Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1877-08-08

broke in upon her reyeries. With {
blush and start Kitty thrust the sheet
of paper into the dictionary and CLOSED
the volume.
''He is scoundrel and thief" she
heard her uncle say, as he drew nea,
the door. ''You can't tell me anything
about the Marshalls I've known the
whole race Of 'em for twenty years.
Old Silas Marshall went from Windsol
to Hartford, and sold soap and candles,
and during the Jackson campaign-''
Precisely what the late Silas Marshal
did during the Jackson campaign was
not told at that moment, for the dool
opening cut short the thread Of the con.
versation. Uncle Randolph walked
into the kitchen, while behind him
self-confdent and smiling, walked Mr.
Jack Burroughs. Trembling all over
Kitty rose up from her seat and thanked
the twilight which hid her face.
where's your aunt Martha ?" in.
quired Uncle Randolph. 'Jack has
come over to eat supper with US. Why
don't you light up?"
''Here's match" said Jack. and he
held out his hand.
''Aunt Martha is up stairs" answer.
ed Kitty, addressing herselfto her uncle,
and paying no heed to Mr.. Burroughs
protfered match. ''I'll go and call
her," and with this the young lady beat
hasty retreat.
THAT Josiah Marshall is scoundrel
and thief" resumed Uncle Randolph,
as he took down the kerosene lamr
from the mantle-piece. ''I'd like to
kick him and the whole tribe of Mar
shalls along with himu'
ITS pretty numerous trlbe,' OBJ
served Jack, good-humoredly. ''Let
me help you to put on that chimney"
While Jack was adjusting the lam p
Miss Martha, who never found time to
dress up as she expressed it, until late
in the afternoon, entered the room.
Miss Martha was a capital housekeeper.
Moreover, she was what the New Eng.
lander calls ''smart' and the English
man ''clever." And she was what all
the world. in diverse tongues and
dialect. calls eccentric" Perhaps
one of her most noticeable eccentrici-
ties was that of mixing the names of
the Members Of her own household.
Tom Turner was called Randolph"
quite as often as he was Tom" and
Kitty answered promptly when address
ed as Nancy" albeit the only Nancy
in the family had married dozen
years before, and was living now in
Oregon. Jack Burroughs had long
before grown familiar with this peculiari-
ty so that when Miss Martha, upon enter
ing the kitchen SAID: rs that you
Willam?" Jack responded, cheerily {:
sit So
'Well, I'm proper glad to see YOU"
exclaimed Miss Martha. ut seems an
age since you've been inside the house.
Take off your great coat and come into
the sitting-room and get warm. How's
Lydia and the folks ~
Jack gave a satisfactory account of
the health ofthe Burroughs family, and
Miss Martha then withdrew to look
after the supper.
Meantime Kitty. who had rushed to
her own room with face flushed, hands
trembling and bosom heaving, had
donned her best black alpaca, and
combed out the braids of nut-brown
hair, which was hers by growth and not
by purchase. Not that she did this in
honor Of Jack Burroughs, by no means.
She would have done it for anybody
anybody who was going to stay to sup
per. And she tried hard to convince
herself that it was not because Of Jack
that her face flushed and her hands
trembled. What was Jack to her now !?
Had he not sent back her letters and
picture, and kept away from her for a
whole month? And was she not a
heart-broken maiden, resolved to die as
soon as the ice in the Connecticut
River melted? These thoughts whirled
through her brain as she fastened bit
of white lace at her throat-lace which
Aunt Charity had once worn, when
knitting was not her sole aim in life
and took a final peep at her pretty self
in the double sectioned nlirrow. That
peep must have been eminently salts
factory. At all events it made her con-
sclous of her beauty, and caused her to
forget the terrible letter lying between
the pages of the dictionary down stairs.
When Kitty went into the sitting
room to announce that ''supper was
ready" she saluted Jack with chilling
politeness, and addressed him as ''Mr.
Burroughs" That ought to have stab
bed the young man to heart, but it
didn't. He looked very grave to be
sure, and called her Miss Gibson" but
there was the old roguish twinkle IN
his gray eyes, and Kitty detected at
once that, under his assumed gravity,
there was a desire, restrained only by
continual exertion, to burst out laugh
ing. Naturally this vexed the young
lady to degree where tears would
have been a sweet relief. 1t was not
enough, then, that this wicked, deceit
full, cruel Jack should make play
thing of her heart, but he must needs
exult over his atrocious conduct. Kitty
could have cried with a relish, but she
remembered her letter and her resolu-
ton to die, and so, IN lieu Of tears, she
drew solace from that grim thought.
AT the supper table Jack was unus-
ually talkatiye. He COMMUNICATED Miss