
 
 <rr 
 
 
 
 ELIZABETH
 
 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 . OF GALIF. LIBRARY, LOS ANGELES
 
 WITCH WINNIE 
 
 THE STORY OF A " KING'S DAUGHTER 
 
 BY 
 
 ELIZABETH W. CHAMPNEY 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 DODD, MEAD & COMPANY 
 PUBLISHERS
 
 Copyright, 1889, by 
 WHITE AND ALLEN 
 
 Copyright, 1891, by 
 DODD, MEAD & COMPANY 
 
 THE BURR PRINTING HOUSE 
 New York
 
 DEDICATED TO 
 
 MY LITTLE WITCH MARIE. 
 
 WHERE she's been the sunshine lingers, 
 She's my witch and she's my mouse ; 
 
 She has helpful, fairy fingers, 
 Busy keeper of the house. 
 
 She is tricksy and she's elfish ; 
 
 Sure no plague could e'er be worse ; 
 She is thoughtful and unselfish, 
 
 She's my gentle angel-nurse. 
 
 All their jokes the brownies lend her, 
 She's a merry, mischief thing ; 
 
 But her heart is very tender 
 She's a Daughter of the King. 
 
 Yes, there's something nice about her, 
 And I'll love her till my death ; 
 
 No, I could not do without her 
 I'm her ma, Elizabeth. 
 
 2126285
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION, 9 
 
 I. BOARDING-SCHOOL SCRAPES, II 
 
 II. GUINEVERE'S GOWN, 30 
 
 III. THE PRINCESS, 50 
 
 IV. COURT LIFE, 63 
 
 V. LITTLE PRINCE DEL PARADISO, 79 
 
 VI. MRS. HETTERMAN THROWS LIGHT ON THE 
 
 MYSTERY, 90 
 
 VII. WINNIE'S CONFESSION, 109 
 
 VIII. THE ELDER BROTHER AND MRS. HALSEY'S 
 
 STRANGE STORY, 123 
 
 IX. THE KING'S DAUGHTERS AND THE VENETIAN 
 
 FETE, 139 
 
 X. THE LANDLORD OF RICKETT'S COURT, . . .162 
 
 XI. THE GUESTS OF THE ELDER BROTHER, . .189 
 
 XII. WITH THE DYNAMITERS, 212 
 
 XIII. THE KING'S DAUGHTERS IN THE COUNTRY, . 225 
 
 XIV. OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY, .... 246 
 XV. THE ESTATES DEL PARADISO, 302
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 IT is but just to explain that, while all of 
 the characters introduced in this little story 
 are purely imaginary, the founding of the 
 Home of the Elder Brother was suggested 
 by the work of some real children, younger 
 than Madame's pupils, who gave a little 
 fair, and, helped by charitable people, in- 
 stituted a lovely charity, the Messiah Home 
 for Little Children, at 4 Rutherford Place, 
 New York City. This Home still opens its 
 doors to the children of working-women, 
 and is helped by different circles of King's 
 Daughters, some of whom have adopted 
 children to clothe. It is a beautiful work, 
 founded by children for children, and it is 
 hoped that others all over the land will join 
 in it, and that the work may broaden until 
 no such dens as Rickett's Court will remain 
 in our fair city or country. 
 
 E. W. C.
 
 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 BOARDING-SCHOOL SCRAPES. 
 
 E never had any 
 until Witch Win- 
 nie came to room 
 in our corner. 
 We had the reputation 
 of being the best behaved 
 set at Madame's, a lit- 
 tle bit self-conscious too, 
 and proud of our pro- 
 priety. Perhaps this was 
 the reason that we were 
 ?' nicknamed the " Amen 
 Corner," though the girls 
 pretended it was because the initials of our 
 names, spelled downward, like an acrostic
 
 1 2 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 Adelaide Armstrong, 
 Roseveldt, 
 Jane Anton, 
 Aellie Smith 
 
 formed the word amen. But certainly the 
 name would not have clung to us as it did 
 if the other girls had not recognized its fit- 
 ness in our forming a sanctimonious little 
 clique who echoed Madame's sentiments, and 
 were real Pharisees in minding the rules 
 about study -hours, and whispering, and 
 having our lights out in time, and the other 
 lesser matters of the law which the girls in 
 the " Hornets' Nest," Witch Winnie's set, 
 disregarded with impunity. 
 
 And verily we had our reward, for Mad- 
 ame trusted us, and gave us the best set of 
 rooms in the great stone corner tower, over- 
 looking the park, quite away from the espial 
 of the corridor teacher. They had been 
 intended for an infirmary, but as no one was 
 ever sick at Madame's, she grew tired of 
 keeping them unoccupied, and assigned them 
 to us. 
 
 Sometimes the other girls annoyed us by 
 making calls in study-hours, and we virtu- 
 ously displayed a placard on our door bear- 
 ing the inscription, "Particularly Engaged."
 
 BOARDING-SCHOOL SCRAPES. 13 
 
 It caught Witch Winnie's eye, as she strolled 
 along the hall, and she scribbled beneath it, 
 
 " The girls of the Amen Corner 
 Would have us all to know 
 That they're engaged, each one engaged 
 Particularly so."* 
 
 We hardly knew whether to be amused or 
 vexed at this sally of Witch Winnie's. We 
 acknowledged that it was bright, but we 
 deplored her wildness, and had no idea how 
 much we should love her in time to come. 
 After all, our reputation as model pupils had 
 a very slender foundation. It rested chiefly 
 on Emma Jane's preternatural conscientious- 
 ness. The night that the cadet band sere- 
 naded our school, some of the pupils, presum- 
 ably the girls in the "Hornets' Nest," threw 
 out bouquets to the performers. Rumor 
 said that when Madame heard of this she 
 was greatly shocked. 
 
 " I don't see how she can punish them for 
 it," said Adelaide ; " there's nothing in the 
 rules about not giving flowers to young 
 men. Still, it was a dreadful thing to do, 
 and Madame is ingenious enough to twist 
 the rules some way, so as to ' make the pun- 
 
 *This incident is borrowed from an actual occurrence;
 
 14 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 ishment fit the crime.' I am glad the Amen 
 Corner is guiltless." 
 
 Then we marched into chapel on tiptoe 
 with excitement to see Madame wreak ven- 
 geance on the wrong-doers. Witch Winnie 
 sat behind me, and turning, I saw that she 
 looked pale, but resolute. 
 
 Madame rose in awful dignity, her wiry 
 curls, which Milly said reminded her of spiral 
 bed-springs, bristled ominously. 
 
 " Young ladies," she exclaimed, in a sharp 
 tone of command, " you may all rise." We 
 rose. 
 
 "If you turn to the printed rules of this 
 institution," she continued, " you will find 
 under Section VII. the following paragraph 
 ' Pupils are not allowed to disfigure the 
 lawn by throwing from the windows any bits 
 of paper, hair, apple-parings, peanut shells, 
 or waste material of any kind. Scrap-bas- 
 kets are provided for the reception of such 
 matter, and any pupil throwing anything 
 from her window upon the school grounds 
 will be regarded as having committed a mis- 
 demeanor.' ' 
 
 An impressive silence followed, in which 
 Witch Winnie gave a sigh of relief, and 
 whispered to Cynthia Vaughn, " We're all
 
 BOARDING-SCHOOL SCRAPES. 15 
 
 right ; we didn't disfigure her precious lawn. 
 The bouquets never touched the ground. I 
 lowered them, with a string, in my scrap-bas- 
 ket (just where she says we ought to have 
 put them), and the drum-major took them 
 out and distributed them to the other boys." 
 
 " Young ladies," Madame continued, in 
 tones of triumph, " those of you who have 
 not broken this rule within the past week 
 may sit down." 
 
 We all sat down all but Emma Jane An- 
 ton, who remained in conspicuous discom- 
 fort. Adelaide pulled her by the basque, 
 " Sit down ! " she whispered ; " Madame 
 doesn't mean you." 
 
 Emma Jane stood like a martyr while 
 Madame regarded her through her lorgnette 
 with astonishment depicted on every feature. 
 
 " If you committed this infringement of 
 the rules at any time other than last evening 
 you may sit down." 
 
 Emma Jane remained standing. 
 
 " Then," said Madame, drawing herself 
 up frigidly, " Miss Anton, you may explain: 
 what was it you threw out ? " 
 
 "Madame," replied Emma Jane, "the 
 window was open we were listening to the 
 music and a bat flew in ; and, Madame, he
 
 1 6 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 would not stay in the waste-paper basket, 
 and so, Madame, I threw him out." 
 
 Every one laughed ; discipline was forgot- 
 ten for the moment, until Madame rapped 
 smartly on the desk and called for order. 
 She complimented Emma Jane highly on 
 her conscientiousness, but she looked pro- 
 voked with her all the same, while Witch 
 Winnie, who was stuffing her handkerchief 
 into her mouth, nearly went into convulsions. 
 
 After the sketch which I have endeavored 
 to give of Witch Winnie, and the position 
 which she occupied at Madame's, I trust that 
 we, as self-respecting pupils, will not be too 
 severely blamed when I confess that we re- 
 ceived, with great disfavor, Madame's an- 
 nouncement that Winnie was henceforth to 
 room in the Amen Corner. 
 
 The bedrooms at Madame's boarding- 
 school were clustered in little groups around 
 study-parlors, five girls forming a family. 
 For a long time there had been only four in 
 our set. Emma Jane Anton, who preferred 
 to room alone, had the little single bedroom ; 
 Adelaide and Milly were chums ; while I, 
 Nellie Smith, familiarly nicknamed Tib, had 
 luxuriated so long in the large corner cham- 
 ber that I had almost forgotten that Madame
 
 BOARDING-SCHOOL SCRAPES. 17 
 
 told me, at the outset, that I must hold my- 
 self in readiness to receive a room-mate at 
 any time. 
 
 Adelaide Armstrong was the daughter of 
 a railroad magnate. She had been brought 
 up in the West, but, though she had trav- 
 eled much, and had seen a great deal of 
 society, her education had not been entirely 
 neglected. She had studied a great deal 
 in a desultory way, and contested the 
 head of the class with Emma Jane Anton, 
 who was a "regular dig," and had prepared 
 for college in the Boston public schools. 
 
 It was really surprising how Adelaide had 
 picked up so much. She had studied Latin 
 with a priest in New Mexico, and had prof- 
 ited by two years at a lonely post on the 
 confines of Canada, where her father had 
 been interested in the fur trade, to become 
 proficient in French. Strikingly handsome, 
 a brunette with brilliant complexion and 
 Andalusian eyes, energetic and spirited, she 
 was popular both with her instructors and 
 her classmates. 
 
 Milly Roseveldt was her exact contrast a 
 milky-complexioned little blonde, shy and 
 sweet ; she was also a trifle dull. Adelaide 
 translated her Latin, and worked out her prob-
 
 I g WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 lems, and I wrote her compositions, while 
 Milly rewarded us with largesses of love and 
 confectionery, for she was the most gener- 
 ous as well as the most affectionate of girls. 
 Her father, a wealthy New York banker, 
 placed large sums of money at her disposal, 
 and Milly deluged her friends with gifts of 
 flowers and bonbons. It seemed very nat- 
 ural to me that Adelaide and Milly should be 
 sw r orn friends ; but my admittance into the 
 sacred circle was a mystery to me, and to a 
 number of aspiring girls who asserted that I 
 was nobody in particular, and who envied 
 me my place" in my friends' affection. My 
 presence in the school itself was almost as 
 great a wonder. My father was a Long 
 Island farmer. We opened our house to 
 city boarders during the summer, and one 
 season Miss Sartoris, the teacher in Art at 
 Madame's, boarded with us. I had taken 
 drawing lessons at the Academy, and Miss 
 Sartoris took me out sketching with her. I 
 worked like a beaver, and was never so 
 happy in my life. I delighted Miss Sartoris, 
 who wakened mother's ambition by telling 
 her that I was the most talented pupil she 
 had ever had. More than this : w r e three in- 
 duced good, easy-going, generous father to
 
 BOARDING-SCHOOL SCRAPES. Ig 
 
 let me go back to the city with Miss Sartoris 
 as a pupil at Madame's. My wardrobe was 
 meagre, but not countrified, for I possessed a 
 natural sense of color and a quick faculty 
 for imitation. I had seen plenty of city 
 people at Scup Haven, and my few dresses, 
 I fancied, would pass muster anywhere. I 
 was a fair scholar, and took the lead in the 
 studio. I was not brilliant and stylish like 
 Adelaide, or rich and pretty like Milly, but 
 they liked me, and I liked myself the better 
 for the consciousness that there must be 
 something nice about me which attracted 
 them. I believe now that it was an absence 
 of self-consciousness and selfishness on my 
 part, and my hearty admiration and devo- 
 tion to them. Adelaide called me, playfully, 
 "the great American Appreciator." 
 
 It was just before the theatricals given by 
 our literary society that an incident occurred 
 which showed me how much they really 
 thought of me. We three were arranging 
 the stage ; I was touching up the scenery, 
 and Milly holding the tacks for Adelaide, 
 who was looping the drapery, when we over- 
 heard the conversation of a group of girls 
 on the other side of the curtain. 
 
 Cynthia Vaughn was the first to speak.
 
 2Q WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 " I think Adelaide Armstrong is perfectly 
 splendidj " 
 
 " So do I," said another ; and there was a 
 chorus of confused voices exclaiming, " So 
 stylish ! " " Perfectly elegant ! " " The hand- 
 somest girl in school ! " 
 
 Adelaide left her work and placed her 
 hand on the curtain, but Milly threw her 
 arms impulsively around her. " Let us hear 
 what they will say," she whispered; "when 
 they are through we can pull the cord, and 
 all bow thanks." 
 
 By this time other voices were chanting 
 Milly's praises, and Adelaide turned reluc- 
 tantly away, remarking, " Well, if you enjoy 
 that sort of thing, you are welcome to it. I 
 should not be surprised, by the way they are 
 loading it on, if they knew we were here." 
 
 They did not know it, for at that instant 
 Cynthia Vaughn spoke up again, "I don't 
 see what they find to admire in that pokey 
 Lib Smith." 
 
 " I should think Milly would be ashamed 
 to be seen with her," said another ; " her 
 dresses always remind me of a chicken with 
 its head through a hole in a salt-bag." 
 
 Adelaide sprang forward with flashing 
 eyes to confront the speaker, but this time
 
 BOARDING-SCHOOL SCRAPES. 21 
 
 it was I who held her back. " Let them say 
 their say," I whispered, hoarsely, while Milly 
 cowered, trembling. " I believe her mother 
 makes her dresses at home," said Witch 
 Winnie ; " and, as she can't have Tib to 
 try them on, she fits them on her grand- 
 father." 
 
 There was a hearty laugh at this sally, and 
 another added: " I don't see how Adelaide 
 can endure her, she is so stingy. Have you 
 noticed that the girls place a fresh bouquet 
 at her plate every morning ? and I never 
 could find out that she ever gave either of 
 them so much as a single flower." 
 
 Adelaide nearly writhed herself from my 
 grasp, but I held her tightly. "Milly," she 
 gasped, " are you a coward, to stand there 
 and hear our friend reviled so ? Can't you 
 stop them ?" 
 
 The blood surged into Milly's pale cheeks, 
 and she sprang before the curtain. " Girls," 
 she cried, " how can you talk so ? Nellie 
 Smith is our dearest friend. She is not one 
 bit stingy ; she gives us more than we have 
 ever given her. Because she does not parade 
 her presents on the breakfast-table is no 
 reason that she has not given me lots and 
 lots of things, and no girl can consider her-
 
 22 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 self my friend who talks so about our dar- 
 ling Tib." 
 
 Here Milly broke down in tears, and 
 Witch Winnie exclaimed, " Good for you, 
 Milly Roseveldt ; I didn't know you had so 
 much spunk !" But at this point we all fled 
 to the Amen Corner, and bolted the door, 
 refusing to admit Witch Winnie, who im- 
 pulsively shouted her apologies through the 
 keyhole. 
 
 "Oh, Milly!" I cried, "what made you 
 tell a lie for me ? I never gave you a thing." 
 And I might have added, " How could I, 
 when my allowance for spending-money is 
 hardly sufficient to keep me in slate-pencils ?" 
 
 But Milly stopped my mouth with kisses, 
 and pointed to sundry original works of art 
 with which I had decorated her apartment, 
 and declared, besides, that helping her on that 
 last horrid composition was a greater gift 
 than all the roses in Le Moult's greenhouse. 
 
 So we of the Amen Corner disliked 
 Witch Winnie and loved each other, all but 
 Emma Jane Anton. We could not be said to 
 exactly love her ; we tolerated her in our 
 midst, in spite of her uncongenial nature, 
 because we took pride in her eminent respect- 
 ability, and in the higher average of reputa-
 
 BOARDING-SCHOOL SCRAPES. 23 
 
 tion for creditable scholarship and exemplary 
 behavior which she gave to our corner. But 
 love her ! We might as well have tried to 
 love an iceberg. 
 
 Witch Winnie arrived on Adelaide's birth- 
 day, and was a most unwelcome birthday 
 present. Emma Jane Anton had obtained 
 permission for us to celebrate the occasion 
 by sitting up an hour later that evening. 
 Milly had ordered a form of ice-cream 
 and a birthday-cake from Mazetti's, and 
 we had invited in a half-dozen friends 
 to share the treat. As a damper on this 
 beautiful fete, Madame had called us into 
 her private study that afternoon, and had 
 told us that she had decided to assign Witch 
 Winnie as my room-mate. She did not 
 scruple to tell us her reasons for doing so. 
 Winnie (according to Madame) was the 
 head-centre of a wild set of " ne'er-do-weels " 
 who roomed in the top of the house, " a per- 
 fect hornets' nest under the eaves," Madame 
 said. Madame felt that if the queen hornet 
 was taken away, the rest would be more 
 amenable to discipline, and that Winnie, 
 placed among such proper and well-behaved 
 girls as we were, would herself feel our 
 beneficial influence.
 
 24 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 " I think," said Madame, " that if you knew 
 Winnie's history you would understand her 
 better. Her parents were both very talented 
 and highly imaginative people. Her father 
 is a playwright of reputation, who married a 
 very lovely young actress who had sustained 
 the leading part in several of his plays. They 
 were tenderly attached to each other. Mrs. 
 De Witt had great dramatic talent ; she made 
 it the study of her life to realize his concep- 
 tions, and succeeded to his perfect satisfac- 
 tion. She said that she so lived in her part 
 that frequently she forgot her own person- 
 ality, while Mr. De Witt was always cudgeling 
 his brains to invent new plots, situations, and 
 characters for his wife. Mrs. De Witt died 
 when Winnie was but three years of age. 
 The child has lived with different relatives, 
 and has been spoiled and neglected by turns, 
 but never quite understood. I have studied 
 her carefully, and think I see in her a com- 
 bination of both parents. She has her father's 
 highly organized imaginative nature, but 
 instead of constructing plots for plays, it 
 develops itself in plots for scrapes. She de- 
 lights in dramatic situations, and is a natural 
 and unconscious actress. Her father hopes 
 that she may never adopt the stage as her
 
 BOARDING-SCHOOL SCRAPES. 25 
 
 profession, for it was that life of mental and 
 physical strain which killed Winnie's mother. 
 Something- remarkable in organization or in 
 action the girl will certainly be, and as she 
 takes her color, like a chameleon, from her 
 surroundings, or, rather, her cue from the 
 other actors, I have great hopes for your in- 
 fluence over her." 
 
 Madame's confidences made little impres- 
 sion upon our prejudice. We listened in 
 silence, and, returning to our rooms, held an 
 indignation meeting, in which Emma Jane 
 led. Adelaide, who ought to have sym- 
 pathized with the neglected orphan, for she 
 had lost her own mother when a little girl, 
 and who did find in this fact a bond of 
 fellow-feeling later on, now ignored all her 
 claim for pity, and chose to feel that we were 
 all grossly insulted. Milly pitied me the en- 
 forced companionship, several of us were in 
 tears, and in the midst of it all Witch Winnie 
 appeared. The clatter of voices sank to sud- 
 den silence, and the new-comer, looking 
 from face to face, instantly understood the 
 situation. 
 
 " If you feel half as badly as I do, girls," 
 she said, with a merry laugh, " I'm sorry for 
 you ; I wouldn't intrude on you in this way
 
 26 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 if I could help it. Madame tells me you are 
 to have a spread to-night, and have invited 
 your particular friends. It's too bad she 
 wouldn't let me put off moving till to-morrow 
 morning. I'll tell you what I'll do I'll sit 
 in the recitation-room and cram for examina- 
 tion until the party is over. Of course you 
 don't want me, a perfect stranger to your 
 friends ; it isn't to be supposed you would." 
 
 Emma Jane Anton looked relieved. " We 
 provided for a limited number," she explain- 
 ed ; " if we had known that we were to have 
 the honor of your company 
 
 But Adelaide interrupted her instantly. 
 " Sit in that dismal recitation-room while I 
 am having my birthday party ! Indeed you 
 shall do nothing of the sort !" while Milly 
 came gallantly to the rescue, assuring her 
 that she had ordered more ice-cream than 
 they could possibly consume, and I did the 
 best I could to make Winnie believe that 
 she was welcome. 
 
 The girls appeared en masse as soon as the 
 bell struck for the close of evening study- 
 hour congratulations were offered to Ade- 
 laide, and Winnie was introduced. All made 
 extravagant efforts to be gay and sociable, 
 but there was a certain constraint, a forced
 
 BOARDING-SCHOOL SCRAPES. 2J 
 
 quality, in it all, which had for its reason 
 something beyond the fact of an unwelcome 
 addition to the Corner: the refreshments 
 had not arrived. Mazetti had forgotten to 
 send them. There stood the study -table 
 neatly spread with a table-cloth borrowed 
 from the steward's department, and set with 
 saucers, spoons, and plates, all disappoint- 
 ingly empty. 
 
 Adelaide tried to carry off the situation as 
 an immense joke. Milly alternated between 
 hope and despair, fancying each noise of 
 wheels the confectioner's cart. The guests 
 showed their disappointment plainly, some 
 confessing that they had slighted the evening 
 prunes and rice in anticipation of this treat. 
 And I heard Cynthia Vaughn whisper that 
 it was a very cheap way to give a party to 
 pretend that there had been a mistake. At 
 this juncture I suddenly noticed that Witch 
 Winnie had disappeared. 
 
 A few moments later a loud knocking, or 
 kicking, for it was evidently bestowed with 
 feet instead of hands, was heard at the door. 
 " Let me in, girls ! " cried Witch Winnie's 
 voice " let me in, quick ! before Madame 
 catches me." We opened the door, and 
 Witch Winnie burst in, and sat laughing on
 
 28 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 the floor ; from her dress, which had been 
 gathered up in her hands, and had served as 
 a market-basket, rolled a quantity of paper 
 bags and parcels lemons, bottles of olives, 
 sugar, mixed pickles, crackers, sardines, 
 macaroons, nuts, raisins, candy, etc., etc. 
 
 " Help yourselves, girls," she chuckled. 
 " We'll have the spread, after all." I have 
 been around the corner and bought out Mr. 
 Beeny's little grocery." Then broke in a 
 chorus of voices 
 
 " How did you ever get out of the house ? " 
 
 " Was Cerberus asleep ? " (Cerberus was 
 our nickname for the janitor.) 
 
 " How very sweet of you ! " 
 
 " But how extravagant ! " 
 
 " O girls! these pickled limes are too lovely 
 for anything. 
 
 Adelaide appeared with her ewer. "I'll 
 make the lemonade," she said, and began 
 rolling the lemons with Milly's curling-stick, 
 while Emma Jane Anton manipulated the 
 can-opener with energy and success. Each 
 girl flew to her room for her tooth-mug, and 
 we drank Witch Winnie's health in brimming 
 bumpers of lemonade. 
 
 "How did you ever manage it?" Milly 
 asked again.
 
 BOARDING-SCHOOL SCRAPES. 29 
 
 " I climbed down the fire-escape." Witch 
 Winnie giggled. 
 
 " But you had to drop twelve feet onto 
 the sidewalk !" 
 
 " What of that ? I've done it in the gym- 
 nasium from the trapeze many a time." 
 
 " But you never came back that way ? " 
 
 " Hardly. I rang the basement bell, and 
 when Cerberus said he'd tell Madame, I made 
 him a present of three packages of cigarettes 
 and some Limburger cheese, and I am quite 
 certain that he will never say a word." 
 
 Witch Winnie's generosity and good-fel- 
 lowship had won the day. From that 
 moment we took her into our hearts. 
 
 The ice-cream which Milly had ordered 
 arrived the next day, but we were all too ill 
 to touch it ; we had feasted without restraint 
 on our new chum's bountiful but somewhat 
 heterogeneous repast, and were paying the 
 penalty with rousing headaches, but in our 
 fiercest pangs we were still ready to declare 
 that if there ever was a trump it was Witch 
 Winnie.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 GUINEVERE'S GOWN. 
 
 RISTOCRATIC 
 Adelaide was now 
 as deeply attached 
 to "that little witch" 
 Winnie as she had been 
 prejudiced against her, 
 and Winnie, who had 
 hitherto spoken of her new 
 friend as " that stuck-up 
 Armstrong girl," was now 
 her devoted admirer. 
 
 Although this state of 
 affairs was perfectly agree- 
 able to the Amen Corner, it was not equally 
 so to the Hornets. They had endured Win- 
 nie's removal as a piece of Madame's tyranny, 
 had looked upon their Queen as a martyr, 
 and had taken it for granted that we would 
 make things extremely uncomfortable for 
 
 her. They perceived, with astonishment, 
 
 30
 
 GUINEVERE 'S GOWN. 31 
 
 that we welcomed her heartily, and when it 
 dawned upon them by degrees that Winnie 
 was herself happy in the change, that she 
 actually promenaded in the corridor with an 
 arm lovingly twined about the waist of that 
 odious Tib Smith, that the placard " En- 
 gaged " appeared as frequently on the outer 
 door of the Amen Corner, and that Winnie's 
 lessons and behavior improved so much that 
 she was actually becoming a favorite with 
 the teachers instead of their special torment 
 the indignation of the Hornets' Nest knew 
 no bounds. 
 
 It showed itself in a practical joke origi- 
 nated by Cynthia, which might have been 
 very amusing had it not been spiced with 
 malice. I have spoken of our literary society 
 and its projected entertainment. We were 
 to have a series of tableaux; among others, 
 Guinevere kneeling before an altar. Milly 
 had been chosen to represent Guinevere on 
 account of her beautiful hair, and because 
 she spent her Saturdays and Sundays at 
 home, and could have any costume arranged 
 for herself. What was our disappointment, 
 one Monday morning, to receive a note from 
 Milly saying that she would not be able to 
 take part in the entertainment, as her mother
 
 32 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 was going to Washington for a fortnight, 
 and had decided that, as Milly looked pale, a 
 little outing would do her good. This note 
 was read to the literary society amid groans 
 from the members. " We can't give up that 
 tableau." " Adelaide, you take the part." 
 " Can't ; my hair is as black as a crow's wing. 
 Tib's hair is lovely when it is down. It falls 
 to her knees, and it has the sheen of molten 
 gold. Girls, you must see it," and Adelaide 
 proceeded to pull my braids apart ; I pro- 
 testing all the time that it was absurd to 
 have a freckled Guinevere who was as home- 
 ly as a hedge fence. 
 
