting bread for supper. As he blew out the candle in the lantern
+and deposited that ancient luminary on the lean-to shelf, he rubbed his
+hands complacently, and observed:
+
+"Well, Widow Sprigg, I cal'late I've done things up brown. Winds may
+blow an' waves may roar, as the poet says, but nobody nor nothing can't
+break into Eunice's buildin's whilst I have the care on 'em. How's he
+doin'?"
+
+As Moses was the only "he" on the premises the question naturally
+referred to him.
+
+"Oh, he's all right enough. I mean, right as he can be, stove to pieces
+like he is. One good sign about him--He's crosser'n fury. All said an'
+done that me or Eunice could to please him, and he won't be pleased.
+Wants them childern, an' the mis'able things have skedaddled somewheres
+an' can't be found."
+
+The deacon recognized an opportunity. He drew his chair up to the
+fireplace, where, above a bed of glowing coals, Susanna was making her
+toast, and said:
+
+"There, neighbor, you look clear tuckered out, an' no wonder with what
+all you've gone through to-day. Hand me the fork. I'll help you. I
+hain't been ma's husband forty year without learnin' how to toast a
+slice of bread. An', my sake! Ain't it all just wonderful! An' what in
+power do you s'pose she'll do with it all?"
+
+Susanna rather reluctantly yielded the toaster, looking speculatively
+over her spectacles at her would-be helper. Here was another man gone
+daft, or apparently so. Then she remarked, testily:
+
+"I don't see what's happened all you men to talk so odd. Here's Jim
+Pettijohn been here a-offerin' his services to help Eunice look after a
+gold mow, or somethin'. An' me that surprised you could knock me down
+with a feather, just to see him walkin' up our front path. We ain't
+never had no 'casion for visits from the Squire--not sence he got to be
+one. Before then, years ago, when he was a humbly little barefoot shaver
+runnin' 'round loose, 'cause his ma was too poor to feed him, why the
+Maitlands used to half keep him. We none of us Maitlands has ever liked
+him, though. And now you--It ain't for the love of toastin' bread that
+you've set yourself down 'longside this fireplace, Deacon Meakin, and I
+do wish you'd put me out my misery an' tell plump and straight what's
+possessin' this village of Marsden this day!"
+
+"You pretend you don't know, widow?"
+
+"No, I don't pretend. I never 'pretended' a thing in my life. I say
+plain an' square what I mean an' no hints nor inyendys about it. Now, I
+ask you as man to man, or widow to deacon, what's all this fuss beyond
+just Moses gettin' his bones broke? There's something, and it seems to
+belong to our folks, yet me nor Eunice don't know a touch about it,
+nuther one. Now, tell."
+
+The slice of bread fell from the two-pronged fork into the fire, but
+neither of this worthy pair observed the fact. For at once the deacon
+plunged into his story, relating the varied rumors which were at that
+moment being excitedly discussed by every other fireside in Marsden, as
+by this; and the grain of truth extracted from the mass was
+that--something out of the common had happened, yet nobody knew just
+what; that Katharine and Montgomery were the chief actors in the drama,
+with Moses a possible accessory. Also, that to Miss Maitland the whole
+affair was known "root and branch," and that she had been true to her
+character and refused to share her affairs with even the friendliest of
+neighbors.
+
+"And now, Susanna Sprigg, what do you say to that?" demanded the deacon,
+exultantly, when he had finished his garbled narrative.
+
+"I say--_bosh_! And you've burned the toast. But I've got enough done,
+anyway. We always 'feed' at five o'clock in the mornin' an' milk right
+after. And you needn't bother to lock the buildin's another night.
+Course, we do have keys an' keep 'em hung in their places, but as for
+usin' 'em--Why, who in Marsden would steal a cent's worth?"
+
+The deacon felt he had been bidden to take himself away, yet with
+nothing learned; and as he slowly adjusted his plush cap and pulled its
+ear-tabs down, he fixed a facetious glance upon the housekeeper, making
+one more effort toward enlightenment, saying:
+
+"I admit Marsden an honest village, less I never'd a-sold the farm an'
+moved in. But what's been in the past ain't no pattern for the futur'.
+Course, you hain't had no occasion for bars an' bolts, heretofore, but
+hereafter--hereafter--with that bag or box or trunk of diamonds--a gold
+box it is, too, they say--or them big lumps of gold out the
+mine--prudence is advisable. Good night."
+
+He went out, rather noisily closing the door behind him; and, fairly
+snatching up the plate of toast, Susanna repaired to the room where, in
+an unlighted gloom, Eunice awaited her supper.
+
+"My suz! Eunice, why didn't you light up 'fore this? I meant to do it
+myself, but what with runnin' up-stairs to tend to Moses an' showin'
+that blunderheaded deacon the ways of doin' our chores, I let it go."
+
+Eunice rose to do as suggested. Indeed, she had been sitting so absorbed
+in her own thoughts that she had not observed the coming of nightfall;
+but Susanna interposed:
+
+"You set still, Eunice Maitland, till I get all the lamps lit there is.
+I've got to have a chance to see whether I'm awake or dreamin'. I want
+to see square into your own face, an' learn if you're bein' deceived or
+are deceivin' me. Here's that little mis'able Jimmy Pettijohn--"
+
+"Little, Susanna?"
+
+"Yes, little. Always was an' always will be. His outside has growed big
+enough in all conscience, but his inside has stayed the size of a
+pin-point, same as it was born. And Deacon Meakin, that's always had the
+reputation of common sense, a-insistin' that a gold mow has been found
+in our woods; or if not that, then a box--a shiny box of--My suz!
+Eunice--Eunice--what is the matter?"
+
+Miss Maitland had risen and stood staring incredulously at the
+housekeeper. She was trembling violently and her face had turned paler
+than the other had ever seen it. She opened her lips to speak, but words
+seemed slow in coming, and after a moment she sank back in her chair,
+murmuring only:
+
+"Oh, Susanna! How dreadful!"
+
+"Eunice, be you sick?"
+
+"No. Oh, no, no."
+
+"Then there's somethin' in this, after all. An'--an'--you never told
+me!" cried the widow, for the first time in her life feeling really
+angry with this good friend.
+
+"I couldn't tell you, dear Susanna. I could tell nobody. It does not
+concern--any one now living."
+
+Her hesitation was not lost upon the eager woman opposite, whose
+curiosity was greater even than her anger; making her demand, promptly:
+
+"Which was it? Box or mow?"
+
+"I cannot tell you. I shall not say another word upon the subject. Where
+are the children?" But though the tone was decisive, it was also very
+gentle; and now smiling across to her irate housemate, she added: "Be
+faithful to me in this matter, dear friend, as you have always been in
+others. The secret is not mine to impart. You will help me to silence
+all these dreadful rumors by simply ignoring them. Nothing has happened,
+save Moses' trouble, to affect our life in any way. I am astonished that
+people should make so much of so little, and I am both surprised and
+disappointed that any rumors have been set afloat. It seems impossible
+to trust anybody, nowadays, even a child! But where are the two who
+belong to us? Where is Katharine? Where is Montgomery? He should be
+going home, or his grandmother will worry. But be sure to put him up a
+basket of food. There's that half of a boiled ham, and yesterday's bread
+was extra fine. A loaf of that and a square of gingerbread should
+satisfy him for the bread-and-milk dinner he was forced to put up with.
+He was very helpful in running errands, I must not forget that."
+
+Miss Eunice continued talking as if she wished to recall to herself all
+the good qualities of one who had bitterly disappointed her. How could a
+Sturtevant be so dishonorable? Or was it a Maitland? Which of the two
+young things who had found the box and had given her their promise, had
+so soon broken their word? For, of course, only by and through them
+could these wild rumors have been set astir.
+
+Susanna had listened in silence, which was not her habit. She was still
+disappointed and hurt, and was trying in her own mind to put several
+things together. But she rallied as Eunice paused, and said:
+
+"I don't know where they are, ary one. The Squire he was after Monty,
+hot foot. 'Twas him, he said, 'at had set the yarn a-goin'. After all,
+it might be one his own wild goose make-believes, if--if _you_ hadn't
+owned it was true. Of course, I'll do what you want. I always have, or
+tried to; but I will say this much, Eunice Maitland, 'at I don't feel
+you've the confidence in me you ought to have. That's all. I'll say no
+more. And as for where them two oneasy young ones are, I can't guess. I
+heard 'em talkin' or I heard Monty, up in the hay-mow, just after the
+Squire wanted him. I heard him as I was crossing the gravel road to the
+barn, yet when we got there an' called to him--he simply wasn't. He
+knowed he'd been doin' wrong, most like, else he'd have come down."
+
+"Did you tell him that it was Squire Pettijohn who wished to see him?"
+
+"Yes. Course. I thought that would scare him into comin' right away."
+
+Miss Maitland laughed, and answered: "My dear, misguided woman! You
+might have known Monty well enough to understand how fast he would
+disappear in some other direction. He has probably gone home and
+Katharine with him. I hate to put any further task upon you, but I--I'm
+rather upset by to-day's events and shall have to ask you to go for
+Kate. I must tell her to remember hours and always be on hand at
+meal-time. She is a winning child in many ways, but--I fear I'm too old
+to get used again to any child."
+
+Susanna went out without a further word. In her heart she was glad of
+the rather long walk to Madam Sturtevant's, since during it she would
+have opportunity to stop at some neighbors' doors, hear what they had to
+say, and promptly disabuse their minds of whatever wild notions they had
+that day acquired. For despite her personal vexation with Eunice she was
+loyal to her, and felt that she had but to say "Bosh!" in her most
+emphatic way to any rumor repeated in order to dispose of it. Mistaken
+woman! As well try to stem the ocean's flood as to silence a secret once
+betrayed!
+
+These several calls, brief though they were, brought her somewhat late
+to Madam Sturtevant's, and at that very moment when Alfaretta rushed
+into the dining-room, frightened and breathless. Now the Widow Sprigg so
+rarely paid a visit to the Mansion that she meant to make this one as
+formal as possible; so, instead of tapping at the side door, she stepped
+to the front one and gave a resounding whack upon the big brass knocker.
+
+"Ouch!" screamed Alfaretta.
+
+"Why--what's that!" exclaimed the Madam. After-dark callers were an
+unknown thing at that house, and instant premonition of evil chilled
+its mistress's heart.
+
+"D-don't be s-s-scared!" said the little maid, hurrying to the lady's
+side and clinging to her skirt, stammering as readily as Montgomery
+would have done and ostensibly to reassure her mistress, but, in
+reality, for her own protection. Madam could be so stately and grand
+that she must awe any intruder who looked upon her, and behind her black
+skirt the girl felt safer.
+
+"Scared, Alfaretta? How absurd! But coming so suddenly upon our quietude
+the summons surprised me. Take the candle from the side table and open
+the door."
+
+The Mansion was still lighted by candles which its mistress herself
+prepared, molding them in tin molds exactly as had been done by the
+first lady who had ever ruled there, but for economy's sake as few were
+burned as possible. One now glimmered upon the supper-table and another,
+unlighted, waited elsewhere for just such an emergency--but an emergency
+so long delayed that Alfy had never expected it to arrive.
+
+She had learned to polish the antique stick to a dazzling brilliancy,
+its snuffers and extinguisher as well, "in case we should have an
+evening call," being the weekly remark that accompanied the polishing.
+But till now the wick of the candle thus prepared had remained white as
+when removed from the mold, and Alfaretta's hand trembled as she now
+left her ambush of black serge and tried to obey.
+
+"Take care, child! You're lighting the candle--not the wick! Take
+another lighter and try again."
+
+Even matches were a luxury to be reckoned with in that impoverished
+home; and besides, all the family had always used paper "lighters"
+daintily twisted, and crimped at top, nor was Elinor Sturtevant one to
+go behind her own traditions. But, at that moment, Alfaretta had already
+wasted three lighters without igniting the new wick when again that loud
+knocking was repeated.
+
+Madam's patience fled.
+
+"You clumsy child! Don't delay any longer. Whoever it is will think us
+most inhospitable. Take this one already burning and go to the door at
+once."
+
+"I--I dassent!" quavered Alfaretta, retreating toward the kitchen.
+
+"You--dare--not? How ridiculous. Then I will go myself! though when one
+has a maid one expects her to attend the door. That's a point upon which
+I am very particular. Remember that, in future."
+
+"Yes'm," murmured the girl, absently. There were so many "points" upon
+which the old gentlewoman insisted that some of them fell on unheeding
+ears. At present, she was conscious only of two things: she must either
+remain alone behind in a dark room or she must go with her mistress and
+face whatever lay beyond that great front door. Deciding the latter
+course to be preferable, she timidly followed the vanishing candle down
+the long hall to where a barricade of bars and chains and bolts made
+admission from without a matter of some moments.
+
+"Hold the candle, Alfaretta, while I unfasten the door," commanded the
+Madam, and the girl had to obey. But her hand shook so that she
+scattered "droppings," which even at that moment did not escape the
+mistress's critical eye and which would have to be cleaned up as soon as
+morning came.
+
+At last the door was opened, and to Madam Sturtevant nobody was visible
+save Susanna Sprigg, wearing her Sunday bonnet and her most polite
+manner, while her spectacles gleamed like balls of fire as the
+candle-light fell upon them. But what Alfaretta saw was another face, so
+wild and fierce and terrible to look upon that her heart almost ceased
+beating. A white and haggard face, that seemed imprinted upon the
+darkness as if it belonged to no body nor substance but was a ghostly
+apparition of the night. All the eerie stories the poor child had heard
+during her life at the "County Farm," from the lips of the garrulous
+pensioners who had nothing better to do than invent them, came back to
+her now; and as the face appeared to be coming nearer, growing more and
+more distinct, she uttered a piercing shriek and slammed the door with
+such violence that the candle went out and the darkness she dreaded
+enveloped them all.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+A STURTEVANT--PERFORCE
+
+
+"Alfaretta!" cried Madam Sturtevant, "what does this mean?" Something of
+the girl's panic had seized her, also, though she tried to hide her own
+agitation by sternness.
+
+"My suz, Alfy Brown! What ails ye? You nigh knocked me down, slammin'
+the door right in my face, that way!" exclaimed Susanna, who had,
+fortunately, stepped within before this strange thing had happened. She
+was herself in an excited mood, having passed through what she had
+during the past day, and having had her mind further disturbed by the
+tales she had gathered during her progress. Now here at the Mansion,
+where was always dignified composure and serene hospitality, to find
+such tardy admission and such hysterical welcome--it was too much! Her
+reflections were swift and angry, and while all still stood in the dark,
+as yet too surprised to move, she demanded, crisply: "I want
+Katharine."
+
+"Come this way, Mrs. Sprigg. Let me take your hand and lead you. I'll
+soon get a light, and please excuse Alfaretta. I don't understand what
+has happened to her. Don't cling to me like that, child. You hinder me."
+
+"Oh, didn't you see--It?" whispered the unhappy little maid, paying no
+heed to her mistress's words, but clinging all the closer to her in a
+fresh access of terror as she heard, or fancied that she did, footsteps
+on the piazza without.
+
+Susanna's anger cooled in a new curiosity, and she said:
+
+"You needn't bother to lead me, Madam Sturtevant, I know the ins an'
+outs of this old house pretty well, even if I don't come to it often.
+You go right on ahead an' strike a match; an' Alfy Brown, let go her
+skirt. Your manners this night ain't none your mistress's teachin', I
+know that. They must be some left over from the 'Farm.'"
+
+Now Susanna must have been sorely tried to have reminded the girl of her
+unfortunate start in life, and Madam hastened to cover the remark by
+saying: "There, that's better!" and rising from the open fireplace where
+she had relighted the candle from the carefully covered embers. It had
+been so mild until now that only a fragment of fire had been kept upon
+the hearth, where, however, it was never permitted to wholly die "from
+equinox to equinox." Fortunately for the comfort of the household, there
+was woodland sufficient still belonging to the estate to supply all
+necessary fuel, and in cold weather this impoverished gentlewoman
+enjoyed her blazing wood fires--a luxury which even wealthy people
+cannot always command. Miss Maitland made it Moses' business to see that
+the Mansion wood-piles were high and broad, long before the autumn came,
+and the hardship of splitting smaller sticks for kitchen and kindling
+fell upon the reluctant Montgomery.
+
+Susanna watched the candle-lighting with real admiration. Neat as she
+was herself, she had never yet attained to that exquisite daintiness
+with which Madam Sturtevant did all things; and she now exclaimed, with
+keen appreciation:
+
+"My suz! You do beat all! Why, most anybody tryin' to light a taller
+candle by wood coals would ha' melted the candle--but you hain't dripped
+a drip. Where's the children? I've come for Katy. She's a terr'ble hand
+for runnin' away, or, ruther, for not bein' where she should be when
+wanted. The wind has riz awful. It don't rain none yet, but's goin' to
+right off. I didn't think to fetch an umberell an' couldn't have used it
+if I had. Not again' this blow. Alfy, you call Katharine, and we'll
+start back prompt. No, thank ye, Madam, I won't stop to set down, not
+this time. Eunice, she's alone with Moses so helpless, an' I don't
+believe half the shutters is tight nor nothin'. Seems if a body had
+more on their hands than they could 'tend to times like these. Why
+don't you move, Alfy? An' not stand stock starin' still, like an idjut?
+If the wind sounds that way indoors, what you s'pose it is outside? An'
+that child hain't got a thing on but that white ducky dress and maybe a
+hat. She wasn't fixed proper for livin' in the country, though she does
+become her clothes real likely. She's clear Maitland, Katy is, an' as
+like Johnny was as two peas in a pod. I can't help lovin' her, try as I
+will," concluded the widow, so exhausted by her own volubility that she
+unconsciously sat down to rest herself, even though she had earlier
+declined her hostess's offer of the spring-rocker by the sewing-table.
+"A chair 'at looks comf'table enough to take a nap in its own self," as
+she had once observed concerning it.
+
+Thus enabled to edge in a remark of her own, Madam replied, with some
+anxiety in her tones:
+
+"The little Katharine has not been here. Not that I know. Has she,
+Alfaretta?"
+
+"I--I hain't seen her," faltered the maid, shivering as a fresh gust of
+wind rattled the casement and a flash of lightning made everything
+visible without. But she had closed her eyes against whatever might be
+revealed and still delayed her mistress's direction:
+
+"Go and look for Montgomery and see if he knows anything about
+Katharine;" then, turning to Susanna, she added: "I am so glad that
+they are going to be such friends. It's a good thing for a growing boy
+to be associated with a young lady of his own--his own position in
+life."
+
+Susanna sniffed. She was democratic by profession and did not feel
+called upon to explain that as a matter of fact there was nobody living
+so appreciative as herself of "good family"--as represented in Marsden
+by the Sturtevants and Maitlands. She merely ignored the remark,
+starting from her seat as a terrible blast set the old Mansion trembling
+on its stout beams and an east side shutter blew from its hinges.
+
+"My suz! We've never had such a storm sence I can remember, an' Katy in
+nothin' but ducks! Eunice has wrote right away, soon's she made up her
+mind to keep her, to that stepmother o' hers to take an' buy the child
+some good strong shoes an' dark warm dresses, fit for a girl to wear in
+a country village. She's goin' to begin school, soon's town meetin's
+over an' Moses'll have time to drive her there. Oh, I forget he's broke.
+Well, she'll go sometime, if the proper clothes come an' things turn out
+accordin'. But come she must now, an' to oncet, if she's anywhere's
+hereabout, 'cause I dassent stay a minute more. I shall be blowed off my
+feet, I 'low, an' I wish, I do wish, I hadn't wore my best bunnit."
+
+"Take it off and leave it here, Susanna. I will lend you a scarf to tie
+over your hair, and Montgomery shall carry it home to you in the
+morning. I will go myself and see if the children are on the place.
+Though I doubt it, if Alfaretta hasn't seen them, or if they haven't
+come in here to be with us during the storm. Maybe it will soon pass.
+Wouldn't you better wait and see?"
+
+"Not a minute longer 'an to look," answered the widow, really more
+alarmed for the comfort of her home folks than for herself. Laying her
+bonnet carefully upon the side table, she followed Madam into the
+kitchen, yet would not permit that lady to explore the barn as she set
+out to do.
+
+"Come along with me, Alfy, but get a lantern. I hear the barn door
+swingin' an' old Whitey mooin' as if even she was scared. You or Monty
+must ha' been careless about shuttin' up to-night, which uther one of
+you done it, or didn't do it."
+
+A lantern was procured and lighted, but there Alfaretta's assistance
+ended. Nothing would have induced her to visit that barn again that
+night, no matter how well protected by such a valiant woman as the Widow
+Sprigg. As the latter disappeared toward the outbuildings, carefully
+shielding the lantern with her shawl, Alfaretta's conscience drove her
+to say:
+
+"It ain't no use. She won't find him. He--he ain't there."
+
+"Isn't there? Then why, child, did you do such a rude thing as to let
+her go on a useless errand? I really don't understand what has come
+over you to-night. You are trying my patience severely."
+
+"Yes'm," admitted the bond-maid, meekly.
+
+Madam laid her hand upon the girl's shoulder and turned her face toward
+the light of the candle which she was herself holding behind the
+uncurtained kitchen window, the better to guide Susanna on her way.
+
+"Tell me, child, what has frightened you so? Do you know where my dear
+grandson is? It terrifies me to think he may be somewhere out-of-doors,
+unprotected in this tempest. Did he go fishing? Nutting? To play ball?
+Do you know where he is?"
+
+"Yes'm," again answered the little maid, but to which of these several
+inquiries was not disclosed. At that moment a blinding flash of
+lightning illumined the whole space between house and barn, showing
+Susanna wildly flinging her arms aloft, her lantern flying in one
+direction, herself in another, while distinctly silhouetted against the
+glare was another figure, so strange and uncouth that even Madam
+retreated a pace in sudden alarm.
+
+They could hear Susanna still screaming as she fled, but a second flash
+showed the man who had alarmed her standing motionless on the spot where
+they had discovered him.
+
+Whoever or whatever he might be, it wasn't a pleasant situation for
+these two, so isolated from their neighbors, and without even
+Montgomery's presence. Mere lad as he was, he was still something
+masculine, and at least his grandmother believed him to be a very hero
+for courage. But he was not there to "protect" them from the possible
+annoyance of this unknown creature, and now, gently leading the
+frightened maid, Madam went back to her untasted supper and sat down in
+her place. She also motioned the girl to take a chair close beside her
+own, and when she had done this, again asked:
+
+"What frightened you so, just as Widow Sprigg arrived? Did you see this
+man--outside--then?"
+
+"I--I didn't see a man. I saw a face! I'd finished milkin' Whitey and
+a'ready 'twas gettin' dark awful fast an' early. I felt the wind blowin'
+and I knew the back shutters was loose. So I scuttled 'crost to pull 'em
+to, lest they got blowed clean away, an' there--there--right in the
+square of window by the old box-stalls was--was--the face! I got one
+look, 'cause first off I couldn't somehow move hand or foot, an' I saw
+how white it was, how its eyes blazed, how wild and stand-uppish its
+hair was, an' it smiled--Oh, what a dreadful smile! An' then I knew
+'twas a ghost! It's just the night for 'em, such as I used to hear the
+old folks talk about out to the 'Farm,' An' which of us do you suppose,
+oh, which has got to die? 'Cause it's a 'call,' a 'warnin',' to
+somebody."
+
+The little maid's terror was so real and her mental suffering so intense
+that the Madam pitied her profoundly, though she smiled as she answered:
+
+"I wish it may prove nothing more troublesome than a 'ghost,' a creature
+of one's imagination. Ah, my child! When you reach my age you will know
+that the only 'ghosts' who can really trouble us are our unhappy
+memories. I suspect that it is one of those 'tramps,' for which Susanna
+is always looking, but who have thus far avoided peaceful Marsden.
+Unlucky woman! whose first meeting with her expected 'tramp' should be
+on such a night and alone. Wind or no wind, she'll make a short journey
+of the long road home."
+
+Already, safe once more in the sheltered dining-room which was on the
+side of the house least exposed to the storm and that did not face the
+outbuildings, the housemistress's confidence returned. If only
+Montgomery were with her, so, that she knew him also safe, she would
+have been content. As it was, even, she began to think kindly and
+pityingly of whatever poor wretch had sought shelter at her door. If he
+didn't smoke, and so endanger the buildings, she wished he would seek
+cover with old Whitey till the storm was past.
+
+Meanwhile, one crouching in the hay-strewn bay, hugging a squirming dog
+for company, and one lying upon a narrow stretcher beneath the
+eaves,--the missing Katharine and Montgomery listened to the roar of the
+tempest and believed that the very day of doom had arrived. Neither had
+ever heard anything like that wind. Indeed, none in Marsden ever had,
+and the morning was to reveal many ruined buildings and uprooted trees.
+But thus far the darkness hid all this, and Widow Sprigg raced homeward
+unharmed save by the rain, which now began to fall in torrents.
