Year: 1876

y
another holiday, it would only have
been necessary to call Aunt Naomi Sey-
bold as witness, for she had seen him
saunter past her front room window
the window where she always put the
cracked porcelain teapot that held her
rcso-geranium-and he had stopped
awhile at the Widow Hainline's gate on
his way down the road toward the
woods 4 halt at the widows gate had
OF late become regular feature of Per-
ky's rambles. He had been krcwh to
tarry there on some occasions for fully
an hours and more than once it had
been observedtha he did not go on over
the bluff, as was his usual custom, but
turned and came back. To suppose that
these circumstances attracted no atten-
ton and provoked no comment would
be to fancy Seward Center communi-
ty of winged creatures with crowns and
harps, which it was not. The matter
had gradually assumed an interest in the
public mind second only to that of the
pending strife for the county seat be-
tween the Center and the rival town of
Konomo. Hence the religious patience
with which Aunt Naomi Seybold watch
ed Perky's movements from behind her
window-curtains; hence, also, the sig
nificance that had been attached to his
casual remarks in the Clarion office
upon the subject of matrimony. The
l. xl,.
love with the widow.


The Widow Hainline, it is proper to
say, was not a widow at all. She was a
divorced wife, who had resumed her
maiden name, but still retained the title
of Mrs" on account of her son Benny,
a glad-eyed little lad of eight years.
Her husband had abandoned her when
Benny was but two years old; she had
obtained divorce three years later, and
the next summer she had come to Kan
sas, hoping in time to get farm for
the boy. This was substantially all
they knew about her, except that dur
ing her nearly three years residence in
the Center, she had been a well be-
haved, hard-working woman. 1t SEEM
ed strange that, with her bitter expert
ence and her frigid and methodical
ways, she should be thinking of mar
riage; much stranger than that Perky,
who was SO lonely and so peculiar,
should be contemplating such a thing.
To be sure ehere was no absolute evil
dence that her thoughts were running
in that direction. But, is there ever
any but circumstantial testimony in
such casesP Perky had been seen going
to and coming from her house very Of
ten; she spoke of him always, when she
spoke of him at all, with noticeable
kindness; her face flushed with evident
pleasure whenever any body praised
him a little for his known good quail
ties or made generous excuses for his
faults. And, then, had she not bought
a dress with gaudy pink stripe in it,
and did she not lately wear an unusual
bow of bright ribbon at her throat, and
sometimes a. big red rose in her hair 2
Surely these signs, meaning SO much
with other people, could not be mere
accidents or idle freaks with her. So
the verdict of the Center soon came to
be unanimous, that if the widow thought
she did not love Perky, she. was very
much mistaken.


The Center having made up its mind,
there was no more doubt and no more
discussion. And yet, as matter OF
70 ot parJy bod v,ovar cpoo baap Iypoxx,,,
to go into the widows house, nor had
he and the widow ever been seen to SC
much as chat together at the gate.
When Perky stopped there it was the
boy Benny who came out to see him,
and talked to him by the hour, and of
ten accompanied him as he went on
over the bluff and down into the river
bottom, where the large trees were, and
the birds and the squirrels, and the queer
sound of the running water. For Perky
and Benny had come to be close com
panions and friends. The one was rare.
ly seen without the other. The boy had
caught something of the mans beset-
ting spirit of unrest, and the man had
borrowed a bit of the boys gentle
cheeriness, SO that they blended very
happily. They spent much of theil
time wandering on the breezy sweep Of
upland overlooking the river from
the other side. Their falkland
they talked great deal-was OF
the things they had seen and
heard and thought together-of the
flowers, the stars, the psalms, the mir


acles, the printing-office, and the farm
Benny was going to have when he go


to be man. Sometimes the boys
swift questions went far beyond Perky.
power of answering, and then there


would be little silence and a-changt
of the subject. Sometimes, too, Benny


could not understand why his frien(


stammered and looked ashamed wher


making inquiry of him about his mother


But there was no distrust between then


and no disagreement, and when, as the,


were speaking one day of the boy'


father, and Perky said suddenly, as i


he had just thought of it, " How woult


you like to have me for father?" Ben


ny replied, without hesitation and feel
ing, "Oh, that would be splendid!


Then they walked home without saying


another word, and when they parted a


the gate there were tears in Perky


eyes. Benny lay awake long tim


that night wondering what it coult


mean, and fell asleep at last to dream


that his father came to him in the vagu