Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work

rubbery, would afford endless delight. But Kenneth Forbes, the youthful proprietor, was at times dreadfully b

h rather isolated it from its neighbors. Moreover, Elmhurst was the one important estate in the county, and the si

r until he had come to regard it as a distinct misfortune. For it isol

ge of the orphan because he was a nephew of her dead lover, who had bequeathed her his estate of Elmhurst. Aunt Jane was Kenneth's aunt merely in

self visit. The neglect which Kenneth had suffered and his lonely life had influenced the youth's temperament, and he was far from being an agreeable companion at the time Aunt Jane summoned her three nieces to Elmhurst in order to choose one of them as her heiress. Th

transfer the estate to one of her nieces, because by the terms of his uncle's deed to her the property reverted on her death to Kenneth himself. Louise Merrick, Beth DeGraf an

decide how to take advantage of it. He had one good and helpful friend, an old lawyer named Watson, who had not only been a friend of his uncle,

is guardian, and the genial old lawyer abandoned the practice of l

the pictures of the old masters and obtained instruction

ope in company with a wealthy bachelor uncle, John Merrick, a generous, kind-hearted and simple-minded old gentleman who had taken the girl

ate in life, and found in their society so much to enjoy that he was now wholly devoted to their interests. His one friend was Major Doyle, Patsy's father, a dignified but agreeable old

ed. Kenneth and Mr. Watson met them in Sicily, and afterward in the Italian cities, and the

le Mr. Watson sat beside him comfortably smoking his pipe and reading his favorite authors. The elder man was contented enough in his condition, but

lville, in the Adirondack region, for the summer,

ion of the characters

en have retired, but Kenneth would not let him go. Twenty-one years of age sounds mature, but the owner of Elmhurst was as boyish and inexperienced as it is possible for one twenty-one years old to be. H

was made that he should remain with his young friend indefinitely and strive to teach him such elements

re rich and productive in that part of the state. But it is not a flat country, and

elight the eye of an artist. Kenneth had often wandered into these out-of-the-way places when a half-forgotten, neglected lad, but had not visited them for years. Now, however, with the spirit

ed many of his neighbors, having held little intercourse with them. It struck him, this morning, that they had little cause to be interested in him. He

ouls, and among them were many both shrewd and thoughtful; but they naturally would not force themselves upon th

rig" and declared that he was "stuck up" and conceited. Others said he was a "namby-pamby" without brains or wit. But there were a

was driving along the highway to inquire about his horse, which he perceived was very lame. The boy knew something about hors

and he was actually whistling as he rode through the glen, where

and disappointment. Painted broadly upon the face of the rock, in great white letters, was the advertisement of a pate

red another place further along the glen which was almost as pretty as this had been before the defiling brush of the advertiser had ruined it.

urned to resentment. While he sat on his mare, considering the mat

Kenneth asked, "who

replied the m

signs to be painted on the roc

usement. "I can't farm the rocks, can I? An' th

th gr

you'll let me wash off the letters and restore

t ye see they're contracted. I'd git

is

f you'll come along. He comes up here every spring and pa

I s

he medicine man to paint up their ads. You

es

Parsons. I've got three signs let on my property in the glen. Ef

ong," said Kenneth,

ght. He could not go fast, for the be

wash off the letters, like enough ye'll hev

nd," was th

act. What on earth could possess the "young 'un" from Elmhurst

the money the soap an' medicine men

," said Kenn

ed him. At all hazards he was reso

termilk at the farm house, and then rode slowly home by anot

d along. He scowled at each one, but they did not appear to him quite so inharmonious as