CHAPTER XXXV. IN OLD-FASHIONED PICNIC.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 147, 27 March 1886, Page 7

CHAPTER XXXV. IN OLD-FASHIONED PICNIC.

So the middle of April found the Starkeys back in their old homes— a large, well-pre-served, old fashioned mansion, having great square rooms, with wide, old fireplaces all over the house, and a great hall running through the middle of it. Tfc was furnished with rich, substantial furniture, as ancient as itself— heir looms of three generations ; and every nook and corner of the place wag homelike. The buildings outside were as spotless as a coat of white paint, administered every other year, could mako them, and the wide sweeping lawn, dotted hore and there with magnificent elms, whose graceful branches almost swept the green turf, was a perfect delight to the eye. " What a lovely place ! and this was my mother's home ?" Annie exclaimed, as she alighted before the open door, and glanced about her with unmistakable delight. " les, always, after her father and mother died, until she was married," answered Miss Starkey, well pleased with her appreciation. " Annie Hunting played day after day under these old trees ; phe roamed over the hills yonder picking benios in the summer, and nuts in tho tall ; she loved thoso meadows down there, where you see that little running brook, and where she used to find and bring home violets, strawberries and cow&lips by the xpronful ; your mother was fond of flowers as you are, Annie," concluded the spinster, quietly wiping a tear from her cheek. " Ye?, and I've got the last ones she ever brought homo,'" softly murmured her brother as if talking to himself. ••George Washington! what do you mean ?" sharply questioned Miss Starkoy : for something unusual in his manner startled her. lie looked surprised, and a? if her words had suddenly brought him to his senses ; rubbed his hard hand once or twice across his foiehcad, while a dueky red flushed his whole faco. Then he deliberately took an old wallet from ono of his pockets and drew from it a folded paper. Carefully opening it, he showed to his astonished sister and Annie a few faded flowers— violets, strawbells, and cowslips. But his face had not lost its ruddy hue • his lips were drawn tight together ; there was a look of wistful sadness in his eyes while the hand that held the paper trembled vis-ibly. Annie, half-blinded by tender tears, bent close to look at the flowers that had been gathered by her mother's fingers, and did not appear to heed the old man's unusual emotion ; but Miss Starkey stood as if transfixed, regarding him with wide eyes, a perplexed and astonished look on her face. Presently the young girl turned away and wandered thoughtfully about the lawn She was deeply moved to find herself there in that very place where her mother had lived ; to tread the same eod that her feet had pressed ; to breathe the same air, and to be overshadowed by the same lofty trees. J Mies Starkey waited until she was beyond

•earing, then she lifted one hand and laid t eontly on her brother s shoulder. He turned and looked into her face, and 10 knew that she had read the secret that je had guarded so sacredly for lone, long /ears. ° " I took 'em from the vase in the parlour i.ter she wont away M ith hint,, that day," liesaid, apologetically, but in an unsteady voice, and his eyes went fondly back to those fadod blossoms. " I saw her pub 'em there with her own hands, and I've kept em ever since. When I die, Marthy Ann, y°ij p , ut , Gm n Gre," and having roverently iolded the paper again, ho laid it over his hearfc . " George Washington i that's why you set so much by her '" ejaculated his sister, with a nod, and a glance toward Annie ; but her hand still rssted with a tender touch on his shoulder, and her chin quivered with ropressed emotion. " It's one reason, I suspect ; though I'm fond of her for her own sake, too," he said. Bo put the ilowers carefully back into the old wallet and returned it to its former hiding-place ; then ho added, with a humility and a sort of shamefacedness that was most pathetic : "I never meant anyone should knowbut somehow, 1 couldn't help it— I reckon I forgot myself, for her sweet voice, hei blue oyes, and pretty ways are so like hei mother's; that I half thought, for a minute, that she was back agiin. " I guess, Maithy Ann," he continued, with a longdrawn sigh, after a brief eilenco, "we won't ever talk about this any move, for though 'tis so long ago, ifc kind of hurls yet " He straightened himself, as if thus to throw oft his momentary weakness, turned abruptly and went into tho house, while his sister stood looking sadly after him. " Well, it's rat'hei queer, I must say," she murmured at last. "I ihonr/ht 'twas strange for a man of George Washington's make up to gefc bo soffc over a girl ; but things get so mixed up, and go" by contraries, but perhaps ib'll all get straightened out up yonder," she concluded, with a dreamy look oil'over the distant