Coniston, Complete

which I have now to tell springs from the love of Cynthia Ware and Jethro Bass. The flower, when it came to b

y through the kindness of that Miss Lucretia Penniman of whom we have spoken, who wrote in Cynthia's behalf to certain friends she had in that city; how she met one William Wetherell, no longer a clerk in Mr. Judson's jewellery shop, but a newspaper man with I know not what amb

books he was to write when strength should come and a little leisure, and sometimes their glances would linger longingly on Colonnade Row that Bulfinch built across the way, where dwelt the rich

jeweller, taking the air likewise. So there came into Wetherell's mind that amusing adventure with the country lad and the locket. His name, by

. Judson was gone, "did you know any

And, thinking she had no

said, in a low tone, w

end of it did the significance of t

, from

"Was he an admirer of yours, Cynthia, that strange

nswered, "h

w that her lip was quivering, that tears wer

er, you and I, for I have found peace with you. I have tried to be honest with you, William, and I will always be so. I told you before we w

to feel the irresistible force of him. Hers was not a love that she chose, or would have chosen, but something elemental that cried out from the man to her, and drew her. Something that had in it now, as of yore, much of pain and even terror, but drew her. Strangest of al

I have never told you this for fear that it might trouble you as it has troubled me. I

an invalid to nurse," he answered. "To have

, until he came to know the mountain that lay along the western sky, and the sweet hillsides by Coniston Water under the blue haze of autumn, aye, and clothed in the colors of spring, the bri

wakeful nights her voice haunted him,-its laughter, its sweet notes of seriousness; little ways and manners of her look came to twist his heart, and he prayed God to take him, too, until it seemed that Cynthia frowned upon him for his weaknes

were, of her mission that lent to her infant words a sweet gravity and weight. Many people used to stop and speak to the child, among them a great physician whom they grew to know.

ging behind the hill and up to the bedside. He glanced at Wetherell, patting Cynthia on the head the while, and bade

are of my fath

would that we had such nurses as you at the

to," sai

Why didn't you take her advice? If your father does not do as I tell him, he

, Doctor," said

r looked

ve if you stay h

of the great war that was agonizing the nation; of the strong man who, harassed and suffering himself, was striving to guide it, likening Lincoln un

stairs. That visitor was none other than Sergeant Ephraim Prescott, son of Isaiah of the pitch-pipe, and own cousin of Cynthia Ware's. Sergeant Ephraim was just home from the war and sti

he said sadly. "Always thought a sight of Cynthy. Little Cynthy favors

e with many in Coniston and Brampton and Harwich. Some of these, when the drafting came, had fled in bands to the mountain and defied capture. Mr. Dudley Worthington, now a mill owner, had found a substitute; Heth Sutton of Clovelly had been dr

s become a great m

wahn't but twenty. I call that town meetin' to mind as if 'twas yesterday never was such an upset. Jethro's be'n first Selectman ever sense,

ife!" exclaim

if he hadn't got it so all-fired quick, and he druv down to Brampton to fetc

leg healed?" Wetherell asked, in wond

sentery, and it didn't seem just right. The leg troubles me some on wet days, bu

sly of it, but it was Cynthia wh

will die if he doesn

onsumption, Willi

doctor

back to Coniston with me; there hai

t myself in Conisto

o the bosom of his blue coat, and his face lighte

a store, does it, William? Guess y

anything," sa

oin' West, and all that, nobody seems to want it much." He looked

's!" exclaim

good rum, but now you can't get nothin' in Coniston but hard cider and potato whiskey. Still, it's the pla

sor to Irving and Emerson, William Weth

the old coach road, but ended at Truro, and then they took stage over Truro Pass for Brampton, where honest Ephraim awaited them and their slender luggage with a team. Brampton, with its wide-shadowed green, and terrace-st

nd hidden in its forest nook, among the birches and briers, the little schoolhouse where Cynthia had learned to spell; here, where the road made an aisle in the woods, she had met Je