+
+Miss Maitland was watching her arrival in great anxiety. She had early
+secured every door and shutter, save at this one window which commanded
+the path from the gate. Here she had placed a brightly burning lamp to
+act as beacon to the wanderers, and she had also set the fire to blazing
+brightly. Before the fire hung warm clothing for the pair, and, having
+done all that she could think of for their comfort, she had passed to
+and fro between the sitting-room and Moses' chamber. He was almost as
+uneasy as the storm itself; alternately berating himself for a "fool,"
+and speculating upon the deacon's management of affairs at the barn.
+
+"I'll bet--I'll bet a continental he never cut the fodder for the cattle
+but just give it to 'em hull! He was no 'count of a farmer, the deacon
+wasn't. Good man, yes. I ain't sayin' he ain't that; but did it ever
+strike you, Eunice, that most good folks is pesky stupid? Or 'clever'
+ones, uther? I call it plumb equal to tellin' you you're a reg'lar
+tomnoddy to say a fellar's uther 'clever' or 'good.' I 'low little
+stutterin' Monty Sturtevant could ha' done the chores well enough till I
+get 'round again, an' I could ha' bossed _him_." Then, after a moment:
+"But I can't boss the deacon."
+
+"No, you poor old grumbler! I reckon he isn't that kind. And your
+judgment of your neighbors is a bit extreme. Never mind. It's such a
+good sign to hear you scold that I'm encouraged to think you'll soon be
+well again. Now I'll go down and be ready to open the door for Susanna
+and Katharine. It's terrible to have them exposed to this storm."
+
+But there was nobody visible, and at length Miss Eunice felt assured
+that she should not see them till the tempest lulled. So she returned
+once more to the kitchen-chamber, to comfort its occupant and herself as
+well. She had just remarked, for the third time:
+
+"No! I'm sure Elinor would never let them set out in such weather as
+this. She has kept them to supper, and I do hope Susanna will have
+forethought enough to decline the ham and bread she carried for Monty,
+and confine herself to whatever the family was to have had by itself.
+Susanna is very hearty, I'm glad to say--"
+
+"Eats so much it makes her thin to carry it around!" growled Moses,
+interrupting. "As for Montgomery, that little shaver's never had--"
+
+What he would have added is not known.
+
+Out upon the kitchen stairs sounded the rush of sodden feet, which
+seemed to stumble from sheer weariness even in their maddened haste; and
+the next instant there burst into the room what looked like a wretched
+caricature of poor Susanna. Bonnetless and spectacle-less, her gray hair
+streaming in snake-like strands, her garments dripping pools, her fine
+black Sunday shawl trailing behind her like a splash of flowing ink, she
+dropped upon the floor gasping and sobbing, and, apparently, at her
+wits' end.
+
+A second's hesitation at touching so draggled and dripping a creature
+held Eunice aloof; and then she was down beside her friend, wiping the
+rain-wet face and begging to be told what had befallen.
+
+"Surely, something worse than a storm has brought you to this pass, my
+poor dear. You look frightened--you tremble--You--Oh, Susanna! Where is
+Katharine? Has harm happened her?"
+
+"Her? 'Tain't her! It's me. It's come at last, an' I always--knew--it
+would. Oh, say! Am I alive or--or--dead?"
+
+Then as the absurdity of her own question flashed upon her, she began to
+laugh hysterically, and soon to sob with equal fervor. She was wholly
+overdone and unnerved, and, realizing that nothing could be learned till
+she was calmer, her mistress put no further inquiries, but led her away
+down the stairs, still dripping moisture,--a fact that no stress of
+emotion could hide from the critical sight of two such housekeepers.
+
+"Them stairs! An' I washin' 'em all up clean just afore sundown! Lucky I
+hadn't put down the carpet yet, though I'd laid out--Oh, my suz!"
+
+This was the first coherent sentence, if such it can be called, which
+escaped the terrified woman, while she was being undressed and freshly
+clothed in the warm things Eunice had provided.
+
+"Yes, dear heart. But never mind the stairs. Did you find Katharine?"
+
+"Nuther hide nor hair of her. Likely she's gone visitin' some the
+village little girls. She's that friendly she's been into most every
+house a'ready. She's safe enough. She won't never come to harm, Katy
+won't. But, Eunice, he's come! I've seen him!"
+
+"Who's come? What 'him,' dear?" asked the other, gently, and thinking
+that exposure and fright had made this usually clear-headed Susanna a
+little flighty. "Here, take a cup of tea. I made it fresh but a few
+minutes ago. It will refresh you and quiet you wonderfully."
+
+Now, as a rule, the Widow Sprigg needed no urging to drink her favorite
+beverage, which, like many another countrywoman,--more's the pity!--she
+kept steeping on the stove all day long. But now, for an instant, she
+looked doubtfully upon the cup; then, as a sudden whim seized her,
+caught it up eagerly and again ascended the stairs to Moses' bedroom. He
+lay motionless, his leg kept taut by a ball and chain and his poor body
+encased in plaster, but he could use his arms and eyes, the one thrown
+restlessly here and there and the other glittering with impatient
+curiosity.
+
+"Well, there, Moses Jones! How many times have you jeered an' gibed at
+me for believin' in 'tramps'? Wasn't 'none,' was there? Well, there
+_is_. I've seen him. _He--he chased me!_ All the way from the Mansion
+till I got clean to the post-office--an' then--then--he--he cut for the
+woods! Oh, my suz! Be I dreamin' or awake?"
+
+The recalling of her frightful experience again so unnerved her that she
+sat down trembling on the edge of Moses' cot, and would have spilled her
+tea had not Eunice caught the cup in time to prevent.
+
+"You're crazy!" retorted Mr. Jones, unconvinced. "And there ain't no
+call, as I can see, for you to set down on my broke leg. That awful ball
+the doctor tied to it'll keep it straight enough, I 'low."
+
+Susanna sprang up as if she had been tossed to her feet, her face
+quickly becoming normal and compassionate again.
+
+"Oh, I didn't mean to do that! I hope I hain't hurt it none," she
+apologized, frankly distressed.
+
+"Well, seein' 'at you didn't touch it, I 'low there ain't no great harm
+done. I was only providin' against futur' trouble. Now go on with your
+'trampy' talk."
+
+By this time Susanna was able to give an account of the man she had seen
+on Madam Sturtevant's premises, and who, when she ran, had soon followed
+in pursuit. According to her highly embellished version, his attire had
+been collected from somebody's rag-bag, his hair and beard had never
+known shears or razor, his eyes were as big as saucers and gleamed with
+an unholy light, and his color was like chalk. But fierce! There was no
+word could describe the ferocity of the terrible creature's pallid
+countenance! and, as for speed--Well, Susanna herself had made the
+record of her life, yet he, with several minutes' disadvantage, had
+actually overtaken her and grabbed at her shawl. Witness! said shawl
+dragging behind her when she entered.
+
+"Hm-m! What puzzles me is that any tramp--any tramp in his
+senses--should take after an old woman like you, Susanna. An' how in
+reason did you get a chance to investigate the cut of his features an'
+the state of his wardrobe in the dark, as it is?" inquired Moses,
+humorously.
+
+But there was no humor in Susanna's grim countenance, as she
+contemptuously replied:
+
+"How but by the lightnin'? Playin' all around everything every minute,
+makin' more'n daylight to see by. An', though I was scared nigh to
+death, for the soul of me, I couldn't help lookin' 'round every now an'
+again to see what he was like. I'd never had a chance to see a tramp
+afore, an' I never expect to again, so I had to improve my opportunity,
+hadn't I? Scared or no scared."
+
+This view of the situation made both her hearers laugh; but in Moses'
+mind was slowly growing a desperate regret, which finally expressed
+itself in the exclamation:
+
+"An' to think I hadn't even been elected constable, an' hadn't no chance
+to arrest the first tramp an' vagrant ever set foot in this village of
+Marsden!"
+
+Back at the Mansion there was no further disturbance. Madam Sturtevant
+comforted herself with the supposition that her grandson was at the home
+of some boyish chum or other; and she even ate a considerable portion of
+the now cold porridge, steadfastly refusing Alfy's entreaty to take some
+of the good things which Susanna had brought for him.
+
+"You may eat your supper in here to-night, Alfaretta, at the little
+table; but that basket was for Montgomery, and we will leave it to him
+to open. We shall get our share of its contents, never fear."
+
+With more faith in the lad's generosity, where appetite was concerned,
+than Alfaretta had, the grandmother set the basket aside in the closet,
+and took up her knitting of stockings for her boy's winter wear.
+
+And then, as if he had felt himself under discussion, or more likely--as
+Alfy surmised--had smelled the odor of good things even through many
+partitions, the door softly opened, and there appeared a tumbled head, a
+frightened face, and a pair of beseeching eyes. Whatever reproof was in
+store for him, he meant those eyes should do their part toward modifying
+it.
+
+And for a time all went well. Madam was so full of the incident of the
+tramp and the horror of the storm that she forgot to ask him where he
+had so long delayed, and how it chanced that he was so perfectly dry.
+However, this all came out of itself. While she was describing the gust
+which had blown the shutter free, he burst forth:
+
+"I-I-I heard that! Yes, siree! An' I thought the whole r-r-r-roof was
+goin'. An' then I w-w-went to sleep a s-s-s-sp-ell. When I woke up,
+'twas so p-p-pit-chy dark I dassent stay no l-l-longer."
+
+With which he coolly sliced himself a portion of the ham which his
+grandmother had promptly produced. She watched him in silence for a
+moment, then, as a sudden thought occurred to her, demanded:
+
+"Montgomery, have you been in the secret chamber again? Was Katharine
+with you?"
+
+With his mouth full, he stammered: "Y-y-yes, I've been. You never said
+not. But K-K-Katharine she w-w-wasn't with me."
+
+"Montgomery, where is she? It was for her Susanna came. Eunice does not
+know, nobody has seen her, can you tell where she is? You were at The
+Maples all day--you played with her--_where is she_?"
+
+Even in her sternest moods, "Gram'ma" had never been like this. And all
+at once a horrible chill ran down poor Monty's back. Memory returned;
+all his treachery; his unchivalrous desertion of a helpless girl in a
+dangerous place; and, to his honor be it said, did for a moment turn him
+deadly sick. But his natural temperament soon rallied. Of course she
+would have found a way to get down and out. Yet,--and again he felt
+faint,--what if she had not? What if she had had to pass the hours of
+this dreadful storm on the top of a hay-mow under a barn roof, where,
+even on mild days, a strong breeze blew through.
+
+Madam leaned forward, austere, intent. "My son, tell me everything."
+
+Under the spell of those piercing eyes, he did tell. Indeed, he was glad
+to tell. He felt she would find a word of comfort for his remorseful
+conscience. Alas! the word she did find was simply this:
+
+"Montgomery, put on your jacket and go to Aunt Eunice's at once."
+
+"_Gr-gr-gram'ma!_ In this awful s-s-storm? An' that t-t-tramp?"
+
+There was no relenting. The gentlewoman's glance was now not only stern
+but scornful, as she returned:
+
+"Are you a Sturtevant, and ask me for delay?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+BUT--STURTEVANT TO THE RESCUE
+
+
+All the conflicting emotions which whirled through Montgomery's mind
+pictured themselves in his face as he confronted the stern old
+gentlewoman opposite. The silence in the room was unbroken save by the
+roar of the tempest, and it seemed an age before she asked, coldly:
+
+"Are you afraid?"
+
+But there was no hesitation as he hastily stammered:
+
+"Y-y-yes, gr-gram'ma, I am afraid. So 'fraid I--I--can't hardly think
+nor feel nothin'. B-b-but--_I'm--going_!"
+
+His ruddy cheeks were now colorless save where the freckles spotted
+them, and his great eyes seemed to have grown in size; but though there
+was piteous terror in their blue depths there was no flinching from the
+duty. It took him a long time to button his jacket and adjust his cap.
+He even inspected his shoe-laces with a hitherto unknown care, and
+thoughtfully placed a stick of wood upon the dying embers. He
+wished--oh, how devoutly he wished--that he had been born just a common
+boy, like Bob Turner, or any other village lad, and not a Sturtevant!
+These hateful traditions about family and gentlemen--Cracky! How that
+wind did blow! That tramp--Well, he dared not think about the tramp, and
+there was nothing more he could find to delay the awful moment of
+departure. With a last imploring glance toward Madam, to see if there
+was no relenting, or if she would not suggest some easier way, "'cause
+she knows all 'b-bout honor an' such p-pl-plag--uey things,"--yet
+finding none, he dragged himself to the side door, fumbled a moment with
+the latch, and went out.
+
+Had he known it, Madam Sturtevant was suffering more than he. She would
+far rather have faced the elements and the darkness on that mile-long
+walk, unused to exposure though she was, than have sent this last
+darling of her heart out alone and unprotected. Indeed, she sat so
+still, and looked so anxious for a time after he had gone, that
+Alfaretta ventured to touch her hand, and to comfort, saying:
+
+"Don't you worry, dear Madam. Nothin' 'll happen to Monty. Mr. Jones,
+he's well acquainted with him, an' he says 'at Monty's got as many lives
+as a cat. He's fell down-stairs, an' out of a cherry-tree, an' choked on
+fish-bones, an' had green-apple colic, an' been kicked by Squire
+Pettijohn's bull, an' tumbled into Foxes' Gully,--and that ain't but six
+things that might ha' killed him an' didn't. Besides, Monty's a good
+runner. Why, Madam, he's the fastest runner goes to school! True. He's
+more'n likely half-way there whilst we're just a-talkin'. Shall I fetch
+your specs an' the _Chronicle_ newspaper? Readin' might pass the time
+till he gets back, an' I guess--I guess I won't be too scared to wash
+the dishes in the kitchen, if--if you'll let me leave the door open
+between."
+
+Alfaretta had enumerated the various disasters which had befallen
+Montgomery upon finger after finger, and with such perfect gravity that
+the anxious grandmother was amused, in spite of her fear, and felt
+herself greatly cheered. With a kindly smile, she answered:
+
+"Yes, Alfy, please do bring it; and, of course, you need not close the
+door. We are sadly late with the work to-night, but you may sit up till
+my son comes back. You are a dear, good child, Alfaretta, doing your
+duty faithfully in that state of life to which you were born, and you
+are a comfort to me."
+
+The happy girl fairly flew to bring the "specs" and the last number of
+the religious weekly which Eunice regularly sent to her old friend.
+Conscience was rather doubtful about that ever faithful performance of
+duty; but why worry? Praise was sweet, doubly sweet from one so fine a
+pattern of all the virtues as her mistress, and Alfaretta had found
+comfort for her own self in comforting another. Besides, now she was
+either getting used to it, or the storm was lulling, for the blinds did
+not rattle as they had, and that mournful soughing of the wind in the
+tall chimneys had nearly ceased.
+
+The bond-maid had rarely "done" her dishes so swiftly or so well, and,
+having set them in their places, she put out the kitchen candle, fetched
+her knitting, and sat down on her own stool beside the fireplace. For a
+wonder she was not sleepy. Too much had occurred that day to fill her
+imagination, and now that the "face" which had terrified her was safely
+out of sight, she began to recall it with a sort of fascination. If it
+were a ghost, it must have been that of somebody she had once known, for
+it was oddly familiar. The heavy features had a ghastly resemblance
+to--Who could it be? Uncle Moses? Mr. Turner? The stage-driver? No, none
+of these; nor of any old pensioner at the "Farm." Then, suddenly, she
+thought of Squire Pettijohn, terrible man, who had used to visit that
+"Farm," inspect its workings, suggest further extreme economies, where,
+it seemed to the beneficiaries, that economy had already reached its
+limit, ask personal questions, such as even a pauper may resent, and
+make himself generally obnoxious. Alfaretta had frankly hated him, and
+had never been more thankful than when she was assigned to Madam
+Sturtevant rather than to Mrs. Pettijohn--both ladies having entered
+application for a "bound-out" servant at the very same time. Already
+ashamed of misfortunes which were not at all her own fault, she had
+resented his pinching of her ears, his facetious references to her
+worthless parents, his chuckings under the chin, and the other personal
+familiarities by which some elderly people fancy they are pleasing
+younger ones.
+
+"Madam! May I speak?"
+
+"Certainly, Alfaretta. I haven't been able to keep my thoughts on my
+paper. I shall be glad to hear anything you have to say."
+
+"Well, then! I'd hate to think it of any--any _good_ ghost, but there
+was somethin' 'bout that _face_ 'at made me remember somebody I'd seen,
+an' the somebody was--Squire Pettijohn!"
+
+"Child, how absurd!"
+
+"Yes'm, I s'pose it is. But there was them same big eyebrows standin'
+out fur from this white _face_ as his'n does from his red one. There was
+the same sort of bitter look in the eyes, only these ones was afire.
+Ain't that queer?"
+
+"Exceedingly queer. So queer that you must banish the notion at once
+from your mind. I am convinced that it was some poor, homeless wanderer
+estrayed into this quiet, and, I fear, inhospitable village, where
+there is no provision for such as he. I'm sure I wish he were safely
+housed in one of our own outbuildings rather than roaming the fields on
+such a night. Even an old blanket thrown into one of the box-stalls
+would have been comparative comfort."
+
+"Y--es'm," assented Alfaretta, with small enthusiasm. But what she did
+like to hear was Madam's talk of the old times when the now empty stable
+was full of spirited horses, when guests filled the silent rooms, when
+servants were many and the larder abundant, and life and laughter ruled
+where now were only memories. It always sounded like make-believe; and,
+humble poor-house child though she was, Alfy delighted in make-believe.
+
+A hint was commonly sufficient to set the house-mistress reminiscent,
+and once started upon such retrospections she was as contented to
+continue as her little maid to listen; and now there followed for the
+pair an hour of real enjoyment.
+
+Once really past the threshold Montgomery's reluctance vanished. If he
+had anything disagreeable to do he liked to get it over with at once.
+The walk to The Maples in that storm was certainly disagreeable, as
+would, doubtless, be his reception there. He wouldn't think about that
+part of the affair till it faced him, and he wouldn't let any grass grow
+under his feet for loitering upon his road. Then a thought of
+Katharine, alone and in terror, roused all his real manliness, so that
+he cared no further for anything save to set her free. He would now
+promptly have knocked any other boy down for calling him the hard names
+he called himself all the way from the Mansion to Aunt Eunice's, and he
+disdained to think of tramps, thunder-claps, or broken tree-limbs, even
+though he stumbled over some of these along the path. Despite the
+obstructing wind, he had never run so swiftly, and the resounding whack
+he gave the Maitland knocker startled all within the house.
+
+Poor Aunt Eunice required but little now to set her nerves a-quiver, and
+was anxiously pacing the sitting-room floor, wondering how and where to
+begin that search for little Katharine, which must be deferred no
+longer. But after the first shock of the summons she ran to answer it,
+feeling sure that here was news at last; and there almost fell into the
+hall a drenched, breathless lad, who could only stammer, feebly:
+
+"H-h-hay--mow!"
+
+Then he dropped upon the floor to catch his breath.
+
+Miss Maitland stared at him, wondering if here was another storm-crazed
+victim. Then she remembered that "H-h-h-hay--mow!" was the one and only
+word the boy had uttered during that scene of the brass bound box. Now
+again just "H-h-hay-mow!" She passed her hand wearily across her eyes
+trying to understand.
+
+Then said the last of the Sturtevants, recovering, and stammering but
+slightly in his earnestness:
+
+"F-fetch a lantern, quick! We went up h-h-hay-mow huntin' eggs--an' mine
+are in the s-s-s-secret ch-amber--an' Squire c-come, an' I skipped
+an'--forgot!"
+
+The boy was himself so familiar with the premises that he knew exactly
+where to find the lantern, and, having confessed his fault, he ran to
+light it. He was also first at the barn, though Miss Maitland and
+Susanna both followed promptly and unmindful of the rain.
+
+But alas for Deacon Meakin's overcare! He had not only locked the doors,
+but he had hidden the keys.
+
+Susanna sped back to the house, seeking on the shelf where he had placed
+the lantern for them, but failing to find them, while at Eunice's
+direction Montgomery felt everywhere under the flat stone which served
+as door-step to the main entrance. In the crannies of window casings, at
+the tops and bottoms of all the doors, in the cattle-shed and
+poultry-house, in any sort of place where a Marsdenite would naturally
+deposit keys, they searched without avail.
+
+Then Miss Maitland bethought herself that if Katharine were still within
+the barn and heard all this attempt at forcing an entrance she would be
+further frightened, and said:
+
+"We must break the glass in that window behind the stalls, and you,
+Montgomery, must climb through. As soon as you are within, call to the
+poor child and tell her that we are outside and have come to get her.
+Then you hand us out some heavy tools,--an axe, if you can find one,
+would be best,--and we'll break down the door."
+
+With that the lady herself took a stone from the barn-yard wall and
+crashed the glass, but Susanna interposed:
+
+"You go right back into the house, Eunice Maitland, and not stay out in
+this damp to get your death of cold. And no need to break good doors.
+Katy ain't no bigger'n Monty, nor so big, an' a hole he can get into she
+can come out of. Trust her!"
+
+Miss Maitland would not go indoors, but she did fold the shawl she had
+caught up more closely about her and retreated to the shelter of the
+cowshed, while Susanna stood listening beneath the window through which
+Monty had swiftly disappeared. Fortunately, the storm had greatly abated
+and there was less external noise to drown the sounds within, where
+Montgomery was now shouting at the top of his voice:
+
+"K-K-Kath-arine! Katy! K-Kitty-kee-hotee!"
+
+"Yelp! Snip! Snap! Gr-r-rrr!" came in response, and Katharine waked
+from the dreamless sleep into which exhaustion of grief and terror had
+thrown her.
+
+At first she could not comprehend what it all meant. She could only make
+an effort to restrain the angry pug now escaping from her arms. Then she
+saw Montgomery's face at the opening above the bay, brilliantly
+illuminated by the lantern held close to his head as he peered inwards
+preparatory to a leap. With a scream half of relief, half of dread lest
+she should again be deserted, she ran toward the window and held her
+arms up.
+
+The light disappeared, but before she had time for a fresh fear, she
+felt her hands clasped by Montgomery's sturdy ones, and she was bidden:
+
+"Give a s-s-sp-spring--an' I'll haul you!"
+
+She tried once, twice, and again, but there was no "spring" left in the
+usually active limbs, and she sank back to the bay, sobbing:
+
+"Oh, I can't! I can't! I've tried and tried and tried! But I shall never
+get out. Never, never, never." And it was proof of the suffering she had
+undergone that there was no indignation left against the boy who had
+caused it, but only a hopeless acceptance of a terrible position.
+
+This was too much for Monty. He would far rather have had her rail at
+him than sob so heart-brokenly. He began to sob himself in sympathy, and
+called back:
+
+"D-d-don't! Qu-qu-quit it! See. Look up. I'll h-h-hang the lantern on
+the sill. I d-d-dassent take it down there, might s-s-set fire to the
+hay. I'm all r-r-right--I mean you're all r-r-right. Get out the way.
+I'm c-c-c-comin'!"
+
+In an instant he had leaped down beside her and put his arm around her
+quivering shoulders. In all his life he had never been so sorry for
+anybody or anything as now for her and for his own neglectful
+selfishness, which had brought her to such a pass. Yet, heedless Monty
+had had many causes for regret during his previous career!
+
+"I thought I should die! Oh, it was so awful! I thought I should
+certainly die here alone in this place. The wind would almost tear the
+roof off, and Punchy howled--he thought he was dying, too, maybe. But it
+was he kept me from it--quite. I never loved him so in all my life!
+Can--is there a way--you've got in, too, but is there a way out? I was
+hungry, I thought I would starve. Then I forgot that--listening. And the
+lightning--I was sure it had struck again and again. I waited to see the
+hay blaze up. Lightning always does strike barns, doesn't it?"
+
+With a philosophy beyond his years Montgomery changed the subject.
+
+"I shall have to boost you, i-i-if you c-c-can't climb without. P-p-put
+your feet right th-th-there--I'm b-bo-boo-boostin' my best! Catch hold
+the s-sill! Cracky! Up you g-g-go!"
+
+Up she went, indeed, fear forgotten, every nerve strained, eager already
+to attain and excel in this new feat of climbing. Folks who lived in the
+country had to climb--or perish--it seemed. And once upon the sill she
+rolled over it to the broad floor of the barn and felt herself at last
+in safety.
+
+But there still remained that other climb, to reach the broken window
+and through it freedom and friends outside. However, this was a trifle.
+Montgomery brought a short ladder, which he placed beneath the window
+that he had had the forethought to unbolt from the outside, and when the
+sash rolled back in its groove Katharine was already on the ledge,
+Susanna's strong arms clasping her and Aunt Eunice standing near.
+
+Such an hour as followed! Such indigestibly delightful foods as Susanna
+brought from her storeroom--harbingers of holiday feasts to come--and of
+which the children were permitted to partake without any harm or
+restriction.
+
+"Let the poor little creatur's get their stummicks full for once, sence
+nary one hain't had a mouthful of victuals, scurce that, to-day," cried
+Susanna, herself feasting her eyes upon the now joyous faces of the
+youngsters.
