Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1874-06-04

Looks as If he was going TO carry
all the girls in the neighborhood p and
her blue eyes had darkened, and her
fair cheeks had flushed with fresh vexa-
ton. She was, every bit, ready to take
fire, therefore, few minutes later,
when her too open-hearted admirer
asked:
You'll step into my sleigh, won't
you, Faith, even if you won't put your
foot in my boat?'
And she answered sharply:
"No, indeed, / don't care to ride in
an omnibus. You will, doubtless, have
plenty of company without me-
If Curt Rowland had seemed to make
light of his rebuff at the summer picnic,
it was very different now, and there was
something In the panied, hurt, disap-
pointed expression of his manly and
really handsome face that would have
carried the day in his favor under any
other circumstances. Every girl in the
room was on his side in a moment-but
Faith'srosy cheeks burned only the hotter
for her consciousness of that fact-and
the only person present who felt any
real satisfaction was Sile Herring, the
village lawyer. who was now sure of his
good fortune to oficiate as Faith Muir
rays escort to and from the quilting.
As for Curt himself, not a word said
he, but turned steadily and dignifedly
toward the door, and in another minute
the quick, sharp jingle of bells told
Faith that his sleigh was, like his boat,
doomed to go empty of lady-pas-
sengers until her own feet came back
to it.
Up to that moment Curtis mind had
been occupied only with joyous antici-
pations of reconciliation with Faith, and
of the fun he would have on the sleigh
ride, going and coming, as we'll as the
quilting. Now, however, as his fleet
.eam drew him swiftly along the river
road ON his lonely way homeward, his
eyes wandered up and down the river,
predisposed to discover anything that
might appear to suggest an interference
with the contemplated merry-making.
1t is very strange how differently the
world will look to a man in one frame
of mind and another That morning
the sun had been CHEEKY, the sleighing
had been extraordinarily good, and
Curtis merry eyes had discovered no
flaws in the prospect but now, as if
his wits were sharpened by Faith MUIR
rays rough reply, he began to discern
that the snow was remarkably soft and
3" soggy :" and that, although the first
F." freeze of the winter had been severe
one. and the ice had formed thick and
there had now, for several days,
been altogether too much sunshine; and
there was no such thing as telling what
the effect of it might be.
Up and down the white expanse he
gazed, and here and there he saw light
cutters and even heavily-laden wood
sleighs crossing and recrossing, and the
former now and then putting an extra
burst of speed over the smooth and
glancing surface. Neither to the
right hand nor to the left did he
turn, however, and by the time Faith
Murray and her friends were on their
way to the quilting, Curt Howland's
team was safe in the stable, while his
big sleigh stood empty by the back
door of the house, with all its buffalo
robes, blankets, clumsiness and dis
grace, still clinging to its unoccupied
spaces.
As for Faith herself, she had hardly
ever seemed in such exuberant spirits
as she displayed that evening, and Mr..
Silas Herring assumed for himself
species of personal triumph, as he COM
pared his own position and occupation
with what he could imagine of Curt
Howland's brooding at home over his
defeat. The quilting was thronged
with young people and old, from far
and near, but good, old-fashioned hours
were kept, nevertheless, and all the
more SO, probably, becauseof the antici-
pated pleasures of the sleigh-rides
afterward
If Faith Murray had any remorseful
promptings concerning her condHct,
she certainly gave no external token
thereof, and led the fun as if she had
never heard of such person as Curtis
Rowland. Perhaps a keen observer,
like her own mother, if only that good
lady had been present, might have in
clined to the idea that Faith was "over-
doing something, but Silas Herring
was not keen observer, and the rest
of the merry company neither thought
nor cared what might be the source of
her high spirits. When at last the
"quilting- bee broke up, those whose
homeward-way did not permit them to
drive in the direction of the river, were
half disposed to envy those whose bet
ter fortune was to lead them across its
broad, smooth bosom. They little
dreamed how much to be preferred were
the rougher but more safe and solid
roads that took them even amongrugged
hills and heavily drifted valleys.
Somehow or other, instead of going
to bed at his usual hour, Curt Rowland
had hgered and lounged in front of his
glowing, log-heaped fireplace, long
after every other soul in the house had
gone to bed. He had pretended at first
to occupy himself with a book, but by
and-by thevolume dropped on the floor
Then for awhile Curt seemed to be alb
sorbed in watching the vivid changes
wrought by the fire as the seasoned oal
and hickory slowly yielded; and then
as the fore-stick snapped in two, and
plunged among the Goals with strange
cracking sound, he suddenly sprang t.
his feet, threw on his hat and overcoat
and strobe out into the open air in from