Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1888-11-09

added, significantly, "he and | may both
repent our agreement. Let me have a
good account of you both when return"
III took his Nat from its peg on the wall,
and in obedience to suddenly formed
resolution left the sci DOL room to call up-
on the parents Of Cressy McKinstry. He
was not quite certain what he should say,
but after his habit, would trust to the III
spiratiou of the moment. AT the worst he
could resign situation that now appeared
TO require mole tact aud delicacy than
seemed consistent with his position and
he was Obliged to confess to himself that
he had lately suspected that his present
Occupation-the temporary eXpedieut of
poor but clever young mau Of twenty
was scarcely bringing him nearer q reai
zatiOu of his early dreams. For Mr.. jock
Ford was youthful pilgrim who had
sought his fortune in California so lightly
equipped that even in the matter of kin
and advisers he was deficient. That pros
peCtive fortune had already eluded him IN
san Francisco, had apparently not waited
Tor him in Sacramento, and now seemed
never to have been at Indian Spring
Nevertheless, when he was once out Of
sight of the school house he lit "A cigar,
put his hands in his pockets and strobe on
with the Cheerfuness Of that youth to
which all things are possible.
The children had already dispersed rs
mysteriousy and completely rs they had
hamlet of Indian Spring the landscape
seemed to be without sound or motion,
The wooded upland or ridge on which the
school house stood, half mile further on
began to slope gradually towards the river
on whose banks seen from that distance,
the town Appeared to have been scattered
trregularly or thrown together hastily, Ms
II cast ashore by some overilow-the Cos
mopolitan hotel drifting into the Baptist
church and dragging in its teal Of wreck
age TWO saloons aud blacksmth's shop ::
while the county court house WAS strand
ed in solitary grandeur in q waste of gray
el half mile away. The intervening flat
was still gashed and furrowed by the re.
mOrseess engines of earlier gold seekers
Mr.. Ford was in little sympathy with
this unsuccessful record OF frontier en-
deavor-the fortune he had sought did not
seem to lie IN that drection-and
his eye glanced quickly behind it
to the plne-crested hills across the
river, whose primeval security was
so near and yet so involable, or back
again to the trail he was pursuing along
the ridge. The latter prospect still re
tanned its semi savage character in spite of
the occasional suburban cottages of resi-
dents, and the few outlying farms or
ranches of the locality. The grounds of
the cottages were yet uncleared of under
brush bear and catamount still prowled
around the rude fences of The ranches
the late alleged experience of the infant
Filgee was by no means improbable or I'M
precedented
a light breeze was seeking the heated
flat aud river and thrilling the leaves
around him with the strong vitality of the
forest. The vibrating crosslights and
tremulous checkers of shade cast by the
stirred foliage seemed to weave fantastic
net around him as ne walked. The quaint
odors of certain woodland herbs known to
his scholars and religiously kept in their
desks or left, like yotive offerings on the
threshold of the school house, recalled all
the primitive simplicity and delicious
wildness OF the little temple he had left.
Even in the mischievous glances of eva
slye squirrels and the moist eyes Of con
templatve rabbits there were faint sug-
gestions of some of his own truants. The
woods were trem bling with gentle mem
cries of the independence he had always
known hereof that sweet and grave re.
treat-now so ridiculously invaded.
lie began TO hesitate, with one of the re
WILSON'S of sentiments characteristic OF
his nature. Why should he bother him
self about this girl after all Why not
make up his mind to accept her as his pre-
decessor had done Why was it necessary
for; him to find heri inconsistent
and his mission to them Was he not as
Stunning sense Of decorum that was open
to misconception The absurdity of her
school costume and any responsibility it in
CURED, rested not with him, but her pa
rents. What right had he to point it out
to them, and above all how was he to do
it He halted irresolutely at what he
believed was his sober second thought
but which, like most reflections that take
that 1lattering title, was only a reaction as
impulsive and illogical as the emotion that
preceded it.
Mr.. McKinstry's "snake rail" fence was
plrpQ1U HisparpihIa in ha Itch tar
of the woods, not far from where he had
halted. AS he stood there in hesitation
the pretty figure and bright gown of Ores
sy Mcklnstry suddenly emerged from a
more secluded trail that intersected his
own at an acute angle few rods ahead of
him. She was not alone, but was accom-
panied by male figure whose arm she
bad evidently inst disloged from her waist
He was still trying to resume his lost
vantage she was resolutely evadiL\t him
with certain nymph-like agility, While
the sound of her half-laughlng, half-NAte
protest could be family heard. WithNut
being able TO Identify the face or figure of
her companion at that distance, he couIl
see that 1t WAS not her former betrothed,
Seth Davis.
A superior smile crossed his face he no
| longer hesitated, but at once resumed his
former path. For some time Greasy and
her companion moved on quietly before
they. turned abruptly to the right, were lost
for an instant in the intervening thicket,
ana the next moment CIessy appeared
alone, crossing the meadow in shorter
cut towards the house, having either seal.
ed the fence or slipped through some ia
milar gap. Her companion had disap-
peared. Whether they had noticed that they
were observed he could not determine He
kept steadily along the trail that followed
the line of the fence to the lane that led
directly TO the farm building, and pushed
open the front gate as Cressy's light dress
vanished round an angle at the rear of the
! house.
The house of the McKinstrys rose, or
rather stretched itself before him, IN all
the lazy ungainliness of Southern archi
lecture. A collection of temporary make
shifts of boards, of logs, of can
vas, prematurety decayed and in some
instances abandoned for newer erection,
or degraded 70 mere outhouses-it pre-
scented with singular frankness the no
madc and tentative disposition Of its
founder. 1t had been reoairei wi,hol
being improved its additions had SCENE
only to extend its primitive uglness owe!
larger space. It's roofs We're roughly
shingled or rudelY boarded and batteued
and the rafters of some of its "leanto's'
were simply covered with tarred canvas.
AS If to settle any doubt of the impOssi
bilty of this heterogeneous mass ever
/ taking upon itself any picturesque com.