Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-08-06
CHAPTER XIV.

CHAPTER XIV.
The road to Mrs. Dalysis full of beauty.
On one side of it runs Coole, its trees rich
with leafy branches; upon the other stretches
a common, green and soft, with a grand
glimpse of the ocean far down below it.
''Why walk on the dusty road, when those
fields are geen in there?' says Kit, pointing
to Coole; and, after faint hesitation, Mon
lea follows her over the wall and into the
dark recesses of the woods. The grass is
knee-deep in ferns and trailing verdure;
great clumps of hOneysuckle, falling from
giant limbs of elm, make the air sweet.
Some little way to their right-but where
they cannot see because of the prodigality
of moss and alder and bracken-a little hid
den brook runs merrily, making
Sweet music with tn enamel'd stones.
Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge
tie oVertaketh in his pilgrimage.
Some thought belonging to the past night
coming to Kit, she turns to Monica with a
little laugh.
How silent you have been about last
nights adventurer ~ she says. II watched
you from your own window until the shad-
OWS caught you. You looked like a lifting
spirit bhoot.''
GA bootr' says Monica, very Justly sur
prised.
Yes" loftily. Kits educational course,
as directed by herself, has been OF the en-
ratio order, and has embraced many topics
unknown to Monica. From the political
economy of Farce Isles, it has reached even
to the hidden mysteries of Hindostan.
Il must have struck you then as being in
my liveliest mood" says Monica, still laugh
ing. Terry told us yesterday he was as
gay as old boots. AS l looked like one, I
suppose L was at least half as gay as he
was After all, there is nothing like leather,
no matter how ancient"
''There's an h in my bhoot," says Kit,
with some disgust. Really, the ignorance
of some people-even the 4icest-is surpris-
ing"
Then why don't you take it out?' says
Monica, frivolously. mot that l know in
the very least what harm poor innocent
letter could do there"
fully.
Idon't, indeed" says Monica, unabashed.
GA bhoot is an Indian ghost"
'And so you thought / looked like an In
dian ghost! with a turban! and an Afghan
and a scimiter! Oh, Kit! Did l really look
like the mahogany table beneath the silver
mOOnbeams? and did my eyes glitter?"
What goose you arep' says Kit, roar.
ing with laughter. mo, you looked lovely;
but was reading an Indian story yesterday,
and it came into my head"
"Youread too much, says Monica. Much
learning will make you mad if you don't
take care. Remember what Lord Bacon
says, Reading maketh full man. How
would you like to be a full woman,-like
Madame OConnor, for example?'
Francis Bacon never meant it in that
sense" says Kit, Indignantly. II really
Uo9lder at you Monica" And, having so
seolded her idol, she relapsed into silence
tor considerable time.
"On! what lovely dog-rOsesw says Mon
lea, presently, pointing to a hanging spray
of pink blossoms, satisfying as Happy
dream. II must get them"
She S2riRgsup amossy bank as she speaks,
regardless of the blackberry branches that
cross her path, barring her way, and catch
ing vciously at her skirts, as though to
hinder her progress.
''Oh, take carep' cries Kit, forgetting all
about Lord Bacon in her terror lest her pref
ty sister shall not show to the best advant-
age in her lovers eyes. "Your gown will
be torn. Wait,-wait, until set you free
from these dreadful thorns."
'Alas how full of briers is this working
day world" quotes Monica, gayly. There,
now am all right, and have got my pref
ty roses into the bargain. Are they not
sweet?-SUeetP' holding them right under
Kits nose.
They are, indeed. And, by the bye,
here we are,' like the clown" says Kit,
pointing to low farmhouse in the dis
lance.
Reaching it, and finding the door as usual
open, they enter what might be the hall in
another house, but is here the kitchen.
There is no leading up to it. From the mo-
moment you cross the threshold the kitchen
lies before you.
1t is large room, if it may so be called,
with huge fireplace in which dozen fires
might be slowed away and forgotten. Just
now there is flame somewhere in its back
most depths that cannot possibly annoy
these June visitors, as one has to search for
it to find it.
An old woman, infrm and toothless, yet
with all the remains of great beauty, sits
covering over this hidden turf fire, num-
bling to herself, it may be of golden days
now past and gone, when she had been the
fairest colleen at mass or pattern, and had
counted her lovers by the score. Yes. those
were good old times, when the sky was ever
blue and all the world was young.
Two younger women, sitting near her, but
further from the chimney nook, are gossip
ing idly, but persistently, in the soft, mel
lifuous brogue that distinguishes the county
Cork.
As the Beresford girls enter, these two
latter women rise simultaneously and court
esq with deep respect. The youngest of
them, who is so like the handsome old wo-
man in the corner of tho fireplace as to be
Enthusiastically of kin to her, comes quickly
forward to greet her visitors with the kindly
grace and the absence Of consciousness that
distinguish the Irish peasantry when doing
the honOr5 of their own homes. This lack
Of mduUdise h01ote arises perhaps from the
fact that they are SO honestly glad to wei
come guest beneath their roof that they
forget to be shy or backward.
She makes slight effort to pull down her
tucked-up sleeves, and then desists for which
any one with mind artistic should be de-
vOutly grateful, as her arms, brown as they
are from exposure to the sun, are at least
shaped to perfection. She is dressed in
maroOn-colored skirt and body, the skirt so
turned up in fishwife fashion Gas ne wore it
some seasons ago. that a dark blue petit
coat beneath, of some coarse description,
can be distinctly seen.
Her throat is little bare, her arms, as |
have said quite so, far up above the elbows.
She is stout and comedy, with beautiful
laughing mouth, and eyes of deepest gray,
merry as her lips. Outside, lying about, half
naked in the warm sunshine, are three or
four boys with the same eyes and mouth.