St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1885-10-17

there's room enough in tho cottage fer
all of us, even if we were all to home,
and [ s pose we can't always keep you
girls. Even eff you was to leave school
for good, some of the young fellows
would be coaxin' you away from us.
"Oh, no, pa; I am sure neither Lucy
nor I have any thoughts of getting mar
fled, have we, Lucy?" laughed her sis
ter.
"You don't mean to say 'Ras is in
love with any of the girls though, do
youP' she continued. 81 wonder who
it can be. Funny, isn't it? but I never
thought that he could ever get married,
had you, Lucy?"
Lucy said she had never thought of
it, though Of course Erastus would mar
ry some time. she supposed; nearly
everybody did
Then she tried to talk Of something
else, but Jennie insisted on knowing
who it was that Erastus was counting.
''Oh don't know as anybody in par
ticular." her father replied, 'tonly he's
ridin' around with the neighbors' girls
some, and it's natural he should marry
afore many years. He is a man now,
buy him ranch with after spell
lit will be mighty lonesome, he
added, t'if he should marry and leave
mother and me; specially if you girls
should 60, too.''
The girls both protested that they
never meant to marry; had not thought
of such thing.
''You mus5 not talk so, pa" said
Lucy, ''because we are never going to
leave you; but just as soon as we get
through school will come home and
stay always with you and mother"
Jennie noticed that her sisters voice
had little suspicion Of tears in it when
she said this, and that she turned her
head and looked the other way when
she spoke, but forgot it Immediately in
wondering if it were true that 'Ras real
ly had any one picked out to marry,
and if SO, whom? She thought over
all the girls in the neighborhood, and
finally decided that it was Mary Jones.
Mary, she knew, had always liked
Erastus. She liked Mary herself, and
the two had been together great deal,
and if Erastus was going to marry any
body she hoped it would be Mary.
''There's Johnny coming to meet us,
said John, SEN, as they came over the
hill and struck the little stretch of level
ground in front of the cottage.
''You bet he's got good eye for see
in things. 'Spect he's been watchin'
for us for an hour. He thinks a heap
of his dad, don't you, Johnny2" he
said, as he pulled up the ponies, and
reaching down, lifted the youngster
into the wagon s'Where they could get
at him." as the girls said; and straight
way they began to hug and kiss him,
keeping it up until he squirmed away
from them, and getting in between his
fathers knees, insisted on being al
lowed to drive.
Mrs. Parsons was at the gate waiting
to welcome her girls back with smile
and kiss. The old dog frisked about
and barked as if he were still a puppy,
fairly knocking Johnny down and up
setting one of the travelling baskets
which had been set out preparatory to
driving the wagon to. the barn. Johnny
would have cried, ordinarily, at such
rough usage, but now it would have
appeared out of place amidst the gen.
eral rejoicing, and SO instead of getting
angry or crying, he laughed and tried
to mount and ride old Bose as he fol-
lowed the girls and their mother into
the house. Erastus was at work in the
fields when the party arrived, but see
ing the wagon drive up, he came In i'm
mediately. He was, as MIR. Parsons
had said, man now, nearly six feet
tall and with manly air that had just
a shade of embarrassment in it as he
kissed the girls in turn and asked after
their health.
Lucy was little shy of his caress,
and turned her cheek instead of putting
up her lips to receive the salute; but
Jennie greeted him with the old time
smack and even repeated it twice be-
fore she released him. Then she broke
out with:
''Oh! 'Ras, father says you're think
ing of getting married. don't believe
it, though. Say, is it SO? Are you go
ing to marry Mary Jones? Cause |
know Mary always liked you, though
she would never own it Say, Ras, is
it really true?''
Poor 'Ras! The blood rushed into
his cheeks, and gave them a tinge of
red beneath the brown tan, and he
glanced at Lucy, and moved away
toward the porch, and then he looked
little foolish and finally yexed; and
then the idea appeared to strike him as
being ludicrous somehow, and he
laughed !.
You know better than that. Jen,
he said; II never cared for Mary Jones,
or any other of the girls; and, besides,
Mary is going to be married to Joe
Bronson, week after next, and we are
all invited to the wedding