Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1885-05-02

! was in great spirits, playing with
pussy, who came to meet US with her
plumy tail erect; but Kitty leaned sadly
against the wooden mantel and looked
into the fire with mournful ewes.
Kitty cried /, at last. what does
make you so dullg'
Tomorrow is the third Of March, .
said she. gravely.
"What of thgtT' / demanded.
ssDon't you rememberg The interest
on the mortgage comes due tomorrow. !"
$50 it does, said /, my radiant face
falling faster than the thermometer on a
freezing day. Thirty five dollarsl And
we have nothing to pay it with except
the fifteen dollars Laura Osgood paid for
the old melodeon."
perhaps Willis Avery would wait,
suggested Kitty.
drew myself up slightly.
II don't choose to ask him to wait, =
said /.
Now it happened that Willis Avery,
who held the mortgage on our home
stead, was the son of a neighbor, and an
old play fellow and boy beau of my own,
who had gone to the prosperous young
city a few miles north of us and COM
menced business on his own account,
and ! had particular aversion to ask
ing aid or help of him in any way. /
might be poor, but was also proud, and
Kitty was quite sympathetic enough to
understand me.
''But then what are we to do2n said
Kitty
/ sat down on the hearth rug, with my
chin in my hands, and stared earnestly
at the big cracking back log. Pussy
crept away and nestled down in the cor
ner, as if she knew by instinct that there
was change of temperature.
Lock here, Kitty" said l. suddenly.
"Those russell apples!'
'tWellEn
1--WE can sell them. There are eight
barrels at the least. Eight barrels at
two dollars and fifty cents barrel"
MY dear Addy, no one wi buy
them at one-fifth the price. Apples are
a drug in the market
tHere, grant you; but not in the
city. will take them to Mapleton and
sell them.
''You vii, Addyq"
And why NOTE Squire Dyson would
charge at least twenty per cent. commits
sion, and make favor of it at that.
can't afford either the price or the patron
age Don't say anything about it to
father. He would only fret and raise
objections. What must be done, must
be, and am the girl to do it"
but, Addy, how? All this seems so
perfectly wild and visionary to me"
"WeIl, it needn't; for, believe me, it's
the most practical thing in the world.
All we have to do is to sort the apples
out in barrels, nice and sound can
easily do it by lantern-light tonight
and tomorrow morning we'll rise
early, harness old Dobbin to the
lumber wagon
''But how arc we to get the heavy
barrels up into the wagon?p
"Goosie!' cried !, laughing, ''can't
put the barrels up into the wagon while
they're empty and fill them at nv leisure2
And I'll have them sold at Mapleton be-
fore you've got the cabbage boiling for
dinner
"But where will you go?' asked Kitty.
'Oh, | know of lots of places. | went
once to town with Obadiah Fairweather
when he sold lot OF cheese. have a
pretty good idea of the locality of the
commission stores, / can tell you.n
After all, Addy,n hesitated my con
servative little sister, lit isn't woman's
work. .
"Why isn't it, should like to know.
so long as woman can do it? At all
events, women can pay her debts 4 so.
if you'll hurry up the tea, I'll be off TO,
the barn .
''And what shall we tell papa2'
Oh he'll think I've gone 10 singing
school with the Dyson girls, and / don't
think it's a duty to undeceive him, :"
answered ].
But notwithstanding the brave face
put upon affairs, my heart quivered a
little the next day, as / drove up toward
Mapleton. with the scarlet stain OF sun
rise dyeing all the east, and my own
cheeks flushed with the keen morn
ing air.
But it wasn't so bad. after ALL With
pardonable egotism, supposed that
every one would be staring at me, but.
on the contrary, a young woman selling
apples might be the commonest sight in
the world. so little comment and sur
DIISc ulu ~ apparently eAIllcs nj. 1AOl-
loway, of the firm of Holloway Brothers,
produce and commission merchants,
didn't want any apples, I speedily
learned.
"Just bought a shipload from Al
bauy, 2 said he, as carelessly as if ship
loads of apples were as common pnr-
chase as ten cents worth Of tape. And /
drove on, beginning to feel inhnitesi-
mallY small.