The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1885-06-04
IN A TIGHT PLACE.

III. E.. Wuring. IN Good Words.
IN A TIGHT A
How an Accident Determined a
Young Lady's Choice.
1t was at that time of the year when the
period technically known as the season
had closed, and tho symptoms, natural and
artificial, which accompany the progress
of the month of September into its second
half were present in their usual preva-
lence, when Ned Chiffon found himself
pecuniarily justified in purchasing an ex-
cursion ticket, good for ten days only, and
awaiting himself of the greatly reduced
rates" ut the Mendon House, under the
shadow of Weehausett, for a brief outing.
1t must be brief indeed; for even the small
pickings that come to a young lawyer just
to the bar were of Importance in
his calculation of way and means, n he
must be on hand in his little ofice-shared
by a real estate agent, and with desk
room to let, where fine promoter of a Mex
lean railroad had just failed-for fear that
his great case should come and find lii
AIM ~ q 1O WHY ooy hko
ing his arrival that, at three O'Clock in the
afternoon, he was stumbling along the
powders that fret the curre:t of Rocky
Branch, with the recklessress which comes
CT frequent submersion.
His fish basket thumped lightly against
his side, for the spell Of preoccupation was
upon the eager and not unskillful fisher
man, and sadly interfered with the exer-
else of his craft. For, early as he de-
cended to breakfast, there, in the breezy
49,. - kr.1 lr--l1- u-.-- L. LII
seen IN apparition which caused a thrill of
mingled alarm and delight in his soul.
A round-faced boy, with short hair,
brown cheeks and other physical evidences
of an outdoor life of some months dura-
ton, sat alone, engaged in the demolition of
hot o bread, thin steak and cakes with
maple molases, with one of those appetites
which are unappreciated only by their
possessors. 1t was not SO much the boy rs
the contingencies which the boy repre-
sented that caused the commotion in the
young lawyers breast. Where George
Burleigh was disporting himself, neither
his devoted mother nor his comedy sister
Alice could be far distant; and it was Alice
Burleigh who had, a short three months
before, displayed an amount of worldly
years in declining the possible honor and
preferment of Mrs. Ned Chiffon. How
much of the purpose of his sisters sutton
Jhis youth had OWNED can not be known;
but it was with a sort of reminiscent grin
S well as q start of genuine surprise that
lie raised his eyes to encounter the glance
IF Chiffon, and instantly exclaimed in
q voice largely mingled with potato,
"Helloln
Mastication interfering with the further
expression of the boys sentiments, Chiffon
was able to return the s%alutation before
George recovered his speech and began to
display the usual volubility of his age.
81 say, why didn't you come up here be-
fore, Mr.. Chiffon? It's been getting awful
tupid since the fellows went away. Alice
is no fun at all, and there's nobody else
that's good for anything. Mother thinks
SO, too, for I heard her tell Alice that she
hardly expected any congenial society
that's what she said-after August. She
avs her health forbids her to return; but 1
know better. If it wasn't that somebody
suggested confidence and buttered biscuit
~ believe she'd go tomorrow"
"Do you expect friends?" inquired
Chiffon.
"No, I don't" frankly answered the boy;
sbut mothers bound that he shall see Alice.
heard her talking about it with Uncle
George. He's sort of guardian to Alice,
you know. I was out on the piazza roof
ending to my snake, and I heard mother
tell him they could talk freely, because
Alice was away and George wa in bed.'
# my snake hadn't got out of his box I
aaf bAooS" - AL v
amount to much, except that he was on a
tour through the moutains, and would be
long this way about the middle of Sep
tember.n
"Whoi is hep" asked Chiffon, undeterred
by any fastidious scruples from getting
what information he could from this scion
of the house with which he had sought to
lily himself.
"Why, that Lankton fellow, of course,
Hho's been hanging around Alice. Mother
likes him over so much"
Now, this is but a fragment of the con-
versation, ranging through topics of home
md society, sport and adventure, with
which young Burleigh entertained his
newly-arrived acquaintance at breakfast,
with a wisdom peculiar to his years, and q
happy freedom of expression that would
hardly have pleased either the mother OIL
he sister whom he so easily introduced in
his narrative. But this is the portion
which caused the preoccupation of Ned
Chilton's mind so favorable to the. contin-
ded happy existence of the spotted trout
against which he had sailed forth after
his early breakfast.
For although he had received his dismis.
Jal from the lips of the fair Alice, he had
,eing an obstinate fellow, by no means re-
inquished his purpose, and, being so fool.
ishly in love, had neither given up his
nope; and the appearance of Arthur Lank
ton as a sutton, favored by parent and
guardian, was peculiarly u~npalatable. II
was not college rivalry which had bred an.
tipathy between these young men, nor yei
competition in the business of the law, tt
which profession each had devoted him
self; but the chance which brought h
into conflict in the courts had also imposed
upon Chiffon the unpleasant duty of ex,
posing, in the interest of his client, certain
conduct on the part of the opposing coun
sci which touched close upon unprofessiona
sharp practice. And the natural conse
quence was that Lanllton heartily hateC
his former classmate and rival, while Chill
ton was far from kindly in his sentiment
toward such a claimant for the band o
the girl who held captive his avn fancy.
The singular coincidence that brough
them all to this particular spot in til,
mountains together, with ASSOCIATED
thoughts, had been in Chilton's mind as h
fished up the brawling stream all the da,
with such poor luck, and was uppermost il
bis ~cogitations as he unjointed his rod a l.
took the homeward route.
This led him, when near its close, through
the Cathedral Woods-a wid and Ion,
stretch of heavy pine and hemlock growth
that occupied the plateau between tn
green meadows of the intervale and til
slope of the Woehausett range The loft,
stems Mount straight from the ground
bare, after the manner of their kind, unit
they reached a height of thirty or fort.
feet, where scragggy branches began t
obtrude, finally widening far above tn
head into masses of foliage that j~ealousl,
struggled to interpret the sunlight, softl;
muttering and crowding against each 9th
er as the wind swept by. In midday i
was indeed church-like, and in moonligh
it was weird Us the woods about Camelot
an the season it was not unusual for churcl
services to be held here, and it was, more
over, q daily resort for such boarders a
the houses within the range of a few mile
as affected poetry and sentiment and laz.
solitude.
It was here that Alice Burleigh had be