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diff --git a/42437-8.txt b/42437-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 87a6c1c..0000000 --- a/42437-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6796 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Aunt Jimmy's Will, by Mabel Osgood Wright - -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: Aunt Jimmy's Will - -Author: Mabel Osgood Wright - -Illustrator: Florence Scovell Shinn - -Release Date: March 30, 2013 [EBook #42437] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUNT JIMMY'S WILL *** - - - - -Produced by eagkw, Greg Bergquist and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - - - AUNT JIMMY'S WILL - - - - - [Illustration] - - - - - [Illustration: "_'Hem!' The lawyer cleared his throat._" - (See p. 52.)] - - - - - AUNT JIMMY'S WILL - - BY - - MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT - - AUTHOR OF "BIRDCRAFT," "WABENO THE MAGICIAN," - ETC., ETC. - - _ILLUSTRATED BY - FLORENCE SCOVELL SHINN_ - - New York - THE MACMILLAN COMPANY - LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. - 1903 - - _All rights reserved_ - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1903, - BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. - - Set up, electrotyped, and published October, 1903. - - Norwood Press - J. S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith Co. - Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. - - - - - [Decoration] - - To my God-child - - MARY ELIZABETH MILLER - - [Decoration] - - "_Aim at the highest, and never mind the money._" - --L. M. ALCOTT. - - [Decoration] - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - I. RED PINEYS 1 - - II. HER UNCLE JOHN 23 - - III. AUNT JIMMY 38 - - IV. A CAGED BIRD 58 - - V. MRS. LANE PLAYS DETECTIVE 77 - - VI. BIRD'S COUSINS 103 - - VII. SUMMER IN NEW YORK 131 - - VIII. THE FLOWER MISSIONARY 146 - - IX. 'RAM SLOCUM'S TAUNT 162 - - X. LAMMY CONSULTS OLD LUCKY 181 - - XI. THE PEWTER TEA-POT 202 - - XII. THE TUG OF WAR 217 - - XIII. TELLTALE TROUSERS 225 - - XIV. THE FIRE-ESCAPE 242 - - XV. THE BIRD IS FREED 258 - - - - -ILLUSTRATIONS - - - "'Hem!' The lawyer cleared his throat" (p. 52) _Frontispiece_ - - PAGE - "Bird crouched in a black heap" 8 - - Bird, Lammy, and Twinkle 13 - - "'Buy something to-day? Nice goots ver' cheap'" 99 - - Bird and Billy on the fire-escape 137 - - "'They ain't fer me, fer sure?'" 158 - - "'It means, Lammy Lane, that the Lord don't forget the orphan'" 230 - - "Bird was found at last" 267 - - - - -Aunt Jimmy's Will - - - - -I - -RED PINEYS - - -Bird O'More crouched in a little black heap in the corner of the sofa -that stood between the closed windows in the farmhouse sitting room. Her -eyes, that looked straight before her, yet without seeing anything, were -quite dry; but her feverish cheeks, that she pressed against the cool -haircloth, and the twisting of her fingers in the folds of her gown, -told of grief, as well as her black frock and the closed blinds. - -Outside the house, in the road, half a dozen country teams were hitched -to the rickety fence, while their owners roamed about the yard, talking -in low voices, and occasionally wondering aloud "when the women folks -would be ready to go home." - -But the women folks had no idea of going yet, and small wonder, for they -had come from a funeral that had made poor Bird an orphan; they had much -to discuss, and without them, also, she would be all alone at the farm -that lay on a straggling cross-road a mile from neighbours, as if it, -like its recent owners, had tried to hide from those who had known it in -better days. - -The little girl had been christened Bertha, after her grandmother, but -as, from the time she could speak a word, she was always singing, her -father had called her "Bird." Yet this day the little bird in her throat -was mute and only made a strange fluttering; so that the neighbours, -talking in whispers as they drank the tea that a stout, rosy woman, who -seemed to be in charge, was serving in the kitchen, said, "Poor child, -if she'd only let go and cry it out natural, it would do her good; but -that dry sobbing is enough to break a body's heart." - -Then, as she gradually grew quiet, dulled by fatigue and the heat of the -room, her head sliding down on her arm in heavy sleep, they drew sighs -of relief and their voices arose in chat about the happenings of the -last few days and the natural question as to what was to become of Bird. - -"Hasn't she got any folks either side?" asked a young woman who had but -recently moved into Laurelville, and did not yet know the comings and -goings and kith and kin of her neighbours. - -"Only her father's half-brother," spoke up the rosy woman, Mrs. Lane by -name, "and he lives way down in New York City. Joshua wrote him ten days -back when Mr. More took sick; but he never answered, so two days ago -he wrote again. Joshua says he guesses maybe they've moved, for folks -are awful restless down in York, and shift around as often as every few -years--says he reckons you have to if you're anybody, cause there's -sudden fashions in buildings down there as well as in clothes, and they -get made over frequent to keep in style, likewise the streets. - -"Yes, I wouldn't even have known his name if Mis' More hadn't told me -about him before she died, two years back. You see," turning to Mrs. -Tilby, the newcomer, "she was Sarah Turner, born and raised over at the -Milltown, and, being an only child, was give her own head a good deal. I -must allow she was pretty, and had those big black eyes that you can't -guess what they're seeing, same as Bird's got. Her folks felt dreadful -bad when she wouldn't take up with any of the solid fellers who would -have taken pride in the farm and mill business, but married young O'More -that nobody knew a speck about, except that he claimed to be an artist, -but folks didn't buy his pictures, and I don't wonder, for there's some -up attic now, and you have to stand way back to even see a shape to 'em, -being not near as clear as those that come extry with the Sunday papers. - -"No, Mis' Slocum, I _don't_ take Sunday papers, on 'count of Joshua's -aunt's husband being deacon, and not desirin' to call trouble on the -family; but if he wasn't I would, for besides them pictures an' readin' -an' advertisements, that wonderful they'd raise curiosity in froze -dough, there's your money's worth o' paper for carpet linin' or kindlin' -over and above. - -"Where was I? Mis' Slocum, you shouldn't 'a' set me off the track, so's -I'm not giving Mis' Tilby a clear idee of how it was. - -"Ah, yes, I remember,--his wall pictures not sellin', he got a job -to paint posies and neat little views the size of your hand on the -inside covers of sewin'-machine boxes and trays and work-tables over in -Northboro. It paid first-rate, I guess, for a spell, so after the old -folks died, they sold out the farm and mill and moved into town. - -"When Bird here was five years old or so, O'More had a knock-down, for -they got some kind of a machine in the factory that could do pictures -quicker than he, and at the same time the folks that had bought the -place on a mortgage caved in, and, between havin' no sense themselves -and lawyers, most everything was ate up and mixed so's Mis' O'More lost -the mill and all, and they moved out here. - -"Mis' More--folks round here never could swaller the O', it being the -sign, as it were, of a furrin race and religion--just drew in like a -turtle in a shell, losin' hope altogether, and never went any place. -And as for Terence,--that was him, Bird always callin' him 'Terry' like -he was her brother,--I suppose he was always what bustlin' folks like -us would call slack; but after he came here, he seemed to grow happy in -spite of the fact that only one shop, the work-box and the picture-frame -one, gave him jobs. He painted out his flowers as careful, no two -pictures alike, and when I said, 'Why don't you do one and copy it--it -would be less trouble,' he looked up sort of reproachful and said, 'It -makes me happy to do good work, Mrs. Lane; a machine can do the other -kind.' - -"Mis' More fretted herself to death, dumblike, same as snow disappears, -and it's two years now that Bird and her father have made out to get -along alone. Once in a time old Dinah Lucky would come up and wash or -scrub a day, and he and Bird always was together, and he learned her -to be what I call a real lady, and never hurt anybody's feelin's, to -say poetry and write a fine hand, and draw out flowers so you'd know -'em right off. The s'lectmen went after him onct 'cause he'd never sent -the girl to school, but when they found she knew more'n the grammar -grade, they kept their hands off from her; and as for speakin',--since -she talked plain, she's spoke nicer, and chose her words better'n -anybody but story-books and the parson, which come natural, her mother -bein' well learned and her father havin' a tone of voice not belonging -in these parts. Never a cross word did he speak or a complaint, so I -guess it was true he was born a gentleman on one side, as poor Sarah -always claimed, and it stuck to him all through, too, for the day he -died he worried for troublin' me to draw him a cool drink, saying, 'The -well-sweep was out of repair,' which it was, Mis' Slocum, _awful_, 'and -too heavy for a woman to handle,' as if I wasn't always stronger than -two of him. But then I never was, and never will be, his kind of a lady, -for there's folks whose feelin's I'm just achin' to hurt if I knew a -sure way. And now to think of it, Bird left at only thirteen with no own -folks and little better'n nothing." - -"Less than nothin', _I_ should say," put in Mrs. Slocum, setting her cup -in its saucer with an unnecessary clash, "for what's here won't pay Mr. -Slocum his back rent on the place and the fence rails of the south lot -that they've seemingly used for firin'. _I_ should say that the clothes -on the girl's back didn't fairly belong to her, mournin' and all. - -"If she is only a little turned thirteen from what you say she has -schoolin' enough to pass for fourteen and get work in the factory. I'll -keep her if she'll help me evenings and she gets enough to pay full -board,--growin' girls eats hearty," and Mrs. Slocum settled back in her -chair, folding her arms as if she expected Mrs. Lane to be speechless at -her generosity. - -Speechless she was for a few moments, but for a different cause--a -struggle between prudence and a quick but just temper--then she said -very slowly and distinctly: "Mis' Slocum, the back rent is not for me -to deny you, but the fence rails is and the few clothes the poor lamb's -wearin' also. There hasn't been any fence to that south lot since the -summer before my Sammy was born and I was there berryin' and noticed -the rails was rotted and fell, and that's fifteen years! As to clothes, -they was give her outside of the family, which was me, ma'am, made out -of those that belonged to my Janey and for her sake, and besides which a -minor child isn't liable for her father's debts, 'it bein' the law,' as -Joshua says, and he knows. - -"I wouldn't have mentioned this in public, except some folks needs to -have witnesses around before they can take in things, Mis' Jedge o' -Probate Ricker bein' here makin' it quite suitable for me to testify. - -"As for who'll take her, there's those that'll ask no board, but Joshua -says 'no one's got a right until the uncle either turns up or else -doesn't,' which I'd much prefer. And there'll be no talk of factory and -passin' her for above her age, Mis' Slocum, I bein' the niece-in-law to -a deacon, as I've said before, should feel called upon to testify and -give the truth a full airing." - -Whatever action Mrs. Slocum would have taken, it was sidetracked by the -minister's wife, who, with a sharp warning cough and a hurried "s'h'ush, -she's awake," turned the attention toward the darkened room again. - -Bird rubbed her eyes drowsily, then started up murmuring, "Yes, Terry, -I'm coming, I didn't mean to fall asleep," as if she fancied herself -called, stumbled toward the door, saw the kitchen full of people, while -the bright light and lilac perfume of the May afternoon came through the -open door. Then she remembered. - -"Here, let me wash your face and freshen you up a bit," said Mrs. Lane, -whisking out a clean handkerchief and dipping it in the water bucket, -while at the same time she put her arm around Bird to cut off her -retreat. "Now, that is better. Just a sip of tea, dearie, and a bite, -and then go out and get a mouthful of air, while I open up the windows, -for it's sizzling in here if it does lack two days yet of almanac -summer." - -[Illustration: "_Bird crouched in a black heap._"] - -The child did as she was told, gave her friend one grateful look, and -slipped out the door without speaking, much to the relief of the others, -the minister's wife nodding caution to Mrs. Tilby who said: "Sakes -alive! she scart me silly, gropin' in that way. I do wonder how much she -heard." - -Meanwhile as Bird disappeared around the house a tall boy, carrying a -big bunch of red peonies, came up the track in the grass that served as -a path. It was Sammy, or Lammy Lane, as he was usually called, clad in -his best clothes and red with running, having only come to a full stop -as he reached the kitchen door, where he stood looking anxiously in, the -flowers clutched nervously in both hands. - -"Lammy Lane, where've you bin, to go and miss the funeral and all, when -I started you out close after breakfast?" asked his mother, fiercely, -yet with an air of relief. - -"Catchin' fish in the brook with his eyes, I reckon," said Mrs. Slocum, -with a glittering smile, which was very trying to Mrs. Lane, for Lammy, -the youngest of her three sons, was not esteemed over clever, in fact -a sort of village Johnny-Look-in-the-Air, always going to do something -that he never did, and lacking in courage to boot. In fact the twisting -of the name of Sammy into Lammy was really a slur upon his lack of sand -and the fighting spirit natural to the average boy. - -It is perfectly true that Lammy at this time was not a beauty with his -tousled reddish hair, freckles, and lean colt's legs, but no one who was -a judge of faces could look in his straightforward gray eyes and at the -firm line of his chin without feeling that here was the makings of a -man, if people did not meddle with the plan God had for his work. - -Lammy's eyes roved about, and, not seeing the object he wanted, answered -his mother slowly, as if it was hard to remember exactly where he had -been. - -"I've been at Aunt Jimmy's most all day until now," he answered. "When -I took the butter down after breakfast, she wanted me to help her -fix up cause she didn't feel smart, 'n' then there was the chickens -to feed, and Jake he didn't go yesterday to spread the grass under -the strawberries, and she said if it rained, they'd spoil, so I did -that; 'n' then I ate dinner, 'n' dressed up again and started. Then -I remembered I told Bird I'd cut her some o' Aunt Jimmy's red pineys -for her to take along up there," nodding his head backward toward the -hillside graveyard. - -"Aunt Jimmy's awful particular about those red pineys, and she wouldn't -let me cut 'em. She came out in the yard to do it herself, but it took -her a long while, and when she'd got them tied up, she said, 'Best go -to the house now for they'll be back, and tell your ma to come over -to-night, for somehow I feel all strange and worked up as if I was going -to have a spell,' and that's why I'm late, and where's Bird?" he ended -abruptly. - -"Lammy Lane, do you mean that aunt is threatened with a spell, and -you've took all this time to tell me?" said Mrs. Lane, hardly believing -her ears. - -"Neighbours, I'll have to close up here, Joshua bein' in charge, -as it were, as Mis' Jedge o' Probate Ricker understands, until a -'ministrator's fixed on, but we can meet to-morrow forenoon to wash up -and discuss the situation. Goodness me, I hope Aunt Jimmy's no more'n -overtired!" - -"'Twouldn't be surprisin' if you was resigned to the worst, seein' your -expectations through being the favourite nephew's wife," said Mrs. -Slocum, slyly. - -"Expectations, fiddlesticks!" snorted Mrs. Lane, "you know perfectly -well, Mis' Slocum, that the Lord and I are working together as hard as -we can to give Aunt Jimmy every breath of life that's coming to her, -and seein' that she enjoys it too, her ownin' the best southslope fruit -garden between Milltown and Northboro having nothing to do with it. - -"Lammy, do you go round, and I guess you'll find Bird back of the shed, -and you can take her a walk to fetch the posies up yonder, and then -bring her down to our house for supper; and if I don't get back first, -the butt'ry key is in the kitchen clock, and you and pa can set out a -full table. - -"Young company's best for the young in sorrow," she added to the group -as Lammy shot off. - -"Yes, Mis' Slocum, those spoons is real silver, but biting 'em 'll -injure them new teeth o' yourn, and not profit you anything, for they're -_my_ spoons I fetched up for the funeral, minding how well the Turners -always set out things at such times in the old days." - -With this parting shot Mrs. Lane shooed the women out and locked -the door, called Joshua from the group of men who were examining a -broken-down grindstone for lack of better occupation, climbed into the -old buggy, and disappeared in a cloud of dust, the others following -until they scattered at the four corners. - - * * * * * - -As Mrs. Lane had said, Bird was behind the shed. She was sitting on an -old log, her face between her hands, as she looked across the fresh -green grass to where the ragged spirĉas and purple and white lilacs -waved against the sky. Leaning against her knees was a queer little -rough-haired, brown terrier with unkempt, lopping ears, his keen eyes -intent on her face as if he knew that she was in trouble, and only -waited for some signal that he might understand to go to her aid, while -he vainly licked her hands to attract her attention. - -As Lammy came around the corner suddenly, at first the dog gave a growl, -and then bounding toward the boy fairly leaped into his arms in joy, -for Twinkle, named for his keen twitching eyes, had once been Lammy's -best-beloved pup, that he had given to Bird for a companion. - -"Hello, Twinkle, where've you been these days?" said the boy, holding -the flowers at arm's-length with one hand, while he tucked the little -dog between his shoulder and neck with the other. "Seems to me you've -got pretty thin wherever you've tramped to." - -[Illustration: _Bird, Lammy, and Twinkle._] - -"He hasn't been away," answered Bird, looking up; "he was hiding all the -time in Terry's--I mean father's room, and to-day, after they took _him_ -away, he knew it wasn't any use waiting any longer, and he came out, -and Lammy, you--know--he's--all--I've--got--now," and, burying her face -in the terrier's ragged coat, she broke into a perfect storm of crying. - -Lammy felt like crying, too, and in fact a tear rolled so far down on -his cheek that he had to struggle hard to lick it up, for Bird was his -dear friend, the only girl in the village who had never laughed at him -or called him "Nose-in-the-Air," or "Look-up-Lammy," and seemed to -understand the way in which he saw things. At first he looked around -helplessly, and then remembering that his mother had gone, and that he -must get Bird down to his home before supper-time, he blurted out: "Say, -don't you reckon Twinkle's pretty hungry by this? I guess we'd better -get him some feed down to my house, and you can leave these red pineys -over yonder as we go along if you like." - -Lammy could not have done better, for Bird sprang up instantly, all the -pity aroused for the dog, and, turning toward the house, said: "How -selfish of me; we'll go in and get him something right away. Do you -think the people have gone yet? 'They mean kindly,' Terry used to say. I -must never forget that, but they talked so much I couldn't seem to bear -it." - -"Yes, they've gone; mother wouldn't leave them behind 'cause of Mis' -Slocum," and he began to tell her about his Aunt Jimmy's ill turn and of -his delay in getting back with the flowers. - -Bird listened quietly, and as they stood before the door of the silent, -empty house, a strange look crossed the girl's face that frightened poor -gentle Lammy, as she gazed straight before her and said: "Now I know -that I was not asleep this afternoon, only dull and faint, and that -what I thought was a dream was partly true. Terry _did_ owe rent to -Mrs. Slocum, and that was what he tried to tell me and couldn't when he -said there was only a little bit of money in the Centre bank to pay for -things, so that I must be sure and keep his paint-box and the pictures -in the big portfolio. The Slocums might try to take them. That's why -your mother made the people go and locked the door. Oh, Lammy, I haven't -any home or anything of my very own but Twinkle, but I could work and -learn to paint. Terry said I could and if everything gave out, I can -open the keepsake bag. See, I've got it now," and Bird pulled out a -small, flat, leather case, strongly sewed together, that hung close -around her neck on a thin gold chain. - -"Do you know what's in it?" asked Lammy, fingering it curiously. - -"No, but I think it's a piece of gold money; for it's round, though one -side is thicker than the other. Mother wore it, and then father put it -about my neck for me to keep, and he said his mother gave it to him when -he came away from home long ago." - -As Bird stood looking at the house, the afternoon shadows began to -fall and a change came over her. That morning the thought of leaving -the place frightened her, but now the thing she most wanted was to get -away. "Lammy," she cried presently, "we must get those pictures and the -paint-box _now_; to-morrow the people may come back." - -"But mother's taken the key." - -"That doesn't matter, the cellar-door flap doesn't fasten--it never has -since I can remember--we can go in that way," and then Lammy, quaking -mightily, though he didn't know why, followed Bird into the house. - -Love lights up many a dark, shabby room, and Bird had never been lonely -with her father for a companion, and in spite of his own shiftlessness -and poverty he had taught her much that she never would forget; but now -love had gone, and as she crept down the rickety stairs hugging the box, -Lammy stumbling after with the portfolio, her only desire was to go -somewhere, anywhere to get away, lingering only a moment in the kitchen -to collect some scraps of food for the dog. When they reached the porch, -they stopped to fasten the things together with some twine from Lammy's -pocket. The portfolio was full of flower pictures and some designs such -as wall-papers are made from. Bird turned them over lovingly, explaining -as she did so that a man in New York had written to Terry that if he -could do these well, he could earn money, and that he was only waiting -for spring flowers to begin. The letter was still in the portfolio. - -"See," she said, "here is one of red peonies all ready to put the last -color in, and father was only waiting for them to bloom, but it is too -late now, so we will take them to him," and she took the bouquet from -Lammy, gently kissing each of the glowing flowers; and then they went -out of the yard in silence, Twinkle first, then Lammy with the bundle, -while Bird hesitated a moment; lifting the sagging gate she dragged it -to, fastened it to the post with the old barrel hoop that had replaced -the latch, and with one parting look shook the tears from her long -lashes and walked straight down the road. At the gate of the little -graveyard Lammy put down the bundle, and they went in together. - -"See, I've made it look nice until dad can turf it over," said Lammy, -"and put a little Christmas tree for a head-mark," and sure enough the -mound that a few hours before was a heap of rough gravel was green -with young bayberry twigs and spruce branches, for on the upper side -of the hill had once been a great nursery of evergreens, the seed had -scattered, and the fragrant little Christmas trees had run all down the -hill and clustered in groups around the fence posts. - -Kneeling very carefully, Bird arranged the crimson peonies. The country -folk thought only white flowers proper for such a place, but Bird loved -colour and Lammy's gift cheered her more than any words. - -"Janey's close by here and grandma," said Lammy, presently, "so it -won't be a bit lonesome for your father, and I was hoping to-day that -he'd remember to tell Janey that you're going to be my sister now and -come down and live at our house, for she'll be glad that mother and I -won't be so lonesome as we've been at our home since she went to heaven. -'Cause you will stop with us, won't you?" he added earnestly as he saw -Bird hesitate. "Mother's going to fix it just as soon as she gets word -from your uncle. She didn't want to write, only dad said she'd ought to -because of the law or something." - -"I'll always love you, Lammy," said Bird, slowly, the tears gathering -again, "and I never can like any place so much as this, and I'll never -forget to-day and the red peonies and your covering up the ugly stones, -but I've got to earn my living and I can't be a drag on anybody. I -thought, you know, if there was enough left to get to a city,--New York, -perhaps,--I might learn to paint quicker, and perhaps the man that -wanted Terry to make pictures for wall-paper might tell me how," and -then the poor child, tired and overcome with the long strain and the -new loneliness, could keep up no longer, and, throwing her arms about -Lammy's neck, sobbed, "Oh, take me somewhere out of sight, for I feel as -if I was all falling--way down a--deep--well." - -Poor little Bird! All that she knew of the great city was from the -pictures in the papers and an occasional magazine, and it seemed to her -so big and gay and busy that there must be some place in it for her, -and now that night was coming, the country felt so empty and lonely to -the little girl, faint from weariness, and with the door of all the -home she had known closed upon her. For no one but Lammy had had time -to really comfort her, and in her unhappiness God seemed to have taken -her parents away and then hidden Himself. If only Aunt Jimmy had not -had the spell just then and she could have laid her head on Mrs. Lane's -motherly bosom, how different it might all have been. A carriage passed -as they turned into the highway, and the clanking of the harness made -Bird lift her head from Lammy's shoulder where she had hidden it, and -looking up she met the eyes of a young girl who was sitting alone on -the back seat of the handsome victoria. She was perhaps sixteen, or a -little over,--the braids of pale golden hair were fastened up loosely -behind,--and she was beautifully dressed; but it was not the clothes but -her sweet face and wistful big gray eyes that made Bird look a second -time, and then the carriage had passed by. - -"How happy she must be," thought Bird. - -"I'd rather walk than ride, and wear stubby shoes, or go barefoot, if I -only had a brother so that I need not go alone," was what the other girl -thought. - -"That's Miss Marion Clarke that lives in the big stone house on the hill -before you come to Northboro," quoth Lammy. "There's only one of her, -and she can have everything she wants." Then he straightway forgot her. -Bird did not, however, for there was something in the gray eyes that -would not let themselves be forgotten. - -By the time they reached the Lane farmhouse Bird was quiet again, -though her eyes drooped with sleep, and Lammy was telling eagerly how -next autumn they could perhaps go over to Northboro to school, for -drawing was taught there, and, he confided to Bird what had never before -taken the form of words, that he too longed to learn to draw, not -flowers, but machinery and engines, such as pulled the trains over at -the Centre. - -As they came in sight of the house Lammy noticed that there was a -strange team at the gate, a buggy from the livery-stable at the Centre, -for quiet Lammy kept his eyes open, and knew almost every horse in the -county. On the stoop a short, thick-set man, with a fat, clean-shaven -face, and clad in smart black clothes, stood talking to Lammy's father. - -Both men glanced up the road from time to time, and then Lammy noticed -that the stranger held his watch in his hand, and he kept fidgeting and -looking at it as if in a great hurry. - -As the children entered the gate they heard Mr. Lane say, "Here she is -now, but you can't catch that evenin' train from the Centre; you'll have -to put over here until morning." - -Bird gave a gasp and instinctively clutched Lammy's hand. Could this -be some one from her uncle? Of course it was not he himself, for her -father had been youngish, tall and slight, with fair hair, small feet -and hands, while this man was all of fifty, and had a rough and common -look in spite of his clothes that did not match his heavy boots and -clumsy grimy hands. - -For a moment Bird forgot the story of her father's boyhood that he had -so often told her, forgot that fifteen years and a different mother -separated him from his half-brothers, and when Mr. Lane called her, as -she tried to slip in at the side door after Lammy, saying, "Come here, -Bird, this is your Uncle John O'More come from New York," she could only -keep from falling by an effort, and stood still, nervously twisting her -hands in the skirt of her black frock without being able to speak a -word, while Twinkle seated himself at her feet looking anxiously, first -at the stranger, then at Mr. Lane, with his head cocked on one side. - - - - -II - -HER UNCLE JOHN - - -"Got a start? Didn't expect to see me here, did you? else maybe you -never knew you had an Uncle John," said the stranger, by way of -greeting, taking Bird roughly, but not unkindly, by the shoulders and -looking her full in the face. Then, noticing how pale she was and that -her eyes were red with crying, he let her go with a pat of his heavy -hand that shook her through and through, saying, half to her and half -to Mr. Lane, "Go along in now and get your supper. You look done up, -and I wouldn't object to a bite myself since I've got to hang around -over night; been chasing round after you since morning, and those -sandwiches I got at that tumble-down ranch at what they call the Centre -were made up of last year's mule-heel. They ain't gone further'n here -yet," he added, striking his chest that was covered by a showy scarf, -emphatically. - -Bird began to breathe more freely to know he was going away in the -morning. Her father had told her in one of the long sleepless nights -of his illness about his two half-brothers, one in Australia, as far -as he knew, and the other in New York. Their mother had been a strong, -black-eyed, south-country lass, but his mother, the wife of his father's -later years, was a gentle, fair-haired, English girl, the governess in -the family to which his father was steward. At her death when he was a -lad of about fifteen, family differences arose, and he had gone to his -mother's people until he finally came to America with this brother John. - -John was sturdy and coarse-grained; Terence delicate and sensitive. -They soon parted, and in the years between the artist had written -occasionally to his brother, but kept him in ignorance of his poverty. -Yet, in spite of knowing it all, Bird was bitterly disappointed in her -uncle. She built hopes about him, for did he not live in New York, and -there were schools where painting was taught in that magical city, also -the man lived there who wanted the wall-papers. Ah, if her uncle had -only been different, he might have asked her to visit him or perhaps -even have known the wall-paper man himself. - -But this uncle seemed an impossibility and fairly repelled her, so that -to get out of his sight was all she desired. Presently she went into the -house, and, after carefully dusting her plain, little, black straw hat -and laying it on the sofa in the best room, she covered her new dress -with Mrs. Lane's gingham apron that hung on its usual peg and fell to -work at helping Lammy with the supper. - -Now Bird was a clever little housewife while Lammy was very clumsy at -the work, so that in a few minutes they were both absorbed and chatting -quite cheerfully, never dreaming of the conversation that was going on -in the north porch. Only the white-curtained windows of the best room -could hear it, and they were shut tight. - -"Now, Mr. Lane, since the youngster's gone in, I guess we might as well -get right down to business. I've shown you my papers and proofs, and -there's no special use rubbing it into her that her father was a dead -failure clear from the start, and that the sticks of furniture he left -and the few dollars banked or coming from his work 'll only square up -his accounts and leave the kid on the world, so to speak. I own I'm -clean flabbergasted myself, for I thought he was a man of some property -through his wife, for when he wrote, his letters were chuck full of high -ideas for the girl here." - -Joshua Lane fidgeted miserably on the edge of his chair, and if ever a -man longed for the presence and ready tongue of his wife, it was he. - -"I suppose that's one way o' lookin' at it," he assented after a while, -"but mebbe in some way he didn't flat out so much as it looks. He never -gave an ill word to any one, and Bird here's as smart and talkable and -writes a fist as good as the seminary principal over to Northboro, all -through his teachin', so no wonder she set a store by him. As to leavin' -the child on the world, she'll never feel the hurtin' edge of it while -mother and Joshua Lane's got roof and bite. I told O'More so, and I -reckon it eased him considerable." - -"Smart, is she?" echoed the other; "that's a mercy. Girls have to get -a move on them nowadays in the city, and if they can't start in at -type-writing or something when they're sixteen or so, they get shoved -out of the race as leftovers by a new lot before they've earned their -ten a week. I've got a good job now, but I've had to hustle for it and -keep a lively step, too. That's why it goes hard to lose two days' -time on this business. I was mighty afraid when I saw what a forsaken -hole this was that the girl might be green as the grass, and n. g. -altogether. No, I didn't mean any offence," he said, as he noticed -Joshua's face flush at his reference to the pretty hillside village, -"but I've never had a use for the country. Give me streets with a push -of people and a lively noise and trolleys going by at night to remind -you yer alive, if you don't sleep straight through. - -"Of course, knowing nothing of the circumstances before I left, I -couldn't quite fix a plan,--might have had to wait around and see to -that mill property if it hadn't vamoosed, but as it is, I don't see why -Bird shouldn't go right back with me to-morrow morning. I've got three -lively boys besides a poor little crippled feller,--them and the city -sights 'll cheer her up. It's different from what I thought to find, and -I don't owe Terry any favours of purse or tongue, but I've no girls, and -blood's thicker 'n water even though the English streak is heatin' to -an all-through Irishman,--but let that go. I'll give her some schooling -until she's fit age to choose her trade, or if she's tasty looking, get -in some good shop, and she can ease her way along meantime in minding -little Billy or helping the woman out. For I'd have you know that though -I've a good job, and there's always meat in the pot, we're plain people -of no pretence. I've money in a land company, though, that'll soon give -us our own home and not so far out either but what a gun would shoot -into the Bowery." - -John O'More's speech poured out so rapidly that it almost stunned Joshua -Lane. When he pulled himself together, he gasped: "Did you say that you -calkerlate to take Bird away from us and to-morrow at that? I'll have -to go down to Aunt Jimmy's, I reckon, and call mother to onct," but as -he started from his chair "mother" appeared, coming up the road in the -buggy clucking vigorously to the old gray horse, excitement written in -every line of her homely, lovable face. - -As she pulled up the horse at the gate, an entirely unnecessary labour -as for the past ten years he had never willingly gone past it, Joshua, -wearing a white, scared look upon his usually placid face, greeted -her with: "Sakes alive, Lauretta Ann, I'm wonderful put out; it never -rains but it pours; an' 's if there wasn't enough trouble for one -day, Bird's uncle, John O'More, has turned up. He's a rough, drivin', -quick-tongued sort o' chap, like the travellin' man that sold us the -horse-rake that had fits of balking and tearin' up the medder, and when -I complained, he said, says he, 'Why, certainly, I forgot it had the -plough combination,--I had oughter asked you an extry five on it.'" - -"Nonsense, Joshua Lane, nobody's going to carry Bird off under our very -noses, uncle or no uncle; I'll soon settle that! But talking of pourin' -rain,--it's certainly let drive on us this day, for your Aunt Jimmy's -had a stroke; and though she can't move she can speak her mind still, -and isn't for lettin' folks in or havin' things done for her as she -ought. I've left Dinah Lucky with her, and I've stopped at Doctor Jedd's -and told him to hurry down, but the time has come when you've just got -to assert yourself willy-nilly. It's you, not me, as is her eldest -nephew and kin, and while I'm more'n willing to do the work, you've got -to show some spunk. Now jist you git into a biled shirt and your good -coat and go down and stand off the neighbours that, now she can't stir, -'ll all be wrigglin' and slippin' through that door like eels in the -mill sluice when the gate's up. I'll soon settle that O'More." - -Joshua, much relieved, obediently went into the house, while Mrs. Lane, -after looking into the kitchen to be sure that supper was progressing, -smoothed her Sunday dress that she had donned that morning for the -funeral, opened the windows of the best room to impress her visitor with -its green carpet and cabinet organ, and asked John O'More to come in. - -"Thanks, Mrs. Lane I take it, but I guess I'll stay out here,--had -enough of shut-up places in that train to-day, besides some ladies -object to smoke in the house." - -Before she could speak a word or even notice the long cigar that was -sticking out of his mouth in the direction of his left eye, he had -plunged into the subject at the exact point where it had been dropped. -"Now as to Bird, Mrs. Lane; your husband and I have tongue-threshed -things out, and he can repeat the same to you. I know just how things -stand, so nuff said about what's past. I travel in the west and Canada -for a steady house, and I'm away a good deal; now Bird can be company -for my wife as my kids are all boys. I'll give her schoolin', a trade, -and a shove along on the road in a couple of years. I wouldn't do less -for any kin of my own, and I kind o' take to her." - -"But we don't want you to take her, and I reckon she don't either, -for--" put in Mrs. Lane, almost bursting with suppressed speech. - -"Excuse me, one moment more, madam," he continued, removing his cigar -and speaking rather more slowly, "I judge that you object to her going -to-morrow; now I can't stop around here, and it's an expensive trip. -Seein' the city 'll be a change, and she'll soon settle down all right." - -"But we don't want her to go at all," Mrs. Lane almost shrieked; "we -want her to live with us!" - -"As what, for instance?" queried O'More, growing more Irish in his -speech, "a kind of a charity help, or had you intentions of adopting -her by the law? If so, and she wishes, I'll stand in the way of nothing -but a change of her name, to which I'd object." - -Mrs. Lane was struck dumb. She had no idea of making a servant of Bird, -but on the other hand she knew that legal adoption would mean to give -Bird a like share with her own boys, and as what little they had, or -might expect, came from her husband's people, this she could not promise -at once. - -"I meant--to treat her just like my little girl that died--but"--poor -Mrs. Lane got more and more mixed up--"I haven't asked Joshua about the -adoptin' business--it's so lately happened, we'd not got that far, you -see." - -"Yes, mum, I see," said the fat man, drawing his lips together shrewdly, -"yourself has a warm heart, but others, yer own boys likely, may give -it a chill some day, and then where's Bird? No, mum, the girl 'll have -an easier berth with her own, I fancy, and not have to bend her back -drawin' and fetchin' water, either,--we've it set quite handy." - -This was said with withering sarcasm for, unfortunately, at that moment, -Bird could be seen lugging in a heavy water bucket from the well, -something she had been warned not to do, and yet did unthinkingly, for -to-day she walked as in a dream. - -Mrs. Lane saw that in reality she was helpless, unless she appealed to -Bird herself, and to rouse the child's sensitive spirit she knew would -be not only foolish but wicked, so for once Lauretta Ann Lane sat silent -and with bowed head, only saying with a choking voice, "I will tell her -after--supper--and you'll let--us write--to her, I suppose, and have -her--back to visit if she gets piney for Lammy,--they've been like twin -brother and sister ever since Janey died." - -"I will that, ma'am, and I'll say more; if within the year she don't -content herself and settle down and grieves for yer, and yer see it -clear in that time to adopt her fair and square, and guarantee to do by -her as I will,--you'll get the chance." - -O'More stretched his legs, stiff with sitting, and jerked his -half-burned cigar into the bushes, while at the same moment Oliver and -Nellis, Lammy's big brothers who worked in Milltown, rode up on their -wheels and the bell rang for supper. - - * * * * * - -No one but Bird ever knew what Mrs. Lane said to her that night, -during the sad hours that she held the child in her arms in the great -rocking-chair that had soothed to sleep three generations of Lane -babies. Perhaps it soothed poor Bird, too, only she did not know it -then; yet she fell asleep, after a storm of crying, with her arms around -Twinkle, the terrier, as soon as Mrs. Lane had put her to bed, promising -to come back from Aunt Jimmy's early in the morning to awaken her, for -her uncle was to take the nine o'clock train from the Centre. - -As Mrs. Lane collected, in a valise, the few clothes that made up -Bird's wardrobe, she felt broken-hearted indeed, but she could not but -realize that if the little girl must go, the quicker the better, and who -knew what might turn up, for Mrs. Lane was always hopeful. But Lammy, -poor boy, could not see one bright spot in the darkness. It was with -difficulty that his father could keep the child, usually so gentle, -from flying at O'More; he stormed and begged and finally, completely -exhausted, fled to the stuffy attic where he fell asleep, pillowed by -some hard ears of seed corn. - -Next morning when Bird awoke, she had forgotten and felt much better for -her long sleep, but when she sat up and looked at the strange room, it -all came back. One thought mingled with the dread of parting,--she was -going to New York; there was where the wall-paper man lived and people -learned things. Hope was strong in her also, and never did she doubt -for a moment but what she could win her way and come back some day to -her friends if she could only find the right path. - -Downstairs all was confusion. Joshua Lane had come from Aunt Jimmy's to -take O'More over to the judge's house to sign some papers. A man had -followed him up to say Dr. Jedd felt the old lady was worse. Mrs. Lane -was giving Bird a thousand directions and warnings that she couldn't -possibly remember, and in the middle of it all Lammy, looking straight -before him and dumb as an owl, his eyes nearly closed from last night's -crying, drove around in the business wagon to take the travellers to the -station, four good miles away. - -"Here's my card, so you'll know where I hang out," said John O'More, as -he stepped into the wagon, holding out a bit of printed pasteboard to -Joshua Lane, "and if you need anything in my line, I'll let you in on -the square." On one corner was the picture of a horse's head, on the -other a wagon, and the letters read, "John O'More with Brush & Burr, -Dealers in Horses, Vehicles of all Kinds, Harness & Stable Fixings." -Then they drove away, Bird keeping her eyes fixed on Twinkle who Lammy -had settled in the straw at their feet. - -"To think she was going and I was so put about I never asked the -address," sighed Mrs. Lane, adjusting her glasses and looking at the -card. "For goodness sakes, Joshua, _do_ you suppose he's a horse-jockey? -I sort of hoped he might be in groceries, or coal or lumber,--something -solid and respectable. What would poor Terry say?" - -"I really don't know, Lauretta Ann," sighed Joshua, whose slow nature -was showing the wear, tear, and hurry of the last few days; "but he's -Terry's brother, not ourn. It takes all kinds of fellers to make up a -world, and I _hev_ met honest horse-jockeys, and then again I haven't. I -wished I'd thought to ask him the bottom price for a new chaise; ourn is -so weak every time you cross the ford I'm afeared you'll spill through -the bottom into the water," and Joshua turned on his heel and went in to -a belated breakfast, while his wife jerked remarks at the chickens she -made haste to feed, about the heartlessness of all men, which she didn't -in the least mean. - - * * * * * - -They had ten minutes or so to wait for the train when they reached -the Centre, and, after taking her valise to be checked and buying the -ticket, O'More returned to the wagon for Bird. For the first time -she remembered that she had not asked about Twinkle and perhaps he -might need a ticket. Making a brave effort to get out the name that -choked her, yet too considerate to use the plain Mr., she said: "Uncle -John,--you won't mind if I take Twinkle with me, will you? He's very -clean and clever; I love him dearly and he was so good to Terry when he -was sick." - -O'More was the bustling city man now, and whatever sentiment had swayed -him the night before was slept away. He gave a glance at the dog and -shook his head in the negative. - -"That's a no account little yaller cur. If your aunt will let you keep a -pup, there's always a litter around the stable you can pick from, though -they're more'n likely to fall off the fire-escape." - -The tears came to Bird's eyes, but she blinked them back; but not before -Lammy saw them. "I'll keep Twinkle all safe for you--till--you come -a-visiting," he said in a shaky voice, reading her wish. - -Then the train came around the curve and stopped at the big tank to -drink. - -"Come along," called O'More. - -"Oh, I've forgotten my paint-box and bundle!" said Bird, running back to -get the precious portfolio that had been wrapped in the horse blanket. - -"Your what?" said O'More, "paint-box! Just you leave that nonsense to -your chum along with the dog. You've had enough of paints and painting -for your vittles; I'm going to see you stick to bread and meat," and, -waving his hand good-by to Lammy, he flung him a silver dollar, that -missing the wagon rolled in the dirt. - -For a moment the sickening disappointment tempted Bird to turn and run -down the track, anywhere so long as she got away; then her pride came to -her aid, and, stretching out her hands to her playmate, she cried, "Keep -them safe for me, oh, Lammy, please do!" - -"You bet I will, don't you fret!" he called back. - -Then she followed her uncle quietly to the cars, and her last glimpse, -as the train entered the cut, was of Lammy, seated in the old wagon with -Twinkle at his side, the box and the portfolio clasped in his arms, and -a brave smile on his face. - - - - -III - -AUNT JIMMY - - -For a few minutes Lammy sat looking after the vanishing train. Then he -carefully wrapped the paint-box and portfolio in the blanket again, and, -patting Twinkle, who was quivering with excitement and looking into his -face with a pitiful, pleading glance, he put the dog down in the straw -again, saying, "We can't help it, old fellow; we've just got to stand it -until we can fix up some way to get her back." - -As he turned the wagon about, with much backing and rasping of cramped -wheels, the bright silver dollar that was lying in the dirt caught his -eye. It seemed like a slap in the face when O'More threw it, though in -his rough way he meant well enough, and Lammy's first impulse was to -drive home and leave it where it had fallen. - -Still, after all, it was money, and to earn money vaguely seemed to -him the only way by which he could get Bird back again, for though -Lammy had a comfortable home, enough clothing, and plenty to eat, whole -dollars were as rare in his pockets as white robins in the orchard. - -So he picked up the shining bit of silver, wiped it carefully on his -sleeve, and, wrapping it in a scrap of paper, opened the precious -paint-box, and tucked the coin into one of the small compartments. It -never occurred to him to spend the money for any of the little things -a boy of fourteen always wants, and he quite forgot that his knife had -only half of one blade left. The money was for Bird, and from that -moment the paint-box, which was to spend some months in his lower bureau -drawer in company with his best jacket and two prizes won at school, -became a savings bank. - -Lammy stopped at the "Centre" druggist's for some medicine for Aunt -Jimmy, and while he was waiting for the mixture, he had to undergo a -running fire of questions concerning his aunt's "spell" from the people -who came in from all sections for their mail, as this store was also -the post-office and there was as yet no rural free-delivery system to -deprive the community of its daily trade in news. - -Now Aunt Jimmy, otherwise Jemima Lane, occupied an unusual position in -the neighbourhood and was a personage of more than common importance. -In the first place she was a miser, which is always interesting, as a -miser is thought to be a sort of magician whose money is supposed to -lie hidden in the chimney and yet increase as by double cube root; then -she owned ten acres of the best land for small fruits--strawberries, -raspberries, currants, and peaches--in the state. The ground was on the -southern slope of Laurel Ridge, and though it was shielded in such a way -that the March sun did not tempt the peach blossoms out before their -time, yet Aunt Jimmy's strawberries were always in the Northboro market -a full week ahead of the other native fruit. - -Of course there was nothing particularly strange in this interest, as -many people coveted the land. The odd part that concerned the gossips -was that Aunt Jimmy had three able-bodied nephews, of which Joshua Lane -was eldest, all farmers struggling along on poorish land, while she, -though seventy-five years old, insisted upon running her fruit farm -and house entirely alone, hiring Poles or Hungarians, who could speak -no English, to till and gather the crops, instead of going shares with -her own kin. In fact, until a few years back, no one, man, woman, or -child, except little Janey Lane, had ever got beyond the kitchen door. -Then when she died, Aunt Jimmy had opened her house and heart to Joshua -Lane's wife, and ever since, that dear, motherly soul had done all that -she could for the queer, lonely old woman, in spite of the fact that the -gossips said she did it from selfish motives. - -Joshua Lane was very sensitive about this talk and would have held aloof -like his two brothers, who lived beyond the Centre, one of whom had a -sick wife and was too lazy to more than scratch half rations from his -land, while the other had once given the old lady some unwise advice -about pruning peach trees, and had been forbidden inside the gate under -pain of being cut off with a "china button," Aunt Jimmy's pet simile for -nothing. - -Mrs. Joshua, however, was gossip proof, and, tossing her head, had -publicly declared, "I'm a-going to keep the old lady from freezin', -burnin', or starvin' herself to death jest so far 's I'm able, accordin' -to scripture and the feelings that's in me, and if that's 'undue -influence,' so be it! I shan't discuss the subject with anybody but the -Lord," and she never did. - -Many a meal of hot cooked food she took to the old woman to replace the -crackers and cheese of her own providing. It was not that Aunt Jimmy -meant to be mean, but she had lived so long alone that she had gotten -out of the habits of human beings. She certainly looked like a lunatic -when she went about the place superintending her men, clad in a short -skirt, a straw sunbonnet, and rubber boots, merely adding in the winter -a man's army overcoat and cape that she had picked up cheap; but the -lawyer who had come down from Northboro a year before to make her will -said he had never met a clearer mind outside of the profession, for she -had Dr. Jedd testify that she was of sound mind, and a second physician -from Northboro swear that Dr. Jedd's wits were also in good order. - -Shortly after this she had given it out quietly that, though Joshua Lane -was the only one of her kin that was worth a box of matches, yet they -would share and share alike, as she didn't believe in stirring up strife -among brothers by showing favour. - -Then everybody expected Mrs. Lane would lessen her attentions, but as -often happens everybody was mistaken. - -Of course the good woman could not help thinking once in a while what -a fine thing it would be if some day her elder boys could work the -fruit farm (Lammy she never thought of as working at anything) instead -of delving in a shop at Milltown, but she put the idea quickly from -her. However, it would keep coming back all that night after Terence -O'More's funeral when she watched with the old lady, while poor Bird -slept her grief-spent sleep before her journey. - -If the fruit farm could ever be hers, she would adopt Bird without -hesitation, for the little lady-child had crept into the empty spot -that Janey had left in her big mother heart and filled it in a way that -greatly astonished her. - - * * * * * - -Lammy finally secured the medicine and jogged homeward, thinking, all -the time thinking about Bird. He knew that people said he was stupid, -and yet he also felt that he could learn as well as any one if they -would only let him pick his own way a little. His father wanted him to -be a carpenter, his mother thought that too rough, and that he was still -a baby and some day perhaps he might be a clerk. - -But Lammy himself, as he looked into the future, saw only the whirling -wheels of the machinery at Milltown, or the wonders of the locomotive -works that he had once visited at Northboro. That was why he was always -day-dreaming and looking in the air. Of course it was very stupid and -dumb of him not to tell his parents, but Bird's was the only ear that -had ever heard his thoughts. - -All that day he stayed about the place at home, keeping the fire in and -doing the chores, for his mother's time was divided between her aunt's -and straightening things at Bird's old home, and his father was up in -the back lots planting corn. Toward night, as he was sitting on the -steps having brought back Twinkle who had run to his old home in search -of his little mistress, Mrs. Lane bustled in, mystery and importance -written on her face. Spying Lammy, she beckoned him to follow her -into the kitchen, then, carefully closing the doors, putting Twinkle -in the closet and the cat out of the window, as if they could carry -tales, she unfastened her bonnet and collar and settled herself in the -rocking-chair. - -"Samuel Lane," she began solemnly, shaking her forefinger and making the -boy quake at the unused title, while his eyes opened wide in wonder, -"No, 'tain't _that_; Aunt Jimmy's _much_ more comfortable, and I suspect -she's going to pick up again after scaring us well, or I wouldn't be -home, but she said private words to me this afternoon that if I do keep -quite to myself, I'll burst, I know, and maybe get a headache spell -that'll lay me by a day and upset everything. Now, Samuel, I've found as -far as givin' messages you're told to carry, you're as good as nobody, -so I reckon you'll be tight sealed on something that you're bid to keep -close and forget maybe for some years." - -"Is it about Bird?" asked Lammy, suddenly jumping up and fixing his big, -gray eyes on his mother's face with a gaze that made her nervous, for -she well knew that there was something in this pet son of hers that was -a little beyond her comprehension. - -"No, not about Bird,--that is, not straight, though another way it may -have a lot to do with her; it all depends. Listen, Samuel! - -"This afternoon Aunt Jimmy waked up, and, seeing me sitting by the -window croshayin',--true I was making a bungle of the tidy, not feelin' -like workin' (but she hates, same 's I do, for watchers to set idle -looking ready to jump at a body like a cat does at a mouse hole),--she -says, says she, her voice comin' back steady, 'Set nearer, Lauretta Ann -Lane, I'm goin' to tell you somethin' no one else need ever know.' - -"I drew up all of a flutter, of course. 'You're a good woman, Lauretta -Ann,' says she, 'and you've never poked and pried, or shown desires for -what's another's, an' you've worked hard to keep me livin', which I've -done to my satisfaction beyond my expectations.' - -"I burst out cryin', I couldn't help it; for I never thought she set any -store by me, and I felt guilty about wishes I'd had last night and had -fed with thoughts inwardly. - -"'Hush up, now, and don't spoil all by pretendin',' she ran on; 'I -know you'd like to have my farm, though not a day before I'm done with -it. _I'll_ credit you that. It's natural and proper and I'm glad to -have interest took in it, likewise I've said I'd share and share alike -between my nephews, which I intend; but listen, Lauretta Ann, for -there's ways of circumventin' that suits me, _I've left you the farm for -your own_; moreover, I've fixed it so there'll be no talk and no one'll -know it but you. You think I'm crazy, I guess, and that you couldn't get -the farm unbeknown, nohow. Just wait and see!' - -"Then she asked me to draw her a cup of tea, and when I went to fetch -that battered old pewter tea-pot she's used I reckon these fifty years, -'twasn't in its place, but on her mantel-shelf, and when I reached up -to take it down she said, 'Leave that be and take the chiney one; its -work's over for me and we're both takin' a rest;' then she dozed off -after the very first sup." - -"Mother," said Lammy, who was now leaning on her knees with his hands -behind her head and drawing it close, while his eyes glowed like coals, -"if--if you ever get the farm--will--you--" - -"Bring Bird back?" she finished for him, hugging him close. "Yes, I -will, and you shall both go to school to Northboro, too; but mind you, -Samuel, no crowdin' Aunt Jimmy, and it may be years yet. - -"Now bustle round and help me cook up something, for I must go back to -Aunt Jimmy's before seven, as Mis' Jedge o' Probate Ricker is the only -one I'll trust to spell me, for Dinah Lucky's mush in a bowl when the -village folks smooth her down with their palarver." - -So Lammy flew about, sifting flour, skimming milk, or rattling cups -and saucers, and it was not quite dark, supper over, and every dish -washed, when he went back to the porch steps and whispered the precious -hope to Twinkle, who raised one ear and his lip together as much as if -he understood and cautioned silence. Then the boy began day-dreaming -anew, but this time his mind, instead of following flying wheels, was -busy weeding strawberry plants and carefully picking raspberries, so as -not to crush them, while Bird stood by and watched. "And," he startled -himself by saying aloud, "the first thing I'll do 'll be to divide off a -root of those red pineys and plant it up on the hill, so Bird 'll find -it next spring all in blow." - - * * * * * - -A few days later when Dr. Jedd and all the neighbours were convinced -that Aunt Jimmy would be out in the garden again by raspberry time, -with good chance of another ten years, and Mrs. Lane had made indoors -more comfortable than it had been for years by a thorough cleaning and -renovating, the strange old lady again upset all their calculations and -died. Then in due time the lawyer from Northboro sent letters to the -three nephews and their families, to Dr. Jedd, to the minister of the -First Congregational Church, and to the superintendent of the new School -of Industrial Art of Northboro, to meet on a certain Friday afternoon at -Aunt Jimmy's house to hear the will read. - -Once more was the entire community involved in a guessing match. The -summoning of the kin was a matter of course, and usually took place -immediately, so that the lawyer was evidently carrying out special -directions in delaying the matter for more than a week, but as to what -the doctor, the minister, and the teacher from Northboro could possibly -have to do in the matter was a mystery that not even the fertile brain -of Mrs. Slocum could settle, either for good nor evil. - -It couldn't be that Aunt Jimmy had left these three outside men -anything, for it was known that she only employed Dr. Jedd because she -couldn't help it, that she hadn't been to church for five years because -the minister had preached a sermon against avarice and the vanity of -hoarding money, and as to the Northboro teacher it was positively -certain that she had never even seen him, for he was a stranger in these -parts, having recently been sent from New York, to take charge of the -school, by a wealthy man who had been influential in founding it and -whose country place was on the farther edge of the town. - -Mrs. Lane was as much in the dark as any one and did not hesitate -to say so, while excitement ran so high that on this particular -Friday afternoon the women sat in their fore-room windows overlooking -the village street with the expectant air of waiting for a passing -procession. - -Mrs. Dr. Jedd, Mrs. Judge of Probate Ricker, and the minister's wife -were privileged to attend the reading by courtesy for reason of being -their husband's wives, and cakes had been baked and several plans -made to waylay them separately on their divers routes home to drink a -cup of tea, that every detail might be gleaned for comparing of notes -afterward. - -"We shall soon see whether Lauretta Ann Lane's cake is dough or fruit -loaf," sniffed Mrs. Slocum, angrily, drawing in her head suddenly from -the third fruitless inspection of the road that she had made in fifteen -minutes and giving it a smart bump against the sash as she did so. -"Either the folks is late, or they're gone around the back road, and if -so, why? I'd just like you to tell me," she snapped at Hope Snippin, the -meek little village dressmaker who, drawn over as if she had a perpetual -stitch in her side, was remaking a skirt for the lady of the house and -felt very much discouraged, as it had been turned once before, at the -possibility of making it look startlingly new. - -"Maybe they've stopped down to the Lane's and have walked around the -meadow path," ventured Hope Snippin. "The other day when I was fixin' -up Mis' Lane's black gown, changing the buttons and such like to turn -it from just Sunday best to mourning, I heard her tell Mis' Jedd that, -as there was no convenience for gettin' up a proper meal down to Aunt -Jimmy's, seein' as nothing must be touched until the will was read, -she'd asked all the folks concerned to dinner--a roast-beef dinner -with custards--at her house so's they could be comfortable and stable -their teams, and then walk right around short cut to the other house -after. You see the two farms meets the road separate, like the two -heels of a horseshoe, and then join by going back of the doctor's hill -woods. My father was sayin' last night if those two farms _and_ the -wood lot went together, they'd be something worth while," and Miss -Snippin smiled pleasantly as if she thought she had propitiated Mrs. -Slocum by her news. - -"Then you knew all the while they wouldn't come by here and never told -me, though seein' me slavin' over that cake," snapped Mrs. Slocum. "I -wish you'd mind your work closer; you're makin' that front breadth up -stain out." - -"But it runs clean through," pleaded the dressmaker, miserably. - -"Depend upon it," Mrs. Slocum muttered to herself, not heeding the -protest, "she's made sure of that farm, or she wouldn't risk the cost of -a roast dinner for a dozen folks if she wasn't." - - * * * * * - -Meanwhile this dinner had been eaten and the party, headed by the lawyer -and the teacher, had gone through the sweet June fields to Aunt Jimmy's -house and seated themselves upon the stiff-backed, fore-room chairs that -were ranged in a long row, as if the company expected to play "Go to -Jerusalem." - -Outside, the bees were humming in the syringa bushes while the cat-birds -and robins, unmolested, were holding a festival in the great strawberry -bed, for to-day there was no one to see that the birds "kept moving" -after the usual custom, as the hired man on returning from taking eggs -to market had gone to sleep in the hay barn, knowing that the stern -voice of the old lady in rubber boots and sunbonnet would not disturb -his dreams. - - * * * * * - -"Hem," the lawyer cleared his throat and read the usual preliminaries -about "last will and testament, sound mind," etc., "paying of just -debts," etc., in a clear but rapid voice that grew gradually solemn -and important, until, as the pith of the matter was reached, every -word was separated from its neighbour, and the buzzing of a fly on the -window-pane seemed an unbearable noise. - -"I give and bequeath to Amelia, the wife of William Jedd, doctor of -medicine in this town, the sum of two thousand dollars, because I think -she may need it owing to her husband's slack way of collecting bills." - -Mrs. Jedd, who had for a moment looked radiant, quickly cast down her -eyes after a frightened glance at her husband who was, with apparent -difficulty, refraining from laughter as he looked crosswise at the -minister. - -"I give and bequeath to Sarah Ann, wife of Joel Stevens, minister of the -First Congregational Church, a like sum of two thousand dollars because -she is sure to need it, this being twice the amount that he once desired -me to give to foreign missions. If he still holds to his views of -avarice and hoarding, he will doubtless be able to persuade her to share -his ideas as to its use." - -It was the minister's turn now to look red and confused, while his -wife's face expressed her views on the subject beyond a doubt. - -"I give and bequeath to the Trust Fund of the School of Industrial Art -in Northboro the sum of $10,000, the income therefrom to be applied to -the board and teaching of two girls each year who cannot afford to pay, -for the reason that I think a girl is usually worth two boys if she has -a chance, and I don't like to see our best girls running to the big -cities for schooling. - -"I direct that my fruit farm of ten acres, more or less, with the -adjoining one hundred acres of meadow and woodlands, and all buildings -and fixtures, other than household furniture, appertaining thereto, -shall be sold at public auction within six months of my death, and that -the cash proceeds be divided between my three nephews, share and share -alike, I holding the hope that one of them will be the purchaser. I also -direct that the pieces of household furniture mentioned in the enclosed -memorandum shall be divided between the wives of my three nephews by the -drawing of lots, and I charge that all other furnishings not mentioned -in this paper, being of no value except to myself, shall be destroyed -either by burning or burying in the swamp bog-hole according to their -character, as I don't wish them scattered about for the curiosity of the -idle, of which this town has its full share. - -"Making one exception to the above, I give to my dear niece by marriage, -Lauretta Ann, wife of Joshua Lane, in token of my respect for her, my -old pewter tea-pot that, as she knows, I have treasured as having laid -buried in the garden through the War of Independence and had in daily -use for years, hoping she will cherish it and by like daily use hold me -in constant remembrance by the sight of it." - -At this juncture no one dared look up, for all felt the cruelty of the -gift after Mrs. Lane's years of service, and the poor woman herself -merely tightened her grasp upon the chair arms, but she could not -prevent the sickening sense of disappointment that crept over her. - -"I hereby appoint my nephew, Joshua Lane, as my sole executor, directing -that he be paid the sum of $1000 from my estate for his services, -desiring him to carry on the fruit business for the current year, the -profits to be added to my estate. (Here followed special instructions.) -If there be any residue after paying to the before-named legacies, I -direct that he divide it equally between himself and his two brothers, -and I hope that all concerned may feel the same pleasure in hearing this -testament that I have had in making it." - -As the lawyer stopped reading there was a pause, and then a rush of -voices, congratulations and condolences mingled. That he had made an -error in summoning Dr. Jedd and the minister instead of their wives was -plain. - -The two brothers, who cared nothing for the fruit farm except its cash -price and had been too indolent to bother about the matter or go to see -their aunt except in fruit time, assumed importance and talked about -wounded pride and the injustice of having but one executor. The school -superintendent, an Englishman of fifty or so who had received his art -training at South Kensington and brought it to market in America, -confused by his surroundings, but of course pleased at the gift by -which his school benefited, made haste to leave, feeling that he was -intruding in a gathering where a family storm was brewing. - -"Mebbe there's something _in_ the tea-pot," suggested the minister's -wife, hopefully, "else I can't think she knew her own mind." - -"There's surely something in it," echoed Mrs. Dr. Jedd. - -The lawyer, who himself had thought this possible, went upstairs, and -took down the battered bit of pewter from the best bedroom shelf, where -it had remained since the day Mrs. Lane had placed it there at Aunt -Jimmy's request, opened it, shook it, and held it toward the eager -group,--it was absolutely empty! - -Mrs. Lane stretched out her hand for the legacy, but her husband grasped -her arm and asserting himself for the first time in his married life, -said: "Lauretta Ann, don't you tech it; it'll go down in the swamp hole -with the other trash for all of you. I'll not have you a-harbourin' a -viper. I'll do my lawful duty, but, by crickey, I'll not have you put -upon no more." - -This very ambiguous speech so impressed the hearers that it was reported -that "Joshua Lane wasn't tied to Lauretta's apron-strings and could -hold his own equal to anybody," which had been seriously doubted, while -the news was a surprise and disappointment to every one but Mrs. Slocum, -who said, "Dough! I told you so,"--and actually cut a big slice of cake -for Hope Snippin to take home for tea. - -As for Lammy he seemed dazed for a while, and then set to work daily -with his father on the fruit farm, so that he might earn the tickets -to send to Bird when hot weather and the time for her visit came. His -mother noticed that he did not gaze about as much as usual, and, while -he was picking berries for market, he said to himself, "I'll snake a -root of those red pineys for Bird anyhow before the auction, 'long in -November, and maybe before then something 'll turn up." - - - - -IV - -A CAGED BIRD - - -When the high banks of the cut shut off Lammy from Bird's sight, she -followed her uncle into the car, vainly trying to blink back her tears. -He, however, did not notice them; but, putting her valise on a seat, -told her she had better sit next to the window so that she could amuse -herself by looking out, as it would be two hours before they changed -cars at New Haven, and then, taking another seat for himself, pulled his -hat over his eyes and promptly fell asleep. - -At first the poor child was content to sit quite still and rest, trying -to realize who and where she was. The changes of the past two weeks had -been so sudden that she did not yet fully realize them. Beginning with -the day when her father, all full of hope, had been soaked by the rain -in walking back from Northboro, where he had gone to buy materials for -beginning his work for the wall-paper man, and caught the deadly cold, -until now when she was leaving the only friends she had ever known, -seemed either a whole lifetime or a dream from which she must awake. - -But as the train flew on and the familiar places one by one were lost in -the distance, little by little the bare cold truth came to her. Not only -was she going to a strange place to live among strangers, but the hope -that had comforted her the previous night had been swept away when her -uncle had refused to let her bring her paint-box, and she knew by the -contemptuous way he spoke that he was even more set against her father's -work than their farming neighbours had been. - -"Never mind," thought the brave, lonely little heart, "I simply _must_ -learn somehow, and perhaps my aunt and cousins may be different and -help me to persuade Uncle John to let me go on with drawing at the -school he sends me to, for I heard him tell Mrs. Lane that I should go -to school." Then Bird began to imagine what the aunt and cousins would -be like, and what sort of a house they would live in. She thought the -house would be brick or stone like some in Northboro, and she did not -expect that there would be a very big garden, perhaps only at the back -with a little strip at the sides and in front, but then that would hold -enough flowers for her to draw so that she need not forget the way in -which Terry had taught her to do it from life, and even if she had no -paints and only bits of paper and a pencil, she could work a little out -of the way up in her room so as not to annoy her uncle and yet not quite -give up. That she was determined she would never do, for Bird had, in -addition to a talent that was in every way greater than her father's, -something that came from her mother's family and that he had wholly -lacked,--perseverance, a thing that people are apt to call obstinacy -when they do not sympathize with its object. - -So busy was she with castle-building that she was quite surprised when -the brakeman called: "New Haven! Last stop. Change cars for New York and -Boston. Passengers all out!" and her uncle jumped up, flushed and stupid -with sleep and bundled her out of the train into the station restaurant -"to snatch a bite of dinner" before they went on. - -Now Bird, being a perfectly healthy child, even though overwrought -and tired, was hungry and gladly climbed up on one of the high stools -that flanked the lunch counter, while her uncle gathered a sandwich, -two enormous doughnuts, and a quarter of a mince pie on one plate and -pushed it toward her saying: "Tea or coffee? You'd better fill up snug, -for we won't be home until well after dinnertime," then John O'More -proceeded to cool his own coffee by pouring it from cup to saucer and -back again with much noise and slopping. - -"Please, I'd rather have milk," answered Bird, rescuing the sandwich -from under the pie and making a great effort not to stare at her uncle, -who had begun by stuffing half a doughnut into his mouth and pouring the -larger part of a cup of coffee after it before he swallowed, so that -his cheeks bulged, his eyes seemed about to pop from their sockets, -and beads of sweat stood on his forehead, while the next moment he was -shovelling up great mouthsful of baked beans and ramming them down with -cucumber pickles, very much as she had seen Lammy charging his father's -old muzzle-loading shot-gun when going to hunt woodchucks. - -Though sometimes the food at home had not been any too plentiful, Bird's -parents had always been particular about her manners at table. She had -had their example before her and was naturally dainty in her own ways, -so that her uncle's gorging gave her another shock, and unconsciously -she began to pick at her food like a veritable feathered bird. - -"The country ain't what it's cracked up to be," remarked O'More, when he -was able to speak. "I thought country girls was always fat and rosy and -ate hearty. Just wait until you get to New York and see my kids stoke in -the vittles; it'll learn you what it means to eat right." - -"Express train for New York, stopping at Bridgeport and Stamford only," -called a man through the open door. - -"Come along," shouted O'More, wedging in another doughnut, throwing -the pay to the waiter and seizing a handful of toothpicks from a glass -on the counter, and before Bird had but half finished the sandwich and -milk, she found herself on the train again. - -The second part of the journey passed more cheerfully, for all along -at the east side of the road were beautiful glimpses of the Sound and -silvery creeks and inlets came up to the track itself. - -Bird had never before seen the sea, or any river greater than the mill -stream, and she exclaimed in delight. - -"Like the looks of salt water, do you? Then you're going to an A 1 place -to see it. New York's an island, and you only have to go to the edge -anywhere to see water all round, not forsaken lookin' empty water like -this either, but full of ships and boats and push. Down at the far end -of the town is Battery Park, smash on to the water, and there's sea air -and seats in it and music summer nights, along with a building full of -live swimmin' fishes that little Billy's crazed over goin' to see. Oh, -you'll find sport in the city for sure." - -"Who is little Billy?" asked Bird, feeling that she was called upon to -say something, and now realizing that she knew nothing about the cousins -she was to meet. - -"Little Billy? Oh, he's the youngest of the four boys. Tom, he's the -eldest, and a wild hawk; he's got a rovin' job, and he seldom turns -up lest he's in trouble, but for all that his mother's crazed after -him. Jack, he's next, seventeen, and fine and sleek and smart with the -tongue, and keeps the clean coat of a gentleman; he's in a clerking job, -but he goes to night school, and he'll be somebody. Larry's fifteen, -and he's just quit school and got a place helping a trainer on the -race-track; he's minded to make money quick, and thinks that's the road, -which I don't. Then little Billy,--he's turning six, and he's worth -more'n the whole lot together to me, if he is only a four-year size and -hops with a crutch. Ah, but he's got the head for thinkin', and he's -every way off from the rest of us, pale and yellow-haired, while the -others are coloured like sloes and crows' wings in the eyes and hair." - -As O'More spoke his whole face softened and lightened up, and it was -plain to see that little Billy filled the soft spot that is in every -heart if people only have the eyes to see it. - -"Until little Billy was turned three he was as pretty as an angel," -he continued, "and sturdy as any other child. Then come a terrible -hot summer,--oh, I tell you it was fierce; you couldn't draw a breath -in the rooms, and so the missis she fixed a bed for Billy out on the -fire-escape and used to take him there to sleep." - -Bird was just about to ask what sort of a place a fire-escape was, for -this was the second time her uncle had mentioned it that day having said -that if she had a dog, it would likely fall from it, but he talked so -quickly that she forgot again. - -"As luck had it, one night the wind come up cool, and, the woman bein' -dead tired, never woke up to notice it, and in the morning little Billy -set up a terrible cry, for when he tried to get up he couldn't, for the -wind had checked the sweat and stiffened his left leg, as it were. -Of course we had a big time and had in full a dozen doctors, and some -said one thing and some another, but they all give it the one name 'the -infant paralysis.' - -"The doctors they wanted him to go to the 'ospital and have the leg shut -into a frame and all that, but I said 'twas a shame to torment him, and -I'd have him let be till he could say for himself. - -"The woman takes him awful hard, though, as if he was a reproach to her -for not wakin' up, which is no sense, for what be's to be, be's--that's -all," which shiftless argument Bird afterward found was her uncle's -answer to many things that could have been bettered. - -"I hope Billy will like me," said Bird, half to herself after a few -minutes' silence; "somehow I think I like him already." - -"If you do that and act well by him, I buy you a hat with the longest -feather on Broadway for your Christmas," said O'More, grasping her -slender fingers and almost crushing them in his burst of enthusiasm. -"But whist a minute, girl, for we're most home now. If the woman,--I -mean my missis, your Aunt Rosy,--is offish just at the start, don't get -down-hearted, for you see as she don't expect I'm bringing you, she may -be--well--a trifle startled like. She'll soon settle down and take what -be's to be straight enough," and with this rather discouraging remark -the train crossed the Harlem River and entered the long tunnel that is -apt to cast a gloom over every one's first entrance to New York, even -when they are bent on pleasure and not sad and lonely. - -"We're in now," said O'More in a few minutes, as the echo of the close -walls ceased and the train slid across a maze of tracks into an immense -building with a glass roof like a greenhouse. - -"Grand Central Station--all out," called a brakeman, and Bird found -herself part of a crowd of men, women, children, and red-capped porters -moving toward a paved street, full of carriages, wagons, trucks, -electric cars, besides many sort of vehicles that she had never seen -before, coming, going, dashing here and there in confusion, while on -every side there was a wall of houses, and below the earth was upturned -and trenched, not a bit of grass or tree to be seen anywhere, and the -sky, oh, so far away and small. Bird almost fell as she stumbled blindly -along toward a trolley car after the uncle, for what could seem more -unreal to this little wild thrush from the country lane, with song -in her throat, and love of beauty and colour born in her heart, than -Forty-second Street in the middle of the first warm summer afternoon? - - * * * * * - -The car they boarded went through another short tunnel, and on every -side could be heard the noise of hammers or drilling in the rock. - -"Is this a stone quarry?" asked Bird, innocently, not understanding, and -wondering why the near-by passengers smiled as her uncle replied: "Lord -bless yer! no; it's the subway, a road below ground they're building -to let out folks from where they work to where there's room to live; -there's such push here below town there's little room for sitting, let -alone sleeping. Oh, but it's a fine city is New York, all the same." - -Next a broad avenue with a jumble of old, low shops and fine new -buildings side by side; still Bird looked anxiously out for some place -where it seemed possible that people might live and found none. - -"Here's 2--th Street where we land," said