The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1894-07-13

Kettles, SAID she. Hand then hurry
back to mother. We're going to have
! the parsons folks to tea, and there's a
deal to do.
| Leonidas Striker escorted her to the
largest kettle of all. ordinarily called
! Big Ben" and gave her the monster
| stick To stir the bubbling waves of
sweetness,
There" said he, you can say
you've helped to sugar off this year.
| Isn't it splendid yield? And maple
/ sugars going to be high this season.
| Oh, you better stay, Esther, there's a
lot of young folks coming up this
afternoon, and Darky Jones is to be
here with his fiddle.''
''Oh. couldn't possibly" said Esther
In truth and in fact she had not been
quite at her ease since Jessamine's un-
lucky alluSIon to Othello in conjunc-
tion with Mr.. jefferson: and she did
not breathe freely again until she had
reached home. where her mother was
just clearing away the dinner dishes.
Has anyone been here?" said she.
''Who should be here?" counter
questioned Mrs Elmford. Il don't ex-
pect Elder Morris folks until four
o'clock
As Esther took off her things in the
little chamber upstairs. where the shin
gled roof Sloped down To the caves, she
glanced down at the engagement fin
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 ont to the
Hougara Indian reservation; 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 a
batch of biscuits for tea in the kitchen.
All of a sudden she caught sight of
John jefferson riding past on his gray
pony, with averted face. In an in
stant she caught down the shawl that
hung on the peg back of the buttery
door, and mufflIng 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 piteousIv
I've lost it. Your ring! Oh. Jack. do
say something to comfort me! l am SO
unhappy"
Yes" said he, calmly; II knew you
had lost it. | know hO,o you lost it. |
know to whom you have given it"
Essie stood dumb before the cruel
emphasis of his words.
Il was at the sugar camp an hour
ago, SAID he. Some one told me YOU
had gone there, and | was going to
bring vou home. And | saw your ring
on Leonidas Strikers watch-guarG:.
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 a little less
publicly2"
Jack. jack pleaded Essie. holding
up her hands, as if every word We're a
blow.
II need detain YOU no longer" he
said, as lie bowed frigidly and touched
the neck of his horse with his whip
lash, and the next minute he was gone.
Tea was over al last. but Esther Elm
ford did not know whether she had
eaten hot biscuit or cold, hasty pud-
ding. She had listened, with 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 a con
fidential corner of the best bedroom
upstairs, with Jessamine eagerly
haranguing her.
The strangest thing" cried Jessa-
mine. ''He found it in the maple
sugar kettle. Alice had made some
flannel cakes, and he dipped out 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 | see the
sparkle of it when she took off her
mitten to unfasten the lid of the bas-
<et 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 is
Esther murmured a word or two of
thanks.
Il was very careless" said she.
But even after Jessam inc was gone
she sat staring at the pretty trinllet
which had SO nearly bee 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 you"'
How strangely all these things
seemed to succeed one another, like
the dim lapses of 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 a brute? | nave just seen that
Striker fellow. He's not such a bad
lot, after all. and everything is ex-
planned. Sweetheart, say that you
forgive me! L never shall forgive my
self"
And all the horrid nightmare feeling
was over, and the engagement was "a
secre' no longer, and poor little Esther
Elmford was happy again.
But | don't think" said she. that
| shall ever want to taste maple sugar
again. Not just yet. at all events!'-
Amy Randolph. in y. Y. Ledger.
TOi n IN FIGURES