Horace Chase

ols that well up in the valley of the French Broad River, were assembled on the veranda of the rambling wooden hote

come out on the veranda, mentioned in a low tone that a second groom had arrived, three hours earlier, to engage rooms for the party, and make preparati

It's General Grant himself, I reckon, coming alon

e was driving, and with him were Mrs. Franklin, Dolly, and Ruth. Horace Chase himself, in a light vehicle for two, which he called his

ine ailment), he had journeyed to Asheville with the last remnants of his strength, and arriving by stage, and finding no one at the cottage (for it was his wife's day at the Colored Home), he had come with uncertain steps across the

t, her tall figure looking taller than ever, she had rushed f

t; for their strength lies in stealthy returns; as Jared said (he made jokes even at the worst stages), they never know when they are beaten.

ummers here, Mr. Franklin?" rem

e a good deal for the past three seasons. B

his. "But you must stay," she protested. "You are not strong yet; you are not strong at

it of making jocular remarks. But he had not Dolly's sharpness; where she was sarcastic, the brother was only ironical. In looks Jared did

them. Chase, who had happened to be at L'Hommedieu when Jared arrived, had never forgotten that rush of the mother-the mother whose easy indolence he had, up to that moment, condemned. So now he said, with his slight drawl:

moking-room), and Dolly, who loved the aroma of cigars, had seated herself near them. Jared had now strolled off with his mother, and Genevieve, coming over from the cottage, ha

, please don't rise; I am only looking a

on me!" interposed th

you just for that! Then you have sent for that easy carriage, so that Dolly can go, too. Then you are taking me. The commodore also, who would rather drive Pe

ng each other regularly in an unbroken round; a leading place in the management of charitable institutions; the writing and despatching of letters, asking for contributions to these institutions; the general supervision of the clergy, with an eye to dangerous ritualistic tendencies; the conscientious endeavor to tell her friends on all occasions what they ought to do (Genevieve was never angry when they disagreed with her, she only pitied them. There was, in fact, no one she knew whom she had not felt herself competent, at one time or another, to pity)-all this gave her the sense of doing good. And to Genevieve tha

mbers of your Board of Managers for the Colored Home, for instance-Mrs. Baxter, Miss Wynne, Miss Kent-they haven'

ngs-"as it is, I cannot build a hospital at present, though I don't give up hope for the future. But I can at least give my prayers to all, and

unselfish, Genevieve; think of yourself occasionally; why

n of the site, the pool, and the buildings. "When we have made a Tyrol of Buncombe, we'll annex this place as a so

ho has rheumatism, Mr. Chase,

of youth always amused him; it was so determined). "Baden-Baden was one of the prettiest little places I saw over there, on the other side of the big pond. They've taken lots o

bout, their Black Forest, is all guarded and patrolled," Chase continued; "every tree counted! I

d as Noah?" inquir

Noah was extremely wild. And not in

ake a back seat about the United States of America! But I returned from Europe singing small, I ca

Mr. Chase. We'll go at once." She was walking with her b

you want to see Switzerland, do y

it, or tried to secure it. "Will you take me, Jared? I mean some day?" she said, as he bungled with the cord, endeavoring to get it over her hair. "That's not the way." She unbuttoned the

red yes. But now I'm not so sure

" exclaimed his young sister, her mood changing. "But if only you had never

very horrid?"

ared shut up in a warehouse all d

ith Etheridge, came forward, to

eft the service?" Chase

say it: he was always well, and he was happy too; Dolly has told me so. Now he is never well; he is growing so thin th

over it in a moment. She says whatever comes into her head; we have spoiled her, I suppose. She was so much younger, you see; the las

e appears to wish that you had remained in the navy; isn't that rather odd?" he inquired, the idea in his mind being s

had such a strange vibration that hi

which had been arranged for their use by Chase's courier. Ruth and Mrs. Franklin were his companions, and Dolly was also there,

th. There was no trace of trouble left in her voice; she had draw

g," remarked Etheridge. "The smoking relaxed her a little, without her knowing it, an

onplace side!"

