The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1877-01-25

81 don't mind the Others" said he
II aunt, seriously, "but Mr.. BascOm
hardly q chance to be Irified With"
"Indeed, be is not" exeIaime
!. Claudia. 81 shall be very careful"
"Within day or two of that tai
j with his father, somehow, job
] Chaplin took the strangest fancy int
3 his head"
: In spite Of all that anybody coul,
say, be insisted on joining 3 party 70
: the HPiney Woods" His talk was o
D big trees, bear, deer, moose, lumber
: ing, and that sort of thing, and b.
came within an inch Of stirring Vi
/ the SqaIre's enthusiasm TO go will
: him. 800 sr-s--. Z
: ''I don't half blame ye, srter all,
lsaid the Squire. "I've had list tina
fever when was of your age, snC
many's the good time that came Of it
too. All right, my boy, IL you're Sc
on It. Take good keer of yourself
and III stay st home and take kee
Of the stock and Of Lucy"
"And so the young man took hi
thoughts with him, closely sealed, In
to the fragrant solitades of the north
cru forests, where all things, whethel
ed with special reference to such IS
he. II the frosty breath Of the pines
is foil Of healing, as is said, for the
diseases Of the body, why should not
even more subtle dlsc0mfOrts bt
aIlayed smoDg their healthful shsd.
oHs
The Squire found himself somewhat
lonely after bis sons departure, and
for q while he tried the experiment Of
spending his evenings with Mrs.
Wsyte. 1t was pleasant enough at
first, especially as CIaudia's mother
from one of her daughters letters,
filled as they were with brilliant de-
scriptiOns OF city life and society.
Pleasant letters, indeed, and now
they were not wanting in kindly,
though "maidenly" and guarded,
messages to the Squire himself; but
somehow they rarely failed tU carry q
feeling of discomfort to the mind Of
the village magnate. Even his "neW
house." half finished, over there
among the naples, did not look as
large or promise to be as fine as when
work upon it was stopped by the ar
rival Of cold weather.
The Squire had never in all his life
had q glimpse into the world which
Claudia was visiting until he obtained
it through those letters. He would
very much have preferred day or so
with his stalwart son, with axe and
rifle and sneW-shoes, and stepped in
the magic Of the pines, to all the glo-
ries Of the fashionable "season."
"Mebbe it'll be hard for Clsudy to
settle down arter all that" was his
comment one evening, and in spite of
Mrs. Wayte's vigorous disclaimer, bis
visits became less frequent for s
while.
Perhaps, he bethought himself that
it was hardly fair to leave poor Lucy
Ferrer so much alone at home.
Not that she was altogether alone,
any more than that Mrs. Wsyte read
the Squire the entire contents of
CIaudIa's letters, for there were other
young men in the village besides
John Chaplin, and everybody liked
Lucy. Then, too, there was Joe Rob-
erts, very respectable young fellow
in his way, always ready to come and
sit in a corner and NOPE and mutter
doleful things about "Claudy aud her
rich city friends"
In fact, the latter end of that Win
ter was good deal worse than the
first, for an evil spirit of uncertainty
and unrest had taken possession of it,
and 1t was somehow dragged out un-
commonly deep into the Spring.
There had not been so late session
in many years but it was grand for
the lumbermen in the mountains,
and John Chaplin fingered and lin
gered.
He fingered, indeed, till his father
had good cause for grumbling, and
John would have heard from him in
pretty positive way II there had been
any means Of sending him word.
Was John Chaplin false to any
body ?-------- .--
No, and yet, before the Winter fair
ly faded into the Spring, or a log
could be hoated down, he had sold
out his somewhat speculative lumber
interest,"" and whatever else he had
with hin that vas salable, and, with
very fair supply of funds in his
pocket, had started for Che great city.
A silent sort .oi man was John
Chaplin, capable of keeping his own
secrets, even from himself, which is
one oil the rarest Of faculties and no
man knew why it was that be made
so sudden and so great q change in |
the locality OF his seasons pleasure.
He had been in F'the city, before, on
business, but it seemed to him an
altogether different place, for, instead
OF confining himself to 'doWn town"
and a cheap hotel, be plunged at once
into the nnaceustomed splendors of
thn faohfnnohln
ter.
Dress ? Yes he knew they were
looking at that--the hotel clerk and
the elegant young man but he |
might have been reassured, if he had |
cared a button what they thought |
about it. Net one of them made any
mistake about John Chaplin, even in |
the rough. Six feet of strength and /
grace aud habitual self-respect can |
wear ro1gh clothing If it chOoses-at |
least, among men.
Nevertheless, Johns first excur-
sions were among tailors and their CO. /!
ordinate trades, and he was thOrougly |
astcnished, as was the hotel clerk, |
when their various art work was ac-
complished.
The change was great, indeed, bat |
the young man actually felt more at
his ease when it was accomplished.
He had not lacked for occupation. |
Such men rarely do, but John Chap
lin had not visited the great city |
without q special errand. Only the
night before the first installment of
the tailoring miracle was delivered,
Claudia Wayte entered her aunt's
dressing-room, with q look on her
face which called forth the question.
"My dear, has anything hap |
pened ?n
"No, aunty-yes-I don't know-I
must tell you how il was. You know
/ went down to do some shopping.
Well, Mr.. Bascom met me, and
we were walking back, up the
avenue, and n sleigh came around
the corner, close to Us, just as
poor woman with q little boy
was trying to cross. l heard q
scream, and even Mr.. Bascom forgot
his dignity and shouted, and I think
the driver sWOre, and I saw a great /
big roughly-dressed fellow catch the
horses by the bits and stop them and
force them back, while the woman
aud the boy got out of the way. I
think the driver struck the man, for l
Mr.. Bsscom left me 10 an instant and
ran and took hold OF the horses, and
the next saw the driver was pulled
out Of his seat and was rolling i'm the
snow and the ladies in the sleigh
screamed, and policeman came up,
and then--O, aunty, it was dreadful
Mr.. Bsscom to leave me in such
way"
"Broad day light" exclaimed her
aunt, ia a tone which did not seem to
specially condemn Mr.. Baseom.
"But,n continued Claudia, t'the big
man turned and held out his hand to
Mr.. Bascom, and said, Thank you,
SIR as If he had been lord, and who
should it be but John Chaplin, son OF
our old Squire Chaplin"
'They're an excellent family in
terrupted her aunt, "and very
wealthy. I wonder what brings him
to town Did you speak to him ?
Did he recognize you ?n &
"That's the very question: ex-
claimed Claudia. "He shook hands
with Mr.. Bsscom, and handed him
his card, with tremendous air, and
he seemed to look me straight in the
face, but he never bowed or spoke"