Aunt Jane's Nieces at Millville

on which grew a neglected orchard of apple and pear trees, their trunks rough and gnarled by the struggle to outlive many severe winters. There was a rude, roc

patch, but aside from that some two acres of corn and a small strip of tim

d of a single room with a great cobble-stone fireplace in the center of the rear wall and narrow, prison-like windows at the front and sides. There was a small porch in front, with a great entrance door of carved dark wood of a foreign look, which the Captain had brought from some port in Massachusetts. A stair in one corner of the big living room led to the second story, where four large bed-chambers were arranged. These had once been plastered and papered, but the wall-paper had all faded into dull, neutral tints and in one of the rooms a big patch of plaster had fallen away from the ceiling, showing the bare lath. Only one of the upstair

ean-to had an entrance from the living room, but Old Hucks and Nora his wife used the back door entirely. It consisted of a lar

a boy of sixteen, had taken possession of his father's room; but after a day or two he had suddenly quitted the house where he was born and plung

rass, and around to the back door. On a bench beside the pump an old woman sat shelling peas. Her form was thin but erect and her hair snowy white. She moved w

dear," she said. "I kn

up earl

choolteacher, advancing to kiss the w

s'pose we couldn't 'a 'spected to stay here in peace for

e is

rips o' wood nailed over 'em; but some hasn't; an' Tom looks 'em over keerful an' then tells me 'bout 'em. H

worried

Hucks out if he was a married man; an' there's no disclaimin' he's married, is there? Peggy's a kind man,

ard-hearted, indeed, to turn you out into the world; and you are bot

wait on the nabobs all right, but they won't tol'rate a blind woman a minute, I'

ce, and as the blind woman looked up with a

kable enough to attract attention. It had scanty white locks and a fringe of white whiskers under the chin, and these framed a smiling face and features that were extremely winning in expression. No one could remember ever seeing Old Hucks when he was not smiling, and the expression was neither set n

, as far as personal appearances went, he seemed as unlikely a person to serve a "nabob" as co

of your being obliged to leave here. From all accounts this Mr. Merrick is a generous and free-hearted man, and I've discovered that strangers are not l

n' the good Lord He's took'n care o' us so long, it seems like a sort o' sacrelidge to

having agreed to "help with the cleanin'." She didn't usually "work out," but was impelled to

t comfortable horse-hair sofas, carried away to the barn and stored in the loft. It did not take long to clear the big room, and then the Widow Cla

. It had two broad French windows with sash doors opening on to a little porch of its own which was covered thickly with ho

. The corded bedstead in the north room was sent to join its fellows in the

f rugs and matting. Lon Taft was building new steps to the front porch, but Old Hucks and Ned and McNutt reverently unpacked the "truck" and set each piece carefully aside. How they marveled at the enameled beds and colored wicker furniture, the easy chairs for loungin

was it that such an arrangement proved easy. No especial furniture for the living room had been provided, but by stealing a few chairs and odd pieces from the ample supply provided for the bedrooms, adding the two quaint sofas and the upright piano and spreading the rugs in an artistic fashion, Ethel managed to make the "parlor part" of the room appear very cosy. The dining corner had a round table and high-backed chairs finished in weathered oak, and when all was in order

in readiness at that time. The paint on Lon's repairs would be dry, the grass in the front yard was closely cropped, and the little bed of flowers between the corn-crib

lain the case to "the nabob" herself, and back up the agent in the unauthorized expenditure. Nora had a new gingham dress, too, which the girl had herself provided, and on Thursday morning Ethel was at the Wegg farm bright and early to see

id the girl, smiling, "they

itive fingers the flowers, the books and the opened piano. "If they do

cks and his wife, told them to keep brave hearts,