+
+Then what a tap-tap-tapping sounded on the floor of the kitchen
+chamber! Aunt Eunice interpreting the same to mean:
+
+"Poor Moses is feeling left out of all our rejoicing and feels
+aggrieved. He wants us all to come up and tell him the whole story,
+since he cannot himself come to us. But alas for Deacon Meakin! I don't
+envy him his forthcoming interview with my hired man to-morrow morning.
+It is Moses' right to still direct matters, even if he cannot work. Both
+men are what Mrs. Meakin calls 'sot,' and I foresee some jarring of
+wheels, so to speak, before they run smooth. But let us go up at once,
+and then Monty must be starting home."
+
+The boy sighed. This was all delightful. Badly as he had behaved, he had
+received no reproof. Instead of that, there was such rejoicing over
+Katharine's safety that his sins had, apparently, been forgotten. Yet it
+must end--there still remained the long and desolate road home!
+
+Monty talked as fast as ever a boy could, nor did Katharine's tongue lag
+far behind, and for a time Moses listened eagerly. Then there came pangs
+of physical suffering which banished interest in all else, and while he
+was meditating how now best to rid himself of his guests, the hall clock
+struck nine.
+
+"Nine o'clock! My suz! I didn't know it was half so late!" cried
+Susanna, honestly surprised. "Time you was home and abed, Montgomery
+Sturtevant, keepin' your poor grandmother up all hours like this, just
+account your pranks. My suz! and such a day. May I never see another
+like it!"
+
+"Amen!" echoed poor Mr. Jones, so devoutly and in a voice of such
+suffering that they all silently withdrew.
+
+"Only nine o'clock? Does nobody ever sit up till a respectable hour,
+here in Marsden? Why, at home, our evenings never began till after this
+time," remarked Katharine, now so wide-awake, and, it must be confessed,
+having had her nerves freshly excited by the recital of her woes to the
+sympathizing ear of Uncle Moses.
+
+"Pooh! N-n-nine o'clock's n-n-nothing," assented Monty, who had never
+been out so late before in all his life.
+
+"Isn't it?" asked Aunt Eunice, smiling. "Well, all the same, though it
+is rude to dispatch a guest, I'm sure it is full time for you to be with
+your grandmother, as Susanna justly remarked. She is doubtless anxious
+about you; and as for you, Katy dear, you are living in quiet Marsden
+now and not your city home."
+
+The storm was fully over when they opened the great front door, and the
+moonlight set all the rain-drenched shrubs and trees a-glitter, so that
+Katharine exclaimed:
+
+"Oh, look! It seems as if the world was just laughing at itself for
+having been so naughty a little while ago!"
+
+Aunt Eunice gave the child a little squeeze, thinking how "Johnny" would
+have had just such a fancy, and Monty, wondering if all girls had queer
+ideas, bade them good night and started whistling down the path.
+
+"We'll stand here till you get beyond the first big tree, my lad, and
+we'll follow you in our minds all the way," said Miss Maitland, kindly.
+Then to Katharine she added, softly: "He's doing that to keep his
+courage up."
+
+"All the same he whistles beautifully," answered the girl, loyally. "If
+he could only speak as well as he whistles it would be splendid. Why, up
+there on the hay-mow to-day, some sort of bird--I think he said it was a
+meadow-lark, or skylark, or something--anyhow, it sang ex-quis-ite-ly!
+And he mimicked it so well I almost thought another bird had come
+through the window into the barn. He's a real nice boy, Monty is,
+but--but he needs some 'retouching,' as papa darling used to say of his
+pictures."
+
+"God bless him--and his own 'Kitty Quixote,'" murmured the old guardian,
+touched to a tender softness by--ah, many things! and promptly
+marshalling her latest charge to bed.
+
+Lights were out all along the street as Montgomery's passing whistle
+disturbed the early naps of these quiet folk, who had been so greatly
+interested and wearied by that day's unusual events. But the clear,
+birdlike tones were comfort to one harassed wanderer.
+
+Shivering in his wet rags, he crept out from the shelter of a porch to
+hearken, as those boyish lips sent forth in flute-like tones the melody
+of "Home, Sweet Home." Hearkening, he followed, fearing he should lose
+the music which impressed him, all unknowing why; and as the whistler
+left the last village house behind him and set out to run over the long
+stretch of lonely road, which lay between that and the Mansion, the
+follower also ran.
+
+Had Montgomery known this his pace would have been even swifter than it
+was, and the mere fear he now felt would have become abject terror.
+
+But he did not know; and the unknown tramp soon lagged far behind. He
+had neither strength nor desire left to overtake the fleeing lad, since
+the whistling had ceased, and consciousness of his own misery returned
+upon him. So, presently he left the highway and limped across the fields
+toward the woods where instinct told him was safe hiding; and Montgomery
+reached the stately home of his forefathers in good time. Between the
+man and the boy there seemed no possible connection, yet circumstances
+were already linking their lives together as with a chain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+ON A SATURDAY AFTERNOON
+
+
+When Deacon Meakin found that a barn window had had to be broken because
+of his forgetfulness to mention where he had put the keys, he insisted
+upon paying for and inserting the new glass himself. This distressed
+Miss Maitland and delighted Moses; but the new caretaker carried his
+point, declaring:
+
+"If I can't do that I'll throw up the job. My own hired men, 'fore I
+moved in, had to pay for their breakin's, and sence I've turned myself
+into a hired man, well, it's a poor rule that don't work both ways, as
+the poet says, an' what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander,
+or visy versy. There'll be no foolin' done on these premises whilst I'm
+in charge, an' the very first thing I'll tackle is--cleanin' up."
+
+"Why, is that necessary? Beyond the work that comes with every day?
+Surely, Moses is very neat," protested Eunice, on behalf of her old
+disabled helper.
+
+"Hm-m. There's neatness--an' neatness; an' my friend Jones, he's a
+fisherman first, an' a farmer afterward;" returned the deacon, grimly.
+
+The real truth was that the deacon had an idea of the wonderful casket's
+being hidden somewhere in that barn. As he reasoned with himself: "A
+barn's the least likely place for robbers to search for hid treasure,
+whether it is a gold box or a gold mine. Eunice, she is long-headed. She
+wouldn't want things in the house that might induce folks' breakin's in,
+more particular sence Widow Sprigg seen that tramp. She was tellin' me
+'bout it when I come on the place this mornin'; an' nobody needn't tell
+me it was just to get a girl out the bay that that winder was stove in.
+That's all cock-an'-bull yarn; to throw me an' others off the track. But
+I'll find out, I'll find out."
+
+Which shows how far one's imagination may lead in the wrong direction;
+and also explains why the curious, but well-meaning, man put himself to
+endless trouble, yet also did his own part in silencing the rumors of
+the previous day. Though, of course, his labors occupied him for several
+days, since the barn was big and his work so thorough. After emptying
+and refilling every bin and box, after cleaning every set of harness
+which had or had not been used for years, brushing the few cobwebs from
+the rafters, sweeping the floors over and over, he repaired to the
+hay-mow and industriously forked over the whole mass.
+
+While he was engaged in this operation Susanna visited the barn and
+asked if he had gone crazy. His answer was:
+
+"No, not crazy, but come to common sense. Don't suppose I'd feel very
+Christian-like, do ye, to loaf around doin' next to nothin' an' lettin'
+a neighbor's hay heat? Might burn ye all up in your beds."
+
+The widow reentered the house laughing, but indignant. "Says your hay's
+in danger o' heatin', Moses! As if you hadn't cured it till it was dry
+as tinder 'fore you mowed it up. Well, 'twon't do no harm, an' will keep
+him out of mischief. He's a reg'lar poke-noser, Deacon Meakin is. But
+he's routed them hens so there won't be no more egg-layin' in high
+places, breakin' a body's neck to hunt 'em. But, my suz! I wish you
+could ha' seen that man's face when he handed me over your
+fishin'-tackle. You'd ha' thought 'twas poison, the way he touched it."
+
+Moses was both angry and amused, but contented himself with remarking:
+
+"Si Meakin never could catch fish even when he was boy goin' to school.
+He was always a gabbler, an' fish has got sense. They won't bite for
+noisy folks. Slow an' gentle, bide your time an' keep your mouth
+shut--that's fishin' for ye. Oh, shall I ever get to go again!"
+
+"Sure. But it's time for your chicken broth. I've stewed it down rich
+an' tasty, an' there's one good thing 'bout broken legs an' ribs: they
+ain't broken stummicks. I'd ruther you'd have forty broken legs than the
+dyspepsy, 'cause when I take the pains to cook good victuals, I like to
+have 'em et. Now, turn your head a mite. Here's a nice new straw to
+drink your broth through, an' a pile more for you to chew on, like
+you're always doin'. Seems if a man must always have somethin' in his
+mouth, an' if it ain't tobacco it's straws. Spriggs he--"
+
+"Don't give me no 'Spriggs,' to-day; I couldn't stand him. You've told
+more things 'at Spriggs done in his thirty years of life than would ha'
+kept most men busy till they was a hundered!" cried Moses, petulantly.
+"And if Kitty Keehoty, or Monty, ary one, comes 'round, do for pity's
+sake send 'em up. Here I lie, ball-an'-chained to a bed and things--Oh,
+dear!"
+
+It was Saturday and a busy time for the housekeeper. She had neither
+leisure nor inclination to argue with a fretful patient, so went away
+and left him to himself. But she found his desire for Katharine's
+society an excellent thing. As she had said of Deacon Meakin, "it kep'
+her out of mischief" to act as nurse to the injured farmer, and he now
+delighted in her. The stories of her old life in the Southern city were
+almost like the fairy-tales she retold from printed books; and her
+little provincialisms of speech amused him as much as his country
+dialect did her. She had soon dropped into the habit of taking his
+meal-trays to him and strictly enforced his eating a "right smart" of
+all the nourishments provided.
+
+At noon of this Saturday she was perched upon the edge of his cot,
+daintily feeding him with bits of food she had cut up, when there was a
+clatter of feet upon the stairs, and, breathless as usual, Montgomery
+rushed in, announcing, without even a nod to Moses:
+
+"I-it-it's true! Mis' Turner's seen it in her w-w-wood-shed! Widow
+Sprigg wasn't m-m-mis-took!"
+
+"Say 'mistaken,' Montgomery Sturtevant, and say it slow," corrected
+Katharine, severely, yet immediately turning an inquiring look toward
+Uncle Moses. Thus far her efforts to improve her playmate's speech had
+been a safe secret between the two. They hoped to keep it such until the
+lad could speak a "whole piece" without stammering.
+
+But the hired man had not observed her remark, or, if he had, probably
+considered it but one of her naturally dictatorial sort.
+
+"A reg'lar tramp, Monty?" he asked, eagerly.
+
+"R-r-r-regular. Mis' Turner'd put her p-p-pies out to cool on the
+wood-shed r-r-roof an' they was six seven of 'em, an', sir, w-w-w-when
+she went t-t-t-to take 'em in one was g-one! Yes, sir! An' she seen
+somethin' b-b-b-lack scooting cross lots, l-l-li-lic-lick--ety
+c-c-c-ut!"
+
+"Monty, if I were you, I wouldn't try to say 'lickety-cut,' till--"
+again reproved the girl-teacher, still forgetful of secrecy. And again
+Mr. Jones ignored her, asking the boy:
+
+"Where was Bob, son of Mrs. Turner, about that time?"
+
+"F-f-fudge! I don't know. Somewhere's r-r-round, m-maybe. But it wasn't
+him. 'Twas a b-b-bigger, b-b-be-beard-d-er feller'n him."
+
+"You said 'six seven' pies. If she didn't know how many she made how'd
+she know she lost any?"
+
+"Well, sir! An' there was old Mr. Witherspoon, d-dr-driv-in' down
+mountain with a load o' c-c-carrots, he--he seen him cr-cr-cross--in'
+Perkins's corn-field an' he t-thought 'twas a sc-sc-scarecrow, till it
+walked. Sc-sc-sc-scarecrows couldn't do that he kn-kn-knew, an'--"
+
+Although Eunice had done her utmost to keep the story of the brass bound
+box a secret from even her own household, it was inevitable that
+knowledge of it should come to the ears of the sick man, since it was
+the chief interest of the many neighbors who called to see him. Yet all
+he could gain from his callers was the vague suspicion each
+entertained. He meant now to get at the facts of the case. Montgomery
+had spread the tale, but had strangely kept silence with him, his old
+chum. Montgomery should speak now, or Moses would know the reason why;
+and if he still declined to explain matters he should be punished by
+being left out of the next fishing-party Uncle Mose would organize--if
+he ever fished again! He interrupted, saying:
+
+"Never mind Witherspoon an' the carrots, Monty. Nor tramps, nuther.
+Sence I ain't constable, to do it myself, I hope the poor creatur' won't
+get 'rested. Don't know where'd he be stowed, anyway, in this benighted
+Marsden, where there ain't neither a jail nor a touch to one. What I
+want to know is: What did you find in Eunice's woods?"
+
+Monty did some rapid thinking, the question had been a surprise, but he
+answered, promptly:
+
+"N-n-not-nothing."
+
+"Montgomery Sturtevant! How dare you? An' I will say that's the first
+lie I ever heard you tell. You're bad enough, oh, you're as bad as you
+need to be, but--a liar! Whew!"
+
+The lad sprang to his feet, furious. His hands clenched, and it was well
+that his accuser was a disabled old man, else the "hot blood of the
+Sturtevants" might have driven their young descendant to do desperate
+deeds. As it was, he choked, glared, and finally stammered:
+
+"I-if you was a boy, an' not old l-li-like you are, I'd make you
+t-t-take that back, or--k-k-kill you! It's the tr-tr-truth! I don't lie!
+Do I, K-K-Katharine?"
+
+The girl had never seen anybody so angry. Her own temper was quick
+enough, but its outbursts short-lived, and she certainly had never had
+the least desire to "kill" anybody. Montgomery looked as if he meant it,
+and in distress she threw herself upon him forcibly, unclasped his
+clenched fingers, and begged:
+
+"Don't say that, Monty! Oh, don't say such dreadful things!" Then faced
+around toward the cot, declaring: "He didn't 'lie,' Uncle Moses. It's
+true. He didn't find--"
+
+Oh, she had almost betrayed herself in her eagerness to defend her
+friend.
+
+"Didn't find what, 'Kitty Keehoty'? An' if you didn't yourself, lad,
+why, you was along at the time. How else--But I'm sorry I used that
+hateful word. I don't blame you for your spunk. I'd knock a feller down
+'at called me 'liar' to my face, even now, old an' bedrid' as I be. I
+take it back an' call it square--if you will. But tell the hull business
+now, to your poor old fishin' teacher, an' let's be done with mysteries.
+Eunice, she's as mum as an oyster; an' Susanna, she talks a lot of
+explaining yet don't explain nothin'. What's all about, anyway, that's
+set Marsden crazy? Why, one man come to see me, was tellin' of
+searchin'-parties ransackin' our woods, prospectin', or somethin'. D'ye
+ever hear such impudence? Why, if I was constable, I'd arrest every
+man-jack of 'em that's dared to put pickaxe or spade in our ground! I'd
+have the law on 'em, neighbor or no neighbor. Well, they won't find a
+thing. 'Cept maybe a few chestnuts or such. As for gold--Hm-m! But
+somethin' was found--what was it, Monty?"
+
+The lad's anger was ebbing, but he was still in an unfriendly mood.
+Besides, he remembered the promise he had made to Aunt Eunice,--broken
+beforehand,--and resolved that he would keep silence now, even if the
+harm were already done. So he closed his lips very tightly, and looked
+steadily out of the window. Katharine followed this good example, and
+the pair seemed wholly absorbed--in nothing at all.
+
+"Can't you speak? Are you both struck dumb all to oncet? Is that the
+manners you think's polite?" demanded Mr. Jones, testily.
+
+Then Monty spoke. "Gr-gram-ma sent me to ask how you w-w-were. I'll go
+an' tell her."
+
+"Won't you stay and play? And, oh, let me tell you. Mr. Deacon Meakin is
+cleaning up the barn just splendidly, and it will be all ready for--you
+know what!" cried Katy, excitedly, and forgetful of the keen ears of the
+man on the cot. She was reminded of them, however, when he again
+demanded:
+
+"What's that? What'll the barn be ready for? I want you young ones to
+understand there's to be no monkey shines of any sort whilst I'm laid
+up. An' you're a sassy pair, the two of ye!"
+
+"I don't mean to be saucy, but you make me. And I guess you must be
+getting well very fast, 'cause widow says that being cross is a good
+sign--and I'm sure you're perfectly horrid, so there!" cried Kate,
+pertly, and seizing Monty's hand hurried him down the stairs.
+
+She had no sooner reached the bottom of them than she regretted her
+impertinence, and would have returned to apologize, had not Aunt Eunice
+just then appeared in the doorway, wearing her street things, while
+Deacon Meakin was also bringing the top-buggy around from the
+carriage-house. Katharine loved driving, of which luxury she had had
+very little; and the few times she had been out with Miss Maitland since
+her arrival at The Maples had been her happiest hours. The whole
+countryside was rich in autumn coloring, and through her artist father
+the child had learned to "see things." She was continually surprising
+all around her by finding such a store of beauty in every simple thing.
+A yellow or scarlet leaf was far more than that to her; it was a picture
+of varying tints and shades, which she would study with keenest
+interest. She had pointed out to Aunt Eunice, upon that last drive
+up-mountain, at least twenty-five tones of green, and had seized the
+reins suddenly to stop old Dobbin that she might gaze her full upon a
+decrepit cedar-tree robed and garlanded with scarlet woodbine. Marsden
+village might seem dull to her after her city life, but nature more than
+compensated; so that now her fear was not that she must stay, but that
+her guardian--perforce--would tire of her.
+
+"Oh, aunty! May I go?"
+
+"No, Katharine, not to-day. I am going to visit an old friend, who is
+very ill. I do not know when I shall be back, but be a good girl and do
+whatever Susanna tells you. Good-by. Good-by, Montgomery. Please give my
+love to your grandmother, and thank her for sending to inquire after
+Moses."
+
+Then the lady stepped into the buggy, the deacon chirruped to Dobbin,
+and they rode away. At the same moment came a shrill whistle from the
+street, and Monty ran to the gate. Bob Turner and a lot of boys were
+waiting near, rods over their shoulders and fish-hooks in their pockets,
+intent upon a Saturday half-holiday at their favorite sport. Besides
+their tackle they had great sacks of burlap, or canvas, because when
+they had caught all the fish in the river they expected to gather all
+the chestnuts in the woods. In any case, they were bound for a good
+time, and Montgomery did not hesitate in joining them. He delayed just
+long enough to go into the house and secure Moses' oldest line and rod,
+catch up a basket for nuts, and was off, leaving a very lonely girl
+standing on the path and wishing most earnestly that she had been born a
+boy so she, too, might do things worth while. She had already heard so
+much about the delightful art of angling that she longed to try it for
+herself; but with Uncle Moses helpless, and Monty--so mean!--He might
+have taken her. He might have stayed and talked over their secret
+scheme, which Deacon Meakin was unconsciously furthering by his ultra
+tidiness. He might, at least, have promised to bring her some chestnuts.
+But he had done none of these thoughtful things. He had been just
+plain--boy! Girls? Were there any she might visit uninvited? Aunt Eunice
+was very particular about that. She had explained that the Turner girls,
+Sophronia Walker, and even the Clackett sisters, Mercy and Lucinda, had
+many household duties to perform. Especially on Saturdays were their
+services in demand, since at this time of year there was pickling and
+preserving, soap-making and carpet-weaving; even among the more thrifty
+households "butchering and packing." Most families deferred the latter
+operation until much colder weather, but, as Susanna expressed it,
+"there's some in Marsden township 'at if they knowed they was to be
+hung 'd want it done the day afore, they're so forehanded." Even the
+widow herself, Katharine fancied, leaned a little toward this
+"forehandedness," since she made fruit-cake six months before it was to
+be eaten; and on that memorable night of the storm had actually produced
+for each child a piece of the same sort of cake, meltingly luscious and
+moist in one's mouth, with the statement that it had been baked just
+seven years before. And when Katharine had exclaimed in amazement, had
+replied:
+
+"My suz! That's nothin' to what some keeps it. Mis' Turner, she's got
+part her weddin' loaf yet, an' she's been married more years 'an I can
+exactly recollect; while her own mother has some 'at's twenty-five years
+old. Fact. Hers is gettin' ruther dry, but it's always been kep' in a
+stone crock in a tin case an' only opened a-Thanksgiving time, when
+everybody in the hull connection is to dinner, and is give a tiny bit
+for remembrance' sake."
+
+Thinking over her guardian's information, there seemed to be no house
+where the young folks would have leisure for company, and the home
+prospect was rather lonely.
+
+"Oh, for even a little Snowball to play with! Uncle Moses--I was rude to
+him, but he's so cross I can't go back and be shut up with him this
+beautiful afternoon. If I go just to say that I'm sorry he'll make me
+tell him a lot of stories to prove my sorrow. That's one of his ways.
+The Widow Sprigg is sufficient unto herself and her scrubbing--of a
+Saturday. I've found that out. Deacon Meakin isn't at the barn and I
+might go there, but he's spoiled the barn for me. I feel just as if I
+was in somebody's parlor, some Marsden body's parlor, that's so much in
+order it makes everybody who goes into it as stiff as itself. I've found
+that out, too, going calling with Aunt Eunice. I wish--"
+
+Susanna suddenly called out to the girl sitting upon the porch step and
+thus ruefully communing with herself:
+
+"Ka-ty! Katharine!"
+
+"Yes, Widow Sprigg! Here I am--coming. What is it? Something to do?"
+
+"Well, I should say 'twas somethin' to do! Here's that wild-headed Monty
+took an' scampered off just as I was takin' this batch of punkin pies
+out the oven. Eunice wants me to send a couple of 'em to Madam, an' this
+currant-jell-roll. I laid out to add a loaf of brown bread an' a pat of
+butter, 'cause, say what they will, an' let Madam Sturtevant be as good
+butter maker as they claim, I 'low old Whitey's milk can't hold to
+richness alongside our young Alderneys; an' besides, can't be much milk
+left for butter after Monty an' Alfy's drunk their fill. 'Tain't much
+besides milk they do get, nuther, 'cept what we send 'em. Well, it's
+most like two families bein' one the way Eunice she feels. I wonder,
+could you be trusted to carry the things to the Mansion?"
+
+"Could I not?" cried Katharine, gaily, skipping about the kitchen in her
+fanciful way at this prospect of a change. "And I'd go that cross-fields
+road Monty showed me. Over the meadows amongst the goldenrod, past the
+stone walls where the woodbine and clematis run over each other trying
+to make the old gray rocks beautiful. There's a corn-field down beside
+the river so like a picture papa painted that I can almost see his dear
+hand holding the brush. And the forest is like a great palette set full
+of reds and blues and greens and yellows, out of God's own color-box.
+Oh, it's such a glorious old world, Susanna, and I'm so glad, so glad to
+be alive!"
+
+The widow put her arms akimbo and looked at Katharine over her
+spectacles, as she might have studied some new and rather formidable
+insect. Then she remarked:
+
+"My suz! you didn't look none too peart when I first called ye. If I'd
+had an opinion to give I should ha' give it that you was down in the
+mouth. Well, never mind. You're a funny child, but I guess you'll make
+some kind of woman if you live long enough. Hand me down that basket
+from the second pantry shelf, whilst I wrop that jell-roll in a napkin.
+Take notice of the basket. Eunice, she had it made to the
+basket-maker's up-mountain. She's dreadful good to the basket-makers,
+Eunice is."
+
+"Widow Sprigg, I think she's 'dreadful good' to everybody--to everybody
+lives. Yet she looks so sort of stern and dignified sometimes I feel
+afraid of her. But it is a curious basket, truly. What--"
+
+"Watch an' see, an' don't ask so many questions. Girls' eyes ought to
+save their tongues."
+
+The basket was beautifully woven of finest willow, and was like a tiny
+cupboard in the matter of shelves, each shelf fitted with a little rim
+to keep whatever might be placed upon it from slipping off. There were
+six of these shelves, all removable at will, and Susanna now took out
+all but two. Upon these she placed the pies, and in the larger spaces
+left bestowed a monster loaf of brown bread, the jell-roll and the
+butter. As there was still a small part unfilled she added a tumbler of
+strained honey, covered the whole with a napkin, hooked down the lid,
+and said:
+
+"Now get your hat and jacket. See 't your shoes is tied; them silk
+strings is too fancy for use. Got a handkerchief? All your buttons
+fastened? Feel just comf'table everyways?"
+
+"Yes, you dear old caretaker! I'm what Uncle Moses calls as 'right as a
+trivet,' whatever that may be."
