The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-08-13
HEARD ON THE ROOF.
A Girl Who PLAYED Carpenter, De-
tectiye and Sweetheart in
One Short Hour.

half whine which was habitual to her.
"Ths rain leaked in on the boarder's bu-
reau all night long, and she says she
won't stay here if she isn't to be properly
protected against the elements"
jamie tied the last puce colored tulip
to it's stake and Strengthened herself up.
"Who is to do it?' sighed Mrs. Barr.
Sand if Mrs. Lepell goes away what
shall we do about the interest on your
fathers old note?"
"She won't go away, mother, never
fear" said jamie, brightly. "Don't fret.
You'll see that things will come out
right"
"But the shingles must be fixed right
away" said Mrs. Barr.
"They shall be fixed, mother" said
jamie.
"Who viii do itfp impatiently repeated
the widow,
81 will!' said jamie.
"That's all NONSENSE" groaned Mrs.
Barr.
But jamie had never been more seri-
ously in earnest in all her life.
Mrs. Barr went to the parish sewing
society that afternoon.
Col. Addison, from the Valley hotel,
who was paying his addresses to Mrs.
Lepell, the boarder, came with a spirited
horse and a buggy to take her to the sea
beach.
"Now is my time" said jamie exult-
antly to herself.
But Mrs. Lepell came back before she
had got twenty-five yards away from the
| house.
"Janie," she said, II forgot to tell you
that I left my three diamond rings in the
little left hand drawer of the bureau. I
might lose them in the water. / thought
Iwould tell you in case of fire, you know,
or any other accident"
eyes," said jamie, "but there won't be
any accident.
Mrs. Lepell laughed, and ran back to
the carriage and the impatient colonel.
And not until then did jamie perceive
that a tall, half grown lad, lurking be-
hind the porch rails, was waiting to
speak with her.
"Who are your said jamie, briskly.
"What do you want? No, we haven't
any old clothes. If you really want
work, you had better go on to the new
buildings, about a mile up the road. ]
dare say they can find something for you
to do there"
The lad mumbled out something,
whether thanks or otherwise jamie
could not discriminate, and shufied
away. And our heroine, slipping on her
hat and boiling the front door, ran across
the back meadow to Jack Parsons car
penter shop, some quarter of a mile by
the wood path.
81 want a few shingles" said she,
''and a pound of single nails"
"What for?' said Ralph.
"No matter" calmly retorted jamie.
She nodded good-by, and hurried away
under the canopy of pink apple blossoms.
Ralph looked ad~miringly after her.
"She's a regular clipper of a girl, that
jamie Barr!' said he. eff aver I'm able
to support a wife, that will be the one
I'd choose"
Light as a thistledown, jamie hurried
back with her precious bundle of shingles,
and the pound of nails in her pocket.
"Now I'll show him whether I can
mend the roof or not" she said, as, with
a hammer added to her stock in trade,
she assembled to the garnet and climbed
the odd little ladder that led up through
the rusty trap door to the steep roof.
The slant was abrupt, the old shingles
were wet with the recent rain and slip
perry with green moss incrustations, but
jamie Barr was not one lightly to be dis
~ .ol aoI ,oroco~+I~ 1Io f1,,-I L.
self neatly balanced, with her feet braceG
against the board gutter, elbow lean
ing on the roof, and the hand busily
| tearing away the old shingles and re-
placing them deity with overlapping
rows of new, fragrant wood. The click
of the hammer, the ring of the nails was
like music in her ears. Suddenly, how
ever, as she sat perched like a squirrel
on the slanting roof, the sound of voices
struck on her ear. She paused to listen.
"Three diamond rings! I heard her
say SO herself. In the left hand drawer
of some bureau" said the same accents
which half an hour ago had asked for
her charity. "And no one but a woman
in the house."
"Sure of .that?' said a deeper voice.
"Yes. plum sure" was the answer.
Sand / wouldn't wonder if there were
other things for the picking up"
"Come in, then" said the other one,
{ and step lively. We can't stand here
iawing all day. The door is bolted, is
it2 Wait a minute; I've got q little joker
here as would start any staple this side
of Denver"
jamie had listened in breathless hor-
ror. In an instant, as it were, she COM
pretended the full danger that menaced
Mrs. Lepelrs treasured gems-the three
diamond rings that the boarder had once
told her were worth thousands of dollars.
And here she was alone and helpless!
Hurriedly she turned over the crisis in
her mind. If she were to re-enter the
house by the same way in which she had
left it she must certainly meet the ruff
fans, and any resistance which she
could offer would be speedily overpow-
cred.
T.- D. - $50 IL Io-.A~4o