O'More, presently looking -up, and when the car had stopped, Bird found herself walking along a -sidewalk between another wall of buildings without gardens, while the -heat of the first warm day rising from the pavement made her dizzy, and -she asked, "Is it far from here to where you live, Uncle John?" - -"No, right close by, only a few steps farther. We're facing east now and -down yonder half a dozen blocks is the river, the same as we crossed -coming in saving a turn in it. - -"Getting tired, ain't yer? Well, it's been a long day for us, and I'm -mighty glad to be gettin' to a homelike place myself." - -"Do you live right by the water, and is there any garden?" Bird -continued, a feeling of nameless dread creeping over her as she saw -nothing but buildings still closing in on all sides; even a blacksmith's -shop, from which a spirited pair of horses were coming with newly shod -polished hoofs, seemed strange and out of place. Then there were more -poor looking buildings, and a great stable with many men standing about -and horses being constantly driven in and out to show the people who -waited on the curbstone. - -"By the river, and do I have a garden," he echoed, laughing heartily. -"Do you think I'm one o' the millionnaires you read about in the papers, -my girl? Do I keep an automobile and eat at the Waldorf-Astoria?" and -then, seeing that Bird could not understand the comparison, he patted -her good-naturedly on the shoulder. - -As they passed the stable quite a number of the men spoke to her uncle, -but instead of resenting it as she expected, he joked and laughed and -seemed very glad to see them. - -"It's called the 'Horse's Head,' and it's out of there my job is," he -said to Bird, pointing over his shoulder at the stable, "for half the -time I'm over the country from Kentucky to Canada picking up horses, and -the other half of the time I'm helping to sell them out again, so I live -as near by as may be for convenience." - -At this Bird's heart sunk still farther, for in the prim New England -town where she was born and bred a Puritan, a horse-dealer meant either -some oversharp farmer who could outwit his neighbours or a roving -fellow, half gypsy, half tramp, of very ill repute, who went about from -town to town buying and selling animals who mostly had something the -matter with them that had to be concealed by lying. - -John O'More, striding on ahead, did not notice her expression, nor would -he have understood if he had read her thoughts, for he was perfectly -satisfied with himself and everything else in his surroundings, except -the fact of little Billy's lameness, and for a man of his class he was -roughly honest and good-hearted. - -"Here's where!" he said at last, turning into the doorway of a tall -building with one door and many windows. The square vestibule was -dusty and had a ragged mat in the centre, while on one side were ten -letter-boxes in a double row, with a bell knob and speaking-tube, as -O'More explained, over each. - -"Is this your house? It seems pretty big," said Bird, wearily. - -"One floor of it is," he answered, laughing again; "it's what's called -'a flat house,' because each tenant lives flat on one floor, with -conveniences at hand and no water to carry, which beats the country all -out," he added slyly. "See, I'll but touch the bell and the door 'll -open itself." - -And he suited the action to the word, the door opening to reveal a -narrow, dark hall with a flight of steep stairs covered with a shabby -red carpet. - -As Bird groped her way up, one, two, three flights, fairly gasping for -breath in the close, hot place, she stumbled against groups of children -who were sitting or playing school on the stairs. - -"It's lighter near the top; that's why I choose it," called her uncle, -himself puffing and blowing as he climbed. "Here we are," and he pushed -open a door into an inner hall, and then another into a sort of sitting -room where a tall, red-haired woman, clad in a collarless calico sack -was sewing on a machine, while a pile of showy summer silks and muslins -was lying on a chair beside her. - -"Hello, Rosie, old woman; here's Bird O'More, Terry's orphan, that I -brought back to stop a bit until we see where we're at," and he gave his -wife a knowing wink as much as to say, "I know it's sudden on you, but -let her down as easy as you can." - -The "old woman," who was perhaps forty, or at most forty-five, glanced -up, and then, either not understanding or pretending not to, her face -flushed as she jerked out, her eyes flashing, "Well, if you ain't the -aggravatment of men, John O'More, to bring company just when I've got -Mame Callahan's trou-sew to finish, and she gettin' married next week, -and Billy bein' that cantankerous with cryin' to go over to the park or -down to see them fishes that my head's ready to split," she whimpered. - -With all his will the man cowered before her tongue, and in spite of her -own pain Bird's womanly little heart pitied him. She saw the piled-up -garments and knew at once that her aunt was a dressmaker, and her -gentle breeding led her to say the one thing that could have averted an -explosion. - -"Aunt Rose, I could take Billy to see the fish or something if you'll -tell me the way." - -"That's what I figured on when I brought her," said O'More, greatly -relieved, and quickly following the lead; "I knew you'd often spoke of -gettin' a girl from the Sisters, and that's why I brought Bird instead -of leavin' her to slave fer strangers," he stammered. - -"Humph," answered Mrs. O'More, at least somewhat pacified, "Billy's -fastened in his chair on the fire-escape; she'd better go there and sit -with him a while until it's supper-time. It's too late for them to go -traipsing around the streets to-night. Can you do anything useful?" she -said, fixing her sharp, greenish eyes on Bird, who tried to gather her -wits together as she answered, "I can make coffee, and toast, and little -biscuits, and two kinds of cake, and--" then she hesitated and stopped, -for she was going to say "do fractions, write, read French a little, and -draw and paint," but she felt as if these last items would count against -her. - -"Humph," said her aunt again, this time more emphatically, "I guess -you done well to bring her, Johnny. Turned thirteen, you say. Of -course she'll have to make a show of goin' to school for another year -on account of the law, but they can't ask it before the fall term. I -suppose she'll have to sleep on this parlour lounge, though; there's no -other place." - -John O'More was now beaming as he led Bird through a couple of dark -bedrooms toward the kitchen, where the mysterious "fire-escape" seemed -to be located. - -Going to an open back window he looked out, motioning Bird to follow. -What she saw was a small platform, about three feet wide and ten feet -long, surrounded by an iron railing; one end was heaped with a litter -of boxes and broken flowerpots that partly hid a trap door from which -a ladder led to the balcony belonging to the floor below. At the other -end, fastened in a baby's chair by the tray in front, sat a dear little -fellow with great blue eyes and a curved, sensitive mouth, while tears -were making rivers of mud on his pale cheeks as he sobbed softly to -himself, "I want to go; oh, I want to get out and see the fishes." - -"So you shall," said O'More, undoing the barrier and lifting the child -on his strong arm while he tried awkwardly to wipe his face. - -"Let me," said Bird, wetting her handkerchief at the kitchen sink and -gently bathing eyes, nose, and mouth carefully, as Mrs. Lane had bathed -hers--only a day ago, was it? It seemed a lifetime. - -"Who are you?" said Billy, gazing at Bird over his father's shoulder, -as he wound his little arms around the thick neck. - -"She's your cousin Bird, come from the country to play with Billy and -take him to see the fishes. Go out there on the platform with him a -spell till the heat dies down; the doctor says he's to get plenty of air -you see." - -"Where do you get the air here?" asked Bird, wonderingly, looking at the -paved yards filled with rubbish, the tall clothes poles, and the backs -of the other buildings where more fire-escapes clung like dusty cobwebs. - -"Air? Oh, out here and down in the street mostly if there's no time fer -going across to any o' the parks. Get a bit acquainted now, youngsters, -for I've got to report at the stable before supper," said O'More, -putting Billy back into his chair and preparing to leave, wiping the -sweat from his face as if he had thus put the whole matter of Bird from -him. - -For a few minutes the pair were silent. "Is your name Bird?" asked -Billy, eying her solemnly, and, upon her nodding "Yes," he rambled on, -"There's a yellow bird in a cage downstairs at Mrs. Callahan's--it's -name is Canary and it can sing. Can you sing?" - -"Yes; that is, I used to last week," she said uncertainly, the tears -running between her fingers that she held before her face, for in the -past ten minutes her last hope had fled. No room where she could work -alone, not even a back-yard garden or a leaf to pick, and the bars of -the fire-escape seemed to be closing in like a cage. - -"Now you're crying, too," said Billy, prying open her hands with his -thin fingers, while his lip quivered; "do you want to get out and see -the fishes too?" - -"Yes, Billy, I do; but we can't go just now, so we must play we are -birds in a cage like the one downstairs," smiling through her tears. -"I'll sing for you," and she began in a low voice a song that Terry had -taught her:-- - - "When little birdie bye-bye goes, - Silent as mice in churches, - He puts his head where no one knows - And on one leg he perches." - -When she finished, the little arms stole around her neck also, and -Billy, his face all smiles, said, "That bird's me, cause I've only got -one good leg, and I'm going to have you for my canary, only," looking -at her gown and hair, "you're more black than yellow," and giving her a -feeble squeeze, "and some day you'll get me out to see the fishes, won't -you?" - -At his baby caress Love lit a new lamp in her dark path and Hope stole -back and led the way as she hugged Billy close and said, "Yes, some day -we'll surely get out of the cage together and fly far away." - - - - -V - -MRS. LANE PLAYS DETECTIVE - - -For several weeks after the reading of Aunt Jimmy's will, it was the -talk of the neighbourhood, the alternate topic of conversation being -the death of Terence O'More and the sudden disappearance of Bird. For -Bird's Uncle John had come and gone so suddenly that few knew of his -flying visit, and those who did turned it into an interesting mystery. -Some said that he was a very rich relation from the west, others that -he was not an uncle at all, but the agent of the State Orphan Asylum to -which the Lanes, afraid of being expected to care for Bird, had hurried -her off. It is needless to say that it was Mrs. Slocum, piqued at not -securing Bird as a maid of all work and no pay, who concocted this tale. - -In due time Probate Judge Ricker appointed Joshua Lane administrator, to -take charge of the furniture and few effects that O'More had left and -settle up his debts as far as possible. There was a little money left of -what his wife had inherited, in the Northboro Bank, but only enough to -pay his debts, it was feared, without so much as leaving a single dollar -for Bird. - -Since the homestead and Mill Farm property that belonged to Mrs. O'More -had been forfeited through some defect in the drawing up of a mortgage -coupled with O'More's slackness in attending to the matter, Joshua Lane -had felt there was something wrong and that a little good legal advice, -combined with common sense, might have at least saved something if not -the entire property. - -When, a year later, the mill had slipped into Abiram Slocum's hands, -Joshua's suspicions were again aroused, for Slocum's transactions in -real estate were usually adroit and to the cruel disadvantage of some -one, if not absolutely dishonest according to the letter of the law; but -when Joshua had spoken to O'More about the matter, he, feeling hopeful -about his painting, had put him off with a promise to "some day" show -him the "letters and papers" that bore upon the unfortunate business. - -The day had never come, and now that Joshua had the right he determined -to sift the affair thoroughly, but the papers were nowhere to be found. -The envelope containing O'More's bank-book held nothing else but the -certificate of his marriage with Sarah Turner, and some letters from -his mother in the old country. - -Joshua, though slow, was not without shrewdness, and he had not only -kept the old house where the O'Mores had lived securely locked by day, -until when, upon the selling of the furniture, it should again return to -the Slocums from whom it was rented, but at Mrs. Lane's suggestion he -had Nellis, his oldest son, sleep there at night, as she said, "To keep -folks whom I'll not name from prowlin'." - -Joshua looked to the sale of the furniture to at least pay the last -quarter's rent due. By a strange happening the afternoon before the -vendue was to take place, as he was about to drive up to the old house -at the cross-roads to make a final thorough search in closets, drawers, -and the old-time chimney nooks for the missing papers, a passer-by, -hurrying in the same direction, called out to him: "There's a fire -up cemetery hill way; smoke's comin' over the hickory woods. Maybe -Dr. Jedd's big hay barn or Slocum's old farm, both bein' in a plum -line from here." When, sharply whipping up the old mare, much to her -astonishment, he hurried to the place, he not only found that it was -the old farm-house hopelessly ablaze from roof to cellar, but Abiram -Slocum appearing a few moments later by the road that ran north of the -place, flew into either a real or well-acted rage, shaking his fist and -calling: "It's that there hulking boy, Nellis, o' yourn, that has done -me this mischief. Must 'a' smoked his pipe in bed or left his candle -lighted until it burned down, for it's plain to be seen by the way the -roof's ketched, the fire started upstairs and smouldered around all day -until it bust out everywheres to onct." - -"I reckon yer insured," said Joshua, dryly, taking little account of -what he said, as he began to realize that the fire had put an end -forever to the discovery of the papers that might have brought good luck -to Bird, as well as destroyed a part of the slender property. - -"A trifle--a mere trifle--not the cost of the wood in the house, let -alone the labour at present rates. I could hev rented the place tew -teachers for a summer cottage for twenty a month, and I intended buyin' -in the furniture so to do. If"--and he drew his mean features together, -and then spread them out again in a spasm of indignation--"law was just, -you'd ought to make it up to me, Joshua Lane,--that you had." - -But when he found that the few neighbours who had gathered were not -sympathetic, and only seemed to regret the fire on account of the O'More -furniture, he disappeared, and, strangely enough, later on no one could -tell in which direction he went or if he had gone afoot, on horseback, -or in the yellow buckboard in which he was wont to drive about to harry -his tenants and surprise his farm hands if they but paused to straighten -their backs. - -When Joshua told of the fire at the supper-table, Mrs. Lane fairly -snorted with indignation, saying, "Firstly, Nellis didn't smoke last -night, bein' out o' tobacco and leavin' his pipe on the chimneypiece, -where it is now, and secondly he asked me for a candle; and then, the -Lockwood boys comin' along, and offerin' to walk up with him, he went -off while I was lookin' for the store-closet key which had fallen off -its nail, and clean through the bottom of the clock"--(the inside of the -long body of the tall clock being the place where the Lane family's keys -lived, each on its own nail). - -"This morning when he came down home to breakfast he mentioned it, and -said it didn't matter because the moon was so bright he undressed by -light of it, Bill Lockwood stopping up there with him for company's -sake. - -"A trifle of insurance indeed! and all hope of Bird bein' righted gone! -Joshua Lane, do you know what I think and believe?" And Lauretta Ann -jumped up so suddenly that her ample proportions struck the tea-tray -edge and an avalanche of cups and saucers covered the floor. - -"Your thoughts and beliefs 'll soon fill a book, big as the dictionary -and doubtless be worth as much," said Joshua, pausing a second with a -potato speared on his fork, while he gave his wife a stern, silencing -look that was so rare that whenever she saw it, she gave heed at once, -"but in this here matter I'd advise you to keep 'em good and close to -yourself. We've got plenty ahead to shoulder this summer, besides which -if papers had been found, 'tain't likely any lawyer hereabouts would -risk taking the matter without money to back him, and 'Biram Slocum to -face." - -So saying, Joshua, having put himself outside of the potato, a final -piece of pie, and the tea that had been cooling in his saucer, pushed -back his chair and drew on his coat, saying as he went out: "The first -strawberries over ter Aunt Jimmy's 'll be ready for marketing on Monday, -and this is Thursday. I must look around and engage pickers. That acre -bed of the new-fangled kind is a week ahead of Lockwood's earliest. -Aunt Jimmy was no fool when it came to foresighted fruit raisin'." - -"I never said she was, nor in other things either if her meanin' could -be read. What time did you say the fire started?" she added in an -unconcerned sort of way, as she stooped to pick up the scattered cups, -which were so substantial that they had not been broken by their fall. - -"Let me see--it must hev been close to two o'clock when I drove out of -the yard; the mail carrier had just passed, and he's due at the corner -at two, and at the rate I went I wasn't fifteen minutes from the fire. -From the way it had holt, it must have been goin' all of half an hour. -Queer 'Biram didn't scent it sooner workin' in the corn patch back of -the wood lot as he appeared to be, leastways he came down the lane from -there. - -"Fire couldn't hev ketched before one o'clock, for the hands up at -Lockwood's go up that way before and after noon as well as of mornings, -and if Nellis had left anything smouldering, they'd have surely smelt -it, first or last." - -Joshua paused a moment, but, as Mrs. Lane asked no more questions, went -out, closing the door. No sooner did she hear the latch catch than she -jumped up, saying to herself: "Appeared to come from the corn patch, -did he? I wonder what he was doin' there? He planted late, so the corn -can't be set for hoeing; he _might_ be watchin' for crows or riggin' a -scarecrow." As she pronounced the last word she had reached the dresser -where hung a large square calendar that advertised one of the husky -sorts of breakfast foods that taste as if they might have been the -stuffing of Noah's pillow. - -Lifting this down she carried it to the table, and, after hunting in -the dresser drawer for the pencil with which she kept her various egg -and butter accounts, she proceeded to put a series of dots about the -particular day of the month (it was June 10th), and then reversing the -sheet, she covered the back with a collection of curiously spelled and, -to the casual observer, meaningless words. - -She had barely time to replace the calendar when the boys came in for -their supper, and she fell vigorously to rearranging the table and -brewing fresh tea. - -The elder boys spoke of the fire as a bit of "old Slocum's usual luck," -for it was known that the house would need a great deal of repairing -before any one but the artist, whose thoughts were always in the -clouds, would be willing to hire it. Lammy alone rejoiced in the fire -because, as he said, "When Bird comes back, the house won't be there for -her to see and make her sorry." - -"Better not say that outdoors," warned Nellis, "or Slocum 'll say you -fired it on purpose--he'd like nothing better. By the way, mother," he -continued, as Mrs. Lane glanced keenly at Lammy, "what do you think I -heard at the shop to-day?" - -"Concernin' what?" - -"The Mill Farm." - -"I can't think. Those Larkin folks hev worked the land these two years -past, but the mill hasn't run this long while,--not since the winter -Mis' O'More died and the ice bulged the dam; the fodder trade has all -gone away, and I don't know what 'Biram Slocum can turn it to 'nless he -can insure the water an' then let it loose somehow." - -"There is a party of engineer fellows, or something of the sort, just -come to camp out up by Rooster Lake,--sort of a summer school, I guess, -for there are some older men along that they call professors. They -scatter all over the country surveyin' and crackin' up the rocks with -little hammers to see what they are made of. - -"This afternoon half a dozen of them came down to the shop to see some -new kind of a boring tool that our foreman has designed, and Mr. Clarke -was with them,--you know he is the man who started the Art and Trade -School in Northboro, and has his finger in a dozen pies. Pretty soon -the superintendent called me and said, 'Here, Lane, you live out at -Laurelville; these gentlemen wish to see the old Turner Mill Farm place. -I'll let you off the rest of the day if you'll show them the way over.' - -"I got in the runabout with Mr. Clarke and the others followed in a -livery six-seater. The old gentleman asked me all sorts of questions -about the water-power, and how low the stream fell in summer, and if the -pond ever froze clear through, and one thing and another. - -"When we got to the Mill Farm, there was no one at home but the dogs and -hens; I suppose the folks had all gone to Northboro to the circus." - -"Sure enough, it is circus day! How did I forget it?" ejaculated Mrs. -Lane. "That accounts for why there were so few folks on the roads this -noon!" - -"Yes, everybody seems to have gone but ourselves, even Lockwood's -field-hands took a day off." - -"They did? Then they didn't go up and down the cemetery hill road this -noon?" - -"Of course not, why should they?" replied Nellis. - -"You didn't remember that it was circus day, did you, and I guess it is -the first time you ever forgot it," said Mrs. Lane to Lammy. - -"I knew--all right, but I'm savin' up for--you know," replied Lammy, -wriggling out of his chair and going to the door where he began crumbing -bread and throwing it to some little chickens that had strayed up out of -bounds. - -"I do wish you had mentioned it, anyhow; it would hev done us all good -to have a change, though to be sure I _do_ suppose some folks would -have turned our going into disrespect to Aunt Jimmy,--Mis' Slocum in -particular." - -"She went, and Ram, and Mr. Slocum, though he came home early. I saw him -down in the turnpike store back of the schoolhouse this noon; he was -sayin' he'd had to come back early on account of havin' a lot of things -to attend to over at the Mill Farm this afternoon," said Lammy. - -"The turnpike store? He doesn't trade there--it's a mile out of his -way," said Mrs. Lane, thoughtfully. - -"He didn't get to the Mill Farm, anyway," said Nellis, "because I was -there from after dinner until I came home just now. Where was I? You -got me all off the track." - -"You were sayin' that Mr. Clarke asked you all sorts of questions about -the mill stream," said Mrs. Lane, who now seemed to have lost interest -in Nellis's story. - -"Oh, yes,--well, Mr. Clarke and that Mr. Brotherton,--that is -superintendent of the engine shop in Northboro,--poked about a lot -together, measuring things and figuring in a little book he had in his -pocket. It looked as if they were going to make an afternoon of it, and -as I saw a fishin' pole inside one of the open sheds, I thought I'd go -down the sluice way and try for a mess of perch. I was lyin' quiet out -along a willow stump, thinkin' the folks were in the mill, when I heard -voices on the dam above. Mr. Clarke said: 'I tell you what, Brotherton, -I want you to negotiate this affair for me. That Slocum is a tricky -fellow. I saw him a month ago and told him I'd not touch the property -until that snarl about the mortgage foreclosure was untangled, the price -he asked was outrageous for two hundred acres, of course the buildings -are only fit for kindling. Now I want you to either buy me the farm and -water right, or else lease it for say twenty years; then I will run a -spur of the Northboro Valley railroad down here, move the locomotive -works and the paper-mill, and enlarge both plants. This is the right -place; plenty of room to build houses for the hands, and close enough to -my place to be under my eye without being annoying. - -"'It will suit my daughter Marion, too. She has all sorts of ideas about -building a model village. Of course this is between ourselves, for if -that old Slocum rat dreamed that I was behind you, he would ask a dollar -a blade for every spear of run-out wire-grass on the farm.'" - -"To think of it!" sighed Mrs. Lane, sitting down so suddenly in the big -rocking-chair that it nearly turned a somersault in surprise, "and it -was only a scrap of a mortgage, not more'n $2500, that was the cause of -workin' the O'Mores out of property that had been in her family near two -hundred years. Everybody knows there was crooked business if it could -only be proved. But your father can't find any papers, and now just as -he was going this afternoon to search through poor O'More's furniture -and things at the house, it had to go and burn down, and the hopes we -had that something might be worked out for Bird hev all gone up in -smoke," she said, addressing the stove solemnly. - -The boys went out together to take a stroll up to the scene of the -fire. Hardly had they disappeared when Mrs. Lane jumped from the chair -with such a bound that it completed the somersault and stood on its head -facing the wall. - -"I wonder!" she ejaculated, addressing the pump by the sink, and shaking -her finger at it as if the gayly painted bit of iron was her husband. -"Yes, it must be it. All along I allowed 'Biram Slocum fired that house -for the insurance. Now, by a new light I read he did it so in case there -was any papers or letters to and fro about that mortgage that they'd get -burned. - -"I've noticed he and she hev made plenty of excuses to get into the -house alone, but I never reckoned it was for anything else but for -general meddlin', and pa's keepin' everything so close, even nailing up -the cellar doors and winders, balked 'em. - -"He knew the auction was ter-morrow, and that he'd rather burn the -papers and furniture than risk Joshua or others finding 'em is my firm -belief, and I'd like to prove it. Not that it'll do Bird any good now, -but it would be a satisfaction, even though, as Joshua says, 'We've got -enough business of our own to shoulder before fall and settlin' time -comes.' I wonder if 'Biram 'll hev the cheek to ask for the rent now. - -"Yes, I'm going to do a little nosing on my own account,--yes I be!" -she continued, adding more mysterious words to the back of the calendar -and nodding determinedly at the pump as if it had contradicted. "Knowing -never does come amiss, even if it is salted down for a spell. Shoo!" she -cried presently, waving the dish towel at the chickens who had boldly -ventured in, and then the tumult, caused by Twinkle's chasing them back -to their yard with much barking and sundry nips, brought her back to the -present and the work of dish-washing and tidying the kitchen for the -evening. - -Even then her head and hands did not work together. She hung the biscuit -in a pail down the well and set away the butter in the bread-box, put -sugar instead of salt into the bread sponge she was setting; and, -finally, before she sat down to rest remembering that the pantry door -locked hard and creaked when it opened, she poured toothache drops -instead of oil upon both hinges and key, and presently began to sniff -about and wonder if Dinah Lucky, who had been in that day to do the -weekly laundry, was doctoring for "break-bone pains" again, and hoped -she had used the laudanum outside instead of in, otherwise nobody could -tell when she would turn up to do the ironing. - - * * * * * - -Next morning if Joshua Lane and Lammy had not been in such a hurry to -get down to the fruit farm to prepare the crates and small boxes for the -coming strawberry picking, they would have noticed that Lauretta Ann -seemed to be quite excited and anxious to get them out of the way. - -But Joshua was unusually absorbed and quiet--he was disappointed at -not finding the papers--but he had a hard summer's work ahead of him -with plenty of thinking in it; while as for Lammy,--he was trying to -calculate how many strawberries he must pick at a cent and a half a -quart to buy a round-trip ticket from Laurelville to New York, so that -he might invite Bird to come up for a Fourth of July visit; also as -to whether it would be possible to do this and have anything left to -buy fire-crackers. Yet, after all, crackers were of small account, for -Bird did not care much for noisy pleasure, and if she didn't come, he -wouldn't care for even cannon crackers himself. - -"I suppose 'Biram Slocum will go over to Northboro smart and early to -collect his insurance," Mrs. Lane remarked, apparently looking out of -the window, but stealing a side glance at her husband's face. - -"Mebbe he will; but when I turned the cows out an hour ago, I saw -him driving Milltown way in his ordinary clothes with a plough and a -dinner-pail along, so I reckoned he was goin' to work on that patch of -early corn he's got down at the Mill Farm." - -At this Mrs. Lane's eyes glistened, and she plunged some dishes into the -tub of suds with a splash that was an unmistakable signal that breakfast -was over and all but lazy people should be out. - -This morning she bustled so that a half hour did all the work of -"redding" up that usually took two at the very least, and when Dinah -Lucky came to do the ironing with no sniff of laudanum about her, though -the kitchen was still heavy with it, Mrs. Lane looked puzzled, then much -to that fat aunty's astonishment popped the batch of six plump loaves -into the oven and, leaving Dinah to tend the baking,--a thing that save -for illness she had never trusted to other hands in her twenty years of -housekeeping,--she took a small basket, a knife, and her crisp gingham -sunbonnet, and muttering something about trying to get one more mess of -dandelion greens, even if it was counted late, disappeared through the -woodshed door. - -Dandelions grew in plenty in the moist meadow below the cow barn, but -Mrs. Lane crossed the road and took a winding path through the woods. -After following this for some distance and crossing several fields -where she filled her basket with greens, cutting only the very youngest -tufts with the greatest deliberation, she turned into the highway -through the cemetery gate and walked rapidly past the "four corners," -never stopping until she stood in the enclosure that had once been Bird -O'More's garden. Then she set down the basket, and, seating herself on -the scorched chopping-block, looked about her. - -The house had burned down to the foundation; some of the heavy chestnut -beams had not been wholly consumed but lay in a heap on the hard dirt -floor of the cellar. Otherwise the only bits of woodwork remaining were -the frames of two cellar windows that had been protected by the deep -stone niches in which they rested. The great centre chimney, around -which so many old houses are built, held its own, and its various -openings, most of them long unused, marked the location of the different -rooms; several of these, such as the smoke closet and brick oven, being -closed by rusty iron doors. - -Presently Mrs. Lane set out on a tour of inspection. The half dozen -outbuildings were quickly explored, for, with the exception of the barn, -they were quite open to the weather and as rickety as card houses. Tall -weeds struggled with the straggling sweet-william and fiery, hardy -poppies in the strip before the lilac bushes that Bird had called her -garden, and the rusty wire of the henyard fence enclosed a crowd of -nettles that stretched toward the light like ill-favoured prisoners in -a pen. The grass and low bushes had been trampled by the people who had -gathered to watch the fire, as well as by the cows that had strayed in -through the latchless gate. - -Clearly there was nothing to be discovered here. Next Mrs. Lane walked -about the ruined foundation looking for a likely spot to get down into -the cellar. The old chimney with its nooks and crannies was the only -thing left to examine, and she had made up her mind to do it even if it -meant a rough climb, bruised knees, and scratched fingers. - -In some places little heaps of ashes were still smouldering, but by -picking her way carefully down the stone steps that had been under the -flap-door, she reached the base of the chimney and tried the first iron -door. It was warped with the heat, but after some difficulty she opened -it, only to find the ample closet absolutely empty. Talking to herself -and saying that it was not likely that anybody, even an artist, would -hide papers in a cellar, Mrs. Lane looked up to see how it would be -possible to reach what had been the kitchen level, where the chances -looked brighter; for there was the brick oven and a wide fireplace, -closed by sheet iron through which a stove-pipe had pierced. There was -no way up but to use the chinks between the big stones for stairs and -climb. True, she had seen an old ladder in the barn, but Lauretta Ann -was too practical a woman to trust a dozed rickety ladder--she preferred -to cling with her fingers and climb, and cling and climb she presently -did. - -To young people it seems a very small feat to climb the outside of a -broad, rough, stone chimney that slopes gradually from a wide base -toward the top. For Mrs. Lane--stout, thick of foot and nearer fifty -than forty--it was a terrible exertion, and she paused between every -step she took to catch her breath, muttering, "Lauretta Ann Lane, you -are a fool if ever there was one. Suppose folks should pass by and see -you creepin' up here like a squawkin' pigeon woodpecker hanging to a -tree?" - -She, however, did not in the least resemble even that heavy-bodied bird. -Did you ever see a woodchuck mount a low tree when cornered by dogs? -That was what Mrs. Lane looked like as she climbed. And did you ever see -the same woodchuck scramble, slip, and flop down, flatten himself, and -then amble to his hole, when he thought his pursuers had ceased their -hunt? Well, that was the way in which Mrs. Lane came down to the cellar -bottom, when she found that the brick oven had been used merely to hold -broken crockery and such litter. - -For a minute or two she sat flat on the floor, resting, nursing her -bruised hands, and gazing idly at the outline of the sky through one -of the window holes in the stone wall. Then, as she recovered herself, -a bit of something fluttering from a broken staple in the scorched -window-frame attracted her attention. She picked herself up and examined -it. The glass had broken and fallen in, while the bit of metal had -caught a narrow rag of woollen material some six inches in length. This -was singed at the edges, but enough remained to show that it was a -herring-bone pattern of brown and gray such as is often seen in men's -suitings. - -Mrs. Lane looked at the rag thoughtfully for a moment, then, detaching -it, pinned it carefully inside the lining of her waist, picked up her -basket of greens which were by this time rather withered, freshened -them with water from the well, and trudged home openly by the -highway, saying, as she walked, "'Tain't much, and most likely it's -nothin'--still maybe it's a stitch in the knittin', and if it is, -another 'll turn up sooner or later to loop on to it." - -At dinner Mr. Lane gave his wife an odd look saying: "Why, mother, -where've you been? You look as if you'd gone a berryin' on all fours! -You're scratched on the nose and chin, let alone your hands." - -"Be I?" answered "mother," so fiercely that Joshua quailed, and -remembered guiltily that he had forgotten her request to clear a tangle -of cat brier from over a tumble-down stone wall in the turkey pasture, -where his wife passed many times a day to herd this most contrary and -uncertain of the poultry tribe, so he said nothing more, but held his -quarter of dried apple pie before his face like a fan, while he slowly -reduced its size by taking furtive bites at the corners. - -About four o'clock Mrs. Lane seated herself on the front porch to sew. -She was dressed in a clean print gown, with her collar fastened by a -large photograph "miniature" pin of Janey when a baby, a sign that she -considered herself dressed for callers. True it was Saturday and Dinah -Lucky was still pounding the ironing board, but that was because she had -"disappointed" on the two first week-days sacred to such work, and not -through any slackness on Mrs. Lane's part. - -The weekly mending was always a knotty bit of business, and to-day -doubly so, for now that Lammy was working at the fruit farm, it -seemed as if he fairly moulted buttons and shed the knees and seats of -his trousers as crabs do their shells. Spreading a well-worn pair of -knickerbockers on the piazza floor, she trimmed the edges of the holes -and dived into a big piece bag for material for the patches. - -"Seems to me I can't find two bits alike and I do hate to speckle him up -all colours and kinds as if he was a grab-bag. I know what I'll do--I'll -put in what I've got and clip down to the store for some blue jean, and -run him up a couple o' pairs of long overalls to cover him, same as his -brother's and Joshua's. Wonder I didn't think of 'em before, only I -can't realize that Lammy is big enough to be at work." - -A man's shadow crossed the piazza. Mrs. Lane looked up quickly; she had -not heard the gate click, and Twinkle, who kept both eyes open as well -as ears cocked most of the time, was down at the fruit farm with Lammy. - -"Buy something to-day? Nice goots, ver' cheap," said a voice in broken -English, and a pedler stood on the broad step and swung two heavy packs -down to the floor, while he wiped his face and asked if he might get -some water from the well. - -[Illustration: "'_Buy something to-day? Nice goots ver' cheap._'"] - -"Certainly, 'nless you'd prefer milk," said Mrs. Lane, cheerfully, for -she was naturally cheerful and generous, unless she was imposed upon. -The pedler, a foreigner, had a full-moon face, that looked both young -and tired, two things that always appealed to her, besides which his -packs were temptingly fat, and she had a weakness for pedlers. So after -getting the milk, she leaned back in her rocker, folded her arms, and -prepared to enjoy the exhibition, saying in the same breath: "I don't -know as I care to buy. What have you got?" - -The packs contained a little of everything in addition to the usual -tinsel jewellery and cheap finery which she motioned aside, while she -selected half a dozen gingham shirts, the overalls, which the man -assured her truthfully were only what the goods would cost in the -village, and some stout red handkerchiefs. - -"You don'd need trouble vit him," he said, pointing to the tattered -trousers. "I sells you somedings vot you can make down schmall," said -the pedler, growing confidential and pulling a stout pair of long pants -from a separate compartment in his pack. "Only a dollar, and I give the -schentlemens ninety cents for him,--yes, I did. I keep dem for mineself -if I home vas going, but I joust stard out. Only von dollar, and only -von leetle place broke." - -"I don't like to trust to buy second-hand clothes; nobody knows what -kind of folks have wore 'em," objected Mrs. Lane, yet at the same time -fingering the substantial goods lovingly. "Where are they tore?" - -"Here it vas, joust by der side leg ver you can schmaller make him, and -so help me gracious it vas no dirdy peoples wore dem. It vas a rich mans -to sell so fine a pants for ninety cents for such a break. Maybe you -knows him alretty, for he live"--pointing eastward--"in a big what you -call red house by the road there farther." - -"Slocum's!" ejaculated Mrs. Lane, her hands trembling with excitement. - -"Yes, dat vas his name. You take de pants, hein?" - -For a moment Mrs. Lane was silent, examining the rent, for the trousers -though bright and new were of the same brown and gray herring-bone -pattern as the dingy rag she had brought from the cellar window of the -burned house. - -"Yes, I'll take 'em. They _could_ be cut to advantage, and you may leave -me a box of that machine cotton, too; I'm clean out. Now, pack up and -move on, my man; I've got to see to supper." - -"She vas very glad of dose pants," thought the pedler to himself, as he -trudged away, smiling at the sales he had made. - -Up in the attic Mrs. Lane presently stood by a gigantic cedar chest, the -lid of which she lifted with difficulty, next the top tray. In the one -below she spread the pair of pants to the torn leg of which was pinned -_the_ rag. - -"It does seem a shame to lay away a pair of 'Biram Slocum's pants -so near my weddin' shawl, but so must it be. Well, now, there's two -stitches in the garter I've set up to knit for the hobbling of 'Bi -Slocum's pace; the third stitch will be to show why he crawled in that -cellar window before the fire for he surely didn't do it after, and why -he was afeared to let his wife mend his torn pants." - - - - -VI - -BIRD'S COUSINS - - -On the night of Bird's arrival in New York Jack and Larry O'More were -late for supper. In fact they did not come in until she had gone to bed -on the "extension" lounge