Part 4 (1/2)

They walked out under the trees to the brook-side and stood listening to the tinkling of the cowbells in the wood lot beyond The light faded early on these Septeun to rise froain The kitchen ere already growing yellow, and through the about in her preparations for supper But Cynthia, having accoo in She could not have borne to have any one drive back with her to Brampton then, and she must not be late upon the road

”I will co, Uncle Jethro,” she said, as she kissed hi look at his face Had it been possible, she would not have left hi darkness she e calmness be had shown after defeat

She drove her horse on to the floor of Mr Sher her to alight, and walked hoh the lane Ephraim had not yet returned froht, and Cynthia s-kit strewn on the hearth In her absence he invariably unpacked and used it, and of course Cynthia at once set herself to cleaning and packing it again After that she got her own supper--a very sihts when Ephrai in

”Well, I swan!” he exclaimed when he saw her ”I didn't look for you to come back so soon, Cynthy Put up the kit--hev you?” He stood in front of the fireplace staring with apparent interest at the place where the kit had been, and added in a voice which he strove to make quite casual, ”How be Jethro?”

”He looks older, Cousin Eph,” she answered, after a pause, ”and I think he is very tired But he seems he seems more tranquil and contented than I hoped to find hilad to hear it Glad you went up, Cynthy--you done right to go

”I'd have gone with you, if you'd only told o up Sunday”

There was an air of repressed excitement about the veteran which did not escape Cynthia He held two letters in his hand, and, being a post on both One had come from that place in New Jersey, and drew no comment But the other! That one had been postmarked at the capital, and as he had sat at his counter at the post-office waiting for closing time he bad turned it over and over with uesses Past master of dissimulation that he was, he had made up his mind--if he should find Cynthia at home--to lay the letters indifferently on the table and walk into his bedroon he now proceeded to carry out

Cynthia sone, and shook her head and picked up the letters: Bob's was upperht of the other one And she smiled as she read for Bob had had a promotion He was not yet at the head of the locoht think that Mr Broke had resigned the presidency in his favor; and Cynthia never failed to laugh at these little facetious asides He was now earning the princely suh to hts he and Percy Broke scrubbed as rime from their hands and faces and went to spend Sunday at Elberon, the Broke place on the Hudson; from whence Miss Sally Broke, if she happened to be at home, always sent Cynthia her love As Cynthia is still a heroine, I shall not describe how she felt about Sally Broke's love There was plenty of Bob's own in the letter Cynthia would got have blamed him if he bad fallen in love with Miss Broke It seemed to her little short of s, he could be true to her

After a period which was no briefer than that usually occupied by Bob's letters, Cynthia took the other one from her lap, and stared at it in much perplexity before she tore it open We have seen its contents over Mr Worthington's shoulder, and our hearts will not stop beating--as Cynthia's did She read it twice before the fullof it came to her, and after that she could not wellso ad while, and presently she heard Ephraiton relented and Bob recalled! The vista of happiness suddenly opened up, widened and widened until it was too bright for Cynthia's vision, and she would compel her mind to dwell on another prospect,--that of the father and son reconciled Although her temples throbbed, she tried to analyze the letter It iton had allowed Bob to remain away on a sort of probation; it i paternal lovepaternal justice And then there was the appeal to her: ”You will look with indulgence upon any acts offrom a natural solicitation for the welfare and happiness of iven to love as Cynthia loved

Suddenly there ca on swiftly from point to point: had, indeed, flown as far as Coniston by now, and she was thinking of that strange look of peace on Jethro's face which had troubled her One letter she thrust into her dress, but the other she laid aside, and her knees trembled under her as she rose and went into the entry and raised the latch and opened the door There was a ure in the frock coat and the silk hat was the one which she expected to see The silk hat ca you, Miss Wetherell,” said the owner of it

”No,” answered Cynthia, faintly

”May I come in?”

Cynthia held open the door a little wider, and Mr Worthington walked in He seemed very majestic and out of place in the little house which Gabriel Post had built, and he carried into it sos of his ownhis hat, botto his coat, subtly indicated the honor which he was conferring upon the place And he eyed Cynthia, standing before hiht, with a modification of the hawk-like look which wasand conciliatory He did not imprint a kiss upon her brow, as some prospective fathers-in-laould have done But his eyes, perhaps involuntarily, paid a tribute to her personal appearance which heightened her color She ton family

”Won't you sit down?” she asked

”Thank you, Cynthia,” he said; ”I hope I may now be allowed to call you Cynthia?”

