The Abandoned Farmer

it within a mile of this station. You say you want a small farm with a middling good house, and

of the postmistress caused us keen disappointment. Paul's little hand, which had clutched mine with a tense

ed away; "but anyway I don't suppose"—she[Pg 23] looked at us in turn with a

eagerly. "Is it a nice plac

st tell you the plain truth," she continued confidentially. "I know it looks uncharitable to talk to strangers about your neighbors, but everyone round here knows what old Peter is, and if you're going to have any dealings with him you'll need to keep your eyes wide open. He's a crank and a screw, and some wouldn'

interjected, as she paused for

ed kind, with tiny panes in t

ely?" cried Marion, wit

and I think you'd find it trying to have to look out of a different pane with both eyes. Then them big fireplaces

or. "That would be dreadful! Are the

don't mind seeing any hand-irons. There's s

g

ssurance and she stood up with an ea

asked the postmistress, "wh

then the man pulls out a dime and says, 'Here, my man,' says he, 'is something for your trouble. It's a ramshackle old house and ain't worth two hundred a year, but I'll give you fifty for six months.' Peter was looking at the dime in[Pg 26] a puzzled sort of way, then he smiled a curious sort of smile and bit the edge before he put it in his pocket. 'You're most too kind, sir,' he says, 'for it has been a great entertainment to me to show you about, and I don't often have the company of a real gentleman. I'm sorry the place is beyond your means, but the fact is that I couldn't afford to

th her, that by the time we caught a glimpse of the chimneys through a belt of trees I was almost persuaded that open fireplaces and diamond panes were the only essentials of an ideal house. We had been directed to look for the owner at the diminutive cottage he lived in a half mile farther along the road, but with a common impulse we turned in at once to

hat grew on each side, and rounding a curve we came within sight of a rambling

oy of possession. We stood off and surveyed the roof. The shingles were delicately tinted in moss-green and a few bricks were missing fr

first and I saw her run across the room and drop on her knees in front of a cavernous brick fireplace with a little cry of delight. By the time I re

hat thing

ulity. "Do you mean to say, Henry,[Pg 29] t

perfect content; "you may go and find that old man. Whatever happens, we're going to rent this place, but don't tell him so—bring him to me. In the meantime, remember he's got to take a fancy to you, so be just as charming as you know how to be. Oh, you needn't laugh! I

arn, a batch of sand-cakes neatly laid out on a board beside him. Now Paul had never before sat on the ground, he had never learned how to make any kind of mud-pies, as far as we knew he had never heard of the art, yet some subtle instinct had drawn him to the only spot within reach where there was a heap of suitable soil. The sight was appalling, for it seemed as if our brief forgetfulness must

the inside came a succession of feeble groans. There was a heap of bags in the doorway, and in an instant I realized wh

a course. First, I knew that I couldn't carry a man anywhere even under the most favorable conditions; second, I couldn't bear to think of the shock to Marion if she should become a widow; third, it was perfectly clear to me that if I re

ily built, sharp-featured man, past middle age, and although he lay on the ground and gasped for breath there was a slight contortion of his features that suggested repressed mirth. Marion wanted me to go for help, but I told her that he was recovering and only needed to be moved from the entrance where he lay to the level ground where the air was fresher. She said I would never be able to get him up the[Pg 33] incline, so I hastened to complete my task, my only fear being that help would arrive too soon. I tenderly arranged a pad of potato bags across his chest and back, then shortening the chain I passed it under his arms and again looped it around his body. All being ready, I climbed up on the weighted end of the well-sweep, but finding there was not enough weight I persuaded Marion

for speech. "A ladder!" he burst forth,

n the ground under the beam. I hastened to his relief, reminding him as I unwound the chain that he should have taken my advice and waited for the ladder. He s

ous determination, "I'm g

ay to your temper. I know that from your stand-point, it seems annoying to enter a root-house and then discover that you are suspended at the[Pg 35] end

nged, though he studied my face with su

f a diffidence that always seizes me when I try to make this a

he replie

grasped his hand. "The very man we were looking for! Allo

. "Well sir," he ejaculated, with an ex

o us, and that he liked the idea of having such desirable tenants, for his clear blue eyes, unusually limpid for an elderly man, beamed with kindly intention as he talked; at the same time, his truthfulness compelled him to say that he couldn't quite forgive me f

live in such a large house himself, on account of his wife being an invalid, but he had often refused to rent it to other people, usually because—well, he[Pg 37] didn't mind telling us, in confidence, it wasn't every family he would care to have as neighbors—and then, there was such a difference in children! Now t

uld have ignored that point altogether, but Marion's significant glances I could not ignore, so, though it

g 38] everything was that he would have congenial neighbors. The farm was worth—well, he wouldn't say what it was worth, but I might have it at three hundred dollars a year. There were fifty acres of land that would grow enough produce to pay

er; in fact, I was mentally exulting in my good fortune in finding s

would never do. My husband is quite opposed to th

rjected, shaking my

ry," she continued, "but we c

g

city people fooling away money in farming that I've made up my mind not t

nright common-sense as your husband. I'll own that I'm a bit sorry that he don't want to work the farm, for I'm getting old and I'd like a rest, but the truth is that running a farm costs a lot of money, and farmers come out at the wr

able no-reserve lot on the first bid; surely,[Pg 40] then, my ears had deceived

"I don't quite see," she bega

cres off your hands at that figure. Of course, I'd sooner you took the hull place at three hundred, then as much more would hire you a man, and if Mr. Carton looked after

o Marion; one might have supposed that he thought she was the hea

r," I began, with dignifie

g

can do," he explained, with plaintive determination;

an eager eye on Mari

," urged Peter, "and he's com

"We'd better pa

decided, for her, "and

snappe

aydean on the station platform. He shook m

n my ear. "The bargain's made, and though there's no writing betwixt us,

g

ented, detaching myself

lapel of my coat. "They're a prying, gossiping lot, and I wouldn't like it known that you hoisted me on that darn see-s

me that, like the simulated stillness of a deadly revolving tool, his simplicity and truth were more apparen

ew stronger as I thought over the bargain with that guileful man; gradually the suspicion changed to a certainty, and then it was that

asked, with su

stopped to laugh gleefully—"do you remember

uirming. "Of course I remember,

she said, with renewed mirth. "It was odd, too, th

to explain the connecti

here was a little flash in her eyes; my glare falte

ered. "Why, what conne

somehow the bitterness of knowing I had been gulled passed away; I even felt a sympat

arm. "Henry," she exclaim

man I

ted a central figure for that set

, "he's a character all ready made! If I do

on's face after this comment, but she so often sees more in a remark of mine than I d