Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1902-07-11
CHAPTER XIV
FORGET MY AGE oR--PERHAPs. REMEM-
BER II.

FORGET MY AGE oR--PERHAPs. REMEM-
Der IT
Mr. Trohm did not disappoint my ex
pectations In another moment | saw
him standing in the open doorway with
the most genial smile on his lips.
Miss Butterworth, said he, Il feel
too honored. If you will deign to ac-
cept seat in my buggy, shall only
be too happy to drive you to the Knoll,
lys gate.
| have always liked the manners OF
country gentlemen. There is just a
touch of formality in their bearing
which has been quite eliminated from
that of their brothers in the city. |
therefore became gracious at once and
accepted the seat he offered me without
any of the hesitation | might have
shown to one personally as agreeable,
but not in my own way
The heads that showed themselves at
the neighboring windows warned us to
hasten ON our route Mr.. Trohm, with
a snap of his whip, quite youthful and
gallant, touched up his horse, and we
rode in dignitied calm away from the
hotel steps into the wide village street
known as the main road. The fact that
Mr. Gryce had told me that this was
the one man could trust, joined to my
own excellent knowledge of human ma
ture and the persons in whom explicit
confidence can be put made the mo-
ment one of great satisfaction TO me, ]
was about to make my appearance at
the knOllvs mansion two hours before
I was expected, and | was thus enabled
to outwit Lucetta by means of the one
man whom 1 would have chosen out OF
all in the town to lend me this assist.
ance.
We were not slow in beginning con-
versation. The fine air, the prosperous
condition of the town. offered themes
upon which we found it quite easy to
dilate, and so naturally and easily did
our acquaintanceship progress that we
had turned the corner into Lost Mans
lane before l quite realized it. The en-
trance at this end offered a sharp con-
trast to the one had already traversed.
There it was but narrow opening be-
tween somber and unduly crowding
trees. Here it was the gradual melting
of village street into a narrow and less
frequented road, which only after pass
ing Deacon Spears house assumed that
aspect of wildness which quarter of a
mile farther on deepened into something
positively somber and repellent.
speak of Deacon Spear because he
was sitting on his front doorstep when
we rode by. Being Deacon Spear and
one of the residents on this road, l did
not fail to take notice of him, though 1
and with such restraint as a |
of his widowed condition
rendered both wise and proper.
He was not an agreeable looking per
son. at least not SO to me. His hair was
sleek, his beard we'll cared for, his whole /
person in good if not prosperous condi- /
ton, but he had the self satisfied ex-
preston / detest and looked after us (
with an aspect of surprise / chose to 1
consider trifle impairment Perhaps {
he envied Mr. Trohm. If so, he may /
have had reason-it is not for me to .
Judge.
There had been up to now only few
scrub bushes at the side of the road,
with here and there solitary poplar to
snliven the dead level of the grass grown
road, but after we had ridden by the
fence which sets the boundary to the
good deacons land l noticed such a
,hange in the appearance of things ON
either side of the road that l could not
but exclaim over the natural as well as
cultivated beauties which every mo-
ment now was bringing before me.
Mr.. Trohm could not hide his pleas
ire.
"These are my lands" said he. Il
lave bestowed unremitting attention TO
hem for years. 1t is my hobby, madam.
There is not a tree you see that has not
received my careful attention Yonder