 " Granted," replied Witch Winnie, " but 
 nobody is going to see your face, child ; you 
 pose with your back to the audience, and as 
 none of the girls know what regal hair you 
 have, it will be such fun to have them guess 
 who it is." 
 
 All of the other girls joined in persuading 
 me, excepting one of the Hornets, who lifted 
 her voice in favor of Cynthia Vaughn. 
 
 "But, girls, what am I to do for a cos- 
 tume ? " 
 
 " Why didn't Milly think to send hers 
 along?" said Adelaide. " We might write 
 her."
 
 GUINEVERE' 1 S GOWN, 33 
 
 " No, there's no time ; she leaves this morn- 
 ing" on the ' limited.' " 
 
 " If you would like, I'll take the part," 
 Cynthia Vaughn suggested. " I've all that 
 canton flannel ermine, and the ruff made 
 out of the old window curtains, which I 
 wore when I was Queen Elizabeth." 
 
 "That ruff would be a frightful anachro- 
 nism," said Emma Jane Anton. 
 
 " And the ermine has served three times 
 already. Thank you, we'll manage some- 
 how," Witch Winnie asserted, confidently. 
 
 We retired to the Amen Corner to talk it 
 over. " If worse comes to worst," said 
 Witch Winnie, " I know I can make a mag- 
 nificent train out of the plush table-cloth 
 in Madame's library." 
 
 " But how will you ever get it ? " , 
 
 " Emma Jane must ask her to lend it to 
 us ; she'll do anything for Emma Jane." 
 
 " Emma Jane declines to act in this 
 emergency," said Miss Anton, firmly. 
 
 " You wouldn't be so mean !" 
 
 " But I would ; Adelaide, please read Mil- 
 ly's letter again; I didn't half hear it." 
 
 " I must have dropped it in the Society 
 hall; I will get it after dinner. If she had 
 thought that Tib might be chosen to take
 
 34 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 her place, she would have done anything- for 
 the honor of the Amen Corner." 
 
 Here some one tapped at the door, and 
 announced, " A letter for Miss Armstrong." 
 
 "It's from Milly ! "exclaimed Adelaide. 
 " and it looks as if it had been opened, and 
 pasted up again." 
 
 " I thought Madame boasted that she 
 never submitted her young ladies to that 
 sort of espionage," said Witch Winnie. 
 
 " Girls, girls ! " Adelaide fairly shrieked ; 
 "just listen to this ! Milly writes 
 
 " ' I forgot to say in my last that mamma's 
 maid is putting the finishing touches to my 
 costume, and Gibson will bring it around 
 to-morrow. The dress (purple velvet) is 
 one which mamma wore last summer when 
 she was presented to the Queen. The lace 
 which trims it was made to order from a 
 pattern of her own selection in Brussels. 
 You may keep the crown, for the gems in it 
 are only Rhinestones. Aunt Fanny wore it 
 at a costume ball, and they sparkle like the 
 real thing. Be careful of the lace, for 
 mamma prizes it highly. 
 
 ' Yours, Milly. 
 
 ' P. S. I've coaxed papa to lend you a 
 silver chatelaine, old French repousse, linked 
 with emeralds, which he keeps in his cabinet
 
 GUINEVERE'S GOWN. 35 
 
 of curiosities. It shows finely against the 
 velvet.' " 
 
 How we all exclaimed and chattered ! 
 "Now what will the Hornets' Nest say to 
 that?" 
 
 " Canton flannel ermine indeed ! " 
 
 " I should like to see them bring" on their 
 old mosquito-netting ruff ! " 
 
 " Real emeralds ! A diadem flashing with 
 diamonds !" 
 
 " Don't tell them a word about it until 
 Tib dawns on them in all her glory on 
 Wednesday night." 
 
 It was hard to keep this resolution, but we 
 did. The Hornets were giggling and 
 whispering among themselves as we 
 marched in to dinner, with all the importance 
 given by the possession of a state secret. 
 The other girls relapsed into silence as we 
 took our seats, and watched us with strange, 
 significant looks. 
 
 " I've been looking up the matter in 
 Racinet's work on Costume," remarked Cyn- 
 thia Vaughn, "and I find you were right, 
 Miss Anton ; ruffs did not come in until long 
 after Arthur's reign." 
 
 " I would like to consult the book," Emma
 
 :>6 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 \j 
 
 Jane replied, " unless you can tell me whether 
 chatelaines were worn at that period." 
 
 Here a small Hornet was seized with 
 strangulation, and had to be vigorously 
 thumped upon the back by her friends. 
 
 " Oh, I think so," Cynthia replied, sweet- 
 ly, disregarding her friend's condition. 
 " Wouldn't it be sweet to have Guinevere 
 wear one ? Miss Smith is so artistic, I'm sure 
 she could cut one out of gilt paper." 
 
 Adelaide scouted the idea. " Whatever 
 we get up for that costume," she said, " I am 
 determined shall be real, no imitation chate- 
 laines, or anything else." 
 
 Cynthia lifted her eyebrows. " Perhaps 
 you will secure one of Queen Victoria's court 
 robes?" she remarked, icily. 
 
 It was on Adelaide's lips to reply that we 
 might have a robe which had figured at a 
 court reception of the English Queen, but 
 she felt Witch Winnie's foot upon hers, and 
 replied that in undertaking this tableau the 
 Amen Corner felt confident that they could 
 carry it through creditably, and we therefore 
 begged to be excused from the dress 
 rehearsal that afternoon. We left the dining- 
 room in a body, and the Hornets laughed 
 aloud before we closed the door. '"They
 
 GUINEVERE'S GOWN. 37 
 
 laugh best who laugh last,' " said Witch Win- 
 nie. "Won't those girls fairly expire when 
 they see Tib in her grand role !" 
 
 Tuesday was a long and weary day for us. 
 We started at every knock, expecting a sum- 
 mons to the janitor's room to receive a pack- 
 age, but none came. We retired much dis- 
 
 & * 
 
 appointed ; and we held a council of war 
 before breakfast. The Roseveidts' butler 
 had evidently proved false to his trust, and 
 the costume was waiting for us at the family 
 mansion on Fifth Avenue. 
 
 " I will ask Madame at breakfast to excuse 
 me from my morning lessons to do an irnpor- 
 tant errand," said Witch Winnie ; " I will tell 
 her the entire story, and I know that, rather 
 than disappoint us all, she will let us go to 
 the Roseveidts' for the things." 
 
 Madame proved to be in good-humor, and 
 on reading Milly's letter readily gave Win- 
 nie and me the desired permission, sending 
 for a hansom to take us to our destination. 
 All of the Hornets at the lower end of the 
 table heard this conversation, and Adelaide 
 thought that Cynthia Vaughn turned green 
 with envy. An hour later, as we came down 
 the front stairs to take our hansom, Cerberus 
 popped his head from his office to te^J us
 
 58 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 that a package had just been received for 
 Miss Adelaide Armstrong. " Come back, 
 girls!" Adelaide cried excitedly ; "here is 
 the costume. It can be nothing else. My, 
 what a big bundle ! " 
 
 We carried it between us in triumph up 
 the staircase. The Hornets were clustered 
 on the very top landing ; their faces peered 
 over the balustrade, and as they caught sight 
 of our procession a peal of derisive laughter 
 echoed through the hall as they scuttled 
 away to their nest under the eaves. 
 
 " Those Hornets have certainly gone 
 crazy," Emma Jane remarked, practically. 
 She was carrying her corner of the package, 
 and was as interested as the rest of us in the 
 arrival of the costume. We entered our 
 study-parlor in suppressed excitement, and 
 impatiently cut the knots, and tore open the 
 wrappings, when, behold ! another package, 
 scrupulously tied. This paper removed re- 
 vealed another, then another, and another, 
 and the fact slowly dawned upon us that we 
 had been victimized. " Girls ! " exclaimed 
 Witch Winnie, sitting down on the floor in 
 despair, " it's a wicked sell of those Hornets: 
 there is nothing here." 
 
 Emma Jane Anton kept on methodically
 
 GUINEVEXE'S GOWN. 39 
 
 removing the wrappers and folding them 
 neatly. "Perhaps," suggested Adelaide, 
 " they have merely arranged this hoax to 
 fool us, and the costume is still at the Rose- 
 veldts'." 
 
 " It's just like that Cynthia Vaughn to do 
 such a thing ; we'll go, all the same," Witch 
 Winnie replied, rising hopefully and tying 
 on her veil. At this juncture Emma Jane 
 reached a pasteboard box marked " Violet 
 velvet court dress." Lifting the lid discov- 
 ered a quantity of trash. An empty sardine- 
 box bore the label " Diamond Crown ; 3) a 
 dilapidated bustle was marked " Brussels 
 point lace ; " a mixed-pickle bottle was filled 
 with apple-parings and labeled " Old re- 
 pousse chatelaine, reign of Arthur I.; the 
 real article ; must be returned." 
 
 A howl of mingled laughter and dismay 
 rose from our corner. " Cynthia Vaughn 
 wrote that letter which purported to be 
 from Milly. Well, it's a real good prac- 
 tical joke, anyway," said Witch Winnie ; 
 "better than I thought the Hornets could get 
 up without my help. Let us show them that 
 we can take a joke, and good-naturedly 
 acknowledge ourselves sold." 
 
 " And in the mean time what am I to do
 
 40 WITC/f WINNIE. 
 
 for a costume ? You know the tableaux 
 come off to-night." 
 
 " That puts another face on the matter." 
 
 ' I suppose Cynthia would be only too glad 
 to take the part even now." 
 
 " After all we have said, and your name 
 printed on the programme never ! " This 
 from Adelaide. 
 
 " I'll tell you what we will do," suggested 
 Winnie ; " the hansom is still waiting at the 
 door ; Tib and I will drive to a costumer's 
 and hire something. I found the address of 
 a place on the Bowery the other day and 
 fortunately saved it. Hold your heads up 
 high; we will not acknowledge ourselves 
 defeated yet." 
 
 As Witch Winnie and I sped out of the 
 quiet square and down the great teeming 
 thoroughfare, the Elevated .trains jarring 
 overhead and the motley crowd surging 
 about us, a misgiving of conscience swept 
 over me. What would Madame say ? This 
 was not what we had obtained permission 
 to do. This was very different from Fifth 
 Avenue, and not at all a quarter of the city 
 in which young ladies should be wandering 
 without chaperons. 
 
 We were quite desperate, however, and it
 
 GUINEVERE'S GOWN. 41 
 
 seemed too late to turn back. The hansom 
 stopped before a Hebrew misfit clothing 
 store where dress suits were announced as 
 on hire by the evening. Flaunting placards 
 above told that costumes for the theatrical 
 profession and for fancy balls' were to be 
 let in the fourth story. We climbed a dirty 
 staircase, and after knocking by mistake at an 
 intelligence office for Dienst Made hen, a hair- 
 dyeing and complexion-enameling rooms, 
 a chiropodist's, and a clairvoyant's, we found 
 ourselves in a room piled from floor to ceil- 
 ing with costumes. A fat German, who 
 looked as if he were some second - hand 
 piece of furniture, very much soiled as to 
 his linen, and the worse for wear as to his 
 physical mechanism, admitted us and did 
 the honors of the establishment. I glanced 
 around at the motley objects which filled 
 the wareroom ; gaudy spangled dresses, 
 with a sprinkle of saw-dust (suggestive of 
 the arena) clinging to the worn cotton vel- 
 vet, many-ruffled shockingly brief skirts of 
 rose-colored gauze that had spun like so 
 many teetotums behind flaring foot-lights, 
 tinfoil suits of armor that had come in all 
 mud-besplashed from- parading the streets 
 at the last grand procession, the faded ban-
 
 4$ WITCH WINNI&. 
 
 ners which flapped above them so jauntily, 
 drooping wearily now from the rafters, 
 covered with dust and festooned by the 
 spiders. A row of dominoes dependent 
 from a neighboring clothes-line rustled with 
 an air of mystery, and a heap of masks upon 
 the floor seemed to leer and wink from their 
 eyeless windows. 
 
 " I am afraid," said Winnie, drawing near- 
 er the door, " that you haven't anything so 
 nice as I want." 
 
 " I haf effery dings, effery dings," replied 
 the ponderous costumer ; " you don't t'ink I 
 keeps dose fine procade for the costume ball 
 out here in te tust, ain't it ? " 
 
 " I wanted something for a school enter- 
 tainment," Winnie explained. 
 
 " So, so_; I haf effery dings, I tole you, for 
 de school. Ya, from dose Kindergarten to 
 dot universities. Dings for little peebles 
 and dings for big peebles." 
 
 " I should like to know what kind of big 
 people patronize your establishment ? " 
 
 " Sometimes dose ladies who make de 
 church fair. I have some angel wing for de 
 Christmas mystery, de mask for de Muzzer 
 Goose pantomine. Sometimes dose fine 
 ladies dey make some peesness mit me.
 
 GUINEVERE'S GOWN. 43 
 
 When de shentlemen step on dose trail or 
 spill coffee on dot tablier, den I buys dot 
 dress, and my designer she make it all new 
 again. I haf one ferry nice designer ; she 
 haf many times arrange ze historical costume 
 for dose grand painting what make ze 
 artists." 
 
 " Then I think I would like to talk with 
 her," said Winnie. 
 
 " Ya, ya, dat vas right. Here, Mrs. Hal- 
 sey, Mrs. Halsey ! Perhaps you petter go 
 in de sewing-room, ain't it ? " 
 
 He opened the door into a back room 
 where a sweet pale-faced woman sat sewing 
 little bells on a jester's cap. 
 
 We were struck from the outset with 
 Mrs. Halsey's refined appearance, and we 
 were not surprised when she showed, by her 
 complete understanding of what we required, 
 that she had read Tennyson and had some 
 idea of historical periods in costume. She 
 drew a purple velvet robe from a great 
 bundle. I exclaimed in disapproval as I 
 noticed a horrid crimson border. 
 
 " But this is coming off," said the little 
 woman, using her scissors briskly, " and in- 
 stead, I will stitch some gold braid applique 
 in a lily design. See, how do you like this
 
 44 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 effect?" and her deft fingers flew, coiling- and 
 twisting the gilt braid until a really regal 
 combination was produced. 
 
 "Then we will have it open at the side to 
 show a white satin petticoat, also laced with 
 gold, and the sleeves can be puffed and 
 slashed with white satin. I arranged a cos- 
 tume like that for Mary Anderson." 
 
 " Is it possible that such a noted and suc- 
 cessful actress gets her costumes at a place 
 like this ?" asked Witch Winnie. 
 
 " Oh, no," replied Mrs. Halsey, with a 
 sigh; " when I made Miss Anderson's dresses 
 I was designer for Madame Celeste's estab- 
 lishment. I should be there now if it were 
 not for Jim." 
 
 She was fitting the dress tome, and as this 
 would 'take several minutes, Winnie asked, 
 
 " Who is Jim ?" 
 
 " Jim is my son ; he is twelve years old, 
 and the brightest little fellow, for his age, you 
 ever saw. He leads his classes at the public 
 school, has a record of 100 in mathematics, 
 for all that he has such a poor chance at pre- 
 paring his lessons." 
 
 " How does that happen ?" It was I who 
 inquired this time. 
 
 " Jim is an ambitious boy; ambitious to
 
 GUINEVERE'S GOWN. 45 
 
 help me as well as to keep a place in his 
 class, and a milkman pays him a dollar a 
 week for driving his cart over to Jersey City 
 to meet the milk train and fill his cans for 
 him every morning-." 
 
 " That is very nice." 
 
 " If it did not break so cruelly into the 
 poor boy's hours for sleep. In order to dress 
 and snatch a bite before he goes down to 
 the stable and harnesses, he has to rise at 
 3 o'clock. This enables the milkman to 
 sleep until Jim arrives with the milk at 6 
 o'clock, in time to begin the morning rounds. 
 I make the boy take an hour's sleep after 
 this, but it is not enough." 
 
 " He ought to go to bed very early." 
 
 " Yes, but the lessons ; when are they to 
 be learned ? He shouts them out in his 
 sleep. ' If I gain seven hundred dollars from 
 a rise of 2% per cent, in Pennsylvania Rail- 
 road stock, what was my original invest- 
 ment ?' He has his father's quickness for 
 figures. Bless his heart ! he never had any 
 money to invest in railroad stocks, and by 
 heaven's help he never will." 
 
 " I am not so sure about that," said Witch 
 Winnie. " How did it happen that you lost 
 your position at Madame Celeste's on account
 
 46 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 of Jim ?" She had finished the fitting- and 
 was removing the pins from her mouth, but 
 Winnie drew on her gloves very slowly ; we 
 were both interested. 
 
 " Madame kept me for such late hours 
 that I did not reach home until Jim was 
 asleep, and at last she proposed to raise my 
 salary, but said that I must sleep in the 
 establishment, so as to be on hand to open 
 early in the morning. This was after Mad- 
 ame's'very successful winter,when she bought 
 a house out of town, and did not find it con- 
 venient to come in until late in the day. I 
 told her that I would accept her offer if Jim 
 could be with me ; but there was no room 
 for him, and we thought it best to stick to- 
 gether. I get through here at 6 o'clock, and 
 can cook Jim's dinner. But it's hard for the 
 boy. If I could only afford to let him have 
 his entire time for his study but his dollar a 
 week half pays our rent." 
 
 " Wouldn't it have been better for you 
 both if you had remained at Madame 
 Celeste's, and had sent Jim to boarding- 
 school ? There are such nice cadet schools 
 up the Hudson." 
 
 A faint smile overspread the woman's face. 
 " Madame always insisted that her employees
 
 GUINEVERE'S GOWN. 47 
 
 should dress well. I know exactly what it 
 cost me. It would have left just a dollar and 
 a half a week for Jim. Do you know of any 
 boarding-school that would have taken him 
 at those rates ?" 
 
 Winnie sorrowfully confessed that she did 
 not, and we reluctantly took our leave, Mrs. 
 Halsey promising to finish the costume im- 
 mediately, and to send it by Jim in ample 
 time for the evening's performances. 
 
 Our escapade lay heavily upon my con- 
 science in spite of our success in obtaining 
 the costume, but I felt still more troubled 
 for poor Mrs. Halsey and her overworked 
 boy. " I wonder," I said to Winnie, " if 
 Madame could not make him useful here at 
 the school, and let him work for his board, 
 tend furnace and run errands." 
 
 "You could not tell her about him without 
 confessing our lark, and don't you do that 
 for the world!" 
 
 "No," I promised, against my will, "of 
 course not, unless you consent ; the secret is 
 half yours, but I really think it would be the 
 best way." 
 
 Adelaide was greatly interested in our 
 report. " I am to have my violin dress for 
 the concert made at Madame Celeste's," she
 
 48 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 said, " and I mean to ask her about this Mrs. 
 Halsey." 
 
 Jim came with the package while we were 
 at supper, and Adelaide ran down to the 
 office to receive it. She told us that he was 
 an undersized, stoop-shouldered boy, with a 
 couofh which she fancied he had contracted 
 
 ^ 
 
 by driving in the early morning mists. He 
 took off his hat like a little gentleman, how- 
 ever, and his finger-nails and teeth were clean. 
 Any clown might wear good clothes, Ade- 
 laide insisted, but these little details marked 
 the gentleman. He had at first declined 
 the dime which Adelaide proffered, but ac- 
 cepted it on her insistance that it was only 
 for car-fare and it was raining. He put it 
 away carefully in a little worn purse which 
 contained just one cent, at the same time 
 remarking, " I don't mind the rain, and I can 
 get Ma the quinine the doctor says she 
 ought to be taking." 
 
 " That's the boy for me," Witch Winnie 
 remarked ; " he's got clear grit, and tender- 
 ness for his mother besides." 
 
 And Guinevere's gown ? It was a beauty. 
 The golden lilies gave it a sumptuous effect, 
 and it fulfilled almost exactly the promises 
 of the forged letter ; there was even a rivtire
 
 GUINEVERE'S GOWN. 49 
 
 of fish-scale pearls and glass beads down 
 the side, which really resembled a chatelaine. 
 The Hornets were overcome with amaze- 
 ment simply dazzled and dazed. Accord- 
 ing to Adelaide who always resorted to 
 French to express her superlatives, and, when 
 that language proved inadequate, pieced it 
 out with translations of American slang or 
 coinage of her own they were " Complete- 
 ment boulevers&es, stupefie'es, mortifiees, et 
 f rappee plus haute gun qun kite T
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE PRINCESS. 
 
 HAT'S the dear old. 
 
 lady, 
 In a green tabby 
 
 gown 
 
 And a great lace 
 cap, 
 
 With long lace ruffles 
 hanging down. 
 
 There she sits 
 
 In a cushioned high-back- 
 ed seat, 
 
 Covered over with crimson 
 damask, 
 
 With a footstool at her 
 feet. 
 
 You see what a handsome room it is, 
 Full of old carving and gilding ; 
 
 The house is, one may be sure, 
 
 Of the Elizabethan style of building. 
 
 Mary Howilt. 
 
 Our interest in Mrs. Halsey and her son 
 slumbered for a time ; not that we forgot 
 
 5
 
 THE PRINCESS. 5 I 
 
 her, or gave up our determination to do some- 
 thing" for Jim whenever the opportunity 
 offered. It was soon to come, but our time 
 and interest were filled with other things. 
 Just now it was a mystery and what so 
 dear to a girl's imagination ? 
 
 It was brought up for discussion afresh, 
 because Miss Prillwitz had said to Emma 
 Jane Anton that the diadem which I wore as 
 Guinevere was not a suitable one for a queen, 
 but a rather nondescript arrangement half- 
 way between that of a marquis and an earl. 
 
 This assumption of authoritative knowl- 
 edge in regard to coronets revived an old 
 rumor as to the noble birth of Miss Prillwitz. 
 
 No one could tell who first circulated the 
 report that Miss Prillwitz was a princess. It 
 developed little by little, I fancy, but when it 
 began to be whispered we received it with- 
 out a shadow of doubt. Miss Prillwitz was 
 a prim little woman, who always came to 
 Madame's receptions dressed in the same 
 brocade dress, once gaudy with a great bou- 
 quet pattern, but now faded into faint pink 
 and primrose on a background of silvery- 
 green, with the same carefully cleaned 
 gloves and fine old fan of the period of Marie 
 Antoinette. She wore her perfectly white
 
 52 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 hair a la Pompadour, and further increased 
 her diminutive height by French heels, but 
 in spite of these artificial contrivances she 
 was a tiny woman, though she had dignity 
 enough for a very tall one. Adelaide said 
 she had " the unmistakable air of a grande 
 dame" and that she would have suspected 
 her in any disguise. Milly had once spied, 
 half tucked in her belt and dependent from 
 a slender chain, a miniature, set in brilliants, 
 of a handsome young man in uniform, a row 
 of decorations on his breast, crosses and stars 
 hanging from strips of bright ribbon. This 
 was a great discovery, and Milly was sure 
 that the original was no less a personage 
 than Peter the Great. She had thought out 
 a thrilling romance of true love crossed by 
 jealousy and heartbreak, which the rest of 
 the girls accepted as more than probable, until 
 Emma Jane Anton suggested that as Peter 
 the Great died in 1725, it would really 
 make the princess much older than she 
 appeared, to fancy that he was the hero of 
 her girlhood. Emma Jane Anton always 
 had a disagreeable faculty of remembering 
 dates. The other girls were unanimous in 
 the opinion that she knew entirely too much, 
 and each one looked and longed for an
 
 THE PRINCESS. 
 
 53 
 
 opportunity of publicly detecting her in a 
 mistake and correcting her an opportunity 
 which never came. Milly never made her- 
 self offensive by being certain of anything, 
 and was loved and petted accordingly. The 
 myth of a royal lover was a congenial one, 
 and gained credence, though none of us dared 
 to give him a name or date, at least not in 
 the presence of Emma Jane Anton. No one 
 had the temerity to question Adelaide's 
 infallibility in detecting a great lady at first 
 sight. It did not ever occur to Emma Jane 
 Anton to ask how many princesses she 
 had met, and what was the " unmistakable 
 air " of distinction and nobility which 
 announced them like a herald's proclamation. 
 Perhaps this was because Adelaide herself 
 possessed this grand air by nature, and was 
 far more regal in appearance and feeling 
 than many a Guelph or Stuart. Witch Win- 
 nie, perhaps because she was the mad-cap of 
 the boarding-school, and was always getting 
 into scrapes herself, snuffed a political plot, 
 and suggested that the princess had been 
 exiled on account of deep-laid machinations 
 against one of the reigning families, a sup- 
 position which would account for her living 
 in exile and disguise, and even in comparative
 
 54 
 
 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 poverty. This explanation, as being 1 the 
 most ingenious, and affording fascinating 
 scope for the imagination, was the most 
 popular one, and was more or less elaborated 
 according to the individual fancy of the 
 young lady. Emma Jane Anton was obliged 
 to admit that she might be a princess, and 
 that there was no harm in calling her so 
 amongst ourselves. Madame had let fall 
 some very singular expressions when she 
 announced the fact that we were to have 
 her for our teacher in Botany. Emma Jane 
 had heard her, and it was she who had 
 reported the news to the others. 
 
 " Girls," she said, " did you ever hear any- 
 thing so absurd ! We are going to recite 
 our Botany to the princess." 
 
 " You don't mean it ! " 
 
 " Honest ! She lives in that funny old 
 house across the square, that Winnie always 
 pretends to think is haunted. We are to 
 parade over there three days in the week. 
 Madame says it's a great opportunity, 
 for she is really quite eminent ; writes for 
 scientific journals, has traveled in all sorts 
 of foreign countries, and has moved in court 
 circles" 
 
 " I told you so ! " exclaimed Adelaide,
 
 THE PRINCESS. 
 
 55 
 
 triumphantly. " I always said she was a 
 true-blue princess." 
 
 " I don't know that you have quite proved 
 it yet," replied Emma Jane Anton, coolly, 
 " but Madame did say that we would have 
 an opportunity of learning" much more from 
 her than mere botany etiquette, I presume 
 for she went on to hint that she had been 
 brought up in a different school of manners 
 from that of our own day and country, that 
 we would find her peculiar in some ways, 
 and that she trusted to our native courtesy 
 to humor her little foibles, and a hundred 
 more things of the same sort, winding up 
 with that stock expression which she always 
 uses when she has talked a subject to shreds 
 and tatters ' A word to the wise is suf- 
 ficient.' " 
 
 " I wish I had heard her," said Witch 
 Winnie; " I don't consider this subject talked 
 to tatters, by any means. I propose that this 
 Botany class constitute itself a committee 
 of investigation to clear up the mystery in 
 regard to the history of the princess. We 
 are supposed to be devoted to the study of 
 nature, but I consider human nature a deal 
 the more interesting. It will almost pay for 
 having to mind one's /'s and /s. I wonder
 
 56 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 what she would say if she caught me sliding 
 down her palace balusters ! We'll all have to 
 practice curtseying one step to the side, 
 then two back. Oh ! I'm ever so sorry I 
 knocked over that stand. Was the vase a 
 keepsake or anything? I'll buy you an- 
 other. No, I can't, for I've spent all my 
 allowance for this month. Well, you may 
 have that bonbon-nitre of mine you liked so 
 much. The vase was a treasure, but no one 
 could be vexed with Witch Winnie, and I 
 forgave her, of course, and would none of 
 the bonbonntire. 
 