hills, where the earth and &ky seemed to meet. May and Juno slippod almost magically away ; but busy hands were at work in the groifc farm-house, and much was accomplished during that time. Mary For^yth, with new health and strength animiiinohei, and vitfi gratitude in her heart for the : kindness that had brought her there to enjoy all that beauty and comfoit, worked with all her might over the bridal outiit ; and piles of household linen and wearing apparel— garments of dainty shape and delicate texture -grew into form and were packed away in trunks ready for their final destination in that now nearly completed house in the suburbs of New York. With the first warm days of July Miss Waldemar came to Lynnell ; Rich emphatically oppo=ed her staying in that melting city atmosphere another week, for he saw that she was wilting visibly in ifc, and it would bo out of the question for him to get away befoic the first of August, since he intended to be absent into September, the wedding being set for the tenth of that month. ' I'm glad we've got tho heft of tho setting done," Miss Starkey remarked, when she saw Miss Waldemar's pale face and noted her listless manner ; " there's nothing but knicknacks and finery to attend to now, and that'll be nothing but play ; so there'll bo plenty of time for roaming about in the pine woods, and you and Annie both need it ; she's been working too steady in spite of all I could do." After that there wcro long, lovely days, when Miss Starkey, assisted by Mary Forsyth and a couple of farmers' girls, was "up to her eyes" "in the business of wed-ding-cake, and in pickling and preserving for the young housekeeper-elect, for bhe stoutly affirmed that " boughten sauces weren't fit to eafc." Miss Waldemar and Annie wandered away by themselves, and almost lived out of doora. They would take a fow handkerchiefs to hem, or some other light work — -just to "make believe they were industrious," Annie mischiovously asserted— and go into the woods, or to the top of a hill not far from tho house, through whoso dark glossy leaves a delightful breeze always rustled, they could look oil over the surrounding country for miles and miles, and breathe in health and strength. Mrs Campbell and Grace came tho last week in July ; the first of August brought Rich, and then the party seemed complete. Mrs Campbell had her own horses and carriage— or, rather, a handsomo, comfortable turn-out hired from the nearest citv— and they took long drives all about the country. Grace pronounced Maine "the loveliest State in the Union." Sho had been f.lmost everywhere, but nowhere was tnoro such beautiful scenery, such delightful lakes and drives as in that region which thoy explored during those never to-be-forgotten weeks. Towards tho last of August there was to bo an old fashioned country picnic— those rustic people always had one every year, when the entire neighbourhood turned out and went for a whole day',s merry-making to tho border of a charming lake some five miles distant. The visitors at the farm decided to join the party upon this occ.v&ion, and. growing enthusiastic ovor it, nothing else was talked of for a week beforehand, All save Miss Waldemar. Shedidnotseem strong, and was still far from well ; so she decided to remain quietly at home and run no risk of getting ill before the wedding. Annie and Grace never appeared more charming than when, on the eventful morning, they stood together for a moment or two on the broad, ilatdoor step while waiting for a carriage to be brought around to the door. Miss Campbell wore a brown linen suit, plain and simple, but fitting hor so faultlessly, and set oil" by her tasteful hat with clusters of scarlet poppies', that there was really an air of elegance about it. Annie's dress was of dark-blue cambric, dotted with tiny pprigs of white, very modestly made, and confined at the waist with a leathern belt, having a huge, quaint, steel clasp -which sho had fastened at tho back. Hor hat, of cream-coloured chip, had a simple scarf of white mull bound about ib, with a cluster of forget-me-nots on ona side, and sho had "never looked so pretty in the world before," Uncle George told her, when she came tripping downstairs and joined Grace on the door step. "'Sho's the daintirst darling of all," 1 carolled Miss Campbell, in her clear, rich soprano, as she wound ono arm about her waist and regarded her admiringly. Her hand camo in contact with that heavy clasp as she did so, and sho said : " Why do you wear your belt fastened behind, Annie? It isn't the fashion nowadays." " I know it ; but who cares for fashion in thia^ delightfully wtfasbionable place?" Annie retorted, with dancing eyes ; then she added : " My beli is a convenience, but the clasp is a nuisance —it has sharp corners, and is always catching my gloves and sleevos ; so I put it around there to get it out of the way. I'm going for a good time to-day, and do not mean to have my pleasure marred, by any annoyances, however slight."