+
+Katharine sped away for her jacket, and in passing a hall shelf noticed
+lying upon it a pile of Uncle Moses' "tackle," including a wonderful
+jointed rod that he had always thought too fine for use, but one which
+her own father had sent as a gift years before she was born. It had been
+brought forth and exhibited to her, and had since reposed among less
+valuable belongings in this conspicuous place. Her father was much in
+her mind that day, and the rod seemed to bring him even nearer. A whim
+seized her. Since there was nobody to teach her about fishing she would
+even teach herself. What her father had done as a little boy must be
+right for her, his child. So, when she left the house a few minutes
+later, the rod was in her hand, line and fish-hooks in her pocket. Nor
+had she thought it necessary to mention this fact to Susanna when she
+appeared before the housekeeper to receive her basket.
+
+"Take dreadful care of it, Katy. I know it's heavy, but 'twon't be only
+one way. It'll be empty comin' back, and I do hope the victuals will eat
+well!"
+
+They were destined to "eat" uncommonly "well;" but, alas! not by the
+mouths for which they were intended.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+BY THE OLD STONE BRIDGE
+
+
+One came down into the long, main street of Marsden village from a hill
+at either end, and through an avenue of trees whose branches met
+overhead. There were a few side streets, with scattering houses, and the
+"Crossroads" nearly midway of the chief thoroughfare, with its four
+corners occupied by the church, the schoolhouse, the post-office, and
+the tavern. On the north side the ground rose gently for a distance,
+then climbed abruptly to the "mountain," in reality but a high, wooded
+hill. On the south there were rich meadows, wide pastures, and the
+winding noisy river, that darted here and there through the valley as if
+having no mind of its own which way it should run. On this south side
+was also the great forest called "Maitland's woods," that already
+Katharine had learned to love almost as warmly as did Aunt Eunice. To
+the latter the forest was as something sacred, a spot where nature
+should have her will and not despoiling man. When firewood must be cut
+from it, for coal was an unknown fuel in Marsden, she went herself to
+select such trees as must be sacrificed--always the unsightly ones which
+storms had broken, not trusting even Moses to cut one till she had
+condemned it.
+
+As that unfortunate man had observed:
+
+"If Eunice she had let me trim out the under-bresh now an' then I
+shouldn't ha' broke my leg a-stumblin' over old tree-roots. But, no!
+Things must be kep' just as they was in the old Colonel's time, no
+matter what! She 'pears to think that timber's got as much feelin' as
+folks, an' I 'low there ain't no other oaks an' pines an' maples to
+compare with 'em left this section of the State. It makes me plumb wild
+to lie here helpless, an' think o' them villagers a-trompin' her brakes
+an' scarin' them gray squir'ls that there's so few of, anyway, let alone
+the birds an' chipmunks! Oh, hum!"
+
+Surely, there was no lovelier spot in the world, so Katharine felt,
+finding the basket rather heavy, and running across fields the sooner to
+be rid of it. But this by-path led to the river and a quaint old-time
+bridge which spanned it; and here the girl meant to rest and give
+herself a lesson in angling. Setting her basket down in the shade of
+some alder-bushes, she swung her feet over the stone ledge of the bridge
+and prepared to arrange her tackle. To fit the jointed rod into a
+desirable length was simple enough, and to attach the line with its
+hook as easy; but there trouble began.
+
+"I never thought a thing about bait, and where shall I get it? I suppose
+the ground is just as full of worms here as it is in the garden where
+the boys dig them. But--ugh! Shall I dare to touch one if I find it?"
+she asked herself. Then as promptly exclaimed: "I must! I just must!
+I'll catch the nicest fish out the water and take it home to Uncle Moses
+for his supper. Susanna will cook it, I'm sure--or, maybe, let me do it
+myself. Then I'll take it to that poor sick man on one Aunt Eunice's
+prettiest dishes, and he'll forgive me for saying such impudent things
+to him. It will make it easier to apologize if I have a gift in my
+hand," said this wise little maid. Unfortunately, she said it aloud,
+having the bad habit of talking to herself whenever there was nobody
+else to talk to.
+
+Then, picking up a sharp stick, she resolutely set to work to unearth an
+angleworm. But this was difficult. The mold was hard and sunbaked, and
+the stick of little use. Its point broke repeatedly; yet the longer she
+labored the more determined she became, and finally she did succeed in
+driving a red earthworm from its haunts. No sooner had it come to the
+surface than she sprang away in disgust, exclaiming:
+
+"Oh, you nasty, dirty, squirmy thing! I wouldn't touch you for anything!
+Indeed, I'll never learn to fish if I have to handle such beasts as
+you. Monty takes them in his fingers, and even cuts them in pieces if he
+doesn't have enough without. The horrid boy! He says it doesn't hurt
+them, that they're so used to it, an' till this minute I never thought
+how little sense there was in that. I--I guess I'll put a leaf on the
+hook and throw that in. I should think a fish would rather eat a nice
+clean leaf than a worm."
+
+Selecting a bit of the red sorrel growing near, she baited her hook and
+cast her line. She had learned how to do that from seeing Uncle Moses
+test his various rods at home, and set herself to wait and watch with
+the "patience" he prescribed for any successful angler.
+
+Waiting, she fell to day-dreaming, and, for her further ease in this
+line, curled herself down in the shade of the alders and closed her
+eyes. Beautiful pictures came to her behind those shut lids, none more
+lovely than this very scene of which she fancied she was the only living
+human feature.
+
+"All alone in God's beautiful world! With the sky so blue and white; the
+woods so--so every wonderful color; the river so dark and babble-y,
+chattering over the stones that it had more to say than it had time to
+say it in; the birds singing and flying; the air so soft and warm; and
+nobody here but me! Well, I'm glad that even I am here, just a little
+girl like me, to tell Him there is somebody who sees and thanks Him!"
+
+Then away she drifted into thoughts she could not have framed in words,
+but which kept all fear from her and filled her young soul with a
+longing to be good and to do good.
+
+But she was not alone as she believed. Among those same alders lining
+the river bank lay another of God's creatures, whose dreams were unlike
+the child's, indeed, but upon whose clouded mind the beauty of that hour
+was not wholly lost. He had been asleep, as she afterward declared she
+had not been, and her converse with herself aroused him. He had lain
+down where the bushes screened him well--for hiding was a second nature
+to this man--and he did not move when he awoke. He merely fixed his eyes
+upon Katharine as he saw her through the branches and watched what she
+would do. He saw her fix her tackle, her struggle with herself
+concerning the earthworm, and smiled dully. Once he had fished from that
+same bridge. From among many later and less pleasant memories that stood
+out as clearly as anything in these later days was ever clear to this
+unfortunate. Ah! the girl was going to sleep! and he would fish again!
+
+Very slowly and cautiously, lest he should awaken her, he crept forward
+through the bushes, out upon the bank where the smooth grass made
+creeping easier, inch by inch forward till he had come face to face
+with her. Then a sudden grasp at the rod in her hand and she awoke,
+sprang to her feet, beheld him, and in her fear leaped backward,
+unheeding where she set her foot. It had chanced to be upon a loose rock
+which rolled downwards with her, and she felt herself falling into the
+stream.
+
+But she did not reach the water. Her skirts were clasped firmly and
+herself dragged backward, to be dropped upon the ground with more force
+than needful. It was all done in a second or two of time, but it
+sufficed to show her that she had escaped one peril but to encounter
+another. The man who had pulled her from the river, the man who sat now
+close beside her, was Marsden's much discussed--tramp!
+
+For a moment her heart almost stopped beating, and she turned her eyes
+with a hopeless glance across the fields by which she had come. Oh, how
+wide they were and how desolate! All their glorious beauty faded from
+her vision till they seemed but an endless waste between her and safety.
+Oh, if she had only gone by the straight and longer road, instead of
+yielding to a whim she had not dared to speak of to Susanna! If she
+hadn't stopped to fish she would already have been at the Mansion, which
+now it seemed she would never see again. A tramp. It was the one thing
+in the world of which she had the greatest fear, and the behavior of
+Widow Sprigg, as well as the other villagers, had convinced her that
+here was a tramp of the worst variety.
+
+Then her sense of what was "fair" made her force her eyes toward her
+unwished-for companion. To her surprise he was not paying the slightest
+attention to her, and he didn't look so--well, not so fearfully wicked.
+He certainly was clothed in the poorest and dirtiest of rags. His bare
+feet showed through the holes in his shoes. His hat had a brim but
+half-way around. His hair had not seen a comb for so long that he must
+have forgotten what a comb was like. His face was roughly bearded, but
+it was very pale and not so dirty as his hands. His eyebrows stood out
+at an angle above his wild eyes, and were the bushiest she had ever
+seen, except Squire Pettijohn's. He wasn't a bit like that sleek and
+portly gentleman, yet, even as he had done in Alfaretta's case, he
+brought the village potentate to mind. And--what was it he was doing?
+
+With an old clasp-knife he had drawn from his rags he was digging bait!
+Not as she had dug, with timid, tentative jabs from the point of a
+stick, but systematically, thoroughly, just as Monty would have done. He
+had found a spot where the earth was soft and rich, and was wholly
+absorbed in his task. So absorbed that Katharine felt it safe to attempt
+flight, and got upon her feet.
+
+But he pulled her roughly down again. Yet he showed no enmity toward
+her, and with the swift intuition of youth she comprehended that he
+wished her to stay and see him fish. He, the tramp, was to give her her
+first lesson in angling! What, what would Uncle Moses say?
+
+Always quick to see the comic side of any incident, Katy laughed. She
+couldn't have helped it even if he had struck her the next instant. He
+didn't strike, he merely laughed in response--his first laughter of many
+days. Then he looked into her face, stared, and stared again. Stared so
+long that Katharine put her hand to it wondering what was amiss. When he
+turned his gaze aside he fixed it on the chattering river and became
+oblivious to everything else. Within his brain there was working another
+memory, evoked by her brown eyes; eyes so like her father's that when
+she sometimes looked at Susanna, that good woman begged her turn her
+glance away, saying:
+
+"You're so like Johnny you give me the creeps!"
+
+Susanna was often getting the "creeps," and Katy wondered if she had
+given them to this poor wretch also, since, though he had seemed so
+anxious to fish a few moments ago, he had now apparently forgotten all
+about it. She gathered all her courage and put out her hand to take the
+rod.
+
+"If you please, mister, I must be going now. Will you give me my
+things?"
+
+"Bime by. Wait. Don't talk. In a minute I'll have a whopper."
+
+It was a relief to hear him speak in such an ordinary way. She had
+supposed that the language of tramps was something wholly vile. His
+voice was husky, but that might be from illness, for he certainly did
+look ill. Well, if he wanted her to stay she would better please him. He
+would tire of keeping her there after awhile, or so she hoped. Even a
+tramp couldn't go on fishing forever, and somebody might come.
+
+He was really very skilful. Almost as soon as Uncle Moses could have
+done so he had landed his first catch and left it floundering on the
+bank. Katharine had never thought about the cruel side of angling. It
+was left for this forlorn creature to teach her that of this pretty
+pastime there is something else than lounging beside charming waterways
+and beneath green boughs. Angleworms might not suffer much, might even
+get used to being tortured, as Montgomery averred; but how about that
+beautiful shining thing done to slow death on the sward beside her? A
+new pity for this humbler of God's creatures made her forget her
+lingering fear of the man. With a cry she snatched the rod from his
+hand, exclaiming:
+
+"You sha'n't do that any more! It's wicked! Oh, the poor, pretty thing!
+We have taken away its life and we can never give it back again. I feel
+as if I had seen murder done. I understand Aunt Eunice now about the
+poultry. Oh, it is dreadful!"
+
+This was the girl's first knowledge of killing, and she was extreme in
+her revulsion as she was in all things. But her emotion was a good thing
+because it recalled her to the fact that she had something else to do.
+She must be about it at once, and if the man followed or annoyed
+her--why, she must trust she could escape him.
+
+Rapidly unfolding the rod, she was conscious that the tramp was again
+regarding her with that intent gaze which had nothing menacing in it,
+but was rather wistful and sad. He did not resent her stopping his
+sport, and, turning away from her, he picked up the fish and tossed it
+back into the water. Then she went a few steps to where she had placed
+the basket and drew it out from the alders.
+
+Now his whole attitude changed. He had not suffered greatly from hunger
+heretofore. The gardens and fields were too rich just then with fruits
+and vegetables, and nobody missed a few potatoes from the heaps dug, nor
+corn from the shocks. There were apples galore, and in some orchards
+pears and even plums. The stone walls bordering the farms were hung with
+wild frost-grapes, while the nut-trees offered their abundance to
+whomsoever would accept. Beneath these same trees there was game to be
+ensnared even by one who carried no gun, and as for poultry-yards,
+nearly every householder had one. Nobody, not even a tramp, need go
+hungry on that countryside, unless his scruples prevented him from
+helping himself.
+
+This particular tramp had no scruples of that sort whatever. As
+Katharine picked up her heavy basket, he was upon his feet and relieved
+her of the burden at once. She tried to retain her hold of the handle,
+but was no match for him in strength, and had to watch him drop down
+upon the bank, tear apart the two halves of the cover, and explore the
+contents.
+
+She made one effort to rescue Susanna's good things from this "thief,"
+as she now knew him to be, but he flung her hands aside so rudely he
+hurt them; and when she cried to him: "You mustn't! You must not touch
+those things, they aren't mine!" he did not notice her.
+
+Already one pumpkin pie was half-devoured. Uncooked food from the fields
+may, indeed, prevent starvation, but here was luxury. If "the proof of
+the pudding is in the eating," Susanna Sprigg should have been highly
+flattered. Katharine had never seen anybody eat as this man did. Before
+she could say, "Well, you sha'n't have the basket, even if you do steal
+the things from it!" the first pie had wholly gone. He tried a little
+variety: broke the brown loaf in two, and, unrolling the pat of butter,
+generously smeared it, using his dirty hands for knife.
+
+[Illustration: "ALREADY ONE PUMPKIN PIE WAS HALF-DEVOURED"]
+
+This was wretchedly disgusting but--fascinating. It reminded the young
+Baltimorean of feeding-time at the Zoo. She also dropped upon the sward
+to watch, and to recover her basket when he should have done with its
+contents.
+
+He left none of them. The honey followed the bread and butter, and the
+jell-roll followed the honey. Then he returned to his first delight and
+finished the second pie. By this time satiety. Full fed and rested he
+crawled back among the alders and lay down to sleep. Crawled so far and
+so deep among them that even the watching girl could scarcely see him.
+
+But she had no desire left for further observation. He had proved
+himself a harmless bugaboo, and she would not be afraid of him, meet him
+where she might--so she felt then.
+
+Yet there remained some ugly facts to be dealt with. One, the empty
+cupboard at the Mansion, always so faithfully replenished for the
+Sabbath by the untiring care of Aunt Eunice. One, the cherished rod that
+had snapped asunder as she forced it from the tramp's grasp. And
+one--the well-deserved anger of the Widow Susanna Sprigg.
+
+She gathered what comfort she could, hoping against hope that for once
+Madam Sturtevant had made provision for her own Sabbath feasts; and
+that, though the rod might be broken, and because of its association not
+to be replaced, she could buy another even better. She had ten dollars
+of her own, her very own. It was as yet unbroken even if in her
+intention she had already expended it on many, many things. But there
+remained that other formidable fact--the Widow Sprigg.
+
+How meet her inquiring glances? How convince her that she was still
+worthy of trust who had proved herself unworthy? How endure the torrent
+of indignation, certain to be let loose upon her when she reappeared at
+the kitchen door?
+
+Well, she had the basket! That was yet another and comforting fact. She
+hugged it close as she entered the back yard where the housekeeper was
+washing the stone path with a vigor as great as if it were the beginning
+and not the end of the day. As the gate-latch clicked Susanna looked up,
+and Katharine saw that she was "just as cross as she always is on
+Saturday afternoon."
+
+"My suz! You back a'ready?"
+
+"Yes, Susanna."
+
+"Well, what you so mealy-mouthed about? You ain't nigh so peart and
+hop-skippin' as you was when you started. Didn't you get a good welcome
+to the Mansion? Wasn't Madam to home? Don't squeeze that basket so
+tight. Eunice won't admire to have it smashed."
+
+"I won't smash it, Susanna."
+
+Katharine wondered why she should be so afraid of this sharp-tongued
+woman when she hadn't been really afraid of the disreputable tramp. She
+wondered why she couldn't burst forth with her story, which certainly
+was a strange one, as sure of sympathy here as she would have been with
+Aunt Eunice. Perhaps that dear, if dignified, old lady had returned, and
+if so she would go straight to her.
+
+"Has aunty come, Widow Sprigg?"
+
+"No. She hain't. Nor likely to. Word's come, though, that we needn't
+look for her till we see her. That sick woman is so glad to have her
+she's goin' to keep her over Sabbath, an' I warn you, what with Moses on
+my hands an' the hull house to look after, I want no monkey-shines from
+you. Well, what did Madam say? Didn't she think my butter was as good as
+hers? Hey? What?"
+
+Hope died in Katharine's breast. At first she had loved Susanna best,
+better than Miss Maitland. Now, for just one look into Eunice's face!
+
+But she wouldn't be a coward. Feeling that she had done something very
+wrong, yet not knowing how she could have helped it, she looked straight
+into Susanna's eyes, and answered:
+
+"I haven't seen Madam Sturtevant. I didn't go there."
+
+Over the rest of that interview it is well to draw a veil.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+THE COTTAGE IN THE WOOD
+
+
+After having cried herself to sleep in the sitting-room chamber, feeling
+very lonely and forlorn because Aunt Eunice was not in her own adjoining
+room, Katharine awoke to find another beautiful day gladdening the world
+and herself as well. Who could be unhappy with such sunlight shining
+through such golden maples, underneath a sky so blue?
+
+     "Every day is a fresh beginning,
+     Every morn is the world made new,"
+
+sang the girl, springing from bed and running to her bath; a daily habit
+which surprised and pleased both Miss Maitland and the housekeeper,
+accustomed as they were to the rebellion of young Marsdenites to even a
+weekly tubbing. A habit which had done much to win Eunice's favor toward
+the "second Mrs. John," and between whom and herself now existed a
+friendly and frequent correspondence. "She is a good woman, intensely
+practical; and Katharine is a good child, intensely romantic; and not
+all good people may live comfortably together. But there is no 'cruel
+stepmother' in her, and I mean to invite her and the little Snowballs
+out to visit us next summer. It shall not be my fault if there does not
+yet grow the closest affection between Johnny's chosen wife and Johnny's
+daughter," had remarked the mistress of The Maples, some time before.
+
+To which Susanna had pertinently replied:
+
+"Well, next summer ain't tetched yet, an' we may all be in our graves
+before that time."
+
+"Very true, my friend, though I don't expect to be in mine," answered
+Eunice, cheerfully, and wisely changed the subject, though not her
+intention.
+
+Not only had Katharine forgotten her unhappiness of the night before,
+but Susanna had also rested and recovered her good nature. She felt that
+it would never do for an old lady like herself to apologize to a child
+for the hard words spoken "in the way of discipline," but now that she
+had had time to think it over she did not see how Katy had been so
+greatly to blame. Besides, she was just wild to ask questions concerning
+the tramp, and privately looked upon the little girl as a very heroine
+for bravery, in that she had neither fainted nor been greatly afraid
+during her interview with the wanderer.
+
+Katy had been given a bread and milk supper and sent to her room,
+feeling herself in disgrace. She had not even been allowed to visit
+Moses and offer her apologies for her rudeness to him; so that if it had
+not been a wholly "black" Saturday, it had been a very dark Saturday
+evening.
+
+But Saturday was past, a beautiful Lord's Day was blessing His earth,
+and it was not for His children to keep offence with one another.
+
+As her own overture to a Sabbath peace, Susanna went to the foot of the
+stairs and called, in her cheerfullest voice:
+
+"Time to get up, 'Kitty Keehoty'!"
+
+"Oh, yes! Good morning, Susanna! I've been up ever so long--much as ten
+minutes, I guess."
+
+"Flannel cakes an' maple syrup for breakfast," returned the housekeeper,
+as a parting salute, and really very happy to have all clouds blown free
+of the domestic sky.
+
+Moses had already breakfasted, and had by this time become so far
+accustomed to his hard position on the cot that he had ceased to grumble
+at it. That is, he had not grumbled on that morning, and had forgotten
+his growls of yesterday. He was ready with a smile for his little nurse
+when she came in with the new copy of the _Chronicle_, to read him a few
+paragraphs while Susanna fried the cakes. Later, she brought a big bunch
+of chrysanthemums and put them on his bureau; then tidied the room even
+beyond its usual order, since on Sundays, when his neighbors had
+leisure, the invalid was sure to have many visitors.
+
+Indeed, as Susanna informed Katharine at breakfast, Deacon Meakin
+himself was coming to sit the whole afternoon with his afflicted
+predecessor. Kate, herself, was to go alone to church in the morning,
+and remember that she was to behave exactly as if Eunice were beside
+her. In the afternoon, during the deacon's temporary charge of the
+house, Susanna would take Katharine on that long promised walk to "my
+cottage."
+
+"I've been terr'ble anxious 'bout it ever sence that tramp come to town,
+an' now sence you've seen an' talked with him, an' I know that he's
+runnin' 'round loose still, I must go take a look. That's the worst o'
+prope'ty, it's a dreadful care."
+
+"But it must be just delightful to own such a cute little cottage as
+yours, all vines and trees--"
+
+"The chimbley smoked," interjected the widow, feeling free to disparage
+her own "prope'ty," though she would have resented such a remark from
+another.
+
+"That could be fixed, I reckon. When I saw it from the stage, coming, I
+thought it was just like a doll-house, or a child's playhouse."
+
+"Huh! You did, did you? Well, let me tell you, Katharine Maitland, that
+house is a good one. Spriggs, he had it built first-class, with a room
+finished off in the roof--attic, he called it--three good rooms on the
+ground floor, white-painted clapboards an' reg'lar blinds, green blinds
+with slats turnin' easy as nothin'. Not like the old-fashioned wooden
+shutters, so clumsy 't you can't see out to tell who's comin' along the
+road without openin' the hull concern. And it has as good a system of
+water as Squire Pettijohn's, only not so big. Sprigg, he bricked it all
+up, hauled the bricks himself clean in from the county town, an' it's
+got a manhole 'twill let ary man down it that wants to go. My house may
+not be as big as the moon, but it's got as good a system of water as
+Eunice's even."
+
+Katharine's eyes twinkled. Until she came to Marsden she had never heard
+of a cistern; all the water used in her city home had been piped into it
+from a reservoir, which supplied all the other houses also; but she had
+learned what Susanna meant by "system," because the Turners had had
+theirs cleaned out only the week before.
+
+"What's the 'manhole,' Susanna?"
+
+"My suz! You do ask the ridicylousest questions. It's a hole left in the
+top for folks to go down into it, if they want to."
+
+"Well, I shouldn't think they'd ever want to. And the Turners' manhole
+must be very small, smaller than yours, maybe; because they sent Bob
+down to clean it, and he got stuck coming out. His mother was scared
+almost into a fit, and the girls cried and Mr. Turner--said things. He
+told Bob if he ever got him out alive he'd teach him to live on light
+rations for awhile. Bob's so fat, you know. It was so funny, and yet I
+was frightened, too. I suppose if he had stuck too tight they'd have had
+to break the bricks away, but he squeezed through all right. He hasn't
+spoken to me since, though. Just because I laughed."
+
+"My suz, Kitty! if you ain't the greatest one for bein' everywhere 't
+anything's goin' on. You hain't been here but a month, yet you know more
+folks, been into more houses, seems if, than I have, who've lived here
+all my life. An' the idee! Tearin' away good bricks just to get a
+wuthless boy out, like that Bob. I cal'late his pa would ha' thought
+twice 'fore it come to that. He'd have made the young one scrouge
+himself up dreadful narrow an' wriggle himself free, somehow. But there.
+No use worryin' about my system, 'cause I had the leader-pipe turned
+t'other way so no rain could run into it. It's as dry as a floor now. My
+suz! What a long walk it is, an' how warm it does keep. I never knowed
+such a fall, no weather fit for killin' nor nothin', but just like
+midsummer," bewailed Susanna, lagging on the long woodland path.
+
+"I never knew such a fall, either. I never dreamed that the world could
+be so lovely. I have only been in the country a fortnight at a time in
+August, until I came to Marsden, but I love it, I love it! And I think
+you're dressed too warm. What made you put on that heavy wool gown and
+shawl? And a veil, too. I should think you'd roast, and your face is the
+color of boiled lobster," said Katharine, with hapless frankness.
+
+Their talk had been along the way, and their goal was already in sight
+through the trees. Poor Susanna had scarcely breath to retort, but
+managed to say:
+
+"Ain't it the time o' year to put on thick clothes? an' am I to blame if
+the weather don't know its own business?"
+
+Then, for a peace-offering, Katharine handed her companion a beautiful
+fern, which the widow tossed aside contemptuously, with:
+
+"Huh! What do I want with a brake? Eunice, she litters the house with
+'em bad enough. I ain't a-goin' to add to the muss. Well, here we be,
+an' there's the key. I've come here alone time an' time again an' never
+felt the creeps a-doin' it afore to-day. But--my suz! I wouldn't ha'
+come now without you to keep me comp'ny, not for anything."
