The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-09-06

were waiting till he was dead, he said {; he was sure they were waiting till he uas dead and gone, but he wasn't e-goinx to die to obliRe either of them His h1her had lived till ninety- -four. znd he was onIy seyeufy-three next bean feast, and, bar his cussed legs, he was as good man as any in FeIspar and if they were waiting for his death and his znoney, never were two people more mistaken in their lives, as they would see-see if they wouldn't rabbit 'em for a selfish, aggravating, greedy pair.
 But we are not waiting for your death, grandfather" Peggy said on the autumn day to which we have already alluded; "i shall b only too glad if you'll live to be as old as Melhusaleh."
 "i shouldn't be suTpsised if did"
 Mo-" said Peggy, laughing. There's been some Wonderful ages in my family. don't see anything to laugh at in the idea," said Mir. Brantwell.
 "Oh, you're not an old man yet, grandfather" said Peggy, as she bustled about the room preparing the afternoon tea for her relative. "There are plenty in Felspar older than you, and plenty | younger who look as old already"
 Because they never took care of themselves" he said, "but sotted away their time at the Quarry Inn, and sat up till nine or ten, night after night, like them rackety Londoners. Because-but ain't you in mortal hurry to get tea over tonight? ?"
 What question " said Peggy briskly "is it any earlier?"
 "lt's good bit earlier" said her ob- servant grandfather; "the shadow across ;he floor was longer yesterday afternoon by fourteen inches afore the kettle billed"
 "I didn't notice the shadow" said Peggy.
 But 1t was"
 Indeed .''
 "Very well-it was, then. And it was later in the afternoon, O course. And you know it was later. And you had reason for it's being later yesterday, or earlier to-day, and it's no use trying to trick me-" he snapped.
 "l am not trying to trick you, grand father.r
 "Yes. you are. You had a reason"
 We'll had reason," Peggy con- fessed.
 "You're a-going out"
 "Yes- for little while"
 "To meet that Luke. You know you are"
 No, Pm not going to meet that Luke. replied the granddaughter. "Im no, thinking of such thing"
 Oh, ain't you - exclaimed the irrita- ble old man, bringing his broad brown hand with formidable slap into the tea tray, and causing considerable commo- ,ion among the crockery in consequence. Then why can't you be fair and straight, and say what you are going to do: Why can't you tell me you want to choke me of with tea before I've got the dinner down my throat, and to put me into bed again afore I'm hardly got out of 1t, or it's had time to cool? bate such artful ways"
 Grandfather, what has disturbed you to-day..'
 'l ain't disturbed"
 "You are not very often like this" ! ''Yes. l am"
 Not often quite as hard as this, think, said Peggy, in calm, half-won- dering way, which, if it had no. been nat ural, would have been very aggrzvatins. But Peggy was really surprised by the extra energy which her grandfather had contrived to throw into the conversation tha. afternoon.
 "l shall be harder soon, if that's any comfort to you." was the final remark of this amisble old gentleman; after which he went to bed, though the sun was still shining, and 1t was half an hour before his usual time. Indeed, the alacrity with which he had taken himself of would have aroused the suspicious of most folk; but Peggy was not distrustful-on the contrary, very, very trustful-or she would not have waited all this while for Luke Shands and Luke Shands' luck, which was generally going the wrong way to which he was.
 Five minutes after her grandfather had gone to bed, Peggy had put on her neat little straw hat, and was out of the house and tripping along the high road. Had she looked back, she would have seen the head of old Matthew craning out of ! the iron, window watching her. Had she waited at the bend of the road, she would have found old Matthew there five minutes afterward and had she hidden | herself behind the great sprawlinR bram- bles, she would have seen Matthew bribe little Tom Crasp--a ragged youth, who professed to mind the sheep in Owens fields, and spent his time Ainging stones at crows-to follow her, and bring him back the news where she had gone-to make all the haste that he could, too, be- cause he, Matthew Brantwell, did not want to be out of his bed much later than his usual time
 But Peggy, unmindful of all this treachery, had gone on her way with grave oomposure, steadily and swiftly. She had turned frou. the high road, or the apology that there was for high road in 90 break-neck a part of the country as Felspar, and gone down into the valley, deep down into the lower path by the side of the stream, where the trees azched overhead, and the way vas thickly hidden now by rustling dead leaves. Presently she crossed a little plank across the stream, and went up from the