in the parlour, where she was lying with her -teeth clenched in an effort to keep her eyes shut and to choke down the -nervousness to which crying would have brought the quickest relief. If -Bird could only have been alone in the dark and quiet for a few hours, -it would have been much easier for her to have overcome her great -disappointment. But in the corner of the family sitting room, amid a -litter of sewing and the smell of pipe smoke, with the glare and noise -of a busy street coming in the two small windows, sleep was impossible. -Finally her aunt closed the lid of the sewing-machine with a bang, -tossed her work into a heap in the corner, and, turning out the gas, -went into the kitchen. - -There were six rooms in the flat, all quite small. The sitting room in -front and the kitchen in the rear had windows that opened out, above -the three bedrooms clustered round an air-shaft that was like a great -chimney having small windows let into it, through which even at noon -only a gray, sunless light entered, and the air had no freshness but was -full of odours and noises from the flats above and below. - -Mr. and Mrs. O'More occupied the room next to the sitting room, Billy -sleeping beside them on a small mattress that was propped up nightly -upon two chairs; for when the bed was thus made, there was no room to -move about. Jack and Larry slept in the middle room which had a door -into the hallway, while the third room, opening out of the kitchen, had -been used by the oldest boy, Tom, before he had taken wholly to wild -ways and drifted off. Now it was more than a year since he had slept -there and it was tightly packed with broken furniture, old boxes, and -various kinds of trash that it had been easier to throw in there than to -dispose of in any other way. A small bath-room at the end of the hall -was littered up in much the same way, and it was evident that no one -cared for bathing, as the tub was used as a cubby hole for pails, a mop, -broom, and the wash boiler and board, for which there was no room on the -overloaded fire-escape. Still Mrs. O'More felt the dignity of having a -bath-room, for it stamped her home as a "flat," tenements so called -having no such luxuries. - -Presently Bird gave up all idea of going to sleep or even of closing her -eyes, and do her best she could not keep from hearing the conversation -that passed between her aunt and uncle in the kitchen, for they made no -effort to lower their voices, and she dared not close the door as the -only breath of air that reached little Billy, who was tossing about and -muttering in his sleep, came through the front windows. - -After hearing herself thoroughly discussed until her cheeks burned, her -uncle closed with the remark, "Well, of course Terry was all kinds of a -helpless fool, but he shouldn't be blamed for it, his mother was a lady -out of our class, and his wife too, judging from the looks and ways of -the kid, and don't you forget it, and it must come rough to her to be -shoved about, anyhow." - -Then a new resolve came to Bird from the rough but well-meaning words. -Her grandmother and her mother had been ladies,--she would not forget -that any more than she would forget her father's wish that she should -learn to paint and win the success that had been denied to him. - -Presently the subject changed and she heard her aunt speak of Tom and -say that it was three months since she had heard from him, and she -feared he was dead. - -"I hope it will be three months more, then," O'More had cried with an -oath that made Bird quiver and pull the pillow over her head, but she -was obliged to take it off again because of the heat. "He never minds us -unless he's in a scrape, or there's something to pay. But he's not dead, -if that's any comfort, for he wrote to me two weeks gone, saying he must -have fifty dollars or leave his job, and I wrote him that he'd leave it -for all of me." - -"And you never told me! I could have sent him a trifle; God knows what -he's done by this," and Mrs. O'More covered her red head with her apron -and began to whimper. - -"Look here, Rose O'More," answered her husband, while Bird judged by the -jar that he had brought his fist down on the table with a bang, "that -scoundrel has bled you long enough; now we are saving up to have little -Billy doctored, and I'll not see you rob yourself and him for that other -that we gave the best of everything, and he's turned it to the worst, -even if he is the eldest born. If I were you, I'd bank the bit o' money -that comes in from the sewin' and not keep it about ye." - -"The top drawer of the bureau is bank enough for me. The sum is near -complete to buy the frame for his leg, and it will be wanted next week -when I take Billy to the doctor, for it's to his own house he shall go, -and not to the thing they call the "clink" at the hospital, to be stood -up and twisted before a crowd o' dunce heads." - -So Billy was to go to a doctor. That was good news, and Bird began to -take an interest in life again, for Billy, in a single hour had crept -quickly into her sensitive, motherly little heart, and with her to love -and to serve were one and the same impulse. - -Presently two new voices joined the conversation, knives and forks -rattled, and amid pauses she heard scraps of conversation muffled by -food-filled mouths, and knew that they were talking of her. Jack and -Larry had come home and were having supper. Jack, who worked in an -office by day, was attending an evening school of type-writing and -bookkeeping, while Larry, who was of slight build and whose ambition was -to be a jockey and ride races, was kept late on the track where he was -serving an apprenticeship as handy man to a well-known trainer. - -"Where is she? Let's have a peek at her. I hope she's pretty if I've got -to look at her steady," said Larry, who prided himself on his eye for -beauty, and wore plaid clothes and wonderful pink and green neckties, -the colours of the stable to which he was attached, and thought it the -finest thing in the world, for jockeys are often as loyal to their -racing colours as college men are to theirs. - -"She isn't so handsome but what it'll keep until morning, and she's dead -asleep by this. Quit yer noise, all of ye; ye'll wake little Billy, and -he's been that fretful to-day that the rasp of his voice would wear -through an iron bar," Mrs. O'More added, as the three burst into loud -laughter over some tale of track happenings that Larry told. - -Then the voices dropped to a hum, and then turned to the song of the -bees in Mrs. Lane's hives, and Bird drifted away into that sleep that -God sends to make our tired bodies and minds able to live together -without quarrelling. - - * * * * * - -Bird slept heavily for many hours, yet to her it seemed only a few -minutes when she awoke again, a streak of light shining directly across -her face and the same noises coming from every side. This time, however, -the light was from the sun, not from the gas, and the noises were -fourfold, for there is nothing so varied, penetrating, and stunning as -the sound of the awakening of a great city to unaccustomed ears. - -For a few moments she lay quite still, gazing about, and trying to -realize where she was, and whether awake or asleep, for so many things -had happened during the past week, that it all seemed like a bad dream. - -Not many days before, morning light brought the hope to Bird that this -day her father might be better; only the day before she had waked in -Mrs. Lane's big white bed, to see that kind soul watching beside her and -Twinkle had come racing upstairs. - -Presently it all came back to her, and, getting up, she raised the shade -quietly, for no one else was awake, and looked down into the street -in which wagons of all kinds were passing, while the sidewalks were -already, at six o'clock, swarming with children, driven into the air as -early as possible by the heat of the night. Then she looked about for -her clothes and a place where she might go to bathe and dress, for the -small rooms were all open through, and the lack of privacy and the sight -of the flushed disordered sleepers was a fresh jar to her. - -Finally she tiptoed into the kitchen where a friendly clothes-horse -offered shelter, and managed to make herself neat, and arranged her hair -at a mirror hung over the kitchen sink, which she afterward found was -the family toilet place; then she stepped out on to the fire-escape -where there was the possibility of a breeze. - -At that moment she heard Billy's querulous little voice wail, "Oh, I'm -so tired--tireder than last night, and I hurt all over," and she slipped -back through the hallway into the front room again to meet her aunt who -stood in the middle of the parlour, gazing at the empty sofa and open -window in some alarm. - -"Oh, so yer up and dressed betimes and not fallen out of the winder -through sleep-walkin'," she said, not unkindly. "Jack has turns of it at -the coming of every hot weather, and he's been down the escape to the -ground, up to the roof and every place he could get, so it gave me a -turn when I missed yer. Here, I'll just throw a few clothes on Billy and -you can take him down to the street for a mouthful of air, while I get -the breakfast. I'll fetch him to the doctor to-day if it does put back -my sewin', and see if I can't get some ease for him." - -"Shall I wash him first?" Bird asked quickly, as his mother began to -pull and jerk at his clothes, and then stopped short as she saw a flash -in her aunt's eyes that told her that she must be careful what she said. - -"Wash him this time of the morning when he's scarce awake, and have -him all tired before he has a bite of breakfast? I guess not. You can -clean him up this noon, before I take him to the doctor's," and Billy, -now hopping, now stumbling along on his little crutch, led the way down -the three flights of dark stairs, moving carefully from step to step so -that he should not trip in the holes in the carpet with which they were -covered. - -Once in the street Bird was at the same time interested and confused by -what was going on about her. A Jewish fish pedler, with much wagging -of head and hands, was trying to sell some stale-smelling flat-fish to -a woman who had preceded them downstairs. Another pedler, with a push -cart, piled high with cabbages, radishes, and greens, went into one of -the houses with a basketful of his wares at the very moment that a big, -roan truck-horse halted with his soft, inquisitive nose dangerously near -the green stuff. First he sampled a bunch of radishes, but these were -too hot for his taste, so he tried a carrot or two, and mangled fully -a peck of spinach before he sniffed the cabbages. At these he gave a -whinny of delight and nosed among them so vigorously that half a dozen -rolled into the gutter, and when the man returned, the horse had started -back a yard or so in fright and looked guiltless of the mischief, and -the pedler ran down the street after some suspicious-looking boys. -Meanwhile the horse stepped forward and nibbled the biggest cabbage with -great relish, while Billy clapped his hands, half a dozen other children -cheered, and Bird herself laughed and felt glad to see the horse, who -did not look overfat, have such a good breakfast. - -For if Bird loved flowers and all outdoors, she loved animals still more -even if she did not know it, but the other children did not think of the -horse at all; they were only glad because it had outwitted the pedler, -for between the people of poorer New York and the push-cart people there -is everlasting war. This lesson Bird learned that morning before the -various factories in the neighbourhood had blown their seven-o'clock -whistles. - -Another thing that struck her sensitive ear was the different languages -that were spoken by the passers-by,--the various mixtures of slang -and foreign idioms that the speakers used for English being almost as -difficult for her to understand as the German and Italian. - -At Laurelville, to be sure, people spoke in two ways. The real country -folk had a vigorous, if homely, dialect, such as the Lanes spoke, while -Dr. Jedd, the minister, and her father and mother used a purer speech, -though her father alone had the soft, distinct way of pronouncing the -words that was one of Bird's great attractions. - -Little Billy, however, was quite at home with this street language, as -far as understanding it went, but no word of it came from his baby lips, -strangely enough, and though he was really over six years old, he had -the slight frame and innocent, open-eyed gaze of a child of four, and he -was entirely "different like" from the rest of his family, as his mother -said, and it provoked her as if the fact of the child's being apart from -her own rudeness was a personal reproach. - -"Hullo, Billy," called a freckled, lanky-looking girl of perhaps -fifteen,--reading by her face, though she was no taller than Bird,--who -was coming across the street from a grocer's carefully carrying a bottle -of milk as if it was a rare possession. - -"Hello, Mattie," he answered cheerfully, hopping to the curb to meet -her. "Where've you been? I thinked you moved away." - -"I've been working all of two weeks, and we moved right in back of your -house yesterday. We've got two fine rooms now, and I buy Tessie a bottle -of milk every morning now my own self," she said proudly. - -"Tessie's legs are very bad again, and I can't get her out except -Sundays when mother's at home to help, but she's got a rocking-chair and -she can pull it all round the room an' see up out the winder to your -'scape. We seen you sittin' up there last night. Who's the girl?" she -added, dropping her voice as Bird drew near to Billy, not knowing how he -went about alone and fearful lest he should fall. - -"It's Bird, my cousin; she came last night from the far-away country," -he answered, clinging to Bird's hand, while the two girls looked at each -other, one shyly and the other--city bred and quick-witted--curiously, -noticing at once the plain black gown. - -"Come to visit or stop?" she asked presently. - -"I've come to stay," said Bird, slowly, only half realizing the truth of -the words. - -"Father dead?" - -"Yes." - -"Mother living?" - -"No." - -"Any brothers and sisters?" - -"No." - -"Well, that's tough luck," said Mattie, her tone full of sympathy. As -she set the precious bottle on a damp spot on the sidewalk, so that her -hands need not heat the milk, she noticed the tears in Bird's eyes and -changed the subject quickly. - -"Ain't you going to work soon? I've got a good job--cash-girl--$3.50 a -week, Saturday afternoons off all summer; 'n, if I'm smart in a year, -I can get to be an assistant stock-girl. How old are you, anyhow? I'm -fifteen and over." - -"I'm thirteen and Uncle John is going to send me to school by and by; he -says that it closes too soon to make it worth while this term." - -"Yes, you'll have to go until you're fourteen or they'll chase you up, -even if you do live in a flat with stair carpet. It's too bad, though; -you'd have lots more fun working." - -"But I want to go to school as long as I can," said Bird, smiling at -Mattie's mistake. - -"Oh, then you want to begin in an office type-writing or keeping sales -books. I don't like that; it's too slow and you can't see the crowd. -You'll have a daisy time this summer, though, with nothin' to do but -takin' Billy riding in trolleys and seein' the town. I'll tell you all -the parks where they have music. Billy's pa is free with dimes for -trolley rides. Last year, before my pa's falling accident, we lived down -this street, and when Tessie's legs were well enough, Mr. O'More 'd -often give me a quarter to take Billy along fer a ride. You can ride -near all day fer that, if you know how to work the transfers and stick -up fer yer rights." - -"Was your father badly hurt?" asked Bird, drawn to this stranger by a -common chord. - -"Yes, hurt dead," she answered, in a matter-of-fact tone without the -trace of a tremble, "and then pretty soon we had to move, and we've -been doin' it most ever since, so I kinder lost track o' Billy. You see -mother worried sick and we all got down on our luck, but now she's got a -steady job to do scrubbin' at the Police Court, and I've got a job, and -we've got two rooms and everything is all hunky; that is 'cept Tessie's -legs, but some's worse than her and can't even sit up." - -"You say you live behind us; which house is it? Perhaps I could see your -sister through the window," said Bird, somehow feeling reproached at -Mattie's cheerfulness. - -"It's the little low house down in the yard, back of yours, that's got -winders that stick out of the roof. Ours is the top middle and it's got -blinds to it,--all the winders haven't,--and they're fine to draw-to -if it rains, 'cause you don't have to shut the window. It's a rear -building, and some don't like 'em, and of course Tessie would rather -see out to the street, but rents come so high and rear buildings are -stiller at night; that is, when there's not too many cats. Were rents -high a month where you came from?" - -"I don't exactly know," said Bird, trying to remember. "I think we paid -ten dollars, but we had a whole house, though it was old, and a garden, -and a woodshed, and a barn, and chickens. Everybody lived in whole -houses in Laurelville, even though some had only two or three rooms." - -"Ten dollars for all that, and we pay eight for two rooms!" ejaculated -Mattie, looking hard at Bird to see if she was in earnest, and, seeing -that she was, quickly grew confidential, and, coming close, whispered: -"Would you, may be, sometime come in and tell Tessie about it and the -garden and chickens? She's read about the country in a book she's -got,--oh, yes, she can read; she's twelve and went to school up to last -year, for all she isn't much bigger 'n Billy--but she can't seem to -understand what it's just like and she's cracked after flowers; the man -in the corner market gave her one in a pot last year, but it didn't live -long because we hadn't a real window that opened out then. Maybe your -aunt won't let you come 'cause we live in a rear; my mother says she's -awful proud; but then, most anybody would be, living in a whole flat -with bells and a stair carpet. - -"Say, Bird," she continued, after a moment's silence,--during which the -pedler had given up chasing the boys, rearranged his scattered wares, -and plodded patiently on,--this time dropping her voice to a whisper and -putting her lips to the other's ear, "if yer aunt won't let yer come -over, maybe you'd wave to Tessie when you and Billy's takin' the air on -the 'scape. I'll tie a rag to our blind so's you'll know the winder. -It would be an awful lot of company fer her daytimes when we're out to -have somebody to wave to. Yer will? I believe ye; somehow I could tell -in a minute ye'd be different from the rest," and giving Bird a thump on -the back expressive of gratitude, Mattie picked up her milk bottle and -hurried round the corner. - -A shout from above next attracted Bird, and looking up she saw her uncle -leaning out of the window and calling to them to come up for breakfast. -Billy could hop downstairs quite easily, but in going up he was obliged -to crawl, baby fashion, on his hands and knees, so Bird followed, slowly -carrying his crutch. - -Her uncle and cousins were already seated at the table when the pair -came up, both rather out of breath. Of the two boys, Larry made no -attempt to rise and shake hands, but stared hard at Bird's pale, -clear-cut face and neatly brushed almost blue-black hair and lashes -that made her violet-black eyes darker yet, then gave a quick nod in -which recognition and approval were combined, and continued his meal; -while Jack got up, came forward pleasantly, if with the very flourishy -sort of manner that somehow always reminds one of the pigeon wings -and squirrels in old fashioned writing-books, and waved her to a seat -between himself and his father and began to collect the dishes about her -plate. - -"Go on with yer eatin'," said Mrs. O'More, rather sharply, as if -resenting the attention. "Bird can wait on herself,--she's got all day -to do it in and it's time you were off. Come round this side by Billy's -chair so's you can spread his bread; he's always cuttin' himself," she -added. - -The food was plentiful enough, if rather coarse in quality,--a dish of -oatmeal, slices of head-cheese and corn-beef on the same dish, potatoes -sliced cold with pickled cabbage, a bowl of hard-boiled eggs, a huge -plate of bread with a big pot of coffee, still further heating the close -room from its perch on the gas range. But the table-cloth was soiled and -tumbled, and Bird saw with horror that her uncle wiped his mouth on the -edge of it, using it as a napkin, while the dishes seemed to have been -thrown on without any sort of arrangement. - -Not feeling hungry herself, she began to cut up some meat for Billy, -who fed himself awkwardly using his knife instead of a fork; but Bird -did not dare say anything, and in a few minutes his appetite failed -and he sat picking holes in a piece of bread, while Bird looked at the -heaped-up plate her uncle pushed toward her with dismay, yet forced -herself to eat from inbred politeness. - -Larry and Jack, having finished, pushed back their chairs, and hastily -filling their lunch-boxes with bread, meat, and eggs, took their coats -from the rack in the narrow hall and went out, Larry calling, "So long," -as he went downstairs, but Jack turned back and said pleasantly to Bird, -"Good-by till night, and don't get homesick, Ladybird!" - -"Ladybird, indeed," snapped Mrs. O'More, "you needn't bother; she can't -well sicken long over what she ain't got," at which unnecessarily cruel -remark, that made Bird stoop lower over her plate and swallow some -coffee so quickly that coughing hid her tears, O'More looked up and -said: "What's wrong with yer to-day, Rosy? You've no call to hit out -when nobody's touchin' yer." - -"What's wrong? What's right, I'd like you to tell me?" she flashed; "me -with a lot uv sewin' to do, and to get Billy up-town to the doctor's by -ten." - -"You don't do that tomfool dressmakin' with my leave and consent. I can -keep my family and well, too, if you weren't so set on robbin' yerself -fer Tom, who'll land himself in prison yet for all of you, if, please -God, he doesn't drag the rest of us along with him." - -"I can wash the dishes and dress Billy if I may," said Bird, timidly, -feeling the tension of a bitter quarrel in the air. - -"Well, you may try it for onct, but look to it you neither smash them -nor make him cry; there's days he near takes fits at the sight of water. -Here's his clean suit, and I'll just go and finish up that silk skirt," -and Mrs. O'More pulled some clothes from a corner bureau and left Bird -and Billy alone. - -"Don't you worry with what she says," said O'More, in a gruff whisper, -pressing Bird's shoulder with his kindly grasp. "Just you be good to the -little feller and yer Uncle John 'll stand by yer, and maybe ye'll see -some way to chirk things up a bit. I've been thinkin' some of puttin' -a bit uv an awning out on the 'scape to keep the sun off him while -he's takin' the air, only travellin' so much I've not got to it. I'd -do it to-day, only I must go to the yards to unload a car o' horses. -To-morrer, maybe, I'll stay around home." - -"Don't you want any breakfast, Billy?" Bird asked, as her uncle clumped -downstairs. - -"No,--yes,--I'm hungry, but I'm tired more," he answered, laying his -head on the table. - -"Suppose I wash and dress you first, and then you can go out on the -piazza and eat something and see if you can spy Tessie." - -"Will you hurt Billy's bones when you wash him? Ma always does," he -added, his lower lip beginning to quiver. He always called himself by -name and often spoke in short sentences as very young children do. - -"I'll try not to; and if I do, you must tell me and I'll stop right -away." - -Bird looked about the room to see what she could find without calling -her aunt, whose very presence seemed to irritate Billy. There were two -stationary wash-tubs beside the range; one of these being empty, she -proceeded to fill it half full of water, making it comfortably warm by -aid of the tea-kettle. Next she hunted up a piece of soap and found a -towel with much difficulty, for the roller towel on the kitchen door was -for general use. - -"Come and play duck and go in swimming," she said to Billy, who had been -watching her with interest as she overturned a pail and put it in the -corner of the tub for a seat. - -The idea struck the child's fancy so completely that he could hardly -wait to slip out of his few clothes and be helped up on a chair and then -into the tub, where he sat comfortably pouring the water over himself -with a tea-cup, and chuckling in a way that would have warmed his -father's heart. - -Meanwhile, Bird gathered the dishes together in the sink, wiping off -the plates with bits of bread,--as she had done ever since she could -remember and had seen her mother do in the short "better days" when they -had a pretty home and her mother had always herself washed the best -china in the inside pantry,--and straightened the furniture and hung up -various articles that littered the floor so that there was room to move -about. By this time Billy was ready for drying, which Bird did so gently -that he did not even wince, for she had ministered to her father, seen -her father care for her mother, and God had given her the best gift that -a girl, be she child or woman, can have,--the gift of loving touch, of -doing the right thing almost unconsciously for the weak or helpless. - -Billy, clean, refreshed, with his bright hair brushed into a wreath -around his forehead, sitting in his little chair on the fire-escape, -and being fed with bread and milk by Bird, who talked to him as he ate, -was a different being from the crumpled little figure that had only a -few moments before looked so pathetic sitting in his high-chair, head on -table. - -As Bird gave him the last morsel and wiped his mouth, he leaned backward -to where she knelt behind him and, clasping his arms around her neck, -pulled her head down to him, and, nestling there, whispered, "Billy -loves Bird very much, and she must stay close by him forever 'n' ever, -won't she?" - -"See, that must be Tessie's window down there," she said, not trusting -herself to answer and catching sight of a white rag hanging from the -blind of a low building that stood in the rear of a shop that fronted on -the next street. It was an old-fashioned, two-story, wooden house, with -dormer windows in a roof that had been once shingled. There were a dozen -such in Laurelville, and as Bird looked at it she wondered how it came -to be there, built in on all sides, and if it didn't miss the garden -that must have once surrounded it. - -Then as she looked she saw the outline of a face inside the window. -It was so far down and across that she could not distinguish the -features, but she waved the towel she held, and Billy shook his hand. -Presently something white waved back, and thus a telegraph of love -and sympathy crossed the dreary waste of brick and clothes-lines, and -put the three in touch, and the Bird, who had been taken from the -country wilds and put in a city cage, and the two little cripples were -no longer alone, for even at these back windows there was some one to -wave to and respond. - -Mrs. O'More was in a better mood when, an hour later, having finished -the gown, she came back to the kitchen to find the dishes washed and set -away, and Billy sitting contentedly in his chair throwing crumbs to try -to coax some pigeons that lived in the stable next door from the roof to -the fire-escape. - -"I'll take him up to the doctor's now," she said to Bird, without -vouchsafing any remarks upon the improved appearance of the kitchen, -though she saw it all. "You can come along with me if you like, or you -can stop here and look about and rest yourself a bit. There's plenty of -passing to be seen from the front room." - -Bird said she thought she would rather stay at home. - -"Mind, now, and lock the inside hall door as soon as we've gone and -don't let anybody in, for, in spite of the catch on the door below, -there's always pedlers and one thing and another pushing up." - -After Mrs. O'More had left, Bird went through into the sitting room. -Seating herself by the window with her arms on the sill, she looked -down into the street. It was an intensely hot day in spite of a breeze -that blew from the East River; down by the pavement the mercury was -climbing up into the nineties--summer had come with a jump. Could it be -only a week ago that she had been picking long-stemmed, purple violets -by the brook beyond the wood lot at Laurelville? Was it only day before -yesterday that Lammy had brought her the red peonies, and they had -walked up the hill road together? - -She had stayed by the window for some time, perhaps half an hour, -watching the horses that were led out from the stable to be cooled by -spray from the hose attached to the hydrant in front, when a slight -noise in the kitchen caused her to turn. The light from the window -opening on the fire-escape was darkened, and a man's figure showed for -a second in outline against the sky and then swung noiselessly into the -kitchen. - -Bird's first impulse was to scream, but, checking it, she shrank -trembling behind a tall rocking-chair and watched. The man glanced about -the kitchen and came directly through to the room where her uncle and -aunt slept. It did not seem to occur to him that there was anybody at -home, though Bird did not think of this until afterward. - -Pausing before the bureau, he opened the upper drawer, and, after -passing his hand rapidly through the clothing it contained, drew out a -long wallet, which Bird recognized as the one from which her aunt had -taken some money before going to the doctor's. Without thinking of the -result or counting the cost, she rushed forward and caught the wallet -tight in both hands, crying, "You mustn't take it, you shan't; for it's -the money to pay for mending poor Billy's leg." - -The man, taken utterly by surprise, fell back, but only for a moment, -and, muttering a string of such words as Bird had never before heard, -seized her by the shoulder with one hand while he tried to wrench the -pocket-book from her with the other; but, strong as he was, this took -several minutes, for Bird hung on desperately, clinging to his arm after -he had secured the wallet, until finally he picked her up bodily and -threw her on to the bed, and before she could recover herself, locked -the door into the sitting room, and, taking out the key, did the same to -the door into the boys' room, through which he retreated, leaving her a -prisoner, for the window into the air-shaft was high out of reach. - -As Bird sat on the edge of the bed sobbing with fright and the thought -of what the loss of the money might mean to Billy, noise of a scuffle -reached her ears from the kitchen and the locked door burst open -suddenly as it had closed, pushed by a strong shoulder, but it was the -face of a perspiring policeman that peered through the crack. - -"Catch him, oh, do catch him!" she implored; "he's got the money from -Aunt Rose's drawer that's to pay for mending Billy's leg!" - -"He's caught safe enough, my girl,--me mate has him in the kitchen and -the money, too, though he did try to throw it over the yards when we -grappled him. You see there's been a slew of these daylight thieves -around these parts lately, sneaking over roofs and down escapes when -folks are at work. We spotted this one goin' through the saloon on the -corner and in among the skylights, and we followed but lost track, for -he has another wallet lifted besides this one, and if he'd slid out a -minute sooner, we'd have lost him." - -"Then holding on did some good, after all," Bird gasped, still standing -with tightly clasped hands as if she were holding the precious money in -them. - -"An' did yer grab him, now? Look at that fer pluck,--it's a wonder he -didn't smash yer entirely. Come out and take a look at him; maybe ye -can tell did ye see him before." - -Bird looked, but the young man was a stranger to her. He did not appear -to be more than twenty, and, as they led him away, handcuffed to an -officer, he pulled his hat so low over his face that the crowd that -gathered and followed as soon as the street was reached could not see -his features, or if he was old or young. - -Bird gave the officer her uncle's name, and he said: "When he comes in, -tell him to come round to the station-house and he'll get his money -all right. I've got to take it in as evidence." The street was hardly -clear again of the curious crowd when the twelve-o'clock whistle sounded -and workmen appeared from all quarters, either with pails to eat their -dinners in the shade of the house fronts, or on the way to their various -homes. - -Mrs. O'More and her husband--for he had been watching for their -car--came up the street together, little Billy between them, and it was -strange that they did not meet the policemen with their prisoner. Bird -was watching eagerly for them, and, after hearing their news,--that the -doctor said it was possible to help the lame leg, only that Billy must -grow stronger before it could be done,--told them hers. - -Both listened eagerly. Her uncle said, "Yer pluck does credit to the -O'Mores, but did ye mind the villain's face what it was like?" - -"Oh, yes," Bird answered excitedly, "it was smooth and fair, and he had -very blue eyes with a long scar over one, and his hair was quite red." -Glancing at her aunt, she saw that she had turned deadly pale, and a -certain resemblance struck her for the first time. - -"God help us,--it's Tom come back to rob his own mother," gasped poor -John O'More. - -"But you'll not appear against him, John," cried his wife, throwing her -arms around him as he seized his hat and turned to go out. - -"I can't, woman, I can't; but maybe it'll do no good. I must go round to -the station and get the wallet and see to this, anyway." - -And Bird, after laying Billy on the lounge for a nap, sat by her -aunt,--who, while waiting to hear the outcome, had collapsed and was -crying noisily,--and tried to take off her tight waist and bathe her -face, and she realized that there were even worse griefs than leaving -one's home and father, for surely dear Terry was safe beyond all harm -now. - - - - -VII - -SUMMER IN NEW YORK - - -The arrest of Tom O'More threw the matter of little Billy's leg into -the background for a time. When the father had gone to the court where -his son was arraigned, he found that not only was there another charge -against him, but that all unknown to his family he had committed petty -thefts in other places, and had already what the police call "a record," -so that he had to go to the penitentiary for a year, and John O'More, -feeling his disgrace keenly, for though he was a rough man and coarse in -many ways he was as honest as the day, turned doubly to little Billy, -and could not bear to have him out of his sight when he was at home. - -The doctor's orders concerning Billy had been short and clear, but it -was fully a week after the visit before his mother could pull herself -together or even think of carrying them out, and then when O'More took a -day at home and had leisure to ask for details, she began by saying that -what the doctor had ordered to get the child in condition for treatment -was nonsense, and only to be had by rich folks. - -"Well, well, woman, let's hear and get to the core o' the matter," said -John O'More, tired of the continual word warfare. - -"He's to have a real bed and no shake-down, so's he can stretch out and -roll about, and it's to be in a room opening to the light where he can -lie quieter by himself an hour or so every day. Then he's to get a full -bath every morning and a light meal, and fresh meat at noon, and a bite -and sup between that at supper, and the between times filled in with air -and a bottle o' tonic, and the saints knows what else. - -"'Do yer think I keep a 'ospital to do all them things,' sez I to the -doctor. - -"'No,' he answers quick like, 'and for that reason I think it will pay -you best to send him to the 'ospital to get him built up.' - -"'His father will not hear to it,' I said. - -"'Very well, then,' said he, 'you know what _I_ think; go home and talk -it over.'" - -So John O'More sat and thought and blinked at the ground, and thought -some more, but it was Bird who first spoke, though very hesitatingly, -for her aunt resented almost everything she said, and in her ignorance -and prejudice seemed to owe poor Bird a grudge as being partially -responsible for Tom's arrest, rather than showing any gratitude toward -her for trying to prevent the theft of the money. - -"Couldn't Billy have a bed in the little room that was--that is shut -up?" she asked finally. "The door is close to the kitchen window, and a -good deal of air would come in." - -"It's packed solid full, and besides the room is off from me, so's I -couldn't hear the child to tend him in the night if needs," objected -Mrs. O'More, somewhat hotly. - -"Couldn't the things be put in the attic or somewhere?" persisted Bird, -seeing a flash of approval cross her uncle's face, "and then there would -be room for two beds, and I could stay with Billy and give him his bath -every morning." - -"Attic! do you hear her?" mocked the aunt, "and a fine slop there'd be -in me kitchen, and a nice place for folks to eat breakfast, with the -bath." - -"If the things were taken out of the bath-tub we could use that," -continued Bird, waxing bold at the prospects, "and I'm sure, Aunt Rose, -it would be much nicer for you to have the parlour to yourself, and not -have to make me a bed there every night." - -"That last is true; I've been greatly put out these days when company -called," the company being the slipshod factory girls for whom she did -sewing, but, as often happened, Bird had unconsciously said the one -thing that could have appeased her aunt, for only when something was -suggested that would benefit herself was she willing to have others -considered. - -"The tub is full of holes, and the agent he won't mend it, saying that I -made them with the ice-pick, when for convenience I used that same tub -for an ice-box, me own givin' out." - -"If that's all, a bit o' solder is cheap," said O'More, springing to his -feet, and preparing to take action. - -"I've the day on me hands, and a few extry dollars in me pocket, and if -something can't be worked out o' this, 'twon't be my fault; and while -I recommember it, I think you'd be the better of a new hat, Rosie, and -while yer out buyin' it, jest step in the store, round on Third Avenue -and get two o' them light-lookin', white iron beds; they're cheap, for I -saw yesterday when passin' that they be havin' a bargain sale of them," -and John, with the quick-witted diplomacy of his race, handed his wife -some money which she took, and, half mollified, at once prepared to go -out, instructing Bird to "do up the rooms" while she was gone. - -The door had not fairly closed when O'More gave a shout that almost -frightened Bird, and said: "Now we'll do some hustlin'; there's no -attic, me girl, but there's the coal-closet in the cellar which is -empty, now that we use gas in the range. Half the stuff is but fit for -the ashman, and the rest I'll bundle down there quick as I get a man -from the stable to help. Now watch sharp whilst I put the truck out and -see if there's aught yer can use." - -When the room was finally cleared, a mirror, a chair, and a small chest -of drawers were the only useful assets, and these Bird pulled into the -kitchen, while she dusted and wiped away at them until they looked -clean, even if somewhat shabby. - -Returning from the cellar O'More (in his youth a handy man in a stable) -attacked the dust in the little room with broom, mop, and finally a -scrubbing-brush to such good purpose that in an hour it was quite -another place, for the walls fortunately had been painted a light cream -and were in fairly good condition. - -If John O'More had been asked to go down on his knees and scrub a room, -he would have resented the work as an insult to his manhood, but love -had set the task. Little Billy, sitting there in his chair, his face all -eagerness, needed the room, and so he did the work as nonchalantly as he -would have stepped into the stable and curried a horse in a hurry time. -It was only when Bird clapped her hands in admiration and said, "Why, -uncle, how nice and quick you did that; Dinah Lucky would have taken a -whole day," that he became embarrassed, and, giving her an apologetic -wink, said with lowered voice, "It's a job well done, but whist! 