+
+"That's flattering! Am I so brave, then?" asked the girl, giving the
+housekeeper a sudden little hug.
+
+"Yes, you be. But, my suz! You needn't knock my bunnit off with your
+foolishness. Seems if this key's gettin' rusty, or else--can't be the
+door's unlocked, can it?"
+
+"I'm sure I don't know. I was never here before." Then, as the door
+opened, sniffing a little at the musty odor incident to a tightly closed
+apartment: "Whew! It needs airing, anyway. Let's throw up all the sashes
+and set the blinds wide, then it will be the sweetest little cottage in
+the world."
+
+"Well, you may. And when you've done these down here, you might--you
+might go up attic and open that winder, too. It's there I've got my
+things stored that I've been layin' out to show you, soon's I could. Me
+an' Moses an' Eunice is all a-gettin' old. It's time somebody younger
+an' likelier to live longer should know. This walk to-day tells me 'at I
+ain't so spry as I used to be. No tellin', no tellin'. We're here now,
+an' there some other time, an' life's a shadder, a shadder," ruminated
+the widow, sitting down on the door-step, and not anxious, apparently,
+to enter the cottage first.
+
+Which fact Katharine was quick to observe and comment upon, with a
+laugh: "Oh, you blessed old coward! You're afraid that tramp has shut
+himself up in your 'prope'ty,' and you'll come upon him unawares. You'd
+'risk' me, just as Monty 'risked' Ned Clackett to climb the schoolhouse
+roof after a ball, not daring to go himself. Well, here goes! You keep
+watch without while I search within."
+
+Susanna laughed. She was afraid, and owned it frankly; but after
+Katharine had ransacked the few rooms thoroughly, peeped under the bed
+in the kitchen-bedroom, opened the few closet doors, and even examined
+the wall cupboard, she gathered courage to enter, and promptly led the
+way up-stairs.
+
+The little home was plainly furnished, but represented the romance of
+her life to old Susanna. Memories of her youth came back and softened
+the asperity of age, her wrinkled face taking on gentler lines and her
+harsh voice a tenderer tone. But to-day she was in haste. She felt
+herself needed at The Maples, even with the capable Deacon Meakin left
+to "hold the fort," as he expressed it. Going to a chest of drawers she
+opened the top one and displayed a store of blankets, different from
+those Katharine had seen. They looked like very coarse and heavy
+flannel, and were yellow with age. "Them was part of my fittin' out. I
+spun an' wove 'em myself, whilst Sprigg an' me was walkin' out
+together," she explained, carefully peering into the folds of the cloth,
+in search of any vagrant moth.
+
+"Why, how in the world could you do that? I thought when one spun and
+wove they had to have wheels and looms and things. How could you carry
+such about with you, even with Sprigg, I mean Mr. Sprigg, to help?"
+
+Susanna looked over her spectacles more hurt than angry. But she saw
+only honest surprise on the girl's face, and, after a pause, explained:
+
+"'Walkin' out together' means keepin' comp'ny; as men an' women do
+who've promised to marry each other."
+
+"Oh, an engagement! I remember quite well, too well, when papa and Mrs.
+Snowball 'walked out together.' It quite did away with the delightful
+'walkin' out' I had always had with him before that time."
+
+"Well, Katy, be sure if Johnny picked her out she was the right one, an'
+me an' Eunice hopes to see the pair of ye good friends yet. We're layin'
+out to have all them little Snowballs down here, or up here, next
+summer, if we live to see another summer, an' make up our own minds as
+to how things is. We've settled that."
+
+Which shows that even strong-minded women like Susanna may sometimes
+change their minds; also lay claim to ideas not originally their own.
+But the effect upon Katharine was to sober her completely, and, oddly
+enough, make her a bit homesick for the old life and the noisy little
+brothers. She fell to thinking about them so earnestly that she scarcely
+heard what else the widow was saying, until she was touched upon the
+arm, and bidden:
+
+"Now, look sharp an' remember. Here 'tis, my shroud an' all goes with
+it."
+
+"Your--w-h-a-t?" gasped Katharine.
+
+Susanna again looked her surprise, but she was perfectly calm, even
+cheerfully interested; and, to enlighten the other's ignorance,
+patiently explained.
+
+"I said my shroud, that I am to be wropped in when I'm buried. I made it
+years ago, an' styles has changed some, I hear. But this is good, an'
+'ll be easy for 'em that does it to put on me. It's keepin' real well,
+nice an' white. Here's the suit of underclothes goes with it, all new,
+white stockin's--loose an' roomy, an' pins an' needles an' thread--not a
+thing wantin', so fur as I know. Why, child, what ails you? You look as
+if you had seen a ghost."
+
+Poor Katharine was so shocked by this revelation which the other made so
+calmly, that she had turned quite white, and found some difficulty to
+control her voice, as she returned:
+
+"It's so--so horrible, so ghastly! Right here in all this glory of life
+to be anticipating the grave! Give the dreadful things to me. I hate to
+touch them, but I'll make myself. I'll carry them right down into the
+kitchen and make a fire in the stove and burn them up, up, up! Oh,
+Susanna! how could you?"
+
+The old housekeeper was in her own turn as genuinely surprised. In many
+a household she knew just such provision for a sad day had been made.
+She had even once assisted at a "bee," where several women had assembled
+to prepare a burial garment for an old, bedridden neighbor, who, less
+"forehanded" than Marsdenites in general, had neglected to provide one
+for herself. The careless creature was living yet, and likely to outlive
+many a stronger woman, but that didn't matter. However, such ignorance
+as Katharine's did not surprise her so much as it would have done had
+the child's "raising" been in the more favored environment she had
+herself enjoyed. Of course, she did not yield her treasures to the
+destruction suggested. She merely closed that drawer and opened another;
+and here, indeed, her whole bearing changed. Uncovering a big
+paste-board box, she showed a quantity of little garments, oddly
+fashioned, but beautifully preserved, the very folds in which they had
+been laid away still crisp and fresh.
+
+Over and over the time-yellowed muslin her work-knotted fingers passed
+and repassed. Her touch was the touch of a mother upon her first-born,
+and the years that had been between the day of his coming and this were
+forgotten.
+
+Katharine watching, understood. Her sympathy brought a moisture to her
+own eyes, which now regarded the childless old woman in a new and
+reverent light. Never again would Susanna be just the same to her young
+housemate that she had been. The girl was learning life. Yesterday her
+lesson--that not all of God's vagrants are vile; to-day--that all
+sharp-tongued women are not viragoes.
+
+After a time, said the widow, simply: "Them was my baby's," and softly
+closed the drawer.
+
+They were well on the way home when Susanna suddenly exclaimed:
+
+"My suz! Ever see such a simpleton? I clean forgot to lock the door; an'
+that kitchen-bedroom winder, I doubt that you went near it."
+
+"No, I didn't. I forgot, too. Never mind, you sit here and rest. I'll
+run back and fasten the whole house, and won't be long. Or you go on
+toward home and I'll overtake you."
+
+"Sure you just as lief? Well, I don't s'pose you would be afraid now,
+after I've been there with ye to show you there wasn't nothin' nor
+nobody there, an' I 'low I'd ought to be back soon's I can," responded
+the housekeeper.
+
+"Afraid? Why, it was you yourself was afraid, you dear old make-believe!
+But go on, just the same. I'll make haste," cried Kate, laughing at the
+other's altered mind, and immediately darting backward through the
+forest toward the cottage.
+
+The Widow Sprigg walked forward, slowly; pausing here to pick up a nut,
+or there to examine a tree which she would tell Eunice might better be
+felled. As she walked she became uneasy, feeling that she had really
+imposed an unpleasant, possibly perilous, task upon the girl she scolded
+so freely yet already loved so dearly. Gathering a sprig of wintergreen
+she chewed it thoughtfully, and scarcely knew when she turned back to
+retrace her own steps to the cottage and learn what had befallen
+Katharine, who surely should have been in sight long before.
+
+She came, at last, breathless and excited, catching the widow's arm and
+dragging her farther into the wood, but saying nothing save that
+imperative: "Come! Oh, come quick! Quick! We may be too late!"
+
+Perforce the other "came," and there, on her kitchen-bedroom bed, lay
+Marsden's "tramp," seemingly sick unto death.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+A SELF-ELECTED CONSTABLE
+
+
+If Susanna could ever have been "knocked down with a feather," as she
+often averred, she might have been then.
+
+Indignation, consternation, amazement, all the emotions which have to be
+expressed in polysyllables, pictured themselves on her countenance as
+she paused on the bedroom threshold and looked at the intruder over her
+spectacles, through them, and below them. He lay face down upon the
+pillows, his dirty boots reposing on her choicest log-cabin quilt, and
+his groans fairly chilling the blood even in her veins, used though she
+was to the habits of men in illness. Moses, in his groaniest days, had
+rarely equalled this.
+
+After the moment's pause her mind worked quickly, and she expressed it
+in words, spoken more to herself than to Kate, close beside her.
+
+"He mustn't lie there, that way, with them filthy old shoes on. He acts
+as if he was at the p'int o' death, though folks a-dyin' don't gen'ally
+caterwaul like that. I bet I know what ails him! It's them pies an'
+things he stole! If 'tis, I'm glad of it, serves him right!" she
+finished, triumphantly, and in her satisfaction went so far as to
+approach the bed and shake the man's shoulder.
+
+At first he paid no attention to her, and his groans did not cease,
+though they became rather intermittent, as if the paroxysms of pain were
+less frequent. Finally, her voice, now pitched to its shrillest,
+penetrated his consciousness, and at her question: "What's the matter
+with ye? Got the colic?" he turned upon his side and his face was
+revealed.
+
+Then, indeed, did Susanna's countenance undergo a more wonderful change.
+All the emotions which had earlier crossed it concentrated in one
+prolonged stare, while she felt her strength oozing from her till she
+knew she should fall. Her hand left the stranger's shoulder and dropped
+limply to her side, her jaw fell, and she would have sunk down upon the
+floor had not Katharine slipped a chair forward to receive her. Upon
+this she settled, still staring and speechless; and as if he, too, were
+profoundly moved, the tramp ceased groaning altogether and fixed his
+burning gaze on her. So they remained, and for so long, that Kate grew
+frantic, and begged:
+
+"Oh, Susanna! what is wrong? Why do you look at him like that? Why does
+he look at you? Is he dying? Do you know him? Does he know you? Can't we
+do something for him? It's so dreadful to see anybody suffer. Even he,
+poor fellow, who--"
+
+The Widow Sprigg held up a shaking hand protesting against this volley
+of questions and answering none. But after a little time the woman in
+her got the better of the judge, and, rising, she went to the wall
+cupboard and took from it a bottle containing brown fluid and plainly
+labelled, "Cholera Mixture. Poison." Pouring a generous dose into a
+glass, she diluted it with water and was returning to the bed when
+Katharine caught her hand to stay it, crying:
+
+"Why, Susanna! How dare you? That's marked poison!"
+
+The widow shook the girl's hand off, calmly replying:
+
+"My suz! I guess I know what I'm about. That 'cholera mixture' 's one
+the old doctor's own prescriptions, an' I've give more of it to more
+folks 'an you could shake a stick at. It's marked 'poison' so's to keep
+childern like you from meddlin' with it. A dose of it won't hurt nobody,
+an' if his malady is the sort I cal'late, I'm treatin' him like the Good
+Samaritan would on the Sabbath Day. I've made it a powerful dose, an' I
+'low it'll settle his hash one way or other. But I hate to touch him. I
+certainly do."
+
+A last faint moan issued from the sufferer, and his eyes turned upon the
+girl. He looked so wan and so forlorn that her own natural repugnance
+left her, and she caught the medicine-glass from Susanna to present it
+to the sick man's lips. He opened them and drank obediently, even
+smacking his lips over the fiery mixture, and Kate, having finished her
+task, hastily withdrew to the outer room.
+
+But what had come over the Widow Sprigg? Her whole manner had changed.
+Fear seemed to have left her and a stern determination taken its place.
+Katharine could only observe, wondering, as the mistress of the cottage
+caught up a pail, and going to the well drew it full several times,
+throwing out all but the last pailful, which she brought back into the
+house and set on a table in the bedroom. Beside it she placed a dipper,
+and observed:
+
+"That water's all right. Moses, he had the well cleaned out for me only
+last month. We always do do it twicet a year, lest somebody comes along
+an' drinks it stale. More'n that, the well's fed by a spring, runnin' in
+an' out, so really don't need any cleanin', but--"
+
+Such solicitude on account of that detested tramp! It was amazing. Yet
+her next procedure was even more so. Going up-stairs, she looked that
+the window was shut, and the nail, its only fastening, put in above the
+lower sash. Anybody inside could have opened it, of course, but that did
+not occur to her. Each of the windows was thus treated, and, beckoning
+to Katharine, she led the way out-doors. The door was locked on the
+outside and Susanna started homeward. She was no longer a weary or a
+sad-faced woman. She was alert, silent, but unmistakably cheerful.
+
+Kate kept close pace with the now swift steps of the housekeeper, and
+finally ventured to ask: "Who is he?"
+
+"We may not all hope to be constables, but some of us is constables
+without ever runnin' for office! Well, well, well! I shouldn't be
+surprised if the end o' the world happens along now, any time," said
+Susanna, irrelevantly, and fell into such a brown study that Katy dared
+not interrupt her, and the rest of the way home was passed in silence.
+
+The deacon was waiting restlessly. He had not liked to desert his post
+and leave the disabled Moses alone in the house. Neither had he liked to
+lose his Sunday afternoon nap, well-earned refreshment of a diligent
+man. One other thing he had not liked: Moses' flat refusal to discuss
+their employer's affairs. This had led to other controversies, and two
+disgruntled men were ready to greet the tardy wanderers.
+
+"Hm-m. Thought you never was a-comin' back. That's all the sense a silly
+woman has; let her get off grounds an' she don't know when to step on to
+'em again. The deacon, he's been purty patient, but--I guess we'll be
+better friends if we part for a spell now," was Moses' greeting; and,
+instead of resenting it, Susanna said never a word.
+
+In silence she brought him his cup of beef tea. In silence she went out
+and fed the poultry; came in and gave Sir Philip his bowl of milk and
+Punch his plate of scraps. She had long since taken the feeding of both
+animals upon herself, declaring, with some show of truth, that they did
+not dare "muss around" for her as they did for Eunice or Kate.
+
+Till it was supper-time she sat in absolute silence beside the
+sitting-room window, her eyes fixed upon vacancy, and an expression of
+great perplexity.
+
+Katharine bore this as long as she could, then stole softly up to the
+hired man's room, careless whether he were asleep or not. She had not
+been bidden to secrecy, and, finding him awake, she poured out the story
+of the afternoon so fast that her words fairly tripped each other up.
+Then Moses made her go back and tell it all over again, and when she had
+finished, exclaimed:
+
+"Beats thunder! A silly woman! An' me, a man! Bedrid here, like an old
+block of wood, an' her--She thinks she's arrested somebody, Susanna
+does! She thinks she's made herself into a constable, does she? Turned
+her house into a jail--an' forgot to fasten the winders outside! Ho! Ho!
+Silly women!"
+
+The disappointed old fellow got as much enjoyment as he could out of the
+situation, and was more than delighted by thought of a tramp's shoes
+smirching the log-cabin quilt. It served the widow right, he maintained,
+because she had wasted so much labor on the thing. "Bought good new
+Merrimac print, she did, an' then set there o' nights a
+snip-snip-snippin' it up into little scraps an' sewin' 'em together
+again. If a woman'll do that, it's proof what sort o' brains she's got."
+Then, with sudden energy, he advised: "Don't you never let her set you a
+sewin' patchwork, Kitty Keehoty. It's all on a piece with knittin'
+mittens for the Hottentots--a waste of time. A waste o' sinful time, I
+mean a sinful waste of--Oh, hum!"
+
+She waited till he had cooled off from his own vexation, and then asked:
+
+"Uncle Moses, will you tell me all about Montgomery's father?"
+
+If she had surprised him before she startled him now. Flashing his keen
+old eyes upon her, he asked in return:
+
+"Why do you want to know? Who egged you on to say that?"
+
+"Nobody. Why, surely, nobody at all. But it seems so queer that none
+talk of him, yet of his mother speak so often and so lovingly. Aunt
+Eunice says she was a Marsden lady, a farmer's daughter, and 'as lovely
+as a flower.' Even Madam, who didn't like her at first, grew to be fond
+of her and to call her 'my sweet daughter.' But when I asked Monty of
+his father, and had told him all about mine, about everything, about the
+second Mrs. John, the Snowballs, and all--he just said: 'I guess I'll go
+hunt old Whitey,' and off he went, without saying 'excuse me.' His face
+was as red as red, and there came a queer look in his eyes as if--as if
+he was ashamed. Was his father a wicked man, Uncle Moses?"
+
+Quite diverted by this time from his own vexations, the hired man lay
+silently thinking for a moment. Then he said:
+
+"Well, little Kitty Keehoty, I hain't seen that your warm heart gets any
+colder toward folks when they get into trouble 'an when they don't. That
+tramp, now, that stole your victuals--Oh, I know! I did know last night,
+though you didn't know that I knowed--"
+
+"'I saw Esau kissing Kate, Esau saw that I saw,'" quoted this other
+Kate, in laughing interruption.
+
+Moses laughed, too, as he was glad to do. He had had enough of gloom and
+grumble for that sweet Lord's Day, now so near its close. And though the
+story he was going to tell was anything but a bright one, he meant to
+tell it in such wise that his young listener should be the tenderer and
+more compassionate because of hearing it.
+
+"Well, Keehoty, it's ruther a long yarn. That is, it goes a good way
+back, clean to the old Squire's time--no such a Squire as Pettijohn,
+forename James, mind ye--but a good, high-sprung, old-fashioned
+gentleman; with high-up English blood in his veins, an' a reg'lar
+English temper to balance the blood. Never did a dirty trick in his life
+nor an unjust one--except to his own and only son. That was Monty's
+father, poor little stutterin' shaver! Well, along of his late years the
+old Squire had bad feelin's in his head, suffered terr'ble agony, an'
+hardly knowed what he did do or say. He got a notion that he was goin'
+to be robbed, an' used to carry 'round with him a cur'ous old box that
+folks said held his bonds an' money an' the old family jewels that had
+been brought over from England a hunderd years afore. If he went
+a-ridin'--an' he was the splendidest horseman ever seen in these
+parts--he'd have the thing on the saddle afore him. If he druv, 'twould
+be in the box o' the carriage-seat. Nobody ever seen the inside that
+box, an' 'twas 'lowed there wasn't none could open it, except him an'
+the Madam."
+
+"Oh!" gasped Katharine, leaning forward, breathlessly intent. Naturally
+such close attention flattered the narrator, who went on with renewed
+earnestness:
+
+"The old Squire an' his son didn't hit it off together very well. Never
+did from the time Verplanck, 'Planck he was called for short, was born.
+He was a good deal like Monty is, only more oneasy--if anybody could be;
+an' from the time he could toddle he was hand in glove with Jim
+Pettijohn's little tacker, Nate. Nate, he wasn't so smart as some folks.
+Not a fool, uther, an' consid'able better'n half-witted, but
+queer--queer. He just worshipped Planck Sturtevant, an' where you see
+one you see t'other, sure. Well, they growed up, an' Planck got married.
+That seemed to 'bout break Nate's heart, an' he got queerer an' queerer.
+Old Squire got queerer, too. Nothin' Verplanck could do or say was right
+in his father's eyes; an' though he managed to work the farm fairly
+well, he never made any money off it, an' that made the old man mad.
+Planck, he bore it patient for a spell, 'cause his wife--she that was
+Elizabeth Morton from up-mountain--thought the world an' all of the old
+folks an' they o' her. She'd been raised on a farm an' could an' did
+turn her hand to every sort o' work, but 'twasn't no use. She loved
+them, but she loved her husband better; an', one night, after there'd
+been more hard talk 'an common 'twixt the Squire an' Verplanck, there
+was three folks missin' from Marsden township. They was somethin' else
+missin', too, an' that was the queer brass bound box with all the
+Squire's money an' vallybles. The hired man told 'bout the box, else
+nobody might ever have heard that part. He was carryin' in the day's
+wood next mornin' an' overheard the Squire an' the Madam talkin' 'bout
+it; him callin' his son a 'thief,' an' forbiddin' his name ever to be
+spoke in that house again. She declarin' that no child of them two
+honest people could ever be a thief. Hot an' heavy they had it, though
+nobody had ever heard them two quarrel afore. An' right on top of that
+stalks in Jim Pettijohn--him that's a sort o' Squire, a justice of the
+peace, now--an' demands his son. He'd let the feller grow up without
+good trainin' or lookin' after of any kind, though 'twas needed bad
+enough. All Nate did know, or the little he knowed, was badness an'
+deviltry. Why, he used to go with your own pa, Johnny, consid'able, an'
+'peared to like him almost as well as he did Verplanck, an' many's the
+time I've had the three on my hands a-fishin'. But Johnny didn't tackle
+much to ary one them other boys. He was all for trompin' 'round by
+himself, drawin' pictur's on whatever come handy, or lyin' under the
+trees a-dreamin' the summer days through. In the winter he'd dream afore
+the wood fire just the same idle way, an' finally he dreamed himself out
+o' Marsden an' run away to be an artist. Eunice, she was set an'
+determined he should be a minister, else maybe 'twouldn't never ha'
+turned out as it did. But Johnny was good, good clean through to the
+core, parson or artist or what not; an' 'twasn't o' him I set out to
+tell. An' I must hurry up, anyway, 'cause Susanna she'll be in purty
+soon, an' that'll end all our nice time."
+
+"Oh, Uncle Moses! I like Susanna better to-day than I ever did before.
+She showed me the real inside of herself, and it isn't half as crusty as
+the outside."
+
+"Huh! What'd she do to manage that? She seems powerful still an'
+sot-lookin' sence she come back from inspectin' her 'prope'ty.' By the
+way, did you happen to notice whuther the slat top to that cistern o'
+hers was over the manhole? Out in the open shed, or lean-to? 'Cause
+she's a great notion of leavin' it off to 'air'--as if a cistern that
+hasn't had no water in it for fifteen twenty years wasn't dry as a
+pipe-stem a'ready or needed 'airin''! Gen'ally, after she's been out
+there I take a look 'round myself. I wouldn't admire to have anything,
+even a tramp, fall down that cistern, though it might not hurt 'em much,
+'cause it's shallower 'n it's broad. A real good 'system,' I 'low, even
+if that everlastin' Sprigg did build it. But what's the inside o'
+Susanna 't you saw an' liked?"
+
+"She showed me her baby's things, an' looked as sad as if it had died
+only yesterday. But she showed me, too, her shroud--her _shroud_! Just
+think of it, Uncle Moses! And that was horrible."
+
+"Pooh! That's nothin'. Lots of women has 'em laid by. Same's some
+fool-men has a coffin built an' kep' handy. As for me, I'm goin' to
+worry 'bout things only up till the day o' my death, an' not a minute
+beyond. But, I was tellin' of Verplanck Sturtevant, an' must finish the
+job. Squire, he had always given the cold shoulder to Jim, an' despised
+him out an' out. Jim was crafty an' underhand, Squire was open an' above
+board--an' them two kinds don't mix. Still, Jim had been able to get his
+claw on the Squire's meat, so to speak; that is, he'd made money
+himself, lawin' an' grindin' the face of them worse off 'an he was, an'
+the Squire needin' ready cash, to make some improvements he'd better ha'
+let alone, Jim advanced it an' Squire give a mortgage. That was the
+beginnin', an' now, they say, Pettijohn owns about every acre of the old
+Sturtevant property, an' could turn the Madam out any day. Yet, somehow,
+he dassent. Indeed, I'd like to see the man could walk straight up to
+that old lady an' say: 'Your house is mine. Please to get out.' Out
+she'd go at the first word; head up, back straight as one her own hall
+chairs, but a look in her eye that that man wouldn't forget in his
+lifetime. Verplanck, he was of the same sort--prouder'n Lucifer; an'
+even if she'd knowed where to send for him his mother would ha'
+understood 'twouldn't done a mite o' good. But she didn't send. She
+obeyed her husband to the last say-so. An' he didn't live long after
+that, anyway. Elizabeth, she come back, bringin' Monty with her; but
+her own folks tell as how there was never a thing said betwixt even them
+two, except Elizabeth sayin': 'I've come home, Mother Sturtevant, to
+bring your grandson to the old place. I haven't long to live; but
+Verplanck will never come till he has made a fortune and redeemed
+everything. Let us not talk of him.' They never did. Where he was or
+how, his old mother could only guess. Then Elizabeth died and there was
+just them two--Madam an' Montgomery--left in the Mansion. Every year she
+let Jim Pettijohn get a tighter clutch on the property, till, as I tell
+ye, he prob'ly owns all.