But before the day was over they all had "eason to bloes those very sharp corners, which heretofore had proved so annoying xs to cause thia disposition of the stout 2lasp. Tne morning was perfect. It had rained just enough during the aight to lay the dust, cool the air, wash the taces of the leavea and flowers, making them look bright and fresh; and ib was a gay party of fifty or more that met at the " old red school-house on the corner," about a mile from Mr Starkey 's, the point from which they were to starb on their long-tallced-of excursion. The day passed much as all such days do. It was a real good old-fashioned time, full of simple, bonesfc enjoyment for the simple, honest people who participated in it, while everybody was kind and obliging. The dinner was most appetising, and the hungry crowd that gathered around the rude table partook of the bountiful supply of good things with a zest which spoke volumes, not only for its excellence, but for the capacity of the merry makers also. The afternoon was spent much as the morning had been— in rowing upon the lake, or wandering upon its ehores ; while some engaged in croquet and other games, which had been provided for lovers of such amusements. Our friends from New York joined in everything with a heaitiness which betrayed real enjoyment, and won for them the good will of everybody "They ain't a bit «>tnck up, like most of the city folks I've seen," Avas the comment on the buxom damsel who had been playing croquet in the same set with Grace and Annie, after which she had gone to " help j the folks clear up," preparatory to going home. "Stuck up," enilTed Miss Starkey, who had overheard the remai'k. "What could they be stuck up about, 1 should like to know ?" "Well," replied the girl, colouring at having been overheard, "you know, yoursalf, they ain't like us country* people ; they're nicer in their ways and dress—anybody could pick them rut ot the crowd and tell where they belong, pretty quick ; but they're just as kind and social, and seem to enjoy everything just as if tbey considered us as good as anybody else, I tell you, Mi«s Staikey, everybody is over head and ears in lovo with that pretty nieco of your?. " " I guess you're about right thoro ; ami thoy'vo good reason, too, tor there ain't many like her in this world," returned the gratified spinster, who was as busy as any one among the care-takers in helping to pack up the dishes and "gather up the tracmencs." She cast a fond look, as she spoke over at Annio, who was standing beside Rich, bur, wa« chatting merrily with a tall, awkward farmer-boy, who, with his hands in his pockets, and a broad, delighted Mnile on his sun-browned face, was gazing at her with his whjlo heart in his eye?. At their right, and at some little distance beyond them, there uaa a knoll, covered with a dense growth of alder bu«hcs. Rich was the nearest to this, Annie on his left, while the youth stood facing them both, but a little apaifc from them, his bashfulness not allowing him to come too near so fair a divinity as he seemed to believe Annie to be. It was a group Mhich those two women never forgot, and the wild scene that followed scon after haunted their dreams for years ; it made their flesh creep with horror whenever the memory ol it returned to them. "What a handsome man Mr Waldemar is, too," 1 pursued the voluble maiden. " Yes, he is, and that ain't the best of it either— he is as good as gold," replied Miss Starkey, heartily. " 'Taint often you see such good-looking ones togethor," said the girl. "I don't believe there was ever so handsome a couple married in Lynnell as they will make." " You don't remember her father and mother then — no, of course you don't, you were only a baby when they were married," said Miss Starkey, her mind going back to that morning when beautiful Annie Hunting went out from the old homestead leaning upon the arm of her noble husband. "How nice it must be to have such a handsome beau, and all the nice things that J hear Miss Noblo's got— to have a grand wedding, and then go to the city to livo," sighed the country lass, half enviously. "Yet, their prospects arc quite- inviting, Im free to own," replied Mis& Starkey, gravely, " but, child, believe me, in nine cases out of ten, our simple country life is the purest and best. Muxi/ul Ucavcn ! what teas thai ?" {To be Continued )