She did not answer him, but sat down herself, and he followed her example; with his eyes still upon her

”You have doubtless received ton ”I only arrived in Braht it best to come to you at once, under the circumstances”

”Yes,” replied Cynthia, ”I received the letter”

”I a to be a little taken aback by her calmness and her apparent absence of joy It was scarcely the way in which a school-teacher should receive the advances of the first citizen, coe with his son Had he known it, Cynthia was anything but callad,” he said, ”because I took pains to explain the exact situation in that letter, and to set forth my own sentiments I hope you understood them”

”Yes, I understood theton had come with such praiseworthy intentions that he was disposed to believe that the girl was overwhelood fortune which had suddenly overtaken her He was therefore disposed to be a little conciliatory

”My conduct may have appeared harsh to you,” he continued ”I will not deny that I opposed the enerous, impressionable nature which he inherits from his poor mother--the kind of nature likely to commit a rash act which would ruin his career I have since become convinced that he has--ahem-- inherited likewise a deteret on in the world which I confess I had underestimated My friend, Mr Broke, has written me a letter about him, and tells me that he has already promoted him”

”Yes,” said Cynthia

”You hear frolance

”Yes,” said Cynthia, her color rising a little

”And yet,” said Mr Worthington, slowly, ”I have been under the impression that you have persistently refused to marry him”

”That is true,” she answered

”I cannot refrain fro you, Cynthia, upon such rare conduct,” said he ”You will be glad to know that it has contributedelse toward thened ht It s The co on et that you were the cause of that separation I knew nothing about you, except--” He hesitated, for she had turned to hihed Mr Flint had told hi, of her separation from Jethro, and of the reasons which people believed had caused it Unfortunately, we have not tiiven a very good account of Cynthia indeed After all (Mr Worthington reflected), he had consented to theJethro's naotten soon

”I will not deny to You that I had other plans for hter of a friend of ent with parents, Cynthia,” he added with a little smile, ”we have our castles in the air, too Sometio astray I suppose you have heard of Miss Duncan's e”

”No,” said Cynthia

”She ran off with a worthless Italian nobleman I believe, on the whole,” he said, as an extreme coratulate myself upon Robert's choice I have made inquiries about you, and I find that I have had the pleasure of knowing your mother, whom I respected very ood people, and was forced by circumstances to adopt the means of livelihood he did My attention has been called to the letters he wrote to the Guardian, which I hear have been highly praised by competent critics, and I have ordered a set of thehly thought of in Brampton” (a, not unimportant factor, by the way); ”you have been splendidly educated, and are a lady In short, Cynthia, I have coeed to hiine,” said Mr Worthington

Cynthia was trery, and she had found it very difficult to repress the things which she had been iton now--she despised him He had not dared to h he had done his best to have her removed from the school because of her connection with Jethro

”Mr Worthington,” she said, ”I have not yet made up my mind whether I shall ton's breath was taken ahen he heard these words would be to use a mild expression He doubted his senses

”What?” he exclai forward, ”what do you htened, but she was trying to choose her words without passion

”I refused to marry him,” she said, ”because you withheld your consent, and I did not wish to be the cause of a quarrel between you It was not difficult to guess your feelings toward s occurred of which I will not speak I did ht ofhi hihtfully his But so was due to myself If I should everat Mr Worthington steadfastly, ”it will not be because your consent is given or withheld”

”Do you tell e himself at such unheard-of presuot ry ”I believe that that consent, which you say you have given freely, rung froht not always have Mr Flint by him to restrain and caution him But Mr Flint could have no coer and apprehension goaded Mr Worthington to indiscretion

”Jethro Bass told you this!” he cried out

”No,” Cynthia answered, not in the least surprised by the aduessed it from your letter I heard that he had come back to-day, and I went to Coniston to see him, and he told me--he had been defeated”

Tears came into her eyes at the remembrance of the scene in the tannery house that afternoon, and she knehy Jethro's face had worn that look of peace He had made his supre, and she nitude of this thing Jethro had done, and she ceased to speak, and the tears coursed down her cheeks unheeded

Isaac Worthington had a habit of clutching things when he was in a rage, and now he clutched the arrohite He was furious with her, furious with hiht be construed into a confession He had not finished writing the letters before he had stood self-justified, and he had been self-justified ever since Where noere these arguments so wonderfully plausible? Where were the refutations which he had one into the Pelican House intending to tell Jethro of his detere That was one He had done so-- that was another--and he had written the letters that Jethro ood will There were stillJethro's character for veracity and other things Su, but when she had finished--he said nothing He looked a her, and saw the tears on her face, and he saw that she had cootten his presence

For the life of hiton could not utter a word He was a man, as we knoho did not talk idly, and he knew that Cynthia would not hear what he said; and arguain, he knew that she would not believe hinored, so put to shame, as by this school-teacher of Brampton Before, self-esteem and sophistry had always carried him off between them; sometimes, in truth, with a wound-- the wound had always healed But he had a feeling, to-night, that this wolanced into his soul, and had turned away froed; he forgot for the first time that which he had been pleased to think of as her position in life, and he feared her He hadthe situation became intolerable to hi of how she had blah his love for her had ton did not knohat she was thinking--he thought only of himself and his predicanity He who had co