Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1888-08-31

| dimpled face. ] hope not, but to tell
you the truth, l have travelled a long way
since breakfast time, and am very
hungry"
Ellie's heart melted at once She for
| got Aunt Bessy's charges and exhorta-
tons.
Hungry, are you" said she. "Wait
a minute and l will get you a piece of
blackberry pie and some cheese"
! She fed back into the house, and pres
emily returned with triangular wedge
crimson-bleeding PIE, enough to
! tempt any one appetite, and compla-
Gently watched her guest while he ate it.
as it NICE" said she, radiantly.
"The incest thing | have eaten In a
MONTH" enthusiastically answered the
! young man. ''And this cheese Is like
solicited cream"
! Little Ellie stood watching him.
| care you the tin peddler." she asked,
suddenly IBID you leave your pack
out in the road Because our old tin
dipper is rusted nearly through, and
there IS quite bag of rags and clippings
on the pegs back of the door, if"
( "Oh, am not the tin peddler." said
| Ellie turned very red, feeling con-
scious of having made faux pas in her
impulsiveness.
II beg your pardon" said she. 81
didn't know"
81 am very much obliged for your
Kindness" said he, rising from the door
sill, which had done temporary duty for
u seat; and then he went on his way.
Ellie looked after him with solemn,
long-lashed eyes.
''He is very handsome" said she to
herself. 81 think he must be like Don
AlOnz Mendoza, in the Fall of Castig
lia, or like Guy Livingstone. Hope he
wasn't offended at my asking him if he
was the tin peddler; but in a place like
this one never knows who is who"
Ellie Tier was teacher of the primary
department of city school, and she had
come to spend two weeks Of her vaca-
ton with her Aunt Bessie Parsons, who
was married to a farmer. And this was
the first day that she had been left to
keep house, all alone by herself.
Of course, it was an honor but. all the
same, there was a certain responsibility
attached to it, and Ellie secretly felt that
she would be very glad when Aunt Bessy
came back from town.
Just then a fOOtstep sounded on the
threshold of the back kitchen door, which
opened into the shady luXuriance of the
u. IL was uGT CHCIc IOGu JdlIlIu.
"Ellie," said he, 81 wish you would
stir up a pitcher of cold ginger and
water, with a little molasses in it, for
the lawmakers. l just remembered that
l had left my coat hanging up here by
the window, with Eh-hallo. where
is itl''
"Where is what, uncle?" said Ellie,
pausing with the can of ginger in her
hand.
There was ten-dollar gold-piece in
leather purse in the pocket of this ala
packy coat" said Uncle Benjamin. look
ing aghast. 81 forgot to take it out
when l came from town yesterday, and
now it is gone!'
He turned every pocket of the thin
summer coat inside out; he shook it as
if expecting that the missing coin would
drop out, like ripe nut. But all to no
avail nothing was there.
ats the strangest thing in the world :"
said Uncle Benjamin. l know [ left it
here. Has any one been in the house
since morning, Ellie|
emo - faltered Ellie, saving her
conscience with the reflection that the
brown compleXioned stranger certainly
had come no nearer than the door-sill.
Then what has become of my gold
piece?" said Uncle Benjamin.
II am sure [ cannot tell" futtered
Ellie, her heart giving a sudden throb as
she recoilected the two intervals of her
absence, once for the glass of milk, and
once for the piece of blackberry pie.
During those intervals what might not
have happened:
''lI go upstairs and look in the bureau
drawers" said Uncle Benjamin. 81 am
perfectly certain that the money was
here in my cOat-pOcket; but still"
He fastened up the narrow, wooden
stairway, and Ellie, spurred on by new
inspirat on. caught her muslin wreathed
hat from the table. and darted down a
lane that led across the brook, and
through patch of woods to the high
road beyond.
elf L take the short cut over DENIM
sons HILL she thought, 81 can catch
him even yet. The thief the migrate
full poltroon! To drink the milk and
eat the blackberry pie, and then to serve
me D."
She coursed through the fragrant
masses of sweetfern, across thickets of
low growing huckleberry bushes. all
purpled over with fruit, under the
shade of solemn, old pine trees, and past
herds of grazing cattle, who lifted their
heads to look at her as she passed.
But when at last, breathless and pant
ing, she reached the low stone wall that
separated Uncle Benjamin's farm from
the main road, she reaped her reward.
There, only few PAGES away, the tall,
81 Ctr