'tis -not for the good of my health to be repeated," and Bird understood and -wondered, as she did a hundred times during that long summer, why she -always understood her uncle and he her, while life with her aunt seemed -one long misunderstanding. - -A plumber, living in the flat below, came up in the noon hour and -soldered the holes in the tub, which O'More declared to be too black -even for a pig's trough, so he sped out around one of those many -"corners," of which at first Bird thought the city must be made, for a -quart of boat paint and a brush. - -"Yer aunt must be havin' a hard time with her tradin'," he remarked on -his return, seeing that his wife had not come back to prepare dinner. -But just as Bird had spread the table with various articles of cold -food, whose abiding-places she very well knew, and was making Billy some -little sandwiches to coax him to eat meat for which he had a distaste, -Mrs. O'More came in, talkative and almost pleasant as the result of her -morning's bargaining. - -Before night two narrow beds were carefully fitted into opposite sides -of the little room, with the chest of drawers set between, in front of -the now-closed door that led to the boys' room, with the looking-glass -hung above it. It was only a bit of a place and still very close and -stuffy, but Billy and Bird had at least beds of their very own, if only -in a niche apart, and Bird's heart took fresh courage. - -The next step was to coax her uncle to fill some long boxes with earth -and set them inside the outer railing of the fire-escape. There is a law -against filling up these little balconies with boxes or furniture of any -kind, but Bird knew nothing about it, and her uncle regarded it as a -sort of tyranny that he, a free-born citizen, should disregard. All Bird -thought of was that she might plant morning-glory seeds in the earth -so they would climb up the strings she fastened to the next story, and -later on there was, in truth, a little bower blooming above that arid -waste of bricks and ashes. - -[Illustration: _Bird and Billy on the Fire-escape._] - -After the new room was arranged, and permission given to Bird to see -that Billy had what the doctor ordered that he should eat, and to -take him out whenever he wanted to go, everything began to move more -regularly and in some respects more comfortably, then Bird, to her -dismay, saw the city summer, like a long roadway without a tree or bit -of shade, stretching out before her. - -There was not a book in the house and no one to tell her of the free -library where she might get them, and school, where she hoped to find -a sympathetic teacher for a friend, belonged to September three months -away. No one who has always lived in the city can possibly understand -what this change, with its confinement and lack of refined surroundings, -meant to this young soul. To be poor, in the sense of having little to -spend and plain food, she was accustomed,--in fact, she had much more -to eat now, and through her uncle's careless kindness she was seldom -without dimes for the trolley rides to Battery Park "where the fishes -lived," or Central Park with the swan-boats that were to "make a man" of -Billy. But to be shut away from the woods, the sky, the beauty of the -sunsets, to have no flowers to gather and love, and to be brought face -to face daily with all the ugliness of the life that is merely of the -body, was almost too much for her courage. - -How could she keep her head above the street level, how remember what -her father had taught her?--already the memory of the past was becoming -confused. Sometimes she was on the verge of ceasing to try and settling -down into a silent drudge, content to take what came, and falling -into the habits and commonplace pleasures of the girls of her cousins' -acquaintance with whom she was thrown in the parks and on the stoop and -streets. It would have been much easier in some respects,--her aunt -would have been better pleased to see her go off with the others, to -some noisy if harmless excursion, arrayed in a cheap, flower-wreathed -hat and gay waist, shrieking with laughter, and chewing gum, than to -see her always neat amid disorderly surroundings and ever willing -to do the endless little tasks that her own mismanagement piled up, -and Ladybird--Jack's name for her--strangely enough seemed a term of -reproach, not compliment. - -At first Bird had hoped that Sunday might bring better things; but no, -Sunday in the quiet, peaceful, Protestant sense that Bird understood -it,--there was none. The family straggled to early mass one by one, for -Mrs. O'More and her sons were Romanists, though O'More was not, being -from the north of Ireland, and the rest of the day was spent by the men -either lying in bed and smoking, or standing in groups about the street. - -In these hard days little Billy was Bird's only ray of light. The two, -being of equally sensitive natures, clung together, and the child was -so happy in his new-found friend and ceased his incessant fretting -whenever he was with her, that Mrs. O'More at last gave him completely -to Bird's charge with a sigh of relief, for her youngest child was as -much a puzzle to her as her niece, and she felt that he also was of a -different breed, as it were, and it annoyed her. - -All the fierce scorching summer days Bird and Billy wandered about -together, sometimes going over to Madison Square, sometimes riding in -the trolley to Central Park, but more often down to the Battery where -the air tasted salt and good, where the wonderful fishes lived in the -round house and the big ships went past out to that unknown sea of which -Bird was so fond of telling Billy stories. - -Bird, too, soon learned to find her way about, for six-year-old Billy -had all the New York gamin's knowledge of his whereabouts coupled with a -cripple's acute senses. He hopped along with his crutch quite well, and -many a lesson in human nature and life did Bird learn these days in the -treeless streets of poorer New York. - -After a time she found that her uncle had seemed to forget his hatred -of anything like drawing or painting, so one day she ventured to buy a -good-sized pad and pencil, and then watching Bird "make pictures" became -Billy's great joy, while she to her surprise found that she could draw -other things besides flowers. - -Oftentimes the children would go down to sit on the steps and watch -the horses from the great sales stable being exercised up and down the -street. Bird tried to draw these too, and one day succeeded so well that -her uncle, passing in at the door, stopped and looked down, and then -said, "Bully! any one would know it for a horse, sure!" After that she -worked at every odd minute. - -She loved horses dearly, but she and Billy were forbidden to go into -the stables, which were almost underneath the flat, and Bird really -had no wish to, for the men there were so rough and there was so much -noise and confusion; but a few doors away was a fire-engine house where -lived three great, gentle, gray horses that ran abreast, and had soft -noses that quivered responsively when they saw their driver even in the -distance. Bird made friends with these, taking them bits of bread or -green stuff, until the firemen came to expect the daily visit and "Bird" -and "Billy" became familiar names in the engine-house; and there was a -little dog there that ran with the engine and reminded her of Twinkle. - -Dan was the heaviest of the three horses and Bird's favourite, and -one day, after many attempts, seated on the stoop of the next house, -she succeeded in drawing a small head of him that was really a good -likeness, at least so the firemen thought, for they put it in a frame -and hung it in the engine-house, and the next day big Dave Murray, Dan's -driver, gave her a small box of paints "with the boys' compliments." - -Ah, if the big, bluff fellow only knew what the gift meant to poor -little Ladybird struggling not to forget and to still keep the heavenly -vision in sight. - -Bird had written a short note to Mrs. Lane telling of her safe arrival -in the city, and giving her address, but more than that she could not -say. If she said that she was happy and gilded the account of her -surroundings, it would have been false. If she told the truth, her -Laurelville friends would be distressed, and it would seem like begging -them to take her back when it evidently was not convenient, for she did -not know that her Uncle John had refused to let her stay with Mrs. Lane -unless she was legally adopted. - -Neither was Bird worldly wise enough to act a part and simply write of -her visits to the park and the little excursions with Billy which in -themselves were pleasant enough. She was crystal clear, and knew of but -two ways, either to speak the whole truth or keep silent. She was too -loyal to those whose bread she was eating to do the first, and so she -did not write. - -In due time a long letter came from Lammy written with great pains and -all the copy-book flourishes he could master, telling of Aunt Jimmy's -strange will, of how he was going to work all summer at the fruit farm, -and ended up by telling her of the preparations he had made for the -Fourth, never dreaming it possible that, the matter of tickets disposed -of, Bird should refuse his invitation. - -At first the thought of getting away from the city, and being among -friends again quite overcame her. She began to wonder if Twinkle would -be glad to see her, and if the ferns met over the brook as they did last -year, and if Mrs. Lane would have the white quilt on the best-room bed, -or the blue-and-white patch with the rosebuds. Then she realized that -if she met the Laurelville people face to face, she would surely break -down, while the saying "good-by" again would be harder than not going. -Then, too, there was little Billy. How could she leave him at the very -time when, in spite of continued hot weather, he seemed to be gaining? - -No--she sat down resolutely and wrote a short note that wrung her heart -and kissed it passionately before she mailed it, for was it not going to -the place that now seemed like heaven to her? - -But the letter that arrived as the Lanes sat on porch after supper said -no word of all this, and seemed but a stiff, offish little note to -warm-hearted Mrs. Lane and Lammy who, having now quite earned the ticket -money, was cut to the quick when he found that it was all in vain. - -"She's gone to the city and forgotten us," he gulped in a quavering -voice, as he read the letter, coming as near to letting a tear run down -his nose as a sturdy New England boy of fourteen could without losing -his self-respect. - -"It doos _appear_ that way," said Mrs. Lane, who was gazing straight -before her out of the window with an abstracted air; "but, after all, -what's in appearances, Lammy Lane? Don't your copy-book say that they -are deceitful? Well, that's what I think of 'em. Likely 'nough it -appears to Bird that I didn't want to keep her, 'cause owing to this -other mix-up, I couldn't divide the share of you boys without thinking -it over, and 'dopt her then and there. But my intentions and them -appearances is teetotally different. - -"No, Lammy, I'm goin' straight on lovin' Bird and trustin' her and -keepin' a place in my heart for her, besides havin' the best-room bed -always aired and ready, and jest you keep on lovin' and trustin' her, -too, and like as not the Lord will let her know it somehow, for I do -believe kind feelings is as well able to travel without wires to slide -on as this here telegram lightnin' that hollers to the ships that's -passin' by in the dark. 'Think well and most things 'll come well,' say -I." - -"How about Aunt Jimmy's will? Yer always thought well enough o' her," -said Joshua, who had laid down his paper and folded his spectacles to -listen to the reading of the letter. - -"An' I do still," Mrs. Lane averred stoutly; "it doos _appear_ -disappointing, but I allers allowed that if we was only able to read -her meanin', 'twould be a fair and kindly one." - - - - -VIII - -THE FLOWER MISSIONARY - - -It was the last day of June when one morning, before the sun had a -chance to turn the pavements into ovens, Bird, having finished some -marketing for her aunt, was leading Billy slowly in and out along the -shady sides of the streets toward Madison Square, where they were -watching the lotus plants in the fountain for the first sign of an open -flower, for already buds were pushing their stately way through the -great masses of leaves. - -Chancing to glance at the window of a newly finished store that was not -yet rented, Bird read the words, "Flower Mission." As she paused to look -at the sign, wondering what it might mean, an express wagon stopped at -the curb and several slat boxes and baskets filled with flowers, for -sprays peeped from the openings, were carried into the building, a wave -of moist coolness and perfume following them. - -Bird's heart gave a bound of longing, for the fragrance of the flowers -painted a picture of her little straggling garden and held it before her -eyes for a brief moment. - -"Oh, look, Bird, come quick and look; it's all full of pretty flowers in -there! Do you think they would let Billy go in and smell close?" Billy -was standing by the open door, and, as Bird glanced over his shoulder, -she saw that one side of the store was filled by a long counter, -improvised by placing boards upon packing cases, which was already -heaped with flowers of every description in addition to those that the -expressman had just brought. - -An elderly lady, with a big, white apron tied over a cool, gray, summer -gown, was sorting the flowers from the mass, while a tall, slender young -girl, of not more than sixteen, dressed all in white, was making them -into small bouquets and laying them in neat rows in an empty hamper. - -It was the young girl who overheard Billy's question to Bird and -answered it, saying, "Of course Billy may come in and smell the flowers -as much as he pleases, and have as many as he can carry home." - -"Oh, can we?" said Bird, clasping her hands involuntarily with her old -gesture that expressed more joy than she could speak. - -At the sound of the second voice, the young girl pushed back the brim -of her drooping, rose-trimmed hat and looked up with clear, gray eyes. -As she did so Bird recognized her as Marion Clarke, the daughter of the -man who spent his summers in the stone house on the hillside beyond -Northboro, and it was she who had passed Bird and Lammy on the roadside -the day when she had left her old home and, carrying Twinkle, was going -to Mrs. Lane's. - -But if Bird recognized Marion, the memory was on one side, as it is apt -to be where one sees but few faces and the other many. This however -did not prevent Marion from holding out her free hand to the younger -girl, as she made room for her to pass between the boxes, saying, in a -charming voice, low-keyed and softly modulated, yet without a touch of -affectation: "If you are fond of flowers and can spare the time, perhaps -you would help us this morning; so many of our friends have left the -city that we are short-handed. Here is a little box your brother can sit -on if he is tired." Oh, that welcome touch of companionship, and that -voice,--it made Bird almost choke, as she said:-- - -"Billy is my cousin, and I should love to tie the flowers, for Aunt Rose -does not expect us back until noon." - -It was one of Marion Clarke's strong points, young as she was, that she -had insight as well as tact. She saw at a glance that these children -were not of the ordinary class that play about the streets, interested -in every passing novelty, merely because it is new, so she had given -Bird a friendly greeting and asked her to help, instead of merely -offering the children a bouquet and letting them pass on as objects of -charity, no matter how light the gift. - -When Bird replied in direct and courteous speech, Marion knew that she -had read aright. An ordinary street child of that region would have -said, "I dunno 's I will," or "What 'll ye give me 'f I do?" or perhaps -declined wholly to answer and bolted off after grabbing a handful of -flowers. - -"Aunt Laura, will you let us have some string? There, see, it is cut in -lengths, so that you can twist it around twice and tie it so. I do wish -people would tie up their flowers before they send them, they would keep -so much better; but as they do not, we have to manage as best we may. - -"Oh, how nicely you do it," she continued, as Bird held up her first -effort for approval,--a dainty bouquet of mignonette, a white rose, and -some pink sweet-william, with a curved spray of honeysuckle to break the -stiffness. - -"So many people put the wrong colours together, and tie the flowers -so tight that it seems as if it must choke the dear things,--see, like -this," and Marion held up a bunch in which scarlet poppies and crimson -roses were packed closely together without a leaf of green. - -"Yes, I understand; those colours--hurt," Bird answered, groping for a -word and finding exactly the right one. - -"You must have lived in the country and been a great deal with flowers -to touch them so deftly and know so well about the colours." - -"I always lived in the country until this summer, and Terry taught me -all about the colours and how to mix them." - -"Who was Terry?" asked Marion, much interested, and not knowing that she -was treading upon dangerous ground. - -"He was father," and Bird, remembering where she was, stopped abruptly, -and Marion, who had noticed the rusty black gown, understood that there -was a story in its shabby folds and forbore to intrude. - -Miss Laura Clarke, who was the lady in gray, gave Billy a pasteboard box -lid of short-stemmed blossoms to play with, and he sat quite content, -while the others kept on tying the flowers until only one basketful was -left. - -"The flowers come in every Wednesday morning, and I ask people to send -them in as early as possible, so that they may be sorted and tied -up by ten o'clock when the ladies come to distribute them," Marion -explained as they worked. "They are Miss Vorse, the deaconess from the -mission, beside two workers from the College Settlement, and half a -dozen district visitors. Those two hampers go direct to hospitals, but -the ladies take the flowers about to the sick in the tenements and to -special cases. - -"I have come here from the country place where I live every week all -through May and June, but this is my last day this season, because I'm -going to Europe next week with my aunt, and Miss Vorse will take my -place." - -Another disappointment for Bird. At last she had met some one to whom -she had felt drawn, and whom she thought she might see occasionally, and -almost in the same breath learned that she was going away. - -"Do you know of any children who would like some flowers, or any one who -is ill?" she added, as she noticed that Bird was silent and loath to go, -even though all the bouquets were ready and Miss Laura was packing them -in the baskets and boxes for distribution. - -"There's Tessie; oh, I know that Tessie would love to have some!" cried -Bird, eagerly; "she has not waved to us for nearly a week, and I was -going to see her this afternoon when Billy takes his nap, if Aunt Rose -will let me," and Bird told what she knew of the little cripple who -"kept house" by herself while her mother and sister worked. - -Then a happy idea came to Marion Clarke. Handing out a flat wicker -basket, that held perhaps twenty-five bouquets, to Bird, she said: -"Would you like to be one of the Flower Missionaries this summer and -carry bouquets? Yes?" as she saw the glad look in her eyes; "then you -may fill this basket, and here is a big bouquet for you and something -extra sweet to add to the basket,--see, a bunch of real wallflowers, -such as grow over seas, some foreign-born body will go wild with joy -over it, and here is a fruit bouquet a youngster has evidently put -together,--big strawberries on their stalks set in their own leaves. - -"Miss Vorse is coming now. I will introduce you and tell her to give -you the flowers. What is your name? Bird O'More. I'm glad of that; it -seems to fit you. I should have been disappointed if it had been Jane -Jones," she continued, as a sweet-faced, tall young woman, dressed in a -dark blue gown and bonnet, entered, saying: "I'm afraid that I am late, -but there is so much illness among the little children in the district -now that I could not get away. A new Flower Missionary! That is good; -children can reach those whom we cannot." - -Presently Bird found herself walking along the street, Billy's hand in -one of hers, and the basket of flowers in the other. Billy was prattling -happily, but for once she scarcely heard what he said, the flower voices -were whispering so gently and saying such beautiful things. - -"Take us to Tessie," whispered one. "God lets us bring sunlight to -dark places," said another--"You can do the same." "Be happy, you have -something to give away," breathed another, and this flower was a spray -of cheerful honeysuckle that blooms freely for every one alike. - -Yes, Bird was happy, for Marion Clarke had held her by the hand and -called her a Flower Missionary; she had flowers to give away and flowers -to take home. Oh, joy! she could try to paint them, and she pushed the -bouquet that held the old garden flowers, the mignonette, sweet brier -and honeysuckle under the others to keep for her own. - -If she waited to go home first, the flowers might fade, so an impulse -seized her to give Tessie her flowers first, and then turned into the -street below their own, trying to remember Mattie's directions--"Count -six houses from the butcher's, and then go through the arch, and up two -pairs of stairs to the top." - -Before she had gone a block, two little girls had begged her for -flowers, one rosy and sturdy chose red and yellow zenias; the other, -who, like Billy, had a "bad leg" and hopped, chose delicate-hued sweet -peas. Bird had never seen a lame child in Laurelville, but now she met -them daily, for such little cripples are one of the frequent sights of -poorer New York. - -At the first corner a blind woman, selling the mats she herself -crocheted, begged for "a posy that she could tell by the smell was -passing." To her Bird gave the bunch of mignonette. A burly truckman, -who thought she was selling the flowers, threw her a dime and asked for -a "good-smellin' bokay for the missis who was done up with the heat," -so she tossed him back the coin and a bouquet of spicy garden pinks and -roses together, while Billy called in his piping voice, "We're a Flower -Mission--we gives 'em away," so that the man drove off laughing, his fat -face buried in the flowers. - -When Bird had counted the "six houses from the butcher's" and found the -archway, which was really the entrance to a dismal alley, her basket was -almost empty. She hesitated about taking Billy into such a place, and in -fact but for her great desire to give Tessie the flowers, she would have -turned back herself. As she looked up and down the street, a policeman -passing noticed her hesitation and stopped. - -"Sure it's the plucky girl from Johnny O'More's beyond that tried to -catch the thief,--and what do you be wantin' here?" - -Bird recognized the policeman and explained, and he said, "Ye do right -not to be pokin' in back buildings heedless; it's not fit fer girls like -you, but this same is a dacent place, though poor, and as I'm not on me -beat, only passin' by chance, I'll go through to the buildin' with ye, -and the kid can stay below with me while ye go up, for stairs isn't the -easiest fer the loikes av him." - -So through they went, the big policeman leading the way, and entering -the back building Bird began to grope upward. When the house had stood -by itself in the middle of an old garden, the sun had shone through and -through it, but now the windows on two sides were closed, and the halls -were dark, and the bannister rails half gone. - -At the first floor landing she paused a moment. What was that tap, -tapping? It came from a small room made by boarding off one end of the -broad, old-fashioned hallway. The door was open and a single ray of sun -shot across from an oval window that had originally lighted the stairs -and was high in the wall. - -In the streak of sun was a cobbler's bench and on it sat a man busily at -work fastening a sole to a shoe, so old that it scarcely seemed worth -the mending. - -Then she went on again and, after knocking at two wrong doors, finally -found the right one. - -"Come in," piped a shrill, cheery voice; "I can't come to open it," and -in Bird went. - -"I hoped that you would come to-day," said the small figure, sitting -bolstered up in a wooden rocking-chair with her feet on a box covered -with an end of rag carpet, by way of greeting. No introduction was -necessary, for the two girls knew each other perfectly well, although -their previous acquaintance had merely been by waving rags across the -yards. - -"My legs haven't felt as if they had bones in 'em in a week," Tessie -continued, "so's I couldn't reach up high enough to wave, and it seemed -real lonesome, but I've got a new pattern for lace, and there's a man in -the store where Mattie works who says he'll give me half-a-dollar for -every yard I make of it,--what do you think of that?" and she spread -out proudly a handsome bit of Irish crocheted lace upon which she was -working. It was four inches wide, a combination of clover leaves, and -very elaborate, of the kind that is so much sought now and costs many -dollars a yard in the shops. - -"It is beautiful," explained Bird; "how do you know how to do it?" - -"My mother learned long ago in the Convent in the old country, but her -hands are too stiff to make it now, and besides she says it wouldn't pay -her. So she showed me the stitch and some of the old patterns, and one -night last week, when I couldn't sleep very good, I was thinkin' of the -lace work, and I guess I must have dreamed the new pattern, for the next -morning I worked it right out. Those leaves is like some that came in a -pocketful of grass Mattie fetched me home; one day they were cutting it -over in the square, and the man let her take it. I just love the smell -o' grass, don't you? And now's I can't get out, Mattie brings me some in -her pocket every time she can. I guess she will to-night if they've cut -it to-day." - -All this time Bird held her basket behind her, but now she wheeled -about and rested it on the arm of Tessie's chair. The joy of the child -was wonderful, almost startling. Her dark eyes dilated and she looked -first at Bird and then at the flowers, as she almost whispered in the -excitement of her surprise, "Ye ain't got 'em to keep, have ye?" Then as -Bird tipped them into her lap, "They ain't fer me, fer sure?" - -[Illustration: "'_They ain't fer me, fer sure?_'"] - -"Yes, they are, and I'm going to bring you some every Wednesday," said -Bird, joyfully, and then she told about Marion Clarke and the Flower -Mission. - -"Ain't it jest heavenly to think of,--me with a whole winder to myself -that opens out and the crochet to do and real flowers, new ones that -ain't been used at all," and Tessie leaned back and closed her eyes in -perfect content. - -Then suddenly Bird's sorrow seemed to grow lighter and life a little -brighter, and the sunlight as it were crept in to sweeten them both--she -had something to give away, and lo, it was good. - -Tessie was down handling the blossoms again and discovered the berry -bouquet beneath. "Oh, but here's growing strawberries on a bush like! -Well, I never, never! But they're handsome! Maybe I could make a pattern -from them, too. Oh, surely there's angels about somewhere doin' things. -You know Father John, he says I've got a Guardian Angel looking out -after me, and St. Theresa my name saint chose her, and that everybody -has, though for a long spell I didn't know it. You see it's been easier -for her to look after me since we've got a room with an opened-out -winder. I reckon if I was an angel, I wouldn't care to poke around -air-shafts much. Oh, what's these browny-yeller flowers that smell so -elegant?" and Tessie held up the wallflowers. - -When Bird told their name, Tessie gave a little cry and said, "They're -what mother talks about that grew up in the wall below the big house -at home where her father was a keeper, and the smell of them came in -the cottage windows in the night air right to her, and she's often said -she'd cross the sea again to smell them if she had the price, and now -she won't have to take that trouble. That angel has found our winder for -sure. Would you get me the little pitcher and some water in it yonder?" - -The larger of the two rooms, the one with the window, had two clean -beds in it, over which a newspaper picture of the Madonna and Child was -pinned to the wall, two chairs, and an old bureau, while the smaller -room, little more than a closet, held a table, a few dishes, and an oil -cooking-stove, all as neat as wax. A pail of water stood on the table, -from which Bird filled the pitcher, and set it on a chair by Tessie -that she might herself arrange the flowers. Then, remembering that the -policeman and Billy were waiting, she picked up her basket and her own -flowers, and, promising to come the next week, groped her way downstairs -again. - -Bird did not see the tired mother, when she returned from her day's -scrubbing, enter the dark room and drawing a quick breath say, in an -awe-struck voice, "I smell them--I smell the wallflowers! Sure, am I -dreaming or dying?" or see the way in which she buried her face in the -mass, laughing and crying together, when the lamp was lit and Tessie had -told her the how and why of it. - -There were dreary days often after this, when her uncle was away on long -trips and her aunt was cross, but though Bird did not yet give up all -hope of going back some day among her friends, or studying, as she had -promised her father, she was learning the lesson of patience, which, -after all, is the first and last one to know by heart. - -Now the morning-glories had reached the window tops, and in the little -bower above the clothes-lines she and Billy often sat as she told him -stories of the real country, of Lammy and Twinkle, the old white horse, -and the red peonies, and flew there in imagination. Then the child's big -eyes would flash as he gazed at her, and he always ended by asking, -"When we stop being birds in this cage, we'll fly right up there to -your country and be real birds and see Lammy and Twinkle, won't we?" -And Bird always answered, "Yes," to please him, but it was a word that -meant nothing to her. So the summer wore on, and Bird did not go back to -Laurelville. - - - - -IX - -'RAM SLOCUM'S TAUNT - - -While Bird was putting away from her all thought of going back to -Laurelville for a summer visit, Lammy Lane was trying in every way to -bring about her return. - -His mother was the only person in the family or village who really read -Lammy aright and valued him at his worth. She never laughed at his -various contrivances and mechanical inventions, and when he appeared to -be star-gazing, she firmly believed that it was not idleness, but that -he was interested in things other than the mere jog-trot work on the -farm. - -His brothers had all taken up other occupations in factory and shop, -and Joshua Lane had expected that easy-going Lammy, the youngest by -several years, would naturally drift along into farm work; but the boy -had said, when his father had spoken upon the subject, "Farming is all -right, only this one isn't big enough for mo'n two, and I like to live -in the country for pleasure; but for a trade I'm going into making -somethin' that bugs can't eat, and that won't get dried up, nor drowned -out neither." To Joshua this remark savoured of feeble-mindedness; but -when he repeated it to Dr. Jedd, that keen-eyed person laughed, saying -they need not worry about Lammy, for that some day he might surprise -them all. - -All through June he worked diligently at strawberry picking; then -currants and raspberries followed in quick succession, so that it was -nearly August, when, with twenty dollars to his credit in the Northboro -Savings Bank, he took a vacation and went to his old haunts with the -other boys. - -Lammy had been bitterly disappointed when he found that Bird could not -return to spend the Fourth of July, but he was not in the least daunted; -for, after all, what was a whole summer even, when some day Bird would -come back for good? The boy firmly believed that something would turn up -to enable his father to buy the fruit farm, or if that was impossible, -he would try to coax his father and mother to get her back without. -There was always plenty to eat, and his home seemed so pleasant to him -that he did not realize how hard his parents had to struggle to make -both ends meet in the bad seasons when the bugs ate and the drought -dried. He did not, of course, know of John O'More's requirement that -if Bird ever returned she must be legally adopted, and share and share -alike with his brothers and himself; but if he had, it would have made -no difference. - -Lammy was very fond of prowling in the deep woods and along the -river. He had intimate acquaintances among the gray squirrels, always -knew where fox cubs could be found, and had once reared a litter of -skunk pups under an abandoned barn. Their mother had evidently been -trapped,--for he never saw her,--and he fed the young with milk and -scraps, in the childish belief that they were some sort of half-wild -kittens, and was very much disgusted, when they were old enough to -follow him home, that his father declined to have them about, and that -they disappeared the very same night. - -But the river interested him the most, and he not only knew every -swimming and pike hole, perch run and spawning shallow, along its -ten-mile course from Northboro down to the Mill Farm at Milltown, and -the windings of every trout brook that fed it, but he understood all -that went on in the half dozen mills or shops along the route. He could -explain exactly how the water was turned on and off and the gearing -adjusted in the gristmill, the stamping and perforating done at the -button factory, or the sand moulds prepared at the forge where scrap -iron was turned into cheap ploughshares and other cast implements. - -One very hot day the last part of July when Lammy, together with -'Ram Slocum and Bob Jedd, was going to the pet swimming-hole of the -Laurelville boys, a clear pebble-lined pool with a shelving rock on -one side that approached the water by easy steps, they heard voices -in the woods and came suddenly upon a party of young fellows from the -Engineers' Summer School, which had its camp farther down the ridge of -hills. - -"Hullo!" shouted the foremost, addressing Lammy, who also chanced to -be in the lead; "can you tell us if there is any decent place to swim -hereabouts? The pond at the Mill Farm is posted 'No Trespassing,' most -of the river bed is either too rocky or too shallow, and the only good -place we've struck below here has a mud bottom, and looked too much like -an eel hole to suit me." - -"Yes, 'tis an eel hole, this side of the course," Lammy answered -readily, "and t'other side there's pickerel could bite yer toes if they -was minded to. I'll show yer a bully place. We're going there now, and -it isn't much further up." - -"Charge him a quarter for the steer," said 'Ram Slocum, in a loud -whisper, kicking Lammy's bare shins to stop him, for he had stepped -forward eagerly to lead the way. - -"Shan't either," Lammy replied spicily, to 'Ram's astonishment; "water's -free up here, even if your pop won't let us swim in the mill-pond, and -does charge folks three cents a barrel for taking water when their wells -are dry." - -'Ram, a strong boy of sixteen, with bright red hair, who usually -domineered over all the boys of his age and under,--particularly -under,--had never before been so answered by any of his companions, much -less Lammy, to whom he often referred as "softy," and his temper rose -accordingly. His nickname "'Ram," short for Abiram, referred to his -fighting proclivities and the way in which he frequently used his bullet -head to knock out an antagonist instead of his fists; and though he did -not see fit to follow the matter then and there, in his mind he put down -Lammy for punishment when he should next catch him alone. - -Meanwhile Lammy, silently threading through the dense underbrush, -followed by Bob Jedd, reached the swimming-hole, while 'Ram slowly -brought up the rear, crashing along sullenly, kicking the dead branches -right and left so that the little ground beasts fled before him, now and -then pausing either to pound a luckless land turtle with a stone, or -shake from its perch some bird who, silent and dejected, had sought deep -cover for its moulting time. - -When he reached the others, he found not only that Lammy had made -friends with the students, who, by the way, were a new lot who had -recently come to camp, but that they were asking him all sorts of -questions to draw out his knowledge of the neighbourhood, and were -actually making Lammy a good offer if he would come to the camp daily -during their stay, be "chainboy" on their surveying expeditions, and -show them many things about the country that it would be a waste of time -for them to search out for themselves. - -Now Mr. and Mrs. Slocum had been very much stirred up by these same -surveyors, and being suspicious, as shifty people usually are, wondered -very much if the men were only practising as they claimed, or if they -were in the pay of some land company, and prospecting, that they might -see where land could be bought in large blocks. They had tried all -summer to have 'Ram employed about the camp, that he might keep his eyes -and ears open, but so far to no avail. Consequently, when the boy heard -the coveted position offered to Lammy, his rage and disappointment got -the better of his usually shrewd discretion, and pushing into the group, -he almost shouted, his voice pitched high with eagerness:-- - -"Lammy ain't the one you want; he ain't strong, and he's got no go. I'm -two years older and worth twice as much, but I'll take the job at the -same price and get pop to let you swim in the mill-pond if you'll hire -me." - -"I rather think not," said the spokesman, a bronzed, broad-shouldered -young fellow of about nineteen. "I'm afraid you might charge us for the -air we breathed while we were in swimming; besides, I never employ a -sneak if I know it." - -Then 'Ram knew that he had been overheard, and he slunk away toward -home, owing Lammy a double grudge, and the sounds of shouts of merriment -and the splashing of water did not tend to cool his wrath. - -As for Lammy, he sat on the edge of the rock, trailing his brown toes -in the water in the seventh heaven of content; for he was to help carry -those mysterious instruments about for a whole month, and go in and out -of the Summer School camp, knowing what was said and done there, instead -of gazing at it across the fields. Then, too, perhaps he might some day -meet Mr. Clarke, and possibly, though it was a daring thought, get leave -to go into the mysterious building in his locomotive works at Northboro -that bore the sign "Strictly Private--No Admittance." - -Bird and he had often talked of such a possibility. How glad she would -be to know! He would write to her all about it. - -He did, but had no reply; for the letter reached Bird at one of the -times when her uncle was away. Billy had been suffering more than usual, -and his mother was consequently very cross and difficult to bear with. -Bird put the letter by to answer "to-morrow"; but every day bore its own -burden, and the days piled up into weeks. - - * * * * * - -Joshua worked steadily on the fruit farm all the season, preparing for -future crops as conscientiously as if he himself was to be the owner. -Of this, however, he had no hope; it was impossible for him to bid on -the place, as he had little or no ready money, and the only way to raise -this would be to mortgage his own little farm. - -This several of his neighbours had suggested, offering to loan him the -money; but Joshua had struggled along some fifteen years under the -weight of a mortgage, and now that he was freed he did not wish to -pick up the burden again. Then, too, his farm with its old ramshackle -outbuildings was not worth more than three thousand dollars, while the -fruit farm with its rich land, good barn, poultry house, and newly -shingled dwelling was valued by good judges at any figure from five to -six thousand dollars. For though Aunt Jimmy had scrimped herself in many -ways, she was too good a business woman to let her property get out of -repair. - -Neither of the Lane brothers were as well off as Joshua, so by the last -of October the community had decided that the fruit farm must go out of -the family, and attention was divided between who would buy it and what -Joshua would do with his third of the proceeds,--better his house, or -buy more land. - -The Slocums were considered to be the most likely purchasers; for Abiram -Slocum was known to have much money stored away in various paying farms -as well as in the Northboro bank, though the way in which he came by -it was not approved, even by the most close-fisted of his neighbours, -for 'Biram was what was called a "land shark." He sold worthless -parcels of land that would grow nothing but docks and mullein to the -hard-working Poles and Hungarians who were fast colonizing the outskirts -of Northboro, taking part cash payment, the rest on mortgage, and -encouraging them to build. Then when the interest became overdue, owing -to inevitable poor crops, he foreclosed, put out the family, and sold -the place anew. - -So sure did Mrs. Slocum appear to be that she would own the fruit -farm, that she took it upon herself to watch the place to see, as she -explained when caught by Joshua Lane peeking in at the kitchen window, -"that nothing properly belonging to it was took off." He told her in -very plain language that whoever bought the farm would buy what there -was on it at the time, and no more, as his aunt had trusted him with the -management until the final settlement, and that what he did was no man's -business save that of the heirs. - -In the interval, before it was time to tie up vines and bed the various -berries with their winter covering of manure, he turned his attention to -Aunt Jimmy's flower garden, a strip of ground enclosed by a neat picket -fence, where a box-edged path starting under a rose trellis ran down -the middle and disappeared in a grape arbour at the farther end, and -everything that was fragrant and hardy and worth growing flanked the -walk, while behind, the sweet peas and nasturtiums climbed up to the -very fence top in their effort to see and be seen. - -This garden had been the apple of Aunt Jimmy's eye, and in