The Coolidge examiner., 1931-04-17


OK was spitted on a long iron bar
and slowly roasting over a ed-hOt
mass of hickory Goals. The out
side Dutch oven was filed with
huge baking of bread, and benches
were set with pewter and snow
white dishes of poplar wood Lus-
san was a famous maker of whis-
ky and flip and beer, and three
barrels were ready, hoisted on
chunks of wood with their spigOts
down, waiting for the willing hands
of his friends and neighbors to
turn them.
Jeems hunted out the plow and
kettle and loom which his father
wanted to buy. While occupied in
this way, he came upon a table
piled with a hotchpot of articles,
and his heart gave a pump when he
saw number of books printed In
English. His mind was filled with
the thought of his mothers joy if
he could take these treasures home
to her. There were five Of the
books, Malvern Dale, Evelina, Tele-
machus, ElOiZa. and Joseph And
rews, thrilling list of titles II
seemed to him, and as quickly as he
could he approached Lussan upon
the subject of their worth and pur-
chase. Seeing no merit in printed
English and small chance for their
sale, and being as well a free-heart-
ed man and already warmed by his
own excellent beer. Lussan gave
gave them to Jeems.
Overioyed by this unexpected
windfall of fortune, Jeems began
to watch anxiously for the coming
Of his father and Uncle Hepsibah
and for the appearance of Seigneur
Tonteur and whoever might be
with him.
He placed himself where he
could see down the road that came
from the Tonteur seigneurie, and
when at last he heard the auction
GERS voice believing forth his an
nouncement that the sale was
about to begin, he felt somber
sinking of his hopes. They livened
instantly when three figures on
horseback appeared at the end Of
the half mile of road The fore
most was TOnteur, the second Paul
Tache. and in the third saddle rode
a slim. wide-hatted little person
who was none other than Marie
Antoinette Tonteur herself.
COncealing himself behind the
bole of tree. Jeems watched them
as they passed, so near that
pebble flung by hoof of one of
the horses fell at his side. His
courage almost failed him then, for
while mis- hands clenched at the
sight Of Paul Tache, his heart fall
tered in its heating as his atten-
tion turned from his enemy to
Toinette. She had become. all at
once, young lady whom he could
easily believe he had never seen
before, and the change in her held
him for a few moments so forget
full Of his own existence that he
would have been discovered had
one of the three happened to glance
in his direction. TOinette was wear
ing her first riding suit. a gorgeous
blue camlet trimmed with silver,
just arrived from Quebec. With
this she wore a smartly cooked
beaver hat which bore a rakish
feather, and from under this hat
her long dark hair fell in a cas-
cade of carefully made curls, partly
restrained in their freedom by two
or three red ribbons enmeshed
among them. She was superbly
aware of the lovely figure she made,
and every inch of her body was at
dignified tension as she rode past
the place where Jeems was hidden
After she had gone. Jeems felt
an overwhelming sense of littleness
and unimportance. For Toinette
was no longer Toinette, but a real
princess, grown up. And Paul
Tache, riding close beside her, with
hair powdered and tied and with a
red velvet coat that could be seen
mile away, seemed now to be
infinitely removed from the plot
tings which ne had conceived
against him. He stepped from be-
hind the tree and stopped to pick
up the pebble which Toinette's
horse had flung at him. He could
hear the auctiOneer's voice, and
others bidding for Lussan's proper
ties. Then came a burst of laugh
ter which rose with unreStrained
abandon above all other sound. a
blast of merriment which he would
have recognized anywhere in the
world. Only his Uncle Hepsibah
could laugh like that. The sights
and eXcitementS of the scene about
him would have made for him one
of the most thrilling events of his
forest-rimmed world, had his heart
not been choked with the emotions
| of impending drama. Yet he did
not press his desires by undue
haste, and it was half an hour be-
fore he found himself close to the
one who occupied his thoughts.
This happened in such a fortui-
tous way that Toinette, concealed
by the ample forms of Lussan's
wife and daughter, was within a
foot of his shoulder before he knew
| it.
She did not see him, and he
stood with wildly beating heart
breathing the faint perfume from
her person, his senses dazed by the
nearness of her splendor and his
world of vision filled only with a
great broad-brimmed hat, an en-.
ravishing mass of lustrOus curls, a