Coniston -- Complete
yer of dust covers the old green stage which has worn the road for so many years over Truro Gap. If you are ever in Brampton, you can still
desirable as a member of Congress than Mr. Sutton, who had so ably served his party (and Jethro) by holding the House against the insurgents in the matter of the Truro Bill? Mr. Sutton was, moreover, a gentleman, an owner o
tol. So said the Brampton and Harwich papers, at least, though rivals and detractors of Mr. Sutton declared that they could find no matter in it which related to the subject of a bill, but that is neither here nor there.
ame upon Mr. Sutton's speech. There were four columns of it, but Jethro seemed to take delight in every word; and portions of the noblest parts of it, indeed, he
n she had laid the paper down, "I thoug
leaned
nto your head, C
ybody says so,-Moses Hatch, Ri
her, as she tho
ything about such things, Cy
te, I know you do. Why," exclaimed Cynthia, indignantly, "why does M
ith his back to her. Her instinct told her that he was suffering, though she could n
you got rheumatism, too, like Cousin E
answer; "wimmen folks hadn't ought to mix up in
use I am your daughter-now that-now that I
ered huskily, with
ot of history, and I know some of the Constitution by heart. I know why old Timothy Prescott fought in the Revolution-it was to get rid o
tice that. After a space she spoke again:-"I've b
bout
d make judges of them. It's because the people have chos
did not
ind is silent in the notches and the stars seem to burn nearer to the earth. Cynthia awoke and lay staring for an instant at th
ill, Uncl
Go to bed. Er-I was just thinkin
tate capital. That day, too, Coniston was clothed in clouds, and by afternoon a wild March snowstorm was sweeping down the face of the mountain, piling against doorwa
r. He never spoke of it to Cynthia, but he used to lie and dream through the spring days of what he might have done if the war had not crippled him. For Ephraim Prescott, like his grandfather, was a man of action-a keen, intelligent American whose energy, under other circumstances, might have gone toward the making of the West
r Rowell shook his head when Jethro stopped his buggy in the road one day to inquire about Ephraim
postmaster? H-haven't any objecti
hain't agoin' to hev a pos
ostmaster at Brampton?" d
ed the trace
t Brampton!"
like it?" sai
aim, "I hain't go
f the shop, but paus
' about it, will yo
for an instant Ephraim wanted to dance until he remembered the rheumatism and the Wilderness leg. Suddenly a
he said,
?" said Ephraim
sum instantly,
tupefied into the chair in front of the shop,
s famous for its Fourth of July celebrations. Not neglecting to let it be known that Jethro had sent for him, Jake hurried off through the summer twilight to the tannery house, bowed ceremoniously to Cynthia under the butternut tree, and discovered Jethro behind the shed. It was usually Jethro's custom to allow the other man t
eems prouder than ever sence he went to Congress. I guess
velly after wool
ow," said Jake, s
velly after wool
as expedient that this erra
ee Cutter on Frid
ould happen t
nterrupt
ent to Clovelly without a conference with one or the other of these personages, if on
his head for the answer, "I'd
rain, Jake?" inqui
could deny before a jury if need be that he had sent him (Jake) to Clovelly to tell Heth Sutton to come to Coniston for instructions o
and the pastures so wondrously green in the morning sun were dotted with fat cattle and sheep. Jake was content to borrow a cut of tobacco from the superintendent and wonder aimlessly around the farm until Mr. Sutton's family prayers and breakfast were accomplished. We shall not concern ourselves with the message or the somewhat lengthy manner in which it was delivered. Jake had merely dropped in by accident, but the Rajah listened coldly while he picked his teeth, said he didn't know whether he was g
d to the Honorable Heth all the outward respect that his high position demanded, but he knew the man through and through. He thought of the Honorable Heth's reform speech in Congress, and laughed loudly in the echoing woods. No, Mr. Sutton was not the man to lead a fight. But to whom had he promi
tton had been cancelled. Instead, advertisements appeared in the 'Brampton Clarion' announcing the fact in large letters. When
Uncle Jethro?" said she, lett
et in the hay
"why, that's-sacrilege! You'd much better come a
of snapping on such occasions when he was alone with her. She was puzzled
he said, "I'll go wi
ver her, his expression
sently, "hain't fond of
aid Cynthia,
ro, "sh-shouldn't be surprise
nd then she laughed. The Rev. Mr. Satterlee, writing his Sunday
forget that you're a great, wise man, and I
ace with his blue
oin' to marry the Pa
ynthia, contritely; "I'm going to live wi
