The Democratic advocate., 1909-08-13
CUPID AND GHOSTS.
A Vacation In tie Country That
didn't Effect a Cure.
DONALD ALLEN.

for the SUMMER.
HiIda was not in a decline Her ap-
petite was good. What troubled her
father and mother was to find that
Hilda was in love.
John Wayne. her father. was a law
yer of note. and when the ease" was
out into his hands by the mother he
handled it like a lawyer. In this in
stance he constituted himself counsel
Judge and jury, and the verdict was
that Miss Hilda was to be packed off
to the home Of maiden aunt in the
country for three months.
The mother doubted. but the father
was confident. Hilda had only reach
ed the childish age of nineteen. This
affair was only a trifie. Aunt Judith
was an old maid and had no sympathy
with such nonsense and would give
the girl sage advice. That conclave,
consisting mostly of the father. set
tied things in half an hour. There is
popular complaint about the laws de-
Law. but there are times when it moves
very swiftly.
Hilda was not told in so many words
why she was packed off to summer
with the geese and bumblebees and
milkweeds, but she had her suspicious.
She knew nothing whatever Of law,
but she at once set to work to beat
the lawyer Aunt Judith was grim
and watchfuI and unsympathetic and
nd 6of
where her case was weak. Within q
week of Hiida's arrival, by means of
the towheaded boy on the next farm,
the girl was receiving and sending let
ters.
The aunt had figured it out to her
self that her niece would sulk for
about four weeks and that she would
have to read her at least dozen lee
lures. She was thus agreeably dis
appointed when HiIda did not sulk.
Out in the orchard. under an apple
tree. rested an old soap box. Twice 4
week the towheaded boy came skulk-
ing across the fields to leave letters
under that box and take away those
he found there He was receiving 10
cents Il letter. and he had career be-
fore him. The soap box was not quite
as romantic as silver chest would
have been. but it was a fairly safe
postofice.
By and by a letter told that Walter
Allen would have his two weeks vaca-
ton beginning at a certain date and
that certain event might be expected
to happen This letter was worth an
extra dime to Hilda, and she conscien-
tiously left the same under the box
when she Feplied. She also sang so
often and was so cheerful in and out
of the house that Aunt Judith held a
conclave with herself and amusingly
announced to the audience that wasn't
there:
81 have delivered only three lectures
on the foolishness of calf love and the
duty of children to their parents, but
they have been sufficient to open the
dear girls eyes and make a different
being of her"
An hour before dark one summer even
ing Hilda was asked if she wanted to
carry berry pie to a poor old woman
living in a cottage half mile down the
road. Hilda did, and she was hum
ming to herself as she set out. 1t was
by this very road that within day or
two she might expect -. But she
had to carry that berry pie very care
fully and not expect too much.
Between her aunt's home and the old
Woman's was q deserted farmhous'
standing close to the highway. Win
dows and doors were gone, the root
falling in and the yard grown up to
weeds. The towheaded boy could have
told Hilda that it was a haunted house
and that ghosts had been seen troop
ing In and cut.
One can't simply hand in berry pie
to a poor old woman and then rush
away. She must be questioned about
her rheumatism and other ailments
and cheered up to live another twenty
years By the time the good Samaritan
was ready to say goodby it was dark
She hadn't paid any attention to the
sunset and the gathering clouds, and
she had hardly gone ten rods when
big raindrop struck her cheek. She be
gan to run. but the drops came faste'
and faster. and by the time she haC
reached the deserted house she was
drenched and thought only Of finding
shelter until the worst of the storm
was passed.
Hilda thought Of ghosts as soon as
she was under shelter, but, owing tc
the leaks in the roof, she had to move
back until she was against the wall Of
what had once been the large front
room of the house. There she covered
and trembled and shook and wept. Ii
she was heroine she didn't know it.
Ten-twenty-thirty minutes passed
and then a ghost walked. Despite the
noise of the downpour, Hilda heard
that ghost plow its way through the
tangled and sodden weeds before the
door and enter. It shook itself like =:
wet dog. 1t muttered. The wate'
from its soaked garments dripped OF
the floor. The girl had never divided
the ghost family into wet and dry. bu
now she needed no outsiders assur
ance that she was in the presence OF
wet ghost. She was speechlesS will
terror until she heard the ghost softly
moving in her direction to get away
from the leaks Then she suddealy
screamed out:
Are you a ghost?"
mo. Are your came the reply.
Then who are you?