, 1889-09-07
AN EFENTFUL DAY.

Its those worn out shingles on the
roof" said Mrs. Barr. in the melancholy
half whine which was habitual to her.
1.-The 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 its stake and Strengthened herself up.
"Who is TO do ity' sighed Mrs. Barr.
And if Mrs. Lepell goes away what
shall we do about the interest on your
fathers old notey'
"She won't go AWAY, mother, never
fear, said jamie, brightly. Don't fret.
You'll see that things win come out
right
But the shingles must be fixed right
away, said Mrs, Barr.
They shall be fixed, mother" said
jamie.
"Who will do ityr impatiently repeated
the widow.
81 willl' said jamie.
That's all nonsense" g%roaned 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.
Iepell, the boarder, came with n spirited
horse and n 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.
jamie she said. Il forgot to tell you
that left my three diamond rings in the
little left hand drawer of the bureau. l
might lose them in the water. | thought
would tell you in case of fire, you know,
or any other accident"
YES" said jamie. "but there wont 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 Il
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 shuifled
away. And our heroine, slipping on her
hat and boiling the front door, ran across
the back meadow to Jack Parsons car
pcutcr shop, some quarter of n mile by
the wood path.
IL want a few shingles" said she,
and "a pound of shinglc nails.
"What for:" said Ralph.
NO matter, f." calmly retortcd jamie.
She nodded good-by, and hurried away
under the canopy of pink apple blossoms.
Ralph looked admiringly after her.
shes a regular clipper of a girl, that
jamie Barr!' said he. 'If ever I'm able
to support a wife, that will be the one
I'd choose"
Light as n thistledown, jamie hurried
back with her precious bundled of shingles,
and the pound of nails in her pocket.
"Now I'll show him whether l can
mend the roof or not" she said, rs, 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 OK to the steep root.
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
couragcd, and presently she found her
self neatly balanced, with her feet braced
against the board gutter, one 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 s~lanting roof, the sound of voices
struck on her ear. She paused to listen.
Three diamond rings! ! heard her
say so herself. In the left hand drawer
of some bureau" said the same accents
which half an hou g had asked for
her charity. And no one but a woman
in the house"
Sure of that;7 said a deeper voice.
Yes, plum sure" was the answer.
"And / wouldn't wonder if there were
other things for the picking up"
Come in, them" said the other one,
and step lively. We can't stand here
jawing all day. The door is bolted, is
it? Wait a minute; I've got a 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. Lepells treasured gems-the three
diamond rings that the boarder had once
told bar x~ara pr,rtb thnt-apJsp f H,1lara
And here she was alone and helpless!
& LAWLER.