 Our first glimpse at the house in which 
 the princess lived was as appetizing to our 
 imaginations as the little lady herself. It 
 had been built as a church - school, and 
 straggled around the church, shaping itself 
 to the exterior angles of that edifice, and in 
 so doing gained a number of queerly shaped 
 rooms, some long and narrow, and others 
 with irregular corners, but all bright with 
 southern sunshine. The princess rented 
 only the upper floor and the front room in 
 the basement. The rest of the house had 
 been let to other parties, but was now 
 vacant. How strange and lonely it must 
 seem, we thought, to go up and down those
 
 THE PRINCESS. 
 
 57 
 
 long staircases, and peep into the unin- 
 habited rooms ! Rather eerie at night. " I 
 wouldn't live that way for the world," shiv- 
 ered Milly. " I should be afraid of robbers." 
 
 " Burglars don't usually choose an unoc- 
 cupied house for their operations," Emma 
 Jane remarked, sententiously. 
 
 Later, when we were better acquainted 
 with the princess, Milly asked her if she was 
 never timid. She acknowledged that she 
 was, but assured us that rats were one great 
 comfort. 
 
 "What do you mean?" Milly asked. 
 
 " Whenevaire," said the princess (in the 
 quaint broken English which we always 
 found so fascinating, English which had only 
 the foreignness of pronunciation and idiom, 
 and which Adelaide insisted was rarely so 
 maltreated as to be really broken, but was 
 only a little dislocated) " whenevaire I hear 
 one cautious sawing noise which shall be as 
 if ze burglaire to file ze lock, I say to my- 
 self, 'Ah, ha ! Monsieur Rat have invited to 
 himself some companie in ze pantry of ze 
 butler.' When zere come one tappage on ze 
 escalier, as zo some one make haste to 
 depart ze house, I turn myself upon my bed 
 and make to myself explanation Rats !
 
 c; 8 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 When ze footsteps mysterious steal so softly 
 down ze hall, and make pause justly at my 
 door, then I reach for ze great cane of 
 my fazzer, which I keep at all times by ze 
 canopy of my bed, and I pound on ze floor 
 boom, boom, Monsieur Rat sctlerat, and 
 it is thus I make my reassurance." 
 
 The princess received us in what had been 
 the .basement dining-room, which she called 
 her laboratory. The entire south side was 
 one broad window of small diamond-shaped 
 panes. Forming" a sill to this window was 
 a row of low, wide cases for the reception of 
 herbaria, and the room had a peculiar herby 
 smell, a mixture of sweet-ferri and faint aro- 
 matic herbs. 
 
 The cushions which converted the tops of 
 these cases into seats were stuffed with 
 dried beech-leaves. 
 
 The princess quoted Latin to us for her 
 preference for the fine springy upholstery 
 which beech-leaves give. Silva domus, cubil- 
 iafrondes. (" The wood a house, the foliage 
 a couch.") 
 
 The other furniture in the room was a 
 long table placed in front of the book-case 
 divan, a table covered with piles of MS. 
 books, a press for specimens, two micro-
 
 THE PRINCESS. 59 
 
 scopes, and a great blue china bowl contain- 
 ing pussy-willows in water our specimens 
 for the day's study. High book-cases, whose 
 contents could only be guessed at, for the 
 glass doors were lined with curiously shirred 
 green silk, were ranged against the wall op- 
 posite, and at one end of the room stood a 
 monumental German stove in white porce- 
 lain; at the other was Miss Prillwitz's chair, a 
 high-backed Gothic affair, which had once 
 served as an episcopal sedilizim, but had been 
 removed on the occasion of a new furnishing 
 of the church. 
 
 It formed a stately background for the 
 little figure. I often found myself making 
 sketches of her on the sheets of soft paper 
 between which we pressed our flowers, in- 
 stead of listening to the lecture. I liked to 
 imagine how she would look in a great ruff, 
 not of Cynthia Vaughn's mosquito net, but 
 of T&aOi point de Venise. 
 
 And yet her talks were very interesting; 
 she was a true lover of nature, and made us 
 love her. She regretted that she could not 
 take us into the deep woods, but she opened 
 our eyes to the wealth of country suggest- 
 iveness which we could find in the city. She 
 introduced us personally to the scanty two
 
 6O WITCH WINNJE. 
 
 dozen or so of trees in the little park, and 
 from the intimate acquaintance formed with 
 each of these, our appetites were whetted 
 for vast wildernesses of forest primeval. 
 
 She opened to us the beauty which there 
 lies in the simple branching of the trees in 
 their winter nudity, the tracery of the limbs 
 and twigs cut clearly against a yellow sun- 
 set, or picked out with snow ; how the elms 
 gave graceful wine-glass and Greek-vase 
 outlines]; the snakily mottled sycamore un- 
 dulated its great arms like a boa-constrictor 
 reaching out for prey ; the birch, " the lady 
 of the woods," displayed her white satin 
 dress ; the gnarled hemlocks wrestled up- 
 ward, each sharp angle a defiance to the 
 winter storms with which they had striven 
 in heroic combat, the bent knees clutching 
 the rocks, while the aged arms writhed and 
 tossed in the grasp of the fiends of the air. 
 She showed us the beautiful parabolic curve 
 of the willows, a bouquet of rockets ; the mili- 
 tary bearing of a row of Lombardy poplars 
 standing, in their perfect alignment, like tall 
 grenadiers drawn up in a hollow square. 
 Before the first tender blurring of the leaf- 
 buds we knew our trees, and loved them for 
 their almost human qualities.
 
 THE PRINCESS. 6 1 
 
 Miss Sartoris had taught me, the preced- 
 ing summer, to look for the decorative beauty 
 to be found in common roadside weeds, and 
 we had made sketches together of dock, 
 elecampane, tansy, thistles, and milkweed. 
 I had one rich, rare day with her in a swamp, 
 when I ruined a pair of stockings, and made 
 the discovery that a skunk-cabbage was as 
 beautiful in its curves as a calla. I brought 
 these sketches to the princess, and she con- 
 gratulated me on the possession of my coun- 
 try home with its gold-mines of beauty all 
 around. 
 
 " You are one heiress, my dear," she said, 
 " to ze vast wealths which you have only to 
 learn how you s'all enjoy. Only t'ink of 
 ze sousands of poor city people who haf 
 never had ze felicity to see a swamp ! " 
 
 I grew to appreciate the country, and to 
 feel that I was richer than I had thought. 
 
 Milly found a branch of study which was 
 not above the measure of her intellect. She 
 soon mastered the long names, and learned 
 to think, and teachers in other departments 
 noted an improvement. There was need for 
 this, for the Hornets long kept up a tradi- 
 tion that at one of the history examinations 
 Milly had been asked, " What is the Salic
 
 62 WITCH WINNIE, 
 
 Law ? " and had replied, confidently " That 
 no woman or descendant of a woman, can eve*r 
 reiom in France."
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 COURT LIFE. 
 
 RS. GROGAN, the 
 
 baby-farmer of Ric- 
 kett's Court, could 
 hardly have been 
 described as a court 
 lady, and yet she 
 was a very typical 
 specimen of the wo- 
 men of this locality. 
 But before introduc- 
 ing the reader to the 
 society of Rickett's 
 Court, I must first 
 explain how it was 
 that we came to 
 make its acquaintance. 
 
 As the time approached for the concert of 
 which I have spoken, Adelaide was reminded 
 of her determination to have a " violin dress " 
 made by Madame Celeste. Adelaide played 
 
 63
 
 64 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 the violin, as we thought, divinely ; she was 
 at least the best performer at Madame's. 
 " The violin is the violet," I said, quoting 
 from " Charles Auchester." " Vou must have 
 a violet-colored gown." 
 
 " A very delicate shade of china crepe will 
 do," Adelaide replied, " made up with a 
 darker tint, and the sleeves must be puffed 
 like that dress the princess wore to the tab- 
 leaux." 
 
 "Adelaide, dear," murmured Milly, "you 
 ought to wear angel sleeves to show your 
 lovely arms." 
 
 "And have them flop about like a ship's 
 pennant in a lively breeze, during that bit 
 of rapid bowing ? That would be too gro- 
 tesque." 
 
 " Puff them to the elbow," I suggested, 
 " and then have a fall of soft lace that will 
 float back and give the turn of your wrist as 
 you whip the strings." 
 
 " See here, Adelaide," remarked Witch 
 Winnie, " if you want something really fine, 
 get that Mrs. Halsey to design it for you." 
 
 '' You don't suppose that I would hire a 
 dress for the concert at a costumer's ? " 
 
 " I didn't say that ; you could have it made 
 wherever you pleased, but get Mrs. Halsey's
 
 COURT LIFE. 65 
 
 ideas on the subject ; they are really remark- 
 able." 
 
 Adelaide considered the subject and acted 
 upon it, but, greatly to my relief, she refused 
 to do so without explaining" the entire affair 
 to Madame. 
 
 " I'll not stand in the way of your having 
 a nice gown," said Witch Winnie. " Come, 
 Tib, let's confess." 
 
 I was overjoyed, and Madame, though duly 
 shocked, was not severe. She even allowed 
 Witch Winnie to take Adelaide to see Mrs. 
 Halsey, stipulating only that she should be 
 chaperoned by one of the teachers. Adelaide 
 chose Miss Sartoris, at my suggestion, both 
 because we liked her, and from my feel- 
 ing that her artistic instinct might be of 
 service. 
 
 The girls were disappointed to find that 
 Mrs. Halsey was no longer at the costumer's. 
 He had " pounced " her, he said, because she 
 was " too much of a lady for de peesness." 
 Fortunately he could give the girls her 
 address No. i, sixth floor, Rickett's Court. 
 
 It was a very disagreeable part of town. 
 Miss Sartoris looked doubtful as they 
 approached it, and was on the point of get- 
 ting into the carriage again as they alighted, 
 
 5
 
 66 WITCH WINNIE 
 
 but Witch Winnie had already darted through 
 a long dark hall which led to the court in 
 the centre of the block, and there was noth- 
 ing for it but to follow. 
 
 Evil smells nearly choked them as they 
 ran the gauntlet of that hall, and they were 
 no better off on emerging upon the sloppy 
 court. The space overhead, between the 
 buildings, was laced with an intricate net- 
 work of clothes -lines filled with garments. 
 Adelaide said she realized now where all 
 upper New York had its laundry work done, 
 for this was evidently not the wash of the 
 court people. From their appearance it was 
 only fair to conjecture that they were so 
 busy doing other people's washing that they 
 never had time for their own. The dirty 
 water seemed to be thrown from the windows 
 into the court, where it stood in puddles or 
 feebly trickled into the sewer, from which 
 emanated nauseous and deadly gases. Sickly 
 children were dabbling in these puddles. 
 
 " It makes me think of Hood's ' Lost Heir,' " 
 said Miss Sartoris 
 
 " The court, 
 
 Where he was better off than all the other young boys, 
 With two bricks, an old shoe, nine oyster shells, and a 
 dead kitten by way of toys."
 
 COURT LIFE. 67 
 
 They mounted a ricketty staircase grimed 
 with dirt. Smells of new degrees and 
 varieties of loathsomeness assaulted them at 
 every landing. The Italian rag-pickers in 
 the basement were sorting their filthy wares, 
 while a little girl was concocting- for them 
 the garlic stew over a charcoal brazier. The 
 mingled fumes came thick from the open 
 door. Mrs. Grogan on the first floor had 
 paused in her washing to take a pull at a 
 villainous pipe. She came to the door still 
 smoking, and carrying in her arms an 
 almost skeleton baby, who sucked at a dirty 
 rag containing a crust dipped in gin. Win- 
 nie obtained one glimpse of the interior of 
 Mrs. Grogan's domicile, and drew back quite 
 pale. "Adelaide," she said, "the room liter- 
 ally swarmed with babies; that woman can- 
 not have so many all of the same age," In- 
 quiry of Mrs. Halsey enlightened them. 
 Mrs. Grogan was a " baby-farmer," and 
 boarded these children, making a good 
 income thereby, as their mothers were 
 servants in good families. On the next 
 floor a family of eight were working in a 
 hall-bedroom, at rolling cigars. The large 
 rooms were occupied by some Chinese. 
 Mrs. Halsey thought that they used them as
 
 68 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 an opium den. Past more doors, up three 
 more pairs of stairs, and they paused at 
 No. i. They knocked several times, but 
 they could not make themselves heard above 
 the buzz and whirr of a sewing-machine. 
 Finally Winnie opened the door, and there 
 sat Mrs. Halsey bent over the machine, 
 while the floor was piled with dainty under- 
 clothing neatly tucked. 
 
 She sprang up, evidently pleased to see 
 Winnie again, and motioned her callers to 
 the only seats which the room afforded 
 a chair, a trunk, and a stool. 
 
 Winnie apologized for the interruption, 
 and explained her errand. " But perhaps you 
 are too busy to design this dress," Adelaide 
 said ; " I see you have plenty of work." 
 
 " It will not take long to make a little 
 sketch," Mrs. Halsey replied, "and it will be 
 a real pleasure for me to do it." As her 
 fingers moved rapidly over the paper the 
 girls took an inventory of the room. A 
 cracked cooking - stove, and a cupboard 
 behind it formed of a dry-goods box, but all 
 the utensils were scrupulously clean. A 
 closet, another dry-goods case on end, with 
 a chintz curtain in front, concealed, as Win- 
 nie's prying eyes ascertained, a roll of bed-
 
 COURT LIFE. 69 
 
 ding-, which was evidently spread on the 
 floor at night. Mrs. Halsey knelt before a 
 worn table, and this, with the sewing- 
 machine, completed the furnishing of the 
 apartment. No, in the window there was 
 a row of fruit - cans containing- some 
 geraniums. Miss Sartoris discovered them, 
 and Mrs. Halsey apologized for their con- 
 dition. "They were just in bud," she said, 
 " but we were without coal for several days, 
 and they were nipped by frost." 
 
 Poor woman ! she looked as if she had 
 been nipped by the frost too during that 
 bitter experience. She coughed, and 
 Adelaide remarked, " You ought to drink 
 cream, Mrs. Halsey; they say it is better for 
 a cough than cod-liver oil." 
 
 o 
 
 " I have plenty of milk," the little woman 
 replied. "The milkman for whom my Jim 
 works lets him have the milk that he 
 finds left over in the cans when he washes 
 them out after his rounds. Sometimes 
 there's as much as a pint, and almost always 
 enough for our oatmeal." 
 
 Mrs. Halsey spoke cheerily and proudly 
 as of a luxury which she owed her boy. 
 The design was completed, and Adelaide 
 was delighted.
 
 Jro WITCH W1NXIE. 
 
 "Would you like to have me make the 
 costume in tissue-paper?" Mrs. Halsey 
 asked; " the sleeve, at least, and this drapery ; 
 then any seamstress can make it." 
 
 " How much will it be ? " Adelaide asked, 
 doubtfully wondering if her five-dollar bill 
 would cover the charge. 
 
 " Do you think seventy-five cents too 
 much ? It would take me an afternoon." 
 
 " But you could certainly earn more than 
 that by your sewing"." 
 
 Mrs. Halsey smiled rather bitterly. 
 "Would you really like to know the rates at 
 which I work ? " she asked. 
 
 Adelaide expressed her interest. " These 
 pretty Mother Hubbard night-gowns sell 
 well, I am sure, but I kno\v you can't 
 get very much for making them, for I 
 bought a pair at a bargain counter for a 
 dollar." 
 
 "It is the bargain counter which makes 
 the low pay. I get a dollar and thirty cents 
 a dozen for making them," said Mrs. Halsey, 
 calmly. 
 
 " A dozen ! " cried Winnie ; " and how 
 many can you make in a day ?" 
 
 " Eight." 
 
 " Then you make "
 
 COURT LIFE. 71 
 
 " Eighty-five cents a day ; but I cannot 
 average that.'" 
 
 " Can't you do better with something 
 else ?" 
 
 "I have made flannel skirts tucked at 
 a dollar a dozen, but I can only make eight 
 of those in a day, so that is less I have 
 received a dollar and twenty cents a dozen 
 for making chemises, which sell at seven 
 dollars a dozen ; and seventy-five cents a 
 dozen for babies' slips, three tucks and a 
 hem ; forty cents a dozen for corset covers. 
 I have a friend who works a machine in a 
 ruffling factory ; she makes a hundred and 
 fifty yards of hemmed and tucked ruffling a 
 day, for which she receives twenty-five cents. 
 So, you see, I am better off than some."* 
 
 " And can you live on five dollars a 
 week ? " 
 
 "Six dollars, Madame ; Jim earns one dol- 
 lar and the milk." 
 
 " You pay for rent " 
 
 " Six dollars a month ; yes, it is hard to 
 earn that." 
 
 " You must be thankful that you have 
 only Jim to provide for." 
 
 * See " Campbell's Prisoners of Poverty " for still more 
 harrowing statistics.
 
 72 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 " The Sandys, on the floor below, have six 
 children; five of them earn wages. I think 
 they earn more than their cost." 
 
 "But," said Miss Sartoris, "I thought 
 child labor was prohibited by law." 
 
 " Not out of school hours, or at home. 
 Then the parents often swear a child is 
 over fourteen, but small of its age, and get 
 it into a factory. You wouldn't blame them, 
 Madame, if you knew all the circumstances 
 I do. I keep Jim at his books, but the 
 study, with the night work, I'm afraid is kill- 
 ing him. They tempt him at the saloon, too, 
 to take what they call a " bracer " as he goes 
 out to drive the milk cart at 3 in the morn- 
 ing, but I get up and have tea ready for 
 him, so that he does not yield." 
 
 "We must go now," said Miss Sartoris, 
 kindly. " You will send Jim with the paper 
 pattern to-night ?" Adelaide slipped a dollar 
 into Mrs. Halsey's hand, and would take no 
 change. And the three went down the 
 stairs thoughtful and sad. 
 
 " What can we do for her ? " Winnie 
 asked. 
 
 " I am sure I don't know," replied Miss 
 Sartoris ; " she certainly seems capable of 
 securing better wages."
 
 COURT LIFE. 73 
 
 "I will speak to Madame Celeste about 
 her," said Adelaide ; and she was as good 
 as her word. Winnie accompanied Adelaide 
 when she took the pattern to the fashionable 
 dress-maker. The modiste listened in rapt 
 attention to Adelaide's explanation of the 
 gown wanted. She examined the design 
 with interest. " It is perfectly made," she 
 said. " Who constructed this for you ? It is 
 the work of an expert. Ah, Miss, if I 
 only had now in my establishment a de- 
 signer who was with me last year ! She had 
 such a mind for costumes de fantaisie ! For 
 Greek costumes to be worn at the harp, 
 and for Directoire dresses, I miss her cruelly, 
 but Mademoiselle's design is so explicit that 
 we will have no trouble." 
 
 " Was your designer a Mrs. Halsey ? ' 
 Winnie asked. 
 
 " The same, Miss. Do you know her ? 
 Can you give me her address ? I must try 
 to get her back." 
 
 " I think you may be able to obtain her. 
 She made this pattern for me ; but you will 
 have to bid high, for she has her boy with 
 her now." 
 
 " Ah yes ! the boy ; that was the trouble 
 between us. Seamstresses have no business
 
 74 WITCH WINNIE 
 
 to be mothers. Mrs. Halsey ought to give 
 up the child entirely to some asylum for 
 adoption; he will always be a handicap to 
 her ; but she does not see this, and clings to 
 him as though she thought him her only 
 chance for fortune. There is a mystery in 
 Mrs. Halsey's life. Her husband has deserted 
 her, and she lives in the vain hope that he 
 will come back some day and explain every- 
 thing. She patronized me once, long ago, 
 when she was in better circumstances. She 
 will not talk about her husband, and I fancy 
 that he is one of those defaulting cashiers 
 who have run away to Canada. I am willing 
 to take her back on the old terms, but she 
 must give up her boy. I have an order for a 
 set of costumes for one of our queens of the 
 opera. Mrs. Halsey is just the one to take 
 it in hand. Where did you say she could be 
 found ? " 
 
 " I think you had better communicate with 
 her through me," Adelaide replied ; " I am 
 not at liberty to give her address." 
 
 " And it is very possible," Winnie spoke 
 up, eagerly, for she had seen a gleam in Mad- 
 ame Celeste's eyes, " that her friends will 
 provide for the boy. In that case she will 
 be more independent, and perhaps will not
 
 COURT LIFE. 75 
 
 be willing to return at the old salary. What 
 shall we say is the most that you will offer." 
 
 " Five dollars a week and her board; that 
 is very good pay, Miss; fifty cents more than 
 I paid her when she was with me." 
 
 The girls could hardly wait to reach the 
 Amen Corner to talk the matter over. Milly 
 was all sympathy. " I will write to papa," 
 she said, " and get him to send Jim to a 
 boarding-school. I'll send for several circu- 
 lars, and find out how much it costs." 
 
 As an answer from Mr. Roseveldt might 
 be expected the next day, we decided to 
 wait for it. Adelaide regretted that her 
 father was in Omaha, as she was sure that 
 he would have aided in the scheme. 
 
 Mr. Roseveldt's answer was most discour- 
 aging. He regarded Milly's plan as mere 
 sentimental nonsense, and would take no 
 interest in it. 
 
 "You might save something out of your 
 allowance, Milly," suggested the audacious 
 Winnie. 
 
 " I give away three- fourths of it now," 
 Milly replied, in an injured tone. " What 
 with the flowers I have on the organ every 
 day for Miss Hope, and the favors for the 
 german, which I always furnish, and the
 
 76 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 bonbons I give you girls, and all my other 
 extras " 
 
 " But, Milly dear," I exclaimed, "we would 
 all ever so much rather you spent the candy 
 money for Jim than on us." 
 
 " But I want some candy for myself, and 
 1 am not going to be so mean as to munch 
 it, and not pass any to the ether girls." 
 
 It would have been a real deprivation 
 to Milly to do without her beloved can- 
 dy. She gloated over luscious pasty 
 ' lumps of delight " in the way of marsh- 
 mallows and chocolate creams, candied 
 fruits and marrons glacees, and her silver 
 bonbonniere was always filled with the most 
 expensive candied violets and rose>leaves. 
 Worse than this, there were certain little 
 cordial drops, which were a peculiar weak- 
 ness of Milly's ; none of us knew with what 
 an awful danger she was playing, or that 
 Milly inherited a taste for alcoholic beverages 
 through several generations. But Milly was 
 not selfish. 
 
 "Very well, girls," she said, with a sigh, " if 
 you will go without, I will, and we will form 
 a total abstinence candy society. I know 
 just how much that means for Jim, for I paid 
 Maillard eight dollars last month."
 
 COURT LIFE. 77 
 
 " You are a good girl," spoke up Emma 
 Jane, " and if you hold to that resolution, 
 Milly Roseveldt, I will deal you out a cake 
 of maple sugar every day, from a box I've 
 just received from some Vermont cousins. 
 I was wondering what I should do with it, 
 for I don't care for sweets." 
 
 Milly's face brightened ; all unconsciously 
 she was doing as great a kindness to herself 
 as to Jim, and the pure maple sugar was a 
 good substitute for the unwholesome con- 
 coctions of the confectioner ; it satisfied her 
 craving for sweets, and did not poison her 
 appetite. 
 
 The rest of us added our small contribu- 
 tions, but the aggregate only amounted to 
 three dollars a week, and we were unable 
 to learn of any boarding-school to which 
 Jim could be sent at those rates. 
 
 Winnie had communicated Madame Ce- 
 leste's offer to Mrs. Halsey. " It would be just 
 the thing if I were alone," she replied, "but 
 what would Jim do without me ? " 
 
 " Perhaps you can board him somewhere," 
 Winnie suggested ; and she told of the sum 
 which we girls had promised. 
 
 " If I knew of any respectable place where 
 he would have good influences, I would
 
 78 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 accept your kindness, as a loan, for a little 
 while," Mrs. Halsey replied, " for my first 
 earnings must go for clothes. I have friends 
 in Connecticut ; perhaps they will take Jim." 
 
 But Mrs. Halsey found that her friends 
 had moved West. She thanked us for our 
 interest, but said that there seemed nothing- 
 better to do than to continue as they were. 
 
 " I can't bear to tell Madame Celeste that 
 she declines her offer," said Adelaide. " We 
 must find a place for that boy." 
 
 " I don't see how," replied Winnie; but she 
 saw, that afternoon ; it came to her all by a 
 sudden inspiration during our botany lesson.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 LITTLE PRINCE DEL PARADISO. 
 
 day the botany 
 class found their teach- 
 er in a flutter of excite- 
 ment. There was a 
 fresh, pink glow in the 
 faded cheeks, and an 
 unusual sparkle in the 
 kindly eyes. She seat- 
 ed herself in the epis- 
 copal chair, lifted her 
 lorgnette, and began 
 to arrange the speci- 
 mens for the day's lesson, but her hand 
 trembled so that she could scarcely adjust 
 the microscope, and the papers on which her 
 notes were written sifted through her fingers 
 and were strewn in confusion on the floor. 
 
 " Are you ill, Miss Prillwitz ?" Adelaide 
 asked, in alarm. 
 
 ' No, Miss Armstrong," replied the princess, 
 
 79
 
 8o WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 " it is not a painful in my system, and it is 
 not a sorry ; it is a pleasant. I shall expect 
 to myself a company, and this is to me so 
 seldom that I find myself egar what you 
 call it? scatter? sprinkled? as to my 
 understanding." 
 
 We all looked our interest, and Winnie 
 ventured to ask " One of your relations, 
 Miss Prillwitz ? " 
 
 " Yes," replied the little lady ; " he is of 
 my own family, though to see him I have 
 never ze pleasure. It ees ze little Prince del 
 Paradiso." 
 
 We girls pinched each other under the 
 table, while Milly murmured, " A prince ! 
 How perfectly lovely ! " 
 
 "Yes," replied Miss Prillwitz; " ze birth- 
 right to ziss little poy is one great, high, 
 nobilitie, la plus haute noblesse, but he know 
 nossing of it, nossing whateffer. He haf ze 
 misfortune to be exported from his home 
 when one leetle child ; he haf been elevated 
 by poor peoples to think himself also a poor. 
 He know nossing of ze estates what belong 
 his family, and better he not know until he 
 make surely his title, and he make to himself 
 some education which shall make him suit 
 to his position."
 
 LITTLE PRINCE DEL PARADISO. 8 1 
 
 " How did you know about this little 
 stolen prince ? " Emma Jane asked. 
 
