Connecticut western news., 1909-07-15
DIANTHE OF
 THE WOODS,
It Wasn't a Witch He Caught,
 but His Ideal of a Girl.
By Nj. WOODRUFF NEWELL.


 A severe attack of typhoid had put him considerably on the bias, so that he welcomed quiet recuperating old farmhouse twenty miles from lem on" as a desired haven and went there for a summers sojonrn the 1st of July
 The old couple with, whom he board ed were one Lemuel Merriwether and his wife, and they worried constantly for fear he should have a relapse.
 I'm very apt to-" Andrew assured them often, being so weak, you know. The deIirium especially is likely to return"
 Being a lone young bachelor, he en- joyed their anxiety in his behalf and worked shamelessly on their sympa- thies.
 My heaven" exclaimed Mrs. Merri- wether the morning that he told her that, throwing away a raisin that she was seeding and putting the seeds into the cake in her excitement.
 "Oh, it's very sad diseasew con- i tinued Andrew pensively, reaching for his fifth cooky.
 Then he took his camera and went out for mornings prowl through the woods .N
 The country was in Its summer glory and just before he started back to the house he took the picture that started the trouble.
 He had been walking along by the river, and, struck by a clump of birch trees that fringed a dim woodland path, he trained his camera on it and sought the finder. He smiled happily as he saw the picture it made-the slim young trees with the long path winding up behind them.
 That's finew he told himself and holding the camera steady, snapped it. He could scarcely wait to get home to develop it.
 Mrs. Merriwether saw him coming and exclaimed anxiously, Gracious me, boy, where's the fre?'
 "Got prize package" he answered solemnly. | Mrs Merriwether, honest soul. stared after him.
 You don't suppose, now, the heats affected his head, do your" she whis- pered to Lemuel as he came up fromI the barn little later.
 He's been on the go all day in theI hot sun, and after such fever as hei had he's liable to have spells off looney, you know he said SO I justI asked him what he was hurrying sol for, and he said he had a prize pack age, and declare to goodness I didn't see nothing but that old cameraw
 "Shoo, shoo, mother, the boys all right. It's probably just some of his funny busir ass." ..s
 If they had seen ''the boy" at that precise moment they would probably have been more anxious than they were about him.
 He was looking at the developed film with startled eyes. His hands shook as he held it up dripping be- tween him and the small ruby lamp on the table.
 By Georger he said and put 1t through the bath again. | A second time he held 1t up and scru- tinized it in the dim red glow.
 By gum" he said tits a witch or I'm going looneyw
 There was the path stretching out al- luringly into the woods beyond. There were the birch trees, tall and slender and beautiful, and there, just beyond them, peering out between two mass l I've oak tree trunks that bordered the path, was a girl or a witch or dry ] ad, with laughing lips, flying hair and an extraordinary eighteenth century gown.
 "How the dickensp puzzled Andrew. Its something on the film. There couldn't have been a real girl there, alone. Lord, there aint one within twenty miles! She surely wouldn't walk that far, and there was no team In sight, and, anyway, what would girl of Revolutionary days be doing here?"
 He washed the film carefully and put 1t through the hypo bath. Then he washed it again and, hanging 1t up to dry, went down to supper. .iF -.
 There he talked at random, his mind being full of the mysterious picture. | they confirmed every suspicion that Mother Merriwether had formed that afternoon.
 He's offr' she whispered sharply to Lemuel outside the kitchen door. Its the heat. He's way off. Just see how funny he talks. If he ain't better in the morning we'll have pr. Snow come over. Wen have to watch him with out his knowing it. We must be mighty careful not to excite him. Oh, goodness, ain't it awful, that poor boy! My, but typhoid's a fearful disease"
 Lemuel, vastly alarmed, was in- stantly lon to his job" For a watch dog he proved Al. Andrew had diff culty in shaking him off long enough to go to the dark room at bedtime.
 The film was almost dry, and he could scarcely wait until the next day to make a print of it.
 When morning came, however, be found Lemuel sticking closer than