Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-13

stons of the piazza but turned obedtently
as her mother Mrs. Dabney, said, with
good-humored impatierce:
..Iizabeth. give me that precious child,
and YOU run along to meet Billy. You
needn't blush so about wanting to do 1t
he's been away all day long. But can
let YOU take my grandson out in the dew
don't tell me it isn't falling, if the sun Is
half an hour high"
Elizabeth kissed the baby before laying
it in her mothers upheld arms. then went
down the gravel walk, with her head nigh
but her eyes full of happy light. Al the
stiIe she stopped and looked BACK ue.p
content flooding her heart as the ieVei sum
shine flooded the clear space behind ner.
The space had been tangled and thckIy
shaded when she had come nome 10 Loi,s
Meadow a bride, eighteen months pach,
The big trees had crowded close anout d
velthercd brick house, square and MASSIVE
wi,h wide piazzas back and front. and y 8
Iox-ccfIed rooms inside. 1t had been the
very moral of unpretentions comIort, anu
at first Elizabeth had shared b4lS SUI
row over its destruction by nre
That had happened in the honeymoon;
She had insisted that Billy should spend
her dywry money to replace II, rather 'i''''i
go in debt to builders and maSons.
Billy had been lOath to do 1t, ana hau
saIyed his pride as much as he could by
making her choose everything. AS d lveul s
there stood gay new structure lull VI
angles ana gables. with juts of unexpected
TOW uorches Even the front piazza was
So narrow and restricted Billy never leit
at ease on it. But the oddness OF II an
the unlikenesS to neighborhood archltec-
turc pIeased Elizabeth and her mother
They could not in the least understand why
Billy had sighed so to see the hre-scarred
trees come down, and all the old laflSllaI
shrubs uprooted to make way for grass ana
trim flower beds. Grass of sort there
had ben before. matted in places, tussockE
in others but not too fine for the cropping
of the saddle horses. which had been Tree
Of it, in every snatch of IDLE time.
Oul in the fdrtheSt corner there was d
remnaut-remafnder of the old order. The
office stood there untouched, sentineled by
two tall Lombardy poplars. 1t was pig
square frame single room, with an OUTSIDE
chimney and ladder-like stairs, also outside
running up to the half-story upper cham-
Der.
Almost every plantation had an office,
given up to the young men of 1t and their
jovial friends. who would thus come and
go at all hours without in any way disturb
ing the quiet of the families Bl!y nad
lived in the Long Meadow office, letting his
cousins. the RanSomS. occupy the mousse
until within a month of his marriage Now
it was the only place in which he felt thor
oughy at home.
scented it, She loved Billy dearly. but she
was shy and silent. withal proud. and of
slow enduring temper, once it was reused
She had also at the bottom of her mimi
sense that she must SOM ehodw save Billy
from himself lie was SO easy-goinS. so
open- handed. unless she did save him they
would never thrive. Notwithstanding he was
the best farmer in the county and owned
Long Meadow free and clear.
Yet her thought of him was wholly loving
as she went down the long lawn to the
big outer gate. 1t gave upon the high
road which came in through a gap in the
hills trimming Long Meadow about, and
mi a lOW red rise at the farther
edge of the rim. Billy would come home
through the gap. 1t was Monday and
court day. SO he had gone with three parts
of his neighbors to the county town, os-
tensibly on business, but really to swap
horses, stories and gossip until it was time
to go home.
Billy would not swap horses today. Eliza
beth smiled at the thought. He had rid
den her mare Bonnibel, having traded him.
self afoot. the month before That Is TO
say, he had snapped his riding horse, Gray
Fox, for a pair of mules, SOLO the Inu ,iss
for cash, at good price, and got lift
home in a neighbours buggy. He had not
lost-the mules had fetched $50 more than
he had asked for the horse. Still, Eliza
beth was not wholly pleased-peopie might
think Billy was pressed for money. when
really there was still $1,000 in bank But
all she had said was that they would wait
till next year for the new parlor furni-
ture-she couldn't bear to have 1t SAID
Billy had sold his saddle horse to buy it.
She caught Bllly's whistle before she
came quite to the gate. 1t puzzled her not
to hear also the rhythmic beats or Bonnl-
heTs feet. Instead there was sort or
blurred plOddng. slow and uneven, broken
by little silenCes as though the plodder
had stopped short The whistlins was
likewise intermittent
Elizabeth opened the gate, stepped
through and looked down the road, thep
ran swiftly along It for hundred yards
to meet Billy. who led painfully forward
a ycarling colt which hcbbled on three
do CHI somehow drag the
fourth. Name and tail had been gnawed
away at the roots; moreover there were
big rubbed spots ON one side and on the OPP
uosity quarter Altogether the poor crea-
ture was in such evil case it was easy to
overlook In the casual view its fne lines,
splendid conformation and that indetlnable
something which bespeaks race and class
Billy looking more than casually, had
seen all these-and built upon them. To
do it he had taken a risk-he had known
from the first it would not be easy to pac-
ifv Elizabeth. She stood looking at him
in silence for a full minute, question IN
her eyes. He Stacked the halter and came
close TO her saying with an anxious smile:
Beth honey-don't quite kill me. Lemm
tell you about this Ragged Robin first"
Ragged Robin! That's good name
hut crows meat fits better" Elizabeth
blazed out-then her eyes narrowing:
Where is-Bonnibel? You surely never?
But l did! Just that" Billy interrupted.
standing a thought straighter. Listen,
Elizabeth, 1t was this way: Bentley, at
the livery stable. shipping saddle
horses today. He had n carload, lacking
one and put at me to sell him Bonny. But
/ wouldn't, not even though he offered me
seven hundred for her-just what he'd
get for her up in New York-he was so
anxious to fill his car ard please the fei-
low at the other end. But | went with
him to the depot. and what should we md
there but a stock train full of Grassland
Yearliugs side-tracked to exercise the
youngsters Il bit-and In it-this fellow"
rodding toward the lame colt hurt, and
down. and pretty badly used up-and him
the very king pin of the lot when they
started.
why. he's the same as imported-his
sires u Derby winner, so is his graudsi-e,
and most Of the rest. Amt such breeding
anywhere outside the Gravesend pad
docks, Think of those OATS of grooms, let
ting him get down. and stay down 1t
made me most sick TO look at him
Billy had forgotten the tension of the
moment-his horseman'S enthusiasm had
swept him away from it. Elizabeth gave
quick impatient sigh. and said:
You needn't go any further OF course
YOU traded Bonnibel for
.'Why. honey-not Quite-but did let Bent
lev have her-and put the price in the colt"
Billy said gently. And it's going to turn
out a fortune for you, little girl. Before
traded looked him over-he's hurt, but not
past cure. You know what | can do with