Morris tribune., 1889-09-04
AN EVENTFUL DAY.

And II Mrs. Lepeu goes away Wndt
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 will do it," impatiently repeated
the widow.
i wiiI!' said jamie,
That's all NONSENSE" groaned Mrs.
Barr.
I}ut jamie had never been nor seri-
ously in earnest ID 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.
L.epell, 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.
Jamie" she said, Il forgot to tell you
that 1 left my three diamond rings in the
little left hand drawer of the bureau.
might lose them in the water. l thought
would tell you in case of fire, you know,
or any other accident"
Yes" 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 you?" 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 shuf1ed
away. And our heroine, slipping on her
hat and boiling the front door, ran across
the back meadow to Jack Parsons car
pcnter shop, some quarter of a mile by
the wood path.
Il 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 admiringly after her.
She's a regular clipper Of a girl, that
jamie Barr!" said he. eff ever I'm able
to support a wife, that will be the one
I'd choose"
Light Is 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
couraged, 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 deftly with overlapping
rows Of new, fragrant wood. The click
of the hammer, the ring Of the nails wa
like music in her ears. Suddenly, how
ever, as she sat perched like a squire
on the slanting roof, the sound of voices
struck on her ear. She paused to listen
"'Three diamond rings! I heard he1
say so herself. In the left hand drawer
of some bureau" said the same accents
which half an hour ago had asked fol
her charity. "And no one but a woman
in the house."
Sure of that?" said a deeper voice.
Yes, plum sure" was the answer
And I 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
jawing all day. The door is bolted, il
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 menacec
Mrs. Lepell's treasured gems-the three
diamond rings that the boarder had once
told her were worth thousands of dollars
And here she was alone and helplessi
HurriedIy 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.
jamie Barr was not one to hesitate
long. While the thought yet ~careered
through her brain she sprang down the
caves into the blooming boughs of the
great cherry tree which grew so close to
the house that its branches scraped the
roof on windy March days.
It was hazardous thing for any one
to do who was not swift of limb and &C
curate of eye, but jamie alighted like q
cat in the fork of the tree, climbed light
II down until she reached the lower
bough, and thence leaped breathlessly
to the ground, springing swiftly across
the meadows to Ralph Parsons carpen-
ter shop.
RfJanie, what is it?'
Ralph Parsons himself rose up out Of
the green hedges, directly across her
path.
Twas drinking at theice cold spring, 2
he said, when I heard your footsteps.
What is it?'
She told him the trouble as well as she
:orld forsexcitement and breathlessness.