Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1904-02-05

before the FIVE O'Clock post went out-the
country post"
1.-The country post-what forY' asked
Reuben.
81 have found a situation for that
girl"
what girl-Sarah Eastbell|
"Yes. Didn't you say, sneeringiy and
mockingly enough, certainly, that with
my extensive chapel connection L might
hear of something for her? The girl at
the bakers, where we deal, is silly
enough to get married the week after
next; there will be wanted some one to
take her place, to weigh the bread and
put the right money for it into the till af-
terward. l have answered for the hon
esty of this second-cousin of yours"
''Thank you," said Reuben, thought
fully; II wish there had been less pub
Icity about the berth and less of the
till.''
He posted his letter. The answer came
at length. in a thick, sprawling. down.
hill hand, which the blind woman might
have written herself, and which was
certainly Sarah Eastbell's. 1t was an
ill-spelt and rambling epistle. It came
hoping that Reuben was well, as it left
the writer and Cousin Sarah at present,
and it thanked him for his thought of
that cousin, who was a good girl. and
would not leave her grandmother under
any consideration now. Sarah was very
happy and contented where she was; but
it might be as we'll for Reuben not to
trouble any more about what Mrs. East
bell had said concerning a situation for
her granddaughter.
This epistle put Reuben Culwick out
a little. 1t annoyed him more than he
cared to confess-it even puzzled him.
Why had the grandmother altered her
mind in so sudden and abrupt a fashion
she who was very anxious concerning
her grandchild's future when he had call
ed at the almshouses of St. Oswald's?
He would go for a long walk, and con-
slider the matter attentively.
1t was gala night at the Saxe-Gotha,
next door but two, and there was heap
of dirty boys and girls hanging about
the front door, where row of colored
lamps indicated the place to pay before
admittance was gained to the splendors
beyond. He had to battle his way through
this little mob, and in crossing the road
he ran against young woman, to whom
he offered an apology for his clumsiness,
and who muttered back something IN re-
turn, and then made so quick and side
long a movement from him that his at
tention was directed toward her again.
Second-cousin Sarah!
Was he dreaming? Had he got the
girl SO deeply impressed upon his mind
that his thoughts had conjured up her
wrath? He stood looking after her
watching her proceed down Hope street
as though she knew the place by heart;
and as she passed under the gas lamp
with her head very much bent forward,
and a thin rag of a shawl drawn tightly
round her, the black and white dress
seemed even to the observant man ill
the background a familiar pattern, the
alternate stripes Of which he had last
seen from the gateway of the aims
houses.
"Why am troubling myself about her
at all?" he said. what am I to her,
What is she to me? Even if that were
the girl suddenly turning up in my neigh
borhood, at time when her grandmother
would have me believe that she was down
in Worcester-What" he exclaimed,
aloud, "it is shev'
The female in advance had suddenly
paused on the pavement of Hope street,
injudiciously stopping beneath a second
gas lamp, ana looked carefully and eager
ly in the direction whence she had come,
as if to reassure herself that no one was
following at her heels.
After an unceremonious scattering cf
the boys and girls before the entrance to
the Saxe-Gotha Gardens, the woman
darted into the establishment itself, as
if the sixpence for admission might con-
stitute an insurmountable barrier be-
fuaop borsolf op6 him, who fol1orraJ how
or as if he would not believe in any one
with whom he was acquainted entering
the place; but Reuben Culwick was in
hot haste, and gained upon her rapidly.
CHAPTER VII.
Reuben Culwick lost time at the pay
Office He passed along an avenue of
stunted trees into the gardens, which he