The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1897-02-19


as life" he said; then, with q sudden
Singer, II oughter not say it at sech er
time, but Joe's dead eff it don't console
Mrs. Winfield err heap fer her grief ter
know that now she can see all that's in
side Louizy's bureau drawers.
"S-h.hl Here comes Miss Alice" one
Of the white customers said as Luce
smothered giggle. The stores back
door stood wide, and through it he had
seen Mr.. Topmark's niece, the daugh-
ter of his widowed sister, walking
across the grass, with her handkerchief
TO her eyes She was plump, pale
girl, with big, appealing eyes, who had
no claim to beauty, though she was
never less than good looking. She had
soft, fine hair, thick and of pale fax
ell brown. The eye color matched it ex-
actly, and there was tone of the same
indebtedness in the thick, smooth skin.
Her hands were soft and small, but had
fingers that forgot to taper If her fig
ure was full of soft curves. it lacked the
grace of plant motion.
Everybody liked her. she was so neat
and smooth and had such a way Of
stroking you right. Her mother, Mrs.
Winfield, had tongue and temper of
her own, but her daughter was the
cream of amiability. AS such she was
first in the neighborhood's heart, espe-
cially the feminine and elderly mascu-
line part of it. So there was respectful
sympathy in all eyes when she said be-
tween sobs:
'"'She's-gonel Poor, poor. dear, good
Aunt Louizy! Oh, what shall we-do-
without her? Oh, Mr.. Barton-I can
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Ben says
will you please send for-Colonel Tai
bot? Somebody must-see after things
and poor uncle is so heartbroken
"I'll send right off," Teddy began
briskly, though there was choke in his
throat. CHANGING up the road, he hur-
ried on: sob, no need ter send. Thar's
Jack now, en- he'll do better'n the colo
neil.
''It was so kind Of him to come, :"
Miss Winfield said, wiping her eyes.
There was q CLEAN Of satisfaction at the
bottom of them. Perhaps that was W by
she held them decorously downcast,
while tall, slim young fellow crossed
the porch, hastily clasped her hand and
said huskily:
81 see it is true--the i'll news we
heard. Father babe me come at once.
Tell mo, please, is there anything we
'or anybody can do for poor Mr.. Top
mark?''
'You can do everything" Miss Win
fold said, her sobs breaking out afresh.
"Do come to the house and see poor I'M
Gle. Oh, it is so terriblei To think only
yesterday poor Aunt Louizy"-
Jacks eyes grew dim. He came of q
strain too brave not to be tender. His
father, Colonel Talbot of Luray planta-
ton, the rich man Of Walnut Greek be-
fore the war, had come home from the
fighting with only life and honor. AS
bravely as he had fought he tried to
face the new conditions, but for that he
had not strength. Debt had piled on
debt. He must have been swamped but
for his son Jack, who gave over all
thought of college and at II took upon
himself the management of affairs. That
was eight years back Now Luray was
full of prosperous thrift, very nearly
the model place it had been under the
old regime.
1t lay upland from Topmark's and
adjacent to it. Mrs. Winfold's little
farm, which her brother managed along
with his own, sat snugly in the angle
of the two wider holdings. The Win
folds were indeed the nearest women
neighbors of Mrs. Talbot, gentle, mar
row, motherly woman, good and sweet
to the core, yet full of small, spiny, So
cial prejudices. They were not those of
caste, else she would never have toler-
ated the Winfolds. Old Mr.. Topmark
had been an overseer until, after the
fashion of his sort, he invested his saw
ings in negroes and set up for himself.
He made hard, driving master, and
even after the loss of his slaves had a
pretty penny in hand when he came to
die. But the late unlamented Winfield
made holiday job Of spending bis
wife's share of it, Then he had the good
taste to die and leave his wife and two
daughters to Mr.. Topmark's care.
Very excellent care it was. The most
captious admitted SO much. In fact, this
care for his helpless kinfolk covered,
with Mrs. Talbot and her like, multi
tude of commercial sins. 1t was unlike
ly, they thought and said, that Benja-
min Topmark would SO look out for peo-
pie completely at his mercy if he were
the hard, gripping, interruptions man
common report made him out to be.
Mrs. Winfield herself SO necessarily
voiced her gratitude and thanks for all
her mercies that even her near friends
could not help but laugh over big Matt
Taylor's saying:
"When Mrs. Winfield says her pra 'ers,
why, the Lord he amt nowhar's at all
compared ter her brother.
Walnut creek, you see, ran through
a middle Tennessee county where at the
era of this chronicle the old social order
was breaking and the new was not yet
firmly established. For the most part its
indwellers came of Virginia or Carroll
ma stock, and among the uppermost of
them there was potent belief in blood
and breeding. There was, too, the fine
courtesy evolved by the old conditions,
20 ..Il 80 ,,nh,lsfx, 70 ho