The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-02-20

2 tucking his book tenderly under his
: long arm. "Good-by, then, Jacob
e shall see you again sometime tonight
shall I ?"
Awkward, that query at an end, but
L nodded yes to him just as if had
known Let me see,-where was I I
Well, s )lomon and parted very good
friends. He looked back at me with, q
smile as waited; and afterward I looked
back at him-witE a smile, too, for
the moment I turned, branch of his
old pear-tree caught his hat (Which he
always wore at the very back of his
head, and kept it and he walked on
to the parsonage door without an idea
that his head was bare. / hurried ON
cheerfully then, feeling pretty sure I
was safe. Solomon would be in his
study all the afternoon, and in his pull
drink his cup of strong tea and sleep
the sleep of parson until morning,
with his lattice window wide open and a
square of the night sky exactly before
his eyes.
"My sleep is calm,' he used to say,
eff my last look has been on heaven. "
And calm I believe it always was,
though his bed was narrow and short,
and he-though narrow too-was long.
Sol never could be induced to spend on
himself any money which he could
spare to give away, and so he persisted
in using the bed he had had as boy.
As for mine, I had been glad enough to
discard it for better.
Well, we had rare sport on that Sun
day afternoon, and our bird came off
the winner, though the squire's was as
/ plucky little cock as ever got beaten.
There he lay when the tussle was over,
with his comb up and his mouth little
open, as if he was only taking in breath
for new attack yet as dead as if he
were roasted with stuffing.
10 gave us a supper after the fight
then we dispatched a bottle of port
apiece over settling our bets then we
gave our minds to pleasure, and enjoyed
good brew of JOS punch and the
squire, though he had been beaten, was
one of the cheerfulest of us all.
As it was Sunday, we determined to
separate in good time; so wnen it got
| toward II, we set out, while 10 stood in
his lighted doorway shouting hearty
gooi-nights after us. had waited to
make an appointment with him for the
next day, that we might conclude the
bargain for the colt, so l was a little be-
| hind the others in starting.
"Take care of yourself" called 10,
"you have the most money and the
furthest to go. Mind the notes. Five
twenties, and I've copied the numbers
that we may be safe. Tell the squire
so, if he waylays you in the dark.
This was JOS parting joke, and when
1 answered it [ gave a kindly touch to
the pocket-book in my breast pocket
and the squire, who heard us, called
out that he darent tIy tonight as there
was moon behind the clouds.
l was riding a favorite little mare
who knew every step of the way be-
tween my own stables and JOS, so I
rode peaceably on in the dark, recalling
the flavor of JOS whisky, and singing
over one of the verses of a song the
squire had given us
With five pounds your standing wages
You shall dainty be fed;
Bacon, beans, salt beef, cabb-GgeS
Buttermilk and barley bread.
Suddenly the mare made deliberate
stop, and reused me from my melodious
dreaminess. Certainly at the end of
the lane gate opened on the heath, but
then she understood quite we'll that she
had only to lift and push this gate, and
she had never before reused me here
when had been riding sleepily home
from Blagly.
STEADY, my girl Why, what is it ?"
cried /, for she was shying back into |
the lane, and behaving in every way
like lunatic. I gave her such cut as
she had not felt since she was broken |
in ; and then, without word or warn |
ing, she reared entirely upright took |
me at a disadvantage, and sent me
sprawling into the ditch then turned |
and galloped back toward Blagly with
out me.
was none the worse for my fall, only |
shaken a little, and astonished great
deal; so picked up first myself and
then my hat, and stumbled on to find |
the heath gate. I had my hand upon
it, when the moon came smiling from
under a cloud, and the whole level
waste of heath was made visible in a
moment, But the sight of the heath,
in all its barren ugliness, was not what
struck me with such q chill, and made
my eyes prick and my throat grow
apoplectic. I never gave a second
glance in that direction, for there close
to me, only on the opposite side of the
closed gate, stood my brother Solomon.
[ could not have mistaken him if there
light. There he was, in his long coat
and his high hat, with his arms folded
on the top bar of the gate, the brown
book under one of them as usual, and
his eyes fixed steadily on me.
Solomon" I said, growing very cold
and uncomfortable under his gaze, "it's
getting chilly for you TO be out"
He did not answer that, and so pres
emily went cheerfully on I've been
you remember where I said I was
going" i stopped again here. I did
not want to confess where [ had been if
he did not know, and did not want to
tell another falsehood if he did know.
So put it to him that way, intending
to be guided by his answer. It was so
long in coming that l took heart of
grace to try another tack. Where
have you been, Sol %
Another pause, and then he answered
in b old slow way:
"Pve been at home, expecting you,
Jacob; waiting for you until L could
wait no longer"
"Tm sorry for that said, feeling
little cheerier to hear him speak. "I
would not have been so late, only had
to go round by Blagly on business. 1
dare say you notice I'm coming from
there now. I only went on business,
Sol"
He made another pause efore he
answered, and though it was trick of
Solomon's, and always had been, felt
myself growing uncomfortably cold.
Why could he not have staid at home,
as persons should on Sunday nights?
But the icy chill thawed all at once to
a clammy heat when Solomon asked me
quietly, and without turning his steady
gaze from my face How much of
that filthy lucre have you won, Jacob ?'
You-you have been dreaming,
Solomon"
UnIinking his long fingers, which
had been claspcd together in the gate,
he stretched one hand toward ne.
Give notes." he said, still, with the un-
moved gaze. GIVE worthless, ill-won
notes"
clasped my breast pocket anxiously.
tI haze little money here, SOL" 1
said, as airily as 1 could, ga few
more or less; and / want to
buv Won a new umbrella, yours is get