The Brass Bound Box

ering into the kitchen where Susanna was seeding raisins-more raisins than the gi

endered. I'm all behind with everything this fall, seems if. I've got to make my soft soap yet, and-Laws, child, what do you lug tha

he 'belongs.' And because he isn't ol

. A delicacy which had used to bring smiles to "Johnny's" countenance, even after he had suffered that worst of all boy

hty soon," said Kate, excitedly. "I am hungry, but it's for folks, not cookies. And w

nt, an' I'd ruther you wouldn't mention it, as comin' from me, but-" here Susanna leaned forward and whispered, sibilantly-"they say she used to be a Catholic when she was a girl! Nobody lays it up ag'in her, an' folks pertend they've forgot it; and if there is a good Christian goin', I 'low it's Madam Elinor Sturtevant. Your Aunt Eunice-though she ain't your real aunt at all, only third cousin once removed-she was promised to Schuyler Sturtevant, Madam's husband's brother, but he was killed out on a fox-hunt, an

neck, bringing the strings forward under the arms with such firmness that the band choked the girl, and made a puffy

his dress is only white piqué, and wears like iron. I heard stepmother say so when she gave it to the dressmaker. She neve

hook her helper's fingers free from the clu

g! Wash 'em, an' clean your nails with this pin, an' tie that apern back-loose if you want-but wear it you must, or I won't be responsible for no smutch you get on you. Here's your basin

she seldom deserved, she was so accustomed to corrections that she scarcely listened to any, a

the dignified walls of that old mansion, and though Susanna was delight

ar English. Not like 'Old Lang Syne,' nor 'The Old Oaken Bucket,'

sanna sat; then adding, mischievously, "And that's the first time that I knew that 'Old Lang Syne' was good English; I thought it was Scotch. As for 'rag-time,' all papa's friends

h literary knowledge, but she did know that the words Katharine had sung were senseles

er 'lowed his daughter'd be raised with coons and ducks and animals of that natur

ey were on the verge of tears, and she announce

talk about him-not yet. Not to-day. 'Coons' are the colored people. Baltimore's full of them. They're our servants. Stepmother says they're worthless, nowad

litter come into the eyes behind the big spectacles, while her lips ha

please. I don't need

ce clouding again at sight of the other's darkened

s the r

et. I ate the few I seeded. I'll begin

n' clear out. I like to h

hen with the gravest of faces and the most ludicrous of gestures. Down and back, down and back, head thrown sidewise over her shoulder, body bent at an angle which threatened a tumble backwards, and her feet alternately tossin

ervant," but could not repress a smile, and turne

he had taken slight notice of the small new member of the household, and Kate had been rather afraid of him. It would, therefore, be

onkey-shines of that young one you can just take her

wed that we'd ought to have a lot more small sticks chopped," answered the man who managed the estate but was presumably managed himself by Miss Maitland. He had

d you'll have to take her 'long with ye. If she ain't under somebody's

rfully come out safe from peril of death. This had been some days before, and rumor had it that the lad was still confined a prisoner in his chamber. Whether because of real illness or for punishment, nobody knew, nor dared anybody question the dignifi

you like

tland, though at home-" there came a little catch in her throat, which nobody else observed-"they used to call me 'K

turns an' ramifications, but I never heerd tell of a Keehotey amongst 'em. Not even 'mongst their wives' f

occasion, as papa said-just like me. Wait till I come, please. I'll put on my hat and jacket and be back in a minute. For I've guessed what you mean about liking chestn

ishment. From present appearances Katharine was going to enjoy a morning in the w

the sensiblest, for it would wash and bile, and she always needed bilin'. But she looks real peart, and sort of different set-up from Marsden girls in that little blue flannel suit she wore to come in. Dress an' coat an' hat all the same color, an' fittin' her's if she'd been run into 'em, yet easy-loose, too, an' not a bit of trimming on anything," continued Widow

hat nobody could tell what at all she wore; and that, papa said, was the perfection of dressing. Indeed, do you suppose tha

covered basket with caraway cookies and a red apple. The basket had a wreath of flowers painted on its sides

y hungry. Moses'll show you where the spring is, and there's a gourd dipper hangs by it

arfully old it must be. 'Cause he ran away when he wa

e afternoon service was over. We took our dinners with us an' et 'em on the graves in the graveyard back the church. Moses an' Eunice an' me gen'ally took all we needed in the big willow, but the childern liked their own by themselves. The

rent feeling that he must be there and see her. She hoped he did. She wanted him to know that she was back in his old home, following the haunts which he had loved, knowing the very same people

ose that right now, while I hold this basket, his basket, up high toward the sky

ion; and the face startled her. She was not much used to children, and this one was of a sort so novel that she made one uncomfortable. She'd have given "Johnny's g

If you want to be like him you'll take care, too. When he didn't take care, it was Moses' business to lick

e old woman's face. What she saw there was something very different from what the harsh words had suggested, and,

' a minute longer. He'll be terrible cross. Yes, you can take Punchy. I'd ruther you'd take him 'an not, for Sir Philip looks peakeder 'n ever to-day. The ve

at her father had once told her of the famous Don Quixote for whom he had nicknamed her. Then, in turn, he pointed out to

what a perfectly glorious place for a hallowe'en party-if there was anybod

upon the ancient customs, of how not only did the people bring their dinners to the church, but the mothers their babies, with rocking-chairs furnished galore by the congreg

bend of the road hid the meeting

ic faces, like the old masters, because I suppose most of them are angels now. I hope they know I'm

ne, the hired man star

ha' been better for Marsden, an' I shouldn't feel it my painful duty to 'rest 'em when I get to be constable-if ever I'm elected," and then Moses sighed so profoundly that Katharine's

o be a constable? Just

the small face at his elbow tha

Tain't time for hickories yet, not till a heavier frost comes, but chestnuts you've got to get early if you get any at all. The squirrels an' boys are smart round this way. Why, 'most every year they gather Eunice's nuts off her own trees, then march up to her front door an' sell 'em to her. Fact. An' the silly woman only laughs an' says she don't begrudge 'em a little pocket-m

her thoughts travelled far afield, for a delightful notion had taken possession of her, and h

he groped among the brown leaves at the foot of her tree, her fingers came in contact with something wholly different from chestnuts or their thorny burrs. It w

t it dazzled the digger's ey

piece of gold out and take it to her. And I won't tell anybody, not anybody, not even

ose another far more gigantic, by which everybody who was poor, "everybody in the whole wide world," should benefit. For, of

out that first great

ince this was a mystery. A mystery with a capital M! For if there were no mystery in the matter w