spite of all -"spells" and oddities, she had tended it wholly herself, her one gentle -feminine impulse, as far as the outside world knew, having been giving -nosegays to the children that passed the house on their way home from -school. If they handled the flowers carelessly, they never received a -second bunch, but if they cherished them, slips, seeds, and bulbs were -sure to follow, so that Aunt Jimmy's flowers lived long after her in -childish garden plots. - -Prompted by Lauretta Ann,--for Joshua was too hard-headed and practical -to have learned anything about flowers, except that they must be fed and -watered like other stock, whether animal or vegetable,--he regulated the -various borders, dividing and resetting the roots of hardy plants under -his wife's direction, as Aunt Jimmy had done each autumn, while Lammy -stood by, eagerly waiting for the "weedings," which he carried home with -great care and set out in a corner south of the barn, "to make," as he -said, "a little garden for Bird, in case we don't get the fruit farm." -His mother encouraged him in this and praised his efforts, giving him -some strips of chicken wire to make a trellis, so that his vines might -in time cover the end of the old, gray-shingled barn. Even she, however, -did not know of another little garden strip on a far-away hillside that -he had tended all summer for the sake of his little friend. - - * * * * * - -In spite of Joshua Lane's rebuke to Mrs. Slocum, she continued spying -and insinuating, and not many days later, chancing to drive by the fruit -farm half an hour after school was out, and seeing Lammy going up the -road, carrying a basket, spade, and water can, followed by faithful -Twinkle, she hurried home and bade 'Ram "step lively and follow that -Lane boy up, an' see where he's goin', and what he's got, and what he's -agoin' to do with it." - -Mrs. Slocum was more than usually determined upon annoying the Lanes, -since Joshua, as administrator for Terence O'More, had refused payment -of the rent owed for the little cottage, until the insurance company -had satisfied themselves as to the cause of the fire and paid Abiram's -claim. The furniture destroyed, at the lowest estimate, would have been -more than enough to cancel the debt. - -'Ram, only too glad to do his mother's errand, after the manner of all -bullies, waited until Lammy was out of reach of protection and well -up on the sheltered "hill road" before he overtook him, asking in a -"you've-got-to-tell" tone what he had in the basket and where he was -going. Upon Lammy's declining to tell, he announced his intention of -following until he found out for himself. - -Now it must be remembered that Lammy had the name of being girlish, if -not exactly cowardly, that he was only fourteen, and though tall, was of -a slender build; while 'Ram was not only broad-shouldered and sixteen, -but the village braggart to boot, so that it really took some pluck for -Lammy to continue up that houseless road with 'Ram muttering threats -and marching close behind. Still Lammy walked straight on past all the -farms, to where the runaway Christmas trees stood sentinels around -the hillside graveyard. There is no denying that his hand shook as he -unlatched the gate, but he did not falter or look back, but went to the -corner where were the mounds that marked the graves of Bird O'More's -father and mother. - -Why the turf was so much greener and smoother than anywhere else in the -enclosure no one but Lammy knew, and for a moment 'Ram paused outside -the fence in sheer surprise; but as Lammy, kneeling down, took a couple -of roots of the red peony from his basket, and prepared to plant one at -the top of each flowery mound, his surprise vanished in derision. - -"Ain't you a fool for sure!" he shouted, not coming in the enclosure, -for, stupid and superstitious like all real cowards, he thought it -bad luck to cross a graveyard,--"a fool for sure, planting posies yer -stole; top of paupers, too, when even that stuck-up girl that was yer -sweetheart's gone off to live with rich folks and has clean forgotten -them and you!" - -Lammy's trembling fingers fumbled with the earth and his head swam. The -first part of 'Ram's jeer made his blood boil, but after all it was a -lie, and lies do not sting for long; for poor though O'More was, his -debts would be paid to a penny, and Lammy had _bought_ the peony roots -from his father as executor by doing extra weeding on the fruit farm. - -The last sentence, however, hurt cruelly; for though Lammy did not -believe it, he had no way of disproving it even to himself, and so could -not say a word to 'Ram in reply; for during the five months since Bird -went away only two brief notes had come from her, and these told about -city streets and sights, and little or nothing of herself. While, to -make it the more strange, when, in the hot August weather, Mrs. Lane had -sent her an invitation to come up for the promised visit, enclosing the -tickets, which represented some weeks of egg money, and offered herself -to go down to New Haven to meet the child, a stiff little note returning -the tickets had come by way of reply, and though it was grateful in -wording and said something vague about going with Billy for sea air, -etc., he could not guess the disappointment that it covered, and that -the sea air was merely a chance ferry ride, or the breeze that blew over -Battery Park, where they herded daily with hundreds of other children -of poorer New York. Lammy had been cut to the heart, and 'Ram's taunt -rankled indeed. - -Mrs. Lane, however, had read between the lines, her keen insight, -confidence in Bird, and motherly love serving as spectacles. She still -felt, as she always had done, that Bird was unhappy, and yet too proud -to confess it, and that she did not dare write often or come among them, -for fear that they should discover what they could not as yet better. -For Mrs. Lane remembered O'More's conditional promise only too well, -and the possibility of fulfilling her part of adopting the little girl -within the year seemed to grow more and more remote. - -Silently Lammy finished his work, picking up every dead leaf that lay on -the mounds, and then taking his spade and basket, turned to go home, but -there stood his tormentor by the gate. - -If anything angers a bully, it is silence. If Lammy had engaged in a war -of words, the chances are that 'Ram would have gone away, having had, -as he considered it, his fun out. As it was, he really felt that he had -been neglected and affronted, so, making believe open the gate as Lammy -closed it, he said, "I can dig up them posies twict as quick as you -planted 'em." - -"Maybe you can, but you won't," cried Lammy, suddenly growing pale and -rigid, while he stood outside the gate, but square in front of it. - -"Oh, ho, and who 'll stop me?" sneered 'Ram, in amused surprise, -standing with his arms akimbo. - -Without saying another word, Lammy, the meek, the boy-girl in name, flew -at 'Ram with such suddenness, beating and buffetting him, that the big -boy was knocked down before he knew it. Recovering his feet quickly, he -tried to grapple with the lanky little lad, but Lammy twisted and turned -with the litheness of a cat, landing rapid if rather wild blows at each -plunge, while Twinkle nipped at 'Ram's heels, until finally 'Ram, seeing -that he was outmatched in agility, and determined to conquer without -more ado, lowered his head for the celebrated "butt" that generally -winded his antagonist. - -Lammy's fighting Yankee ancestors must have left the lower end of the -graveyard and marched up to encourage him on this occasion; for he was -nearly spent and was pausing to get breath when the lunge came, so that -his final effort was to give a side twist, and the blow of the red -bullet head was received square and full by the locust gate post instead -of by Lammy's stomach. - -'Ram dropped to the ground, where he lay for several minutes seeing -stars, planets, and comets, while a bump as big as an apple appeared in -the middle of his forehead and the cords of his neck ached like teeth. -Meanwhile Lammy, his nervous strength gone, ran all the way home, and -throwing himself on his bed, whither he was followed by his mother, -who saw his livid face as he dashed through the kitchen, sobbed as if -his heart would break, not from fear, but because in the reaction he -remembered what Bird had said of people who fought either with their -tongues or fists. - -It was not until long afterward that he thought it strange, and wondered -why his mother had not scolded him, only hugged him to her comfortable, -pillowy breast, when he told his story, and put nearly all of her -precious bottle of Northboro cologne on his head to soothe it, and gave -him buttered toast, when, after having his cry out, he came down to -supper, which dainty was generally regarded as only for the minister -or else a "sick-a-bed" luxury. His father meanwhile actually broke -into a laugh and said, "Hear yer've been doin' a leetle Declaration o' -Independencing on yer own account. Wal, it's sometimes a necessary act -fer folks same as countries; Lauretta Ann, I reckon Lammy and me could -relish a pot of coffee to-night"--coffee being a Sunday-morning treat. - -When it came to the part of his story concerning 'Ram's taunt and his -fear that Bird had forgotten them, his mother reassured him for the -hundredth time with her own ample faith, but he quite startled her by -saying emphatically:-- - -"That is all right, mother, as far as it goes, but we've just _got_ to -buy that fruit farm somehow." And he fell asleep that night, happy in -making impossible plans for the purchase. - -It was perhaps as well for Lammy's self-conceit that he did not hear -his mother talk with Mrs. Slocum, who came in about nine o'clock, -tearful, yet at the same time in a threatening rage, demanding that -he be "whipped thoro' for half murdering her harmless boy when he was -taking an innercent walk, and that if he didn't get the whippin', she'd -get a warrant immedjet." - -Mrs. Lane waited until she had finished her tirade, and then calling -Joshua, who had retreated to the wood-shed, said: "Mis' Slocum here -needs a warrant writ hasty; jest you escort her down to the Squire's, -as her husband don't seem intrested to go with her. I hate to see a -neighbour obleeged to play the man and risk goin' out in the dark -alone." - -Then as her adversary, seeing herself outflanked, rose to go, she added -with apparent sympathy: "Of course I know it's hard for you to feel -'Ram's beat by one half his size, even if the gate post did help Lammy, -and folks 'll be surprised to hear it, but you mustn't blame him too -much; it was maybe me, his mother, in him worked Lammy's fists so good." -And Lauretta Ann looked her visitor straight in the eyes. Some weeks -later Mrs. Slocum had reason to remember that look. - - - - -X - -LAMMY CONSULTS OLD LUCKY - - -When November came, Joshua Lane had completed his work of preparing -the fruit farm for the auction, according to Aunt Jimmy's wish that it -should be in full running order when sold. - -The old fowls were mostly sold off, and the henhouse was full of the -vigorous laying pullets that mean so much in early winter. The fall cow -had calved, and the two or three yearlings were as sleek as does. - -When the time came for the division of the furniture between the wives -of the three Lane brothers by drawing lots, public interest again -awakened, and Mrs. Slocum expressed great anxiety lest it should not be -done fairly, saying to her husband: "It's a fussy, mixed-up business -anyway. Why didn't they auction off the stuff and let folks in to see -it done fair? They do say, for all Miss Jemima lived so plain, she had -stores of good stuff shut up in those top rooms that even Dinah Lucky -never's had a peek at when she went to houseclean. Those old mahogany -pieces are worth money at Northboro, and Lauretta Ann's cute enough to -know it, but I don't believe those other slab-sided Lane women do; so do -you watch your chance and make them an offer so soon as it's divided. -There's a wardrobe there, solid mahogany, twice as big as one they ask -fifty dollars for in the 'curious' shop. Most likely they'd value cheap, -new stuff better." - -If it had not been rather pathetic to Mrs. Lane, this breaking up of a -house where she had been so much at home, the day of the division would -have been one of unalloyed merriment. - -In the first place, owing to the way in which Aunt Jimmy had directed -the drawing should be managed, the articles were not valued in the -usual way and divided so that each of the three women shared alike, but -merely numbered, the duplicate slips being shaken up in a basket and -drawn by Probate Judge Ricker for Lauretta Ann, the others drawing for -themselves, as Joshua preferred that there should be no possible chance -of his wife being criticised. While she, cheerful and thoughtful as -ever of the comfort of others, prepared a nice lunch on the afternoon -appointed, which she and Lammy carried to the fruit farm, and had a -cheerful fire in the kitchen stove, with a big pot of fragrant coffee -purring away on top of it, when Jason and Henry Lane, the younger -brothers, following each other closely, drove into the yard with their -wives. - -Mrs. Henry Lane was a delicate, sad-looking little woman, quite above -the average. She had been one of the teachers in the Milltown public -school at the time of her marriage, but the struggle to wrest a living -from a small hillside farm, coupled with ill health, had broken her -spirit, and she sank into a rocking-chair and began to jiggle the baby -that she carried to and fro. - -Mrs. Jason, on the contrary, was tall and gaunt, with high cheek-bones. -Life had not been very kind to her either, but still she looked as if -she could hold her own; and her husband, who only reached her shoulder, -fairly quaked and fell away before her like ill-made jelly. - -"Do draw up to the table, sisters-in-law both," cried Lauretta Ann, -after greeting each heartily. "You must have hurried dinner to get down -here by now, and I always do feel hungrier the first cool days than when -winter has set square in." - -"I _should_ feel better for a cup of coffee," said Mrs. Henry, in a -plaintive voice; "we haven't had any for more than two weeks. Henry -forgot it when he went to the store, and he doesn't get there as often -as he used, now that the mail is delivered around the country by wagon. -I've been using tea right along, and I think it's made me nervous; -besides, the last I bought from the travelling spice-and-sugar man -tasted more like buckwheat shucks and musty hay than anything else." - -At this Henry Lane's head sank still farther into the collar of his -coat, which was three sizes too big anyway, and he began whittling -recklessly at a hard-wood clothespin with a broken knife, which quickly -caused a deeply cut finger and much consternation, as the sight of -blood always made his wife faint away, and the present occasion was no -exception to the rule. - -After Lauretta Ann had bathed and bound up the finger, and sent Lammy -home for a little of the cherry cordial for which she was famous, -she made another effort to serve the lunch, and finally succeeded in -cheering the mournful company by sheer force of good temper. - -"I do hope you'll draw Grandma Lane's canopy-top cradle and the big -rocker that matches, they'd be such comforts to you as you are fixed," -Mrs. Joshua said to Mrs. Henry, as putting a friendly arm about her, -they went into the sitting room, where Judge Ricker was busy kneading -up the numbered papers in the basket as carefully as if he was working -lard into flour for tea biscuits, and seated themselves in a semicircle. - -"Do you begin, sister-in-law Jason, and you follow next, sister-in-law -Henry," said Mrs. Joshua, laying her hand, which would tremble in spite -of herself, on Lammy's shoulder. Lammy, by the way, had grown broader -and stronger and lost much of his timidity of manner during the two -months past. Whether it was the sense of responsibility that working -with the college men had given him, or his determination to have Bird -come back, his mother could not decide, while his father chuckled -whenever the matter was referred to, saying, "'Tain't neither; it was -squarin' up at 'Ram Slocum that made a man of him;" and though Lauretta -always said, "Sho, pa! ain't you ashamed of aidin' and abettin' a -fight?" her smiling expression belied her words. - -Mrs. Jason stepped forward and drew--the canopy cradle! A roar of -laughter greeted her venture, in which she joined grimly, for her -youngest offspring was a six-foot youth of seventeen, while Mrs. Henry -sighed and felt secretly injured, though she said nothing. - -Next came her turn, and she drew a worked motto in a gilt frame, -which read, "The Lord Will Provide," whereat she smiled feebly and -whimpered, "I've tried to think so, but I do wish Henry Lane would help -Him out better." Mrs. Joshua drew the best china, Mrs. Henry the tall -clock, which she straightway declared to be a foot higher than any of -her rooms,--she finally traded it with Mrs. Jason for the cradle and -rocking-chair,--until at the end of two hours the last number left the -basket and three tired and confused women wandered about trying to -collect their property. - -The great wardrobe had fallen to Mrs. Jason's share, but upon close -inspection it proved to be merely stained cherry and not mahogany at -all, and its owner remarked that she wished some one would take it off -her hands, as it was too big to go in her door, and more than it was -worth to truck it home, much less get it in to Northboro, where it would -be possible to sell it. Her husband, however, ventured to say it would -make a good harness closet for the barn and keep the rats from gnawing -the leather; and so with much stretching of muscles and groans of "now -heave together" it was loaded with the other articles upon the wagon. - -There was quite a lively interchange of articles between the women -before the rooms were finally cleared, but in the end, owing to Mrs. -Joshua's good sense, they all declared themselves well satisfied. Mrs. -Jason had secured a good sewing-machine, and Mrs. Henry a parlour organ -for which her melancholy spirit pined; while Mrs. Joshua, who had a -machine and inwardly detested parlour organs, saying that when needful -she could do her own groaning, was made happy by the best parlour set, -her own chairs and lounge having been fatally collapsed by her family of -men folks of assorted ages. - -One thing they all regretted, which was that Aunt Jimmy had ordered all -articles of every kind not mentioned in her list should be either burned -or buried, according to their kind, and there were many things dear to -their feminine hearts in the mass of rubbish that had been accumulating -in garret and cellar, barn and loft, these many years as well as much -that was salable as junk. It was of no use to object; for Joshua was -determined to carry out the will in both spirit and letter, and though -it had amused the eccentric old lady to collect and hoard the stuff, she -was equally determined that it should never be exposed to the gaze of -the curious. Joshua knew that though she thought him slow and without -ambition, she trusted him, and he was not going to disappoint her. - - * * * * * - -As the loaded wagons filed out of the yard, a lean figure might have -been seen peering through the branches of a small maple tree in the -wood lot just above. It was Abiram Slocum, who, goaded by his wife, was -trying to see which cart contained the wardrobe; for she had come back -from Northboro the day before all eagerness to get possession of it, for -the owner of the "curious shop" had said if the wardrobe was of the size -and quality she described, he would pay her fifty dollars for it. Now -if the owner would let it go for fifteen or even twenty-five dollars, -the profit would give her new paper and a carpet for her best room; for -rich as Slocum was reputed to be, he was close-fisted with his wife, and -she was obliged to pick up her own pin money like her poorer neighbours, -with the exception that she had not succeeded in the egg business, owing -to her tendency, whenever possible, to give eleven to the dozen, and -sell limed eggs at a high price to ignorant people who desired them for -setting. - -Abiram presently spied the wardrobe on Jason Lane's load. He was sorry -for this, for Mrs. Jason was one of the few people who had ever got -the better of him in trade, and a horse trade at that, so he feared she -would never sell the furniture, or if she did, would extort full value. - -Nevertheless, he slipped hastily from the tree, cut across lots toward -the road they must take on their way home, and fifteen minutes later -met them when they stopped to rest the horse, as if he was merely -sauntering toward the pasture for his cows, and was soon engaged in -general conversation upon farm topics that gradually led up toward the -furniture. - -"Heavy load you've got there," he remarked; "ain't that there closet big -for your haouse?" - -Jason was about to say that it was, and that they were going to put it -in the barn, when he felt his wife looking daggers, and refrained. - -"'Tis big, but we can use it," she answered dryly, starting up the -horse. - -"How about selling it and buying somethin' handier?" - -"I ain't anxious. Get along, Whiteface," she said, touching the horse -with the whip. - -"I'll give yer fifteen dollars for it, here and now, if you'll leave it -to my house," Abiram shouted as the wagon began to move away. - -"'Twouldn't pay me to turn back." - -"Twenty dollars then." - -"Nope, I'm in a hurry, and there's a pile of good seasoned wood in the -thing." - -"She knows its value, sure enough," he said to himself, as the wagon -began to climb the hill. - -"Give yer twenty-five, and yer can leave it here by the road." - -"I reckon you might unpack, pa," the gaunt woman said, a smile hovering -about her mouth, adding to Abiram, "Hand up the money, and down she -goes." - -In five seconds two ten-dollar bills and a five, after a searching -scrutiny, found their way into Mrs. Jason's pocket, and the clumsy piece -of furniture leaned tipsily against the pasture fence exposed to the -full glare of the sun. - -Just as Jason Lane had remounted the seat and the wagon had begun to -move again, a shout made them look round. There stood Abiram in the -middle of the road, stamping and choking with rage so that he could -barely speak. - -"Stop! hey, stop!" he yelled; "it ain't mahogany; it's only stained -wood. Hey, give me my money back or I'll hev ye arrested." - -"Who said it was mahogany?" called Mrs. Jason, stopping the horse and -fairly beaming with the pleasure of the contention. - -Abiram hesitated a moment, felt himself caught, stammered, and said, -"Mis' Slocum did." - -"Well, go ahead and arrest Mrs. Slocum, then," chimed in Jason, his -speech for once meeting his wife's approval. - -"Oh, Lordy, Lordy, what 'll she say, 'n' what 'll I do with it?" he -moaned to himself, completely caught in the trap set by his own greed. - -"I dunno," shouted Mrs. Jason as she moved away, "'nless you put wheels -on it to make a wagon and hitch that sorrel mare I sold you to it." - - * * * * * - -The day of the sale drew near. All that remained to be done was the -destroying of the rubbish, and this was no small task. - -One entire day a bonfire had raged in the back lot, and what would not -burn was the next day taken in the ox-cart thrice filled by Joshua -himself and dumped carefully in the great bog-hole. - -This quaking bog was one of the wonders of the neighbourhood and its -common dumping ground, even though it could only be reached by fording -the river above the mill-pond. To the eye it was merely an oozy-looking -swamp tract, such as are plentiful near the back-water of rivers, but -this particular bit was an ogre that swallowed up everything that was -cast in it, only a few hours being necessary to engulf, without leaving -a sign, an unlucky cow that had once strayed into it. So that now it was -securely fenced about except at one spot, used for dumping, which was -protected with logs secured to driven piles. - -Mrs. Lane watched the loading of the wagon very ruefully, for she now -fully realized that all her hopes concerning the fruit farm had come to -as complete an end as the load of broken china and rusty tinware. When -she saw the old pewter tea-pot, the dents supplemented by a crack, go by -on top of a basket of broken flower pots, she begged her husband to let -her keep it, saying:-- - -"Even if it's worth nothin' now, even for drawin' tea, Aunt Jimmy must -hev meant somethin' kind when she left it to me, and I'd like it to mind -me of the idea, only she got fogged up some way and didn't plan right; -fer if she set store by anything, it was by that pot on account of its -bein' buried half of the Revolution with great-grandmother Cuddy's best -teaspoons and twenty gold guineas all safe inside." - -"Lauretta Ann," said Joshua, pausing to rest the heavy basket on the -tail-board of the cart, "'tain't often I put my foot down, but now -they've set, heel and toe, sock and leather, both of 'em. I'm goin' to -do my work legal, but you've been treated shabby, and I ain't a-goin' -to hev that tea-pot set up on a shelf for a moniment to that same. If -you're too Christian to resent, I'm goin' to do it for yer, which she, -bein' my aunt, the quarrel is for me to take upon me, so there!" - -Joshua had never before made such a long speech in all their married -life, and his wife, fairly awed by his earnestness, said no more, but -turning away, took the private pathway homeward that led through the -meadow and garden, closing the gap in the wall with brush as she went, -for soon now she would have no longer any right to come and go. - -That afternoon as Lammy came home from school he saw in the distance his -father and the ox-team taking the last load along the highway, and as -he realized how soon the auction would take place, his heart sank and -his feet dragged heavily along. Turning to take a short cut through the -lane, he came face to face with an old coloured man with snow-white, -woolly hair, who was scratching up the leaves with his cane, in search -of chestnuts. - -His name was Nebuchadnezzar Lucky, or Old Lucky, as he was called for -short, and he was the husband of Dinah, who was general factotum of the -village, and supported her man, who was double her age, by cooking, -nursing, or housecleaning, as the season or circumstances demanded, -absolutely taking pride in the fact, as if it was his right and his due. -For was not Old Lucky a superior being who made charms, brewed herb -medicines, and told fortunes, in addition to having turns of "seeing -things," which caused him to be regarded with awe by children and the -credulous of all ages, even in this prim New England town where witches -were once burned? - -"Howdy, Massa Lammy? 'Pears like the squir'ls and chippin monkeys has -got all the chestnuts this season, and dey ain't left one for old Uncle -Lucky to bile soft so's him can eat 'em. You ain't got a handful laid -up you could spare 'thout missin', I reckon now?" And the old man gave -a persuasive, yet terrifying leer with eyes that were so badly crossed -that they fairly seemed tangled. - -An idea struck Lammy, as the tales of Lucky's power came back to -him, for even the practical folk who scoffed, allowed that there was -something queer in it. He would consult the old man as to what he could -do to get the fruit farm and Bird back at the same time. But stop! Where -was the money to come from? For it was well known among his customers -that Lucky could not "see things" until he had rubbed his eyelids with a -piece of silver. Lammy's money was all in the bank. Ah! he had it! John -O'More's silver dollar that was hidden away in Bird's paint-box! - -Away he flew like a scurrying rabbit, leaving Old Lucky muttering in -amazement, and in a half-hour returned, carrying a salt-bag full of -chestnuts in one hand and the coin wrapped in paper in the other. - -The old man, by this time having grown tired of his useless hunt for -nuts, had gone home, and Lammy followed him to his cabin that was -perched on the edge of the bank overhanging the mill stream. Lucky was -sitting in an arm-chair by the window when Lammy entered and stammered -out his wish and request for advice, at the same time offering his bag -of nuts and the coin which he first polished on his trousers. - -If Lucky was surprised at the size of the offering, his usual fee being -a quarter, while he never refused a dime, he did not show it, but felt -the money carefully, passed it across his dim eyes, munched a nut or -two, and falling back in his chair, covered his head with a red and -yellow handkerchief and began to mutter, beckoning Lammy to come near -and listen, which he did, scarcely daring to breathe. The mutterings -went on for several minutes, and then took the form of words. - -"Take--a--shotgun," said the voice in a tone meant to be hollow, but -which stopped at being cracked, "load him wif bullets you make umsself, -go up on de churchyard hill and shoot der shadder of a Christmas tree on -a--black,--dark night,--an' den,--an' den--" - -"Then what?" besought Lammy, in an agony of suspense. - -"Den you'll hear sumpfin'!" shouted Lucky, suddenly pulling the -handkerchief from his face and fixing Lammy with a cross-eyed stare that -was paralyzing. - -"But recommember," Lucky added, shaking his forefinger ominously, "make -dem bullets out o' sumpfin' yo' find, not bought nor lead uns, but -sumpfin' white like silver, or dis year charm hit won't work." - -"But _where_ shall I find it?" gasped Lammy, so much in earnest that he -did not realize the absurdity of what the old man said. - -This question seemed to take the magician out of his depth, and annoyed -him not a little. After casting his eyes helplessly about, they chanced -to rest on the stream below the window, when he quickly closed them -and whispered, "Yo' must look in water--not in a pond, but in running -water!" after which he refused to say another word. - -When Lammy reached home, his mother was setting the supper on the table, -while his father and brothers were going over the same old arguments -as to the possibility or impossibility of buying the fruit farm. Lammy -smiled to himself as he lifted Twinkle to his shoulder and then put -the dog on a chair beside him, his usual place at meal-times, where he -waited, one ear up and one down, until it was time to be fed. - -No one noticed how red the boy's cheeks were and how his eyes shone, as -he hurried from supper to learn his lessons, that he might have time in -the morning to begin his search for metal for the magic bullets before -going to school. He thought if he had the material, all else would be -easy, for there was an old bullet-mould in the workroom in the barn, -where mending was done, also an iron pot that had been used for melting -solder. - -He did not tell his mother of his plan, not that he meant in any way to -deceive her; but if she knew nothing, the surprise at the result would -be all the greater. - -For the next two or three days Lammy went up and down the river banks -from the Mill Farm to the upper fork, apparently as aimlessly as in the -time that he was dubbed "Look-out Johnny," and the neighbours nodded, -and said, "The brace he got fightin' didn't last,--he's trampin' again," -while his mother took it to heart and thought it was because he was -grieving for Bird, as they had heard nothing definite or satisfactory -from her for more than a month, and then only a few words on a card -inquiring for Twinkle. - -When Saturday came, Lammy started off in the morning early, asking -his mother for a lunch to carry with him, which was nothing unusual. -This day, instead of heading downstream, he started above the mill and -followed the river up toward the woods. All the forenoon he looked here -and there, and after eating his luncheon came out of the woods near -where the highway branched and crossed the ford on the way to the bog -dumping ground. - -He stood there a few minutes, idly watching the dead leaves swirl -along, and an occasional fish dart by, when his eyes became fixed upon -an object lying close under a big stone in mid-stream; it glistened -as the sun shone upon it, and then turned dull again. Whatever it was, -it fascinated him strangely, and jumping from stone to stone, he soon -reached it. "Only an old tin pan," he muttered in disgust; "that won't -make bullets." - -As luck would have it, the stone upon which he stood turned, making -him jump splash into the water, kicking the pan as he went. When he -recovered himself, he looked about for footing, and there where the pan -had been, to his amazement, lying almost at his feet, was the pewter -tea-pot! - -"However did that get here?" he exclaimed; but the answer was so simple -that he guessed it at once. The tea-pot, in company with the pan, had -been jolted from the ox-cart in crossing the ford on its way to the -dump, and so escaped being swallowed. - -"Hurrah!" cried Lammy, picking up the treasure and making his way to -land, where he danced about in glee. "This 'll melt into bullets first -rate, and it's kind of white like silver if it's cleaned. When it's -melted, pop can't call it 'an eyesore' or a 'moniment,' so it's no harm -for me to take it home." - -He could not tell why, but he took off his coat and wrapped it -carefully around the tea-pot, and then slipped from the highway into -the woods again. - -When he reached home, it was still early afternoon. His father was -cutting wood in the upper lot, and his mother had gone to Northboro with -eggs for her Saturday customers, so Lammy had the place to himself. - -First he buried the tea-pot deep in the feed bin, and taking the key -of the house from its hiding-place under the door-mat, stole up to his -room for dry shoes and socks, as it was a cold day and his sopping feet -were already making him shiver and feel tight in the throat. Somehow -the possession of the tea-pot gave him an uneasy feeling. Did it really -belong to him? He hung about the house for a time, then walked straight -out the gate and down to the Squire's office in the town house. This -same "Squire" was a man of education as well as a lawyer, and Lammy's -knock was answered by a cheery "Come in!" which he did, saying, all -in one breath and quite reckless of grammar, "Please, sir, if I find -anything that's been took to the dump, but fell off and not been -swallowed, would it be mine to make bullets of?" - -The Squire looked up from under his bushy eyebrows and smiled at -the lad encouragingly. "Certainly it would be yours, my boy; what is -intentionally thrown away is fair plunder for any one." And with a hasty -"Thank you, sir," Lammy was off again with an easy conscience, to find -an old axe, break up the tea-pot, and melt it if possible before his -parents' return. Ah, but Lucky's charm was surely working. - -"Strange child that," said the Squire, looking after him; "he'll either -turn out a fool or a genius. There is no middle path for such as he. I -must keep my eye on him." - - - - -XI - -THE PEWTER TEA-POT - - -When Lammy reached home he hurried into the barn, carefully closing both -door and windows. In looking about for an old axe whose edge would not -be hurt by chopping metal, he stumbled over a rusty anvil that was half -buried in litter. This he managed to drag into the light; then digging -the tea-pot from the feed bin, he began his work. - -First he wrenched off the cover and battered it into small pieces, which -he put into the solder pot. Chop, chop! the handle gave way next, then -the queer sprawling legs. He made several blows at the thick, clumsy, -curved spout without hitting it, for his hands trembled with excitement -combined with the chill of his wet feet. - -Finally he landed a square blow a little above where the spout joined -the body, but instead of cutting the metal quite through, the blade -wedged, so he dropped the axe and seizing the tea-pot, proceeded to -wrench off the spout. - -"It's got tea leaves stuck in it," he said to himself, as he pulled and -twisted at it. "Nope, brown paper," as a small roll of paper, the size, -thickness, and length of a cigarette fell to the floor. To this he paid -no attention, but continued to chop at the tea-pot until it was all in -bits, tightly packed in the solder pot, and covered with an old plate. - -As he went to push back the anvil he stepped on the little bit of -rolled-up paper and idly picking it up, turned it between his fingers, -but with his mind wholly filled with the making of the magic bullets. It -was too late to melt the pewter now; he would have to wait until Monday -afternoon. How could he ever eat two more breakfasts, dinners, and -suppers with the precious stuff in his possession? - -As his hands worked, the stout oiled paper between his fingers unrolled -by their warmth, as a leaf unfolds in the heat, and showed something -green inside. - -Lammy looked, and his heart almost stopped beating, while the sun, moon, -and stars seemed to be floating past, trailing cloud petticoats and -dancing, for the green stuff was money,--clean, crisp banknotes rolled -as hard as a pencil! - -Lammy sank down all in a heap on a pile of straw, his eyes closed -and his fist clutching the little bundle like a vice. It was several -minutes before he could steady himself sufficiently to part the tightly -twisted roll and count his treasure, which was so compact that he had -to use great care. Fortunately the oil paper had kept the money dry in -spite of the bath in the river, in addition to a bit of cork that had -been rammed tightly into the spout, but which Lammy had not noticed as -it dropped out at the first chop. - -At last a bill peeled from the roll. Lammy smoothed it out, and rubbed -his eyes. Could it be? He had never seen a bank bill for a larger sum -than twenty dollars before, but five hundred was printed on this. Then -he fell to work in earnest, and after many stops to moisten his fingers, -twelve of the green, damp-smelling bits of paper lay spread upon the -barn floor, while Lammy was saying over to himself, "Twelve times five -are sixty--sixty hundred dollars--ten into sixty six times--six thousand -dollars! Oh, mother--Bird--the fruit farm!" he fairly shouted. This then -was what Aunt Jimmy's will had meant, after all. - -Gathering the bills into his grimy handkerchief, blackened by polishing -the tea-pot, he buttoned them inside his shirt and rushed into the house -at the moment his mother was getting out of the chaise and bringing in -the week's supply of groceries, for which she had traded her eggs. - -His father having come home from the wood lot, took the horse to the -barn, fed and bedded him immediately,--for old Graylocks never went fast -enough to become heated,--and then came to the kitchen sink to make his -toilet for supper. - -Lammy sat waiting his time by the stove with his feet in the oven door, -trying to suppress the shivers that ran through him. Would his mother -ever put the things away and stop bustling? They could not have supper -until late that night, for the shop where his brothers worked was -running over time, and they would not be home before seven. - -Mrs. Lane put the potatoes on to fry, arranged the steak in the broiler -(she was the only woman in Laurelville who did not fry her meat), and -then sat down to rest, keeping one eye upon the clock. Presently she -caught sight of Lammy's face, and promptly jumped up again to grab one -of his hands and ask anxiously: "Be you feelin' sick, Lammy Lane? Your -hands is frogs and your cheeks hot coals. I do hope and pray it ain't -goin' to be a fever spell o' any kind." - -"Spell be blowed!" said Joshua, who was now seated by the lamp, enjoying -his weekly paper. "He's been a-traipsin' round all day among them soggy -marshes that fairly belches chills in fall o' the year, on a snack o' -cold food. What he needs is a lining o' hot vittles; likewise do I." - -But Lammy had left the stove and stood by the table, his hands clasped -tightly, and such a strange expression on his face that both his parents -were startled. - -"I ain't sick--that is, not much," he began, "though I'm awfully hungry, -but I've got something to tell out first." - -Then he began slowly, and told about his visit to Old Lucky and his -search for bullet material. - -Here his father interrupted him with, "Shucks, Lammy Lane, ain't you got -better sense than to throw away dollars?" but his mother gave Joshua a -look, and said: "Don't you shet him off the track until he's through. I -knew he wasn't working in his mind like he's done lately for nothing." - -When he told of chopping up the tea-pot, his father chuckled, but his -mother shivered and broke in with, "How could you ever set an axe in it? -It seems to me 'bout as bad as cuttin' up poor Aunt Jimmy for sausages!" - -When he came to the end, and pulling out his handkerchief, spread the -contents before his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Lane stood grasping the table -edge and staring white and wide eyed, until Joshua broke the silence -with "Jehosophat! Nancy Hanks! but I'm kneesprung dumbfounded!" - -"And you'd better be!" snapped Lauretta Ann, as nearly as she _could_ -snap at her husband; "after all you've said against the memory of -sainted Aunt Jimmy, and sneered and snipped at her will and meanings! -Don't you see now how she fixed things so's I'd get the farm by biddin' -it in fair without bein' hashed over in public for gettin' more'n my -equal share? _She_ trusted me to fetch that pot home and, by usin' it -daily, find it wouldn't pour out, as I would have did and diskiver the -money. Oh, Joshua, Joshua, let this be a lesson to you an' all husbands -not to browbeat their trustin' wives, as women's allers