+
+"That's all of Monty's father. 'Twas ten years or more ago when
+Elizabeth fetched him; why, my sake! it must be full twelve or up'ards,
+but time does fly so I forget. I never believed Verplanck stole a thing.
+I misdoubt if the box ever was took. The Squire bein' queer might ha'
+hid it somewheres, more'n likely. But there's them that does believe,
+an' I hear the Madam's amongst 'em. She's searched the Mansion from A to
+Izzard, knowin' every crane an' cranny of it, an' found nothin'. So
+that's why Monty's face got red when you asked about his father.
+Marsden's like every other village, full o' gossip, an' what his
+grandmother has tried to keep from him hearin' there's been plenty loose
+tongues to let slip. More'n once I've seen the poor little shaver sit
+broodin' an' solemn as if his heart was breakin', an' I've fancied he
+was thinkin' 'bout his pa. But he ain't one the broodin' kind, thanks
+be; an' the very next thing I knowed he'd be up to some mischief or
+other, lively as a cricket. But don't you ever let on what I've told ye,
+'less he speaks of it himself. I'm glad you're good friends, an' likely
+enough he'll out with the hull business an' all he's thought an' felt
+about it. If ever he does, Kitty Keehoty, you remember that it's a
+woman's part--such women as Eunice an' the Madam an' her that was
+Elizabeth Morton--to comfort an' cheer them 'at are downcast. Though I
+needn't caution ye, I guess, sence I found out some time ago that you've
+got a power o' sympathy in your fly-about little body. Hm-m. I've 'most
+talked the legs off the iron pot, hain't I? It's time to quit,
+an'--hark! Them's wheels! They're drivin' in here. They're on our
+gravel, sure. Look out the winder, child, an' see who 'tis. I'm most too
+tuckered out for more comp'ny to-night. The deacon, he's a good man, but
+he dreadful fatiguin'."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+REUBEN SMITH, ACCESSORY
+
+
+The wheels belonged to Squire Pettijohn's buggy, in which were seated
+Aunt Eunice and himself. This was a combination which, as Katy related
+it from the window, greatly astonished Moses. Yet there was nothing
+surprising in the fact, after all. The gentleman had chanced to be
+up-mountain, calling at the same house where Miss Maitland was visiting,
+and had offered to take her home, hearing her say that she was anxious
+to be there early on the morrow.
+
+She had not enjoyed her ride, yet blamed herself for her aversion to a
+neighbor who, if not a gentleman, had learned sufficient good manners to
+conduct himself as nearly such. The worst annoyance he had given her was
+by continual and roundabout references to what had happened in the
+forest. The more she evaded his questions the more direct they became,
+till she was almost forced to tell everything or be imputed a liar.
+
+As they turned into the village street he made a final effort for
+enlightenment, saying:
+
+"You must know, Miss Maitland,"--he did not call her "Eunice" to her
+face as he had done behind her back to Susanna,--"you must know that in
+keeping this treasure, or whatever was found in your woods, a secret
+from others, you are injuring somebody. They say you are conniving at
+the escape of a tramp, even. A tramp! One of those dangerous creatures
+which infest our State, but have not before invaded Marsden. I flatter
+myself that I--that I--have so far prevented their coming, and I am
+certainly making it my business now to unearth this one who, I am told,
+lurks principally in your forest. You are a large-hearted, generous
+lady, Miss Maitland; one who is an honor to her township and whom I am
+proud to call a neighbor--"
+
+"Indeed? I thank you," said Aunt Eunice, stiffly.
+
+Squire Pettijohn ignored the interruption. He meant to make the most of
+this unlooked-for chance to satisfy his curiosity and his
+self-importance, and continued as if she had not spoken:
+
+"But who, I fear, sometimes lets her heart run away with her head. In
+pitying the individual, namely, the tramp in present question, you
+should also remember that you are endangering the community."
+
+"Nonsense. But may I ask, in turn, from whom you gained your information
+that I protected the tramp?"
+
+"Hm-m--Er--Ah! I believe it was Mrs. Turner who said that you said you
+'hoped if any poor hungry wretch strayed into this village of plenty he
+would get enough to eat for once.' That you 'had always regretted we had
+no really poor people in Marsden, where they could be cared for, and so
+lessen the number of starving persons elsewhere.' Mrs. Turner made a
+personal application of the remark, and suggested that if it had been
+_your_ pies which had been purloined you might feel differently."
+
+Eunice laughed as gaily as a girl, and exclaimed:
+
+"So it has grown to be 'pies,' has it? The last time I heard the matter
+mentioned it was one possible pie, and Robert, as well as a tramp, had
+been in the locality where they were set to cool. Besides, it would be
+an excellent thing if they had all been taken. Mrs. Turner is a nice
+woman, but she can't make pastry fit to eat, as witness her husband's
+dyspepsia. Monty says they have pie at the Turners three times a day,
+and it's a paradise for hungry small visitors who can digest anything.
+Indeed, I am surprised to learn I gave my neighbor offence on this same
+pie subject. We talked for some time over it and she fell into my idea
+that fruit for dessert would suit Mr. Turner far better than pastry, and
+save her a world of trouble. It would also diminish the number of the
+children's playmate 'droppers-in' at meal-times. Yes, I am surprised."
+
+They had come within sight of The Maples, and Squire Pettijohn had, with
+apparent carelessness, let back the top of the buggy so that any who
+cared might observe him riding with the mistress of that fine old estate
+and the present centre or heroine of so much mystery. This was an
+unusual thing to do, for letting carriage-tops back is apt to crack the
+leather, and "Jim" Pettijohn cracked nothing which could be preserved.
+Eunice comprehended and smiled quietly in her corner of the seat,
+talking at length as she had done to stave off any further prying into
+her affairs.
+
+Even yet she was not to be let free. Said the gentleman, with a
+preliminary cough:
+
+"I do hope and trust, dear Miss Maitland, that you will forego a
+mistaken expression of sympathy, should an appeal be made to you, and
+assist me as a magistrate to nip this evil in the bud. In other words,
+to send this vagrant to the lockup at the earliest possible moment. As I
+observed, you owe it to your community to protect it, not endanger it."
+
+Eunice turned her glowing eyes upon him. "And I owe to the Great Father,
+who has given us this day, to be good to every child of His, however
+humble. If the tramp comes to my door he shall be fed. If he needs
+shelter I will shelter him. If he needs clothing I will clothe him.
+Why, look, man, look!" spreading her hand wide to point out the lovely
+surroundings: "Should anybody come into all this and go away not the
+better for it? How do we know what chance has brought this stranger
+hither? Or what and where his life began? Maybe, in just some such
+favored country village; and once, at least, he was--somebody's son."
+
+The tenderness of her compassionate tone but hardened the other's
+purpose.
+
+"Huh! If he were my _own_ son, even, I would have the law on him to the
+fullest extremity!" he answered, harshly; and Eunice shivered,
+remembering, as he seemed to have forgotten, that poor son of his who
+had gone astray and might be roaming the world then, as was this unknown
+who had so stirred the lawyer's wrath.
+
+Baffled yet persistent, as he helped her alight at her own threshold,
+the Squire put one more sudden question:
+
+"But, after all, there was something--_something_--found in your woods
+that day, wasn't there?"
+
+It was not even in Eunice's patience to endure thus much. Caught
+unawares, she burst out, indignantly:
+
+"Yes, there was something found, but it does not concern anybody to know
+what. Thank you for your courtesy, and--good evening."
+
+The lawyer drove homeward satisfied. She had admitted "the find." He
+would now proceed to unearth it. Incidentally, he would unearth the
+tramp, but that was, in his estimation, a secondary matter.
+
+Eunice reentered her home, glad to be there, but as Susanna saw at first
+greeting, "all stirred up and upsot." She would not allow herself to
+talk till she had recovered her composure. She even promptly, though
+affectionately, dismissed Katharine to her bed, reminding her that the
+morrow brought school again and she must be awake early.
+
+The little girl was disappointed. She had longed for a long, cosy talk
+with her guardian over so many, many things. Not least of all concerning
+the brilliant scheme which had occurred to her and Monty that day on the
+hay. Nor did it please her any too well to lie and listen to the voices
+of Eunice and Susanna, murmuring on and on indefinitely, in the
+sitting-room below. Commonly the housekeeper went early to sleep on
+Sunday nights, for it was her habit to rise before daybreak and set
+about her Monday washing. To-night the great clock struck eleven,
+actually eleven, before this conference broke up; only to be resumed at
+intervals during the next morning, whenever the pair were alone.
+
+However, Katharine had other matters on hand so absorbing that even the
+mysteries of tramp and brass bound box sank out of mind. She was off to
+school a half-hour before time, and strangely enough Montgomery was
+equally prompt. Together they repaired to the wooden bench under the
+beech-tree, and while the lad suggested things to be written down, Kate
+wrote them rapidly on little slips of paper, which suspiciously
+resembled a leaf from a copy-book.
+
+Other scholars came along and stared, wondering what had sent this
+usually tardy boy so far in advance of the bell. Little girls tittered.
+Phrony Walker tossed her braid flippantly over her shoulder, casually
+displaying a new hair ribbon with which she meant to impress the city
+girl who wore and needed none. Sophronia's hair did not kink and curl as
+Katharine's did, but it was "a hunderd times as long and a great deal
+prettier colored." Kate had said so herself, yet here was she who was so
+generously admiring, almost covetous, calmly unobservant of braid,
+ribbon, and all.
+
+Martha and Mary Turner came, swinging their lunch-basket between them,
+delightfully conscious that in its depths were stored three apple
+turnovers, one for each of them and one for Kitty Keehoty, who was never
+allowed to carry pie to school. With a child's fondness for the
+indigestible, she had once declared that Mrs. Turner's turnovers were
+"sim-ply de-lic-ious," and they had teased their mother ever since to
+make one for their new friend. But they stopped short at sight of the
+light and dark head so close together over something they did not know
+about, and when Martha drew nearer and informed the dark-haired
+scribbler that she had "brought it," Kate merely nodded her head and
+continued scribbling.
+
+Bob and Ned arrived, tackle over shoulder, intent upon playing hookey at
+afternoon session, and disgusted that Monty was so little excited by
+their grimacing pantomime, as they demonstrated how they would escape to
+the woods and invited his company. Then they tried ridicule, calling
+"girl-boy, girl-boy," as loudly as they dared, with Katharine's scornful
+glances upon them. Monty grew fiery red and tossed his blond head as if
+shaking an obnoxious insect from it, but did not cease to scratch it for
+ideas, which he whispered to his companion as fast as he dug them out.
+
+Even when the teacher came and Kate sprang to her feet to bid him her
+always courteously ready "Good morning," also dragging Montgomery to his
+own feet as a reminder of what was correct, that excited, exalted
+expression left neither young face.
+
+Matters continued thus all through school. Monty was worse than ordinary
+in the matter of lessons, and that was saying much. Katharine, having
+had better advantages, stood far in advance of her class, so had no need
+to study, and kept her slips of paper in her book all the time she sat
+at her desk. She was not a rapid writer and she certainly had a deal of
+writing to do. At recess the before-school performance was repeated; and
+when the truants, Bob and Ned, disappeared in the direction of the
+"Eddy" after "noonin'," Monty failed to send one regretful glance
+thither. He was more occupied in watching the face of the clock than
+anything else, and as soon as dismissal-bell rang, darted from the
+schoolroom as if propelled by a gun. Just then, too, the first warning
+notes of Reuben Smith's horn came floating through the trees and down
+the street, and thereafter all that was seen of the boy was a pair of
+heels vanishing in air.
+
+"Why, what in the world ails Monty? And say, Katy, didn't you like your
+turnover?" asked Martha Turner, drawing near to her heroine and showing
+that she felt somewhat aggrieved.
+
+"Oh, Monty's all right. He--Don't you worry. You'll all know sometime.
+And didn't I eat it?"
+
+"Yes. You ate it fast enough, but you didn't say whether you liked it or
+not. I think ma, she--"
+
+"Oh, you dear thing! Of course I liked it; and please make my regards to
+your mother and tell her that I thank her very much. It was the nicest
+turnover I ever had, and--and it was the first one."
+
+To an older mind this might not have been so convincing an argument, but
+it satisfied Martha. She considered that Katharine Maitland had the
+"perfectly sweetest manner of any girl in the world," and was daily
+trying to improve her own by the pattern set. "Make my regards." She had
+never heard that phrase before, but it impressed her as very stately and
+"Miss Eunicey," so put it away in her memory for future use. She was
+further delighted by Katharine's begging her and Mary to walk home with
+her, as far as they went her way, for she had something to talk over
+with them.
+
+But when she revealed this "something" it proved not so much after all.
+She merely inquired exactly how many boys and girls there were in their
+school and out of it. "I want to get the name of every single child that
+isn't more than sixteen years old. As much younger as you please, but
+older than that would be grown-ups. At least, they would be in
+Baltimore."
+
+That settled it. Whatever was done "in Baltimore" seemed to these young
+provincials as the acme of correctness; little knowing that to a wider
+world even "Baltimore" was also provincial.
+
+But it was easy enough to "count noses," as Mary phrased it, and the
+list of names Katharine had already prepared swelled considerably. She
+wrote as she walked, the cover of her book her desk, and with such
+haste that the writing was almost illegible. However, a trifle of that
+sort could be overcome.
+
+"No, Mattie, I know it isn't very plain, but I guess I'll make it out.
+Let's hurry. Reuben Smith's blowing his go-away horn, and I want to
+see--Oh, yes! There he is! The stage-driver keeps blowing every little
+while, yet he keeps talking, too, so I know it's all right! Oh, just
+fancy! It's going to be perfectly, perfectly splendid! Oh, you dear,
+dear things!"
+
+Katharine's playmates were accustomed to being caught up and hugged
+whenever anything pleased her more than common, and she was usually as
+free in explaining her delight as in expressing it physically. But she
+explained nothing now. She merely squeezed their hands, and stared at
+Mr. Smith still arguing with Montgomery, till suddenly looking around
+she saw their puzzled faces.
+
+"Never mind me, girls. I can't tell yet, not just yet, because it's a
+beautiful secret. But you'll all know right soon. You're going to be in
+it, too; we're all going to be in it! Oh, the happy old man! Oh, the
+fun! Oh, the queer crazy decorations! I believe _I'm_ just too happy to
+live! But the stage is going and I must run to Monty. Good-by. Be sure
+to be at school to-morrow. Then you'll know."
+
+Reuben Smith mounted to his high seat, blew a farewell blast on his
+ancient horn, and drove away out of the village, while Montgomery fairly
+tumbled over himself in his haste to meet Katharine, who greeted him
+with the question:
+
+"Well, will he do it?"
+
+"Y-y-y-ye-es!" gasped the breathless lad, and sat down on the edge of
+the path to recover.
+
+For once careless of dust, Kate dropped down beside him and counted
+questions off upon her fingers so fast that Monty could only nod his
+head in acquiescence. Then she drew a small chain purse from her blouse
+pocket, where it had been carefully pinned ever since she left home in
+the morning. From this she took a pile of new one-dollar bills--ten in
+all--and laid them one by one on Montgomery's outstretched palms. It was
+the largest amount of money Kate had ever owned, it was almost the
+largest the boy had ever seen. A feeling like awe stole upon him and he
+whispered,--without a stutter,--"S'pose he should lose it!"
+
+"That's a good boy. Monty, you're improving so fast, you'll beat the
+time I set for you to conquer in. Have you said your piece to-day? And,
+of course he won't lose it. Men don't lose things. Except Uncle Moses
+his 'specs' and the deacon his two-pronged fork, that's never in the
+hay-mow when he wants it there. Stage-drivers don't lose, anyway, and
+I'm glad it's you, not I, who have to deal with him. He doesn't like me
+much. I _was_ saucy when I came. I don't think I am quite, not quite so
+saucy spoken as I was when I came. Do you, Monty?"
+
+"O-o-oh, not n-n-nigh!" he easily replied, never having thought at all
+about it. He was still entranced with the possession, even temporary, of
+such vast wealth as he was now bestowing in an old and hitherto useless
+purse. The crisp new bills. How fat they made it! How utterly and
+entirely delightful was this girl from the outside world who had such
+wonderful ideas and the ability to carry them out!
+
+Then the purse was put away in the innermost of all his many inner
+pockets, and around his blouse, beneath his jacket, Monty fastened a
+leather strap. Buckling this so tight he could hardly breathe, and
+fastening the coat over all, he slapped his chest admiringly, and
+valiantly declared:
+
+"A-a-anybody get that a-a-away from me'll have to k-k-kill me
+f-f-first!"
+
+Katy jumped up. "Let's go ask Aunt Eunice about the pumpkins!"
+
+In an instant they were off down the street, and some, looking out of
+window as they raced past, remarked:
+
+"There they go again, Sturtevant and Maitland, each generation as close
+friends as the other. But chummy as they've been ever since Johnny's
+girl came to Marsden, there's something more than common on the carpet
+now."
+
+There certainly was. They burst in upon Miss Maitland's solitude,
+forgetful to tap at door as they both knew they should, and
+simultaneously besought the startled lady:
+
+"Please, Aunt Eunice, may we have all the pumpkins in the south
+corn-field?"
+
+At least, that was what Katharine said. Monty's request was proffered
+stammeringly but not less earnestly, and he said "punkins" with no
+attempt at correctness of speech.
+
+"Children! What a pair of noisy creatures you are! Where have you come
+from? You are late if just from school. And, Montgomery, does your
+grandmother know that you are here?"
+
+"N-n-no, Aunt E-E-E-Eunice. Nev' mind her. She w-w-won't care. C-c-c-can
+we?"
+
+"I--don't think I quite understand. Did you ask me for a pumpkin? Please
+repeat."
+
+"'A pumpkin'--that's one; no, indeed!" said Katy, scornfully. "We want
+the whole field full of them. We sha'n't hurt them any, Monty says, and
+he knows 'bout country things better than I do." Here she bestowed such
+an approving smile upon her comrade that he flushed and smiled
+beatifically. There were so few, so very few, things in which he could
+really excel this superior city creature, yet she was so generous as to
+perceive them even before he did himself.
+
+Just then Susanna came in greatly flurried, and, catching Eunice's arm,
+tried to draw her hastily out of the room. Miss Maitland herself had
+swiftly caught her housemate's perturbation. Indeed, she had already
+been perturbed when the children intruded upon her, and had, apparently,
+now forgotten them.
+
+Katharine saw their opportunity slipping from them, and opportunity was
+something that girl never wasted for want of readiness to seize it.
+Running after the departing lady, she clasped her skirt and stayed her
+long enough to put her question once more:
+
+"May we, aunty? Oh, please, before you go, say--yes!"
+
+"Yes. Why, of course, yes, yes," returned the lady, all unheeding unto
+what she had given her consent.
+
+But she was to learn. Ah, yes! She was to learn in good time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+WHAT THE MOON SAW IN THE CORN-FIELD
+
+
+October had now nearly gone, and there was a chill in the air which
+would, under ordinary circumstances, have made both Eunice and Susanna
+pause before setting off into the woods at that hour in the afternoon.
+Certainly they would not have gone without wraps and shawls galore, but
+neither paused now. As swiftly, almost as secretly, as two guilty
+schoolgirls would have started upon some surreptitious adventure, they
+left the house by the back door and passed through the back garden. From
+thence they struck into the path to the woodland and hurried forward.
+Between strides the widow managed to interject a few explanatory
+sentences.
+
+"I got the wash off the line." Pause. "An' I got oneasy." Another pause.
+Resuming: "I felt druv to go out there, alone even, an' see. What you
+said about starvin' him worked on me, dreadful. I took a basket o'
+victuals. Bad as he is--Oh, my suz!"
+
+"Walk slower, Susanna. We shall be overdone if we keep this pace. What
+then?" asked Miss Maitland.
+
+"Well, I went. I run 'most all the way. I got there--an' he wasn't. He
+wasn't at all!"
+
+"Do you mean that he had left the cottage?"
+
+"My suz! I should think he has. He's left, an' my log-cabin quilt's
+left, an' my best feather tick, an' pillows, an' a pair blankets--that
+kitchen-bedroom bedstead's stripped as clean as 'twas the day it was
+born--I mean, sot up. Now--what do you think of that?"
+
+"I think--Oh, what a miserable business it all is! I am so worried I
+cannot sleep. Right and wrong, right and wrong, like the pendulum of the
+clock the two sides of the matter swing in my mind till I'm
+half-distracted. I hardly know what I am doing or saying, I am so
+anxious to do the best for everybody, yet what is best? I have a fear
+that those children asked me something absurd a few minutes ago, and I
+said 'yes' to them without comprehending. I think they said 'a field of
+pumpkins.' What could they want with a field--_a field_--of pumpkins?"
+
+"Didn't want 'em, of course. Some their silliness. Don't worry. What's
+punkins, anyhow, compared with that log-cabin quilt?"
+
+"Little, to be sure. And I hope it isn't really lost. Are you certain
+that the poor wretch is he you said?"
+
+"As sure as I draw my breath," averred Susanna, solemnly.
+
+"Then Squire Pettijohn must never know," said Eunice, with equal
+solemnity.
+
+After that they hurried silently onward again, reckless of the fact that
+they had left a bedridden man alone in the house, for although the
+deacon was still about his evening chores, such kept him wholly outside.
+As for Katharine, she might or might not be on hand if Moses summoned
+her. Evidently she and her boy-chum had some fine scheme on hand and
+were away to put it in train, since they had both been more than
+commonly excited and eager.
+
+Never mind. There are times in life when its commonplace affairs must
+yield to the extraordinary. These two quiet householders had come to
+such a time on that late October day.
+
+They had walked almost as far as Susanna's cottage when Eunice paused,
+and held her companion also back, as she pointed through the darkening
+wood to a wild-looking creature prowling among the trees. He was
+evidently looking for something. His search so earnest and troubled that
+the caution he had heretofore displayed had deserted him. Stooping,
+poking among the leaves and bracken, rising, moving toward another tree,
+stooping again--repeating endlessly this same proceeding, the watchers
+soon tired of simply observing him.
+
+"Stay here, Susanna. You were right. It is he. I will go and speak to
+him."
+
+"Alone? Oh, Eunice, don't! Let the old quilt go! I wish I hadn't told
+ye. Besides, who'd ever want to sleep under it after he'd touched it?"
+
+But though she caught at her mistress's hand to prevent such
+foolhardiness, Susanna could not stop her. She was walking swiftly
+toward the searcher and almost noiselessly, and had come up to him
+before he was aware. When she was close at his side, so close that her
+firm fingers rested on his ragged shoulder, he discovered her and
+started away. But she held him quiet, more by her will than her grasp,
+while, looking steadily into his eyes, she spoke his name, gently,
+kindly, as one who welcomes a long absent friend:
+
+"Nathan! Why, Nathan! How glad I am to see you!"
+
+The tramp no longer struggled to free himself, but as if spellbound by
+her gaze returned it in silence. Gradually there stole over his haggard
+features the light of recognition, and, instead of remembering later
+events, his mind reverted to his boyhood.
+
+"Be you Miss Eunice? But--I hain't got my lesson."
+
+Again he would have slunk away expecting a reprimand; yet none came.
+Quite to the contrary, Miss Maitland's own face brightened and she
+laughed, answering:
+
+"Never mind the lesson, laddie. We're not little boy and young woman
+to-day, Sunday scholar and Sunday teacher. We're just two old friends
+well met, with other things to learn besides printed lessons. What have
+you lost? Can I help you find it?"
+
+"A box. His'n. I fetched it safe so fur--an' now--now--I can't see it
+nowhere. Planck'll frown an' make me feel mean. I promised--"
+
+There a pitiful stupidity took the place of the intelligent recognition
+he had momentarily displayed, and he resumed that fruitless search under
+the trees.
+
+"Wait, Nathan. Maybe I know. Maybe I can help you. The box was an old,
+old box. It was of mahogany, heavy, bound with brass, with neither key
+nor keyhole, and only those who had been shown how could open it. Is
+that the one, Nathan?"
+
+"Yes, yes! It's all safe inside. He put it there--just when--just--"
+
+With a sudden outburst of grief he began to weep. The great tears ran
+down his dirty cheeks and streaked them. His breath came in great
+blubbering sobs which he made no effort to check.
+
+Eunice Maitland also went back in spirit many years and saw before her
+now, not the repellent vagrant, but a forlorn child who must be
+comforted. Without shrinking she clasped his vile hand in her dainty one
+and turned him back toward Susanna's cottage. That good soul had now
+drawn near and was herself crying bitterly. Why--she could hardly have
+explained. Surely, not from any affection for Nathan Pettijohn, returned
+rascal, nor from any sentimental memory of bygone years, such as her
+mistress's; but just naturally, in sympathy with two other tear-wet
+faces. She found the tears a relief. Indeed, they all appeared to do so,
+and began to retrace the way to the woodland cottage with swifter steps.
