Nevada County picayune. (Prescott, Nev. County, Ark.) 1885-1???, 1891-06-11

=
"you oughtn't to play jokes on mt
when Pm 50 busy
"But it WASH joke, Phebe, -
said the round-eycd little lassic
"She was there, She must have
gone OUT"
How could she, and never q
sound from the bell over the door! p
The bell over the door must be
out of order" persisted Lally.
1T isn't out of order. See for
yourself"
She opened and shut the door
The bell sounded its shrill tocsn
with due promptncss.
"Well, she was there" Lalla de-
clared, stoutly.
The Lext day Henry Houre pceped
in with a measuring rule in his hand.
''Store, Miss Perkins" g" said he.
fhebe make haste to obey the
summons.
"Not the stout man who is looking
at clocks" said Houre. Mr.. Dar-
row is waiting on him. The old la
dy with the pinched bonnet and the
lowered black lace veil, by the claw
legged table,
Phebe started around her in be-
wilderment.
on't-see-an -old-lady, ="
said she, very slowly.
'Well that's strange, said Houre,
bursted into a puzzled laugh. "No
more do |! But she was there a
minute ago-that I'll swear too"
Mrs. Darrow, the least imaginative
of human beings, was trundlng into
the store with the baby on her arm
one evening at the witching hour be-
tween dust and daylight, to call her
husband to supper, when she came
skurrying back and clutched Pheby
by the arm.
THE Lord be good to So said
she "but believe it's ghost"
What's a ghost, Mrs Darrow 2"
asked Phebe.
81 went to crowd past the claw
legged table to call Jonathan" gasp
ed Mrs. Darrow, when, all of a
sudden, seen little old lady stand
ing there looking at .it-an old lady
in black, with queer poke bonnet
and lace veil all sprigs and seal
lops hanging over it. And says |,
Il beg pardon, ma am, and then she
was gone, Just as if she'd melt into
air. "
Phebc clasp her hadns, and gave
a little cry.
This is the third time !" said she.
"Surely-surely it must mean
something"
"Eh :" said Mrs. Darrow, start
ing.
But Phcby flew into the gloomy,
echoing warcroom with its dimly
outlined heaps of furniture and its
black shadows brooding in angles
and corners, and, standing by the
claw-legged table, whispered fire.
quently;
"What is 1t, Aunt Jane-what Is
it you want; Only try to tell us,
and we will have it done"
And then she wrote home to her
mother about the old lady with the
sprgged lace veil and the quaint
bonnet, who stood or sat so silently
besides the claw-legged table.
Don't laugh at me, mother, she
wroth. "But | am sure all this
means someteing. Can't we buy the
claw edged table back: Ask father
to search all the hooks and crannies
about the old house. For | am sure
quite sure-that Aunt Jane has
something on her mind as she lies
there under the mullen stalks and
blackberry briers. -
Pindar Perkins said it was all folly
and nonsense. Lyra, his wife,
opined that ''Phcbe wa ant ginerally
led away by notions, and it wouldn't
be no harm to look around a little.
And a thorough search ensued, but
all to no avail, aud by the time the
home letter arrived the claw-legged
table was sold to whimsical, fine
lady, who went into ecstatics over
the glimmer of its dark, polished
wood and the fantastic pattern OF
the brass rings that opened its mus
ty smelling drawer
With the late autumn came many
changes. Jonathan Darrow sold his
business to Henry Houre, and the
entcrprisiug young cabinet-makeI
oSEaJ n,odost lttlo phphp Ia lao his