ved my quietus long ago. When I was not quite forty, there was some question about a particular dress-maker whom I wished to see at McCreery's. 'Was she an old woman?' inquired an assistant. 'We have only one old fitter.' It proved to be the person I meant. She wa

said Etheridge, with conviction. "Men, you

n caused by my wretched habit of contorting my poor thin slave of a face, partly of course to show my intelligence and appreciation, but really, also, in a large measure from sympathy. I have smiled unflinchingly at other people's jokes, looked sad for their griefs, angry for their injuries; I hav

ence with Dolly) it led her to think of herself. "How I should have enjoyed, enjoyed, enjoyed everything if I had only been well!" Even the tenderly loving mother could not have comprehended fully her daughter's heart at that mo

st beauty is that it's primeval. Larue

the senator to come along

ridge. "I don't think you know wh

know. Generals, too. Cottages might be put up at pleasant points near Asheville-on Beaucatcher, for

en a dreadfully dull book, The Blue Ridge in the Glacial Period). He had a little money, too, and that was in his favor. So they put him in; and now they wish they hadn't! He has no magnetism, no go; nothing but his tiresome drawing-copy profile and his good clothes. You say you don't know what sort of a person he is? He is a decrier, sir; nothing ever fully pleases him. His opinions on all subjects are so clipped to the bone, so closely shaved and denuded, that they are like the plucked chickens, blue and skinny, that one sees for sale at a stall. Achill

s good clothes," remarked Dolly. "But he has something more

looked d

se. "Why, he's in luck

"His wife happened to have been a fool. H

ether good or bad; but only books about books," grumbled Etheridge. "He has merely the commentator's

reatest effect; she was never outlined in very vivid hues, and now she has so effaced herself, rubbed herself out, as it were (from fear lest he should call her 'sensational'), that she is like a skeleton leaf. She has the greatest desire to be 'delicate,' extremely delicate, in everything that she does; and sh

he woman again; she is such a goo

"You may not go to see Billy. But, dear me! you will come to see us forever and forever!" And she had a weary vis

ze. But I am sure you will come to see us, with your chee

the two would fall into silence sometimes, and remain silent for a half-hour, one with her embroidery, the other with her knitting. And then when Dolly spoke at last, it would be of the exact subject which was in her mot

ll do my best; you may count upon that." And then Ruth, leaning her head

summits of the Blue Ridge, their hue an unchanging azure; the Black Mountains with Mitchell, the Cat-tail Peak, the Balsams, the Hairy Bear, the Big Craggy, Great Pisgah, the Grandfather, and many more. The brilliant sunshine and the crystalline atmosphere revealed every detail-the golden and red tints of the gigantic bald cliffs near them, the foliage of every tree; the farm-houses like whi

t Dolly, suddenly. She addressed Horace Chase,

know," he answered, not comprehending her dislike

all the usual exaggerations and falsities to fill the eternal time; they will have to repeat the same things over and over, stand first on one leg and then on the other, and smile until they are absolute clowns. Meanwhile their departing friends will be obliged to lean out of the car-windows in return, and repeat inanities and grin, until they to

ntains!" exclaimed Ruth, suddenly, lo

e are some sort of r

ive down Transylvania way. When I wasn't more than eighteen I often drove a four-in-hand over the-the

ntains," said

urtly. His birthplace was Rutland, Vermont. But on

ners, isn't it?" asked Chase, his k

you can tell about th

night, you know. I was standing at the door. A man came running along the road, trying to reach the house. Behind him, not more than ten feet distant, came another man, also running. He held a pistol at arm's-length. He fired twice. After

me," said Chase, giving an indignant glance towards the car

extracted, and the man is now in excellent health. Ruth has a way of turning perfectly white and then enormously red on

