Amy Bell Marlowe

“ They liked the matrons who attended Cornell Chapel much better than they had most of the youthful members of the Temperance Club.
Some of the young men waited their chance in the vestibule to get a bow and a smile of recognition from the newcomers; but only the schoolmaster dared attach himself for any length of time to the Pritchett party.
And Mrs. Pritchett could not fail to take note of this at length. The teacher was deep in some unimportant discussion with Lyddy, who was sweetly unconscious that she was fanning the fire of suspicion in Mrs. Pritchett’s breast. ”

“ Lyddy had something–and a very important something, she thought–on her mind. It had risen naturally out of the talk the girls had had when they first went to bed the evening before. ’Phemie had wished for a houseful of company to make Hillcrest less lonely; the older sister had seized upon the idea as a practical suggestion.
Why not fill the big house–if they could? Why not enter the lists in the land-wide struggle for summer boarders? ”

“ This very self-possessed young man took a pleasant interest in everything that went on about the house and farm. Lyddy was still inclined to snub him–only, he wouldn’t be snubbed. He did not force his attentions upon her; but while he was at Hillcrest it seemed to Lyddy as though he was right at her elbow all the time.
“He pervades the whole place,” she complained to ’Phemie. “Why–he’s under foot, like a kitten!”
“Huh!” exclaimed the younger sister. “He’s hanging about you no more than the school teacher–and Mr. Somers has the best chance, too.” ”

“ A word from Lyddy put Master Tom on the right track of Aunt Jane’s house, for he had been in the town before.
“We’re here quicker than we could have had a telegram delivered,” declared Harris, as he helped the girls out of the car. “I’m going in with you, Miss Lyddy–if you don’t mind?”
“Why, of course you shall come!” returned Lyddy, really allowing her gratitude to “spill over” for the moment.
“Me–oh, my!” whispered ’Phemie, walking demurely behind them. “The end of the world has now came. Lyd is showing that poor young man some favor.” ”

“ A ducking in an icy mountain brook at this time of the year might easily be fraught with serious consequences. Although it was drawing toward noon and the sun was now shining, there was no great amount of warmth in the air. Lucas must have felt the keen wind himself, for he was wet, too; but he neither shivered nor complained.
Luckily they were well up the mountainside when the accident occurred. The ponies flew around a bend where a grove of trees had shut off the view, and there lay the Pritchett house and outbuildings, fresh in their coat of whitewash. ”

“ Pritchett planted a proper crop. And we could have chickens–I’d love that,” said Lyddy.
“Oh, goodness, gracious me! Wouldn’t we all love it–father, too? But how can we even get out there, much more live till vegetables and chickens are ripe, on nothing a week?”
“That–is–what–I–don’t–see–yet,” admitted Lyddy, slowly.
27“It’s very kind of Aunt Jane,” complained ’Phemie. “But it’s just like opening the door of Heaven to a person who has no wings! We can’t even reach Hillcrest.”
“You and I could,” said her sister, vigorously. ”

“ The girls clung together in their bed in the lodging house, and whispered about it, far into the night.
“Suppose he never comes out of that hospital?” suggested ’Phemie, in a trembling voice.
“Oh, ’Phemie! don’t!” begged her sister. “He can’t be so ill as all that. It’s just a breakdown, as that doctor said. He has overworked. He–he mustn’t ever go back to that hat shop again.”
“I know,” breathed ’Phemie; “but what will he do?”
“It isn’t up to him to do anything–it’s up to us,” declared Lyddy, with some measure of her confidence returning. “Why, look at us! ”

“ Sometimes the crowd shouted with laughter; sometimes there was almost dead silence as Miss Lowry delivered a particularly hard hit, or one that was not entirely understood at first.
“And it came to pass in those days that certain damsels of the Pounder’s Brook Temperance Club gathered themselves together in one place, and saith, the one to the other:
“Is it not so that the young men of Pounder’s Brook are no longer attracted by our girls? They no longer care to listen to our songs, or when we play upon the harp or psaltery. They pass us by with unseeing vision. ”

“ Lemuel Judson Spink, M.D., proprietor of Stonehedge Bitters, and Diamond Grits, the breakfast of the million,” the professor explained, bowing low before Mrs. Rufus Castle.
“And these two smart girls I have adopted as grandchildren, too,” declared the older Mrs. Castle, drawing Lyddy and ’Phemie forward. “These are the hard-working, cheerful, kind-hearted girls who make this delightful home at Hillcrest for us all.”
“Oh, Mrs. Castle makes too much of what we do,” said Lyddy, softly. “You see, ’Phemie and I are only too glad to have a grandmother; we do not remember ours.” ”

