Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-02
CHAPTER VII.-Continued.

noon took all that artistic nonsense as
seriously as funeral. and she told me
after You left, with the greatest horror,
that Aunt Octavia had asked for a cock
tail"' That laugh rippled off again to
carry joy along the planet trails above
us. But you know" she resumed. that
Aunt Octavia never drank a cocktail in
her life-and wouldn't! She doesn't know
a cocktail from soothing strip. She pines
for adventures. She is just like a board
ling school girl who has read her first
In a South American republic, shooting
the insurgents full Of tortillas and mar
| rying the presidents dark-eyed daughter.
She reads pirate books and Is crazy about
buried chests and pieces Of eight. And
| worldr"
Hezekiah laughed again.
So this was the child whose devotion
had rendered Virgins so miserable, and
the sister of whom Cecilia HOLSTER and
her aunt had spoken so strangely. 1 had
not suspected it. She was as unlike
Cecilia as possible. and the difference lay
in her Independent spirit and bubbling
humor. Her individuality was more pro-
nounced. You took her, without debate.
on her own ground: and though she had
expressed preference for macadam she
seemed related to the days when maidens
4
appointed in their expectation that light
| footed youths. mayhap winged sons
OF the Olympians. would reward patient
| waiting. But at the same time she struck
the note of modernity. Her filings at the
Asolando We're reassuring; she was
| healthy minded, vigorous young woman.
| whose nature protested against affecta-
| ton and pose. She rebeled against closed
doors. whether those of town or country.
am myself much Of a cockney. and
not averse to asphalt and streets ablaze
with electric banners My imagination
sprang to meet this Hezekiah. 1 had, in
fact, feeling that 1 had waited for her
somewhere in some earlier incarnation.
She jumped down from the wall, shook
three apples from a tree and sustained
| them in the air with the dizziness and
| certainty of practiced jonglerie. Her alb
sorption was complete, and when she
wearied of this sport she flung the apples
away, one after the other, with a boys
free swing Of the arm. Herrick would
have delighted in her; Dobson would
| have spun her bright hair into a rom
deau; but only Aldrich, with a twinkle
IN his eye could have brought her up to
date in a dozen Ginning couplets. l
felt that no matter how much one ad-
mired and respected this Hezekiah one
would never deal with her in the phrases
| of drawing rooms. Her charming mad
vertences made this impossible, and it
was the part Of discretion to await her
own initiative.
|
| the orchard, and stood clearly limned
against the sky, her hands thrust into
the pockets of her sweater. She ap-
peared to be intent upon something that
| lay beyond. and half turned her head
and summoned me by whistling. 1 liked
| this better than the quotation method of
address. 1t was a clear shrill pipe that
whistle, and she emphasized it further by
1 stood beside her 1 was surprised to find
| that the site commanded a wide area,
| including the unmistakable roofs and
chimneys Of Hopefleld Manor half a mile
| distant.
You will see something funny down
there In a minute. They are out Of sight
| now. but there's a stile-the kind with
teps-5ust beyond those trees. It's in
path that leads from the Prescott Arms
| to Aunt Octavia's. Look!'
| My eyes discovered the stile 1t was
set In a wall that was, she told me- the
boundary dividing Hopefleld Manor from
another estate nearer our position.
| Suddenly silk hat bobbed in the path
beyond the stile; it rose as it's owner
mounted the steps; 1t paused an instant
| when the top Of the stile was reached;
| then quickly descended and came toward
us. plack blot above black coat. I
| was about to ask her the meaning of
| this apparftion when a second silk hat
bobbed in the path and then rose like
Its predecessor, descending and keeping
on Its way until hidden from our sight
/ II,
sixth. seventh. eighth and ninth followed
| Nine gentlemen in silk hats crossing a
stile In lonely pasture between wood
lands: so much was plain to the eye
from our vantage ground but I CROPPED
bindly for an explanation Of this spec
| tacle. The bobbing hats and dark coats
| suggested wanderers from some dark
Plutonian cave. bent upon mischief to
| the upper world. Their step was taunty;
they moved as though drilled to the same
| cadence.
We waited a moment. expecting that
another figure might join the strange
procession, but nine was the correct
count. l looked down to find Hezekiah
checking them of on the fingers of her
slim brown hand.
Has there been a funeral, and are
they the returning pallbearers?" 1 in
CURED
Not yet" she replied
Her face showed amusement; the
| twitching Of her lips encouraged hope
that another Of those delightful laughs
| was imminent.
1T was positively WEIRD" said. ut
| reminds me Of dream I used to have,
when 1 was a boy of a long line of
Cinnamon running along the top of
great wall-an interminable procession
dred times. l could hear the pigtails of
| those fellows Tapping against their backs
as they trotted along, and the soft scrap
Ing OF their sandals on the smooth sur
l
equally eerie and unaccountable to my
dull twentieth century senses. Pray tell
| me the answer. Hezekiah."
'tOh. those are Cecilias suitors. THEY'VE
been to Aunt Octavia's to tea. They're
staying at the Prescott Arms probably"
! They're terribly formal can't get
| rid of the impression of somberness Gre
| ated by those fellows You'd hardly ex-
pect them to tramp cross country in
those buds. Such grandeur should 20
on wheels
| "Oh. they are afraid Of Aunt Octayia,
She won't allow motor on her grounds.
and l suppose they're afraid they might
| break some other rule IL they went ON
any kind of wheels She's rather exact
ing. you know my aunt Octavia"
| Il was at the Prescott for luncheon TO-
| day, and 1 must have seen these gentle
men there"
| "Oh. you were at the Prescott?"'
| Almost for the first time her manner
betrayed surprise. but mischief danced
in the brown eyes. With Virgins CON
fession as to the havoc he had PLAYED
with Hezekiah's cOnfding heart fresh in
my memory ! felt deicacy about tell
ing her that it was to see Virgins that
had visited the inn. But to nv sur-
prise she introduced the subject OF Wig
gins Immediately. and with Laughter
struggling for one Of those fountain-l like
splashes that were SO beguiling
"Oh. Wiggy Is staying there! Do you
know Wiggy?"
know Wiggy. 'Hezekiah' I know no
man better
"Wiggy is no end Of fun. isn't he? I've
L