ng at all. Through the cool and fragrant woods, past the mill-pond stained blue and white by the sky, and scented clover fields and wayside flowers nodding in the morning air-Cynthia saw these things in the memory of another journey to Brampt
boy as he stood on the Gothic porch of the house, and how he had come down to the wondering country people with his smile and his merry greeting, and how he had cajoled her into lingering in front of the meeting-house. Had he forgotten her? With ju
heights look down upon the amphitheatre in which the town was built. But Cynthia was interested in history, and they went to the meeting-house accordingly, where she listened for an hour and a half to the patriotic eloquence of the representative. The painter was glad to see and hear so great a man in the hour of his glory, though so much as a fragment of
of Brampton. But they ate the lunch Cynthia had brought, far from the crowd, under the trees by Coniston Water. It was she who proposed going to the base-ball game, and the painter stifl
wered Cynthia, making
lf and the Honorable Heth Sutton might be seen. Mr. Worthington, whose hawklike look had become more pronounced, sat upright, while the Honorable Heth, his legs crossed, filled every nook and cranny of an arm-chair, and an occasional fragrant w
startling little tempers she was subjec
f Mr. Sutton boo
oint young Wheelock for the Brampton post-office." He stuck his thumb i
longed to catch upon a canvas were in her eyes. He fell back, wondering h
aid about the Brampton
ost-office?" he
o Cousin Ephraim, who will starve without it. Did yo
for he knew that she loved the soldier. She turned from the painter now with a gesture which he took to mean that his profession debarred him from such vital
ened to the homely chatter about him, until suddenly a cheer starting in one corner ran like a flash of gunpowder around the field, and eighteen young men trotted across the turf. Although he was not a devotee of sport, he noticed that nine of these, as they took their places on the bench, wore blue,-the Harwich Champions. Seven only
o Harvard men doin
turned to him a face which showed him that hi
e, burned brick-red like an
type," the ar
re," chimed in Mr. Dodd, a portly person with a tuft of yellow
ullet-headed little fellow, with freckl
" said Cynthia
n, son of Millionaire Duncan down to the capital. I guess," he added, "I guess them tw
out their best batsman. But beyond the facts that the tide was turning in Brampton's favor; that young Mr. Worthington stopped a ball flying at a phenomenal speed and batted another at a still more phenomenal speed which was not stopped; that his name and Duncan's were mingled generously in the cheering, the painter remembere
young man in gray and crimson. His honest eyes were alight with an admiration that was unmistakable to the painter-perhaps to Cynthia also, for a glow that might have been of anno
en looking for you all day. I though
swered Cynthia, composed
rough the hotel. I asked Lem Hallowell, and he didn't k
meeting-house,
don't mean to tell me that you listen
nal for uproarious laughter from Mr. Dodd and others s
a bit
she said; "but
y, pompous old fool. I had to sit through dinner with him
ed Mr. Dodd, "I b
ntion to him. He was
p since I saw you," he s
ynthia, and now she was st
ell him I think he ought to muzzle Sutton.
know," sa
g to do after the
me of course,
face
ay for the fireworks?" he begged pleadingly. "
troduced h
and demureness which at times became her so well, "but we
step nearer to her. "Won't you stay thi
re very lucky,
ace searchingly,
when he gets his mind set-he's making me do it. He wants me to see the railroads and the country, so I
said a voic
an's freckled face smiled at them from the top of the railing, his eyes were on Cynthia's face, and he had been listening e
ve known you couldn't keep away. You're the cause o
ecame ap
m sure I hate going as much as yo
hed and look
roduce you. This," he added, dragging his fri
l," said Somers, fervently; "to tell you the
ia, with a look that se
at you were up here, but I thought he was
red Cynthia, but sh
under his tan; "you ought never to go near a wom
ven as these youths. But Cynthia sat serene, the eternal feminine of all the ages, and it is no wonder that Bo
said at last, with a formality t
worth while to answer this, so
made, Mr. Worthington," he
"but if I were a man and had hands like that" (Bob thrust
ughed upr
abruptness, "I've got to go into
from the West-per
t!" He vaulted over the railing and turned. "I'll come back here
ht after the game,"
Duncan seemed blissfully unconscious,-a
ring at the ways of women, his sympathies unacc
little hard o
Cynthia got
ht to be going
he ejaculate
there for supper," and she led
t them cheerily from under the big flag which he had hung out in honor of the day. The flag was silk, and incidentally Ephraim's most valued
od of you to ta
porch to welcome her, and she ran toward him with an eagerness that started the painter to wondering