The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1901-11-01
THE LANDLORDS
STORY ~ ~ ~ ~
Dy WILL s. GIDLEY.

E BY WILL s. G1DLEY. 4
fAAha1 4 4 4 4 & ants AaHat
copyrighted by Daily Story Pub. ooS
TT HAD fairly poured for two days,
and I had waded through all the
Newspapers and other reading mat
ter to be had at the little Adirondack
hotel at which I was staying.
The landlord, Mr.. Carpenter, was
jolly old fellow who was noted for
his sprightly stories, and he did his
best to entertain his guests and keep
up their spirits as they sat on the
broad piazza of the Wayside house and
watched the steady downpour.
I did not join the group on the
veranda. If there is anything I par
ticularly dislike it is to listen to the
chatter of lot of people who are
trying to delude themselves into the
belief that they are enjoying life
when the face of Nature is ankle
deep with mud and water, and it is
still raining as if it never intended to
stop. So I stuck to my room and
burrowed my way through books,
week-old newspapers, patent medi-
cine almanacs-anything that would
help me in a measure to\forget the
abominable weather.
But on the evening of the second
day, when it grew suddenly colder
end a roaring wood fire had been
kindled in the open fireplace in the
big sitting-room, I was one of the
first to gather around its cheerful
blaze.
Now, if ever, was the time for
storytelling, but the landlords roper
tory seemed to be about exhausted.
''No use asking for any more funny
stories," he drawled out with depre-
catory shake of the head. '"These
two wet days have pumped me dry,
so to speak. I can only think of one
more story, but as there isn't any,
thing comical about that one, I don't
suppose you'll care to hear it,
'Give us story, by all MEANS"
urged one of the ladies. II can al
ways sleep better if have a ghost
story or some exciting adventure to
go to bed on
"Well," began the landlord, re-
flectively, II don't think this comes
under the head of ghost story nor
even story Of adventure. I'll have
to tell it, and let you classify it for
yourselves. The climax of my story
came ten years ago when was keep
ing hotel in my native village,
which will call Eden Center; but the
beginning dated back many years be-
fore that, to the time when the Peeks
were the nabobs of the place.
esquire Peek, with his wife and
only daughter, lived in a big white
house on hill in the outskirts of the
village, and naughty, housekeeping
old chap he was when I first knew
him. He always seemed to consider
himself and his family little above
the rest of the folks in Eden Center,
and when Lucinda Peek grew up, al
though she was by long odds the best
looking young lady in the place, and
while the young fellows we're" all
half daft over her, none of them real
ly had the courage to make love to
her for fear of arousing the wrath of
the stiff-necked old squire.
''The first one who tried it was an
outsider, and the ruthless way in
which his aspirations were nipped in
the bud by Lucinda's father held
forth very little encouragement to
the others. He was a young college
student, named Henry Randell, who
had come to Eden Center to spend his
summer vacation in earning some
needed money Though dependent
wholly on his own earnings, he was
bravely working his way through
college, it seems, and he got a job
keeping the books and making up &C
counts at the village store daytimes,
and at night he gave lessons on the
violin and other musical instruments.
He was frst-class singer, too, and
soon after coming to the place he
started g. singing school, hiring the
schoolhouse and charging a regular
fee for the lessons, which he gave
every Thursday evening.
SIT was at the singing school that
he made the acquaintance of Lucinda
Peek, and it was clear case of love
at first sight. He was manly young
fellow, and when the rest of the boys
saw how matters were shaping, there
wasn't one of them but wished him
well.
"But the course of true love runs
uncommonly rough sometimes as the
poet tells about, and when young
Randell walked boldly up to the big
house on the hill with Lucinda one
evening, and asked her father for her
hand in marriage, it was said that
the naughty old squire drove him
from the house with the direst
threats and curses that one man
ever poured upon the head of anoth-
er 1t was then near the close of
his vacation, and Randell was COM