The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1895-09-11
SELECTED STORY,
A Rich Sponge Cake,

into the village to attend meeting OF
the South Church charity circle; her
father and the hired man had finished
grinding the knives of the moving
machine and departed for the bayfield,,
and her brother Will was upstairs
"counting out his money" This was
something which he did regularly every
Saturday noon, for he was bookkeeper
and cashier at the Willow Falls Spool
Factory, and Saturday was payday.
Willis duty was to drive over to the
bank at Boylston, at about ten O'Clock
Saturday morning, and draw enough
money to pay off the hands when they
quit work Saturday afternoon. As his
home lay between Boylston and Willow
Falls, he was accustomed to stop there
for dinner and then drive over to the
factory. He always counted the roll OF
bills before starting out again, to make
sure that the amount was correct.
On this particular day dinner had
been served little earlier than usual,
and there was some time to spare. Will
came downstairs with an old suit of
clothes on. ISIS" he said, 81 want
you to take charge of these bills for q
few minutes, if you will. l promised
father I'd NOW away that last load of
hay, so that the next could be filled in
forward. l don't dare to carry the
money in my pocket for fear I'd lose it
in the hay, and don't want to leave it
lying around. Just keep it in your
pocket for me till come in, will your"
Mary nodded smilingly, and Will
with remarkable sagacity for a man
discovered her pocket ard tucked the
roll into it, while she held up her bare,
&c 80 hxy
bankerl" Will playfully called back as
he passed out of the house. Then the
girl heard his merry whistle die away
as he crossed the road and vanished in
the big barn.
Mary went into the pantry beat up
three eggs for her cake, and then came
back and mixed the batter AS she
was stirring it she thought she heard
strange voices coming from the road.
Going to the opposite window, she saw
three rough-looking men enter the barn.
All was silent for few minutes, and
then the girl heard muffled shout:
"Helpl helpP'
The voice was Willis; she was sure
of that. But it was suddenly silenced,
she thought. "They have come to rob
shall 1 do?" Cold beads of sweat broke
out on her forehead, and she began to
tremble violently. Then the thought
full money, was in her own pocket. If
the robbers only knew it! And yet she
almost wished they did, for she would
rather they killed her than Will.
But her suspense did not last long;
and IL was q pOsitivp rpliqf whom shp
saw the three men come out of the barn
pushing and dragging Will with them.
They had not killed him, then-perhaps
they wouldn't But they were bring
ing him to the house to make him show
them where the money was.
In an instant the brave young girl
had thought of plan to save the roll
of bills-to hide it where even her
brother would never think of looking
for it, The thought came to her like a
flash, and it took her but moment to
act upon her inspiration. Flying across
the room to her freshly-mixed sponge
cake, she snatched the roll of money
from her pocket, dropped it into the
baking-pan, and spread the cake mix
ture over it..
The deed was completed none to
soon. AT that instant the kitchen door
was rudely thrown open, and the rob-
bers burst into the room. Mary Hewitt
confronted them with a ll-feigned
look of surprise and alarm. "Don't be
scared, Miss" said one of the men,
gruffiy, but not unkindly. "We amt
goin' to hurt you. We just want this
young man to show us where he put
that money he drew at the bank. Now,
young Teller, hustle around lively and
bring it out, or We'll choke the life out
of you'll"
Then, with calmness which sur.
prised herself, Mary Hewitt looked the
men straight in the eye and said, firmly
"Take your hands off his throat He
doesn't know where the money is. He
gave it to me to take care of while he
was out in the barn, and I've hid it-sC
there You may search the house, il
you wish. 1 will go on with my work
She coolly opened the oven door and SCI
the cake inside. Then she went to the
sink and began to peel some potatoes
the very picture of womanly dignity
composure, and self-reliance.
The men looked at her and then a
each other. They would have used vi
olence upon Will, to extract from hin
his secret, but upon this calm, digni
ned, ladyllke glrl-no, they could no
do it. But they would take her at he
word and search the house, and tina
right thoroughly. The money couldn'
be far away, they reasoned-probabl
not outside the room, if her brothe
had handed it to her just before goin
to the barn.
So they hurriedly tied WILLIS hand
and feet and seated him on chair an
then began their explorations. Wit
splendid nerve Mary never turned he
back, but sliced diligently away at tn
potatoes, while her alert senses told he
everything that was going on-the run
maging of the clock case, turning topsy
turvy of all the dishes, exploring wit
grimy hands the depths of the fou
barrel, and finally opening the owe
itself to peer into its shadowy depth
AT this juncture the girls heart almo