ready laughing again, a

ho was shot. The mountaineers have always made whiskey, and they think t

n the side of law and order. "The government should

t out illicit stills," replied Jared Frank

civilian myself," remarked Chase, i

Ruth said: "Oh, Mr. Chase, thank you for answering so good-naturedly. My brother h

hat, Miss Ruth; I didn't at first. It's a

ck into the navy now

ight be arranged," answered

would soon topple over. At many points it was a veritable ca?on, and the swift current of the stream foamed so whitely over the scattered rocks of its bed that it was like the rapids of Niagara. Here and

ever had a hundred dollars in cash in their lives. Mrs. Crumb, a lank woman with stooping shoulders and a soft, flat voice, received them without excitement. Nothing that life had to offer, for good or for ill, could ever bring excitement again to Portia Crumb. Her four sons had been killed in battle in Virginia, one after the other, and the mother lived on patiently. David Crumb was more rebellious against what he called their "b

have been glad to be relieved of all visitors. But the mountain farmers of the South are invariably hospitable-hospitable even with their last slice of corn-bread, their last cup of coffee. Porshy, therefore, had brought out her best table-cloth (homespun, like her sheets), her six thin silver teaspoons, her three china teacups and saucers. "Yes, rale chiny, you bet," she had said, in her gentle, lifeless voice, when Mrs. Franklin, who knew the tragedy of the house, was benevolently admiring

zontal beams through the open windows in a flood of g

ed thither through the thick forest. "It is too far," said Mrs. Franklin. "It is at lea

so much when we were up there on our way out that he says it sh

a'am. That is the name

il the moon rises," continued Ruth. "The moon is full to-night, and

ase and Jared, lighting cigar

, I suppose, comm

troll," answered Etheridge, heroically. And, lighting a cigarette, he wal

t forest and cliffs outside, and the wild river, made the little blaze seem cheerful. Portia had been proud of this apartment in the old days before the war. In one corner there was a bed covered with a brilliant patch-work quilt; on the mantel-piece there was an old accordion, and a vase for flowers whose design was a hand holding a cornucopia; the floor was cove

well take a look at that horrid Raleigh," he said to Ruth, with solemn humor. "You see, I have been labor

straw hat tilted back on his head, began the distribution of their contents, assisted (through the open windows) by the usual group of loungers. This friendly audience had its elbows on the sill. It made accompanying co

cheek, her eyes lustrous. "Mamma, a letter from Jay! It is too good-I cannot tell you-" Her words came out p

. Franklin, searching vainly in her pocket and t

so excited, read J

charge of their Charleston office (the office of the Colum

endid! For it's the water, you know; the salt-water at last. With the ships coming and goin

's Horrie! I have felt sure, from the first, that he would do s

, in a few days," he said to Mrs. Franklin. "When he is settled there

ton when we go to Florida this winter. That is, if we go," added the mother, remembering her load of debts. But she soon forgot it

lass man at Charleston, and we've never had it; we think o

asn't what he had hoped it would be when he went into it; that he was afraid it was running down. Running down? It was at a standstill; six months more, and he would have been utterly swamped. The truth is, he didn't know how to manage it. How should he? What does a navy man know about leather? He saw that it was all w

e thousand dollars a

r caps. It's a pity he couldn't take command of one of our steamers-with

sn't knock you down,"

ted it. I see he's cr

A steamer of the Columbian Line came in. He went on board, contemptuous of everything, of course, but enjoying that especial species of contempt. Ascending to the upper deck, he glanced at the rigging and smoke-stacks. They were not what he approved of; but, oh! the solace of abusing any sort of rigging outlined against the sky! He went down and looked at the engines; he spoke to the engineer; he prowled all over the ship, from stem to stern, his feet enjoying the sensation of something underneath them that floated. That evening, seated on a bench at the Battery, with his arms on the railing, he looked out to sea. His beloved old life came back to him; all his cruises-the Mediterranean ports, Villefranche and the Bay of Naples; the harbors of Chin