The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1890-03-22

4
into nail kag and put a milkin' stool
on top. 1 guess she'll stay put till to-
morrer, and then I'll fetch the good eggs
n put under her"
''Kind O. smother, won't she?" suggest
ed the humane squire.
''Law, mol the hay amt up TO the
bunghole. Got letter, hev ye, there IN
your handr'
"Je-rus'lemi I guess hev; n l wish
Sally'd stayed to hum, tell We. I'm
dead beat, N I'd ruther be hung this
minnit than tell her ont. Come along
into the kitchen; she amt there, is sheP"
"No; she's up stairs, l 'xpect. She
seems to favor bein' alone considerable
when the chores is done. I'm most
alters sleepy, and you're up to the store,
n there amt no company 4or her. Wait
a minnit, n I'll light the lamp"
"Oh dearp said the squire, unfolding
the letter. "It's a dreadful thing, wife
dreadful, but faint no use to jaw
about it beforehand. Herel take N read
it; I can't"
The superintendent had evidently
thought Mr.. Tyler's first questions were
the important ones, and answered them
in business fashion;
"Mr, 'Paphro Tyler:
"SR-Yours of the 4th came to hand
this morning. have recently come to
this place, but find on inquiry that Jo-
seph Dyer worked here year ago. BE
was forger, and good workman; of
his personal character know nothing.
"Yours, ETC., I. ADKINS"
Goodness graciousr exclaimed Mrs.
Tyler, dropping the letter in her lap and
looking aghast at her husband over her
spectacles. ga forgeri Why, it's a
hangin' business, amt it2''
81 b'lieve 'taint now, out anyway it's
state prison. Jest to think ont"
"It's dreadful dreadful husband; n
we've got to tell Sally! Well, she's had
a great escape, n she'd oughter be thank
full fort"
al guess that'l be the least part ont, :"
growled the squire, passing his hand
across the shaggy eyebrows as if to brush
away mist. "Fetch the lamp, wife;
the entry's mighty dark. I'll go n call
her."
The squire opened the kitchen door,
and Mrs. Tyler followed, but their steps
were arrested by a strange sound In
that house. From the parlor door flowed
a stream of low talk, sweet as the kiss
ing whispers that ripple behind canoe
silently padded across silent water, and
broken here and there with bubbles of
laughter. The squire looked at his wife
and advanced manfully, taking the light
in his own hand. There, in the food
of light the rising moon poured in al
the open windows, sat Sally and young
man, hand in hand, on settee-Sally
blooming and dimpling and blushing in
the most INSCRIPTIONS and delightful
manner, and the Chap" as the squire
mentally styled hinl, so handsome anc
so happy that Mr.. Tyler involuntarily
| smiled.
Father, this is Mr.. Dyer. That il
mother, joe"
The squire fairly gasped with rage;
GLOW darst you come into this house
you raskill - a-grinnin' and imposin
round jest as though you was as good a
folks! know We, n I'll hev ye hauleC
up in states prison pretty quick if there
law in the land, 'nless you clear righ
off,"
"Oh, fatherP sobbed Sally, "don't
don't! What do you talk SO for?"-Jo
being, as he afterwards expressed it
dumbfounded"
"Talk so! Facts is factsl I've fount
him out; he's been and committed for
gerry, the everlastin' scamp!"
Joe found his tongue and blazed:
"Thats an Internal lie, whoever say
itr
"Oh, Joe, don'tl' interposed sobbinl
Sally-Mrs. Tyler being, for a wonder
quite silent, confessing at later perio,
Of the evening that she twas so kind {
choked up she hadn't word to throw t
dog"
Because it is a lie, Sally, and 1 can
be slandered 80 by any man, if he 1
your father"
"HTaint no slander" thundered tn
squire; "'n if it was, 'tain't me tina
slandered ye. l suppose you won't den
you worked to the Springfield armory
spell backf'
"Why, no; what should deny it fort
"Well, read thatl" said the squire
charging down upon the angry and az
tonished young man with the letter.
Joe took the paper from the hand tina
brandished it. and the squire held tn
lamp nearer. As Sally's lover read tn
damnatory epistle change passed owe
his features Qsn't that the way they say
in novelsD; but 1t wasn't livid, or pallid
or rigid, or purple, or anything but
> growing broader and broader, till, as tn
last words were glanced at, Joe fun
himself back on the old settee and bun
I into roar of laughter that seemed III
terly inextinguishable. He held hi
sides; he rolled and twisted; he laughe
80 that the tears made all his rudd
cheeks shiny he could not speak, bu
held out the letter to Sally. Was Ia
girl bewitchedl She too sat down in
! chair and screamed with a laughter ths
would not be appeased while the squir
: and Mrs. Tyler glared at them with wild
j. open mouths and blank eyes, as if the
3 had suddenly gone mad.
"Oh dearl oh Lord oh goodnessl
shall split certainly shanl' was all Il
explanation that could be got from Jo'
e He could not talk; but Sally, not quite
tickled with the joke, because she ha
been so scared TO begin with, recovere
. her equilibrium first, and, wiping hl
c streaming eyes, began, as wen as 81
3 could for still interupting spasms
j. laughing, TO eXpound;
"Why, fatheri Goodnessl oh, don
] Hnn know what Mr., Adkins means? 9