The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1877-03-22

q the platform, and she can see that gra
= haired Uncle Tom Is twisting hi
i white moustaehe nervOusly With on
}, hand, while the other is brush in
7 away stray tear or two that hav
d somehow got in his eyes but the las
3 face that Phemie sees is ChTistOphe
q kenuicote's, as handsome, pleasant
e face as any one could wish to Loo
o upon He takes of his hat to wave
final goodbye with it, and smiles q
= her cheerily then she smiles, toe
t through her tears, and goes upon he
e journey With better heart.
!, II Is not very long one-only be
tween four and five hours by rail
} with an hours lsst driving afterWart
g and Phemie reaches hOas j1st a:
e the Winter afternoon is drawing in
, About mile from ths house her fs'
e ther Is waiting, gun in one hand
}. game-bag in the other, to drive tn
t rest of the way with her. He nod!
' gOod-humOredly, with q eareles.
!, "HoW dye dc, Pnemie ?" throws tht
? game-bag under the seat, and handini
his gun to the servant, takes the rein
e himself. As he settles into his sest
be gives Phemie kiss, and tucks he
up warmly in the rug and then has
= tens along through the lanes, and his
daughter guesses that, though he says
] nothing, on the whole he is rather
glad to have her back again.
They exchange a few sentence;
about her journey and Col. Hursley':
: departure for India, and the c0nversa-
ton is beginning to lSnguish again
, when they turn into the sweep of the
earriage-driver, and then Phemie cries
T out. "There is Jenifer :" for at the
, sound of wheels the entrance dool
opens, and the bOusekeeper comes out
to meet Miss Phemie, who jumps
down as soon as the groom goes to the
horses heads, and throws her arms
round the old womsn's neck, t. the
honest SOUPS great delight, though
she thinks it is ber duty to rebuke her
darling.
"Lawks, now, Miss Seaton, what
will your pa say to see you huggin'
me so, and before the maids too A
grown-up young lady like you to kiss
me as If / was gentry . Fie but,
bless you, my dear lamb, 1 am pure
glad to see Zee home again :" and Jen-
ifer relents, looking fOndly at her
young mistress, whom sue has
watched over, petted, and seolded by
turns since Miss Pnemie has been
able to run alone.
Phemie laughs, saying:
"Jeniter, you know you Ike it ~
and then says "How do you do?" pleas
sntly to the other servants, who are
helping to bring in her luggage, with
the unWonted feeling that her home
No fa O ms nf fnhf ffarnT7 q
to any one, not even to the Squire /;
consequently she is in good spirits at
dinner, and they fad SO much to say
to each other that Phemie's first even
ing at home after four months ab-
sence is quite success.
During the next two days Phemie
found plenty to do, unpacking and
settling the arrangement of all her lit
tie belongings-special property Of
her own that had been carefully put
away in drawers and cupboards for
safety till her return and beside this
there were the people in the village
to go and see, who were undeniable
glad to have the 'Squire's daughter
back again, some, Ike Jenifer, for
the mere sake of seeing the bright
sweet.faced girl going in and out
among them with her friendly
speeches and pleasant ways, as she
had always been accustomed to do.
Others were glad because her ret9rn
signified also a return Of the soups,
dinners, blankets that somehow al
ways found their way from RoscoTla
Aanorhouse into Roscorla cottages,
where Phemie's obseTVant eyes detee-
ted lack of these or other little COM
forts and even these people learned
to love the gIver through the gifts so
Phemie Seaton found no lack of hear
ty welcome. She could not fail to see
this and be gratified when the cot
tagers came to their doors to get
word with her as she passed down
the village street, to show her the last
nsW baby, or complain Of the last
attack of rheumatism, sure Of her in
terest and sympathy in all that con-
cerned them.
On Christmas eve the house had to
he decorated, and Phemie worked at
twisting and tying up wreaths Of ivy
and holly until she was nearly tired
out then she superIntended its all
being put about the rooms, the last
piece of decoration hung up being q
large bunch of mistletoe, which was
given the place Of honor in the hail.
That finished, she surveyed the result
of her work critically, for would not
Christopher Kennicote see it all on
New Years eve d? and was it not
therefore to be desired that Roscorla
should look its best in his honor
Jenifer, passing through the hall at
the same moment, looked from her
/ 20 Nhn rafaflafnn ard
said, somewhat scornfully-
"It seems just waste 70 put that up,
| It dew, with nobody but your pa to
kiss you under it, Miss Phemie."
To the old womsn's great surprise,
/ the girl blushed-a fiery, tell-tale
blush-from the roots OF her hair to
her round, white chin, and, turning
away, fled up stairs, leaving Jenifer
to draw her own conclusions which
she did, getting pretty near the truth
then, and nearer still the next morn
ing, when Phemie came to her in the
stOre-room, and said, holding out two
halfcroWns
"Jenifer IL the postman comes be-
fore we are back from church, please
give him this as q Christmss-box from
me, separately from papa, you
know"
To which request Jenifer made the
slightly disingenuous reply:
every well, Miss Phemie. Treby
will be pleased enough, dare say
but, my dearie, you'll have to get q
sight of letters to be worth such =
Christmasing as this :"
"Some letters are worth any mon
ey," said Phemie, gayly. "Good-by,
Jenifer. Papa is waiting for me-"
And off she ran to the garden, where
Mr.. Seaton was pacing up and down,
to keep himself warm, till she should
| join him.
There had been q slight fall Of snow
during the night, just enough to make
the proyerbia! white Christmas-day
reality and Phemie and her father
started on their way to church down
the path from which the snow had
been swept away. The lawn lay on
each side of the low box hedges--a
slightly sloping, smooth, white ex-
! panse, dotted here and there by the
bare, leafiess trees, now decked by
mimic foliage of frost and icicles
hanging from the branches. The red
berries and green leaves Of the tall
holly bushes peeped out Of frames of
| feathery snoW-fiskes, which lay so
lightly that the robins and sparroWs
perching OH the twigs would scatter q
white shower, q baby avalanche, on
the equally white earth below.
Phemie looked about her with q keen
sense of pleasure on the outer world,
| that looked so fair this Christmas
morning, as she passed out of the gar
den into the churchysrd, which lay
Just across the road. Here the coun-
tryfolk were struggling by twos and
| threes into the church. The arrival
| of the Squire aud his daughter was
| the signal for loiterers to hurry up,
and as Phemie stopped in the porch
/ to take off some OF her wraps more
than one came forward to wish her "a
merry Christmas"
"a happy one is best, my dear"
said one old woman, remembering
that those two up at Roscorla by them
selves were not likely to have 8 very
"merry" one.
Phemie smiled at her.
THANK you," she said. "Your
! wish has come to pass already"
How couldsit be otherwise? for was
not Christopher KeDnicote thinking
OF her that day =? was not his letter
his first love-letter, which was to COM
Dlete the haDDiness Of this Christmas