Terry / A Tale of the Hill People

ll-calibered rifle. The hunter sprang from the thicket in which he had lain concealed and crossed

t down to examine t

ou laughed at me till the snow came-knew I wouldn't bring you out of your hole with formalin, that it was a s

appeal, dominated by a queer twist of upper lip that stamped his mouth with a permanent wistfulness. Even in the bracing cold of the winter morning his skin was white, bu

the sport." His face lighted. "You're going to be a proud little fox. If foxes have souls-and I don't see why we should deny y

of rolling meadowlands. For a long time Terry stood facing toward the invisible village, his face moody and inscrutable. As the sound of the bells died aw

xcess of the fine energy of youth and he made his way swiftly across the sparkling snow that blanketed the gentle landscape,

played possum till he passed on. A rabbit, reared up in nervous-nosed inquiry, watched him furtively as he

ou young scamp, or you'll wind up in t

st steep grade. Lake Champlain stretched her flat-frozen bosom to the north and south of him. The more level timbered areas of

adth and width checkered into exact squares by wide, straight streets. It was an old town: a score of its flat-roofed structures had been built while the M

strangers to tarry within its gates, but seemed to promise "value received"

ept the four at Princeton. He tarried, his eyes fixed upon the cemetery which limited the easte

hrough town to the lake front. No one was in sight on the broad thoroughfare and he found a measure of relief in its emptiness, for though he did not adhere to the rigid New England doctrine that governed his

oached the block made up by Crampville's three churches, the big doors of his own church were flung open an

st the background of black fur which he had thrown across his shoulder in order to free his right hand that he might gravely raise his crimson hunting cap in respectful salutation of families he had known from childhood. And they still tell, too, how Deane Hunter, flushed with

oulders and passed through the shadowy rooms out into the barn. In five minutes he had cleaned and oiled h

ld mansion since their marriage two years previously, rather against Ellis' desires. He had wished to set up an establishment of his own, but had yielded to Susan's plead

s significance. It had been difficult for them to control their emotions as they kept slow step with the throng down the broad sidewalk. Susan, mortified but loyal to the cor

on the curing of pelts and ro

u are safe in sitting at the same

, Dick! Why did you do it?

"Easy. It's the simplest thing I do. It i

-Ballard, Remington and Van Slyke-talking about it, and they w

rm around each and lead them into the

Ballard or Van Slyke. They are influen

right, so far as it goes-but they mix it u

gedly: "Not that their dyspepsia and religion are always

er Ellis' exaggerated defense,

o do with that nasty

n quick alarm. "You didn'

at fox, Dick. You have been out hunting nearly every day for tw

Ellis broke in. "I've heard th

ridiculous? Dick, why have y

mped, that this was another of his queer q

onal matter between

ut only succeeded in raising another laugh from both. But she

l bet anythin

s! Even Dick would

nsisted, "that it is somethi

d hit the mark. But she was instantly sorry that she had pressed the issue, a

give Deane this Christmas? He is about due to present h

The first formal offerings tendered by the two boys on the occasion of her graduation from high school typified the contrasting characters of the rivals: Terry, ideal

Mount Defiance's cool top; Bruce had sent her candy. From his medical college at Baltimore Bruce had sent

pondence with the American consul at Kobe: a pair of Siamese kittens which he named Cat-Nip and Cat-Nap: a sandal-wood fan out of India

gé a splendid common sense in selection of his gifts: but the women and girls, who made up the other group, envied Deane not

ticularly, as he was a young surgeon of such promise that he had twice been invited into junior association with Albany's grea

able" in Crampville, he felt no need of devoting himself to adding to an already ample estate. At his sister's request, he had undertaken to manage a shoe store that represented one of their holdings but at the end of a couple of months had given it up-also in accord with her wishes. Hig

end of a trying day of insistent demand for smaller shoes than feminine feet could acc

e De

s mesmeric voice-but after a month in the shoe business I know bett

oughts of calfskin, kid, patent leather. Bu

nage. I am very happy in this, as it is good to think that your dear shoes are but a part

to-night. But I wil

i

at produced the effect Terry had asked. Mr. Hunter was acutely sensitive about twin co

the old tenants at the end of the harvest. He had then studied the possibilities of enlarging their only other business, a small pulp plant, but after satisfying himself that the meager water power was being fully utilized and t

citude of an older sister, saw in Deane an anchor which would hold him to the town. Ellis had been less concerned, as he had recognized that Terry's intolerance of the village was but the outcropping of a sane young spirit that gauged the peaks and

d served them since they were children, bustled in and out, redfaced, wholesome, fruitlessly trying to press upon Terry an excess of the over-ample

one out into the barn again. Susan helped Fanny clear the old mah

aid anything lately about accepting th

r smooth face: "No. I suppos

out his staying home, Sue. He wants to see things-do thing

ne," she sai

t. Don't bank too heavily on yours." He drummed the polished table a moment before continuing: "H

she qu

s he doesn't wan

young Bronner in college-he gave Dick all these crazy idea

d man! I enjoyed his stories of his brother's experiences wit

e that to Dick, do

at he would stay on here indefinitely-I think it wi

low of tears which had threatened to overflow her blue eyes. Then,

made, he wrote a note of sincere apology to Doctor Mather, his pastor. He also wrote Deane that he would not be over in the evening but w

er lights had winked out. He had been picked up by Stevenson and

gay mood revealed by the running talk a

but the book says it can be done. So you might as well soften up now-"he v

l ambition by preaching content with your lot, where the hoarders of pennies are venerated and the pluggers canonized-I wouldn't bring you here just for me. For I'm not worthy of you. No, sir-ree! Don't you know I'm no good-didn't you see t

whimsical. Having carried the curing to a point where a twenty-four-hour time pro

se, and that the young pastor had very promptly and very emphatically vetoed the proceeding. It seemed that Bruce had heard of the move and pe

, Dick. Some fellows, under the circumstances-all the

vely. "Good old

ing old man should think him unfit to sit in the church in which his father and mother had been married, from which t

ll denominations-and those of none. Terry loved the old study, which in forty years had taken on something of the priest's characte

sdom and cheer. All the gossip of the town came to the priest: he knew of Terry's hunting trip and of the climax which had scandalized the

that it was worry over the town's harsh reaction to the Sunday

e Sunday morning. I had a question t

he concluded, his eyes twinkling: "I wan

before the fire, the priest in a worn rocker drawn up close to the hearth: the s

he villagers' careless ostracism of all who came under the easy classification of the term "wop." There existed a tacit agreement among property owners that no house north of the river should be sold or leased to a foreigner, and that no garlic might taint the atmosphere their children breathed in school

called in to settle knotty problems and to partake of the hospitality they lavished upon appropriate occasions of weddings, christenings and the neverending procession of days of patron saints. Subtle, romantic, circumscribed by alien environment, they recogni

at beside him. Gradually a deep concern spread across his comfortably aged features, a presentimen

o do right here in Crampville-what is this