Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1908-01-14

And till l got here Already Eunice sne
was here"
"She knowed better'n to git In with
him near here. She likely walked oyer
the schoolhouse and behind Zoars
church up and then got in his buggy
above the town out, SOS US we
wouldn't see her."
Very low in his mind and looking
abjectly disappointed and discouraged,
Henny on receiving this information
rose to 60 home.
Kinross unused on the situation as
for an hour longer he wandered up
and down the garden In the gathering
night His promenade brought him
every now and then to a corner of
the house from which he could see In
an unoccupied and reputedly haunt
ed" part Of the building faint flicker
ing light in one Of the windows.
He had been told Of the tradition con-
corning the ghost who visited this
wing of the old house. The Morning
stars were very proud Of the distinc-
ton of living with the only ghost Of
the township. and strangers to the
neighborhood were never left long In
ignorance Of 1t. Kinross felt sure. from
what he had seen of the family, that
none Of them could possibly be in
duced to go near that haunted quarter
Of the house after dark and he was
naturally puzzled. therefore. to account
for the light he saw in the window
Just now. He thought he would ask
Mrs. Morningstar to let him sleep In
the haunted room some night and see
whether he could not meet and lay
the spirit that troubled 1t. 1t did not
occur to him to associate the light with
the absence Of Eunice He accepted.
as unquestioningly as did Hen Muckle-
benny, Mr.. Morningstar's story Of her
| clandestine drive with Abe Indeed,
the family's agitation over the fact
was keeping them up long after their
usual early bedtime. as he knew from
the lamp light in the kitchen to which
the circuit of his stroll periodically
Il
His impressions Of Eunice were In
| dire confusion and refused to lend
themselves to readjustment. That
| girl capable Of even accidentally read
ing "The Compleat Angler" and dis
cusslng it as she had done should
take up" with Abe Morningstar was
singular, to say the least. The flower
like beauty Of her face, the peculiarly
thrilling quality Of her voice. her grace
and, In some respects, eXquisiteness
made It seem incongruous that she
should, as Mr.. Morningstar had ex-
pressed 1t. be wonderful took with
our Abe" And then the intelligence
she had revealed this evening-what
was 1t she had said about "The Com
pleat Angler?'-it was not "for its
didactic instructions about fishing
that she cared for 1t, but "for the
anecdotes scattered through it. the
quotations and songs and poems"
| Good Lord, Should he presently dis
| cover that Abe was familiar with
Chaucer and Spenser and that Ollie
was student Of Shakespeare and
Milton? He couldn't have been more
astonished If he had found Mrs. Morn
ingstar quoting Henry James or come
across Mr.. Morningstar intellisently
reading George Meredith. AS psy-
chologist he could not reconcile the
fact of the girls having left school at
the age of twelve, according to her
| foster mothers own acknowledgment,
with her capacity for assimilating
Izaak Walton's little classic. He re-
called that Mrs. Morningstar had told
him Of the child's grief ut being taken
| from school. "She cried wonderful
the woman had said in the unsympa-
thetic tone with which she always
spoke of the girl.
1T would take q Sherlock Holmes
| to ferret out this mystery" he said to
himself.
AS he came to this conclusion turn
in his walk brought him in sight again
Of the haunted back building, and he
saw that the lighted window had be-
come dark. 1.-The ghost has gone to
roost," he decided.
| A moment later as he came around
to the front OF the house the light Of
a lamp illumincd one of the upstairs
bedroom windows the room in which,
| as he knew, Ollie and Eunice slept
| But q moment before he had passed
| the kitchen In which he had seen Ollie
and her parents sitting about the table
Who, then, was In that upstairs room?
No member of the Morningstar house
hold would commit the extravaganza
of leaving a lamp burning in an empty
room. Had the ghost wandered from
the back room to the front one? But
| ghosts did not move by the light Of
kerosene lamps.
Presently in his circuit about the
house he found that the trio In the
| kitchen had at last taken their lamps
and gone upstairs, leaving the kitchen
door Unmatched for him and for the
| truant lovers.
Kinross felt an impulse Of pity for
| Eunice as he thought Of the retribu-
| ton she would have TO face on ner re-
turn or Oh the morrow.
| "But she never seems to mind the old
,ady's upbraidings; she takes them with
an apparently philosophical calm" he
| thought. 81 wonder whether. against
all the stress that will be brought to
bear upon her. she will with equal
calmness and philosophy persist In her
| devotion to Abe. should think she'd
| find 1t hard to hold out against the
cold bloodcd obstinacy Of that brutal
old NOTWITHSTANDING than against
| the wOman's warm temper. | fancy
the Dutchman could be cruel under
some circumstances. Now. I'm in
clined to think Eunice would fare bet
ter IL she favored that sheep that came
to court her this evcning-Hen Muckle'
benny. He looks inoffensive and soft
hearted. while Abe Morningstar Is n
genuine son of his father-small soul
ed, selfish and brutal. But she doesn't
know that II is she Hen came to see,
and the Morningstars will take care
that she doesn't find it out. l might
do her good turn by telling her on
the quiet"
His meditation turned at last from
sheer WEAKNESS into another channel
and he fell to thinking Of the awkward
situation he would have to confront
when. on his return to town. he should
be obliged to meet Miss Ellery and
tMiss Parks In his true character. How