Bisbee daily review., 1915-02-05
Tie Siege of The Seven Suitors
 By MEREDITH NICHOLSON Copyright. 1910, by Meredith Nicholson
CHAPTER XX. Seven Gold Reeds.


 as the sun climbed Co the zenith and Hezeklah flung aside her cont The breeze caught the ends of her tie and snapped them behind her She was wholly absorbed in her task. and no boy could have managed pocket knife better The first reed she made tri1e longer than her hand. The succeeding ones she trimmed tU gradu- ated lessening lengths, tin seven in an had been cut and then she notched them
 Seven" she murmured laying them neatly in order on her knee "l Ter member the right number by a poem read the other day in an old maga zine"
 She reached down and plucked sev- eral long leaves of tough grass with which she began to bind the reeds to- gether. repeating:
 Seven gold reeds grew tall and slim
 Close by the rivers beaded hrim
 SyrniX. the naiad. fitted past.
 Pan. the goat hoofed, followed fast
 "It will be easier" suid uezebiah If you hold the pipes while tie them
 | found this propinquity wholly agreeable lt wus pleasant to sit on log beside Hezebiah lt seemed DO far cry to the storied Mediterranean and Pan and dryads and uuiads. as Heze. kah bound her reeds Co the music uf ! coupIets There was no self conscious ness in her recitation She seemed 70 be telling of something that she bad seen herself an hour ago
 "IIe spread his arms to clasp her there Just as she vanished into air And Go his bosom. warm and rough Drew the gold reeds close enough '1 don't remember the rest" sne broke off "But there. That's a pipe | dt for any shepherd
 She put fl Co her lips and blew | shall not pretend that the result wns melodious She whlstled much better without the reeds. but the sight Of her. | sitting on the fallen tree beside the ! lake. beating time with her foot her head thrown back. her eyes half closed 2 in a mockery of rapture at the shril. Wheezy uncertainties and ineptitUdes | she evoked. thrilled me with new and wonderful lougiugs. 4 heart. a spirit ] like hers would never grow old. She | was next of kin to an the elusive. fugi- 1 tive company of the elf world And oE ! such a pipe as she had strung together beside that pond to this day Siciiar i shepherd boys whistle themselves into l tune with Theocritus.
 Take it." she said. "l cant tell you more than have and yet it is ai' there, Chimueys Reud the riddle ot thc reeds if you cau"
 took the pipe and turned it over 1 carefully in my hands. but l fear my thoughts were rather of the hands that had fashioned lt. the fingers that had danced nimbly upon the stops
 "There are seven reeds-seveu." she affirmed
 She amused herself by skipping peb- bles over the surface or the water while 1 pondered. and ! dcliberated long, for one did not like to blundor before Hezekiah Then l jumped up and called to her
 "Oue, two, three, four five, six seven, Not until the,serenth man of. fers himself shall Cecilia have hus- band Is that inc auswer?"
 For a moment Hezekiah watched the widening ripples made by the casting of her last pebble Then she came back and resumed her seat
 "You have done we'll Chimney Man. and now m not make you guess auy more. though | found it all out for myy self When Aunt Octavia gave that memorandum book to Cecilia ! knew it must have something Co do with the seventh man You know ! love ah Aunt Octayia's nonsense because its the kind of foolishness | likr myself. and the idea of a pretty little note. Oook to write down proposals in was precisely the sort of thing that would have occurred to my aunt And it was in the bargain too. that she herself should not in any way interfere or try t6 influence the course of events. li should be the seventh suitor, willy nilly And l suspect she's been little scared too"
 "shc has indeed. She was almost ready 10 throw the whole scheme over Inst night Your naughuness had goi on her nerves"
 "You missed the target that time Aunt Octavia loves my nangbuneSs and think she has really been afraid Sir Pumpkin Wiggins would catch me Now. ! didn't roam my aunts hous' just for fun. was doing my best t' keep Cecilia from getting into soma scrape about that seventh suitor plan } ] found out by chance how 10 get int Hopeheld and about the hidden stair way and the old rooms tucked away there Papa really discovered that - A carpenter in Katonah who worket on the house helped 10 build papa bungalow. and he told us how Una ruin came Co be there That dys pepsia cure man. who also immortal ized himself by inventing the ribles umbrella. was very supersutious. ll ' believed that if he built an entirel. ! new house he would die So be ha'