The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-02-07
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Ghe drew rein and 1shed what Seem- cd to be ss1ted almonds from her ss~eahar pocket She h11iped one of these fntO the air and caught it in her mouth with lazy toss of the head that showed the Hrm contour Of her lovely throat I had never seen her more self possessed. she asked careless3y.
 ~Trs a rood horse. fancy Miss Oc- 1av1a thinks so herself. There are places, Hezek1ah, where they hang people for horse seeaIlhg."
 s-rhaught I might need one today, so \ borrowed him through the back way ao the old red barn. The coachman is an ancient chum, and Aunt Octa via would never mind even if she knew. And she Will know, all right! Any how. my rear tire had been patched ence too often, and there is a satisfac- fion in a horse Where's our sensitive and impressfonable Wiggy? Saw him riding over toward Kisco yesterday D. m with chin on his chest-dreadfuI riding form"
 ~Wigg1ns is at Orton's-the play wrsghes, you know. I've teIephoned him to hustle back, but he's out of our reach Somewhere. couldn't speak to him direct; had b leave a message for him"
 Just like wfggy to die on the last lap What did you make out of Broth er Peppertnn7''
 Your note scared me-thanks so much for your note-but he's all right. Engaged to another girl"
 ~Ah," she sighed, '.its comforting that Cecilia couldn't keep them all going all the time.''
 We rode along together, our horses in a walk. and told her everything knew Of the condition of affairs, in- cludfng a true account of my ex- perIences at the inn the day before and of the finding of the old chest be- longing to WIggins' great-grandfather her brown eyes opened wide at this concluding with the diphtheria strata gem and Dicks menace toa Cecilia's happiness
 He's really a bright little boy. Com ing home on the steamer he gave me a post graduate course in pragmatism that I've found helpful in keeping house for papa Its toO bad we have to lay trap for MT Dick" sF
 ~Is ft7 Just how are we to manage that, Hezekiahe'
 -Oh, that will be easy enough. He's pretty desperate. and since the com pact between the suitors- has gone to pieces he knows he will have to show his hand pretty soon He thinks you are wild about Cecilia. He lays great Etress on his thinking powers, and he probably argues that you are bound to pop pretty goon. It's just as we'll he thinks SC. but we must finish this up today. I'll be a nervous wreck if we don't close the books tonight. There's your friend Dick noW''
 She indicated q high point in the main road, where it crossed the ridge from which she had shown melt seemed, oh, very kong agoLthe pro- cessf0n of suttors crossing the stiIe. Dick. mounted. was gazing of across the fields toward HoDeheld. Man and horse were so distant as to create the illusion of an equestrian statue on high pedestal
 .ssNapoleoa before Waterloo" I sug- gssted-
 .He does look like Napoleon, doesn't heT' she laughed He's a bit fused today. He knows that Wigey,s not at the inn and that you are up to some thing, and to little MT. Dick the archf- tect probably looks like one Of those nyster1ous knights you read about, who suddenly appears at the tourna-
 
 CT, with a tin pail over his head. MT. Proportions presence no doubt worries him, as I don't think they ever Nnet Cecilia and MT. Pepperton are riding. lodged them just before I struck you, walking their horses in the most loverlike fashion in a lane over yon- der, but if MT Pepperton is really en- gagged it's all right, though if I were fhe other girl think I'd be anxious
 ''Pep's playing the game, that's all. What are you going to do now?''
 She glanced at the sun I fancfed that it was with such a scanning of t,e heavens that her sisters a thousand pears before had noted the time
 This is my pie day. There's un- doubtediy a gooseberry pie waiting for me at the bungalow. And papa will expect me for luncheon I'd ask you to rome too. only you'll have all you can 10 to keep Mir Dick from persuading somebody to be the sixth man, so he ean slip in as number seven. If we get Through today all right, you may come for luncheon tomorrow, maybe Papa told me he liked you. He said you were very decent that night you met haz
 ny compliments to your father. I hope to be able to persuade him to ex- tend his pafernal arm to include me. Aunt -Octa fi4 must be my aunt tooi
 Really - cried Hezekiah. with inde- Bcribable mockerys and she wheeled her ---za and was gone like the wind.