“ Pritchett’s Dutch oven that Lucas had told her about.
But since the first Sunday neither Mrs. Pritchett or Sairy had been near Hillcrest. Now that Mr. Somers had established himself here, the Bray girls did not expect to ever be forgiven by “Maw” Pritchett and her daughter.
“It’s too bad people are so foolish,” said Lyddy, wearily. “I haven’t done anything to Sairy.”
“But she and her mother think you have. By your wiles you have inveigled Mr. Somers away from Sairy,” giggled ’Phemie.
“’Phemie!” gasped her sister. “If you say such a thing again, I’ll send Mr. Somers packing!” ”

“ Lyddy said. “Aunt Jane said we could make use of anything we found here. But, my! it’s a big house for only three people.”
“It is,” admitted ’Phemie. “I’d feel a whole lot better if it was full of folks.”
“I have it!” exclaimed Lyddy, suddenly. “We might take boarders.”
“Summer boarders?” asked her sister, curiously.
“I–I s’pose so.”
“That’s a long way ahead. It’s winter yet,” and ’Phemie snuggled down into her pillow. “Folks from the city would never want to come to an old house like this–with so few conveniences in it.”
“We like it; don’t we?” demanded Lyddy. ”

“ At Hillcrest there was, however, almost always a breeze. Seldom did the huge piles of rocks at the back of the farm shut the house off from the cooling winds. The people who came to enjoy the simple comforts of the farmhouse were loud in their praises of the spot.
“If we can get along till July–or even the last of June,” quoth Lyddy to her sister, “I feel sure that we will get the house well filled, the garden will help to support us, and we shall be on the way to making a good living―”
“If we aren’t dead,” sighed ’Phemie. “I do get so tired sometimes. ”

“ Of course, the girls with whom she had wrangled on the schoolhouse steps were delighted with what they considered Sairy’s “let-down.” If a girl really came to an evening party with a young man, he was supposed to “stick” and to show interest in no other girl during the evening.
When the intermission came Mr. Somers deliberately took a seat again beside Lyddy.
137“Well, I never!” shrilled Sairy. “Some folks are as bold as brass. Humph!”
Now, as it happened, both Lyddy and the school teacher were quite ignorant of the stir they were creating. ”

“ I understand that you can’t get blood from a turnip. We want to put Hillcrest in better shape–both in and out of the house–and then there’ll be a better chance to sell it.”
Cyrus Pritchett’s eyes suddenly twinkled with a shrewd light.
“Does Jane Hammon’ really want to sell the farm?” he queried.
“If she gets a good offer,” replied Lyddy. “That’s what we hope to do while we’re at Hillcrest–make the place more valuable and more attractive to the possible buyer.”
“Ha!” grunted Cyrus, sneeringly. “She’ll get a fancy price for Hillcrest–not!” ”

“ All the things are there,” said the younger girl.
“Let me go in there, then,” said Harris, eagerly. “I want to test these samples of water father and I brought down from the rocks to-day.”
“My mercy me!” gasped ’Phemie. “You don’t suppose there’s gold–or silver–held in solution in that water―”
Lyddy laughed. “How ridiculous!” she said.
“Perhaps not exactly ridiculous,” returned Harris, shaking his head, and smiling.
“Why, Harris Colesworth! who ever heard of such a thing?” cried Lyddy. “I’m no chemist, but I know that would be impossible.”
“Will you let me have the key of the green door?” ”

“ Lucas Pritchett was not as slow as he seemed.
In one motion he drew in the plunging ponies to a dead stop, thrust the lines into Lyddy’s hands, and vaulted over the wheel of the farm wagon.
“Hold ’em!” he commanded, pulling off the long, snuff-colored overcoat. Flinging it behind him he tore down the bank and, in his high boots, waded right into the stream.
Poor ’Phemie was beyond her depth, although she rose “right side up” when she came to the surface. And when Lucas seized her she had sense enough not to struggle much.
“Oh, oh, oh!” she moaned. “The wa–water is s-so cold!” ”

“ They should be living in caves in the hillside and be wearing skins of wild animals instead of civilized clothing.”
“Yes, ma’am,” replied Lucas, gently. “I reckon it looks so to you. But they have all got used to Mayme Lowry’s shots–it’s give an’ take with most of ’em.”
“There is no excuse–there can be no excuse for such cruelty,” reiterated Lyddy. “And we never have done a single thing knowingly to hurt them.”
Harris Colesworth was silent, but ’Phemie saw that his eyes danced. He only said, soothingly:
“They are a different class from your own, Miss Lydia. They look on life differently. ”

“ The young men of our tribe goeth after strange gods. Therefore, let us awake, and go forth, and show the wisdom of serpents and–each and every one of us–start a boarding house!’”
The young men, who had begun to look exceedingly foolish during this harangue, suddenly broke into a chorus of laughter. Even Lucas and Harris Colesworth could not hide a grin, and the school teacher hid his face from the company.
The whole room was a-roar. Lyddy and ’Phemie suffered under the indignity–and yet ’Phemie could scarcely forbear a grin. ”

