At the Sign of the Jack O'Lantern

ay Af

was dressing, to have all the furniture taken out into the back yard, where she could look it over at her leisure. She would make a bonfire of mos

down that hideous portrait over t

fere with the existing order of things. "We'll be here only for the Summer," he said, "so what's the use

the furnitur

lots of things on the planet which you don't like. Moreover, it'll be quite out o

ably. "Do you mean to say," she demanded, with ri

ion of her manner, "that you won't do as I ask you to? Four week

Dorothy. "If I'd known what a brute you were, I'

ilm of black fur in his wake. Being fastidious about his personal appearance, Harlan kicked Claudius Tiberiu

sorry she had married him! After all he'd done for her, too. Giving up a good position in New York, taking her half-way aro

t country residence," then swore softly under his breath, as, for the

off in places. At the sides, the rambling wings and outside stairways, branching off into space, conveyed the impression that the house had been recently subjected to a powerful influence of the centrifugal sort.

ar. Harlan noted, too, that the railing of the narrow porch extended almost entirely across the front of the house, and remembered, dimly, that they had found the steps at one side of the porch the ni

That's exactly what it is! Why didn't he paint it yellow and be done with it? The ol

shall put every blamed crib into the purifying flames. It's mine, an

of great dignity, announcing that he had forsworn journalism and would hereafter devote himself to literature. The editor had remarked, somewhat cynically, that it was a bet

dy to accept his wife's estimate of him

y was the blacksmith shop, and across from it was the inevitable saloon. Far up in the hills was the Judson Centre Sanitarium, a wo

em had ever been nearer to it than the back door, but tales of dark doings were widely prevalent throughout the co

ed the blacksmith of the stage-driver,

him to look at him, would you

, with clear grey eyes and a rosy, smooth-shaven, boyish face which had given him the nickname of "The Cherub" all along News

the rain one night, a-singin' an' a-whistlin' to beat the band, an' when I took him back, a month or so arterward, he had a striped nurse on one side of him an' a doctor on t' other, an' was wearin' a shawl. Couldn't hardly set up, but he was a-tryin' to joke just the same. 'Hank,

's dictionary. It said as how the appendix was sunthin' appended or added to, but I couldn't get no more about it. I've hearn tell of a 'devil child' with

!" ejaculated

a sense, the oracle of Judson Centre, and he enjoyed his proud distinction to the full

last night. Come in on the nine forty-seven from the Junction. Reckon they're goin' to stay a spell, 'cause they

choolteacher boarded to our house wunst an' she had most a car-load of 'e

st that begun with one book dropped on the road near the sanitarium, an' he never stopped till he was plum through college. An' a woman up there sent my darter a book wu

, after a long silence, "that they're

in' what educated folks is goin' to do. This young lady, now, that come up with him last n

te

deep water with the shore clean out o' sight. Education was what ailed him." By a careless nod Mr.

express an' through the post-office. It's all on account o' them books that he's made the front o' his house into what it is. My wife had a paper book wunst, a-tellin' 'How to Transfer a Hopeless Exte

home from contamination. Indeed, as he had often said before, "yo

the blacksmith, "that

going to keep company away. Ain't you never hearn as how misery loves company? The more

cksmith, in a harsh wh

mbled Mr. Blake, a

gh not without an air of condescension. "Can

d Mr. Blake. "Be yo

use last night, and to arrange about our tr

ry, but I can take 'em up, if

if you will. And the things I've just order

phill. "Must sure have a ailment," he commented, "but I hear tell, Hank, that in the city they

ay, too-walkin' up to save money-so I charged him for carryin' up the ham just what I'd have took both for. 'Pigs is high,' I told him, 'same price for one

ll-defined doubt in his mind regarding his reception at the Jack-o'-Lantern. Dorothy's parting words had been plain-almost t

ad left him! Then his reason came to the rescue-there was no way for her to

gh all the rooms revealed nothing-even Dorothy had disappeared. From the kitchen window, he saw

manded, breathlessly, befor

n start by a toss of her head. "Oh,"

ed. "I say, Dorothy," he began, awkwar

unnatural voice, still poking through

time," Harlan went on, eager

Carr's tone was no

simple sentence which men of all ages have found it hardest to say-perhaps because

d, generously, from the depths of his coat collar. "I think there must

nswered Harlan, confidently.

othy, much ashamed. "I tried to ge

How did you ever get a m

lained, blushing, "then came down and dragged it some

ily, "he couldn't have been pleased to see you doing it al

some more? The

once," he suggested, with rare tact.

hen the mattresses are all gone, we'll do the beds and bureaus and

dishness in her that he had loved the most. She was stirring the ashes now

ollowed out her suggestion and burned all of the beds in the house except two or

you're making," he

her side, then. Why,

t's

all metal box in th

ut into the corner-stone by

id, with assumed severity.

ently enough, until they were sure it was cool. Then Dorothy, as

!" she

, made wholly of clustered diamonds, and a

Dorothy, when she recove

rlan, after due deliberatio

eyes wide with wonder, "we'll take

estimating its value at two thousand dollars. "Here's somet

ours! Don't you remember the letter said: 'my house and a

n. But his conscience wa