nd neglected, for Jethro lived on Thousand Acre Hill now; the Prescott house, home of the Stark hero, where Ephraim lived, "innocent of paint" (as one of Coniston's sons has put it), "innocent of paint as a Coniston maiden's face"; the white meeting-house, where Priest Ware had preached-

ia's touch, to go out into the cool morning, when the mountain side was in myriad sheens of green under the rising sun. Behind the store was an old-fashioned garden, set about by a neat stone wall, hidden here and there by the masses of lilac and currant bushes, and at the south of it was a great rose-covered

help move the barrels, and on such occasions wore carpet slippers to save his shoes. William still had time for his books; in that Coniston air he began to feel stronger, and to wonder whether he might not be a Washington Irving yet. And yet he had one worry and one fear, and both of these concerned one man,-Jethro Bass. Him, by her ow

as a sort of advisory committee of three hundred and fifty: an expensive advisory committee to the people, relic of an obsolete form of government. Many stories of the now all-powerful Jethro William heard from the little coterie which made their headquarters in his store-stories of how those methods of which we have read were

Coniston knew it. No one knew that Cynthia Wa

hope in the peace of the orthodox and the righteous. A cloud of dust arose above the road to the southward, and out of it came a country wagon drawn by a fat horse, and in the wagon the strangest couple Wetherell had ever seen. The little woman who sat retiringly at one end of the seat was all in brilliant colors from bonnet to flounce, like a pa

through?" s

shook his head

f the Legislature?" asked the storeke

l for his father's sake. "Jethro kind of fathers the Legislatur', I guess, though I don't take much stock i

wife?" Wetherell a

Funnier place to bring Listy from. He loads her down with them ribbons and gewgaws-all the shades of the rainbow! Says he wants her to be the best-dressed woman in the state. Callate she is," a

k before the Legislature

the way Jethro spends the money he makes in politics, and h

keeper," said the

wyer," said Mo

ppearance of Jake Wheeler and Sam Price, who

d Jake. "Guess we'll go along up

ke. "Leastwise that's Jethro's philosophy. When you come to know him, you'll notice how much those fellers walk like him. Never seed a man wh

r and beans into his

. That Wetherell shared this excitement, too, he could not deny, but for a different cause. At last, when the shadows of the big trees had crept across the green, he came, the customers flocking to the porch to greet him, Wetherell standing curiously behind them in the door. Heedless of the dust, he strode down the road with the awkward gait that was all his

id heartily. "Air the Legis

common,"

in this remark, but receive

He is still smooth-shaven, his skin is clear, and his eye is bright, for he lives largely on bread and milk,

next governor, Jethro?" quer

y. Chester; we fear, is a born agitator, fated to remain always in opposition. He is still a De

Seedling for Alvy," ejacu

?" said Jethro. He had parted his blue coat tails and se

od word to say for 'em," said

o, "d-done well. I was satisfie

ooked as if he would have

piped up Jake Wheeler, v

o the blue space beyo

ome of 'em on the table-t-then gave some to my old hoss Tom. Tom said: 'Hain't I always been a good beast, Jethro?

stopped abruptly, for Jethro

s of seeds? Ellett-that's it. Wrote to Ellet, said I had a hundred bushels of Red Brooks to sell, as fine a lookin' potato as I had in my cellar. Made up my mind to take what he o

William Wetherell perceived that the conversation, for the moment at least, was safely away from politics, and in that dubious state where it

round the corner of the store, her cheeks flushed and her dark hair flying, ran little

Daddy!" she cried, "

another world, and then he looked at the child with a kind of stupefaction. The cry

erries?" said J

y grave and serious now, as was

m to me,"

ce had he taken his eyes from her face. He put out his own hand with an awkward,

. "Er-what's your name, li

nth

as a lo

" he said at le

nth

ynthia-no

," she s

her and lower

you Cynthy-Cyn

ooking up to her father and

reached out to him, timidly, another strawberry. He seized her little hand

e gal be you

ad

"He's took on the store. Will," he added, turning to We

able look in his black eyes, as of one who sees without being seen. Did he know wh

me here to keep store for his health. Guess you may have heerd, Jethr

Wetherell's hand,