the furthest -seein' sect." - -"Fur seein', shucks!" snorted Joshua, who had enjoyed his recent -authority too well to part with it; "between you and Aunt Jimmy yer'd -made a fine mess o' it, and it took a male, though not a full-grown one, -to pull yer out of it, for yer allowed yer'd only stick up the pot for -a moniment an' not use it on account o' its taste tainting the tea. It -sartinly took us men folks to dig yer out o' it; didn't it, Lammy? - -"Now as we know Aunt Jimmy's intentions was that this be kept close, -close it'll be kept, and we'd better pack up them bills until we can -bank 'em Monday, in case Mis'is Slocum should be drawd to look in the -winder to see if we are havin' a hot or cold supper, and real or crust -coffee." - -"But mother," said Lammy, as soon as he could be heard, "when shall we -get Bird back? Need we wait until the auction?" - -"Sakes alive, child, I'll write as soon as I get my head, but there's -two letters unanswered now, and I'm afeared they've moved again. -Somehow, with all we've got to face just now, I think 'twould be better -waitin' until everything's settled up certain and we've got the place -safe and sound. Then pa and me and you could kind er celebrate, and -take a trip to N'York and get her. I ain't never been there but onct -in my life, an' that was to a funeral when it wasn't seemin' fer me to -look about to see things, and it rained and I spoiled my best bunnit. -I reckon, now we can afford it, 'twould set us all up to go on a good -lively errand o' mercy, and maybe see a circus too if there's any there, -and eat a dinner bought ready made. Seems to me I should relish some -vittles I hadn't cooked, and to step off without washing the dishes." - -"Say, Lauretta Ann," drawled Joshua, presently, when Lammy, hugging -Twinkle and telling him the news, had gone upstairs to look at Bird's -paint-box, and sit in the dark and think of the bliss of going to New -York and surprising her his very self, "who do you calkerlate owns them -_six thousand dollars_?" rolling the words about in his mouth like a -dainty morsel. - -"Why, me,--that is we, of course!" she gasped. "You don't think there's -anything wrong in takin' it? Ah, Joshua, you _don't_ think there's any -wrong in takin' it?" - -"Yes and no, not that egzactly; but as the Squire gave Lammy the law -about things that's been throwed out, it 'pears to me the find is hisn." - -"Well, if it is, I'm glad, and it's the Lord's doin' anyway. We can put -the deed in Lammy's name, and earn him good schoolin' out o' it along o' -little Bird, for nobody knows how I've missed that youngster a runnin' -in and out these last months and feeling her head on my shoulder times -when she was lonesome, and I mothered her in the rocker before the fire. -What with the high school, and the painting school, and the female -college over at Northboro, there's all the eddication she'll need for -years close handy, and it's no wrong to the others, for there's this -place for them to divide, and they're strong and likely." - -"Remember the auction ain't took place yet, Lauretta Ann, and don't set -too sure." - -"Joshua, the Lord has planned this out; it can't go astray now." - -"Amen," said Joshua; "but how about Old Lucky's spell? and supposin' Mr. -Clarke takes a fancy to bid on the fruit farm. I hear he's been for land -hereabout." - -"Father, I'm _shocked_ at you, and you nephew-in-law to a deacon!" - -Mrs. Lane went upstairs to look for Lammy and found him lying across -his bed in an uneasy sleep, with Twinkle keeping guard by him, while -his fatigue and the soaked boots in the corner told the cause for the -illness that was creeping over him. - -"Pa," called Mrs. Lane down the backstairs, in a husky whisper, "do you -go for Dr. Jedd without waiting for the boys to come in. Lammy's chilled -and fevered and sweatin' all to onct, and I can't read nothing out of -such crossway sinktoms. Dear me suz, it does never rain but it pours! -Say, Joshua, you'd best fetch that money up here to be put in the iron -maple-sugar pot afore you go." - -By the time Dr. Jedd arrived Lammy was in a heavy sleep, from which he -roused at the physician's firm touch on his pulse, and began to talk -wildly. - -At first he seemed to think that Dr. Jedd was Old Lucky, for he cried, -"I gave you the silver dollar and I made the bullets, but when I went -to shoot them, they turned into polliwogs and went downstream." Then -raising himself, he shook his pillow violently, saying, "You were a bad -man to tell me lies. How could I shoot the shadow of a Christmas tree on -a dark night? Cause when it's dark there are'nt any shadows." - -Next he seemed to imagine that he was tramping over the hills with the -surveyors, and he had an argument with himself, as to whether feet made -rods or rods feet, and then mumbled something about _a_ + _b_ that they -could not understand for they did not know that one of his new friends -had started him in Algebra. - -"He is tired out," said Dr. Jedd, presently, "and in his mind more -than his body. The professor over at the camp told me that he had a -great head for mathematics, and was always asking questions and working -out sums and things on every scrap of paper he came across, and that -when paper gave out he'd smooth a place in the dirt and scratch away -on that with a nail. Said that it was a pity that he couldn't go to -the Institute at Northboro and be fitted for the School of Mines in -New York. Told me if he ever did, he could put him in the way of free -tuition at least." - -"The pewter tea-pot! Take Bird out of the pewter tea-pot; she's stuck in -the spout, and when you chop it off, it will kill her!" shrieked Lammy, -jumping out of bed. - -Dr. Jedd gave him some quieting medicine, and he soon sank back among -the pillows, with a burning red spot of fever on each cheek. - -"Is it typhoid?" asked Mrs. Lane, her face white and drawn; "Janey died -of that." - -"It is a fever, but I cannot be quite sure of exactly which one," said -the doctor, opening a little case he carried and taking out a fine -needlelike instrument and a bottle of alcohol. "If I wait to know until -it develops, we shall be losing time; if I prick his finger and send -a drop of blood to Dr. Devlin in Northboro, who makes a study of such -things, he will look at it through his microscope and tell me in the -morning exactly where we stand." So after washing a spot clean with -alcohol he took the little red drop that tells so much to the really -wise physician and prevents all the mistakes of guess-work, and then -began to prepare some medicines and write his directions for the night. - -"Is there any one you would like me to send up to stay with you, Mrs. -Lane?" the doctor asked as he prepared to leave. "This may be a tedious -illness, and it won't do for you to wear yourself out in the beginning." - -"Byme-by, perhaps," Mrs. Lane replied "but not jest now while he talks -so wild. You know, doctor, how the best of folks will repeat and spy. -Joshua ain't overbusy, and he'll help me out." - -"What is that thing hanging round Lammy's neck by a string under his -shirt that he has such a tight hold of?" - -"It's the key of the lower one of his chest of drawers; he keeps odds -and ends in it that he sets store by, and I guess he's lost it so many -times that he's took to hanging it on safe by a string." - -The next afternoon when Dr. Jedd came, the smile on his face reassured -Mrs. Lane even before he said: "No, it isn't typhoid--merely plain -malaria, and his worrying so much about Bird has made him light-headed. -What has become of the child? Tired as she was in the spring, I would -not answer for her little wild-wood ladyship after a hot summer in the -city." - -Then Mrs. Lane told sadly of the frequent invitations and the unanswered -letters. - -"I'm going to town for a little vacation after the holidays, and I will -look her up myself," said the doctor, cheerily. - - * * * * * - -It was many weeks after the night that Lammy chopped up the pewter -tea-pot and made his wonderful discovery before the fever left him, -and then he felt so limp and weak that after sitting up a few minutes -he was glad to crawl into bed again. His mind had only wandered during -the first two or three days, but frequently he would wake up with a -start from troubled sleep and ask his mother anxiously if it was really -true about the tea-pot or only a dream. He was bitterly disappointed -when the night before the auction came and the doctor told him that he -must not go, even though his big brother Nellis had offered to put the -great arm-chair in the cart and take him down in that way, all wrapped -in comfortables. For the doctor said the excitement of thinking of the -matter was enough without being there. - -On his way out, Dr. Jedd spent a few moments before he went home, -chatting to Joshua in the kitchen. - -"To-morrow the tug of war is coming, Joshua," said the doctor; "all of -your neighbours wish you well and set great store by your wife, and we -hate to think of seeing strangers in the fruit farm. If you can think up -any way that we could accommodate or help you out to buy it, why, just -speak out. If the two thousand dollars Miss Jemima left my wife would -make any difference to you, she bid me say that, as she knows your dread -of mortgages, she would loan it on your note of hand," at the same time -holding out his own toward Joshua as if it already held the proffered -money. - -Joshua's honest face flushed with pleasure at the implied trust, yet -he could hardly keep the smile from his lips and a mysterious twinkle -from his eyes as he shook the doctor's hand heartily and answered: -"We're much obleeged, and we'll never forget that you and Mis'is Jedd -held us well enough in esteem to make the offer, but I reckon the only -way we could come to own the fruit farm would be by buying it out fair -and square. I don't say but I'd be downhearted to see it go by me, -especially to 'Biram Slocum, for they've been days, doc, when I've even -kind o' pictured out the two farms, ourn and it, joined fast by your -sellin' me that wood bluff that runs in between from the highway. But -you know the sayin', doc, 'Man proposes, woman disposes,' and all that." - -This time the doctor caught the wink that Joshua's near eye gave -in spite of itself, but thought that it referred to Aunt Jimmy's -peculiarities. - -"Well," said the doctor, deliberately, a genial smile spreading over his -features, "one thing I'll do to help out your picturing, as you call -it. If luck should turn so that you buy the fruit farm, I'll sell you -the wood knoll for what I gave for it, and that's the first time I ever -considered parting with it, though I've had no end of good offers." - -"Here's the boys jest come home in time to witness that there remark o' -yourn. Ain't yer gettin' kind er rash 'n' hasty, doc?" - -"No, Joshua, the more witnesses, the better," and the two men went out -the door, toward the fence where the doctor's chaise was tied, laughing -heartily. - -As to the boys, they were completely bewildered, for not a word did they -know, or would until after the auction, and they had not the remotest -idea that their father even dreamed of bidding on the fruit farm. - - - - -XII - -THE TUG OF WAR - - -The strain that Lammy had been under ever since the reading of Aunt -Jimmy's will had told on him in a way that only his mother understood, -and after the stubborn malarial fever itself was routed, he felt, as he -said, "like the bones in my legs is willer whistles," so Dinah Lucky was -engaged to stay with him on the morning of the long talked of auction -sale. He would have preferred some one else, for Dinah was a great -talker, and his head still felt tired, but she was the only trustworthy -person in the entire neighbourhood who for either friendship or money -would consent to miss the auction. - -According to the terms of the notice that had appeared in the local -papers and been posted in a ten-mile circuit from Milltown to Northboro, -the sale conducted by Joel Hill, auctioneer, was to be held on the fruit -farm itself at ten o'clock on the morning of Thursday, December the -ninth, "by order of Joshua Lane, Executor." - -When the day came, it was bitterly cold, though clear; a two-days old -snow-storm followed by sleet had crusted well, and the walking and -sleighing were both good, yet Joshua Lane was surprised when he went -down to the fruit farm at nine o'clock in the morning to sweep off the -porch and light a fire in the kitchen stove, which still remained on the -premises for cooking chickens' food, to see many teams already hitched -to the fence, the horses well muffled in blankets. People afoot were -also going toward the barn, where a Hungarian, who was retained to tend -the stock and act as watchman, had a room and fire which, together with -what information they could extract from him, was what they sought. - -As the man said, "Yah! ha!" equally loud to every question, Joshua -thought no harm could come from that quarter, and proceeded to open the -blinds of the kitchen windows and make such preparations as he could for -protecting the audience from the cold. - -By half-past nine the kitchen, sitting room, north parlours, all bare of -furniture, and the stairs were packed with standing people, and when, -at a few minutes before ten, the auctioneer and the Northboro lawyer, -Mr. Cole, who had made Aunt Jimmy's will, appeared together, they had to -push their way into the house. - -Mrs. Slocum had been on hand early, of course,--she always was,--and -kept dropping mysterious remarks and pursing up her lips. She began by -cheapening the entire place, saying the house was not in as good repair -as she had been led to think, that the wall papers were frights, and -that everything needed paint, that four thousand dollars would be a high -price for the property, and she didn't know who'd buy it anyway. Then -the next minute she was requesting those about her not to crowd up the -stairs, as they might bend the hand rail, which would be just so much -out of the pocket of whoever bought the house, adding that red Brussels -carpet was her choice for the north room. - -To the surprise of all, the two out-of-town Lane brothers, Jason and -Henry, were not there. The "all in due time" policy that had always, and -would always, keep Henry poor, caused them to start for the auction so -late that the delay on the road caused by a broken trace detained them -until nearly eleven, when they turned about and went home again so as -not to be late for dinner. - -After reading the description of the property and the cash terms of -the sale, Joel Hill stood up on a soap-box that he might overlook the -assembly and called out, "What am I bid, to start?" - -There was complete silence for a few moments. Then the door opened, and -Mr. Brotherton, one of Mr. Clarke's agents from Northboro, entered, -causing a flutter of speculation as to what his presence might mean -and making Mrs. Lane's heart thump painfully. Dr. Jedd and his wife, -the minister and his lady, together with Mrs. Lane, who were occupying -a bench that had been brought from the barn, and were the only people -seated, looked at the stove in front of them, so that those who expected -a bid from that quarter were disappointed. - -Joshua Lane, hands behind him, leaned against the chimney front and -gazed steadily at a wire that held the stove-pipe in place. - -"What am I bid, to start?" repeated the auctioneer. Abiram Slocum, -scanning the various groups with his ferret eyes, moved uneasily, -moistened his lips, and, as his wife gave him a prod with her umbrella -that exactly hit the "funny bone" of his elbow, jerked out, "Five -hundred dollars." - -"One thousand," said a clear, distinct, but unfamiliar, voice at the -back of the room. There was a unanimous turning of heads and twisting -of bodies toward the bidder, who proved to be Mr. Cole the lawyer from -Northboro, who made a very impressive appearance, clad as he was in a -handsome fur-lined overcoat and a shiny silk hat. As he was also often -employed by Mr. Clarke, the mystery deepened. - -Abiram Slocum gasped as if some one had poured a pail of water over -him at this unexpected competitor, and then called, "One thousand two -hundred and fifty." - -"Two thousand," from the lawyer. - -"Two thousand and fifty," shrieked Abiram. - -"Why waste time with small change a cold morning like this?" called the -auctioneer. - -"Three thousand," said the lawyer. - -"Three thousand three hundred," snapped Abiram, vainly endeavouring to -get out of range of the faces and gestures his wife was making at him. - -"Four thousand five hundred," jumped the lawyer, beginning to button his -coat and draw on his gloves, as if the end were well in sight. - -Abiram Slocum seemed bewildered, and glancing at his wife, failed to -read her signal aright, and resorted to a hoarse whispering in the -middle of which she shook him off and shouted with an air of triumph, -"Five thousand dollars!" - -Mrs. Lane was seen to moisten her lips nervously, and the colour in her -cheeks deepened, but then by this time the wood-stove was sending forth -red-hot air as only a sheet-iron stove working full blast knows how. - -"Five thousand two hundred and fifty," bid the lawyer. Then followed -an altercation between Mr. and Mrs. Slocum. Vainly the auctioneer -rapped; they paid no attention, and upon the lawyer saying that any -further delay would cause a withdrawal of his bid, the final "Going, -going, gone, at five thousand two hundred and fifty dollars" was -called, and it was not until fully twenty seconds after the final bang -of the hammer that the Slocums came to, and Abiram fairly yelled, -"Six--thousand--dollars!" - -Of course it was too late, and the fault was nobody's but his own. -He tried to protest and was actually hissed down, Laurelville folk -preferring to see the property go anywhere so long as Mrs. Slocum was -not mistress of the fruit farm. - -"Name of buyer?" asked the auctioneer; "self or client?" - -"Client," said the lawyer, slowly adjusting his eyeglasses and glancing -at a slip of paper, while dead silence again prevailed, and the Slocums -glared forked lightning at each other and the world in general. - -"The purchase is made by Lauretta Ann Lane, as guardian for her son, -Samuel Lane, and she is prepared to deposit the price in cash, pending -searching of the title and transfer of deed." - -There was a shuffle as the people, released from the strain, shifted -from one numb foot to the other, and then cheers broke out, for above -curiosity and all other feeling was one of joy that their kind, -hard-working neighbour had in some mysterious way received what they -firmly believed to be her due. - -When the applause had subsided and the general handshaking ceased, -Lauretta Ann Lane pulled a large new wallet from some mysterious place -in her dress, and counting out eleven clean five-hundred-dollar bills -held them toward the auctioneer, saying, "I'll trouble you for the -change, please," adding in a low yet perfectly distinct voice to an -irate figure who was elbowing her way out, and meeting many obstacles in -so doing, "That change 'll come in right handy for new papers, paint, -and furnishings that you said was needful, and I think a red Brussels -carpet _would_ liven up that north room wonderful. That same was your -choice, waren't it, Mis'is Slocum?" - -How it all came about the village never discovered; for whatever the -lawyer knew or _thought_, he kept it to himself and said the opposite, -which is, of course, what lawyers are for. - -Dr. Jedd was the only one who suspected in the right direction; for -soon after the Lanes had moved into their new home, and curiosity had -subsided, he was looking on the parlour mantel-shelf for the matches, -and discovered the chopped remains of the pewter tea-pot reposing in -a handsome china jar that was bought in New York. But Dr. Jedd only -chuckled as the whole thing flashed across him, and he said to himself, -"Surely enough, man proposes and woman disposes, and there's a various -lot of human nature in woman, especially Aunt Jimmy, who was a blessed, -good, spunky, old fool." - -One final sensation was given the neighbourhood when it was found that, -after the payment of the legacies and other charges against the estate, -there was enough surplus to give the three Lane brothers over three -thousand dollars each, legal allotment. - - - - -XIII - -TELLTALE TROUSERS - - -As Mrs. Lane was hurrying home from the auction, that Lammy need not be -kept in suspense a moment longer than was necessary, she bumped into -Abiram Slocum, who was trudging moodily along the road. His wife had -left the house first, and in her anger appropriated the cutter and gone -home, leaving him to walk. - -Mrs. Lane intended to go by without speaking, and merely gave a civil -nod, but he would not allow it; his ugly mood must find vent in words, -and as she passed he squared about, saying:-- - -"You've no cause to feel so hoity toity if yer _hev_ got the fruit -farm; _there's underhand business been goin' on here in Laurelville, -if the light o' truth was let in_. Moreover, it's time that husband o' -yourn as Minstrator of that Irish O'More's debts should pay me the rent -due; the fact of the furniture being burned don't release him a copper -cent's worth, as he well knows. Tell him from me he'd best come down -and settle up; ter-morrow I reckon to be at the tax office all forenoon, -or"--with an evil sneer--"mebbe, as you seem to hold the purse, you'd -like to pay the debt out of charity to the girl you bragged o' being -fond of, to save her the name of pauper." - -Mrs. Lane grew hot and cold by turns, and a torrent of words rose to -her lips, but the thought of Lammy waiting so patiently checked her in -time, and she merely said, "Yes, Abiram Slocum, you'll hear from us -to-morrer." - -As she reached the home gate, she saw Dinah Lucky, who was stationed at -the window to give the first word of her return, and at the same time a -wild-looking tawny head and a pair of big questioning gray eyes appeared -above her fat shoulder, as Lammy steadied himself by the window-frame. -Quick as a flash she pulled off her red knitted shawl and waved it -joyfully, so that Lammy knew at least two minutes before she could have -reached his room to tell him. - -Once upstairs, she was obliged to begin at the beginning and tell him -the story of the morning in every detail, holding his hand the while as -if to convince him that she was real and what she told the plain truth. - -Presently Dinah slipped downstairs, saying she would get the dinner and -bring them both some upstairs, for she was sure "Missy Lane" must be -clear tuckered out. - -And so she was, though she had not realized it until that moment and -sinking back in the homemade arm-chair, she closed her eyes in a state -of perfect peace, and must have dozed, for she awoke with a start to -hear Lammy say, "This sort of makes up for the Thanksgiving dinner I -missed," and there upon the various chairs and the bedstand Dinah had -spread a dinner tempting as only a coloured "born cook" knows how to -make it, while the clashing of knives and forks below told her that -Joshua and the boys were provided for (they had all staid at home from -the shop to attend the auction) and that this afternoon at least was her -own. - -After dinner Lammy lay for a long time, looking at the wood fire -flickering through the open front of the stove, planning how they would -fix Aunt Jimmy's--or rather _his_--house, as his mother called it, and -when they would move. Of course, Lammy wished to go at once--even a -week seemed a long delay. Mrs. Lane hesitated, for she had thoughts -of waiting until spring; yet, on the other hand, she could not well -leave the house empty or travel up and down to tend the chickens. -Aunt Jimmy's house was by far the easier to heat, and now as they must -keep a hired man permanently, he could be put into their present house -and everything settle down for a comfortable winter of work, rest, and -planning, so she said, much to Lammy's joy, that she thought they could -be in by Christmas and then make the improvements at their leisure. - -"Yes, we can wait to paper the rooms--that is, all except Bird's," he -added. "I'd like to have hers fixed up for her when she comes, white and -a paper with wild roses--that's what she likes, and she made a pattern -for one once and was going to send it to the wall-paper man when her -father finished the red piney pattern, only he never did." And Lammy -told his mother of Bird's hopes about her work, ending by taking the -string that held the key from about his neck and saying:-- - -"Please unlock my lower drawer and give me Bird's bundle that her uncle -would not let her take with her; if I can't see her, I can look at her -things. I know she wouldn't mind, because I went back in through the -cellar with her that last day and tied them up; only I didn't do it very -well because there was no good paper and string. I'd like to fix them -better and put up the paint-box by itself," he said, fumbling with the -knots, as his mother, much interested, took a fresh sheet of paper from -the press closet behind the bed. - -As she reseated herself, the string broke, and the contents of the -hastily made bundle were scattered about the bed. Lammy picked up the -water-colour drawings carefully, one by one, and smoothed them out -with the greatest care. There were a couple of dozen of them, besides -those of the wild roses and the peony design, which Mrs. Lane at once -recognized from its spirit, even though it was unfinished. - -Suddenly Lammy cried out in delight, for there before him was a -pen-and-ink sketch of Bird herself, much younger and happier than when -he had last seen her, but still his little friend to the life. - -"Oh, mother," he said, as soon as he had feasted his eyes on it, "do you -think there could be any harm in putting this up on the mantel-shelf -where I could look at it--just for a few days until we go to get -Bird back?" And of course his mother assured him that there could be -no possible harm. Then, completely satisfied, he laid the sheets of -drawing-paper together again and prepared to make them into a neat, flat -package. - -"You've dropped this out," said his mother, reaching across the bed -to pick up something that had slid down between the coverlid and the -wall, and laid what seemed to be a letter in a long, heavy, brown manila -envelope tied with pink tape in front of Lammy. - -"I don't know what that is," he said, looking it over; "it must have -been between the pictures when we pulled them out of her father's box, -because those were all I saw when I made the bundle up. See, there's -writing on this side," and holding it up to the light, for the winter -twilight was setting in, he read slowly:-- - -"'Papers concerning the Turner Mill Farm Property,--to be recorded.' I -wonder what that means." - -Mrs. Lane's eyes fairly bulged, and great drops of sweat stood on her -forehead as she answered: "Means? It means, Lammy Lane, that the Lord -don't forget the orphan, and if Bird O'More _is_ in New York, he's -lookin' after her business right here in Laurelville. - -[Illustration: "'_It means, Lammy Lane, that the Lord don't forget the -orphan._'"] - -"The meaning of that letter is what Abiram Slocum burnt up his -cross-road house to conceal, which he wouldn't hev done if it was of no -account." And Mrs. Lane poured out her suspicions and ideas concerning -the matter. - - * * * * * - -At the supper-table that night Mrs. Lane repeated Abiram Slocum's -message to her husband, and he, rubbing his chin with a troubled air, -replied, "Truth be told, Lauretta Ann, owin' to the burnin' of that -furniture there isn't a cent left to pay that claim, and I do hate to -have poor O'More held up as an insolvent around here for sixty dollars, -'count o' Bird. He was a good-natured, harmless sort o' feller, enjoyin' -of himself as he went, very much like I'd be if you hadn't taken up with -me, Mis'is Lane." - -At this compliment Mrs. Lane blushed like a girl and murmured something -about all men bein' the better for women's handling, provided it was the -right woman, which Mis'is Slocum wasn't. - -"Now as far as that sixty dollars goes, if it wasn't owed to 'Biram -Slocum, I'd undertake ter pay it myself, so as to get the receipt and -settle everything square up and clean billed, but, by jinks, it sticks -me to pay that low-down swindler." - -"Joshua Lane!" cried his wife, in a tragic tone, standing up and -pointing her pudgy finger at him with such a jerk that it made him start -as if it had been a bayonet, while she used the most grandiloquent -language she could muster: "The estate of the late lamented Terence -O'More does not owe Abiram Slocum a bent penny, and as to the receipt -for the same, I'll hand it to you this time to-morrow night, leastwise -if it doesn't blow a blizzard 'twixt now and then, or Mis'is Slocum turn -'Biram into pickled peppers by the sight of the face she wore home from -the auction." - -"Come now, Lauretta Ann," wheedled Joshua, "you ain't minded of paying -it, be ye? I'd think twice--that I would." - -"Pay!" snorted Lauretta. "Don't I tell you there's nothin' owed?" - -"You're talkin' an' actin' enigmas and charades. Not thet it's anything -new, but if I was you, I'd be mighty keerful how I baited 'Biram Slocum; -he is too cute for most men, and he would take to the law for a heedless -word jest now, he's that riled about the wardrobe story leakin' out and -losing the fruit farm." - -"That's all right, and don't you fret, Joshua; if there is any law -called in, it'll be by me." And pump and quiz as he might, not another -word could he extract from his wife upon the subject. - - * * * * * - -Early the next morning Mrs. Lane harnessed the "colt," which, though -ten years old, still bore his youthful name, to the cutter, and after -putting her egg-basket deep under the robe and depositing her satchel -on top of it, turned up the hill road toward Northboro, waving her whip -good-by to Lammy, who, seated in the big chair in his window, smiled at -her, with his finger pressed to his lips, as if cautioning silence. - -As the sleigh bells jingled and the "colt" loped easily along, Mrs. Lane -leaned back as if the motion and jolly sound expressed her own feelings -admirably, and the miles flew swiftly by. - -When Northboro was reached, she drove to the stable where she always -left her horse in unseasonable weather, but instead of carrying the -familiar egg-basket into town, she stowed it away under the sleigh seat, -and hanging her satchel securely on her arm, drew on her best gloves -that she had brought in her pocket, and started up the main street at -a vigorous trot. Coming to a gray stone building next the court-house, -where many lawyers had offices, she read the various signs anxiously, -and then spying that of Mr. Cole, opened the swinging outside door and -climbed the two flights of stairs that led to it. - -Mr. Cole greeted her pleasantly, for he had a very kindly feeling -toward this generous-hearted woman; but when he heard her story and saw -the legal-looking envelope, he became doubly interested. Untying the -tape, he read the various papers through, one after the other, while -Mrs. Lane watched his eagerness with evident satisfaction. When he had -finished, he replaced the papers and tied them up deliberately before he -said: "These papers appear to me to be of great importance to O'More's -daughter, though exactly what they amount to I cannot tell until I see -the dates of certain mortgages and transfers on record in Milltown. -Fortunately the attorney, Mr. King, who drew up the papers before he -went to California four years ago, has returned on a visit, and I am to -meet him in court this afternoon." - -"I suppose you know Bird hasn't anything to pay what Joshua says they -call the retainment fee, but if a little money 'll help her get her -rights, you may hold me good for it." - -"That will not be necessary," said the lawyer, smiling, "for my client, -Mr. Clarke, is as anxious to have the title to the Mill Farm cleared -as you are, so in serving him I may be able to aid Bird. Slocum, the -present owner, seems a slippery man at best. You know that the insurance -company, for which I also happen to be the agent, withholds his claim -because he gave the date of June 9 for his fire when it took place the -10th." - -At this Mrs. Lane's eyes grew steelly bright, and she moistened her -lips nervously. Then Mr. Cole put the papers in his safe and closed the -door with its mysterious lock, and Mrs. Lane breathed a sigh of relief -and, asking him to write as soon as he had news, either good or bad, -went carefully down the shallow marble stairs of the office building, -for elevators she would have none of. - -Once more in the street, she spied a bakery and, going in, ordered a cup -of coffee and half a custard pie, which she ate with relish and then -returned to the stable for the "colt" without doing any of her usual -market-day trading. - -It was only half-past eleven when Mrs. Lane, coming down the hill road, -saw Laurelville lying before her in the valley, and five minutes later -when she hitched the colt in front of the town-house, throwing the coon -lap-robe over him in addition to his blanket. - -The selectmen had been in consultation, and were now standing outside, -making holes in the snow with their boot toes and finding it difficult -to break away, after the usual manner of rural communities. Mrs. Lane -nodded pleasantly and asked if every one else had gone home to dinner. - -"Mostly," replied First Selectman Penfield, "but Judge Ricker's in his -office, I reckon, and Slocum, he's in the end room as 'cessor, waitin' -for folks to swear their taxes, for which they appear to be in no -hurry." - -This was exactly the information Mrs. Lane wanted, and she walked -directly down the corridor, this time firmly grasping the egg-basket and -leaving the satchel outside. - -Opening the door without knocking, she had entered, closed it, and -seated herself opposite Abiram Slocum before he was aware of her -presence, and do what he could, he was not able to control the slight -start that her appearance gave him. - -"Morning, marm," he said formally, putting his thumbs in the armholes of -his vest and puffing out his cheeks with importance; "want to swear your -taxes?" - -"Not to-day; Joshua always attends to that. I've jest dropped in ter get -that receipt for the O'More rent, as Joshua intends settling the matter -up with Judge Ricker this afternoon." - -"Very glad to hear it, Mrs. Joshua Lane; it saves me lots of trouble, -and I hate to go to law unless required." And he drew a blank form from -a desk, which he filled in, signed, and was about to hand across the -table, when he suddenly withdrew it, saying, "Well, where are the sixty -dollars?" - -"They was paid you June the 10th." - -"What!" shouted Abiram, really believing the woman to be crazy, and -retreating behind the table. - -"Just so; by that I mean all that good furniture you set fire to along -with your house." - -Slocum turned ghastly white and almost staggered, but quickly recovering -himself, he sprang forward furiously, and for a moment Mrs. Lane thought -he was going to strike her, but glancing out the window she saw that -Selectman Penfield was below, and this reassured her. - -"I'll have you arrested for slander as sure as my name's Abiram Slocum," -he gasped, trying to get out the door in front of which she stood. - -"I wouldn't be too hasty; if you wait, you will hear more to get up -that slander claim on, mostlike. Jest you go back and set down while I -have my say, and if you want witnesses to it, Judge Ricker will step -in, I'm sure, or Mr. Penfield either; they are both real handy. As you -said yesterday, _there's underhand business been goin' on in town if the -light o' truth could be let in_, which I'm now doin'." - -So Abiram hesitated, and sank back into the chair, casting an uneasy -look at his visitor, who proceeded to state her case both rapidly and -clearly. - -"'Twas Friday, the 10th of June, you fired that house, though you did -give into the insurance company 'twas the 9th." (Here again Slocum -jumped, and his hands worked nervously.) - -"The 10th was circus day, and most all the town had gone to Northboro. -Likewise Lockwood's field-hands went, and so there were no men folks -working up beyond four corners; this gave you a clear coast. - -"You started for the circus with Mis'is Slocum and 'Ram; you turned -back, giving it out you'd got important business at the Mill Farm. But -you didn't go, and turned up before noon at the turnpike store, where -you never trade. There you bought a new gallon can of kerosene, saying -you was going up to the north lots to make a wash of it fer tent-worms -in the apple trees. Now there ain't even a wild crab tree in the north -lots--only corn-fields. - -"You went up that way all right, and a-spookin' around the house. -Everything was tight fast, and so the only place you could get in was by -crawlin' through the cellar winder, which you did, tearin' a new pair o' -herrin'-bone pattern trousers so doin'." - -Again Slocum started, and his face wore a look of intense wonder mixed -with fear. - -"After you looked about for what you didn't find, you spilled the -kerosene about and set fire so's nobody could get what maybe you'd -overlooked. - -"Then you scooted back in the corn lot and hid the can in the big -blasted chestnut stump, and when a hue and cry was raised walked down as -innercent as May, from hoein' corn that wasn't yet above ground!" - -By this time Slocum had pulled himself together, and his defiance -returned. - -"Woman, you are crazy, and what you say is perfectully redeclous; I'll -have you behind asylum bars, if not in jail. Mere talk! You can't prove -a word you say, and what is this 'thing' that I couldn't find and wanted -to burn? Just tell me that!" - -"Prove? Oh, yes, I can; Lauretta Ann Lane is no random talker. - -"Here's the pants you wore, and that you sold the pedler the same -afternoon--they smell yet o' kerosene, and here's the piece ye tore out -on the winder-catch!" And Mrs. Lane whipped the telltale trousers out of -her egg-basket. - -"The kerosene can's in the stump yet, but I've got it all straight; that -poor Polack woman you turned out of house and home seen you hide it. Now -what else was there?" And Mrs. Lane affected a lapse of memory. - -"Oh, yes; you wanted to know what you was a-lookin' for. Why, don't -you know? It was a big lawyer's envelope marked 'Papers concerning the -Turner Mill Farm Property,--to be recorded.'" - -Slocum breathed hard and grasped the table edge to steady himself. - -"Jest why you wanted them papers I don't know, but Lawyer Cole in -Northboro, who's got 'em, is goin' to find out." - -"Lawyer Cole has them?" Slocum whispered hoarsely; "Lawyer Cole, did you -say?" - -"Yes, I did!" repeated Mrs. Lane; "and if you don't think the testimony -I've been givin' you is true, and consider it a slander, I've got it -writ out, and I'll have him search that out too." - -"No, no," said Slocum, speaking as if to himself. "How did you ever -find--" and then he remembered and stopped. Mrs. Lane waited a few -minutes, and then said:-- - -"It's full noon now, and I must get home to dinner, so I'll trouble -you for that rent receipt. Thanks, and I'll give you a word of advice -in return. The Lord mostly finds out evil-doers, and not infrequent He -trusts women to help Him, and I want you to consider that if I don't -give this matter a public airin', it isn't from either pity or fear of -you, but because I don't want the county to know that we harboured such -a skunk among us so long; my last word being that you'd better get away -from my neighbourhood before I change my mind!" - -So it came about that before Christmas Abiram Slocum gave it out that -his wife's health was poor and he had been advised to go to California, -where he intended to buy a vineyard, hinting at the same time that as -he expected to sell a large tract of land to Mr. Clarke, he had no -further interest in Laurelville; and though only four people knew the -real reason, the whole village rejoiced without the slightest effort at -concealment. - -At the same time Joshua Lane found that his work as administrator of the -O'More property had only begun instead of being closed. - - - - -XIV - -THE FIRE-ESCAPE - - -What had Bird O'More been doing these many days? It did not need the -skill of a magician to tell why even her notes to her Laurelville -friends had been brief at best and then finally ceased. A single peep at -her surroundings would have told the tale, and the more completely she -became merged in them, the more hopeless she felt them to be. - -Her weekly work in distributing the flowers was a bright spot indeed, as -well as her visits to Tessie; but as she looked forward to the time when -frost would kill the blossoms, the Flower Mission be closed, and the -liberty of streets and parks cut off for confinement in the dark flat, -her heart sank indeed. - -All her hopes were centred about going to school, and the possibilities -of meeting teachers who would understand her desire to learn, and -help her with sympathy. Meanwhile, the city summer had told upon her -country-bred body even more than on her sensitive temperament, and she -grew thinner every day, until finally her aunt was compelled to see -it in spite of herself, and promised to take her down to Coney Island -or Rockaway Beach "some day" when she was not busy, to freshen her up -a bit; but that day never came, and as little Billy was constantly -improving, her uncle had eyes only for him. In fact, the change in the -little cripple was little short of marvellous. Of course his lameness -remained, but his cheeks were round, his lips had lost their blue tint, -and to hear him cry or complain was a rare sound indeed. That all this -came of