The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1896-06-24
Sue LAUGHED scornfullv

latch to the sagging barn door. Sue
Strengthened her back against it reso-
lutely.
" Not in there, pop. I've just found
that old yeller turkey hen we thought
the minks had got. She's settin' up in
the hay-loft, and / wouldn't have her
pestered for forty Jeb Wilson's. No,
Wouldn't She do look so peaceful and
proudlike. Bud Frank, take the gentle
men to the springhouse and give 'em a
bit of buttermilk. Fresh churned this
mornin', gentlemen. And you uns do
look like you'd been swallerin' yo' peck
of dust all t'oncet."
Lumley took his hand off the latch
and faced toward the men.
Were foolin' away valerable time,
gents. Will you step down to the milk
house and wet yo' whistles before we
start ag'in?"
"Won't the gentlemen stay and take
bite?" Sues hospitality waxed ur.
bent on pushing forward. "'Twon't
take me more'n half an hour, pop, to
get 'em somethin' hot"
They'll have something hot when
we ketch the Teller that done for Jeb
Wilson; so will he."
This witticism revived the tagging
energy of his followers, and after hur-
ried excursion to the springhouse, Sue
had the satisfaction of seeing them
mount their horses and disappear down
the steep, stony bridle-path by which
they had come.
When the last hoof. beat had ceased
to sound upon the rocky ground, she
fed her prisoner, and loading him down
with provisions and good advice, sent
him away in an opposite direction from
that taken by the horsemen. He
turned and waved his hand to her be-
fore the black woods swallowed him
up.
"Of course, won't never see him
again." she said, stolidly, land l don't
know as l care to; but l lied for him,
right on top of mammy's Bible, and
that's goin' to make it hard for me to
forget him out and out"
In point of fact, she found it impos-
sible to forget him out and out" She
called herself mean-spirited creature
for clinging 80 tenaciously to his MEM
DRY, but it did not mend the matter at
all.
Jeb. Wilson's real slayer was dis
covered and summarily dealt with. Jeb
Wilson himself was we'll nigh forgotten
when Sue, sitting on the slab Smelling
corn, as she had been doing that even
ing, lifted her eyes to guage the length
ening shadows of the familiar land
scape, as she had done on that evening,
and saw man standing on the stile
that spanned the rude yard fence.
She sat quite still, but slow, sweet
smile came to her lips and glad light
into her clear, steadfast eyes.
"You be come backl What for?"
He was by her side in few swift
strides. He held out his hands to her
and smiled down into her uplifted face.
"I'm building a house over t'other
side of the dell"
ooh, you be?"
"And Pm going to live there"
"Yes?" The color came and went
in the girls sunburnt cheeks in hot
torrent.
"I'm going to take my wife to live
in my house when it is finished"
"Yes?"-it was almost a whisper.
She fell to Smelling corn as if the world
held no other possible occupation for
her trembling little hands.
He seated himself boldly on the slab
by her side. He laughed and filed his
hands with corn she had shelled.
"Don't you want to learn something
about the girl Pm building that house
for?"
elf you be anxious to talk about her."
81 am"
He flung the corn from him, and the
pigeons came in white-winged throng
to repair the waste.
"She's the pluckiest girl ever saw.
She's worth ten dozen of me. She's
got the dearest, clearest brown eyes in
the world, and-once upon time she
saved me from being hurried out of the
world by lot of idiots who insisted
upon calling me murderer"
Slowly the truth dawned upon Sues
mind. She leaned toward him with
hands folded on her knees.
81 lied for you on mammy's Bible
How are you going to get around that?'
ave are not going to try to gel
around it. We are going to forget it
No one need know we ever met before.
And Sue placed her hand in his, with
smile of absolute trust and content.
Pending the furnishing of his house
and the fencing of his farm, Martin
spent much time at the Lumleys'. Pc
ter fancied he came there to learn wis
dom in farming of him. Frank thought
he came to learn how to make coll
pace. Each masculine member of the
Lumley household had his own solu
ton of the mystery.
Sue alone knew why he came. Mar
tin alone knew how he had been saved
from an ignominious death by the su
peru courage of the mountain girl. NJ
one else will ever know how handsome
Bradley Martin came to "throw him
self away" on Peter Lumley's Sue.-
Jeanette H. Walworth, in New Yorl
| T aInar