 " I receive message from his older bruzzer 
 to take him to my house provisionellement, 
 till his rights and his his what you call 
 his sameness ? " 
 
 " You mean his identity ? " 
 
 "Yes, yes, his die entity can be justly prove." 
 
 " It seems to me," said Witch Winnie, impul- 
 sively, " that he can't be a very kind elder 
 brother to be so indifferent." 
 
 " My dear child, you make my admiration 
 with what celeritude you do arrive always 
 at exactly ze wrong conclusion. Ze prince 
 haf made great effort to recover his little 
 bruzzer, but he must guard himself from ze 
 false claimants, ze impostors." 
 
 " Then the little boy who is coming to 
 you," said Emma Jane, " may not be the 
 real prince, after all ? " 
 
 " That is a possible," Miss Prillwitz admit- 
 ted, " but it is not a probable. Somesing 
 assure me zat he s'all prove his nobility." 
 
 " How very interesting," said Milly. " Was 
 he stolen away from home by gypsies ? " 
 
 " No, my child, he was not steal. He 
 wandered himself away from his fazzer's 
 house and was lost. 
 
 6
 
 82 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 " How old is he now ?" 
 
 "Twelve year." 
 
 Witch Winnie started ; that was just 
 Jim Halsey's age, and what a difference 
 in the destiny awaiting the two boys ! 
 One the son of a king, the other of a 
 criminal. 
 
 " Will you to see ze little chamber of ze 
 petit prince ? " asked Miss Prillwitz. 
 
 We were all overjoyed by the suggestion, 
 and the ea^er little woman led us to a 
 
 o 
 
 room just under the roof, with a dormer- 
 window looking out upon the roof of the 
 church. 
 
 Milly ran directly to this window, and 
 drawing aside the curtains looked out, but 
 started back again half frightened, for a 
 carved gargoyle under the eaves was very 
 near and leered at her with a malicious, 
 demoniacal expression. He was a grotesque 
 creature with bat wings, lolling tongue, and 
 long claws, but harmless enough, for the 
 doves perched on his head and preened their 
 iridescent plumage in the sunshine. The 
 church roof just here was a wilderness 
 of flying buttresses and pinnacles ; the 
 chimes were still far overhead, and rang 
 out, as we entered the chambers, my fa-
 
 LITTLE PRINCE DEL PARADISO. 83 
 
 vorite hymn " Sun of my soul, thou Saviour 
 dear." 
 
 I have not yet described the room itself. 
 We all exclaimed at its quaint beauty as we 
 entered. 
 
 It was papered with an old-fashioned vine 
 pattern, the green foliage twined about a 
 slender trellis, and this gave the room, which 
 was really quite small, the effect of an arbor 
 with space beyond. There was a patch of 
 dark green carpet with a mossy pattern 
 before the bed, which was very simple and 
 dressed in white. In the window recess was 
 a dry-goods box, upholstered in a fern-pat- 
 terned chintz of a restful green tint, and 
 serving, with its cushions, both as a divan 
 and as a chest for clothing. There was a 
 little corner wash-stand with a toilet set 
 decorated with water-lilies and green lily- 
 pads, and there was a little sliding curtain 
 of green China silk with a shadow-pattern 
 at the window, while through the uncur- 
 tained upper space one saw, beyond the 
 church roof, the trees of the park. 
 
 " O Miss Prillwitz ! " I exclaimed, " it is 
 just Aurora Leigh's room over again. You 
 modeled it on Mrs. Browning's description, 
 did you not ?
 
 84 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 * I had a little chamber in the house, 
 As green as any privet-hedge a bird 
 
 Might choose to build in 
 
 the walls 
 
 Were green, the carpet was pure green; 
 
 the straight 
 Small bed was curtained greenly, 
 
 and the folds 
 Hung green about the window, 
 
 which let in 
 A dash of dawn dew from its greenery, 
 
 the honeysuckle.' " 
 
 "I haf nefer ze pleasure to know zat 
 room," said Miss Prillwitz, her eyes kindling. 
 
 " How perfectly sweet !" exclaimed Ade- 
 laide. " It is like ' a lodge in some vast 
 wilderness.' I didn't know that there was 
 a place in New York so like the country." 
 
 " Will the prince study botany with us ? " 
 Milly asked, as we descended the stairs. 
 
 " I fear he is not ready for ze botany. 
 His education haf been neglect. But you 
 s'all see him oftenly. I must beg you not to 
 tell him zat he is a prince ; zis must not 
 divulge to him until ze proper time." 
 
 " And then," added Emma Jane, " it 
 would be cruel to excite hopes which may 
 be doomed to disappointment." 
 
 The princess smiled. " I do not fear zat,"
 
 LITTLE PRINCE DEL PARADISO. 85 
 
 she said. " And now, young ladies, I must 
 make you my excuse, and beg Miss Arm- 
 strong she s'all hear ze class ze remains of 
 ze hour ; I must go to ze market for prepare 
 ze young prince his supper." 
 
 She hurried away, and we attempted to 
 turn our minds to our lesson. Adelaide had 
 just exclaimed that in botany the term hop 
 signified small, and dog large, but she 
 broke off the statement with the exclama- 
 tion, " And do you see, girls, what this 
 proves ? " 
 
 " That dog-roses are large roses," replied 
 Emma Jane. 
 
 " That the Chinese laundry man around 
 the corner, Hop Sin, is a little sinner," said 
 Winnie. 
 
 " No, no, I don't mean that, but she said 
 that the Prince del Paradiso was related to 
 her ; then, of course, she must belong to the 
 Paradiso family as well, and what we have 
 so long suspected is really true. She is a 
 genuine princess, and probably the daughter 
 of a king." 
 
 " I am not so sure of that," replied Emma 
 Jane. 
 
 " Do you suspect Miss Prillwitz of being 
 an impostor?" Adelaide asked, coldly.
 
 86 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 " Certainly not," replied Emma Jane; "but 
 in many European countries every son of 
 a prince is called a prince, instead of the 
 eldest son only, as in England, and all the 
 sons of all the younger sons are princes, and 
 so on to the last descendant ; and I presume 
 it is so with the daughters as well ; so that 
 the title must often exist where there are no 
 estates." 
 
 " But Miss Prillwitz said that the Prince 
 del Paradiso was heir to immense estates," 
 Milly insisted. 
 
 " But that proves nothing in her own case," 
 Adelaide admitted. " Some day, perhaps 
 she will tell us more about herself, since she 
 has begun to open her heart to us." 
 
 At that moment the door-bell rang, and as 
 the princess kept no servant, Winnie went to 
 the door. She was gone a long time, and 
 came back looking grave and distraught- 
 giving an evasive answer when we asked 
 her who had called. I wondered at this 
 because, as I sat nearest the door, I had over- 
 heard a part of the conversation, and knew 
 that it referred to the little boy who was 
 expected. " He cannot come," a voice had 
 said ; " he has a situation where he can learn 
 a trade." This was of so much interest to
 
 LITTLE PRINCE DEL PARADISO. 87 
 
 us all that I wondered why Winnie did not 
 immediately report it. 
 
 As soon as we returned to the school she 
 obtained an interview with Madame, and 
 permission to see Mrs. Halsey in reference 
 to the Celeste situation ; Madame stipulat- 
 ing that she must not ask this favor for a 
 longtime, as she did not like to have her 
 pupils frequent the tenement district. I 
 offered to go with Winnie, and was sur- 
 prised that she declined my company. She 
 returned glowing with suppressed excite- 
 ment. 
 
 " Mrs. Halsey has accepted Madame 
 Celeste's offer," she exclaimed ; " she leaves 
 the court to-morrow, let us hope for good 
 and all. O girls, it is a horrible place ! I 
 saw worse sights than when I was there 
 before." 
 
 " And Jim ? " we asked. 
 
 " Jim is provided for. We are to pay three 
 dollars a week for him for the present, until 
 Mrs Halsey gets on her feet." 
 
 " Did she find a good place for him ? " 
 
 " An excellent place; but you must not 
 ask me another question, and if any 
 mysterious circumstances should come to 
 your observation within a few days, you are
 
 88 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 not to say a thing", or even look surprised. 
 Promise, every one of you." 
 
 " A mystery ! how delightful !" exclaimed 
 Milly. " It's almost as good as the little 
 prince. You can rely on us ; we will help 
 you, Winnie, whatever it is, for we know it's 
 all right if it's your doing." 
 
 Emma Jane was not present, and I 
 remarked that, while the rest of us would 
 believe in Winnie without understanding 
 her, and even in spite of the most suspicious 
 circumstances, I was not sure that we 
 could trust Emma Jane so far. 
 
 " Emma Jane will see nothing to suspect, 
 and Milly, I know, will stand by me. It's only 
 you two that I am afraid of Adelaide, 
 because she has seen Jim ; am". Tib, from 
 her natural smartness in smelling o t a 
 secret." 
 
 " Whatever it is, Winnie, we believe you 
 could never do anything very bad," said 
 Adelaide. 
 
 "But I have," Winnie replied; "some- 
 thing just reckless. I'm in for the worst 
 scrape of my life, and just as I was trying 
 so hard to be good. I shall never be any- 
 thing but a malefactor, and maybe get 
 expelled, and throw the dear Amen Corner
 
 LITTLE PRINCE DEL PARADISO. 89 
 
 into disgrace. I'd better have staid queen 
 of the Hornets, for I shall be nothing 
 but Witch Winnie to the end of the 
 chapter."
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MRS. HETTERMAN THROWS LIGHT ON THE 
 MYSTERY. 
 
 RS. HETTER- 
 MAN came in- 
 to our life in 
 consequence of 
 a train of troub- 
 les which arose 
 in the board- 
 ing-school from 
 the frequent 
 change of the 
 cook. Madame 
 had been serv- 
 ed for several 
 years by a faith- 
 ful colored man, 
 who had suddenly taken it into his head to 
 go off as steward on a gentleman's yacht. 
 She had supplied his place by a Biddy, who 
 
 was found intoxicated on the kitchen floor. 
 
 90
 
 LIGHT ON THE MYSTERY. 9! 
 
 A woman followed who turned out to be a 
 thief, and we were now enduring an incompe- 
 tent creature who made sour bread and spoil- 
 ed nearly every dish which passed through 
 her hands. Half of the girls were suffer- 
 ing with dyspepsia, and all were grumbling. 
 The Amen Corner was especially out of 
 sorts. Milly, who was always fastidious, had 
 eaten nothing but maple-sugar for breakfast, 
 and had a sick headache ; Emma Jane was 
 snappish ; Witch Winnie had stolen a box of 
 crackers from the pantry, which she had 
 passed around. Adelaide and I had regaled 
 ourselves upon them, but Emma Jane had 
 declined on high moral grounds, and was vir- 
 tuously miserable. It was in this unchristian 
 frame of mind, or rather of stomach, that 
 we took our next botany lesson. We found 
 the princess beaming with pleasure. " My 
 tear young ladies," she exclaimed, " you 
 must felicitate me. It is all so much bet- 
 ter as I had hoped. Ze leetle prince has 
 not been so badly elevated after all. He 
 haf been taught to be kind and unselfish ; 
 zat is already ze foundation of a gentle- 
 man." 
 
 Miss Prillwitz had occasion to leave the 
 room a few minutes later. Adelaide sniffed
 
 g 2 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 the air, and remarked, " Girls, don't you 
 smell something very nice ?" 
 
 " It's here on the stand in the corner," said 
 Witch Winnie, lifting a napkin which cov- 
 ered a tray, and exclaiming, " Fish balls ! 
 Only see ! the most beautiful brown fish 
 balls ! " 
 
 " It's the remnants of their breakfast ; she 
 has forgotten to take it away," said Adelaide. 
 " They make me feel positively faint with 
 longing ; I don't believe she would mind if 
 we took just one." 
 
 We ate of the dainties, even Emma Jane 
 yielding to temptation ; they were delicious, 
 and, having begun, we could not stop until 
 they were all devoured. Then we looked 
 at one another in shame and dismay. " Who 
 will confess ? " asked Adelaide. 
 
 " You ought to ; you put us up to it," said 
 Emma Jane Anton. 
 
 " Let's write a round-robin," I suggested, 
 "and all sign it." 
 
 "I'll stand it," said Winnie. "I led you 
 into temptation." 
 
 A step was heard in the hall. Winnie 
 stepped forward and began to speak rap- 
 idly ; the rest of us looked down shame- 
 facedly.
 
 LIGHT ON THE MYSTERY, 93 
 
 " Miss Prillwitz, please forgive us ; we were 
 so hungry we could not stand it. If you 
 knew what a dreadful breakfast we had this 
 morning, I'm sure you would not blame 
 us" 
 
 But she was interrupted by a cry of dis- 
 may " Oh ! have you eaten them all ? I 
 bought them for Aunty." 
 
 Looking up, we saw a manly little boy 
 with an expression of distress on his frank 
 features. 
 
 Adelaide uttered a sharp exclamation. I 
 thought she said, " It's him ! " and yet Ade- 
 laide seldom forgot her grammar. Winnie 
 drew a deep breath, and caught Adelaide by 
 the arm. The boy looked up from the empty 
 platter to the girls' faces, and his expression 
 changed. " Oh ! it's you," he said. " Well, 
 no matter, only I meant 'em for a present 
 for her Miss Prillwitz, you know. She's 
 no end good to me. Mrs. Hetterman, down 
 at Rickett's Court, makes 'em for regular 
 customers every Friday morning. They are 
 prime, and mother gave me a quarter for 
 pocket-money this month, so I got ten cents' 
 worth for Aunty ; she lets me call her so. I 
 thought she'd like 'em, and it would patron- 
 ize Mrs. Hetterman, and show her I hadn'i
 
 94 
 
 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 forgotten old friends, if I had moved up in 
 the world." 
 
 " Here's ten cents to get some more from 
 Mrs. Hetterman," said Adelaide, " and may-. 
 be we can get her a wholesale order to fur- 
 nish our boarding- - school. I'll speak to 
 Madame about it this very day." 
 
 " And if Madame doesn't order them, we 
 girls will club together and have a spread of 
 our own," said Winnie. 
 
 Miss Prillwitz came in at this juncture, and 
 explanations followed. 
 
 " If Madame is in such trouble in regards 
 of a cook," said Miss Prillwitz, " I vill write 
 her of Mrs. Hetterman, and perhaps it will 
 be to them both a providence. Can she 
 make ozzer sings as ze croquettes of cod- 
 fish ?" 
 
 " Oh yes, indeed," the little prince spoke 
 up, eagerly; " soup, and turnovers, and suck 
 bread ! She gave me a little loaf every bak- 
 ing while mother had the pneumonia. Mr. 
 Dooley, the butcher, gave me a marrow bone 
 every Monday, and I always took it to Mrs. 
 Hetterman to make into soup. It made 
 mother sick to boil it in our little room, and 
 Mrs. Hetterman would make a kettle of 
 stock, and showed me how to keep it in a
 
 LIGHT ON THE MYSTERY. 
 
 95 
 
 crock outside the window, so mother could 
 have some every day ; it was what kept 
 mother's strength up through it all. We 
 had such good neighbors at the court ! but 
 Mrs. Hetterman was best of all. She has 
 five children of her own, too. Bill is a mes- 
 senger boy, and Jennie works in a feather 
 factory. Mary is a cripple, but she is just 
 lovely, and tidies the house, and takes care 
 of the two little ones. Mr. Hetterman was 
 a plasterer and got good wages, but he fell 
 from a scaffolding and broke his leg, and 
 he's at the hospital." 
 
 " And does Mrs. Hetterman support the 
 family on ze croquettes of codfish ?" asked 
 Miss Prillwitz. 
 
 " She scrubs offices, but she could get a 
 place as cook in a family if it wasn't for the 
 children." He looked longingly at Miss 
 Prillwitz as he spoke, but she did not seem 
 to notice the glance. 
 
 " Here, mongar9on, run down to ze court, 
 and tell Mrs. Hetterman to take a basket of 
 her cookery to ze boarding-school. I t'ink 
 she will engage to herself some beesness." 
 
 The lesson proceeded, but Adelaide and 
 Winnie both blundered ; they were evidently 
 thinking of something else.
 
 96 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 A change came over Witch Winnie ; she 
 lost her old reckless gayety and became 
 subdued and thoughtful. The Hornets 
 said she was studying for honors, but I 
 knew this was not the case, for her les- 
 sons were not as well prepared as for- 
 merly. She would sit for long periods lost 
 in reverie. Winnie had charge of the 
 money collected for Jim's board. She re- 
 ported, after one week, that his mother did 
 not need as much ; two dollars would supply 
 the margin between what was required and 
 the sum she was able to pay. None of us, 
 with the exception of Adelaide, knew where 
 Winnie had domiciled Jim, but we were con- 
 tent to leave the matter in her hands. A 
 week later Mrs. Halsey only needed one 
 dollar. Mrs. Hetterman was engaged as 
 cook for the boarding-school, and we all re- 
 joiced in the change. I went down to the 
 kitchen to see her, one afternoon, and found 
 her a buxom Englishwoman who dropped 
 her #s, but was always neat and civil. She 
 was delighted when she found that I knew 
 the names of her children. " It was a little 
 boy who used to live in your court who told 
 me about them," I said, " and who introduced 
 us to your good fish balls."
 
 LIGHT ON THE MYSTERY. 
 
 97 
 
 " Oh yes, Miss, I mind ; it was little Jim 
 'Alsey ; 'e's the prince of fine fellers, 'e is." 
 
 Jim Halsey the prince ! My head fairly 
 reeled, and yet this explained many things 
 which had seemed mysterious. Winnie's 
 agency in the matter was still not entirely 
 clear to me. I did not connect her remorse- 
 ful remarks about another scrape, with Jim, 
 and I believed that by some remarkable 
 coincidence he was really Miss Prillwitz's 
 little prince incognito. I wondered whether 
 Mrs. Hetterman knew anything of his real 
 history, but she preferred to talk at present 
 about her own family. She . was very 
 happy in the prospect of introducing her 
 oldest daughter, Jennie, into the house as a 
 waitress. " It will be so much better for 
 Jennie," she said, " than the feather factory. 
 The hair there is not good for 'er lungs." 
 
 I did not understand, at first, what Mrs. 
 Hetterman meant by the hair, but when she 
 explained that it was "the hatmosphere," her 
 meaning dawned upon me. 
 
 " It will make it a bit lonelier for Mary and 
 the little ones," she admitted, "but I go 
 down every night, after the work's over, to 
 tidy them up and to see that hall's right. 
 The court is not a fit place for the children. 
 
 7
 
 98 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 If I could find decent lodgings for them, 
 su-ch as Mrs. 'Alsey 'as got for her Jim ! I 
 think I could pay as much, if the place was 
 only found ; I'm 'oping something will turn 
 hup, Miss." 
 
 " I hope so," I replied ; and I asked Winnie 
 that afternoon if she thought the person who 
 was boarding Jim Halsey would take the 
 Hettermans, but she utterly discouraged the 
 idea. 
 
 We saw a good deal of the little prince. 
 Miss Prillwitz called him Giacomo, and was 
 deeply attached to him. He did her credit 
 . too, for he was docile and bright. His 
 mother was right in saying that he inherited 
 his father's facility for mathematics, but with 
 this faculty he possessed also a love for 
 mechanics and for machinery of every 
 sort. 
 
 " He will make one good engineer some 
 day," said Miss Prillwitz, in speaking of him 
 to us. 
 
 " That is a strange career for a prince," 
 said Adelaide. 
 
 " My tear, it may be many year before he 
 ees call to his princedom, and in ze means- 
 time he muss make his way. Zen, too, ze sons 
 of ze royal houses make such study, and it
 
 LIGHT ON THE MYSTERY. 99 
 
 is one good thing for ze country whose prince 
 interest himself in ze science." 
 
 " I wonder how he would* like to study 
 surveying by and by," Adelaide said. " I 
 know that father could employ him in the 
 West." 
 
 " Zat is one excellent idea," said Miss Prill- 
 witz. " We will see, when ze time s'all arrive." 
 
 We were all fond of the little prince. 
 After all, Miss Prillwitz had decided to let 
 him attend the botany lessons on Saturdays. 
 " If he s'all. be one surveyor in ze West," she 
 said, " he s'all have opportunity to discover 
 ze new species of flower ; he must learn all 
 ze natural science." 
 
 The prince attended the public school dur- 
 ing the week, and held his place at the head 
 of his class with ease. It was not hard to do 
 so, now that he could sleep all night. Emma 
 Jane, who had had her spasms of doubt in 
 regard to him, and had even gone so far at 
 first as to say that Miss Prillwitz was a crank, 
 and she had no faith in the boy's nobility, 
 had been won over by the boy himself, and 
 remarked one afternoon that the internal 
 evidence was convincing ; Giacomo was not 
 like common children ; he was evidently cast 
 in a finer mold; he would do honor to any
 
 1OO WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 position ; birth would tell, after all. It was 
 all that dear Milly could do not to betray 
 the secret to the little prince. He was very 
 fond of Milly, but deferential and unpresum- 
 ing, as became his apparent position. " Some 
 day our places may be reversed. You may 
 live in a beautiful home and have hosts of 
 friends," Milly said to him. " Will you 
 remember me then, Giacomo?" 
 
 " How can that ever be ?" the boy asked. 
 " You will grow up and be a fine rich lady ; 
 I will be a poor young man whom you will 
 have quite forgotten." 
 
 " Not necessarily poor," Milly hastened to 
 reply. " If you go West you may, by working 
 hard, become rich and famous. Will you for- 
 get your old friends then?" 
 
 And Jim promised that he would never, 
 never forget. Then a shade came across his 
 face. " Maybe I will, after all," he said, " for I 
 have forgotten Mary Hetterman for more than 
 a week. I did not think I could be so mean." 
 
 Adelaide and I had a conference in regard 
 to the prince. It seemed that she had recog- 
 nized him as Jim Halsey from the first. " I 
 have been wondering," she said, " whether it 
 was not a case like that of Little Lord Fauntle- 
 roy, and whether Mrs. Halsey could not be
 
 LIGHT ON THE MYSTERY. ioi 
 
 proved to be the wife of a prince, but I see 
 that cannot be the explanation of the matter ; 
 and I have concluded that Jim is her adopted 
 child. She must have taken him, when she 
 was in better circumstances, from the people 
 who brought him to this country when he 
 was a very little fellow, and so he has no 
 recollection of any other home." 
 
 " She always spoke of him as her very 
 own," I said, " and seemed fonder of him 
 than a foster-mother could be. It will be 
 very hard for her to part with him, if his 
 real relatives claim him." 
 
 " Not if he goes to high rank and great 
 estates," said Adelaide. " She probably had 
 no idea of his noble birth when she adopted 
 him ; and it just proves that bread cast upon 
 the waters returns, for he will probably care 
 for her right royally, when he comes into his 
 own, and she will find that adopting that 
 boy was the best investment she ever made 
 in her life." 
 
 Winnie came in while we were talking. 
 
 "Why didn't you tell us, Winnie," I asked, 
 " that Jim Halsey was the little prince ? " 
 
 " It did not seem necessary," Winnie re- 
 plied, looking unnecessarily alarmed, as it 
 seemed to me.
 
 IO2 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 " You pay his board directly to Miss Prill- 
 witz, I suppose ?" Adelaide said. 
 
 " No, I give it to his mother, and she sends 
 
 o 
 
 it by mail." 
 
 " Well, I don't see any harm in letting Miss 
 Prilhvitz know that we know his mother, 
 and are helping in his support." 
 
 " I do, and I wish you would not tell her 
 this," Winnie entreated. 
 
 " Just as you please," Adelaide replied, 
 " but I hate mysteries." 
 
 " So do I," said Winnie, with a deep sigh. 
 
 " What is the matter with you, any way, 
 Winnie ? " Adelaide asked. 
 
 " That is my business," Winnie replied, 
 shortly, and left the room, banging the door 
 behind her. 
 
 " Winnie isn't half as jolly as she used to 
 be," said Milly, in an injured tone. "I al- 
 ways depend on her to save me when I'm 
 not prepared for recitation. When Profes- 
 sor Todd was coming down the line in the 
 Virgil class and was only two girls away 
 from me, I made the most beseeching faces 
 at Winnie, who sits opposite, and usually 
 she is so quick to take the hint, and come to 
 the rescue by asking Professor Todd a lot 
 of questions about the sites of the ancient
 
 LIGHT ON THE MYSTJ?Y. 103 
 
 cities, and where he thinks the Hesperides 
 were situated. She gets him to talking- on 
 his pet hobbies, and he proses on like an old 
 dear, until the bell rings for change of class. 
 But this time she just stared at me in the 
 most wall-eyed manner, while I signaled 
 her in a perfect agony as he got nearer and 
 nearer. I tried to think of some question of 
 my own to ask him, and suddenly one 
 popped into my head which I thought was 
 very bright. He had just been talking about 
 ^Eneas' shipwreck, and he referred to St. 
 Paul's, with a description of the ancient 
 vessels, and how he met the same Mediter- 
 ranean storms, and I plucked up courage and 
 said, ' Professor Todd, why is it that we 
 hear so much about Virginia, and in all the 
 pictures of the shipwreck we see her stand- 
 ing on the deck of the ship, and Paul rush- 
 ing out into the surf to rescue her ? Now I 
 have read the chapter in Acts which describes 
 St. Paul's shipwreck, very carefully, and in 
 that, and in all the history of Paul, there is 
 not one word about Virginia.' 
 
 "You should have heard the girls shout; I 
 think they were just as mean as they could 
 be. That odious Cynthia Vaughn nearly 
 fell off the bench, and Professor Todd looked
 
 IO4 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 at me in such a despairing way, as though 
 he gave me up from that time forth. I just 
 burst into tears, and Winnie came over and 
 took me out of the room. She acknowl- 
 edged that it was all her fault, and that 
 she ought to have come to my rescue 
 sooner." 
 
 Poor Milly ! we could only comfort her 
 with our assurances that we loved her all 
 the more for her troubles. 
 
 Summer was approaching, and we were 
 making our plans for vacation. Milly's 
 mother had invited Adelaide to spend the 
 season with them at their cottage at Narra- 
 gansett Pier ; and Winnie's father had con- 
 sented to her spending June and July with 
 me on our Long Island farm. Winnie 
 cheered up somewhat at the prospect. " It's 
 the warm weather which makes me feel 
 muggy," she said; " I shall feel better when 
 we get out of the city 'too. Trfe noise and 
 racket distract me, and seeing so many 
 miserable people makes me miserable and 
 sick at heart." 
 
 " I don't feel so at all," I replied. " It 
 makes me happy to see how much good 
 even we can do. Mrs. Halsey would not 
 have obtained her situation with Madame
 
 LIGHT OA T THE MYSTERY. 105 
 
 Celeste but for us, or have been able to 
 place Jim with Miss Prillwitz." 
 
 Winnie winced. " Don't talk about them ; 
 I am sijk and tired of hearing about the 
 little prince. Do you know, I don't believe 
 he is a prince at all ! " 
 
 " What ! Do you imagine that this story 
 of Miss Prillwitz's is only a fabrication ? " 
 
 " Perhaps so, or at least a hallucination on 
 her part ; and even if it is all true Jim may 
 not be the boy. I wonder what proof she 
 has of his identity, or whether she has writ- 
 ten yet to his relatives. I mean to ask her 
 this very day." 
 
