The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1894-08-03
"Yes," said Elinor, simply.

The deacon looked at her from be-
meath his shaggy eyebrows Tor several
seconds.
you're plucI1y girl, and I'm obliged
to you," he said at last.
a few days after, he overlook her
walking to the village.
''Get in and ride?" he asked, refining
up.
"Oh, don't get out" she said quickly,
as he started to rise. 81 can get in
alone" and the next instant she was
sitting beside him.
The deacon glanced at the girl from
time to time, as he made remarks about
the weather. or the people and things
they passed, and having little streak
of poetry in his nature, compared her
fresh young face with its delicate color
to the shy anemone or wild flower"
as he called it. and her eyes seemed to
him like the deepest-hued violets.
Deacon Ellingwood thinks Elinor is
the best cook and the best sewer, the
smartest neutrality-suspicious. and the
smartest everything in the world"
grumbled Fred, one day, while smart
ing under a few caustic words of the
deacon's.
Yes" assented Ned; land I'd just
like to see him letting us drive that
chestnut he'd so ALFRED choice of; but
Elinor can do it all by her lone self"
The autumn that Elinor was eight
cen the deacon had severe attack of
rheumatism that threatened to cripple
him for the rest of his days.
'If you will lend me one of your boys
at night, and let Elinor run over lit
tie while every day and do a few things
for me. they shan't lose anything by
it." he said to Mrs. French. 81 can't
have housekeeper around. 1t would
be worse than the pain"
He was very helpless and discour-
aged. When nobody was present but
Elinor his talk always reverted to his
lost boy, who seemed to be constantly
in his mind.
81 don't blame him for running
away" he would say. II was too hard
with him. 1 didn't realize he was
man. l wish l knew where he was-I
wish l lnewr'
Then he would shade his eyes with
his hand and brood over the past.
Elinor came home from the deacon's
one night in great excitement
"You know those letters, Uncle Joe"
the deacon had suggested her calling
him Uncle Joe one day when she COM
planned that his name was too long
has had come every once in awhile?
Well, he told me about them to-day,
and showed me one. It's some unknown
person who always sends money and
says he owes it, and never signs any
name And + am almost sure it is his
son. Some of the letters in the writing
are exactly like Uncle Joe's. He thinks
it is a man who cheated him once.
want to send letter to the town where
those letters come from, and direct it
to Josiah Ellingwood, Jr., and should
think he would be sure to get it if he
is the one."
Mrs. French approved of the plan,
and the letter was written and sent
only few lines, telling the fathers
condition and his longing to see his
son, and signed "A Friend"
Ten days passed, and Elinor was
reluctantly forced to the conclusion
that nothing would come of her ven
ture.
But one afternoon, just at dusk,
when she had read and talked the
deacon into comparative cheerfulness
and was about to prepare his supper,
there came knock at the door. When
she opened it, there stood a man with
such a decided resemblance to Deacon
Ellingwood that she knew him at a
glance.
"Oh, am so glad you've come" she
she exclaimed, joyfully, stretching out
both hands as though to draw him in,
and wholly forgetful of herself in her
excitement. "Were you the one? Did
you get the letter l wrote?'
did you write the letter." he asked,
as he held her hands in his for a
moment 81 didn't get it until this
morning."
II haven't told your father. 1t was
only a guess on my part, and it would
have been too cruel to disappoint him.
| Wait here minute and let me prepare
him."
Through the half-closed door he saw
her lneel beside the gray-haired man
and asked him whom he had rather see
of all the world.
Has 'Siah come2n
He struggled to the feet that had no
borne his weight for many day, and
stretched out his arms.
"Yes, father, I've come"
Elinor slipped out quickly, and left
them together
When 'Siah's trunk came that even.
| ing and he opened it in his own room,
he went through a somewhat singular
performance, First he tossed out the
things pell nell till he came to lot of
books and papers at the bottom. These
he examined carefully and anxiously,
as though fearful of having lost some.
thing Then he snatched up a white
envelope bearing his own name, eager
" read the inclosed letter several
times, replaced it in the envelope.
scrutiuized the address, and then, blush
ing excessively the while, he pressed it
to his lips, after which it was tenderly
deposited in the inner pocket of his
| vest.
For several days 'Siah did not get so
much as glimpse of his shy neighbor,
and for weeks thereafter hardly more,
though he found, to his chagrin, when
| he returned from q walk or q ride to
| the village, that she was pretty GER
tain to have been in to chat with his
| father.
| But she avoided him sedulously, and
as spring and then summer came on, he
grew desperate, and somewhat provoked