The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1884-05-14


nacles in the morning, and dissolved
nightly into the thin, gray mist, through
which walked to the little sea-marsh
cottage.
And this morning Simon had climbed
up the steep, garret stairs, with bunch
of the silver tresses of the Grandfather
Grayboard," which was now ripening
about the edges of the woods, and ven
tured to pass an opinion on my work
without ever looking at it.
Simon" said /, 'you don't know
what you are saying"
"You are right, Babyl" he said. 81
wasn't thinking of the picture. Do you
know, Baby, you've got to turn out Of
this2n
"What forY" said I, calmly sorting
over the clusters of Grandfather Gray
beard, to get the silkiest plumes. "I've
heard that before. ! am not to be fright
ened away by mere shadows"
''But it's substance this time" said
my brother. "Our dear cousin is here.
He is coming to Battersley."
GLOW do you knowP' l questioned.
"Jones, the steward, told me. He
landed in the Barataria on Saturday."
"And this is Tuesday. Oh he won't
rush out to his new possessions the very
first thing" said l, cavalierly. "When
he comes I'll gol"
"What sort of man is he, said Simon,
thoughtfully.
"What does it matter to us2" re-
torted.
"Why, ! suppose he has some sort Of
right to Battersley, or the supreme
court wouldn't have adjudged it to him, {"
said Simon
"Pshawl" said I. claw isn't always
equity. He's a selfish, abominable old
usurper, that's what he is
"Well, have it your own way" said
Simon. 'Tm going over to Hawley on
the pony to-day. Don't you want to
comep
II should like to-" said l, wistfully,
''but if that picture is to go in the au-
tumn exhibition there's no time to lose. :"
SO settled to my work after Simon
had whistled his dogs away and clattered
down the stairs.
The morning had been clear and
golden-bright, but at noon, when sat
down in the deep sill of the old garret
window to read an odd volume of ''Anne
of Geierstein, " and eat my lunch, l no.
ticed that dark clouds had swept over
the sky, and an uneasy wind was rihing
the ad-gold OF the hickory boughs.
And long before it was night the gath
to desist from my labors.
began to put away my things in a
leisurely way. l did not dislike the old
garret at twilight. l enjoyed the eerie
shadows that peopled its dim recesses,
the elm boughs against the window
panes, the creaking groans which seemed,
ever and anon, to thrill through the old
chimney-stack without any apparent
cause; the skurry of the bright-eyed mice
across the floor.
There was portrait of my great-great-
grand-aunt Battersley behind the big red
chest-a hard favored old dame, whose
canvas had been rent apart by some un-
toward accident, nobody knew how,
many years ago, thereby banishlng it to
this unfrequented region. And | used
to fancy that she looked at me by times,
with a curious, icy gaze, as l went to
and fro.
"Hushm said, suddenly, to myself,
with a tin tube of ultra-marine in my
hand, 'there are footsteps down stairs.
Somebody is moving about there"
knew it wasn't ghosts, Aunt Batters-
ley to the contrary, Notwithstanding.
did not believe it was burglars. At the
same time, however, | wanted TO get out
of the house as quick as possible, for
dusk was deepening into night, and
knew that the tide, rising swiftly over
the marshes, would roar like wild
wolf around my path, if did not make
haste.
Most probably the heir-at-law had ar
rived. Well, let him comel
Silently as a shadow, l glided down
the back stairway to the little side-door,
which was my usual mode of egress and
ingress; but, to my amazemeRt, there was
a pile of trunks heaped up against it.
which l could no more stir than could
shake the foundation of the tower of
Babel.
And to reach the front door I should
have to cross the great hall, with its waxed
floor, which was already illumined by the
glow of a gypsy fire built in the monster
fireplace in the sitting E-room.
NO, sdlu 10 IL SUI, WIN q ha9t y
survey of the tightly-shuttered windows,
whose bolts and bars were frightened by a
years corroding rust, 81 must just &c
back to the garret and hide there"
In the midst of my perplexity, sense
of the righteousness of my position
dawned upon me. laughed all to my
self as l glided noiselessly up the stairs,
cropping my way in the dark.
"Cousin Battersey," l said to myself,
''you don't know how near you are to one
of your relations. The chimney smokes,
does it2 Well, only wish it would smoke
you out Damp down there, Is itl
only hope it won't give your old bones q
new lease of rheumatismW
1t was so dark up in the garret now,
that l could not even tell whether my
great t-grand-aunt's eyes were watching me
or not.
There was Just ''glimmering square,
where the hall window was, a moaning
rustic of dry leaves against the mossy,
] gbspo,Ia1 roof and a hard Of mica 7Aaffar,