The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1883-05-16
good, early start on Monday morn
;po cold Amt lean

ing" said Aunt Jean.
At twelve o'clock the back bed
room was whittier and sweeter than
any lily, the butter had come" the
quilt was satisfactorily arranged, and
| the whole family sat down to a sa.
worry meal of fried chicken, white
bread, milk and strawberry short
cake.
You seem to be Is very respecta-
BILE young man." said Aunt Jean,
critically surveying the stranger. "If
you'd like to stay here and do
chores for your board, you might
sleep in the barn chamber, and l
could recommend you to do white
washing Jobs for the neighbors. Dea-
con Dowd's house needs good coat
of paint, badly, and I'm most sure
that widow Elnathani Trueby would
like her barn painted to match the
new house."
81 am greatly obliged to you,"
said the young man, toying with a
particularly large berry. but L do not
execute orders in that branch. / am
an artist"
"A-which ?" said Aunt Jean.
"An artist. Shall l show you
some of my sketches ?"
Aunt Jean put on her spectacles
at once.
"Well, / don't object to look at
them," said she. But won't prom
ise to buy. We got very pretty
chrome with the last pound of tea
we bought, and Kitty cuts pictures
out of the illustrated papers and
pastes them on stone jars"
Mr.. Leigh laughed.
"Oh, l don't expect to make a
sale,n said he. "All these are merely
first ideas, jotted down in the crudest
of fashions. To speak the truth, my
real object in calling herethis morn
ing was to ask permission to sketch
those picturesque ruins down by the
old road"
"Oh p said Aunt Jean; ''the old
smithy. Dear, dear, there amt
nothing but a tumble down stone
wall and few mullen stalks left
there. Eff you could wait till next
spring, Elihu Lewis means to put up
first class blacksmith's shop. But
your welcome to do all the sketching
you want"
Kitty's eyes sparkled.
Il wish / was an artist" said she,
as she turned over the bits of mill
board, all of which were instinct
with life and beauty.
WELL" said Aunt Jean, compla-
Gently, "why shouldn't you be? |
dare say this young man can show
you how he does it."
Kitty looked at the young man;
the young man looked at kitty, and
then both burst into a hearty peal
of laughter, to Aunt jeans great
mystification.
"Oh, aunty," said Kitty, still chok-
ing behind her pocket handkerchief,
that isn't the way artists are
made"
Half an hour later, Kitty Ford was
out on the green, feeding her little
downy ducklings with scalded meal,
when Judge Laughington's carriage
drove up.
Kitty left the tin pail fell in her
dismay. To her, Miss Laughington,
in her summer silks and diamonds,
long white plumes and eight button
ed kid gloves, represented all that
was adorable.
How she regretted that she still
wore her old blue ginham gown, and
that her curls were all tangled by the
sweet, soft wind.
Don't run away, Kitty. DEAR"
said Miss Laughineton, beckoning
with her ivory handled parasol.
"You are the very girl want to see.
My cousin, Mr.. Leigh. is coming
down this way to-day, to sketch. |
have told him about those pretty
old ruins of the blacksmith shop
so, ifhe comes past here"
"Oh, Miss Laughington," cried
Kitty, turning as scarlet as the big
bunch of peonies at the corner of the
house, she has come already. And
Aunt Jean set him to whitewashing
and paid him quarter of dollar
and gave him his dinner. Oh, how
could we have made such blum
der ?"
"Blunder, child, where's the blum
der =? If Horton wants to do thing
he'll do it. If not. the whole world
couldn't compel him."
And after the glistening carriage
had rolled away, Kitty Ford sat
down and cried,
Judge Laughington's daughter
drove on t. theruined smithy, where
Mr.. Leigh was composedly putting
in" the lights and shadows of the
old chimney and the mullen stalks.
But she went back to the stately
"court" with a bent brow and an i'll
pleased expression OF face.
Horton is so awfully eccentric" J"
said she. There's no knowing what
ridiculous whim he will take up
next"
For Mr.. Leigh had declined to ac-
cept the hospitalities of the court.
You always have such loads of
company there, Antonio" said he,
"and l prefer quiet. No-I'll come
up and see you, when the spirit
moves me; but I'll pitch my tent in
this secluded dale. 1t will be better
for real, steady work"
For Kitty Ford's deep, liquid eyes
still haunted his brain.
1.-THE prettiest girl l ever saw" he
kept repeating to himself. "a pure
spirit, dwelling in lily like temple.
l must see more of her; l must
sketch her as Una. T"
So he went back that night, Just
as the dew was falling and the whip
poor-wills were beginning to sing,
and asked Aunt Jean if he could oc-
cupy the little room over the kitch-
en-, where the brick chimney perked
itself out, and the one little window
looked directly into the boughs of
the old pear tree.
"Oh, / don't care, said good Aunt