Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1894-07-05
the parsons felix's to tea, and there's .

1
largest kettle Of all, ordinarily called
big Ben," and gave her the monster
stick to stir the bubbling waves y.
sweetness,
There" said he, you can say
you've helped to sugar of this year
Isn't tia splendid yield? And maple
sugars going to be high this season
Oh, you'd better stay, Esther, there's q
lot of young folks coming up this
afternoon, and Darby Jones IL ts be
here with his fiddler
"Oh, I couldn't, possibly" said Esther
In truth and in fact she had not been
quite at her ease since Jessamine's un
lucky alluslon to Othello in conjunc
ton with Mr.. Jefferson; and she did
| not breathe freely again until she had
: reached home, where her mother was
/ just clearing away the d Inner dishes.
HAS anyone been here?" said she.
''Who should Be here?' counter.
questioned Mrs. Elmford. II don't ex-
pect Elder Norris folks until four
o'clock"
AS Esther took off her things in the
! little chamber upstairs, where the shin
::led roof sloped down to the caves, she
glanced down at the engagement An
ger. Terror of terrors, the sparkling
little ring was gone!
1t was past four o'clock. Mrs. Nor
ris was droning away in the sitting
room about the last missionary box
which had been sent out to the
Hougara Indian reservations; Miss
Adelgitha Morris was admiring her
hostess most recent crazy patchwork;
the two little Morrises were playing
checkers, and the good elder himself
was laying down tones of theological
law to Farmer Elmford; while Esther,
with tear-swollen eyes, was mixing q
batch of biscuits for tea in the kitchen.
All of sudden she caught sight Of
John Jefferson riding past on his gray
pony, with averted face. In an in
slant she caught down the shawl that
hung on the peg back of the buttery
door, and mufling it around her head
and shoulders, darted across the snowy
backyard where she could intercept
her lover at the curve of the road.
Jack! Jack!' she cried piteously.
i've lost it! Your ring! Oh, Jack, do
say something to comfort me! l am so
unhappy"
Mr.. jefferson drew up his steed and
faced Esther with scornful light in
his eyes which she had never seen be-
fore.
YES" said he. calmly; II knew you
had lost it. know ho,o you lost it. l
know to whom you have given it,"
Essie stood dumb before the cruel
emphasis of his words.
II was at the sugar camp an hour
ago." said he. "Some one told me you
had gone there, and was going to
bring you home. And saw your ring
on Leonidas Strikers watch-guard.
Wasn't that rather soon to transfer
your last lovers gift to your old swain?
Would it not have been better taste OF
him to display your pledge little less
publicly?'
Jack. Jack!' pleaded Essie, holding
up her hands, as if every word were a
blow .
81 need detain you no longer" he
said, as he bowed frigidly and touched
the neck of his horse with his whip
lash, and the next minute he was gone.
Poor Essie dragged herself back to
the house, the tears freezing on her
cheek and her heart colder still. Was
she the victim of enchantment? What
did all this mean?
Tea was over at last, but Esther Elm
ford did not know whether she had
eaten hot biscuit or cold. hasty pud-
ding. She had listened, with a vague,
unmeaning smile, to Mrs. Morris pro-
longed account of little Tommy's last
siege of diphtheria and Miss Adel-
githa's proposed visit to New York.
1t was almost as if brain and nerve
were benumbed, when Jessamine
Strikers clear, sweet voice struck
across the current of her hopeless
apathy and she found herself in con-
tidential corner of the best bedroom
upstairs, with Jessamine eagerly
haranguing her.
THE strangest thingv cried Jessa.
mine. HE found it in the maple
sugar kettle. Alice had made SOME
flannel cakes, and he dipped out a dip
perful of the hot sirup for us to eat
with it, and Leon came within one of
swallowing the ring. Whose is it?'
said he. Why, Essie Elmford's, OF
course said /. Didn't l see the
sparkle Of it when she took off her
mitten to unfasten the lid of the bas-
ket that held Uncle Peters crullers?
And it Must have slipped off her
finger said he, when she went to stir
the sugar in the kettle So he hung
it on his watch-chain for safekeeping
>until we came home, and here it isl
Esther murmured word or two of
thanks.
II was very careless" said she.
But even after Jessam inc was gone,
she sat staring at the pretty trinket
which had SO nearly been boiled down
into maple sugar. What was the use
of it now? What was the use of any,
thing?
esther! Esther!' her father called
up the narrow wooden stairway.
Here's Mr.. Jefferson wants to speak
to your
How strangely all these things
seemed to succeed one another, like
the dim lapses of a dream. She knew
not how, but she was standing, with
Jacks arm around her, her troubled
eyes looking up into his.
MY own darling" he whispered,
'can you ever forgive me for being
such brute? I have just seen that
Striker fellow. He's not suoA a bad
lot, after all, and everything is ex-
planned. Sweetheart, say that you
forgive me! 1 never shall forgive my.
SELF
And all the horrid nightmare feeling
was over, and the engagement was a
secret no longer, and poor little Esther
Elmford was happy again.
''But don't think" said she, ,"that
I shall ever want to taste maple sugar
again. Not just yet, at all eventsm-
Amy Randolph, in Ny. Ledger.
Engrossed.
The spirit of the bard of Avon held
converse with the wrath of the phil
osopher of st. Adams.
stNo ryyy-,,