 But Winnie did nothing of the kind, for 
 we were surprised on arriving at Miss Prill- 
 witz's to find three new children sitting in 
 the broad window-seats. One was a thin 
 girl with crutches, whom I at once guessed 
 must be Mary Hetterman ; two chubby, 
 freckle-faced little ones sat in the sunshine 
 looking over a picture-book together, while 
 Miss Prillwitz beamed upon them. 
 
 " My tears," she said, " you see I haf some 
 more companie. Giacomo haf brought 
 these small people to spend ze day." 
 
 Jim came in a little later, and introduced 
 his friends. He was flushed and excited.
 
 io6 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 and it presently appeared that the visit was 
 a part of a deep-laid scheme of his own. 
 
 " I wanted you to know the Hettermans," 
 he said, " because they are such nice children, 
 and Rickett's Court is no place for them, for 
 the family next door have the fever, and 
 Mr. Grogan has the tremens, and scares them 
 most to death. Mrs. Hetterman gets twenty 
 dollars a month as cook now, and she says 
 she can pay a dollar a week apiece for each 
 of the children if she can board them 
 where it is healthful and decent; and you 
 young ladies were so kind as to help my 
 mother at first, and now, as she don't need it 
 any longer, maybe you would help the Het- 
 termans, and then maybe Aunty would take 
 them in. Mary is very handy, for all she's a 
 cripple, and the babies' noise is just nothing 
 but a pleasure, and " here the tears stood 
 in his eyes, and he looked at Miss Prillwitz, 
 who was frozen stiff with astonishment, with 
 piteous appealing " and I would eat just 
 as little as I could." 
 
 The good woman's voice trembled, " Take 
 ze children to play in ze park," she said ; " ze 
 young ladies and I, we talk it some over." 
 
 Mary Hetterman tied the children's hoods 
 on with cheerful alacrity. She evidently
 
 LIGHT ON THE MYSTERY. 1 07 
 
 had high hopes, while Jim threw his arms 
 around Miss Prillwitz " Aunty," he said, 
 " they deserve that you should be kind to 
 them more than 1 do." 
 
 " What reason is zere that I should take 
 them in more as all ze uzzer children in ze 
 court ? " 
 
 " Just as much reason as for you to take 
 me," replied the boy, running away. 
 
 " Bless his heart ! " said Miss Prillwitz, as he 
 closed the door ; " he knows not ze reason zat 
 draw me to him, ze cherubim. But I did 
 not know you to help his muzzer until now." 
 
 Adelaide explained matters, and the case 
 of the Hettermans was discussed, Miss 
 Prillwitz agreeing to take them in if we 
 would assist in their support. " I shall leaf 
 zem in my apartement for ze summer," she 
 said, " for it is necessaire to me zat I go ze 
 shore of ze sea, and I s'all take Giacomo 
 with me, for I cannot bear to separate myself 
 of him. Zis is so near to your school zat 
 Mrs. Hetterman can sleep her nights here. 
 But I have not decided to myself where I 
 shall repose myself for ze summer." 
 
 I spoke up quickly, referring her to Miss 
 Sartoris for the beauties of our part of Long 
 Island and for mother's low price for board.
 
 IO8 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 Miss Prillwitz was evidently pleasantly im- 
 pressed. She thought she would like to study 
 the seaweed of that part of the coast, and 
 when she heard of the lighthouse, against 
 which the birds of passage dashed them- 
 selves, and how the keeper had kept their 
 skins, waiting for some one to come that 
 way and teach him to stuff them, she was 
 quite decided in our favor. 
 
 I noticed that Winnie grew suddenly si- 
 lent. As we left the house she pinched me 
 softly. " You didn't mean any harm, Tib," 
 she said, " but if they go, it will take every 
 bit of pleasure out of my summer."
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 WINNIE'S CONFESSION. 
 
 )ILHELM KALB- 
 FLEISCH, the but- 
 cher's boy, was one 
 of the most uninteresting 
 specimens of humanity 
 that I have ever seen. 
 That any of us would ever 
 give him even a passing 
 glance seemed quite be- 
 yond the range of proba- 
 bility, and yet Wilhelm's 
 stolid, good-natured face 
 haunted Winnie's dreams 
 like a very Nemesis, and 
 came to acquire a new 
 and singular interest even 
 in my own mind. 
 We passed a little Catholic church on our 
 way to the boarding-school. 
 
 "We are early," said Winnie. "Let's go in." 
 
 109
 
 HO WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 It was Lent, and the altar was shrouded 
 in black, and only a few candles burning 
 dimly. We stood beside a carved confes- 
 sional. A muffled murmur came from the 
 interior, and the red curtains pulsated as 
 though in time to sobs. 
 
 " Let us go out," whispered Milly ; " I am 
 stifling." 
 
 She looked so white that I was really 
 afraid she was going to faint. " I feel bet- 
 ter," she gasped, when we reached the open 
 air. 
 
 " It was frightfully close," Winnie said, 
 "and the air was heavy with incense." 
 
 " It was not thai," said Milly, " it was the 
 thought of it all ; that there was a poor 
 woman in that confessional telling all her 
 sins to a priest. I never could do it in the 
 world." 
 
 " It would be a comfort to me," said Winnie, 
 fiercely. " I only wish there was some one 
 with authority, to whom I could confess my 
 sins, that I might get rid of the responsibil- 
 ity of them." 
 
 'There is," I said, before I thought; " ' He 
 hath borne our griefs and carried our sor- 
 rows.'" 
 
 Winnie gave me a -quick look. "You
 
 WINNIE'S CONFESSION. \\\ 
 
 don't usually preach, Tib," she said, and 
 burst into a merry round of stories and 
 jokes, which convulsed the other girls, but 
 did not in the least deceive me. I could see 
 that she was troubled, and was trying to 
 carry it off by riding her high horse. " Girls," 
 she said, " I want you to come around to the 
 butcher's with me. They have such funny 
 little beasts in the window. I mean to get 
 one, and the butcher's boy, Wilhelm, is such 
 a princely creature just my beau id&al I 
 want you to see him." 
 
 The funny little beasts proved to be forms 
 of head-cheese in fancy shapes. Strange 
 roosters and ducks, with plumage of gayly 
 colored sugar icing, and animals of un- 
 couth forms and colors. Winnie bought a 
 small pig with a blue nose and green tail, 
 all the while bombarding the butcher's boy, 
 who was a particularly stupid specimen, with 
 keen questions and witty sallies. He was so 
 very obtuse that he did not even see that she 
 was making sport of him. 
 
 As we hurried home to make up for our 
 little escapade, Winnie amused us all by 
 asking us how we thought Wilhelm would 
 grace a princely station. "Just imagine, for an 
 instant, that he was the lost Prince Para-
 
 112 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 diso ! What a figure he would cut in chain 
 armor, or in a court costume of velvet and 
 jewels ! Did you notice the elegance of his 
 manners and the brilliancy of his wit- ?" 
 
 " Winnie, Winnie, have you gone wild ?" 
 Adelaide asked. " Why do you make such 
 sport of the poor fellow ? He is well enough 
 where he is, I am sure." 
 
 " Is he not ?" Winnie replied, a little more 
 soberly ; " I was only thinking what a mercy 
 it is that people are so well fitted for their 
 stations in life by nature. Now, think of Jim 
 as a butcher, growing up to chop sausage- 
 meat and skewer roasts ! " 
 
 " Jim never could be a butcher," Adelaide 
 replied ; " even if Miss Prillwitz's dreams do 
 not come true, the education she is giving 
 him will do no harm. He will carve a future 
 for himself." 
 
 We went into the house, and the subject 
 was dropped. The next morning a message 
 came from Miss Prillwitz that one of the 
 Hetterman children was sick. It was the 
 fever, contracted in their old home, and we 
 were told that our botany lessons must be 
 interrupted for the present. We heard 
 through Mrs. Hetterman that the child was 
 not very sick. It was one of the chubby lit-
 
 WINNIE'S CONFESSION. 
 
 tie ones that had looked so well. She was 
 quarantined now in Jim's room, the green one 
 up under the roof, and had a trained nurse 
 to care for her. Mrs. Hetterman did not see 
 the child, but talked with her daughter Mary 
 in the basement every evening She thought 
 it was a great mercy that they had com- 
 pleted their moving before the child was 
 taken sick. This did not seem to me to be 
 exactly generous to Miss Prillwitz, but I 
 could not blame the mother for the feeling, 
 for under the careful treatment the child 
 speedily weathered the storm, and came out 
 looking only a little paler for the confine- 
 ment. We were expecting a summons to 
 return to our lessons, when Mrs. Hetterman 
 told us that Jim was sick. We were not 
 greatly alarmed, for the little girl's illness 
 had been so slight that we fancied we would 
 see our favorite about in a fortnight. 
 
 Milly sent in baskets of white grapes and 
 flowers, and Adelaide carried over a beauti- 
 ful set of photographs of Italian architec- 
 ture. " It may amuse him to look them 
 over," she said, "and it is just possible that 
 his ancestral palace figures among them." 
 
 Adelaide hoped to go to Europe as soon 
 as she graduated. " If Jim is established in
 
 114 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 his rights by that time, I shall visit him," she 
 said, " so, you see, I am only mercenary in my 
 attentions to him now." 
 
 Winnie looked up indignantly, " Then 
 you deserve to be disappointed." 
 
 Adelaide laughed merrily. " I thought 
 you knew me well enough, Winnie, to tell 
 when I am in fun. I like Jim so much, per- 
 sonally, that I would do as much for him if 
 he had no great expectations ; but I do not 
 see that there is any harm in thinking of the 
 kindnesses which he may be able to do me." 
 
 " If you don't count too surely on them. 
 Miss Prillwitz has had time to notify his rela- 
 tives, and they do not seem to take any in- 
 terest in him." 
 
 It is the unexpected that always happens. 
 That very evening Mrs. Hetterman brought 
 us this note from Miss Prillwitz. She wrote 
 better than she spoke, for on paper there was 
 no opportunity for the foreign accent to 
 betray itself : 
 
 " MY DEAR YOUNG LADIES: 
 
 " The elder brother have arrived, and I 
 fear you will have no more opportunity to 
 see little Giacomo, for I think he will take 
 him away very shortly to his father's house. 
 
 " You must not be too sorry, but think what
 
 WINNIE'S CONFESSION. 115 
 
 a so great thing this is for poor little Gia- 
 como, to be called so soon to his beautiful 
 estate ; no more poorness or trouble, in the 
 palace of the King. Giacomo desire me to 
 thank you for all you kindness to him. He 
 hope some time you will all come to him at 
 his beautiful country of everlasting spring- 
 time, and the elder brother invite you also. 
 Mrs. Halsey is here. She is much troubled. 
 She forget that Giacomo was not her very own, 
 and the pain of parting from him is great. 
 She can not rightly think of the good for- 
 tune it is to him. She wish to go with him, 
 but that is not possible for now. Giacomo 
 hope you will comfort her. He hope, too, we 
 will continue our care to the children Het- 
 terman. Come not to-night, dear young 
 ladies, to bid him farewells ; I fear you to 
 cry, and so to trouble his happiness. 
 " Your at all times loving teacher, 
 
 " CELESTINE PRILLWITZ." 
 
 " The idea of our crying, like so many 
 babies !" said Emma Jane Anton; "why, it's 
 the best thing that possibly could happen to 
 him, and I, for one, shall congratulate him 
 heartily. 
 
 " I suppose so," Milly assented, doubtfully, 
 " but I shall miss him awfully, he is such a 
 nice little fellow." 
 
 " So much the better," said Adelaide ;
 
 I 1 6 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 " how glad the prince must be to find that 
 his little brother is really presentable. As 
 Winnie was saying, ' Fancy his feelings if 
 he had found him a coarse, common crea- 
 ture like Wilhelm, the butcher's boy !' 
 And now, Winnie, what do you say to my 
 being too sure about visiting him some day ? 
 Here is the invitation from the prince him- 
 self. I wonder just where in Italy they 
 live ! " 
 
 So the girls chatted all together, but Win- 
 nie was strangely silent. 
 
 " I ought to see Miss Prillwitz at once," 
 she exclaimed, suddenly. 
 
 " It's too late, now," replied Emma Jane ; 
 " there ! the retiring-bell is ringing, and if 
 you look across the square you can see that 
 Miss Prillwitz's lights are all out ; besides, 
 she particularly requested us not to come un- 
 til morning." 
 
 " Then I must run over before breakfast," 
 said Winnie, " for it is very important." 
 
 She set a little alarm-clock for an hour ear- 
 lier than our usual waking-time ; but she was 
 unable to sleep, and her restlessness kept me 
 awake also. She tossed from side to side, 
 and moaned to herself, and at last I heard 
 her say, " Oh ! what wouldn't I give if some
 
 WINNIE'S CONFESSION. 117 
 
 one would only show me the best way out 
 of it." 
 
 "Winnie," I said, softly, " I am not asleep. 
 What is the matter ? Are you in trouble ?" 
 " Yes, Tib." 
 
 " Do you need money ?" 
 " No." 
 
 " Are you in love ? " 
 "The idea ! A thousand times no." 
 " Are you going to be expelled ? " 
 " Not unless I tell on myself ; perhaps not 
 even then. But oh, Tib, I told you I was in 
 for a scrape. I thought I could stick it 
 through, but it's worse than I thought. I 
 can't keep the secret ; I've got to tell." 
 " I would, and then you'll feel better." 
 " No, I will not, for telling will not 
 do any good. I'm not sure but it will do 
 harm." 
 
 " You poor child, what can it be ? " 
 " Just this Jim is not the prince." 
 " I don't see how you know that, or, if you 
 do, what business it is of yours." 
 
 " Because I deceived Miss Prillwitz, and 
 got Jim in there by making her think he was 
 the boy she had heard about, while the real 
 boy is somewhere else. I've got to tell her 
 before his friends take him away, and be-
 
 I 1 8 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 fore that other boy disappears from view 
 entirely." 
 
 " That is really dreadful, but if you know 
 where the true prince is, it can't be quite ir- 
 reparable. What ever made you do such a 
 thing ? and how did you manage to do it ? " 
 
 " Why, you see, I hadn't any faith in this 
 story of a lost prince at all. I thought that 
 Miss Prillwitz was just a little bit of a crank, 
 who had been imposed on by designing peo- 
 ple, and I was sure, when I saw the woman 
 at the door who came to tell Miss Prillwitz 
 that her boy had a situation and could not 
 come, that she had been in league with the 
 person who had told Miss Prillwitz about 
 the lost prince, but had backed out of the plot 
 because she was afraid. Miss Prillwitz had 
 evidently not suspected that she knew any- 
 thing of the boy's supposed expectations, for 
 she had merely promised to take him to board, 
 teach, and clothe, for whatever the mother 
 could give her, the woman having said that 
 she was going into a family as German 
 nursery governess, and agreeing to send a 
 trifle toward her boy's support whenever 
 she received her salary. It was just the 
 time that Mrs. Halsey was looking for a 
 place for Jim. It was so easy to have him
 
 WINNIE'S CONFESSION. 1 19 
 
 come at the time agreed upon and 
 take the place of the other boy. I was 
 afraid, at first, that Miss Prillwitz would be 
 surprised by the regularity of our pay- 
 ments and the amount we sent, but she 
 didn't seem to suspect anything, and she 
 is so fond of him, and he deserves it all 
 and everything worked so well up to the 
 coming of the prince." 
 
 " But, Winnie, why didn't you tell her the 
 whole story at first ? I think she would have 
 taken him, all the same, and then you would 
 not have got things into this awful mud- 
 dle." 
 
 " Indeed she would not have taken him, a 
 mere pauper out of the slums, unless she 
 had thought that he was something more. 
 She is a born aristocrat, and she never could 
 have taken Jim to her heart so if she had 
 not believed that he was of her own class 
 of her family, even. Why, even Adelaide 
 would never have seen half the fine quali- 
 ties in him which she thinks she has dis- 
 covered if she had not thought him a 
 noble ; and it has thrown a fine halo of ro- 
 mance over him for Milly ; and even Emma 
 Jane, who was hard to convince at first, is 
 firmly persuaded that he is made of a little
 
 I 20 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 finer clay .than the rest of us. And you, Tib, 
 confess that you are disappointed yourself." 
 
 " I am bitterly disappointed," I admitted; 
 " but that is nothing to the extent that Miss 
 Prillwitz will feel it. I wouldn't be in your 
 shoes, Winnie, for anything." 
 
 " I know it ; I know it. I have been 
 wicked, but I had no idea that the family 
 would ever look him up. I hardly believed 
 the story that there had been any prince lost. 
 And, Tib, if there had not been, where would 
 have been the harm in what I did ? " 
 
 " It would have been wrong, all the same, 
 Winnie, even if it had seemed to turn out 
 well. Deception is always wrong, and I did 
 not think it of you. But there, don't sob so, 
 or you will make yourself sick, and you 
 need all your wits and strength to carry you 
 through the ordeal of setting things straight 
 to-morrow. I'll stand by you. I'll go with 
 you if it will be any help." 
 
 " No, you shall not ; Miss Prillwitz might 
 think you were implicated in the affair. The 
 fault was all mine, and I will not have any one 
 else share the blame; only be on hand at the 
 door, Tib, with an ambulance to carry away 
 the remnants, for I shall be all broken into 
 smithereens by the interview."
 
 WINNIE'S CONFESSION. 121 
 
 I tried to soothe the excited girl, and 
 fancied that she had fallen asleep, when she 
 suddenly began to laugh hysterically. 
 
 " I haven't told you who the real prince 
 is," she said. "Aren't you curious to know?" 
 
 " Have I ever met him ?" 
 
 " Yes, indeed ; it's Wilhelm the butcher's 
 boy." 
 
 " Impossible ! " 
 
 " Isn't it too absurd for anything ? That 
 was the situation which his mother, or foster- 
 mother, preferred to Miss Prillwitz's care. 
 What will Adelaide say now about blue 
 blood telling even in low circumstances ? 
 There is blood enough about Wilhelm if that 
 is all that is desired. And won't that foreign 
 prince be just raving when he is introduced 
 to his long - lost brother ! But poor Miss 
 Prillwitz ! that's the worst of all. No doubt 
 she has been writing with pride and delight 
 the most glowing letters in reference to 
 Jim's fitness for his high position. How 
 chagrined and mortified the dear old lady 
 will be ! Tell me now, Tib, that things were 
 not better as I managed them." 
 
 " It does seem as if there must be a mis- 
 take somewhere. Still, the truth is the truth, 
 and I believe in telling it, even if the
 
 122 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 Heavens fall. This matter is all in the hands 
 of Providence, Winnie, and I believe you got 
 into trouble simply by thinking that you 
 knew better than Providence, and that the 
 world could not move on without you." 
 
 " I must say you are rather hard on me, 
 Tib, but perhaps you are right. Do you 
 suppose that if I hand the tangle I have 
 made right to God, he will take it from my 
 hands and straighten it out for me ? I should 
 think He would have nothing more to do 
 with it, or with me." 
 
 " That is not the way our mothers behave 
 when we get our work into a snarl." 
 
 This last remark comforted her. She laid 
 her head upon my shoulder and prayed : 
 
 " Dear Heavenly Father, I have done 
 wrong, and everything has gone wrong. 
 Help me henceforth to do right, and wilt 
 Thou make everything turn out right. For 
 thy dear Son's sake, I ask it. Amen." 
 
 Then trustfully she fell asleep, her con- 
 science relieved of a great weight, and with 
 faith in a power beyond her own.
 
 CHAPTER Vm. 
 
 THE ELDER BROTHER AND MRS. HALSEY S 
 STRANGE STORY. 
 
 OTWITHSTAND- 
 ING Winnie's pro- 
 testations to the 
 contrary, I insist- 
 ed on going with 
 her the next morn- 
 ing when she went 
 to make her con- 
 fession. 
 
 The little alarm- 
 clock made its 
 ^^ usual racket, but 
 Winnie slept 
 peacefully, and I 
 was dressed be- 
 fore I could make 
 up my mind to 
 waken her. But I knew how disappointed 
 
 she would be if she could not make her call 
 
 123
 
 I 24 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 on Miss Prillwitz before breakfast, and I 
 wakened her with a kiss, and made her a 
 cup of coffee over the gas while she was 
 dressing. Then we put on our ulsters and 
 hoods, and slipped out of the house just as 
 the rising-bell was ringing. 
 
 We knew that Miss Prillwitz was habitu- 
 ally an early riser, or we would not have 
 planned to call at such an hour, but we were 
 surprised to find a cab standing before her 
 door. 
 
 " I wonder whether the prince and Jim are 
 just about to leave," Winnie exclaimed. " I 
 did not know that any of the ocean steamers 
 sailed so early in the morning. What if 
 they have gone and we are too late ! " 
 
 Something was the matter with the door- 
 bell, and just as we were 'about to knock, 
 the door opened and a stout gentleman 
 came down the steps, and drove away in 
 the carriage. Jim was not with him, and 
 Miss Prillwitz stood inside the door. 
 
 Winnie caught her arm and asked, " Was 
 that the prince, the elder brother ? " 
 
 " No, tear," said Miss Prillwitz, gravely. 
 " Why haf you come, when I write you you 
 must not ? " 
 
 " Oh Miss Prillwitz, it was because I have
 
 MRS. HALSEY'S STRANGE STORY. 125 
 
 something so particular, so important, to tell 
 you. Do not tell me that Jim has gone, and 
 that it is too late ! " 
 
 " No, tear, Giacomo haf not gone already. 
 I think ze elder brother take him very soon, 
 and we keep our little Giacomo not one lee- 
 tie longer. Go in ze park by ze bench and 
 I vill come and talk zare wiz you." 
 
 We wondered at her unwillingness to let 
 us in, but obeyed her directions, and pres- 
 ently she came out to us with a shawl 
 thrown about her and a knitted boa outside 
 her cap. Even then she did not sit near us, 
 but on a bench at a little distance, having 
 first noted carefully that the wind blew 
 from our direction toward her. All this 
 might have seemed strange to us had we 
 not been so thoroughly absorbed in what 
 Winnie was about to say. The poor child 
 blundered into her story at once, and told it 
 in such broken fashion that Miss Prillwitz 
 never could have understood it but for my 
 explanations. When we had finished, the 
 tears stood in Miss Prillwitz's eyes. 
 
 " My tear child," she said, kindly, drawing 
 nearer to us, " how you haf suffer ! Yes, 
 you have done a sin, but you are sorry, and 
 God he forgive ze sorrowful."
 
 126 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 " But do you f orgive me, Miss Prillwitz ? " 
 Winnie cried, passionately. " Can you ever 
 love me again ? " 
 
 " Yes, my tear, I forgive you freely, and 
 I love you more as ever." 
 
 " And the elder brother and Jim ? Have 
 Jim's expectations been raised ? Will he be 
 greatly disappointed, and will the prince be 
 very angry ? " 
 
 "My tear, in all zis it is not as you have 
 t'inked. See, you haf not understand my 
 way of talk. I t'ink Giacomo will, all ze 
 same, pretty soon go to his Fazzer's house. 
 Ze elder brother is may be gone wiz him by 
 now. You have not, then, understand zat 
 dis elder brother is ze Lord Christ ? zat 
 ze beautiful country is Heaven ? Our little 
 Giacomo lie very sick. Ze doctor, whom 
 justly you did meet, he gif no hope. His 
 poor muzzer sit by him so sad, so sad, it tear 
 my heart. She cannot see he go to ze 
 palace to be one Prince del Paradiso." 
 
 We sat bolt upright, dazed and stunned 
 by this astounding information. 
 
 " Do you mean to say," Winnie said, slowly, 
 grasping her head as though laboring to con- 
 centrate her ideas, " that Jim is dying, and 
 that he is no more a prince than any of us ?
 
 MRS. HALSEY'S STRANGE STORY. 127 
 
 I mean that the other boy is not a real 
 prince, and that no child ever strayed away 
 from its father's house, or elder brother has 
 been seeking for a lost one ? Oh Miss 
 Prillwitz, how could you make up such a 
 story ? " 
 
 " My tear, my tear, it is all true, and I 
 t'ought you to understand my leetle vay of 
 talk. Giacomo is a prince in disguise ; you, 
 my tears, are daughters of ze great King. 
 Zat uzzer boy, ze butcher, he also inherit ze 
 same heavenly palace. All ze children 
 what come in zis world haf wander avay 
 from zat home, and ze elder brother he go 
 up and down looking for ze lost. He gif 
 me commission ; he gif eff ery Christians 
 commission to find zose lost prince to 
 teach him and fit him for his high position. 
 I did not have intention to deceive you, my 
 tear. It was my little vay of talk." 
 
 "Oh! oh!" exclaimed Winnie, "I feel as 
 if my brain were turning a somersault, but 
 I cannot realize it. Then I did not really 
 deceive you, after all, Miss Prillwitz, though 
 I was just as wicked in intending to do so. 
 And Jim do not say there is no hope !" 
 
 " No, my tear. I know all ze time zis was 
 not ze boy I expect. But I say to myself,
 
 I 28 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 ' How he come I know not, but he is also ze 
 child of ze King-.' Ze elder brother want 
 him to be care for also. May be ze elder 
 brother send him, and I take him very gladly. 
 And surely, I never find one child to prove 
 his title to be one Prince of Paradise better 
 as Giacomo. So gentle, so loving, so gener- 
 ous and soughtful. I not wonder at all ze 
 elder brother want him. I sank him, I sank 
 you, too, Winnie, I have privilege to know 
 one such lovely character." 
 
 Miss Prillwitz looked at her watch. " I 
 can no longer," she said quickly, and 
 hurried back to her home. We crossed the 
 park thoughtfully and entered the school. 
 There was just time to tell the girls the news 
 before chapel. The knowledge that dear 
 Jim was lying at death's door overwhelmed 
 every other consideration, and yet we talked 
 over Miss Prillwitz's little allegory also. 
 
 " We were stupid not to see through it at 
 first," said Adelaide. " She is just the 
 woman to create an ideal world for herself 
 and to live in it. I have no grudge against 
 her because we misunderstood her meaning, 
 and yet there certainly is something very 
 fine in Jim's nature." 
 
 " Now I think it all over," said Emma
 
 MRS. HALSEY'S STRANGE STORY. 
 
 129 
 
 /ane, " she has said nothing which was not 
 true." 
 
 " I understand her letter better now," I 
 said. " We have all been parts of a beauti- 
 ful parable, and we have been as thick- 
 headed as the disciples were when Jesus 
 said, ' O fools, and slow of heart to believe.' " 
 
 Milly was silently weeping. "All the 
 beauty of the idea doesn't change the fact 
 that Jim is dying," she said. 
 
