The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-10-31
BY J. H. SMITH,

Well. Of all things!" cried Mrs Brax-
letter What brings her down here at
this time of the year2''
"Well. I wouldn't find fault with her
taste" said Mr.. Braxton. dryly. Seems
to me that the Berkshire hills are not
to be desDised. summer or winter. let
alone in the fail. We've lived here
pretty comfortably, Sally, for nigh on
TO 90 years. And, besides, I reckon we
might give Jessie welcome. no matter
what's the season"
! Now, father. responded the good
housewife, reproachfully, you know
very well l didn't mean anything of
that sort. But you must admit that it
! is odd for girl like Jessie Beauchamp
| to leave the city in October and bury
herself in the country. Of course we
/ will give her a welcome. and it will be
| lots of company for Nellie and Sue. but
all the same I'm bothered to know the
cause. Q, you needn't laugh. You men
| are dumb as idiots when it comes to
studying womankind. No. L4don't be-
lieve she is sick, or else she'd have said
So She's outspoken as the day.
Then she'll tell you the secret, first
thing." said the farmer with a sly
| twinkle in his eyes. LAS for me, I'm CO.
ing to believe that she is coming here
just for breath of fresh air and a
glimpse at plain people once more"
When Abner Braxton met Jessie at
the station the next day and helped
her into the carryaH he was more than
ever inclined to think that she needed
fresh air. Handsome as a peach" as
he expressed it, but lacking the bloom
of the peach on her clear cut face, and
with something of a faded look in her
sparkling eyes. Even in her talk. once
always brilliant, now marked by
strange lapses of silence, her uncle no
ticed a difference.
'On the go. l suppose" he said. pity
ingly, land dead tired OF prancing
around at balls and parties all night
and playing games all day. Nellie and
Sue are laundering to go to town next |
year this winter, but L dunno. It's all |
vanity, reckon
'"They would enjoy themselves, I'm
sure. uncle" she said With a little |
laugh. You cannot expect girls to be |
contented without seeing the world AS |
for me- she checked herself and be- |
gan to ask questions without number |
about all the folks in the neighborhood |
with whom she had made acquaintance
two years before.
There's something on her mind, |
mother" said Mr.. BraXton that night.
when the girls had gone to bed. and
Mrs. BraSton was setting the bread for
the next mornings baking. II declare
never saw such change. Do YOU sup
pose she's got anything fatal?"
GO long with you, you goose"
loughed his wife. "If you didn't know
any more about farming than you do
g bout girls, we'd be in the poor house
long ago."
This was ambiguous and satisfying.
More than once Uncle Abner was on
4 1f no his
own responsible TO visit Jessie 1t did |
not seem possible that a girl in good
health could be SO pale and show such
lack of interest in her surroundings
without cause. He kept harping on
this strain until Mrs. Braxton lost her
patience and bIurted out:
you seem to have lost all the sense
you ever had, Abner. Can't you see
that the girl is in loye?'
In love? FiddIesticks" retorted Alb
ner You was in love with me once. at
least YOU said so, but L didn't notice
that you pined away on it."
There wasn't any reason. l knew
you we're dying for me. and there was
no chance of another girl getting YOU"
"Ho! So there's another girl got her
beau, is there?"
There you go; jumping at coneiu-
SONS! Who said there was another
yirIq Couldn't there have been fall
ng out without another grip
Not very we'll Unless there's an
,ther fellow after her. Maybe that's
-"
t.Mercy on the mani How he goes
m, I'm almost sorry I told you any
hing, and if you breathe a word of
What I'VE been saying I'll never speak
O YOU again. She hasn't told me any
hing. I've just sensed it. But she Will
ell: girls can never keep that kind OF
secret But, mind you keep quiet"
IT