Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1892-12-09

| l.
be able to command the very best market
price, They're not common, cheap fruit,
but round and rosy and full of rare,
sweet juices. Get your hat, Bah, we'll
go right to work"
In the cool, frost air of the
old orchard, gathering the lovely red
spheres of sweetness into crimson heaps,
both girls soon forgot all but their occu-
patton.
Their eyes shone, their cheeks were
roster than the apples, and the wind
blew the silky tendrils of their hair to
and fro as If bent on frolic.
"You're never going to climb the tree,
Bab9"
az must 2"cried Barbara, lightly swing
ing herself into the forks, 'or else |
must lose those beauties up at the very
top. Reach me the basket, Tib. Oh,
you can't imagine how perfectly lovely
it is up here?"
Tib laughed.
"You'd have made your fortune as one
of Barnum's acrobats," said she. ''But
if you are going to take our only handled
basket. I've just got to run to the barn
for another"
Light as Atalanta's self she sped over
tue hilly slopes, Gown the bowery lane,
across the plank bridge which spanned
the little brook, to the dreary old stone
barn behind the cedar trees.
GLOW provokingl" she cried. "Not
basket herel Well, It's only step
across the sheep pasture to Mrs. Haw-
ley's, and she'll lend me one, I'm sure.
Mrs. Hawley is always ready to lend
everything"
While Bah, up in the breezy tree-top,
was forgetting her task in sort OF day
dream, she overheard these words:
"Just exactly here!" said a deep, and
not unmelodious voice. "See that old
stone sti!e2 And tho well.curb beyond2 :
Well, that's where the line is project
ed"
Bab's heart began to flutter.
Would she not have known Rolf Wo-
burns accents, had 1t been in the Desert
of Sahara9
"You-don't-tel so!' drawled
an unctuous tone. "And the station
they'll have to put it pretty near here, of
course?"
Woburn laughed lightly.
"Thcy can't put it anywhere else, "
said he.
"Whew!" whistled the other man.
SIN that case, we must somehow manage
to get hold of the cd place"
"A farm" it, ,rrupted Woburn.
"Seve nty acres! y
"What is it Waived at2"
cat pretty much nothing" chuckled
Woburn. ''It belongs to two women ,
and they've no idea what it is orth.
Nobody has, and nobody will have, until
the new railway is heard from. We can
buy at our own terms, for month or
two at least-and | can buy cheaper than
any one else"
"How's that, eh'" The oily voiced
man was lighting cigar. "Young
women, are theyl Oh, you sly dog
You're at your old tricks, eh-making
love to the girlsa Is it one of them or
both-heys And what will Miss Vate-
mar say2"
Woburn laughed low, amused laugh.
"Miss Vatemar will never know" "
said he. "All this, old fellow, is in the
way of business. The Lockwood girls
are very pretty and agreeable, aud if
they choose to draw false interferences,
can't help it, can II You don't need
your measuring line, Hale. l can tel
you the number of feet to nicety. Just,
here, you see, and"
~~.The voices died away, under the slop'
of the hill.
Barbara Lockwood, nesting up among
the boughs like some fair human bird
ling, drew quick breath. Her eyes
shone like stars; her cheeks blazed ho
scarlet.
"If we choose to draw false infer
cnces," she murmured, under her breath
"But don't think we shall choose to dt
anything of the sort, lib and l. So w
are to be used to help on speculation
are WEI Perhaps there may be TIVE
opinions on that subject"
And to the last day of her life
Barbara Lockwood never knew quit
how she drifted down from that tire
among the red apples that covered tn
short grass below. She was there. Tha
was all she could tell.
'I've brought the basket" callet
Tib, from the stile beyond.
"Never mind the basket" said Bar
baru. "Ivc something else to think o
just now."
And two conspirators in the days o
the Guelphs and Ghibellines could no
have held their heads closer togethe
; than did Bah aud Tib on the way bac
to the old farmhouse that day.
, When Mr.. Woburn sauntered in, o
2 the edge OF the evening, the sisters wer
packing red apples carefully into ro'
| of barrels on the kitchen floor.
He smiled that soft, caressing smile
4 his, and prolfered assistance at once.
) NO." said Bah, in business-liE
Il way; "we're just through now. Nj
e Adams is to take them to town for MS t
r morrow. 1t will probably be the la
i, money we shall ever make out OF tt
e Hopkins Farm"