“ PROFESSOR SPINK’S BOTTLES
But Professor Lemuel Judson Spink did not look happy–not at all!
While the neighbors were crowding around, emitting “ohs” and “ahs” over his find in the broken old desk, the proprietor of “the breakfast for the million” began to look pretty sick.
“Five thousand dollars! My mercy!” gasped the Widow Harrison. “Then Bob didn’t lie about bringing home that fortune when he came from the army.”
“It’s a shame, Widder!” cried one man. “That five thousand ought to belong to you.”
“Dad got it right; didn’t he?” said Lucas, shaking his head sadly. ”

“ But almost at once she recalled another night–their first one at Hillcrest–when she had gone rambling about the lower floor of the old house.
But she thought of the incubator and leaped out of bed. The lamp might have flared up and cooked all those eggs. Or it might have expired and left them to freeze out there in the washhouse. ”

“ We cannot leave him while he is sick, nor can we take him out there to Hillcrest if he gets on his feet again―”
“Oh, Lyddy! don’t talk that way. He is going to be all right after a few days’ rest.”
“I do not think he will ever be well if he goes back to work in that hat factory. If we could only get him to Hillcrest.”
“And there we’d all starve to death in a hurry,” 28 grumbled ’Phemie, punching the hard, little boarding-house pillow. “Oh, dear! what’s the use of talking? There is no way out!”
“There’s always a way out–if we think hard enough,” returned her sister. ”

“ A young woman–not so very young, either–as lank and lean as Lucas himself, was busy 65 at the stove. She turned to stare at the visitors with near-sighted eyes.
“This is my darter, Sairy,” said “Maw” Pritchett. “She taught school two terms to Pounder’s school; but it was bad for her eyes. I tell her to git specs; but she ’lows she’s too young for sech things.”
“The oculists advise glasses nowadays for very young persons,” observed Lyddy politely, as Sairy Pritchett bobbed her head at them in greeting. ”

“ City folks is funny. But come in–do! Mis’ Hammon’s nieces, d’ye say? Then you must be John Horrocks Bray’s gals–ain’t ye?”
“We are,” said Lyddy, who had quickly climbed out over the wheel and now eased down the clumsy bundle which was her sister. “Can you stand, ’Phemie?”
“Ye-es,” chattered her sister.
“I hope you can take us in for a little while, Mrs. Pritchett,” went on the older girl. “We are going up to Hillcrest to live.”
“Take ye in? Sure! An’ ’twon’t be the first city folks we’ve harbored,” declared the lady, chuckling comfortably. ”

“ Lydia Bray had sat down upon the edge of their father’s bed.
“I guess everything has happened at once,” she sighed. “I don’t see what we shall do, ’Phemie.”
There came a scream from Aunt Jane. She charged into the bedroom wildly, the back of her dress all wet and her bonnet dangling over one ear.
“Why, your parlor ceiling is just spouting water, girls!” she cried.
Then she turned to look closely at the man on the bed. “John Bray looks awful bad, Lyddy. What does the doctor say?” ”

“ Lyddy obeyed. There was great confusion in the hall now, and overhead the fire roared loudly. The firemen were evidently pressing up the congested stairway with a line or two of hose, and driving the frightened people back into their tenements. If the fire was confined to the upper floor of the double-decker there would be really little danger to those below.
But Lyddy was too frightened to realize this last fact. She planted the end of the plank upon her own sill and saw that it was secure. ”

“ Boarders, eh? A gal like you!”
“We’re not rich enough to sit with idle hands, and I mean to try and earn something,” Lyddy declared. “And we’ll want vegetables to carry us over winter, too.”
Lucas had been listening with flushed and anxious face. Now he broke in eagerly:
“You said I could till a piece for myself this year, Dad. Lemme do it up here. There’s a better chance to sell trucks in Bridleburg than there has been. I’ll plow and take care of two acres up here, if Miss Lyddy says so, for half the crops, she to supply seed and fertilizer.” ”

“ I hope nobody will come here for a bath just now,” observed Lyddy. “It would be rather awkward.”
“And I reckon the water’s cold, too,” agreed her sister, with a giggle. “This stream is fed by a dozen different springs around among the rocks here, so Lucas says. And I expect one spring is just a little colder than another!”
“Oh, look!” exclaimed Lyddy. “There are the strawberries.”
The girls were down upon their knees immediately, picking into their tins–and their mouths. They could not resist the luscious berries–“tame” strawberries never can be as sweet as the wild kind. ”

“ She crossed the threshold swiftly and groped her way to the door of the second room–the old doctor’s consulting room. Here the light of the moon filtered through the shutters sufficiently to show her the place.
There seemed to be nobody there, and she stepped in, leaving the green door open behind her, but pulling shut the door between the anteroom and the office.
There was the old doctor’s big desk, and the bookcases all about the room, and the jars with “specimens” in them and–yes!–the skeleton case in the corner. ”