The Brass Bound Box

awry, the Widow Sprigg was vainly endeavoring to restore peace between Punch, the newcom

d and had wandered to the warm kitchen where Sir Philip lay asleep on his cushion, unmindful of interlopers ti

Maitland's beautiful "Angory" was one of the show animals of Marsden. He had been brought to his mistress by a returning traveller more years ago than most people remembered, and had continued to live his charmed and pampered life long after

d, tore, and yowled with all the ferocity of youth, while Punch, realizing that he had stirred up a

sp her favorite's collar, and by his unlooked-for onrush agai

myself! Oh, what a horrid place, what horrid folks, what a perfectly fiendish cat!" shrieked Kate, folding both arms tight about the pug's fat, squi

ON HIS OWNER'S LAP AS SH

oo much for his strength, and, utterly exhausted, he now lay stretched upon his o

g his tail, wrinkling his nose, and protruding his pink tongue even more than usual, he regarded his fallen foe with such comical satisfaction that Kathari

s killed him,

and that proud! Just look at him!" cried the girl. Yet her enthusiasm was dashed by the expression of deep sorrow on Miss Maitland's face, an

e broom aside and lifting the now submissive pug to her shoulder, w

a cat! We sha'n't never see his like again, an'-Take care there, sis! Don't you know he always hated water?" exclaimed Susann

vive Sir Philip or he had been on the point of recovery, for he suddenly sprang up, shook his drenched head,

ss Maitland and helped that lady

a hurry to fight, and Punch never does if he can help it. Do you, you darling?" she finished to the pe

ted floor and curled himself up at a safe distance from Sir Philip, upon whom he kept a wary watch. But he was a weary dog b

manding to know if Miss Eunice "was goin' to put up with any such doin's? That wery brea'th that I cut an' sewed myself, out of my own rags, an' not a smitch of your'n in it, an' hadn't much more'n just got laid down ready for winter.

ad glared through her spectacles so fiercely that the young

stay myself, to make such trouble, even if you'll have me-an

, but looking through the window

sanna. Get Moses to help you bring it in. If a tram

f her handmaid. Indeed, she discovered afterward that it was the widow's habit to threaten thus whenever her temper was a trifle ruff

d of tramps, myself, and they're about the only things I am really af

on the lookout for one. Except for the trouble between the cat and dog she wouldn't have left your things in the street a moment after she had

irl replied with a doub

then stationed herself at the wind

wed her with evident reluctance. She had thrown on a "slat" sunbonnet, and pinned a red shawl about her shoulders, but had shaken her head so

e here?" asked Kate, laughing not only a

itizens. He's quite intelligent, and has even been mentioned for a constable-if Marsden should ever need one.

th a jerk. "Constable? Tha

es

'city' person myself, and resent that idea!" laughed the girl, mischievously. Yet the

repartee, and their self-assumed equality with their elders. Such few of the Marsden lads and lasses as visited her belonged to the old-fashioned families, and were trained to strict habits of obedience, and "to speak when they were spoken to." They were suppos

without, and she had forgotten her momentary

o her and now she's faced about again. Maybe he said 'tramp,' because she's looking all up and down the street as if she were scared, and he's laughing. I guess he's laughing-he shakes as if he were, yet his face is as sober as ever. Now they're off! Here they come. But do look, Aunt E

f their present movements, had so amused the lady that she also took up a point of observation, and was just in time to see Katharine indignantly push Moses' hand from the trunk-handle and seize it herself. It was evidently a heavier load tha

heft in it, not a mite. Nobody but a man-a man-woul

r from her "shif'less" housemate than another silent chuckle,

nd brought in the rest of the luggage. It was noticeable that he no longer stooped or affected fatigue; and that as soon as Susanna let go the trunk at the foot of t

room, E

g-room cham

ned, astonished

your 'hired man.' That

smiling ever so slightly, and quite conscious that Susa

rst name! just as if he were

tle red schoolhouse at the crossroads, and none of us-none of us-wish to forget it. The same old schoolhouse where your father learned his letters, and where you

favor swiftly won by Kate's behavior with the trunk, the housekeeper departed in high good-hu

to eat an' enj'y his victuals. 'Twas a comfort to cook for him, h

mber. For the girl's marked resemblance to a boy he had known and taken fishing many a time, he was inclined to like her; but because of the probable altered hou

he'd got done; but there ain't no accountin' for silly women-silly women. Get out, there, you! Strange that a body can't

t and proceeded on its way undisturbed by Moses' frantic gestures. Miss Maitland's was

fishin'. That's as plain as a pike-staff. Pshaw! Folks so poor they can't feed their stawk hain't a right to keep any, I declare! When I get to be constable I'll straigh

-wo-wo

to come from the earth, and Katharine, at the just opened sitt

as much as he had startled Moses, a

? Aunt Eu-Eu-Eu-Eun

the hired man, "and you best go 'tend your co

to be co-co-constable, then shake

oved to Eunice, come to sponge a livin' out of us. But she needn'

s ungallant young Marsdenite.

u boys begin to 'uncle' me, an' I say 'No.' I ain't goin'

be p-p-pr-prime for fishin'. Say, Uncle Mose, we haven't had a s-s

stutter an' choke! Eunice sent your grandma a p

e and they knew that the shortest road to the hired man's heart was by the sugges

ke us fishin', if

poultry, and that he softly whistled as he went about his work. He was even first at the rendezvous, on the old "eddy

s himself in anything but a whistling mood; and was thinking direfu

or-r-ry,' an' that's all he k-k-knew! Plague take her! W-w-what s