Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-08-29

and order. Scrubbing and polishing
were cheap amusements and nobody
grudged them to Waitstill. No tables
In Riverboro were whittier. no tins
more Iustrous. no pewter brighter. no
brick hearths ruddler than hers. The
beans and brown bread and Indian
pudding were basking in the warmth
OF the old brick oven, and what with
the crackle and sparkle OF the fire, tho
CLEAN of tn blue willow ware on the
cupboard shelves, and the scarlet gera-
NUNS blooming on the sunny shelf
above the sink, there were few pleas
after places to be fouLl IN the village
than that same Baxter kitchen.
Yet Waitstill was I'll at ease this
afternoon; she hardly knew why. Her
father had just put the horse into the
pung and driven up to MnNken's mills
for some grain, and Patty was down
at the store instruchng Bill Morrill,
(Cephas Coles successor) in his novel
task of waiting on customers and
learning the whereabouts of things; no
easy task in the bewildcring variety
of stock in n country store, where pins,
treacle. Bingham, epson salts, Indian
meal. shoestrings, shovels, brooms. sui
phur, tobacco, suspenders, rum and in
digo may be demanded in rapid sue
cesSion.
Patty was quiet and docile these
days, though her color was more bril-
liant than usual, and her eyes had all
their accustomed sparkle. She went
about her work steadily, neither rant
ing nor railing at fate, nor bewailing
-, I TnfN fatf
a sense of change and difference too
subtle to be put in words. She had
noted Patty's summer fiirtations, but
regarded them indulgently, very much
as If they had been the irresponsible
friskings of a lamb in a meadow.
Waitstill had more than the usual
reserve in these matters, for in New
England at that time, though the soul
was n subject of daily conversation,
the heart was felt to be rather an in
delicate topic TO be alluded TO as sell
dom as possible. Waitstill certainly
would never have examined Patty
closely as to the state of her affec-
tions, intimate as she was with her
sisters thoughts and opinions about
life. She simply bided her time until
Patty should confide in her.
She had wished now and then that
Patty's capricious fancy might settle |
on Philip Perry, although. indeed. !
when she considered it seriously. it !
seemed like an alliance between Il but |
terfy and an owl. Cephas Cole she re
garded as quite beneath Patty'S right |
full ambitions, and, as for Mark Vii |
son. she had grown up in the belief. I
held in the village generally. that he /
would marry money and position and /
drift out of Riverboro into a gayer, /
larger world. Her devotion TO her sis |
ter was so ardent and her admiration |
so sincere that she could not think it |
possible that Patty would love any |
where in vain. Nevertheless she had |
an instinct that her affections were |
crystallizing somewhere or other. and |
when that happened the uncertain and
eccentric temper of her father would
raise thousand obstacles.
While these thoughts coursed more
or less vagrantly rough Waitstill's
mind che suddenly determined TO get
her cloak and hood and run over to see
Mrs. Boynton. Ivory had been away
n good deal in the woods since early
November chOpping trees and helping
to make new roads. He could not go
long distances like the other men, as
he felt constrained to come home ev-
cry day or two to look after his moth
er and ROdman, but the work was too
lucrative to be altogether refused.
With WaitStill's help he had at last
overcome his mothers aversion TO old
Mrs. Mason, their nearest neighbOr.
and she. being now a widow with
very slender resources, went to the