The states-graphic. (Brownsville, Tenn.) 1???-1984, 1916-09-15

what do you Here where are You
going now?9
why, I'm gOin' back daown to the
city," he grated out. "I'm goln' back
after Miss Sarah's eggsr'
And he went. and when he returned
the creases in the paper bag which
held his purchase were as fresh 90
when it had left the grocer's counter.
"Well, Pm-Im hangedw Allison
murmured, after the boy had entered
the house. I'm hanged! You'll have
to bring that youngster over, Cal, and
introduce him to the children"
Acting upon Dexter's suggestion, the
man took Steve the very next day and
presented him to the children who
were guests In the big stucco and
timber house: Little, shy, transparent
skinned Mary Graves and Carrot Deve-
reau and Archibald Wickersham--th
Right Honorable Archie. But from
the very first Steve's lack of enthusi-
asm for their company impressed itself
upon Caleb. AS matter Of fact, the
boy did cross over and join In their
games the first day or two, but it was
only after Caleb himself had suggested
It. And more often than not he would
be back again before an hour had pass
ed, to sit silent and moody.
But 1t needed no word of Caleb's to
keep Steve at home. Without some
suggestion to urge him, the latter
showed no inclination to leave his own
yard, and yet he would sit, too, for
hours upon the top step Of the veran-
da, staring In the direction Of the stuc-
co lodge and listening to the voices be-
hind the high hedge. More and more
often Garry Devereau came over and
joined him instead, and together the
pair made almost daily trips down to
the mills. A quick intimacy had grown
up between the two boys, an intima-
cy which seemed all the stranger to
Caleb because of the contrast between
them.
From the beginning Steve had
evinced an Unsuitable appetite for
books; he started In to devour every
thing upon which he could lay his
hands, and the Hunter library was
lined with well stocked cases. But it
was the history volumes that drew
him most. With fat tome upon his
knees he would sit for hours in a cor
ner upon the floor, his eyes glued to
the pages. And one day, two weeks
after the occurrence OF the eggs, he
came to Sarah with a shy question, .
book In one hand. After she had
caught the drift OF his query Sarah
took the volume and found that he had
been reading of the fabulous deeds Of
King Arthur and his Knights of the
Round Table.
Steve went back to his reading after
she had finished. but ever and again
that morning his eyes, blank with pre-
occupation. wandered from the type;
ever and again his ears seemed to be
straining TO catch the echo of childish
trebles from the yard beyond the
hedge. And after dinner Caleb was
astonished when the boy explained,
little aWkwardly. that he was going
over to Allison's grounds for awhile.
Allison himself passed Steve in the
hedge gap and, with word of greet
ing, stopped to shake hands with him |
grayely. So it came about that they |
were sitting together, Dexter and Ca
leb, smoking in silence. when Barbara |
Allison's first scream came shrilling to |
their ears. They waited, staring at |
each other until the riotous clamor !
which rose set them to running across
the lawn. But the scene which met |
Calebs eyes when he burst through |
the shrubbery froze him into immobil-
ity.
]