Iron County register., 1880-08-05
IN take care of her." answered Nc

IL conO CoIc VI ucI, oHSW6Icu me-
Allister, sharply.
If that dress should CATCH" contin-
ued Worth, =" it wouldn't be easy to put
it out" She wore white muslin jacket
to-day, with sky-blue vest. Nina, by
way OF response, fired a cracker from
her fingers.
"Brava!" exclaimed McAllister.
Worth turned away to answer BERTHE,
who whined, "When is we doin' to fire
all the fings off?'
&c When you take off all that paper
stuff, you may come down to the foot of
the garden, and I'll put some crackers
in a barrel for you.''
"There's a hogshead down THERE"
shouted Tom-'sa big dry hogshead
lyin' on its side. Let's put lots in it.
AS many as you like" said Worth !:
s'but take off those paper caps. They're
dangerous"
Nonsense" Nina interfered; sIet
the poor things wear their caps"
Poor fngs wear their caps!" echoes
BERTHE, looking aggrieved.
"Children," I ordered, stake off
every bit of that paper Immediately; /;
and. Nina, you ought to be ashamed of
teaching them to be fool-hardy and
stubborn"
Miss Italics laughed, threw up rose
bud, and caught it skillfully, while the
whole troop of young imps tore down
the garden path at Worth's heels.
Passing near Nina and McAllister a
few minutes later overheard her say,
archly, 81 should be very hard wife to
manage.'
"You shall have your own way in
every thing" the young fellow an
swered.
In desperation, called Nina away.
Taking her aside, I said, "Mina, Nina,
take care what you do"
She laughed again in my very face,
and answered, 81 shall marry the man
l like best in spite of every body" Then
she jerked down that jacket with de-
termination, felt the earrings and curls,
and marched straight back to McAllis-
ter's side.
My wife shed tears of vexation, and
declared: ssMina will make us all
wretched if she marries that man. He
wants her money
I could only call the girl perverse
and silly creature, who deserved her
fate. She had chosen position where
Worth, from the foot of the garden,
could see her side face as she coquetted
openly with McAllister.
After little, Tom came tearing at
full speed toward the house. Out of
breath, he bounded up the piazza steps,
crying, hoarsely, "He's killed, he's
dead. Where's the ice-waterp" then
rushed for the dining-room.
Its Bertie," screamed my wife;
its my darling. Oh, 1 knew some
thing would happen.' With the word
Mary raced down the garden path. l
was scared enough to run too, but Nina
caught up with and passed us both. At
a glance saw the children were safe,
though Mary still called wildly for her
BERTHE, who was roaring Justify under
her very eyes, "He'th dead, eth dead"
Jenny explained through her sobs,
"He's dead inside the hogshead."
Then, for the first, noticed the old
empty hogshead lying on its side, and
from the open end protruded the feet of
Mr.. Worth, while smoke and the smell
of powder poured out all around them.
Nina rushed to the fatal spot, and
helped me to lay hold of Worth and
drag him out. She had turned pale as
death, and cried out, with delightful
femme logic: @You're dead, dear. For
give me-" Then: "Don't die, John
dear, don't die. love you"
1 was STOPPING over the body from
the other side; the head was just
emerging from the hogshead, and the
face was turned toward me. 1t was un-
commonly radiant for a corpse, and I
heard the dead man whisper, "Hush!
it's blunder. I'm not hurt. Don't want
to mortify her. Put me to bed," and
John became rigid again.
McAllister drawing near, Nina cried
out, savagely: "Don't touch him. No
body but me shall touch him. John,
dear John!'' Then, sobbing, she bathed
his face in the ice-water that Tom had
just brought.
BERTHE all this time never stopped
bowling, "He'th dead, he'th dead;"
and Jenny heaving profound but de-
corous sigh, said, Yes, papa, our poor
Muff is dead.''
"Muff p'' 1 questioned; "wherep
howP'
SIN the hogshead," answered Tom.
&" We put crackers in it, and didn't
know Muff had crawled inside for
nap. Mr.. Worth went in to get him
out.n
"Oh!" sobbed Nina, "and killed
himself with the powder smoke. Why
don't you send that man for the doc
tor?" This last was to me, and indi-
eating McAllister.
The suggestion cleared the situation
for me, and, after drawing..out the woody
heap that represented our deceased
Muff, politely requested McAllister to
run for doctor. He did so, but with a
very bad grace.
Under the scare of seeing Worth ly-
ing still and speechless, the children
were awe-struck. Only BERTHE grieved
aloud over Muff's lfeless body.
Covering Johns face, l called Dennis, |
The gardener, who was safely stupid,
and we carried the dead-weight to q |
couch in an upper room. Then John
''Send her away" for Nina |
had followed close, all pale and grief
stricken. I told Nina to wait outside,
and let me use means to restore him to |
but she declared, with |
Ill her emphasis turned to a new use:
Il aco,s't leave him; I soo,at. I'll die |