Bird's devoted care her uncle was quite convinced; for it was -she who gave Billy his morning bath, and managed,--no easy task,--that -the battered tub should not again be used for a cupboard. It was Bird -who took his food into the fire-escape bower, and coaxed and tempted -him until he had eaten sufficient, and it was she who put him nightly -into the little bed opposite her own and taught him to say, as a little -prayer, the verse of the hymn her own mother had sung to her in the -misty long ago:-- - - "Jesus, gentle Shepherd, hear me; - Bless thy little lamb to-night: - Through the darkness be thou near me; - Keep me safe till morning light." - -But for Billy, Bird could not have endured through that dreadful summer. -As it was, she often fingered her "keepsake," still hanging about her -neck, the thought comforting her that with the mysterious coin in it she -could get back once more to the little village that seemed like heaven -to her, no matter what happened after. Often, in fact, the only thing -that kept her from running away was the belief that if her good friends -could take her permanently, they would have sent for her, and pride, -heroic pride, born of Old and New England, was still strong in Ladybird. - -"She'll perk up when school begins and she gets acquainted with girls -her own age," said O'More, cheerfully, as his attention was called to -her pale cheeks by his wife. "I'm owin' her good will for what she's -done for Billy, else I most wish I'd left her up there with those -hayseeds that wanted her. Somehow she don't fit in here, for all -that she never complains. She's different from us, and she makes me -uncomfortable, lookin' so solemn at me if I chance to take off my coat -and collar of a night at supper to ease up a bit. Terence was different -from us, too, and it's bred in the bone." - -"Let well enough alone," said Mrs. O'More, glad to have Billy so -completely taken off her hands; "folks can't afford to be different to -their own, unless they've got the price. I've made her a good dress out -of a remnant of bright plaid I bought, so next week she can shell off -them shabby black duds that give me the shivers every time I see them. -Maybe fixin' up like other girls 'll bring her to and liven her. She's -queer though, sure enough, don't give no sass, and it ain't natural; I -never seen a girl her age before that didn't talk back, and sometimes it -riles me to see her keep so close shet when I up and let fly." - -In September school began, but this brought further disappointment, -for Bird had hoped to find a friend at least in the teacher. She was, -however, graded according to her size and age, not ability, as if she -had been a wooden box, and found herself in an overcrowded room, a -weak-eyed little Italian, with brass earrings, seated on one side of -her, and the Polish sausage-seller's daughter on the other, her dirty -hands heavy with glass rings, which caused her to keep whispering -behind Bird's back as to her lack of jewellery and style; while at the -first recess this little Slav told the astonished Bird, "If yer tink -to get in vid us, you'll got to pomp you 'air; dis crowt, we's stylish -barticular--ve iss." - -As to the teacher in trim shirt-waist, with pretty hands and hair, to -whom the class recited in chorus, Bird longed to speak to her, to touch -her, but she fled to a purer atmosphere as soon as school was out, and -was remote as the stars. - -As the weather grew cool, the fire-escape arbour was abandoned; they -could spend less time out of doors, and Bird felt caged indeed. The -engine-house now was the limit of their walks, for it grew dark very -soon after school was out. Still they never tired of seeing the horses -dash out, and Billy called Big Dave "my fireman," and used to shout to -him as he passed in the street. So the autumn passed. - - * * * * * - -It was a clear, cold afternoon a little before Christmas; the shops were -gay with pretty things, and the streets with people. Billy was in a -fever of excitement because his father, who had left home on a business -trip a few days before, had promised him a Christmas tree, and Bird had -gone out to buy the candles and some little toys to put on it, at a -street stall. Billy, however, did not go, for he was not to see the toys -until Christmas Eve. - -Bird wandered across to Broadway at 23rd Street, and then followed the -stream of shoppers southward. Was it only a year since last Christmas -when she had helped trim the tree at Sunday-school in Laurelville and -had sung the treble-solo part in-- - - "Watchman! tell us of the night; - What the signs of promise are." - -Would there ever again be any signs of promise for her? Somehow she -had never before felt so lonely for her father as in that merry crowd. -She wondered if he saw and was disappointed in her, and what Lammy was -doing. Going up on the hill probably with the other village children to -cut the Christmas tree and greens for church. - -Not minding where she went, she followed the crowd on past and around -Union Square and down town again. Then realizing that she was facing -away from home and had not bought her candles, she looked up and saw on -the opposite side of the street a beautiful gray stone church. At one -side and joined to it was what looked like a house set well back from -the street, from which it was separated by a wide garden. People were -going in and out of the church by twos and threes. - -A voice seemed to call Bird, and she too crossed Broadway and timidly -pushed open the swinging door. - -At first she could see nothing, as the only lights in the church were -near the chancel. Then different objects began to outline themselves. -There was no service going on, the people having come in merely for a -few quiet moments. - -Bird stood quite still in the little open space by a side door back of -the pews; it was the first really peaceful time she had known since -the day that she and Lammy carried the red peonies to the hillside -graveyard, and as she thought of it, she seemed to smell the sweet -spruce fragrance of those runaway Christmas trees that watched where her -parents slept. - -A flock of little choir boys trooped in from an opposite door for the -final practice of their Christmas carols and grouped themselves in -the stalls. Next a quiver of sound rushed through the church as the -great organ drew its breath and swelled its lungs, as if humming the -melody before breaking into voice. Then above its tones rang a clear -boy-soprano. - - "Watchman! tell us of the night - What the signs of promise are." - -and the chorus answered-- - - "Traveller! o'er yon mountain height, - See that glory-beaming star." - -The answering echo quivered in Bird's throat, suffocating her, and as, -unable to stand, she knelt trembling upon the floor the odour of spruce -again enveloped her, and groping, she found that she was really leaning -against a pile of small trees that had been brought there to decorate -the church for Christmas Eve, and as the door opened, men came in -bringing more--dozens and dozens of them, it seemed. - -Bird picked up a broken twig, and in spite of its sharpness pressed it -against her face, kissing it passionately, never noticing that she was -directly in the passage between the door and aisle, where presently a -gentleman coming hurriedly in stumbled over her. - -He was about to pass on with a curt apology, but glancing down, he saw -that it was a little girl, and that though comfortably dressed and -not actually poor, her face showed signs of distress and tears, so he -stopped. - -"What is it, my child?" he said. "Have you lost your way, or what? Come -here and sit in this pew while you tell me about it. I've a daughter at -home only a couple of years older than you, and she doesn't like to have -any one sad at Christmas time." - -It was months since any one had spoken to Bird in the gentle tongue that -had been her father's and was her own, and though the tears started -anew, she made haste to obey, lest he should suddenly disappear like all -her pleasant dreams. - -He was an alert, middle-aged man of affairs. He had a fine presence and -keen eyes and, without making her feel that he was prying, succeeded in -drawing out the bare facts of her story, nothing more, so that he had no -idea that the trouble was more than a country-bred child's homesickness -at being shut up in the city, and having to go to school instead of -reading all day long and trying to paint flowers. - -"So you used to live in Laurelville?" he said; "why, I have a country -place near there, not far from Northboro, my native town, where I -built an Art School, and I have little city girls come to us there -every summer for a playtime. If you will remember and write, or come -to me when the next summer vacation begins, you shall be one of them. -Meanwhile keep this, my address." He handed her a card and passed on, -for he was a good man and rich, with many people to make happy at -Christmas time, and to be both rich and good in New York one must work -very hard indeed. - -Going out into the street again, Bird read the name on the card before -slipping it into her pocket. Wonder of wonders! it was Clarke, the same -as that of the wall-paper manufacturer whose manager had asked Terry to -make designs for him. Of course he must be Marion Clarke's father. The -address was different from the one of the factory, but Bird knew enough -of the city now to guess that this number on the card was of his house, -and she now remembered that people had said that he conducted many -various manufactories. - -So he had built the School of Design at Northboro that she had dreamed -about ever since she went there with her father to look at an exhibition -of drawings! Could it be that this card was the Christmas sign of hope -and promise to her? She almost flew homeward after buying the candles -and little toys, and laughed and chatted so cheerfully with Billy when -she gave him his supper, that her cousin Larry, who had always teased -her for being set up, remarked to his mother, "Ladybird is coming down -from her perch some; maybe she'll get to be like us, after all." But it -was upward, not downward, that the brave, clipped wings were struggling. - - * * * * * - -Between Christmas and New Year there came a snow-storm, and then -bitterly cold weather. In Laurelville snow meant sleighing, coasting, -bracing air, and rosy cheeks; in East 24th Street it signified soaked -skirts, sodden shoes, and sore throats, while for Billy it brought -unhappy shut-in days, for his crutch slipped dangerously in icy weather. - -One evening Mrs. O'More was called out to sit with a sick neighbour. She -told Bird not to wait up as she might be late, and she would take the -key with her, as the boys had keys of their own if they came in first. - -Bird was used to thus staying shut into the flat alone, and so after -she heard the key turn in the door of their narrow hallway, she amused -herself for perhaps an hour by drawing, and then went to bed. She had -been dragging Billy about on his sled up and down the street all the -afternoon, so she soon fell into a heavy sleep. - -It must have been a couple of hours after when she waked up suddenly -and tried vainly to think where she was. The room felt hot and airless, -and a strange smell of scorched leather filled the air. She managed -to get on her feet, pulled on a few clothes, and tried to open a side -window, but it stuck fast. Going to the front, she raised the sash, and -as she did so, a cloud of smoke poured into the room, while the shouts -and clashing of gongs in the street told what it was that had wakened -her--the fire-engines! The great sales stables with their tons of hay -and straw were on fire, and the house also, while in the street all was -in an uproar of frightened horses and men. - -Rushing back to her room, she shook Billy awake and, wrapping a few -clothes about him, dragged him toward the hall door. It was locked of -course, as Mrs. O'More had taken the key. By this time the smoke and -flames were pouring in the front windows. Ah, the fire-escape! Through -the kitchen she struggled, and out on to the icy balcony, having the -sense to close the window behind her. - -The back yards were full of firemen, and excited people hung from the -windows of opposite buildings. Bird tried to raise the trap in the floor -door, but the boxes of frozen earth that had held the morning-glories -bore it down, making it useless, and the one below was hopelessly heaped -with litter. - -Would nobody see her? Billy clung to her, sobbing pitifully, for he -was lightly covered, and shivered with cold as well as fear. The -window-frame inside was catching, and heat also came up from below. Was -this the end? Must the wild bird die in her cage? - -Suddenly a great shout arose in the rear; people had seen and were -pointing them out. Up came the firemen, climbing, clinging, battering -down the obstructions before them. Ah, those wonderful firemen that -keep our faith in old-time valour! - -A moment more, and an axe struck open the prisoned trap-door, a head -came through, and a voice cried, "Good God, it's Bird and little Billy!" - -"Dave, my fireman!" sobbed the boy, flinging himself into the strong -arms. "Take him," commanded Bird, as the man hesitated an instant; "I -can follow." Down the ladder they went step by step until the flames -from the lower story crept through and stopped them again, and the -slender fire ladder, held by strong arms, shot up to them, and Dave's -mate grasped Bird and carried her down to safety. Then the firemen -cheered, and tears rolled down Big Dave's cheeks unchecked. - -Kind, if rough, people took them in and warmed and fed them, and more -kind people guided Mrs. O'More to them when she rushed frantically home. -But little Billy had suffered a nervous shock, and lay there moaning and -seeming to think that the fire still pursued him. - -"He will need great care and nursing to pull him through, for he is -naturally delicate," said the doctor the next day when they had moved -into a couple of furnished rooms that were rented to Mrs. O'More by a -friend in a near-by street until she could pull herself together, as -they had lost everything. "He must either go to a hospital or have a -nurse," continued the doctor, gravely. But Mrs. O'More could not be made -to see it. - -"His father'd never forgive me if I put him out o' me hands," she said; -"he'll pick up from the fright after a bit, and what with John away, -and never saving a cent of cash no more than the boys, and the business -all burned out along with us, I've not money in hand for the wasting on -nurses." - -Bird knew better,--knew that Billy was very sick, and she could not let -him die so. Ah! the keepsake, the precious coin! Now was the time to -spend it, for there could be no greater necessity than this. What if it -was not enough? Even if it was not much, it might do until her uncle got -back, and then she knew Billy would have care if his father begged in -the street for it. - -Going away in a corner, she unfastened the silver chain and detached the -little bag from it. With difficulty she ripped the thong stitches, but -instead of a coin, out of many wrappings fell a slender band of gold -set with one large diamond. As she turned the ring over in surprise, -some letters within caught her eye--"Bertha Rawley, from her godfather, -J. S." - -This was the name of Terence O'More's mother, and the ring had been a -wedding gift from her godfather, and the one valuable possession that -she had clung to all her troubled life. But Bird knew nothing of this. - -What could Bird do with it? She pondered--her city life had made her -shrewd; she knew the miseries of the poor who went to the pawn shops, -and guessed that any one in the neighbourhood might undervalue the ring, -or likely enough say that she stole it. - -Mr. Clarke--she would go to him! Now was the time! She borrowed a hat -and wrap from the woman of whom the rooms were rented and stole out. In -an hour she came back with a triumphant look upon her face, and laying a -roll of bills before her aunt, said, "I've sold my keepsake; now we will -have a nurse for Billy right away." - -After she understood about the money, and found that it was one hundred -dollars, Mrs. O'More broke down and cried like a baby, telling Bird -that she was a real lady and no mistake. And then adding, to Bird's -indignation, "I wonder did you get the value o' the ring, or did he -cheat you, the old skin!" But, nevertheless, the nurse came, and not an -hour too soon. - -Meanwhile a certain rich man sat at his library desk, holding a diamond -ring in his hand, saying, half aloud: "I believe the girl's story, -though I suppose most people would say she stole the ring, or was given -it by those who did. It is healthier to believe than to doubt. I shall -investigate the matter to-morrow and keep the ring for the child. It -is a fine stone worth four times the sum I gave her, but she would not -take any more than the one hundred dollars, nor was it wise for me to -press her. Ah! letters inside! Bertha Rawley! She said her grandmother -was an Englishwoman. That new superintendent of the Northboro Art School -is named Rawley. He studied at South Kensington. I wonder if they could -be related. O'More. I think that name comes into that Mill Farm deed -mix-up. I will write to Rawley at once and see what is known about the -girl in Laurelville, for something tells me that child is 'one of these -little ones' who should be helped." - - - - -XV - -THE BIRD IS FREED - - -January was half over before it was possible for the Lanes to take their -long-promised trip to New York to look up Bird and bring her back, as -her uncle had exacted, a legal sister to Lammy. - -Moving from the small house into the large one, even though the -necessary repairs were to be made by degrees, was more of an undertaking -than Mrs. Lane had bargained for. Also it took Lammy a long time to get -"the bones back in his legs," though happiness and Dr. Jedd's tonics -worked wonders. - -Dr. Jedd had suggested that a furnace required much less care than three -or four stoves, and so one had been put in. Mrs. Jedd, who had very -good taste, and a tactful way of expressing it that never gave offence, -suggested to Mrs. Lane that, instead of covering the mahogany parlour -set with red plush, the floor with a red-figured tapestry brussels, -replacing the small window-panes with great sheets of glass, bricking -up the wide fireplace, and then closing the whole room up except, -as Joshua said, for funerals, it should be turned into a comfortable -living-room. - -This suited Joshua, the older boys, and Lammy exactly, and though -Lauretta Ann demurred at first, saying, "It didn't seem hardly -respectable not to hev a best room," she quickly yielded, and said that -it "would be a real comfort to have a separate place to eat in when -there was a lot of baking on hand and the kitchen all of a tousle, -likewise to set in after meals." - -So the old furniture was recovered with a suitable dull green corduroy, -and some comfortable Morris chairs added, "that pa and the boys -wouldn't be tempted to set back on the hind legs of the mahogany, which -is brittle." A deep red rug, that would not have to be untacked at -housecleaning times, covered the centre of the floor, with Grandmother -Lane's long Thanksgiving dinner-table in the centre, and a smaller -round one with folding leaves in the corner, for the entertaining of -the friends who were constantly dropping in for a chat and a cup of tea -and crullers or a cut of mince pie, for no one in the county had such a -reputation for crullers and mince meat, combined with a lavish use of -them, as Lauretta Ann Lane. - -Next Mrs. Jedd ventured to suggest that the fireplace be left open and -some of the big logs, with which Aunt Jimmy had always kept the woodshed -filled, simply because her mother had done so before her, used for a -nightly hearth fire. - -Mrs. Lane said she hadn't any andirons and the ashes would make dust, -but Joshua was so pleased with the idea of returning to old ways that -she yielded; and when, on the old fire-board being removed to clean -the chimney of soot and swallows' nests, a pair of tall andirons and a -fender were found, the matter settled itself, and Mrs. Lane soon came -to take pride in the cheerful blaze, while the best dishes, which were -of really handsome blue and white India porcelain, were ranged in racks -over the mantel-shelf. - -Then there was a sunny southwest window, and Joshua fastened a long -shelf in front of this for his wife's geraniums, wax-plant, and -wandering Jew that had shut out the light from the best window in the -kitchen, and these brought in the welcome touch of greenery in spite of -the particoloured crimped paper with which she insisted upon decorating -the pots. - -"How Bird will love this room!" Lammy said a dozen times a day, as he -remembered how prettily she had arranged the scanty furnishings at the -house above the crossroads, and disliked everything that savoured of -show or cheap finery, and it seemed to him that Bird's companionship -was the only thing necessary to prove that heaven, instead of being a -far-away region, at least had a branch at the fruit farm in Laurelville. - -The doctor said that Lammy must not return to school until the midwinter -term, and so he spent his time in the shop back of the barn, making many -little knickknacks for the house, not a few of them being intended for -Bird's room, for which he also designed a low book-shelf that made a -seat in the dormer window, and a table with a hinge that she could use -when she wished to draw or paint, and then close against the wall. - -This room was next to Mrs. Lane's, and had two dormer windows and a deep -press closet lighted by a high window, under which the washstand stood. -It was furnished with a white enamelled bed and a plain white painted -dresser, upon which, Lammy said, Bird could paint whatever flowers she -chose. There were frilled curtains of striped dimity at the windows, -and a quilt and bed valance of the same, for Mrs. Lane despised any -ornamental fabric that would not wash and "bile." The floor was covered -with matting, but three sheepskin rugs of home raising and dyed fox -colour were placed, one at the side of the bed, one before the bureau, -and one under the wall table, upon which Bird's paint-box stood close -to the leather-paper portfolio that Lammy had made to hold the precious -sketches. - -He had tried his best to find a wall paper with a red "piney" border, -but they told him at the great paper warehouse at Northboro that they -had never seen such a paper, so he took wild-rose sprays instead. - -Lammy had also filled a small bark-covered box with Christmas ferns, -ebony spleenwort, wintergreen, partridge-berries, and moss, for the -window-ledge, while fresh festoons of ground-pine topped the windows -even though Christmas was long past. In fact, Lammy could hardly keep -away from the room, and often when he went in, he met his mother, for -whom it had the same attraction, and then they would both laugh happily -and, closing the door, come away hand in hand. - -It never occurred to a single member of this simple, warm-hearted -family, that there was any possibility of there being a slip between cup -and lip, and in this faith they presently set out upon their pilgrimage -to New York, for which event Lammy wore a high collar and a new suit, -his first to have long trousers. - -The minister's wife and Dinah Lucky took joint charge of the house while -the Lanes were in New York, for they intended staying several days, -perhaps a week, as Dr. Jedd said the change was exactly what they all -needed after the doings and anxieties of the past eight months, and Mr. -Cole, the lawyer from Northboro, gave them the card of a good hotel -close to the Grand Central Station, where they would be well treated and -neither snubbed nor overcharged. For he well knew that in a New York -hotel, Laurelville's Sunday-best clothes looked as strangely out of -place as Dr. Jedd's carryall would on Fifth Avenue. - -During the past few weeks, Alfred Rawley, the new superintendent of -the Northboro School of Industrial Art, had made several visits to the -Lanes, at first upon business connected with Aunt Jimmy's legacy, and -then because he seemed to like to come. He was a fine-looking man of -fifty, and not only a stranger in Northboro, but a bachelor without home -ties. He seemed greatly interested in Bird, about whom Lammy talked so -constantly that the visitor could not but hear of her, and asked to see -the portfolio of drawings in which were some of hers, and he praised -them very highly for their promise. - -The Lanes arrived in New York just before dark of a Tuesday afternoon, -and spent the rest of the evening in looking out of their windows at the -remarkable and confused thoroughfare below them that was made still more -of a spectacle by the glare of electric lights. Lammy wished to go and -look for Bird at once, but his father wouldn't hear of doing so until -broad daylight, saying:-- - -"Sakes alive, it ain't safe. I've been across Hill's swamp without a -lantern on a foggy night a-callin' up lost sheep, but that down there -with them queer kind o' two-wheel carts that bob along in narrow places -like teeter snipe crossin' the mill-dam, I'll not venture it, leastwise -not with mother along." So Lammy went to bed to kill time, but a little -later curiosity got the better of Joshua, and he spent an hour in the -lobby, where he learned, besides several other things, that the "teeter -snipe" carts were called "hansome cabs." - -To the surprise of the early-rising country folk, it was eleven -o'clock the next morning before they found themselves ready to take a -south-bound Fourth Avenue car, for the visit to Bird, and Joshua told -the conductor four times in ten blocks where they wished to get off, -and what they were going for, while Mrs. Lane sat still, smiling and -quivering all over from the shiney tips of her first boots (other than -Congress gaiters) to the jet fandango atop of a real Northboro store -bonnet, and the smile was so infectious that it soon spread through the -entire car. - -When they got off at 24th Street and made the sidewalk in tremulous -safety, they marched east in silence, counting the numbers as they went. - -"'Tain't much of a neighbourhood," sniffed Mrs. Lane, wondering at the -ash barrels and pails of swill that lined the way. - -"Don't jedge hasty, mother," said Joshua; "we mustn't be hard on -city folks that ain't got our advantages in the way o' pigs to turn -swill into meat, and bog-holes ter swaller ashes what don't go to -road-makin'." - -"We must be near there," gasped Lauretta Ann, presently. She had been -persuaded to have her new gown made a "stylish length" by Hope Snippin, -the village dressmaker, in consequence of which she was grasping her -skirts on both sides, floundering and plunging along very much like an -old-style market schooner, with its sails fouled in the rigging. - -"Oh, mother, look there!" said Lammy, with white, trembling lips. He -had been running on ahead and keeping track of the numbers, but he now -stood still, pointing to a half block of burned and ruined buildings, -walled in ice and draped with cruel icicles that seemed to pierce his -very flesh as he gazed at them. - -For a minute they were all fairly speechless and stood open-mouthed, -then Joshua, recovering first, settled his teeth firmly back in place, -and laughing feebly, said: "Been a fire, I reckon; thet's nothing. I've -heard somethin' gets afire as often as every week in N'York. They must -be somewhere, and we'll jest calm down and ask the neighbours over the -way--in course they'll know." - -But to Joshua's wonder they didn't, at least not definitely, and all he -could learn was that the O'Mores had moved somewhere a couple of blocks -"over." - -"Gosh, but ain't N'York a heathen town," muttered Joshua; "jest think, -folks burned out an' their neighbours don't take no trouble about -'em; we might even get knocked down, and I bet they wouldn't be a bit -surprised. I'd like to strike fer home." - -As they wandered helplessly along block after block, the crowd of -workmen and children in the streets coming home to dinner told that it -was noon. - -There was no use in going they did not know where, and they had not met -a single policeman whom they could question. As they stood upon a corner -consulting as to what they had best do, a group of girls coming up and -dividing passed on either side of them, one bold-looking chit in a red -plush hat and soiled gown singing out something about "When Reuben comes -to town," and giving Lammy a push at the same time. - -As he turned to avoid her, he heard his name called, and breaking from -her mates, a slender little figure with big black eyes dropped her -satchel and flung her arms around his neck, heedless of the merriment -and jeers of her companions. Bird was found at last! - -[Illustration: "_Bird was found at last._"] - -There was no longer any use in trying to keep up the barrier of pride, -or of pretending she was happy, and Bird led her friends home to the new -flat, wherein O'More had established his family on his return. - -That afternoon there was a long powwow in which Mrs. O'More made herself -very disagreeable, as she had come to rely upon Bird and did not wish -to have Billy back upon her hands, but John O'More stood firm by his -promise, saying, even if he'd never made it, Bird should have her choice -after the way she'd stood by Billy in time of need. "She stuck by her -blood kin, and she's a lady through and through, and we're different, -and it's neither's fault that we're a reproach to each other," was -O'More's summing up. "If you can keep her, you can take her, but God -help little Billy! The doctor says good care a couple o' years more, an' -he'll have a chance for his leg. I can pay for care, but it's not to be -bought around here." - -Mrs. Lane saw the tears in the rough man's eyes, and her big -mother-heart throbbed, and to some purpose, as usual. - -"Our doctor's wife would take him to board, I guess," she said, after -thinking a minute. "She took a little boy from Northboro last summer, -and did real well by him, her children bein' grown now and out of hand. -Dr. Jedd, he'd give him care besides. I'll take him along with us if you -think he'll grieve, and you can write or come up and settle it." - -It was only then that Bird's happiness was complete, and little Billy -hugged and hugged her, and cried in his piping voice, "Now we're going -to fly away out of the cage to your country for _sure_ this time," and -Bird answered joyfully and truthfully, "Yes." - -"And the sooner we'll fly, the better I'll like it," added Joshua. -"This very afternoon would suit me." - -But Lauretta Ann had determined upon two things: she was going to buy -the material for a black silk gown in New York, also a handsome china -jar to contain the remains of the pewter tea-pot and be "a moniment -to Aunt Jimmy," in the centre of the India china on the living-room -mantel-shelf. Mrs. O'More, sullenly accepting her defeat, and now in her -element, which was buying dress goods, offered to conduct the stranger -through the mazes of Sixth Avenue department stores; so after a hasty -lunch they set out, while her husband and Joshua Lane talked matters -over, and the children were in a seventh heaven of anticipation. - -"One thing's on me mind,--that ring the girl sold to buy doctorin' for -Billy. I only hope she got the worth of it, and that the man's on the -square, for she won't give me the name of the gent that bought it, and -when I'm picked a bit out o' me trouble, I'd like to buy back the same, -for the keepsake is her only fortune. Maybe some day you can coax the -name out o' her." - -"Likely I can--plenty o' time for that," drawled Joshua, who usually -knew more than he appeared to. - - * * * * * - -The next afternoon five tired but happy people arrived at the Centre -and electrified the neighbourhood by hiring a hack to take them to -Laurelville, Joshua having only been persuaded to stay two days of the -proposed week's excursion. - -"I'm goin' to have Hope Snippin up to-morrow morning to shorten my -gown," was Mrs. Lane's greeting to the minister's wife when she opened -the door in alarm at the unexpected return, while Twinkle leaped into -Bird's arms, fairly screaming with dog joy. - -It was evident, however, that the sudden return was not wholly a -surprise. Somebody had sent a telegram to somebody, and Joshua's manner -in the interval before supper cast the suspicion upon him. After Bird -had seen her pretty room and coaxed Billy, who was nodding drowsily, to -eat his bread and milk and go to bed before the real supper, she came -down to the living-room, where the table was spread for the first time -instead of in the kitchen, for Dinah Lucky came in a few hours every day -now to do the heavy work and give Mrs. Lane more leisure. A stranger -was sitting by the fire. He rose and took Bird by the hand very gently -and drew her to the lounge beside him, at the same time handing her a -letter. She was too much surprised to notice that no one introduced her -or told his name. She opened the letter; her keepsake ring rolled into -her lap as she read:-- - - "DEAR BERTHA O'MORE: I know all about you now, and I believed in - you from the first. Here is your ring; wear it about your neck as - before for a keepsake, until some day, ten years or so hence--then - ask the one you love best to put it upon your left hand. With the - respect of your friend, - - "MARION CLARKE'S FATHER. - - "P.S. The bearer of this letter is Alfred Rawley, your - grandmother's youngest brother!" - -In spite of her bewilderment, her first thought was, "So he was really -Marion's father!" Next spring she would beg him to give Tessie the -holiday that he had offered her that Christmastide in the twilight of -the church. - -Joshua Lane capered about like a young kid as his wife tried to chase -him into a corner, exclaiming, "Now you jest up and tell me how long -you've known all this, and not told your lawful wife!" - -"Wal, let me see," he said, counting on his fingers; "considerable -longer than it'll take us to eat supper," was all the answer she -received. - - * * * * * - -That night Bird opened her bedroom window and looked out into the frosty -moonlight, where far away in the distance the runaway Christmas trees -were outlined against the sky and the roots of red peony that Lammy -planted were waiting under the ground for their spring blooming time to -come. Stretching out her arms as she drew in great reviving breaths of -the clear, frosty air, then clasping her hands together, she whispered, -"Terry, dear, you know it all; you know your Bird is free again, and -that she remembers, and now you must help her to fly the right way." - -[Illustration] - - - - -DOGTOWN - -_Being some Chapters from the Annals of the Waddles Family, set down in -the Language of the House People_ - -By MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT - -Author of "Tommy Anne," "Birdcraft," etc., etc. - -_Illustrated by Portraits from Life by the Author_ - - =Cloth= =12mo= =$1.50, net= - - "The dogs are entirely delightful, made alive and personal as - only the closest intimacy of knowledge and understanding could make - them."--_The Nation._ - - "It is a book you want for a Christmas present for the child or - grown-up dog-lover."--_American Sportsman._ - - -FLOWERS AND FERNS IN THEIR HAUNTS - -By MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT - -_With Illustrations from Photographs by the Author and_ J. HORACE -MCFARLAND - - =Cloth= =12mo= =$2.50, net= - - "The reader of Mrs. Wright's handsome volume will wend his way - into a fairy world of loveliness, and find not only serious wildwood - lore, but poetry also, and sentiment and pictures of the pen that - will stay with him through winter days of snow and ice.... A careful - and interesting companion, its many illustrations being particularly - useful."--_New York Tribune._ - - -THE FRIENDSHIP OF NATURE - -_A New England Chronicle of Birds and Flowers_ - -By MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT - - =18mo= =Cloth, 75 cts.= =Large Paper, $3.00= - - "A dainty little volume, exhaling the perfume and radiating - the hues of both cultivated and wild flowers, echoing the songs - of birds, and illustrated with exquisite pen pictures of bits of - garden, field, and woodland scenery. The author is an intimate of - nature. She relishes its beauties with the keenest delight, and - describes them with a musical flow of language that carries us - along from a 'May Day' to a 'Winter Mood' in a thoroughly sustained - effort: and as we drift with the current of her fancy and her - tribute to nature, we gather much that is informatory, for she - has made a close study of the habits of birds and the legendry of - flowers."--_Richmond Dispatch._ - - -Four-Footed Americans and Their Kin - -BY MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT - -Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN. Illustrated by ERNEST SETON-THOMPSON - - =Cloth.= =Crown 8vo.= =$1.50, net= - - "It deserves commendation for its fascinating style, and for the - fund of information which it contains regarding the familiar and - many unfamiliar animals of this country. It is an ideal book for - children, and doubtless older folk will find in its pages much of - interest."--_The Dial._ - - "Books like this are cups of delight to wide-awake and inquisitive - girls and boys. Here is a gossipy history of American quadrupeds, - bright, entertaining, and thoroughly instructive. The text, by Mrs. - Wright, has all the fascination that distinguishes her other outdoor - books."--_The Independent._ - - -Citizen Bird - -_Scenes from Bird-life in Plain English for a Beginner_ - -By MABEL O. WRIGHT and DR. ELLIOTT COUES - -Profusely illustrated by LOUIS AGASSIZ FUERTES - - =Cloth.= =Crown 8vo.= =$1.50, net= - - "When two writers of marked ability in both literature and - natural history write to produce a work giving scope to their - special talents, the public has reason to expect a masterpiece - of its kind. In the 'Citizen Bird,' by Mabel O. Wright and Dr. - Elliott Coues, this expectation is realized--seldom is the plan of - a book so admirably conceived, and in every detail so excellently - fulfilled."--_The Dial._ - - "There is no other book in existence so well fitted for arousing - and directing the interest that all children feel toward the - birds."--_Tribune_, Chicago. - - -Birdcraft - -_A Field-Book of Two Hundred Song, Game, and Water Birds_ - -BY MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT - -With eighty full-page plates by Louis Agassiz Fuertes - - "One of the best books that amateurs in the study of ornithology - can find ... direct, forcible, plain, and pleasing."--_Chautauquan._ - - "Of books on birds there are many, all more or less valuable, - but 'Birdcraft,' by MABEL O. WRIGHT, has peculiar merits that will - endear it to amateur ornithologists.... A large number of excellent - illustrations throw light on the text and help to make a book that - will arouse the delight and win the gratitude of every lover of - birds."--_Saturday Evening Gazette_, Boston. - - -Tommy-Anne and the Three Hearts - -BY MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT - -With many illustrations by ALBERT D. BLASHFIELD - - =Cloth.= =Crown 8vo.= =$1.50= - - "This book is calculated to interest children in nature, and grown - folks, too, will find themselves catching the author's enthusiasm. - As for Tommy-Anne herself, she is bound to make friends wherever - she is known. The more of such books as these, the better for the - children. One Tommy-Anne is worth a whole shelf of the average - juvenile literature."--_The Critic._ - - -Wabeno, the Magician - -_The Sequel to Tommy-Anne and the Three Hearts_ - -By MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT - -Fully illustrated by JOSEPH M. GLEESON - - =Cloth.= =Crown 8vo.= =$1.50= - - "Mrs. Wright's book teaches her young readers to use their eyes - and ears, but it does more in that it cultivates in them a genuine - love for nature and for every member of the animal kingdom. The best - of the book is that it is never dull."--_Boston Budget._ - - -The Dream Fox Story Book - -BY MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT - -With eighty drawings by OLIVER HERFORD - - =Cloth.= =Small quarto.= =$1.50, net= - - Mrs. Wright's new book for young people recounts the marvellous - adventures of Billy Benton, his acquaintance with the Dream Fox and - the Night Mare, and what came of it. It differs from the author's - previous stories, as it is purely imaginative and somewhat similar - to "Alice in Wonderland." - - There are eight full-page illustrations, showing Billy at moments - of greatest interest, and also seventy drawings scattered throughout - the text. These illustrations are by Oliver Herford, who has entered - thoroughly into the spirit of the text, so that the pictures seem an - integral part of the story. - - - THE MACMILLAN COMPANY - 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK - - - - -Transcriber's note - - -Text in italics has been surrounded by _underscores_ and small capitals -have been replaced with all capitals. - -A few punctuation errors have been corrected. Otherwise the original has -been preserved, including inconsistent spelling and hyphenation. - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Aunt Jimmy's Will, by Mabel Osgood Wright - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUNT JIMMY'S WILL *** - -***** This file should be named 42437-8.txt or 42437-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/4/3/42437/ - -Produced by eagkw, Greg Bergquist and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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