Coniston, Book III.

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

l, "everybody says so,

ph. Didn

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

anxiously. "Have you go

old men seem to

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

m. "We hain't agoin'

ton-a

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

ll one, burned brick-re

hing

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

said; "I'm sure I hate

led my su

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

ou made, Mr. Worthingto

thi

"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