Devil's Ford

ouse, built near the site of the double cabin, which was again transferred to the settlement, in order to give greater seclusion to the fair guests. It was a long, roomy, one-stor

ade linen covers, had also been spoils from afar. Elsewhere the house was filled with ornaments and decorations that in their incongruity forcibly recalled the gilded plate-glass mirrors of the be

eorge Kearney, when they were taking a quiet preliminary survey

ll," said his bro

Dick Mattingly, who was supposed, in his fie

here also. Indeed, it is to be feared that some of the more rustic and bashful youths of Devil's Ford, who had felt it incumbent upon them to pay their respects to the new-comers, were more at ease in this vestibule than in the arcana beyond, whose glories they could see through the open door. To others, it represented a recognized state of probation before their re-entree into ci

there, and took up a Webster's dictionary that was on the table and laid it open-keerless like, on my knees, ez if I was sorter consultin' it-and kinder dozed off there, listenin' to you fellows gassin' with the young ladies, and that yer

ely-aged women and children and maimed and fever-stricken men. Against this rude form of domesticity were opposed the chromo-tinted dresses and extravagant complexions of a few single unattended women-happily seen more often at night behind gilded bars than in the garish light of day-and an equal number of pale-faced, dark-moustached, well-dressed, and suspiciously idle men. A dozen rivals of Thompson's Saloon had sprung up along the narrow main street. There were two new hotels-one a "Temperance House," whose ascetic quality was confined only to the abnegation of whiskey-a rival stage office, and a small one-storied building, from which the "Sierran Banner" fluttered weekly, for "ten dollars a year, in advance." Insufferable in the gla

en met with rudeness and suspicion-they gradually fell into the way of trusting the responsibility of new acquaintances to the hands of their original hosts, and of consulting them in the matter of local recreation. It thus occurred that one day the two girls, on their way to the main street for an hour's shopping at the Villa de Paris and Variety Store, were stopped by Dick Mattingly a few yards from their house, with the remark that, as th

shown a new and romantic trail, were diverted from the regular path. This enabled Mattingly and Maryland Joe to cut down the body of a man hanged by the Vigilance C

man in," expostulated Joe, "you m

ance of it. Mr. Carr was too absorbed in business to give heed to what he looked upon as a convulsion of society as na

ne morning, lingered a moment over his perfunctory paternal embraces, with the awkwardness of a

ay, Christie?" he asked, as

going to ride over to Indian Spring to picnic. Fairfax-Mr. Munroe-I always forget that man's real name in this dr

uth and eyelids to indicate mischievousness. "I've no doubt they'll both be here. You know they usually ar

Christie carelessly; "beside

beginning to be resigne

are you talki

ft of his speech, and, withal, a little vague impatience of his archness, that Mr. Carr was feebly alarmed. I

was paying considerable attention to-to-to Jessi

! tha

e mine. A very enterprising young fellow. In fact, much more advanced and

ing quality of this proof, but she was too much shocked at

talking seriously of these men-your friends

ly; "you misunderstand. I don

Am I i

, with his most serious aspect, "of you and Jessie in this matter; but it may be a serious

y discompose her father. "Perhaps you are right, though I fail to discover anything serious in the attentions of young Kearney to Jessie

ith the reflection that he had not shown his hand or committed himself. "Yes; but it would perhaps be just as well for the present

ar, a slight lack of reverence in her tone, as her sister reentered

ter's half-interrogative, half-amused

fax-I think it's Fairfax-is

ontracted as she looked

y one has put that idea into his dear old

"but perhaps it's just as well if we kep

ay so?" said

is evidently w

d Jessie slo

e, you don't for a moment mean to say that y

sip. I remember that the other day, when we passed the shanty of that Pike County family on the slope, there were three women at the door, and one of them said something that made poor little Kearney turn white and pink alternately, and dance with suppre

ght her sister's with a certa

r shoulders, with a

ht to have thought

her woman and nobody to gossip, and that's what made it so nice. I don't

e permission to be worshipped; but beyond that she racked her brain in vain to recall any look or act that proclaimed the lover. These men, whom she had found so relapsed into barbarism that they had forgotten the most ordinary

reedom in their presence? No! they must have understood from the beginning that she and her sister had never l

and her father had come to them as an employee, until they had taken him into partnership. If there had only been sentiment of any kind connected with any of them! But they were all alike, brave, unselfish, humorous-and often ridiculous. If anything, Dick Mattingly was funniest

distinctive of them all. He had once brought her some rare tea from the Chinese camp, and had taught her how to make it; he had cautioned her against sitting und

essie, "it amu

dimpling the cheek nearest Jessie, and tu

d this extraordinary atte

ably on the table sideways, and endeavoring, to p

above all, don't be slan

can't say t

hat's preposterous, do they persist in pairing m

aped from

t so bad as all that. You don't know him. But what does it

" said Christie resignedly. "Father thoug

hoed Jessie, stopping w

hy do y

left the room, and wa