 " I have never loved any one so since I lost 
 my mother and my baby brother," said 
 Adelaide. " I can't remember how he looked 
 it was ten years ago, and I have no photo- 
 graphs, only this cameo pin, which father 
 bought because it reminded him of mother. 
 Not the face either, only the turn of the 
 neck. He said she had a beautiful neck 
 and as he came home from his business at 
 night he always saw her sitting in her little 
 sewing-chair by the window looking every 
 now and then over her shoulder for him with 
 her neck turned so, and her profile clear cut 
 against the dark of the room like the two 
 colors of agate in this cameo. " 
 
 It is not natural for girls to talk freely on 
 what stirs them most deeply, and little more 
 was said on the subject that morning, but
 
 I^O WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 we each thought a great deal, and if our 
 hearts could have been laid bare to each 
 other, we would have been startled by the 
 similarity of the trains of thought which this 
 event had roused. All through the morn- 
 ing's lessons our imaginations wandered to 
 the house across the park, and we wondered 
 whether all was indeed over, and dear, 
 cheery, helpful Jim had gone. We did not 
 remember that we had declared we would 
 gladly let him go to an earthly princedom, 
 and yet this was far better for him. Our 
 imaginations saw only the white upturned 
 face upon the pillow, the grief - stricken 
 mother, and Miss Prillwitz flitting about 
 drawing the sheet straight, and placing 
 white lilacs in his hands. 
 
 Adelaide confessed to me, long after, that 
 all of her worldly thoughts in reference to 
 visiting Jim some day came back to her in a 
 strange, sermonizing way. She said that in 
 her secret heart she had rather dreaded the 
 visit because she knew so little of the 
 etiquette of foreign courts, and was afraid 
 she might make some mistake. She had 
 even studied several books on the subject, 
 and knew the sort of costume it was neces- 
 sary to wear in a royal presentation, just the
 
 MRS. HALSEY'S STRANGE STORY. 131 
 
 length of the train, the degree of decolletee, 
 and the veil, and the feathers. The thought 
 came over her with great vividness that she 
 had never studied the etiquette of Heaven 
 or attempted to provide herself with 
 garments fit for the presence of the King. 
 Mrs. Hetterman had a habit of singing 
 quaint old hymns. There was one which 
 we often heard echoing up from the base- 
 ment 
 
 " At His right hand our eyes behold 
 The queen arrayed in purest gold; 
 The world admires her heavenly dress, 
 Her robe of joy and righteousness." 
 
 This scrap was borne in upon Adelaide's 
 mind now. " A robe of joy and righteous- 
 ness," she thought to herself ; " I wonder 
 how it is made ! it surely must be becoming." 
 
 Then she thought again of her mingled 
 motives, of how glad she had been that she 
 had befriended Jim because she could claim 
 him as an acquaintance as a prince, in that 
 foreign country, and how she had wished 
 that she might entertain more traveling 
 members of the nobility in his country in 
 order to have more acquaintances at court. 
 " If the poor are Christ's brothers and sis- 
 ters," she said to herself, " I have abundant
 
 I 3 2 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 opportunity to make many friendships which 
 may be carried over into that unknown 
 country ; " and a new purpose awoke in her 
 heart, which had for its spring not the most 
 unselfish motives, but a strong one, and 
 destined to achieve good work, and to give 
 place in time to higher aims. 
 
 Afternoon came, and no message had 
 arrived from Jim. "Girls," said Adelaide, 
 as we sat in the Amen Corner, " if Jim dies, 
 I propose that we carry this sort of work on 
 of fitting poor children for something higher, 
 and broaden it, as a memorial to him. I don't 
 exactly see my way yet, but we can do a 
 good deal if we band together and try." 
 
 " Oh ! don't talk about Jim's dying," said 
 Milly, " we'll do it, anyway." 
 
 " I can't see why we don't hear from 
 Miss Prill witz," said Winnie, impatiently. 
 "It is recreation hour; let us go out into the 
 park, and perhaps she will see us and send 
 us some word." 
 
 We walked around and around the paths 
 which were in view from Miss Prillwitz's 
 windows. Presently we saw Mary Hetter- 
 man coming toward us with a note in her 
 hand. 
 
 " I know just what that note says," exclaim-
 
 MRS. HALSEY'S STRANGE STORY. 
 
 133 
 
 ed Milly, sinking upon a bench. "The little 
 prince has gone to his estates." 
 
 "Hush!" exclaimed Adelaide. "See! is 
 it a ghost ? We looked as she pointed, and 
 saw at Jim's window a perfect representa- 
 tion of Adelaide's cameo. A white face 
 against the dark interior. It vanished as 
 she spoke, leaving us all with a strange, eerie 
 sensation, a feeling that this was certainly an 
 omen of Jim's death. But our premonitions, 
 like so many others, did not come true. The 
 note was not for us. Mary Hetterman 
 passed us with a smile and a nod, and a 
 moment later Miss Prillwitz herself came 
 out to us. 
 
 We knew by her face that she brought 
 good news, but none of us spoke until she 
 answered our unuttered question. 
 
 " No, tears, Jim haf not gone. Ze prince 
 haf been here, but I sink he not take him zis 
 time already. The doctor sink we keep him 
 one leetle time longer. I cannot stay. It 
 is time I go give him his medicine, and let 
 loose ze nurse, for I care for him ze nights. 
 Good-bye, my tears. Ah ! I am so happy 
 zat ze little prince go not yet to his estates ; 
 so happy, and yet so sleepy also." And we 
 noticed for the first time the great dark rings
 
 IV ITCH \VL\'NIE. 
 
 which want of sleep and anxiety had drawn 
 around Miss Prillvvitz's eyes. 
 
 " Good-bye, princess," I cried; "surely no 
 one deserves that title more than you, for 
 you have proved yourself a royal daughter 
 of the King. We have called you so a long 
 time among ourselves our Princess del 
 Paradise." 
 
 She smiled, waved her hand, and vanished 
 into the queer house which she had made a 
 palace. 
 
 It was some time before Adelaide could 
 recover from the shock of the apparition at 
 the window, though we assured her that it 
 was probably only the trained nurse; and we 
 afterward ascertained that it was in reality 
 Mrs. Halsey, who had come to the window 
 for a moment to greet the glad new day, 
 and who was now as joyful as she had been 
 despairing. So much tension of feeling, so 
 great extremes of joy and sorrow, had affected 
 her deeply, and she wept out her gratitude 
 on Miss Prillwitz's sympathizing heart. " You 
 have been very good to him," Mrs. Halsey 
 said, with emotion. " Some time, when the 
 past all comes back to me, as I am sure it will 
 some day, I may be able to return your 
 kindness."
 
 MRS. HALSEY' S STRANGE STORY. 
 
 135 
 
 Mrs. Halsey had made several mysterious 
 allusions to the past, and Miss Prillwitz, who 
 had a kindly way of gaining the confidence of 
 everyone, said sweetly, "Tell me about 
 your early life, my tear." 
 
 " It is a strange story," Mrs. Halsey replied. 
 " I had a happy childhood and girlhood, and 
 a happy married life up to the time that my 
 dear parents died, and even after that, for 
 my husband was the best of men, and I had 
 a sweet little daughter. Their faces come 
 back to me, waking and sleeping, though I 
 have lost them, I sometimes fear, forever." 
 
 " Did they die ?" Miss Prillwitz asked. 
 
 " No, dear, I think not ; but now comes the 
 strange part of my story : I remember a 
 journey vaguely, and a steamer disaster, a 
 night of horror with fire and water, and then 
 all is a frightful blank; a curtain of black- 
 ness seems to have fallen on all my past 
 life. I am told that I was rescued from the 
 burning of a Sound steamer, with my baby- 
 boy in my arms, and given shelter by some 
 kindly farmer folk. I had received an injury 
 a blow on the head and had brain-fever, from 
 which I recovered in body, but with a dis- 
 ordered mind, my memory shattered ; I could 
 remember faces, but not names. I could -not
 
 I ^>6 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 \J 
 
 tell the name of the town in which I had lived, 
 or my own name. I remained with the kind 
 people who first received me for several 
 months, but I did not wish to be a burden to 
 them, and I hoped that I might find my home. 
 I knew that it had been in a city, and I felt 
 sure that if I ever saw any of my old sur- 
 roundings, or old friends I would recognize 
 them at once. It was thought, too, that New 
 York physicians might help me, so I came 
 to New York, and my case was advertised 
 in the papers. But months had passed since 
 the accident, and my friends either did not 
 see the advertisement, or did not recognize 
 me in the story given. The doctors at the 
 hospital pronounced me incurable, and I was 
 discharged. I wandered up and down the 
 streets, but although I felt sure that I had 
 been in New York before, I could not find 
 my home. I read the names on the signs, 
 hoping to recognize my own name, but I 
 never came across it. Meantime I took the 
 name of Halsey ; it was necessary for me to 
 live, and I knew that I could sew, and that 
 I had a faculty for designing; and seeing 
 Madame Celeste's advertisement for a de- 
 signer, I applied at once for the situation. It 
 seemed to me at first that I had seen Madame
 
 MRS. HALSEY'S STRANGE STORY. 137 
 
 Celeste before, but she was repellent in man- 
 ner, and I did not dare question her, and 
 gradually that impression faded. I hired a 
 woman to take care of Jim, and though he 
 was not well cared for, he lived, and we got 
 on until he was large enough to play upon 
 the streets. Then I took him home to the 
 little room in Rickett's Court, and finding 
 that I could not be with him as much as he 
 needed, I gave up my place at Madame Ce- 
 leste's and worked at first for the costumer, 
 where the young ladies found me, and after- 
 ward tried to keep soul and body together 
 by taking sewing home. It was the life of 
 a galley-slave, but I did not care so long as 
 I could keep my boy at school, and with me 
 out of school hours. But I could not do that, 
 for to earn the money which was absolutely 
 necessary for our support Jim had to work 
 too, and driving the milkman's cart in the 
 early morning was the best we could find for 
 him out of school hours. He was so proud 
 and happy to do it, and to help earn for us 
 both; but, as you know, it cut into his hours 
 for sleep, and left him no time to study. 
 Oh ! I was nearly in despair, when God sent 
 you as angels to my help and Jim's." 
 
 " And have you never been able to guess
 
 138 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 what your old name was ? " Miss Prillwitz 
 asked. 
 
 " Never ; sometimes it seems to me that I 
 remember it in my dreams, but when I 
 awake it is gone ; still, I cannot help feeling 
 that I shall find my own again. Sometimes 
 there comes a great inward illumination, and 
 the curtain seems to be lifting. I cannot 
 think they have forgotten me my husband 
 tender and true, and my little girl with the 
 great questioning eyes." 
 
 Miss Prillwitz did not share Mrs. Halsey's 
 confidence, but her sympathy was enlisted, 
 and she caressed and comforted Mrs. Halsey. 
 " It shall be as you hope, my tear ; if not 
 just now and here, zen surely by and by, 
 and zat is not very long. And meantime 
 you have found some friends, ze young 
 ladies and me, and ze Elder Brother have 
 found you, and we are all one family, so 
 you can be no longer lonely and wizout 
 relation, even in zis world."
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE KING S DAUGHTERS AND THE VENETIAN FETE. 
 
 " O ladies, dear ladies, the next sunny day, 
 Please trundle your noops just out of Broadway, 
 From its whirl and its bustle, its fashion and pride, 
 And the temples of trade which tower on each side, 
 To the alleys and lanes where Misfortune and Guilt 
 Their children have gathered, their city have built. 
 
 Then say, if you dare, 
 
 Spoiled children of fashion, you've nothing to wear !" 
 
 IILLY ROSE- 
 VELDT made an 
 important entry 
 in her diary a few 
 days after this. 
 She was very ex- 
 act about keeping 
 her diary, record- 
 ing- for the most 
 part, however, 
 very trivial mat- 
 ters, but the day 
 that she wrote 
 " We have or- 
 ganized a 'King's 
 Daughters Ten ' 
 was a day with a 
 white stone in it, 
 and deserved to be remembered. 
 
 139
 
 140 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 Jim had passed the crisis of the fever, and 
 recovered rapidly. Neither of the other 
 Hettermans was taken ill. The house was 
 thoroughly cleansed and disinfected, and 
 after a few weeks we took up our inter- 
 rupted botany lessons. But Jim's illness 
 had made more than a transient impression, 
 and Adelaide's suggestion that we should 
 broaden and deepen our work was talked 
 over amongst us. 
 
 " There is a society," said Emma Jane, 
 " which I have heard of somewhere, which 
 is called ' The King's Daughters.' I think 
 they have much the same idea that Miss 
 Prillwitz has expressed. It is formed of 
 separate links of ten members, bound to- 
 gether by the common purpose of doing 
 good. Now, I think, we might form such a 
 link, with Miss Prillwitz for our president. 
 There are five of us, but we need five more. 
 Whom shall we ask ?" 
 
 " Girls," said Winnie, " I'm afraid you 
 won't agree, but there is real good stuff in 
 those Hornets." 
 
 " The Hornets ! Oh, never !" 
 
 "What an idea!" 
 
 "Why, they hate us!" 
 
 " No, they simply think that we despise 
 them."
 
 THE KING' S DA UGHTERS. 141 
 
 "Well, so we do. I am sure, the way that 
 Cynthia Vaughn behaves is simply despic- 
 able." 
 
 "Perhaps so," Winnie admitted, " but the 
 other three girls are not so bad. Little 
 Breeze" that was our nickname for Tina 
 Gale " is a real good-natured girl, and a per- 
 fect genius for getting up things. When I 
 roomed in the Nest she was devoted to me; 
 so they all were, for that matter. I could 
 make them do whatever I pleased, and 
 Rosaria Ricos, the Cuban heiress, is just as 
 generous as she can be. Trude Middleton is 
 a great Sunday-school worker when she is 
 at home, and Puss Seligman's mother has a 
 longer calling ? list than Milly's, I do believe. 
 Don't you remember what a lot of tickets 
 she sold for the theatricals ? If we are 
 going to get up a charitable society we must 
 use some brains to make it succeed, and 
 those girls are a power. You know very 
 well that it is the Hornets' Nest and the 
 Amen Corner which support the literary 
 society, and when we unite on any ticket- 
 selling or other enterprise it is sure to suc- 
 ceed." 
 
 " Yes," replied Emma Jane Anton, " that is 
 because we appeal to entirely different sets
 
 142 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 of girls between us we carry the entire 
 school." 
 
 " I will take all in," said Adelaide, " except 
 Cynthia. She has been too hateful to Tib 
 and Milly for anything- !" 
 
 " Oh, don't mind me," murmured Milly; 
 " I dare say she could not help laughing 
 when I made that mistake about Paul and 
 Virginia." 
 
 " I don't believe she will join us," I said, 
 doubtfully ; " but I am sure I would a great 
 deal rather have her for a friend than an 
 enemy." 
 
 "She will be so surprised and flattered 
 that she will be as sweet as jam," said Winnie, 
 confidently. " You have no idea what a 
 lofty reputation you girls have. I used to 
 reverence and envy you until it amounted to 
 positive hatred. That is what made me be- 
 have so badly. I knew we couldn't approach 
 you in good behavior, and I determined to 
 take the lead in something. That's just the 
 way with Cynthia. She imagines that you 
 would not touch her with a ten-foot pole, and 
 she wants you to think that she doesn't care, 
 but she does." 
 
 Milly promptly furnished the wherewithal 
 for a spread, and the Hornets were invited.
 
 THE KINU S DA UGHTERS. 143 
 
 Adelaide said that they acted as if a sense 
 of gratification were struggling with a sneak- 
 ing consciousness of unworthiness, and it 
 was all that she could do not to display the 
 scorn which she was afraid she felt. But 
 Milly was as sweetly gracious as only Milly 
 knew how to be, and Winnie put them all at 
 their ease .with her rollicking good-fellow- 
 ship. I was sure that Cynthia at first sus- 
 pected some trick, but even she succumbed 
 at last to our praise of her banjo-playing, 
 which was really admirable. They melted 
 completely with the ice-cream little ducks 
 with strawberry heads and pistache wings; 
 and when Winnie told them the entire story 
 of the little prince they were greatly inter- 
 ested. 
 
 " Now," said Winnie, " I have been talk- 
 ing with Jim, and he says that the tenement 
 house in which he lived swarms with chil- 
 dren who ought not to pass the summer 
 there, who will die if they do ; and what I 
 want to propose is, that we club together 
 and have some sort of entertainment, to send 
 them to the country, or do something else 
 for them." 
 
 The proposition met with favor, as did the 
 plan for the King's Daughters society, which
 
 144 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 was organized at once, and officered as fol- 
 lows, the " spoils " being divided equally 
 between the Amen Corner and the Hor- 
 nets : 
 
 President Miss Prillwitz. 
 
 Vice-Presidents Adelaide Armstrong and 
 Gertrude Middleton. 
 
 Secretary Cynthia Vaughn. 
 
 Treasurer Emma Jane Anton. 
 
 Executive Committee The foregoing offi- 
 cers and the rest of the society. 
 
 "Little Breeze" then made a practical 
 suggestion : " You know," said she, " that 
 the literary society is always allowed to give 
 an entertainment the week before the grad- 
 uating exercises, to put the treasury in funds, 
 or, rather, to pay old debts. We have no 
 debts this year, and I am sure that the soci- 
 ety will let us have the occasion. Whatever 
 we ten favor is sure to be carried in the 
 literary society." 
 
 " That is what I said," remarked Winnie. 
 
 " So if Miss Anton will get Madame's per- 
 mission for the change, 1 have no doubt we 
 can make at least three hundred dollars." 
 
 " Nonsense ! we will make twice that," 
 said Puss Hastings." 
 
 " But what shall we have ?"
 
 THE KING'S DA UGHTERS. 145 
 
 " I know the sweetest thing," said Little 
 Breeze. " A Venetian Fete ! It is really a 
 fair, but the booths are all made to represent 
 gondolas. They are painted black, and have 
 their prows turned toward the centre of the 
 room. We can have it in the gymnasium. 
 The gondolas are canopied in different col- 
 ors and hung with bright lanterns. We must 
 all be dressed in Venetian costume, and have 
 music and some pretty dances. It will be 
 lovely !" 
 
 The fair was planned out : each girl had a 
 gondola assigned her, with permission to 
 work other girls in, and enthusiasm had 
 reached a high pitch, when the retiring-bell 
 clanged and the Hornets took their depart- 
 ure, the utmost good feeling prevailing be- 
 tween what had been until this evening rival 
 factions of the school. 
 
 After our next botany lesson we lingered 
 to inform Miss Prillwitz of what we had done, 
 and to ask her to accept the Presidency of 
 our ten. She listened with much interest. 
 
 " My tears," she said, " I sink perhaps you 
 s'all do much good. I have justly been 
 sinking, sinking ; but ze need is great. I 
 know not how we s'all come at ze money 
 which we do need."
 
 146 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 Then Miss Prillwitz explained that she had 
 visited Rickett's Court, and had found so 
 many little children in those vile surroundings; 
 some of them, whose mothers were servants 
 in families, and received good wages, were 
 " boarding " with Mrs. Grogan, the baby- 
 farmer. She had met one such mother in 
 the court a waitress on Fifth Avenue, 
 who had three children with Mrs. Grogan. 
 
 " I pay her fifteen dollars a month," she 
 said ; " it is cheaper than I can board them 
 elsewhere, and all that I can pay ; but it 
 makes my heart sick to see them sleeping 
 and playing beside sewers and sinks, and to 
 have them exposed to language of infinitely 
 worse foulness. I know that if they do not 
 die in childhood, of which there is every like- 
 lihood, they will grow up bad ; and I don't 
 know which I would choose for them. I 
 wouldn't mind slaving for them, if there was 
 any hope, if I could see them in decent sur- 
 roundings, with some prospect of their turn- 
 ing out well in fthe end ; but now, when I 
 ask myself what all my toil amounts to, it 
 seems to me that the best thing which could 
 happen to us all would be to die." 
 
 The waitress knew of other servants who 
 could have no home of their own for their
 
 THE KING'S DAUGHTERS. 
 
 147 
 
 children, but who could pay something for 
 their support, and whose maternal love and 
 feeling of independence kept them from giv- 
 ing their children up to institutions; who had 
 entrusted their little ones to bad people, who 
 hired them to beggars, beat and half starved 
 them. And now the summer was approach- 
 ing, and it was dreadful to think of those 
 
 o 7 
 
 closely packed tenement houses under the 
 stifling heat. 
 
 Miss Prillwitz said that it had seemed to 
 her positively wrong for her to go away to 
 the seashore for the summer while so many 
 must remain and suffer. 
 
 " I don't see that," said Adelaide, "unless 
 by staying you can make their condition 
 better." 
 
 " Perhaps I can so," replied Miss Prillwitz, 
 " if ze King's Daughters will help me." And 
 then she developed a plan of Jim's. He had 
 noticed the vacant floors in her house, which 
 had remained unlet all the winter. " If you 
 could rent them for the summer, Miss Prill- 
 witz," he had suggested, " we wouldn't need 
 much furniture, but could just invite a lot of 
 the children in and let them camp down. 
 The rooms are so clean, and there is such 
 lovely fresh air and no smells, and such beau-
 
 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 tiful bath-tubs, and the park for the little 
 ones to play in, and Mary Hetterman could 
 watch them." 
 
 " You forget," Miss Prillwitz had replied, 
 " zat zose children are use probably to eat 
 somet'ings." 
 
 No, Jim had not forgotten that, but Mrs. 
 Hetterman would be out of a place for the 
 summer vacation, and would cook for them, 
 and the children's mothers would pay some- 
 thing, and he would do the marketing. 
 After the public school closed the older 
 children could earn something, he thought. 
 He was all on fire with the idea, and his 
 enthusiasm had communicated itself to our 
 princess. " I haf even vent to see my land- 
 lord," she confessed; "he is von very rich 
 man. I sought maybe he let me use ze 
 rooms for ze summer, since he cannot else 
 rent them. But no, he did not so make his 
 wealths. We can have them von hundred 
 dollar ze months ; six months, five hundred. 
 We cannot else. Now do you sink you 
 make five hundred dollar from your fair ? " 
 
 " Oh, I think so ; indeed, I am sure of it !" 
 Adelaide exclaimed ; " dear little Jim, what 
 an angel he is ! We will go right to work 
 and see what we can do."
 
 THE KING 1 S DA UGHTERS. 1 49 
 
 Of course the fair was a success, as fairs 
 go. I have since thought that a fair is a 
 poor way for Christian people to give money 
 to any charitable purpose. So much goes 
 astray from the goal, so much is swallowed 
 up in the expenses, that if people would only 
 put their hands in their pockets and give at 
 the outset what they do give in the aggre- 
 gate, more would be realized, and much time, 
 vexation, and labor saved. But people do 
 not yet recognize this, and we knew no bet- 
 ter than to follow in the old way. I had 
 charge of the Art gondola, with Miss Sartoris 
 and all the Studio girls to help me. We 
 decided that, as it was a Venetian fte, we 
 would make a specialty of Italian art. Miss 
 Sartoris suggested etchings, and one of the 
 leading art dealers allowed us to make our 
 choice from his entire collection, giving 
 them to us at wholesale, as he would to any 
 other retail dealer, we to sell them at the 
 regular retail price, thereby taking no unfair 
 advantage over our purchasers, and yet 
 making a handsome profit on each etching 
 sold, while we ran no risk, as all unsold 
 stock was to be returned. 
 
 We were surprised to find how many 
 Venetian subjects had been etched. There
 
 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 were half a dozen different views of St. 
 Mark's Cathedral exteriors and interiors ; 
 San Giorgios and La Salutes ; there were 
 Rainy Nights in Venice, and Sunny Days in 
 Venice, canals and bridges, shipping and 
 palaces, piazzas and archways and clois- 
 ters. 
 
 Then we obtained a quantity of photo- 
 graphs of the Italian master-pieces, chiefly 
 from the works of Titian and the Venetian 
 school, though we included also the Madon- 
 nas of Raphael. Miss Sartoris found an 
 Italian curiosity-shop, which was a perfect 
 treasure-trove, for here we secured, on com- 
 mission, a quantity of Venetian glass beads, 
 the beautiful blossomed variety, with tiny 
 smelling-bottles of the same material, to- 
 gether with sleeve-buttons of Florentine mo- 
 saic, ornaments of pink Neapolitan coral, 
 and broken pieces of antique Roman mar- 
 bles, all of which we sold at immense profit. 
 We had not thought of having any statuary, 
 until Jim came to us, one afternoon, saying 
 that Miss Prillwitz had told him that we in- 
 tended to have an Italian fete, and as sev- 
 eral of the families whom he wished bene- 
 fited were Italians, who lived in Rickett's 
 Court, he thought they might help us.
 
 THE KINGS DAUGHTERS. 
 
 " What do they do ? " I asked. 
 
 "The older Stavini boys peddle plaster-of- 
 paris images, and some of them are very 
 pretty. Pietro will bring you a basket of 
 them, I am sure, and take back all you don't 
 sell." 
 
 The plaster casts proved to be artistic and 
 new. There was a set of five singing cherubs 
 which we had seen on sale in the stores at 
 twenty-five dollars a set, which Pietro offered 
 us at fifty cents each, and others in like pro- 
 portion. We sold his entire basketful at 
 advanced prices, and received several orders 
 for duplicates. 
 
 Winnie had charge of the refreshment 
 department, and had a troop of the " prepara- 
 tories " dressed as contadinas, who were to 
 serve Neapolitan ices in colored glasses. 
 Jim enabled her to introduce a very taking 
 novelty by telling her of Vincenzo Amati, 
 a cook in an Italian restaurant, who had three 
 motherless little girls who were candidates 
 for the summer home. Vincenzo agreed 
 to come and cook for us while the fair lasted, 
 Mrs. Hetterman kindly giving him place 
 in the kitchen, so that we were able to add 
 to our other attractions that of a real Italian 
 supper, served on little tables in an adjoining
 
 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 recitation-room. Vincenzo brought us sev- 
 eral dozen Chianti wine flasks, the empty 
 bottles at the restaurant having been one of 
 his perquisites. They were of graceful 
 shapes, with slender necks, and wound in 
 wicker, which Miss Sartoris gilded and 
 further ornamented with a bow of bright 
 satin ribbon. These flasks, empty, decorated 
 each of the little tables, and one was given 
 to each guest as a souvenir. 
 The menu consisted of 
 
 Riso con piselli, ) , 
 
 , T . Z 'I (Soup). 
 
 Mmestra Zuppa, j v 
 
 Oiives. 
 
 Bistecca (Beefsteak). 
 
 Macaroni al burro (with butter). 
 
 Macaroni a pomidoro (with potatoes). 
 
 Testa de vitello (Calf's head). 
 
 Carciofi (Artichokes). 
 
 Cavolifiori (Cauliflower). 
 
 Salami di Bologna (Bologna Sausage). 
 
 Crostata di frutti (Fruit tarts). 
 
 Formaggio (Cheese). 
 
 Adelaide was musical director, and led the 
 singing class in " Dolce Napoli " and other 
 Italian songs. The girls were dressed in 
 costume, and there was one fisher chorus, 
 which made a very effective tableau with a 
 background of colored sails and nets. Vin-
 
 THE KING* S DA UGHTERS. 153 
 
 cenzo allowed his little girls to appear with 
 a neighbor's hand - organ, and when they 
 passed their tambourines they gathered a 
 goodly harvest of pennies. 
 
