The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1883-08-02
ng down, and poking with short suck in

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the ground at his feet.
"And that is what has made you act so
queer" unused Mrs. Pember. "Have you
seen herr"
"Let him tell the story, Caroline" urged
the old gentleman, peevishly.
Tompkins looked gloomily out upon the
lake and the broad landscape for a few
moments, and then, resuming his narrative,
said: ,
"As I was saying, I have worked hard
and have got a nice little pile; l am worth
thirty-f1ve thousand dollars. When I made
up my min to come East this mn the
money to pay Uncle Jason for What he had
done was all ready. 1t made me choke to
think how long 1 had let it run. figured
it up as near as l could-the two hundred
that came to me in college and the two
hundred after that; and 1 put in the simple
interest at seven per cent, according to
the York State law, which brought the sum
total up to nearly nine hundred; and to
6x it all right l made it an even thousand
dollars. Then 1 bought a new buckskin
bag and went to a bank in Chicago and got
the money all in gold. l knew that would
please Uncle Jason. He once talked of
going to California to dig. 1 suppose he
had never seen a pile of the real yellow
coin in his life. l wrote to him that 1 was
to be in Burlington and that I would be ever
| so glad if he would come over and see me. !
met him yesterday afternoon as he got Off
the boat dow at the steamboat landing. He
IhucW liz I'LL L huCW hluy dlbuOuSh We
were both changed a good deal. After we
had talked a little and got used to each
other, l took him up to my room in the
hotel. Twas in a hurry to get at the bust.
ness part of my visit with him first; for it
| seemed to me that it would be better to let
him see, to begin with, that I was not ex-
actly poor, nor such an ungrateful cub as
may be he had thought l was. 1t
was my resolve that before we
talked of anything else I would get
tina then 1 could hold up my head and dis
cuss our neighborhood and old times, and
it would be plain sailing for me. l had pict-
ured to my mind a dozen times how Uncle
Jason would look with that new yellow
buckskin bag crammed with gold on his
knee, steadying it with his land and talk
ing to me. So when I got him up to my
room and seated him in a chair I h began the
performances: / got red in the face and
spluttered and 1ourished round with the
bag and the gold, and to tell the truth I fully
expected to make the old mans hair rise
right UP. But it did not work: He got
shaky and trembled, and somehow did not
seem to want the money at all, and finally
| owned how it was. He said that he had
given me a cent; it was all Lucy
| Cary's doing. And she had made him prom.
Use, on his everlasting Bible oath, as he
called it, that he would not tell. She had
put him up to the whole thing; even that
first two-dollar bill had come from her
wages"
NY old classmate ceased speaking. He
was becoming flushed and excited. He
gazed abstractedly at the broad blue mir
ror of old ~Champlain, upon which he and I
had looked together so often in the days of
our youth.
Mr.. Pember. sat silently. Mrs. Pember
was whimpering behind her handkerchief.
I ventured the inquiry: "Have you seen
Lucy YETI"
T6mpkins' face quivered; he was silent.
NJ Dd.,Io,-tc - ~ fha ,aef,o, 80
stored her. Tell US, have you seen herr"
she asked.
ST heard of it yesterday Tompkins re-
piled huskily, with an effort.
"Why, Timothy, what is the matters"
cried Mrs. Pember, rising from her seat and
coming to him, as he benthis head and bu
ried his face in his hands. The motherly
woman took off his soft hat and stroking
his hair said: "You had better tell; it will
do you good" And then she put his hat
on again and stood wiping her eyes in SYM
pathy, while he struggled with himself.
The storm of feeling passed away and
Tompkins, having gained control of his
emotions, slowly lifted his face from his
hands, and sat peering out under his hat
brim, looking apparently at a boat upon
the lake. At last he said in a calm voice:
"She is dead"
1t was very still after this announcement.
The softest breath of June scarcely whis-
pered in the pines overhead, and the vast
in the fervid brightnessIof the summer noon.
My old classmate was the first to break
the silence.
"Well," said he, YEARLY, sit must be
about time for dinner; let us go to the
hotel"
We took the little brownroada and walked
down a long, shaded, quiet street. Memo.
ries of college days and romantic summer
nights, with music and starlight, and the
long, long thoughts of youth came back to
me as l looked at the houses and gardens
familiar in college days and chatted about
them with Mrs. Pember.
"Timothy always means WELL" said she
to me, c~onfidentially, reverting to the sub.
ject of which we were all thinking, "but ii
was very wrong for him to neglect that poor
factory girl; don'tyou think OPP. Dem,
inn. in Atlantic MOnth1y.