+The two women, because they were feeling the cold and now realizing what
+a foolish thing they had done in coming out unprotected from it. The
+vagrant, because it was his nature to follow rather than lead. Arrived
+there, they found the door wide open and the furnishing sadly
+disordered. Evidently, Nathan had rummaged the place thoroughly.
+
+The Widow Sprigg had long since dried her unaccountable tears, and was
+freshly indignant at the state of affairs. So soon as they were within
+doors she turned upon the intruder, and demanded:
+
+"What did you mean by such doin's as these, Nate Pettijohn? Ain't you
+ashamed to destroy folkses prope'ty this way? Where's my log-cabin
+quilt? My pillows? All my things?"
+
+The man paid no heed to her, but fixed a hungry gaze upon the basket she
+had brought earlier in the afternoon, and Eunice interposed:
+
+"Wait, Susanna. Let us feed him first, and hear his story afterward."
+
+With that she opened the basket and set fresh food before him, while,
+with that thoughtfulness which was so constantly belying her sharp
+tongue, the cottage mistress went to the well and brought in a fresh
+pail of water. Though not as ravenous as he had been that afternoon by
+the riverside, he even now devoured, rather than ate, the sandwiches and
+cakes, swallowing them noisily and so rapidly that what the housekeeper
+had supposed would be sufficient to last any one for at least
+twenty-four hours disappeared in less than as many minutes.
+
+"Well, my suz! If that don't beat the Dutch! I shouldn't think, if I
+hadn't knowed better, 'at you'd seen a mouthful o' victuals sence you
+scooted out o' Marsden a dozen years ago! An' as for manners--why, our
+pigs is better behaved. Water? Drink your fill, an' then, Nate
+Pettijohn, you walk right straight out to that wash-dish in the lean-to
+an' scrub yourself well. Of all the dirty creatur's--Why, what?"
+
+The vagrant had been seized by a violent fit of coughing, so fierce that
+it threatened hemorrhage; and Susanna's wrath died.
+
+"Consumption!" she whispered to Eunice, and shivered. It was of
+consumption "Spriggs, he" had died.
+
+The paroxysm passed and left its victim exhausted. With a longing for
+rest, he tottered out of the kitchen into the lean-to, but not to wash
+as its owner had suggested. He went directly to the now uncovered
+manhole of the cistern and slowly descended a short ladder which
+protruded from it and had always hitherto hung upon the wall. The women
+watched him in astonishment, then Susanna hastily procured a candle,
+and, lighting it, held it above the opening.
+
+As she had herself once said, the cistern was as dry as possible, and
+was in reality like a low-ceilinged little room, with the manhole for
+sky-light. Into this place the vagrant had tossed the missing bedding,
+and with his habit of hiding had bestowed himself upon it. In all
+probability, he had rarely occupied so snug and comfortable, though
+peculiar, a bedchamber.
+
+"My--s-u-z!" gasped the widow, and sat down on a wash-bench to recover
+from her amazement.
+
+Miss Maitland said nothing, yet an expression of great satisfaction
+settled upon her countenance, and, motioning her friend back into the
+kitchen, explained its cause.
+
+"Nathan himself has decided what should best be done with him. He is
+perfectly safe and comfortable in that cistern. It is warm and
+sufficiently aired. He will not be apt to build a fire, as you feared,
+especially if we see to it that he has enough to eat. Nobody will think
+of looking for him in such a place, even though, as he declared he
+should, his father organizes a search for him. Unhappy father, if he
+does, and--poor, unhappy son. He looks very ill, and he certainly is no
+more intelligent than when he went away. But he is evidently faithful to
+Verplanck Sturtevant, as he always was. It is he that has brought back
+and for safe-keeping, presumably, hidden the brass bound box that
+Katharine found, and that has led to so many wild rumors. Do you not
+think we would better leave him undisturbed for the present, until I can
+secure better clothing for him? Also, can decide that awful
+question--whether or not to tell Elinor the stolen box is found. It will
+be like deliberately trying to break her heart over again if I give it
+to her and it is empty. Yet, it is not mine, and it rests on my
+conscience like an actual weight. Do advise me, Susanna."
+
+From which it appears that the widow's curiosity had already been
+satisfied concerning the fabulous "find" in the Maitland forest, and she
+readily assented to her companion's idea.
+
+"No, Eunice, we couldn't do better. Let him be. Poor wretch, he won't
+trouble nobody long, by the sound o' that cough. An' if Squire Pettijohn
+is mean enough an' onfeelin' enough to treat him like he vowed he would
+ary tramp, 'even his own son,' I guess we can let the Lord 'tend to
+_him_. He wouldn't know another day's peace, not if he's human; 'cause
+once that mis'able creatur', no matter what he is now, was a baby--a
+baby in arms. But--my suz, Eunice! I've just figured it out! How can the
+Squire 'rest anybody? He ain't no constable. Nobody ain't a constable
+here in Marsden. Ain't been none sence Isaac Brewster died, an' nobody
+would take his place. 'Less I'm one, myself, as Moses said."
+
+At which she laughed heartily, then hastily added:
+
+"But we must be gettin' home to oncet. I'll step up attic an' get a
+couple o' shawls to wrop 'round us, heads an' all. I do hope we shall be
+pervented from takin' cold temptin' Providence the way we have, at our
+time o' life. Nate, he won't stir no more to-night. He's too tuckered
+out an' too well fed. Sleep's the best medicine for him, so we'll shut
+up quiet like an' start. But where in the world'll you get clothes, as
+you said? Man's clothes, you an' me, old women without a man betwixt us,
+except Moses, an' it bein' kep' secret from him still. If you tell him
+he'll tell the deacon, an' what the deacon knows belongs to the hull
+community."
+
+"I'll find them, Susanna; I'll send an order for all he needs by the
+morning stage."
+
+"Tell Reub Smith! My suz! Might as well proclaim it from the church
+steeple!"
+
+"No, indeed. I shall not tell him, but simply send an order by him when
+he goes to town in the morning."
+
+Then they hurried home, and Miss Maitland rested better that night than
+she had done since the children brought her the brass bound box from out
+the forest.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Next morning Monty "hooked school." Not that this was an extraordinary
+thing to happen, although its purpose was mysterious. He did not seek
+either woods or river, for nuts or fishes, but hung about the
+post-office till Reuben Smith drove tooting down South Hill into the
+village street on his way outward toward the county town. The stage drew
+up with a jerk, Reuben stepped down with unusual liveliness, and behold!
+there were two patrons ready with orders to be executed.
+
+Miss Eunice and Montgomery Sturtevant. They faced each other in mutual
+surprise. Each held a sealed letter in hand and each was in haste. The
+lady spoke first: "Why, Monty! Is your grandmother trusting you to take
+care of her business matters already? That's fine."
+
+"N-n-no, Aunt Eu-Eu-Eunice. I-I-I-I--" The afflicted lad had never
+stammered worse nor seemed so uncomfortable.
+
+Puzzled, but too well-bred to pry into other people's affairs, Miss
+Maitland finished her directions to the stage-driver and general
+express agent for the village, and went home. Montgomery's relief at
+her departure made Reuben laugh, but he liked the lad and listened very
+patiently to the almost endless details stammered at him. Then he most
+carefully, with an exaggerated caution indeed, bestowed the fat envelope
+which contained ten whole crisp new dollars where nobody but himself
+would be apt to look for it--not in the wallet with his other
+commissions, but in his boot! This gave the whole transaction a touch of
+the romantic, and suggested possible "hold-ups" in a way to set Monty's
+eyes a-bulge. Then the stage rattled away to the north, and the day's
+monotony settled upon Marsden village.
+
+There was much whispering that day in school, and a prompt departure
+from the building at close of the afternoon's session. It had been
+noticeable, also, that at "nooning" every scholar, old or young, had
+repaired to the rear of the play-ground, out of hearing of the teacher.
+There they had grouped themselves about Katharine Maitland, with
+Montgomery Sturtevant as her supporter, and had listened breathlessly to
+some matter she divulged. Only one sentence had reached the master's
+ears, as he tapped the bell for them to come in again to later lessons:
+
+"Everybody don't forget a knife. And everybody'll get an invitation
+to-morrow. Then everybody will understand, and if everybody isn't
+perfectly delighted, I shall be surprised. Teacher will have his, too;
+I'm workin' on it with nice red ink."
+
+That some exciting affair was on foot, and that he was to be included in
+it was evident; and being himself not many years older than his "big
+boys," he was patiently indulgent over the many blunders at recitations
+which followed.
+
+Never had Marsden school children arrived at their respective homes so
+early, nor so promptly availed themselves of parents' satisfaction in
+this promptness. Books were bestowed in tidiness, lunch-baskets hung in
+place, and in every house in the village there was simultaneously
+preferred the request:
+
+"May I go out to play?"
+
+Consent obtained--and what mother could refuse it to so deserving a
+petitioner?--there followed a stampede of youngsters toward Eunice
+Maitland's south corn-field.
+
+Late October brings early nightfall, and even playtime seems over with
+the dusk, but that night there were many, many empty places at waiting
+supper-tables, and many mothers' ears grew anxious listening for the
+clatter of young feet which came not.
+
+[Illustration: "BUT THE LATE RISING MOON LOOKED DOWN UPON A CURIOUS
+SCENE"]
+
+But the late rising moon looked down upon a curious scene. Throughout
+that same south corn-field had been scattered hundreds of golden
+pumpkins ripe for the harvest; and all among them, each with his or her
+allotted pile of the great fruit, was every truant youngster. Corn
+shocks had been overturned for the more comfortable seating of the
+toilers, and knives gleamed in the moon-rays as the diligent fingers
+fashioned Jack-o'-lanterns sufficient in number, as Monty declared, to
+"l-l-light the w-w-wh-whole world!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+UNINVITED GUESTS
+
+
+Katharine escaped the chiding she deserved because, when she reentered
+the house, Miss Eunice was engaged with company and Susanna was
+preparing a tray of refreshments to be served the guests. Montgomery
+escaped because Madam supposed he had been at The Maples where so much
+of his time was now passed. He went supperless to bed, but Katharine,
+most guilty of all delinquents, fared sumptuously upon a portion of the
+dainties from the housekeeper's "company tray." The Turner trio of
+culprits ate wedges of cold pumpkin pie, eaten standing by the kitchen
+sink, and went to bed to dream that all the world was made of pumpkins
+which it was their destiny to consume before a general illumination
+began. At least, that was what Martha dreamed, and, having roused the
+other pair to relate it to them, they were sleepy enough to believe they
+had dreamed it, too.
+
+Other children--But why prolong the story? Many of the pumpkin artists
+had reason to remember that night for some time to come; yet not one
+ever admitted that they had not found their fun outweigh their
+punishment.
+
+Some days previous Katharine had put a very mild request to Aunt Eunice,
+in the words:
+
+"Aunty, would you mind if I had a little Hallowe'en party? Out in the
+barn, where it wouldn't be any trouble to anybody?"
+
+And the lady, always glad to make her young charge happy, had replied:
+
+"Why, no, dear. Certainly, you may have one if you wish."
+
+"Oh, thank you, thank you, you darling Aunty Eunice!" springing up to
+hug her guardian ecstatically. Then, with her young cheek against the
+older one: "And would it be too much to ask--Deacon Meakin to--to stay
+away that day?"
+
+"Why, Katharine, that couldn't be. Besides giving him offence, how could
+we spare him?"
+
+"Monty and I could do the chores. Bob Turner could milk. Bob's a
+first-rate milker, Martha says so."
+
+"Well, well. Maybe it can be arranged. I'll see."
+
+"Because, Aunt Eunice, it's to be such a beautiful benefit to--Oh, I
+forgot. But if he could stay at home just once; he's so what Widow calls
+'pernickity,' and he says children ought to be born 'growed up.' They
+can't be that, can they? So I do think, I just do think they might be
+let to have some nice times without folks scolding and acting hateful."
+
+"The deacon doesn't mean to be hateful, Katy. We'll see."
+
+Fortune favored the child as it so often did. After a particularly
+wearisome contest of wills between the original hired man and his
+successor, the deacon resigned his position and left in a huff. A
+neighboring youth was sent for to take his place, but, as far from being
+a hindrance to Katharine's schemes, proved her very best ally.
+Montgomery knew William well, and his wheedling, if stammering, tongue
+soon persuaded the young man that in furthering the success of the party
+he was furthering his employer's also.
+
+In due time every boy and girl in the township received a laboriously
+written invitation, and all accepted, of course. This was understood
+without the trouble of replies.
+
+Even the schoolmaster was not forgotten, though he waited until school
+was dismissed before he opened his neatly folded bit of paper, and read:
+
+     "The favor of your presence is requested at the Big Barn of
+     Miss Eunice Maitland at The Maples, on the evening of October
+     31st, to a Hallowe'en Corkis. At seven o'clock by the church
+     steeple. Please bring your teaspoon with you.
+
+     "Yours respectfully,
+
+     "KATHARINE MAITLAND."
+
+This unique invitation was the joint production of Katharine and
+Montgomery. The first part was hers, recalled from wedding-cards often
+seen at her old home in the city; the latter part was due to Monty's
+forethought. Katharine had never heard of a "corkis;" but, by way of
+dabbling in politics through loiterings at the village store, the boy
+had acquired some technical terms, and insisted that this was what best
+befitted their case. As he could not spell the word, and she couldn't
+find it in the dictionary, though she searched all the "Cor" columns
+through, she adopted phonetic spelling with the above result. Also,
+since there was as much variety in "time" as there was in clocks, the
+guests were advised to regulate their arrivals by the biggest one
+visible. As to the teaspoon clause--that was positively necessary. "How
+could a boy eat ice-cream without a spoon? And how could anybody, even
+Aunt Eunice, who had a trunk full of silver, lend a body spoons enough
+to go around, admitting that one dared ask for them? For if everybody
+came who was asked, and everybody certainly would since they hadn't been
+polite enough to send regrets (even before the cards were out), what
+would a body do, I should like to know?"
+
+As there was altogether too much body in this argument for Montgomery he
+yielded the point and waited the great event with what patience he
+might. Not so much patience was required, however, since there was much
+labor to accomplish. William hitched up the team, thoughtfully taking an
+opportunity when Miss Maitland had gone to pay a visit to the distant
+Mansion, and brought the field full of Jack-o'-lanterns up to the barn;
+into which, carefully keeping the sound sides of the pumpkins toward the
+kitchen windows and Susanna's eyes, he conveyed them. Then the doors
+were closed and the decorating began.
+
+"C-c-can't make 'em hang," lamented Montgomery, after a few moments'
+unsuccessful effort.
+
+"Course not. That string's too light. Wait. I'll fetch something," said
+Katharine, as decorator in charge. Then she sped into the house and
+borrowed Susanna's clothes-line.
+
+"My clothes-line, child? What on earth for?"
+
+"Oh, you'll see sometime. I sha'n't hurt it!" returned the eager girl,
+skipping away.
+
+The widow was glad to have "the children" out of the way for the time
+being. She, also, was planning a "surprise," for Eunice had told her of
+Katharine's "little Hallowe'en party," and the good housekeeper
+determined that not a single young guest should return home after that
+event without carrying a report of a fine repast.
+
+As she said to Moses, when fixing him up for the day:
+
+"It does seem good after all our worries lately to do somethin' just
+plain plumb foolish, like lettin' young ones have a nice time. Me an'
+Eunice, we have more on our minds 'an we let on to you, but I'm goin' to
+forget 'em."
+
+"Forgettin' your mind won't be no great job, nor loss nuther. Wouldn't
+be much matter if 'twasn't never found again," he retorted,
+half-facetiously, and half-vexed that, as she hinted, there were still
+confidences withheld from him.
+
+Susanna ignored his playfulness, and went on as if he had not
+interrupted:
+
+"I'm goin' to make jumbles, an' little frosted cakes, an' teeny-tiny riz
+biscuit, an' raisin-loaf. I've got a ham on b'ilin', an'--my suz! It
+most makes me feel a dozen years younger, just the mere idee of havin' a
+childern's party. We hain't had none sence Johnny run away, an'--"
+
+"Oh, hum! An' here I must lie like a log o' wood an' no share in it. Me
+that always thought more of young ones 'an you did. Anyhow, I don't see
+what great call _you_ got to mix up in it. S'pose you expect to be
+invited, don't you? What you goin' to wear? White with pink ribbons,
+like all the other little girls?" demanded the imprisoned man.
+
+"Well, I hain't thought much about my clothes, but I did lay out to wear
+my common sense an' trim it with a wreath o' good nature, an' maybe a
+sprig of patience fastenin' the hull. Never mind, Moses. Maybe you'll
+get more share in it 'an I shall. Somethin' may happen to keep me from
+enjoyin' myself any more'n you are this minute. An'--my suz! I smell
+that ham water b'ilin' over this instant. An'--what next! There's Kitty
+Keehoty comin' out the tool-house with that roll o' grapevine wire that
+you put away so careful--an' it's most more'n she can lug. But she'd
+tackle it. She'd tackle it if it was twicet as heavy. She's got more
+ambition an' gumption than ary young one I ever knowed. My suz! She
+couldn't carry it, after all, so she's put it down an' is draggin' it.
+She looks a pictur'! Her hair blowin' all 'round her head, her cheeks
+like roses, her feet fairly dancin' with happiness, her eyes like stars.
+Well, a body'd ought to take a bit o' trouble, now an' then, whilst
+they're little. It does take such a mere mite to make childern pleased.
+She--"
+
+Poor Uncle Moses could bear no more. There had never been so many
+interesting things happening as since he had been in bed, unable to take
+part in them. Within his age-worn body beat the heart of a little child,
+and he was nearly frantic, imagining what might be going on beyond those
+closed barn doors and he shut out.
+
+"Clear out, Susanna Sprigg. Get away from that winder. Don't ye let me
+hear another word about that party. If a miracle happens so's I can go
+to it, all right. If not--the sooner you look after that ham the
+better."
+
+Susanna turned from the pane, saying quite gently:
+
+"I don't know as the days of miracles is past. Seems if there was some
+been done right here in Marsden township. I am sorry for ye, Moses. I'd
+almost ruther stay to home myself than have you miss the fun. Maybe you
+won't. Maybe a fresh miracle will be done. Maybe I shall see you the
+chief sinner in the synagogue, I mean the most invited comp'ny--My suz!
+You know what I mean better'n I can say it. I'll fetch you up a
+sandwich, soon's that ham is cooked."
+
+She hurried below, and the unhappy hired man turned his face from the
+light and went to sleep, or tried to, though the odors of good things
+wafted to him from the kitchen beneath kept his thoughts on the
+disturbing party and angered him against the two children he loved.
+
+"Should ha' thought they'd waited till I was up an' 'round again.
+'Twouldn't have hurt 'em an' would ha' been showing some decent feelin'
+fer me," he grumbled. And little did the old man dream that he was,
+indeed, the very heart and centre of the whole festivity!
+
+Oh, what a day that was! The toilers in the barn sent in word that they
+were too busy to stop for any dinner, and Susanna retorted that she was
+herself fully too busy to cook it for them. Everybody had a slice of
+bread and butter and a glass of milk, which didn't take a minute to
+dispose of. Even the mistress, who had returned, fared thus.
+
+That afternoon Reuben Smith tooted up to Miss Maitland's front gate and
+handed out a paste-board box, very large and weighty, which Susanna
+hastily received and carried into the house. There it was hurriedly
+opened behind closed doors by Aunt Eunice, with her housemate to assist,
+and was found to contain a new suit of men's clothing, with all
+accessories needful.
+
+"I'll carry them to poor Nathan at once, and make sure he puts them on.
+Then, if you're willing, we'll light a fire in your stove and burn all
+his old rags," said the mistress.
+
+"Not alone, Eunice Maitland, not alone!" cried the old housekeeper, who
+wouldn't have missed this business if all the jumbles she had made had
+burned themselves to a crisp. Fortunately, they were out of the way, and
+though she had mixed dough for raisin-cake she hadn't yet put in "the
+lightenin'." "If we start to oncet there ain't nothin' to harm, an' the
+childern's so busy they'll never notice. Moses is asleep. Let's go
+right away. My suz! Seems if I couldn't wait to make that poor feller
+into a decent man!"
+
+As excited and eager over their own secret as the young folks over
+theirs, they seized bonnets and wraps, and, carrying the box between
+them, slipped unobserved from the house in the direction of the woods.
+
+Thus it chanced that they did not see what an unusual thing the
+stage-driver did; how that, leaving Miss Maitland's parcel at the front
+of the house, he drove by a roundabout lane to the back door of the
+barn, and there set down, with William's help, two barrel-like tubs,
+weighty with broken ice and carefully covered with bits of old carpet.
+Similar tubs had sometimes been brought to Marsden by the same
+messenger, but only for such occasions as the Fourth of July or the
+Sunday-school picnic. Never before for any private function, and the
+news of the present arrival spread swiftly through the village,
+suggesting to interested parents that, though themselves uninvited, it
+might be as well to go along and see what the children were doing!
+
+And it came at last! The delightful hour, the culmination of all this
+preparation. At last, at last, the wheezy clock in the church steeple
+announced that it was seven o'clock!
+
+Then from out the many homes of Marsden and its by-ways issued the eager
+guests. Girls in white frocks; boys in Sunday suits; all uncomfortable
+in freshly donned winter flannels--since this was to be a sort of
+out-doors party and there must be no afterclaps of croup; and elders in
+their second-best attire, worn with an affected indifference of its just
+happening so.
+
+Said Mrs. Turner to Mrs. Clackett: "Course we wasn't asked. It's just a
+children's party that Johnny Maitland's little girl is giving as a sort
+of youngsters' 'infair.' Pa and me thought 'twas better to come along
+and see the children got there safe, them not being used to going out
+evenings."
+
+To which her neighbor replied: "Yes, we feel that way about our girls
+and boy. But I confess, we're sort of curious to know what the 'Corkis'
+part of the invitation means. Clackett, he says he guesses Katy meant
+'caucus,' but that don't throw no more light on the matter, if it does.
+What on earth a lot of young ones want with a 'caucus,' beats me. But
+here we are, and--My! Isn't it pretty?"
+
+Pretty it was, and far, far more than pretty. To these unused eyes such
+a scene as might have come from fairy-land. Even to Aunt Eunice, newly
+admitted, the old barn seemed an unknown spot; and she sat enthroned
+upon her seat of honor--an oat-bin transformed by cushions of straw and
+sheaves of corn--amazed but equally delighted. The whole great structure
+was ablaze with radiance. Susanna's clothes-line and Moses' grapevine
+wire supported grinning Jacks innumerable. The glowing yellow heads
+looked down from rafter and beam, peeped from the stalls, dangled from
+stanchions. Between them gleamed also oddly shaped Chinese lanterns, and
+these were a form of illumination wholly new to that inland village.
+There were sheaves and vines and branches everywhere, and those who
+observed could scarcely believe that the whole transformation, save and
+beyond the carving of the pumpkins, had been wrought by three pairs of
+young hands.
+
+What cared happy Kitty Keehoty that of all her crisp ten dollars there
+remained but thirteen cents? Hadn't they paid for all these shining
+candles, those tubs of cream, the grotesque lanterns which her new
+friends so admired, and the heaps of candy on the table at the far end
+of the great floor? The table was improvised by a couple of planks laid
+upon barrels and covered by a cloth borrowed from the linen closet. It
+would have been covered with nothing else, save the candy and a pile of
+wooden plates for the cream, had not Susanna produced her own
+surprise--in such stores of cakes and sandwiches and toothsome dainties
+as made the small giver of the function open her own eyes in amazement.
+
+Oh, how delightful it all was! And didn't the pleasure in so many faces
+more than pay for the ten dollars spent and the proudly weary widow's
+hours at an oven door?
+
+But how they came! So fast, so eager, so cordially willing to be
+pleased! All the young guests who had been bidden by such a painful
+outlay of pen and ink, and all their fathers and their mothers, "their
+uncles and their aunts and their cousins!" All the merrier, all the
+better, all the surer of success! For the best was yet to come. The
+delicious, ambitious, loving secret scheme which had originated in the
+teeming brain of Kitty Keehoty, and, aided and abetted by Montgomery,
+her knight, was now to be divulged.
+
+"My--suz!" quoth Susanna, dismayed by the vast proportions of
+Katharine's "little party," "however--shall I give such a
+multitude--even a bite apiece?"
+
+"I'll help!" cried Mrs. Clackett, quite understanding "a bite apiece"
+meant no personal violence. "I've lots of stuff baked at home. I'll
+fetch a basket of it in a jiffy."
+
+"I, too!" echoed Mrs. Turner, and the pair set briskly homeward in
+neighborly kindness. Other matrons, not to be outdone, also disappeared
+from the assembly for a brief time; and soon thereafter William was
+called upon to improvise another table, till both were groaning with the
+weight of good things.
+
+"My! It's most like a Sunday-school picnic, ain't it?" exclaimed the
+village seamstress, who at seventy years still had the same innocent
+enjoyment in such affairs as she had had at seven. "But, hush!
+Somethin's a-doin'!"