 Little Breeze arranged the tableaux and 
 the dances, Mrs. Halsey sending in designs 
 for the costumes ; and Cynthia Vaughn ran 
 a side show of stereopticon views, Professor 
 Todd kindly working the lantern. 
 
 Milly had the flower gondola, or booth of 
 cut flowers, supplied from her father's conser- 
 vatory, and Miss Prillwitz contributed to this 
 department a quantity of little albums and 
 herbaria containing pressed flowers and sea- 
 weed from different Italian cities. Our dear 
 princess was present, beaming with happi- 
 ness, and the " ten " introduced her proud- 
 ly to their parents and friends. Mr. Roseveldt 
 seemed much interested, in an amused way, 
 in what we were trying to do. " Go ahead, 
 my dear," he said to Milly, "and if you don't 
 come to me to shoulder a lot of bad debts 
 before the summer is over, I shall be greatly 
 surprised, and have a far higher respect for 
 what little girls can do than I now possess." 
 
 " ' Little girls,' indeed!" Milly repeated, with 
 scorn. " There are younger gentlemen, sir, 
 who consider us young ladies, if you do not.
 
 154 
 
 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 But we will compel your respect, and we 
 will not ask you for one penny either." 
 
 This was rather hard, for we had secretly 
 hoped, all along, that Milly's father would 
 help us, and now she had made it a point of 
 pride not to ask him. He behaved very well, 
 however, for although he bantered us cruelly 
 on our Utopian enterprise, he bought a but- 
 ton - hole bouquet of his own violets from 
 Milly, paying a five-dollar bill for it and 
 neglecting to ask for change, and then took 
 Miss Prillwitz, Madame, Emma Jane Anton, 
 Miss vSartoris, and Miss Hope successively out 
 to supper. He purchased, too, an alabaster 
 model of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which 
 Madame had contributed on condition that it 
 should be sold for not less than twenty dollars, 
 and which we had feared would not be dispos- 
 ed of, as we had voted that there should be no 
 raffling. Madame was greatly interested in 
 the fair ; it drew attention to her school, and 
 she smiled on everyone a self-constituted 
 reception committee. She was even gracious 
 to the cadet band which had serenaded the 
 school in the fall term. The cadets to a man 
 invited Milly out to dinner. She went with 
 each of them in succession, and as the viands 
 were sold a la carte, she bravely ordered the
 
 THE KING'' S DA UGHTERS. 155 
 
 more expensive dishes over and over again, 
 enduring a martyrdom of dyspepsia for a 
 week in consequence. 
 
 Of course Jim was present, and his mother. 
 Adelaide was attentive to both; there seemed 
 to be a mutual attraction that kept them to- 
 gether, and whenever Adelaide left Mrs. 
 Halsey, and taking up her baton (Milly's 
 curling-stick), led her ochestra, Mrs. Halsey 's 
 eyes followed her with a strange wistfulness. 
 Winnie, with her usual heedlessness, had 
 neo-lected to introduce Adelaide to Mrs. 
 
 o 
 
 Halsey when she called on her in the court, 
 and she now turned to Jim and asked her 
 name. It happened that Jim thought that 
 she referred to the pianist instead of to 
 Adelaide, and he replied that the young 
 lady in question was Miss Hope, the music- 
 teacher. Mrs. Halsey gave a little sigh of 
 disappointment, and continued her spell- 
 bound gaze. I was about to correct the mis- 
 take which I was sure Jim had made, when 
 it was announced that Mrs. Le Moyne, the 
 celebrated interpreter of Robert Browning, 
 would kindly recite a poem of Mrs. Brown- 
 ing's. Mrs. Halsey and Jim moved nearer 
 the rostrum, and my opportunity for ex- 
 planation was lost. If I had known the
 
 156 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 effect that the name of Adelaide Armstrong 
 would have had upon Mrs. Halsey, chains 
 could not have kept me in my gondola so 
 many invisible gates of opportunity are 
 closed and opened to us all along life's path- 
 way! 
 
 The poem recited was, most appropriately, 
 "The Cry of the Children." Tears welled 
 into the eyes of many a mother as the 
 practiced art of the speaker rendered most 
 feelingly the pathetic words : 
 
 " But these others children small, 
 
 Spilt like blots about the city 
 
 Quay and street and palace wall 
 
 Take them up into your pity ! 
 
 Patient children think what pain 
 Makes a young child patient yonder ; 
 
 Wronged too commonly to strain 
 After right, or wish or wonder; 
 
 Sickly children, that whine low 
 
 To themselves and not their mothers, 
 
 From mere habit, never so 
 
 Hoping help or care from others; 
 
 Healthy children, with those blue 
 English eyes, fresh from their Maker, 
 
 Fierce and ravenous, staring through 
 At the brown loaves of the baker.
 
 THE KING' S DA UGHTERS. 157 
 
 Can we smooth down the bright hair, 
 O my sisters, calm, unthrilled in 
 
 Our hearts' pulses ? Can we bear 
 The sweet looks of our own children? 
 
 O my sisters ! Children small, 
 
 Blue-eyed, wailing through the city 
 
 Our own babes cry in them all; 
 Let us take them into pity !" 
 
 That poem was worth a great deal to our 
 cause. Those of the mothers of our Ten 
 who were present were won to us at once. 
 
 Mrs. Middleton, our vice - president's 
 mother, and the wife of a clergyman, entered 
 into our scheme with enthusiasm, and felt 
 sure that her husband's church would as- 
 sist us. 
 
 Mrs. Seligman and Mrs. Roseveldt put 
 their heads together and planned to interest 
 their society friends. One of hers. Mrs. 
 Roseveldt was sure, would contribute the 
 coal, and another the flour, while Mrs. 
 Seligman would provide the blankets, and a 
 friend of her acquaintance would certainly 
 assume the butcher's bill. Madame Celeste, 
 the dressmaker, who was present, was about 
 to refurnish her parlors, and would con- 
 tribute curtains. Madame Celeste bought a 
 quantity of my photographs of old Italian
 
 158 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 portraits, and I have no doubt that they were 
 very serviceable to her in the way of sug- 
 gestions for aesthetic costumes. 
 
 We knew before the evening closed that 
 the fair must have realized more than we 
 had hoped, and Emma Jane, the Treasurer of 
 the new society, announced at our next 
 meeting that the fair had cleared six hun- 
 dred dollars. Vociferous applause followed, 
 and we immediately adjourned to Miss Prill- 
 witz's to report the unexpectedly happy result. 
 
 Our princess had talked over the scheme 
 with such of our mothers as were present at 
 the fair; and she now advised that we create 
 them a board of managers of the proposed 
 Home, to carry it on for us, as we were all 
 minors, and lacked the necessary experience, 
 we to labor for it harder than ever. This 
 was immediately done, and after this, affairs 
 marched with great rapidity. The Home 
 of the Elder Brother was licensed and fitted 
 up for its little guests within a week. The 
 vacant floors in Miss Prillwitz's house were 
 rented not for the summer only, as we had 
 at first planned, but, to our great surprise, for 
 a year. An " unknown friend," who had 
 admired our efforts, sent in a subscription of 
 nine hundred dollars, thereby more than
 
 THE ICING'S DAUGHTERS. 
 
 doubling the amount obtained by the fair, 
 and guaranteeing that amount annually as 
 long as the Home was continued. 
 
 Mr. Roseveldt had been better than his 
 word, and the Home was placed on an 
 assured basis for a year. What it would 
 be after that we could not tell. It was only 
 permitted to see one step ahead, but that 
 step we could take with thankful assurance. 
 
 Madame sent over a quantity of furniture, 
 as she intended to refit the students' rooms 
 during the summer vacation. Donations of 
 every kind poured in, and twenty-five little 
 iron bedsteads were dressed in white, and 
 set in the sunny rooms which were to be used 
 as dormitories. Madame Celeste had said 
 that she would not require Mrs. Halsey dur- 
 ing the three summer months, and the little 
 woman offered her services for that interim 
 as nursery care-taker. 
 
 Another surprise came when Emma Jane 
 Anton announced that she had written home 
 and obtained permission to remain as ma- 
 tron. She had a talent for housekeeping, and 
 she gave her services freely. " I am not 
 rich," she said. " I can't give money, but I 
 can give myself. I am not used to children ; 
 I don't believe they will like me, for I don't
 
 l6o WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 care for them overmuch ; but Mrs. Halsey 
 will mother them, and I can keep the house 
 sweet and clean ; I can market economically, 
 and keep accounts exactly, and I mean that 
 the princess shall not give up her visit to 
 Tib. She must go to the country for a part 
 of the summer at least." 
 
 " And when she comes back," I said, " you 
 must take your turn, Emma Jane ; we will be 
 so glad to have you !" 
 
 " Oh, immensely ! I am a genial, sweet 
 creature, I know, an addition to society; but 
 I thank you, all the same, and if I feel run 
 down, I will come and get a sniff of sea air." 
 
 The King's Daughters' Ten held their last 
 meeting before the breaking up of the 
 school. The money gained was entrusted to 
 Emma Jane's care for the summer, and each 
 of the members bound herself to carry the 
 scheme \vith her wherever she went, to 
 interest others, to gather and forward funds, 
 and to work for the Home in every possible 
 way. 
 
 Then we paid our last visit, for that term, 
 to Miss Prillwitz, and our first to our little 
 guests, and returning, packed our trunks, 
 attended the graduating exercises of the 
 senior class (the Amen Corner and the
 
 THE KING 1 S DAUGHTERS. i6l 
 
 Hornets were all juniors and sophomores, 
 with the exception of Emma Jane, who 
 graduated), hugged and wept over each other, 
 and elected Winnie corresponding secretary 
 for the summer, and promised to write to 
 her every month, reporting work done for the 
 Home, and separated with mingled hilarity 
 and depression of spirits. 
 
 Mr. Roseveldt called at the Home with 
 Milly and Adelaide before they left town. It 
 was a little plan of the girls to interest him 
 in Jim, and it succeeded admirably. After 
 a number of other questions, Mr. Roseveldt 
 asked Jim if he could drive. 
 
 " I managed the milkman's nag," the boy 
 replied, " and he was an awfully hard- 
 mouthed, ugly brute." 
 
 " Then I fancy you will have no trouble 
 with Milly's pony, which is as gentle as a 
 kitten," Mr. Roseveldt replied. "I want a 
 boy in buttons just to sit in the rumble while 
 the girls drive about the country." And so 
 Jim was engaged to go to Narragansett Pier, 
 and would have a happy summer with Milly 
 and Adelaide.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE LANDLORD OF RICKETT's COURT. 
 
 " And yet it was never in my soul 
 
 To play so ill a part : 
 But evil is wrought by want of thought 
 As well as by want of heart." 
 
 Thos. Hood. 
 
 OLOMON MEY- 
 ER, who collect- 
 ed the rents at 
 Rickett's Court, 
 was looked upon 
 by the tenants 
 as the landlord, 
 though he dis- 
 tinctly disclaim- 
 ed that honor, 
 explaining that 
 he was only the 
 agent, empower- 
 ed merely to 
 receive money, 
 never to disburse. According to Mr. Meyer
 
 LANDLORD OF RICKETT'S COURT. 163 
 
 the landlord was a heartless miser, whom 
 he had entreated to make repairs and to 
 lower rents, but who always turned a deaf 
 ear to such appeals. If he, Solomon Meyer, 
 only owned Rickett's Court, there would be 
 no end to the reforms which his tender 
 heart would cause him to institute ; as it 
 was, there was no hope for anything of the 
 kind ; his orders were explicit if tenants 
 could not pay, they must leave. 
 
 Many of the tenants believed that Mr. 
 Meyer was really the owner of their build- 
 ing, and that the landlord whom he repre- 
 sented as responsible for all their discom- 
 fort was purely imaginary, but in this they 
 wronged the agent. Solomon Meyer had 
 no scruples against telling a lie whenever 
 it would serve his purpose, but here the 
 truth did very well. Rickett's Court had a 
 landlord who, although he was not the in- 
 human wretch which Solomon represented 
 him, still cared nothing for his tenants, and, 
 while the agent had never suggested any 
 reforms or repairs, might well have guessed 
 that they were needed. Adelaide Arm- 
 strong would have been shocked beyond 
 expression if she had known that the true 
 landlord of Rickett's Court was no other
 
 1 64 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 than her own father. Mr. Armstrong would 
 have been no less shocked if he had known 
 of the abuses for which he was really respon- 
 sible. He had never seen his own property. 
 It had been represented to him as a profit- 
 able investment, and had proved so. He 
 was only in New York for brief intervals 
 each year, and he left the entire manage- 
 ment of Rickett's Court to Solomon Meyer, 
 well pleased with the returns which he ren- 
 dered, and not suspecting that they were 
 less than the sums wrung from the tenants. 
 He had mentally set aside Rickett's Court 
 as Adelaide's property, and he used its 
 proceeds to defray her expenses. There 
 was a neat little surplus left over each 
 quarter-day, which he placed in the savings 
 bank to her credit, and with which he in- 
 tended to endow her on her marriage. But 
 of all this Adelaide of course knew nothing. 
 Mr. Armstrong's more important business 
 ventures were in western railroad specula- 
 tions. These absorbed his attention, and 
 needed the closest application of his facul- 
 ties. He was glad of this. The East had 
 grown distasteful to him since the loss of his 
 wife and infant son. He felt that he might 
 have been a different man if his wife, whom
 
 LANDLORD OF RICKETT'S COURT. 165 
 
 he tenderly loved, had lived; and Adelaide 
 had never ceased to mourn her mother, 
 whom she could not remember. " What 
 shall I ever do," she frequently asked, 
 " when I finish school ? If I only had a 
 mother to be my companion and counselor \ 
 but I shall be so lonely, and so unfit to take 
 care of myself!" 
 
 The circumstances which I relate in this 
 chapter because they belong here in sequence 
 of time, did not come to my knowledge un- 
 til long after their occurrence. 
 
 Mr. Armstrong came on from the West 
 the evening of our fair. He was weary and 
 much occupied by matters of business, and 
 he did not attend it, much to our regret. 
 He lent a kindly ear to Adelaide's descrip- 
 tion of it, for he was fond and proud of his 
 beautiful daughter, and he liked to see her 
 a leader in everything. 
 
 He manifested apparently little interest, 
 however, in what she had to tell him of 
 Rickett's Court. "There, there, Puss!" he 
 said, lightly, " you must not get fanatical, 
 and rant. I hardly think things are as bad 
 down there as you make them out." 
 
 " But, papa," Adelaide interrupted, " I 
 went there myself. I saw it with my own
 
 1 66 WITCH WIXNIE. 
 
 eyes. It is horrible to think that human 
 beings should be obliged to live in such filth 
 and misery. I think the landlord of Rick- 
 ett's Court ought to be prosecuted. I wish 
 I knew that old Rickett ! I would give him 
 a piece of my mind." 
 
 "I've no doubt of it; but spare me, Puss, 
 since my name is not Rickett." 
 
 He must have felt a sharp twinge of con- 
 science as he spoke, while his daughter's 
 words could not have failed to make an im- 
 pression on the false Rickett. He had read 
 in the cars a little book entitled " Uncle Tom's 
 Tenement," by Alice Wellington Rollins, and 
 Helen Campbell's "Prisoners of Poverty." He 
 wondered if their pictures of tenement life 
 were indeed true. A few days later he 
 listened to some remarks of Mr. Felix 
 Adler's on tenement reform. He knew what 
 Mr. Charles Pratt was doing in Brooklyn, 
 and his better man told him that now was 
 his opportunity. Why should he not put 
 the plumbing in his tenement in decent re- 
 pair ; it might not cost much more, after all, 
 than to bribe the inspector to report it as all 
 right a proceeding which Solomon Meyer 
 advised. He could at least drain the sink 
 in the court, and do away with the unchris-
 
 LANDLORD OF R1CKETT* S COURT. 
 
 tian smells which now drove the chance 
 visitor from the vicinity. And if he should 
 have the rooms cleaned and whitewashed, he 
 might even pose before the public as a 
 humanitarian landlord, and so gain the co- 
 operation of some of the philanthropists of 
 the day for some other schemes which he 
 had in mind. 
 
 He visited the court with a plumber, and 
 found it in worse condition than he had 
 imagined. There was a leak from the sewer 
 in the back basement. All of the rooms 
 were foul with vermin, and rats scuttled back 
 into the walls through great holes. Many 
 of the tenants had left, for various reasons. 
 The opening of the Home of the Elder 
 Brother was in great part responsible for the 
 emptying of Rickett's Court, for the better 
 class of its tenants had embraced this 
 great opportunity to place their children 
 in good surroundings. So many children 
 had been transferred from Mrs. Grogan's 
 care to the Home by their mothers that 
 Mrs. Grogan, finding her occupation gone, 
 betook herself to petty larceny and was 
 arrested. 
 
 The Italian rag-pickers had taken to the 
 road, with a monkey and an organ as tramps
 
 1 68 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 for the summer, leaving their filth behind 
 them. 
 
 Mr. Armstrong looked into their vacated 
 den, and found it impossible to imagine what 
 it could have been when occupied. 
 
 The windows had been stoned by the 
 street boys until hardly a pane remained, 
 and the staircase had rotted so that he 
 thrust his foot through it. The house would 
 need plastering and glazing as well as re- 
 plumbing. It began to look like a great un- 
 dertaking. However, he bade the plumber 
 make and send him his estimates, and hurried 
 out of the court, not taking a full breath un- 
 til he was fairly on Broadway. Then he 
 sent a mason and a carpenter to look at the 
 building. " I must make some repairs," he 
 said to himself, " or I shall get no tenants 
 whatever." 
 
 He had noticed another defect : there was 
 but one staircase. He must add a fire-escape, 
 for the place was a death-trap. He had a 
 feeling of responsibility in regard to en- 
 dangering the lives of human beings by fire, 
 and he was trying to invent a scheme for 
 heating and lighting railroad cars in such a 
 manner as to do away with the danger of 
 fire in case of accident. So far, the full com-
 
 LANDLORD OF RICKETT'S COURT. 169 
 
 pletion of the invention escaped him, but he 
 worked at it by night and day, not so much 
 because it would be an immense boon to the 
 age, but because he was sure that, if intro- 
 duced only on his own railroad, it would 
 boom the line above a rival route, and if 
 patented, would make his fortune. Solomon 
 Meyer, in enumerating the tenants of the 
 court, had mentioned a Mr. Trimble, a poor 
 inventor, who occupied the back attic, whom 
 it would be well to turn out, as he had paid 
 no rent for some time, though he had 
 promised well, saying that he had just in- 
 vented a scheme for the safe heating of cars, 
 from which he hoped to realize a large sum. 
 Mr. Armstrong thoughtlessly displayed be- 
 fore his agent the interest which he felt. 
 " Bring the man to me," he exclaimed; "if 
 he has really worked out the problem, it is 
 just what I want." 
 
 The agent at once paid a visit to the poor 
 inventor and possessed himself of his plans 
 and model, promising to do his best for him. 
 
 Mr. Armstrong saw at a glance that the in- 
 ventor had compassed just what had baffled 
 him so long. 
 
 " What will he take for this invention ? " 
 he asked, eagerly.
 
 I 70 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 11 Not one cent less as five t'ousand dollar," 
 replied Mr. Meyer. 
 
 "That is a good round sum," remarked 
 Mr. Armstrong, " but the right to it is worth 
 more than that to me. Arrange the papers 
 for me, get the gentleman to sign them, give 
 him this check for a thousand dollars, and 
 I will send him another, soon, for four 
 thousand." 
 
 Mr. Meyer saw his opportunity here. He 
 returned to Mr. Trimble, assured him that 
 his contrivance had been anticipated and 
 already patented by another man: he was 
 too late. The poor man's disappointment 
 was intense ; his head and hands trembled. 
 
 " I thank you for trying for me," he said ; 
 "there is nothing for me now but the river. 
 I have occupied this room in the hope of 
 paying my rent when I realized from that 
 invention, but I have no longer any expecta- 
 tions, and I had better go and drown myself." 
 
 Then for the first time Mr. Meyer realized 
 that there was another person in the room. 
 Jim had come down to the court to see his 
 old friends, and had dropped in to inquire 
 after Mr. Trimble's son, a merry little fellow 
 who had been a playmate of his in the old 
 days. Jim had retreated into a corner when
 
 LANDLORD OF RICKETS S COURT, 171 
 
 the agent called, but he now sprang forward 
 and threw his arms around the poor inventor's 
 neck. 
 
 " No, no ! " he cried ; " Mr. Meyer will beg 
 Mr. Rickett to let you stay until the first of 
 the month, and something may turn up by 
 that time." 
 
 Some sense of shame prompted Solomon 
 Meyer to yield to this request, though in his 
 secret heart he knew that his own plans 
 could be more safely carried out if his victim 
 did drown himself; and the sooner the better. 
 Then he hurried away to collect rents of the 
 new tenants, with the money which Mr. 
 Armstrong had sent Stephen Trimble burn- 
 ing like a coal in his pocket. 
 
 The contract for the new invention was 
 returned to Mr. Armstrong at the same time 
 with the estimates of the different mechanics 
 for the improvements of Rickett's Court. It 
 would cost three thousand dollars to put the 
 tenement in decent repair, and this did not 
 include the fire - escape. Mr. Armstrong 
 whistled as he added up the items. It was 
 really not convenient for him to place his 
 hand on so much ready cash ; certainly not 
 without using the money which he had 
 placed in the savings bank to Adelaide's
 
 172 wire if WINNIE. 
 
 credit. Mr. Meyer stood cringing 1 before 
 him, and Mr. Armstrong explained the situa- 
 tion. 
 
 The agent promptly disapproved of the 
 improvements. They would be a great 
 waste of monev. No one would rent the 
 
 / 
 
 tenements after they were repaired, for it 
 would be necessary to charge a higher rent, 
 and tenants able to pay it, or desiring bath- 
 rooms and sanitary plumbing, would not 
 occupy such a quarter of the city. 
 
 " But suppose I do not charge any more 
 rent, but simply try to educate my old ten- 
 ants to better habits of life ? " 
 
 Mr. Meyer explained that Mr. Armstrong 
 could throw away his money in that way if 
 he wished, but that the class of tenants who 
 patronized Rickett's Court could not be 
 educated. They preferred filth to cleanli- 
 ness, and, however respectable their quarters 
 were made, would soon convert them into 
 sinks again. 
 
 Mr. Armstrong reminded his agent that 
 his best tenants had left him, that the house 
 was practically deserted, and that something 
 must be done to attract new occupants. 
 
 Mr. Meyer assured him that applications 
 had already been received for the rooms in
 
 LANDLORD OF RICKETT'S COURT. \ 73 
 
 their present state. A'ship-load of emigrants 
 had just arrived : Polish Jews and exiled 
 Russians, who had been imprisoned as Nihi- 
 lists, and who had suffered such barbarities 
 that Rickett's Court, horrible as it was, seem- 
 ed positively comfortable to them." 
 
 Mr. Armstrong- hesitated. He did not 
 like to give up his scheme of renovation ; 
 still, there were the papers waiting for his 
 signature for the transfer of the invention, 
 and this he had decided he must have ; it was 
 sure to bring in a great deal of money, and 
 another year he could much better afford 
 to make these improvements. He decided, 
 reluctantly, that he would put them off for 
 the present. 
 
 " I will have a fire-escape put up," he said 
 to his agent, " and we will do the rest as 
 soon as possible." 
 
 Solomon Meyer shrugged his shoulders. 
 "There is no danger of fire," he said, " and 
 I was about to propose that you take out a 
 fire insurance policy on that building ; that 
 cost about the same, and much more sensible." 
 
 Mr. Armstrong thought a moment. "If 
 the danger of fire is sufficient to warrant me 
 in insuring, it is also great enough to make 
 furnishing the fire-escape an imperative
 
 I 74 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 duty. I insist on your seeing that one is 
 ad justed "immediately. You may also take 
 out an insurance policy for twenty thou- 
 sand. See if Mr. Trimble can wait for the 
 rest of his money until the first of the month. 
 (The agent's face fell.) You have given him 
 my check for one thousand ; he ought to be 
 willing to wait a few days for the rest. If 
 he is not satisfied, tell him to come down 
 and see me, and we'll come to some agree- 
 ment." 
 
 This was exactly what Solomon Meyer 
 did not wish. " I will try my best to make 
 him sign the papers on those terms," he said, 
 and carried them away to his own den, 
 where he forged the name of Stephen Trim- 
 ble to both contract and check. He found 
 no difficulty in cashing the check, for Mr. 
 Armstrong's name was well known, though 
 Stephen Trimble's was not. 
 
 And in the mean time the poor inventor 
 sat in his garret trying to think. His wife 
 was in the hospital, and his little son busied 
 himself with washing the supper dishes. It 
 was not a heavy task, for their supper had 
 consisted only of some cold griddle-cakes 
 which the flap-jack man had given them. 
 When the boy had finished his work he
 
 LANDLORD OF RICKETT'S COURT. 
 
 crept close to his father and laid his head on 
 his knee. 
 
 " Why don't you light the lamp?" Mr. 
 Trimble asked, rousing himself. 
 
 "There isn't any oil, daddy." 
 
 " No matter. I can think better in the 
 dark, and you had better go to bed." 
 
 " I am going out pretty soon to help the 
 flap-jack man wheel his cart." 
 
 " Very well, Lovey, if he is a good man ; I 
 don't want you to do anything wrong." 
 
 " He's good to me, daddy." 
 
 " I'm glad of that ; you need a friend, and 
 you may need one more." He kissed his 
 little boy as he went out an unwonted ac- 
 tion on the father's part and waited until he 
 was sure that the child had left the building, 
 then rose, with a desperate look upon his 
 face, and stepped out on the landing. The 
 house was very full now ; people had been 
 coming for two days past with great bales 
 of foul clothing, offensive with odors of the 
 steerage, and had packed into the already 
 dirty rooms. It was an unusually warm night 
 for spring, and the house was unbearably 
 close. The tenants had resorted to the 
 roof, and were sitting under the stars, try- 
 ing in vain to find fresh air, and screaming
 
 I 76 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 and scolding 1 at one another in a strange, 
 harsh language. 
 
 Stephen Trimble was about to descend 
 the staircase, when two men of unpleasant 
 aspect stopped hirn. 
 
 " You are the machinist who lives on the 
 top floor ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Have you time for a little job ?" 
 
 "Plenty of time. Thank God! "he ad- 
 ded, mentally, "who has sent me help in 
 time." 
 
 ' Then come down-stairs with us : we are 
 your neighbors, and are just under you." 
 
 " What do you want me to do ? " 
 
 " We'll show you." 
 
 The men admitted him to their room, 
 and carefully locked the door behind them. 
 One of them struck a light, and in s" doing 
 dropped a match upon the floor. The other 
 sprang upon it quickly, ground it out with 
 his heel, and cursed him for his careless- 
 ness. Stephen Trimble looked about him, 
 and saw that one end of the room was 
 piled with boxes and tin cans, one of which 
 was open, showing a compound slightly 
 resembling- maple sugar. A table stood 
 before the low window, and on it was appa-
 
 LANDLORD OF RICKETT'S COURT. 
 
 ratus or machinery of some sort. The first 
 man placed his candle on the table, and 
 drew up a packing-box for Mr. Trimble to 
 sit upon. There was no other furniture in 
 the room. 
 
