Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1904-04-21
CHAPTER VI.
SAinL A1iN ~
DICKORY MAKES A REPORT.

T. "a lAE Ilut was uUWn.
81 81 and Dickory made a swift
y passage to the town. Seeing
on the pier the man from whom he
had borrowed the rope, he stopped to
return him his property, and thinking
that the good people of the town
should know that, no matter what had
befallen Maj. Bonnet, his daughter had
not gone with him and was safe among
friends, he mentioned these facts to
the man, but with very few details,
being in q hurry to return with his
message.
Before he turned into the inlet Dick
DRY was called from the shore, and to
his surprise he saw his mother stand
ing on the bank in front Of mass Of
bushes. which concealed her from her
house.
Come here, Dickory." she said, land
tell me what you have heard?"
Her son told his doleful tale.
Il fear me, mother" he said "that
Maj Bonnets ship has gone on some
secret and bad business, and that he
| is mixed up in 1t. Else why did he
desert his daughter? And il he in
tended to take her with him, that was
worse"
"a don't know, Dickory," said good
! Dame Charter, reAectively: 1--WE must
not be too quick to believe harm of
our fellow beings. 1t does look bad,
| no pDrnnla thanpht kat al
Fonnet should own such a ship with
s"rh strange crow, but he is a man
v&o Knows his own business, and may
have had good reason for what he has
done. He might have been sailing out
to some foreign Part to bring back
rich cargo, and needed stout men to
defend 1t from the pirates that he
might meet with on the seas"
Dickory considered.
Eyes. mother" he said, at might
have been that way, but don't believe
that he went of his own accord, and
don't believe that he would take
Ben Greenway with him. think,
mother, that they were both stolen
with the ship
THAT might be-" said his mother,
view OF it, and to impart It to his
dauchter II he went away of his own
accord, everything will doubtless be
made right, and we shall know hii
reasons for what he has done. 1t Is
not for us to make up our minds that
Mai. Bonnet and good Ben Greenway
have been carried off by wicked men
for this would be sad indeed for that
'sir girl to believe. So remember,
ri,kory, that Ii Is our duty always 10
EN-, The best OF everything. And now
Ill so through the underbrush to
20, house, and when you get there
"'.is.i JCu must tell your story az
JGu I'D not told 1t to me-"
i";c:c Dicbory had reached his
;..rs cottage Mistress Kate Bonnet
'.linc running TO meet him, and she did
1ot seem to be the same girl he had
left that morning Her clothes had
been dried and smoothed; even her
hat, which had been found in the boat,
had been made shapely and wearable,
snd lis ribbons floated in the breeze
Dickory glanced at her feet and, as
he did so, a thrill of strange delight
ran through him. He saw his own
Sunday shoes, with silver buckles, and
he caught glimpse of pair OF brown
stockings, which he knew went always
with those shoes.
Il am quite myself again" she said,
noticing his wide eyes, land your
mother has been good enough to lend
me pair of your shoes and stockings
Mine are so utterly ruined, and could
not walk barefooted,"
Dickory was SO filled with pride that
this fair being could wear his shoes,
and that she was wearing them, that
he could only humble some stupid
words about being so glad to serve her.
And she, wise girl, said nothing about
the quantities of soft cottonwood
which Dame Charter had been obliged
to stuff into the toes before they would
stay upon the small feet they covered.
But my father" cried Kate, what
Of him? Where Ii he?"
Now Dame Charter was with them,
her eyes hard fixed upon her son.
Dickory, mindful OF those eyes, told
her what he had to tell. saying as lit
tie as possible about Maj. Bonnet
because, OF course. all that he knew
about him was mere hearsay-but d.
lating with much vigor upon the
shameful conduct OF Madam Bonnet;
for the young lady ought surely to
know what sort of a woman her IA
theirs wife really was. and what she
might expect II she should return to
her house, He could have said even
more about the interview with the an
CRY woman, but his mothers eyes
were upon him,
Kate heard everything without
word, and then she burst into tears,
"My father" she sobbed, carried
away. or gone away. and one Is as bad
as the otherl"
Dame Charter led the weeping girl
10 the bench, and they talked together
There was no ontimist In all the Brit
iSh colonies. nor for that matter In
those belonging to France or Spain
or even to the Dutch, who was q more
A. A.