+
+Something was certainly "a-doing!" There was a great bustle and stir at
+the double doors and in came Deacon Meakin, William, Mr. Clackett, and
+the schoolmaster, carrying a cot between them on which lay Moses Jones,
+at last minus his ball and chain, and feeling as if he didn't know
+himself--so utterly amazed was he. Amid a sudden outringing cheer the
+cot was carefully deposited in an open space that had been kept for it,
+close beside that throne where Eunice still sat smiling in gracious
+hospitality.
+
+The fresh excitement incident to this arrival had scarcely died, when
+Madam Sturtevant appeared, with her small handmaid in train. The lady
+had been somewhat doubtful about accepting the invitation for herself,
+having been informed by her grandson that, outside The Maples' family,
+she was the only grown-up so favored except the schoolmaster; and she
+was more than doubtful for Alfaretta. For a time the anxious girl's fate
+hung in the balance. It did not strike Madam as just the correct thing
+to take a servant--Alfy was really that, of course--to a Maitland party.
+Yet the child had just as good blood in her veins as many others who
+would attend, even if her lot in life were less fortunate. Besides, was
+it right to disturb her quiet habits by such frivolity? While the matter
+was pending, Alfaretta could only calm her perturbed mind by gathering
+every belated daisy she could find and testing her fortune upon its
+white petals. "Shall I be let to go? Shall I not?" Mostly, the daisies
+said: "I shall!" Yet it was old Whitey who, after all, decided the
+question.
+
+That mild-eyed bovine had the spirit of an Arab steed. Had she been born
+a colt and not a calf she would have "pricked it o'er the plain" with
+the best of her race; but being merely a somewhat venerable cow, she
+could only wander. In the wide fields still surrounding the Mansion
+there was sufficient pasturage for many cows, and certainly too much for
+one; so there was not the slightest reason why she should trespass upon
+village dooryards except the fact that she delighted to do so. Broken
+gates, which there was nobody to repair, made wandering easy; and it may
+be that she had, in part, acquired the habit in the days of her youth,
+when Verplanck Sturtevant had 'tended her as his son did now. Both
+masters were far better content elsewhere than at home, and Whitey fully
+shared their preferences. She had wandered again, some two days since,
+and had not returned at nightfall, as was her habit. Therefore,
+remembering that at the "Hallowe'en Corkis" there would be many children
+assembled, and that children "know everything" of village happenings,
+Madam had come, meaning to ask for news.
+
+So the daisies had it, truly; and to the young bond-maid the longed-for
+happiness had been given.
+
+When Madam had been assigned a place beside Miss Eunice, and the murmur
+of voices had recommenced, somebody struck a bell and every ear and eye
+became attentive. Katharine did not know whether this were the approved
+method of bringing a "Corkis" to silence, but it was one that served in
+school and proved to do so here. While the silence lasted and the
+crowding guests craned their necks forward, she was seen to lead, push,
+or in some manner propel a reluctant boy toward a ladder resting against
+the hay-mow and in full sight of most.
+
+The boy was Montgomery, of course, and he was positively shaking with
+fright; but the girl whispered something in his ear--"For Uncle Mose!"
+and he rallied to his duty. Tossing off her guiding hand, he ran to the
+ladder, mounted it half-way, and faced about upon the multitude. He had
+been well tutored. He fixed his eyes not upon the faces below but at an
+exalted roof-beam, and addressing that began:
+
+"Girls and boys, gentlemen and ladies: You have been invited here
+to-night to enjoy yourselves and to make somebody else enjoy himself.
+That somebody is Uncle Moses Jones, whom we all love, and who has had
+lots of trouble and broken bones lately. Next Tuesday is going to be
+election when our fathers and mothers vote, or--or--fathers do, anyway.
+If we ask our folks to do things they generally do them. What I ask now
+is that every one of you shall ask your father to vote for Uncle Mose to
+be constable, and I now nomernate him to be a constable. All in favor of
+his being constable--say 'aye!'"
+
+Amid the uproar of "ayes" that followed Monty jumped headlong from his
+rostrum and would have run straight to his grandmother, had not Kitty
+Keehoty caught him midway and hugged him her stoutest, crying: "Oh, you
+splendidest brave boy! You did it, you did it! You never tripped once.
+You never stuttered a single stutter from beginning to end! Who says you
+sha'n't be President some day, an' be nomernated in a grown-up corkis?
+But--my sake, Montgomery Sturtevant! You forgot the most important part.
+I'll have to say that myself, 'cause it's that will count. That will be
+the promise."
+
+Another stroke of Aunt Eunice's table-bell and a white-clad little
+figure was in Monty's place upon the ladder, holding up her hand for
+close attention. Without preliminary she informed the audience that
+there was one thing had been forgotten, and that was "the cranberries."
+
+"Right by the head of the table is a basket of cranberries. _A cranberry
+is a promise._ There's another empty basket beside the full one.
+Everybody, girl or boy, who wants Uncle Moses to be constable must take
+a cranberry out one basket and drop it into the other; and--_those who
+don't drop cranberries can't have--ice-cream!_"
+
+Squire Pettijohn had come--in a case of general town interest as this
+seemed to be it was important the great man should be present--and it
+was he who cried so loudly: "Hear! Hear!" and it was he, also, who
+started the laughter which followed, and pinched Kate's cheek as she
+passed him, saying something about "intimidation" and "lobbying," at
+which there was more laughter--Katy wondering why.
+
+But the laughter did not continue long, since it was surely now time for
+supper; and, having swiftly decided that however little she might like
+him, yet the Squire's influence might be a powerful factor in carrying
+out this secretly designed plan of the children's, Miss Eunice was just
+descending from her oat-bin throne to ask him to open the feast, when
+another slight commotion occurred near the door. A woman screamed, and
+every eye turned upon two tardy and uninvited guests, who, leading each
+other as it were, now entered the scene.
+
+Whitey, the cow, and Nate Pettijohn--tramp!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+A NEIGHBORLY TRICK OF THE WIND
+
+
+THE silence which followed lasted for a long time, during which Whitey
+stared mildly about upon her many acquaintances as if daring one of them
+to accuse her of vagrancy. Nathan, newly clothed and decent of apparel,
+but, as to unkempt hair and besmirched skin, still unmistakably the
+tramp, let his wild, frightened eyes roam ceaselessly from one guest to
+another till, finally, they fixed their gaze upon one face and rested
+there.
+
+The face was that of Squire Pettijohn, hitherto complacent,
+self-satisfied village magnate. Now suddenly grown haggard and old,
+confronting that other face so curiously like his own. His son! Whose
+scant intelligence had always been a shame to him and because of which
+he had given neglect where care should have been. Whom he had been
+secretly thankful to lose and whom he had hoped would never again be
+found.
+
+But he had found himself, and for a time the misguided parent and most
+unhappy child studied each other in mutual shrinking and dismay. All
+the adult guests recognized poor Nathan, now restored to the outward
+semblance of the decent citizen he had once been, and understood how it
+was that in their fleeting glimpses of the recent "tramp" there had been
+something puzzlingly familiar. The children gathered in knots, staring
+and quiet, and more than half-afraid. Unconsciously they felt that here
+was tragedy where but a moment since had been their merry comedy.
+
+Then Katharine, as little lady of the feast, resolved to end this
+dreadful silence which was spoiling all the fun; and, running to
+Nathan's side, took his hand in hers and led him forward, saying:
+
+"This is a friend of mine, people, and he's just in time for supper. I
+know him very well. I spent an afternoon with him down by the river, and
+you ought to know him, too, Uncle Moses, 'cause he's such a good
+fisher."
+
+Then she pushed Nathan's soiled hand toward the man on the cot, who
+hesitated for one second, glancing toward the Squire's set face, then
+grasped it cordially, exclaiming:
+
+"Why, Nate, hello! When'd you come to town? Hain't never lost your vote,
+have ye? 'Cause I 'low you'll have to cast it for me for constable next
+Tuesday, sence I've just been nomernated for the office. Hey?"
+
+The tramp's eyes left his father's person and looked down upon the
+genial, helpless man beside him, and a slow smile stole into them.
+
+"Hello, Uncle Mose. I've got here--eh?"
+
+"Yes, you've got here, got home, all right. Better stay now. We're
+all--I say we're _all_ glad to see ye. Marsden ain't such a big
+community she can afford to lose anybody. Where'd ye hail from, anyway?"
+
+The hired man had grasped the situation promptly. Recognizing Nathan, he
+also recognized, as he supposed, the solution of the mysteries which had
+surrounded him of late. Eunice and Susanna had found the vagrant out,
+and had kept his identity secret, fearing the Squire. Now to Moses'
+intense satisfaction in his nomination--irregular though it was--was
+added the reflection that no harm could result, since at present there
+was no constable in Marsden, nor would be one until he himself was
+elected. He would be elected, of course. There was now no doubt of that.
+Kitty Keehoty, bless her! had put her small hand to the wheel of fortune
+and given it a whirl which was fast sending all good things his way.
+Then, if he was so favored, should his first official act be the
+punishment of a fellow townsman? A fishing townsman, at that? Not if he,
+Moses Jones, knew himself; and though he was still a "bedrid block o'
+wood," the block was fast repairing and would soon be as good as a
+freshly growing tree.
+
+"From--from him. From Planck. I--I come to bring the box. But--I lost
+it. Oh, Madam! he sent it to you--he was dyin' then--and I've lost
+it--I've lost it! Planck'll be mad. He'll scowl and talk--Has anybody
+seen Planck's box?"
+
+The forlorn fellow had left Moses' side and crossed to where Madam
+Sturtevant sat rigidly upon her elevated throne. The memories this
+returned wanderer had roused in her were so painful that they seemed to
+strangle her. Her throat grew dry, her lips parched, and her gaze was
+glued to the face of the vagrant who had been her lost son's chosen
+companion, vassal, possible friend. Why, why had he come?
+
+Eunice laid her hand on the gentlewoman's arm. She felt that this
+tension must be loosed, even at the cost of fresh pain. "Elinor," said
+she, "you have borne much. Can you endure a further shock? it may be of
+fresh sorrow, but it may be of joy. Your brass bound box is found.
+Nathan brought it, Katharine found it, I have it."
+
+Squire Pettijohn coughed, and strode majestically forward. He was once
+more the man of position who must see to it that his townsmen's
+interests were protected. This woman had maligned him. He had heard that
+she complained of his usuries, that he had taken advantage of her
+misfortunes, that he was a hard and cruel man. Worst of all to him--had
+said that he was not a gentleman! Conquering his disappointment at
+Nathan's return, he improved his opportunity of punishing and humbling
+her.
+
+"Madam Sturtevant, ah--er--hm-m--at the time your guilty son
+disappeared, taking my son--whom his influence had ruined--with him, it
+was said that a certain casket of valuables disappeared as well. In
+behalf of the interest Marsden took in the case, and of my own--my own
+personal interest, I demand that if that casket has been restored it
+shall be opened here in the presence of your townsmen. I--er--my
+accommodation in times of your necessities, the large amounts now due
+me--I claim the right, the authority to say--Let the casket be
+produced."
+
+Madam said nothing. She fixed her large eyes, still guiltless of
+spectacles (save in the privacy of home), and regarded him as she might
+have regarded some reptile.
+
+Nathan seemed struggling with words which fear of his father prevented
+his speaking. But Miss Maitland stepped down, and, by a nod, summoned
+others to her, so that the vagrant presently felt himself surrounded by
+a group of kindly faces, which beamed upon him in protection. William,
+Deacon Meakin, the chivalrous schoolmaster, Susanna, and Katharine,
+quite unafraid to fling her small arm around his stooping shoulders and
+to pat them encouragingly.
+
+Then Aunt Eunice went out, but was back again so quickly she had hardly
+been missed. She carried her hands quite high, so that all might see the
+strange, glittering, brass bound box they held, and, going swiftly
+forward, laid it on the Madam's lap, who recoiled from it, at first
+shrinking back and letting her clasped hands drop limply to her sides,
+yet rallied her courage and her pride as Eunice's tone of command
+touched both.
+
+"Open it, Elinor. It is right. It is just. Let the truth be known at
+last."
+
+Everybody crowded forward, the Squire among them, as with a simple
+touch, known only to the initiated, the keyless casket was unbanded and
+opened to the sight of all. Those who had anticipated the blaze of
+jewels, or, at least, the bulk of valuable papers and bonds, fell back
+disappointed. The box was absolutely empty save for a small folded sheet
+which looked like an ordinary letter.
+
+A sigh, like a great sob, swept over the multitude, and now the fear
+which had troubled the tramp vanished, and, breaking free of the group
+about him, he laid his hand on Madam's knee and cried, exultantly:
+
+"I did it! I fetched it safe. I was sick--oh, I was sick!--I was in
+jail--I was on an island--I was shipwrecked--I was in the water, with
+big, big waves--I was--so long, so long. But I wore it on a strap around
+my neck. Planck wrote it all and sealed it and put it in the box. Then
+he died, and I had promised; so I had to come, else I would have died,
+too. I wanted to, without Planck. But we'd told it to each other. We was
+good friends. Planck never called me 'fool,' not once, not in all our
+lives. When he went away with not a cent in his pocket, I couldn't stand
+it. Old Squire was rough. Old Squire was rich. Planck should be rich,
+too, just one little box full, anyway. But--He wrote it all down--read
+it, read it. Read it out real plain, like he was saying it again. My
+head aches. I can't think. Planck could think. But--Planck is dead."
+
+In a dull despair the poor wretch who had journeyed so many leagues,
+across so many lands, through so many weary years, dropped his face in
+his hands, and wept like a child.
+
+But with dry eyes, if tremulous hands, Elinor Sturtevant opened the
+letter as she had been besought. It bore date of a day long past, and
+address of Majomba, Africa, in the familiar script of her idolized son;
+yet keeping nothing secret to herself, she did "read it out," and this
+it was:
+
+     "MY DEAR MOTHER:--I send my farewell to you from this distant
+     corner of the earth, where I came seeking fortune and finding
+     death. Nathan has just got well of the fever from which I am
+     dying, and promises to carry this letter to you. I have no
+     money to send it by post even if I did not think it kindness to
+     entrust him with it. He has loved me, been faithful to me even
+     unto death, and it will be a last trust to comfort him. I
+     foresee that he will have many vicissitudes before he reaches
+     home--if ever he does; though it is my prayer that he may and
+     that dear old Marsden will receive him kindly.
+
+     "It is his wish, and it is but just, to explain that he stole
+     your brass bound box, in which I enclose this, and why. Simply
+     for my unworthy sake. He believed that it held money, and a
+     fear that I would be angry with him if I knew of the deed, made
+     him keep it secret for a long, long time. Then once, in dire
+     necessity, after Elizabeth was gone, he did confess and give it
+     to me, and we opened it together.
+
+     "It was absolutely empty. I tell you this, dying; when a man
+     speaks the truth. If ever it held valuables they had been
+     removed, and, presumably, by my father. I supposed you, also,
+     knew this, and so would not break the silence my angry pride
+     imposed for the sake of a mere empty box. Do not blame poor
+     Nate--he is scarce blameworthy, and he has loved me blindly all
+     his life. So would he have loved his austere father if he had
+     had a chance. And of all the lessons my life has brought me
+     this I hold the highest--that love is best.
+
+     "I think of Elizabeth, sweetly resting under the turf at home.
+     I think of my little son, and pray our Heavenly Father to be
+     kinder to him than his earthly one has been. I think of my
+     mother, whose heart I broke, and, dying, I cry--God bless her.
+
+     "VERPLANCK."
+
+When the clear old voice quavered into silence there was not a dry eye
+left among the enrapt listeners. There was not a heart of man or woman
+that did not feel a sting at its own unjust judgment of the past. Nor
+was there one, either old or young, who did not pity rather than blame
+the poor sinner who had "loved much."
+
+Some one was seen to go softly away. It was Squire Pettijohn, forgetful
+of his dire threat against any son of man who dared to "tramp" God's
+earth, unwarranted. Squire Pettijohn, with head bowed, heart humbled,
+who had always branded another man's son as "thief," only to find that
+self-confessed offender the child of his own home. Nobody sought to
+hinder him. In silence let him suffer his own shame--that would be
+punishment sufficient.
+
+Madam sat so long with the opened box and letter in her lap, and with
+her eyes staring so at vacancy, that Katharine could not bear it. Nor
+could she bear that Monty should cry, as he was doing in that dreadful,
+quiet way. Boys shouldn't cry--it meant something terrible when they
+did. Besides, why should he now, anyway? The knowledge of his father's
+death was nothing new; and here was all the mystery explained, and the
+suspicion which had clouded his name completely removed.
+
+"Why, Monty, darling, splendid Monty! Don't! Don't! You ought to be the
+gladdest boy who ever lived. See. Look at your grandmother. She isn't
+saying anything, and there is sorrow in her face, but there's wonderful
+pride in it, too. Why, think, boy, think! If for years and years you had
+thought somebody you loved was bad and then suddenly found they were
+good, after all, would you cry? No, indeed. Anyhow, I shouldn't. I
+should just hip-hip-hurrah! Three cheers for your father, that all can
+talk of and love now, and was, Uncle Moses says, one of the splendidest
+boys ever grew up in Marsden. Only he didn't like to stay at home, and
+that got him into trouble. That took away his chance of ever being
+President. But you can be if you want to. Any boy who stays at home and
+cures his own stuttering by just taking care and practising and going
+slow--and being dreadful nice to his grandmother--or mothers and
+fathers, like Ned's and Bob's--they can grow up to be Presidents or
+constables, 'ary' one. Let's give them, the cheers! Three for Montgomery
+Sturtevant, who's never going to do a wrong thing again, because he's
+found a father to talk about and love, just as I do 'Johnny,' who was
+mine! Three cheers for Nate Pettijohn, who brought the good news home!
+Three cheers for the brass bound box, that tried to be a gold mine, but
+turned out something ever and ever so much better! And three times three
+cheers for Uncle Moses Jones, who is going to be constable, after all,
+and looks this minute as if he wanted to arrest me, the first one,
+because I don't fetch him his supper, and who knows as well as I do that
+all that ice-cream is melting lickety-cut, while I stand here talking!
+Hip! Hip! Hurr-a-ah! And a tiger! Hip--hip--hurrah!"
+
+How the rafters rang! and how surprised was every one to hear a girl, a
+mere little girl, deliver such an oration, and with such an entire
+forgetfulness of self. Not knowing then how great her heart was nor how
+she longed to make glad every single person in the world, even though
+most of her schemes went so wide of the mark that her own father had
+dubbed her his little "Quixote."
+
+This brought all the company safely back from the realm of sentiment and
+deep emotion to the commonplace level of hunger and good cheer awaiting
+it. So Eunice Maitland herself led the way to table with Nathan
+Pettijohn close beside her, and, since there were no chairs to sit upon,
+took her stand at the end, and, bowing her graceful old head, gave
+silent thanks to the Giver of a feast so glorious as this had proved.
+
+Even Madam, who could not be persuaded to leave her lofty isolation upon
+the oat-bin, nor to loose her hold of her brass bound box with its
+precious enclosure--so much more valuable than the diamonds which had
+once sparkled within it--even she did consent to taste of that rare
+delicacy which had come to Marsden in ugly wooden tubs. Her portion,
+though, was brought upon a china dish, because Susanna feared the
+gentlewoman's fastidious palate would dislike the flavor of a wooden
+plate. But then, intimate as she was through hearsay with the Mansion
+household, Susanna had yet never heard about burnt suppawn, and how an
+old-time gentlewoman can eat it without grimacing, even though she choke
+in the event. And Alfaretta--Her happiness must be guessed at. There
+isn't time to tell it; nor how many times her wooden plate was filled
+and refilled. It seemed to Katharine, observant, as if the poor girl's
+mouth opened and closed like a trap over every morsel presented to it,
+and that there was no evidence of swallowing. But, then, Alfy had never
+before attended a Hallowe'en Corkis, and probably never would again.
+
+Still observant, Katharine saw Aunt Eunice's dear face grow more and
+more thoughtful, yet with a thoughtfulness in no measure sad. Finally,
+she left Nathan to Mrs. Clackett's care and hastily crossed the room to
+Madam's side.
+
+"Elinor, do you remember how hard the old Squire tried to tell us who
+were watching his last hours of something that troubled him? And how we
+failed to comprehend?"
+
+"Surely, Eunice, I remember," answered the old wife, slightly aggrieved.
+"Why should I not if you do?"
+
+"Because one night when you had dropped asleep he roused, almost like
+himself again, and saw me. Then he said: 'Eunice, I am very forgetful.
+But I remember something now that I must tell Elinor.' I was so foolish,
+I fancied some other time would do, and you were so tired. I couldn't
+bear that you should be awakened, and nodded toward the sofa where you
+lay. He seemed to understand, and murmured: 'Never mind. I'll tell you.
+There is provision ample. He didn't take it. I accused him because I
+missed it. I--I--secret chamber--Oh, my head!' Then he dropped away
+again, and afterward came only those hopeless efforts which you saw as
+well as I. Now, I believe I've had an inspiration. Verplanck's father,
+sane, recalled the fact that he had wrongly accused his son while his
+mind wandered. It was he who had emptied the brass bound box and
+bestowed its contents in some place he felt was safer. In the secret
+chamber, I believe. Let us go and search for them!"
+
+"Eunice, how silly! As if I hadn't ransacked every inch of every room in
+the old Mansion--all for nothing. Besides, what could one do at night?"
+
+"What may we not do? What is one pair of eyes to many? What one tallow
+dip to a hundred Jack-o'-lanterns, lighted with real 'store' candles?
+May we try? Shall I give the word?"
+
+Madam stood up. She was so happy in her letter that she cared not what
+else might happen. Besides, it was impossible to avoid sharing the
+enthusiasm shining in the face of her lifelong friend.
+
+"Eunice, you are positively as childish as Katharine herself. But do as
+you please, do as you please. All the world is welcome to the Mansion
+now that it's honor has come home! And, servantless almost as I am, I
+can comfortably feel that there is no room, nor closet even, in the old
+place that is not fit for the inspection of every Marsden housewife.
+Yes, thank God! I have never felt myself demeaned by any household task
+that presented, and cleanliness is part of pure religion. Do as you
+like, dear, do as you like."
+
+This was glorious! All Marsden felt that the night held too much of
+wonder to be true. After the party, after the restoration of the brass
+bound box, after Nathan Pettijohn's rehabilitation, after the
+establishment of Verplanck Sturtevant's innocence, after Moses'
+nomination, after the fine feast, to be admitted, to visit and
+examine--nay, more, authorized to pry into the famous but exclusive
+Mansion--Well, words simply failed.
+
+The elders in that astonishing procession conducted themselves more
+hilariously than their children. Each armed with a grinning Jack, and
+somebody driving Whitey as a snowy guide, they marched two abreast down
+Marsden thoroughfare, into the Mansion grounds, through the wide
+entrance hospitably thrown open, into and over the house as will or
+curiosity dictated.
+
+But everywhere with eager eyes, searching, hoping for the stately
+impoverished mistress of the Mansion that her treasures might be found.
+
+Only the most nimble followed Monty and Katharine up the queer stairs of
+the "old part" into the chamber under the eaves where soldiers had once
+lain hidden. But even they, with their gleaming Jacks, were sufficient
+to set the whole low room aglow, yet was there no longer need for
+search.
+
+The wind, which had done such devastation in the town, which had blown a
+welcome tramp back to his native haunts, had done even more. It had
+revealed the secret of years. Part of the chimney lay heaped on the
+floor, and among the fallen bricks and stones appeared a big tin box. A
+most ordinary box, such as many people use for insignificant belongings.
+
+Somebody dubiously suggested that "It might be _it_!"
+
+[Illustration: "EACH ARMED WITH A GRINNING JACK, AND SOMEBODY DRIVING
+WHITEY AS A SNOWY GUIDE"]
+
+There was nothing dubious about Montgomery. Tossing his lantern to Bob
+Turner, he seized the tin case and scampered down the ladder stairs with
+a speed nothing but habit could have secured. Rushing into the ancient
+drawing-room, so oddly lighted now, he flung himself headlong upon
+Madam, stammering excitedly:
+
+"Gr-gr-gram-ma! I've found i-i-i-it!"
+
+Madam remembered the box, so valueless in itself. She had not seen it
+for years. She had no faith that it held aught but trifles now. Let the
+good neighbors see. A simple turn of the wrist, the commonplace key
+clicked in the lock, the flat cover fell back and--the lost treasure was
+revealed! All the missing jewels in their cases, all the bonds whose
+value would more than lift the mortgages upon the fine old property, all
+the gold in canvas sacks which would take Montgomery through college and
+train him for that possible Presidency to which he aspired.
+
+Was ever such a night? Was ever such honest neighborly rejoicing? And
+were ever Marsden townsfolk so late out of their comfortable beds? For
+the candles in the Jacks had long burned out before that procession of
+happy people took their now darkened way homeward and Kitty Keehoty's
+Hallowe'en Corkis came to its final end.
+
+
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Brass Bound Box, by Evelyn Raymond
+
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