 " You do not live here ?" said the inventor. 
 
 "No," replied the first man, who consti- 
 tuted himself the spokesman for both ; " it 
 isn't a sweet place to live in. We hire it as 
 a workshop. You see, we are perfecting a 
 sort of torpedo. You've heard of the sub- 
 marine torpedoes that did such good service 
 in blowing up the Turkish ships in the Russo- 
 Turkish war ? " 
 
 " Oh yes," replied Stephen Trimble, much 
 interested. " I thought that stuff looked 
 like dynamite! So you are inventing a new 
 torpedo, which you mean to sell the Govern- 
 ment ? That's a good idea. They are think- 
 ing of increasing the navy, and it's always 
 better to deal with the Government than 
 with private individuals." 
 
 The silent man nudged his partner and 
 remarked, "Yes, we're agoin' to deal with 
 the Government. That's a good way to put 
 it." 
 
 The other man made an impatient gesture, 
 and proceeded to explain a small machine to 
 
 12
 
 I 78 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 Mr. Trimble. " You don't exactly under- 
 stand my friend," he said, "but no matter. 
 This kind of a torpedo isn't of the sub- 
 marine kind; we pack the explosives here, 
 matches here, friction paper just beside them; 
 but just here we are stuck, and we need you 
 or some other mechanic to show us how the 
 thing can be set off by electricity, the opera- 
 tor to touch a button at a distance." 
 
 Mr. Trimble bent himself to an examina- 
 tion of the contrivance. He asked several 
 questions, and as his scrutiny continued, his 
 expression of satisfaction changed to one of 
 mistrust and alarm. Suddenly he sprang 
 from his seat and pushed the model from 
 him. "That is an infernal -machine !" he 
 exclaimed. 
 
 " That's about the long and the short of 
 it," said the man, calmly. 
 
 " Then I will have nothing to do with it," 
 and he turned toward the door. 
 
 " Hold on, my friend, ain't you a trifle in a 
 hurry ? All we want you to do is to fix that 
 attachment for us, and if you won't do it 
 some other man will, but we're willing to pay 
 you a hundred dollars for the job. That's a 
 goodish sum to pay, if the job is a little queer, 
 but I take it you're used to doing queer
 
 LANDLORD OF RICKETT'S COURT. \ Jg 
 
 things by the big 1 checks that pass through 
 your hands." 
 
 " What do you mean ?" Stephen Trimble 
 asked, with some indignation. 
 
 " Oh ! you needn't pretend innocence and 
 poverty. A man doesn't scatter round 
 thousand-dollar checks who's as poor as you 
 pretend to be, or as good, either." 
 
 " Tell me what you mean." 
 
 " Now don't tell us you know nothing of 
 a check for a thousand dollars which we 
 happened to see in the pocket-book of the 
 agent of this building when he dropped in 
 here to collect the rent." 
 
 "I never saw a check for a thousand dol- 
 lars in my life." 
 
 " If you don't believe me, ask that sharp 
 little boy of yours. It was he who first let 
 me know there was a scientific man in the 
 building. He saw me unpacking my ma- 
 chine. I happened to leave the door open 
 just a minute. I never saw such a sharp little 
 fellow. In he comes and says, ' My father 
 makes machines too. He's going to make 
 us awful rich some day.' 
 
 " After that he got in the way of knock- 
 ing at the door and asking to see my ma- 
 chinery. I thought it would be a good idea
 
 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 to let him, for he is too little to suspect any- 
 thing, and I could stuff him with the idea 
 that I was making- a new kind of telegraph, 
 for I was pretty sure that he would tell it 
 around, and that people would believe it and 
 think there couldn't be anything shady in 
 what I was doing if I let anybody and every- 
 body have the freedom of the room. 
 
 " Well, the day I'm speaking of, your little 
 chap was sitting there turning the crank of 
 that machine just as cheerful as if it 
 wouldn't have blown him to kingdom come 
 if the attachment had only been on, when 
 in come another little feller who had been 
 looking for him. 'See here, 'says my partner, 
 ' there's getting to be too many children 
 here ; we don't keep a Sunday-school, we 
 don't.' They were just going to leave, when 
 the agent he come in with the rent contract 
 for us to sign. Well, the boys lingered 
 round, full of curiosity, as boys are, and we 
 signed the paper and handed over the cash. 
 Mr. Meyer in stuffing it away in his pocket- 
 book brought to light that thousand-dollar 
 check I was telling you about. He fumbled 
 to hide it, but it dropped on the floor, and a 
 little gust of wind carried it over to where 
 the boys were. The oldest boy Jim, I think
 
 LANDLORD OF RICKETT* S COURT. I g I 
 
 your son called him picked it up, and took 
 a good look at it. ' Hullo ! ' says he, 'here's 
 your father's name, Lovey. " Pay to the order 
 of Stephen Trimble one thousand dollars " ! ' 
 The agent he just made one dive for that 
 check, with his fist lifted as though he were 
 going to strike the boy, who dropped the 
 check, and both the little shavers scooted, 
 and none too soon either, for Meyer looked 
 mad enough to kill the youngster, though 
 he tried to laugh it off, and turned the check 
 over and showed me that it was his fast 
 enough, for it was endorsed on the back, 
 ' Pay to the order of Solomon Meyer.' ' 
 
 Stephen Trimble put his hand to his head 
 in a dazed way. " You are fooling me," he 
 said. 
 
 " Not we, but somebody is, if you don't 
 know anything about it. Well, if you are not 
 the bloated bondholder we took you for, 
 perhaps you'll consider our little offer?" 
 
 " No, gentlemen, not to-night at least ; 
 give me time to think it over. One bad man 
 may have wronged me, but I've no call to 
 go against the law." 
 
 " Oh yes, take plenty of time " and they 
 opened the door. Some one was knocking 
 at Stephen Trimble's own room. It was the
 
 1 82 WITCH WIXNIE. 
 
 flap-jack man, and he had a white, scared 
 face. 
 
 " What is the matter ? " asked the inventor. 
 
 "Lovey's been " 
 
 j 
 
 " Run over ? " gasped the poor father. 
 
 " No; arrested." 
 
 Stephen Trimble gave one exclamation of 
 horror then asked, "What's he done?" 
 
 " Nothing but wheeling my cart; they'd 
 have caught me, too, but I cut and run. 
 This is a pretty country where one is arrested 
 for trying to earn an honest living !" 
 
 This was the last straw. Stephen Trimble 
 had said that he had no reason to resist the 
 law, but he could not hold to that now. 
 He staggered feebly down-stairs, knocked 
 at the door of the dynamiters, and said. 
 " I've come back sooner than I thought I 
 would. Give me five dollars in advance, and 
 I'll undertake that business of yours to-mor- 
 row, and maybe I'll get up a little infernal- 
 machine for my own use at the same time, 
 but just now I must find my boy." 
 
 The man handed him some greasy bills. 
 " You look sick," he said. " You had better 
 go down to the free-lunch counter at the 
 saloon, and have a good square meal." 
 
 Stephen Trimble went and ate and drank
 
 LANDLORD OF RICKETT'S COURT. 18? 
 
 o 
 
 to excess. He did not look for his little son, 
 and he did not return to the dynamiters' the 
 next morning, for he was drunk and drunk 
 for three days thereafter. Then he sobered 
 down and applied himself to the task which 
 they had set him a task intended to bring 
 ruin to the class which had wronged him. 
 He knew the aims, now, of the men for whom 
 he was working, and he believed that he sym- 
 pathized with them. They told him how 
 they ha.d borne imprisonment and torture 
 for no wrong in Russia, and had come to 
 this country expecting to find it the land of 
 justice and kindness, but had met only the 
 same tyranny of the rich over the poor the 
 rich, who cared for nothing but their own 
 pleasures, and ground the poor under their 
 chariot wheels. 
 
 As he worked he thought of his own pri- 
 vate wrongs, and determined that as soon as 
 his task was done he would seek out the 
 man who had defrauded him. He was sure 
 now that the check which the men had seen 
 had something to do with his invention, but 
 he believed that the true criminal was some 
 one behind Solomon Meyer, the man to 
 whom the agent said he had given his inven- 
 tion the landlord of Rickett's Court. It was
 
 184 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 like a man who would compel human beings 
 to live in such a state as this to commit such 
 a fraud. He would hunt him down present- 
 ly, and in the name of his tenants, as well as 
 in his own cause, wreak such revenge that 
 the ears of those who heard should tingle. 
 
 The landlord of Rickett's Court, all un- 
 conscious of the volcano upon which he was 
 treading, attended the closing exercises of 
 Madame's school, and listened with pride 
 to his daughter's prize essay on "The Dan- 
 gerous Classes." 
 
 There was a quotation from Ruskin at the 
 close which pricked his heart a little, and 
 made him regret that it was not convenient 
 to carry out his good intentions just at pres- 
 ent. How charming she looked in the 
 white India silk, and how well she read that 
 final quotation ! 
 
 " If you can fix some conception of a true 
 human state of life to be striven for life for 
 all men as for yourselves if you can deter- 
 mine some honest and simple order of exist- 
 ence following those trodden ways of wis- 
 dom, which are pleasantness, and seeking 
 those quiet and withdrawn paths, which are 
 peace ; then, and so sanctifying wealth into 
 ' commonwealth,' all your art, your literature,
 
 LANDLORD OF RICKETT S COURT. 185 
 
 your daily labors, your domestic affection, 
 and citizen's duty, will join and increase into 
 one magnificent harmony. You will know, 
 then, how to build well enough ; you will 
 build with stone well, but with flesh better 
 temples not made with hands, but riveted 
 of hearts, and that kind of marble, crimson- 
 veined, is indeed eternal." 
 
 Mr. Armstrong entirely ruined a new pair 
 of kid gloves in applauding his daughter. 
 
 He consigned her to Mrs. Roseveldt for 
 the summer, and in reply to that lady's 
 urgent request that he would visit them, ex- 
 plained that Narragansett Pier was fraught 
 with so many memories that he had never 
 been able to revisit it. " I own a cottage a 
 little distance from the town," he said. " It 
 was there that both my children were born. 
 We were in the habit of occupying it every 
 summer, but since my wife's death I have 
 neither been able to bring myself to go 
 there, or to rent it, and it has remained 
 closed." 
 
 " O papa, will you not let me have it for> 
 the summer ? " Adelaide asked. 
 
 " Certainly, Puss, if you want to fit it up 
 for a studio or that sort of thing ; but it is in 
 a lonely wood, and you must have suitable
 
 1 86 WITCH WI\ 7 NIE. 
 
 company with you if you think of staying 
 there. If you manage to change the place 
 and infuse new life in it, I may bring myself 
 to look in upon you there. At all events, I 
 will join you at the Roseveldts' as soon as I 
 can ; just now important business detains 
 me." 
 
 The business, as we know, was the secur- 
 ing and putting in service of the new inven- 
 tion for heating and lighting cars. It was 
 necessary for him to go to Washington to 
 arrange for the patent, and it was on this 
 trip that a clue most unexpectedly fell into 
 his hands which seemed to lead to a startling 
 discovery a discovery which was more to 
 him than any fortune which the invention 
 could bring. 
 
 It all came about through a scrap of paper 
 which fell in his way as he was looking 
 about his hotel bedroom for a piece of wrap- 
 ping-paper with which to cover the model 
 of the machine which he was about to carry 
 to the Patent Office. He could find noth- 
 ing for this purpose but an old newspaper 
 which lined a bureau drawer. In this he 
 wrapped his machine, and took his seat in the 
 street-car, the package resting on his knees. 
 His fellow-passengers were uninteresting,
 
 LANDLORD OF RICKETS S COURT. 187 
 
 and he fixed his gaze upon his package. A 
 heading to one of the shorter articles in the 
 old newspaper attracted his attention. 
 
 " Remarkable Case of Loss of Identity ; 
 the Doctors Puzzled." 
 
 He read on aimlessly. 
 
 "The physicians of Hospital have an 
 
 interesting case. One of their patients, a 
 lady, was injured at the burning of the 
 Henrietta in the Sound in October . last. 
 This accident has resulted in a partial loss of 
 memory, and total confusion as to her iden- 
 tity. The unfortunate lady is unable to give 
 her own name or that of her friends. A re- 
 markable circumstance in the case is the fact 
 that, through all the horror and suffering of 
 the accident, which has resulted in a partial 
 loss of her reason, the poor lady kept her in- 
 fant boy safely clasped in her arms, and the 
 child, entirely uninjured, was rescued with 
 her. Any person who believes that he rec- 
 ognizes a lost friend in this case is re- 
 quested to communicate with Dr. H. C. 
 Carver, of the Hospital." 
 
 Mr. Armstrong read this item over and 
 over again. He had believed that his wife 
 and child were lost in the burning of this 
 steamer. Was it possible that they still
 
 I 88 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 lived ? and what had ten years of separation 
 done for them ? 
 
 The horse-car passed the Patent Office, 
 but he did not see it. He sat staring at the 
 newspaper until the car brought him to 
 the end of the route and the conductor 
 touched him on the shoulder. " Pardon me, 
 sir; I forgot you wished to stop at the Patent 
 Office." 
 
 Mr. Armstrong woke from his reverie. 
 "No," he exclaimed, "at the railway sta- 
 tion. I want to catch the next train for New 
 York none until 4 o'clock ? Then I will go 
 to the Patent Office ; but, first, tell me where 
 I can send a telegram."
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE GUESTS OF THE ELDER BROTHER. 
 
 " And man may work with the great God ; yea, ours 
 This privilege ; all others, how beyond ! 
 
 * * * * -x- # 
 
 Effectually the planet to subdue, 
 And break old savagehood in claw and tusk; 
 To draw our fellows up as with a cord 
 Of love unto their high-appointed place, 
 Till from our state barbaric and abhorred 
 We do arise unto a royal race, 
 To be the blest companions of the Lord." 
 
 HENRY G. SUTTON. 
 
 FEW days be- 
 f o r e school 
 closed saw 
 the Home 
 filled for the 
 
 summer. 
 
 The gath- 
 ering" in was 
 achieved 
 principally 
 by Jim, Mrs. 
 Hetterman, 
 and Vicenzo 
 Amati. 
 
 Vincenzo 
 was an Italian 
 of the better 
 sort. He had 
 
 lived in America long enough to acquire 
 
 189
 
 190 
 
 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 some of our ways of life. He earned a fairly 
 good salary as cook, and he had kept his 
 little family in comparative comfort in the 
 best apartment which Rickett's Court had to 
 offer, until the death of his pretty wife Gio- 
 vanina. Since then the three little girls had 
 done their best, but there was a woeful 
 change. They became slatternly in appear- 
 ance, and the two rooms grew dirty and 
 cheerless. Worse than this, the girls affiliated 
 with a lower class of their own nationality, 
 the children of the rag-pickers in the base- 
 ment, already referred to, who lived upon the 
 chances of garbage barrels and beggary, and 
 who spent much of their time in picking 
 over and assorting the old bones, rags, 
 paper, and other refuse dumped each night 
 upon the floor of their sleeping and living 
 room, as the result of their father's daily toil. 
 These children were sickly and miserable, 
 tainted morally as well as physically ; and 
 their parents, who were contented with their 
 disgusting lives, were laying up money, in 
 fact, for a return to Italy. But Vincenzo was 
 not contented that his children should live in 
 such fashion or have contaminating associ- 
 ates. He was one of the first applicants to 
 place his children in the Home, paying
 
 GUESTS OF THE ELDER BROTHER. 191 
 
 cheerfully the highest sum asked for board, 
 it having been early decided that the rates 
 for each child should be proportioned to the 
 wages of the parent. 
 
 Then several children previously " farmed 
 out " to Mrs. Grogan, whose mothers were 
 servants in good families, were received on 
 similar terms. 
 
 A German woman, a Mrs. Rumple, 
 brought her two children, saying that she 
 was going West, but, as she knew not what 
 fortune awaited her there, wished to place 
 her children in the Home until she could 
 send for them. She paid their board in ad- 
 vance for the summer, taking the money in 
 coin from her petticoat pocket. 
 
 " Why do you leave New York ?" asked 
 Emma Jane Anton. 
 
 " It ish not de guntry. De guntry ish a 
 very goot guntry. It ish de beeples," said 
 Mrs. Rumple. 
 
 " What is the matter with the people ? " 
 asked Emma Jane. 
 
 " I comes de seas over a pride, mit my 
 man Heinrich Rumple; dat is ten years aco 
 alreaty. Heinrich is one very goot man; he 
 trinks only one mug of lager every days; he 
 comes every Saturday home mit his moneys,
 
 Ig2 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 and oh, mine fraulein, how he luf me ! 
 Pretty soon py und py de peer ish not coot, 
 and he takes one leetle glass of schnapps in- 
 stead. Den de leetle babies come, one, tree, 
 four, six, and it cost all de time more to live, 
 and he pring all de time less moneys mit de 
 Saturdays. But he trinks all de time more 
 schnapps one, two, tree, four glass de every 
 days, and I know not how much de Sun- 
 days, and I tink he not luf me now so much 
 as sometimes. Den de sickness comes, de 
 shills and de fevers, and we all de time 
 shake, shake, and first one little children die, 
 and den anudder, all but Carl and de little 
 Gracie ; and mine man not haf any moneys 
 to py medicines, put he haf blenty to py 
 schnapps, and he all de time trink more as is 
 goot for him, and one night he comes home 
 and he knows not vat he does, and he 
 sthrikes de leetle Gracie, and she is long time 
 very sick. Mine soul ! I tinks she vill die, 
 and Heinrich Rumple dot ish my man he 
 puts his name mit de bledge, and says he 
 vill not any times trink any more, und de 
 Gracie gets veil, und ve are all wery happy, 
 but he all de same trinks again shust so pad 
 as ever. Py und py pretty soon I says, ' Hein- 
 rich Rumple, I cannot sthand dis nonsense
 
 GUESTS OF THE ELDER BROTHER. 
 
 193 
 
 any more ain't it. I cannot haf dose childer 
 all their bones broke any more; [ put dem 
 in one 'sylum avay from you, and I goes in 
 dot Western land seek my fortune. 1 ' 
 
 " And so you left your husband ? " asked 
 Miss Anton. 
 
 " Ya. I left mine man," replied the wo- 
 man. 
 
 " And don't you suppose he will ever 
 reform, and send you money to come back 
 to him ? " 
 
 " No, I s'pose so. He said to me dat 
 day: ' Barbara, it is de beeples. I haf too 
 many friends, and I trinks mit dem all de 
 time, too often ; I tinks if I am in de West, 
 where I know nobodys, I would be a petter 
 husband to you alretty.' And so he goed 
 away mit me." 
 
 " Do you mean to say that you and your 
 husband are leaving New York for the West 
 together ? " 
 
 " Ya. I left him, and he say, ' Barbara, 
 you has right ; I leaf myself, too.' But I 
 cannot trust him alretty mit de chillern. I 
 leaf dem one six month, to try what come 
 of it all." 
 
 "I hope your husband has indeed left his 
 worst self behind him," said Emma Jane ;
 
 1 94 
 
 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 and on suitable security being provided, the 
 Rumple children were admitted. 
 
 In almost all cases it was not the desper- 
 ately and hopelessly pauperized and vicious 
 who were provided for by reformatories 
 and the city charities whom they helped, 
 but the class just above them, who were 
 slipping over the brink, and would surely 
 have fallen and contributed to swell the dan- 
 gerous classes, if not reached by this timely 
 assistance. 
 
 " Prevention is better than cure," and it was 
 the hope of the " King's Daughters " to res- 
 cue the innocent children of decent and 
 struggling parents before they should need 
 reformation. 
 
 Rosaria Ricos, the Cuban heiress, endowed 
 a bed to be used for some child whose par- 
 ents could do nothing whatever toward its 
 support. She wished to have more free 
 beds, but Miss Prillwitz showed her how 
 much better it was for the parents to do 
 something, however little it might be, for 
 their children, and not be pauperized by 
 having every feeling of independence and 
 ability to care for their own taken from them. 
 Exceptional circumstances might arise, 
 when a mother out of employment, could
 
 GUESTS OF THE ELDER BROTHER. 
 
 195 
 
 wisely be helped over a great exigency, 
 but she advised that Miss Ricos's " Emer- 
 gency Bed " be given for short periods only. 
 It was first occupied by Lovell Trimble, 
 familiarly, but most inappropriately, nick- 
 named by the other children, Lovey Dimple. 
 He was a homely, unprepossessing boy, with 
 a pug nose and a disproportionately large 
 head. His father was the unsuccessful in- 
 ventor of Rickett's Court, with whom we 
 are already acquainted. He spent all his 
 former earnings in securing patents for va- 
 rious great inventions which were to make 
 
 o 
 
 all their fortunes. His mother had been a 
 shop-girl in a large dry-goods store, and had 
 supported the family until long-continued 
 standing had sent her to the hospital. Lovey 
 had tried to take her place in supporting his 
 father by wheeling " the machine " of a hot- 
 flap-jack seller, while the flap-jack man de- 
 voted his attention to frying the cakes, flip- 
 ping them on to a plate, and serving them 
 up with a dab of butter and a lake of mo- 
 lasses. They did their best business winter 
 nights after the theatres were out sheltered 
 from the snow by an awning or a conven- 
 ient door-way, and they knew which places 
 of amusement were out first, and would
 
 196 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 race at ambulance speed from Harrigan 
 and Hart's to the Bowery, to secure the cus- 
 tom of each. Lovey liked the business, for, 
 besides the pay, after the day's trade was 
 over the flap-jack man let him eat whatever 
 was left, for the batter would not keep, and 
 he had always a few cakes to carry home 
 to his father of the full brain and empty 
 stomach. 
 
 But one night a member of the Society 
 for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, 
 who had had his eye on the flap-jack man as 
 employing too young a child for labor in- 
 volving so much privation, descended upon 
 the cart with a policeman ; and the flap-jack 
 man having discreetly absconded, they ar- 
 rested Lovey in default of his employer. 
 Miss Prillwitz appeared in court at Jim's 
 request, for in some way Jim had 
 heard of his friend's apprehension, and hav- 
 ing ascertained that Mr. Trimble had gone 
 upon a spree, she rashly, but not unnaturally, 
 decided that nothing was to be expected 
 from such a father, and next paid a visit to 
 Mrs. Trimble, at the hospital. Learning 
 there that there was a prospect of her cure, 
 she offered Lovey the hospitality of the 
 Emergency Bed until his mother should be
 
 GUESTS OF THE ELDER BROTHER. 
 
 197 
 
 able to work once more. This case estab- 
 lished relations between the Society for the 
 Prevention of Cruelty to Children and the 
 new Home; and a little girl who had been 
 forced to sell lead-pencils on the street at 
 night by a drunken mother, though her 
 father was a brakeman, who could well af- 
 ford to support her was committed to the 
 Home through the agency of the Society ; 
 and the father, on being notified, approved 
 the action, and paid her board regularly. 
 
 One desirable result of the Home was its 
 effect on Emma Jane's character. From be- 
 ing, as she had truly said of herself, an 
 unlovely and unloving girl who disliked 
 children, her nature sweetened by contact 
 with them ; and taking them one by one into 
 her heart, it broadened and softened, till an 
 expression which was almost madonna-like 
 trembled in a face which had been grim 
 and repellent. Lovey Dimple was the first 
 to scale the fortress of Emma Jane's affec- 
 tions. He inherited his father's aptitude for 
 mechanics. Among the old books and 
 papers contributed to the Home were, 
 strangely enough, some bound volumes of 
 the Scientific American and a few stray 
 Patent Office reports, and over these he
 
 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 pored until his head seemed full of revolv- 
 ing cog-wheels and pulleys, and pistons, and 
 his heart beat like a stationary engine. He 
 was certain that he would be an inventor 
 some day, like Ericsson or Edison ; indeed, 
 he was an inventor already, for had he not 
 constructed unnumbered mill-wheels and 
 windmills, weathercocks and whirligigs, 
 besides taking to pieces the clock (which he 
 could not get together again), and adapting 
 his mother's sewing-machine to fret-saw pur- 
 poses ? He had studied every machine which 
 he had seen in the stores, from the corn- 
 sheller to the' great patent mower, and be- 
 lieved that he understood the action of each. 
 " Patent " was a word that stirred his soul, 
 though he had but a dim conception of its 
 meaning. It was something, his father had 
 said, that the Government would give him 
 if he invented a really useful, labor-saving 
 machine, one which would "supply a felt 
 want." 
 
 Lovey knew what a felt hat was, but it 
 was several days before he really knew what 
 his father meant by a felt want. As soon 
 as he had grasped the idea he began in ear- 
 nest. "Mother Halsey," he asked, "what 
 part of your work bothers you most ? "
 
 GUESTS OF THE ELDER BROTHER. 1 99 
 
 Mrs. Halsey looked hot and flustered. 
 Half an hour before this she had put her room 
 and the nursery in order, had dressed the 
 twenty-five children; from combing their hair 
 and scrubbing the little ones, and introducing 
 them into each separate garment, to merely 
 tying apron-strings and buttoning the " be- 
 hind buttons " of the older ones, and giving 
 them a final dress review before starting 
 them to the public school. 
 
 In view of this state of affairs, it is not to 
 be wondered at that Mrs. Halsey said that 
 dressing the children gave her more bother 
 than anything else. Lovey, with a pencil 
 and paper, sat down to invent a machine 
 which should do this for her. He reflected 
 that such a machine would be hailed with 
 delight in nearly every family, and if he 
 could manage to sell them at a dollar apiece 
 his fortune was assured. He took as his 
 models the washing - machine, a cross - cut 
 saw, and a corn - sheller, and in a few 
 moments had made his drawing of a com- 
 bination of the three machines. The motive 
 power, he decided, should be furnished by 
 the father of the family, who could turn the 
 crank; and on days when this was not con- 
 venient the smoke from the cooking-stove
 
 2OO 
 
 WITCH WINNIE, 
 
 could be utilized, the stove pipe being turned 
 so that the smoke should strike the paddles 
 of the main wheel, and the continuous stream 
 passing across the edge of the wheel and up 
 the chimney, he felt certain, would turn it. 
 Just back of the machine, and above it, there 
 was to be a great hopper into which the 
 naked children could climb by means of a 
 ladder, and where the clothing could be 
 tossed promiscuously, the machine sorting 
 it and robing each child properly. The cross- 
 cut saw near the mouth would shingle each 
 child's hair, and save the trouble of curling, 
 while the children, completely dressed, would 
 be poured through this spout into their 
 mother's arms.
 
 GUESTS OF THE ELDER BROTHER. 2OI 
 
 Lovey exhibited this drawing to Mrs. Hal- 
 sey and to Miss Anton, and begged them to 
 show it to President Harrison and obtain a 
 patent for him as soon as possible ; but, some- 
 how, though the invention was received with 
 applause and approbation by the entire fam- 
 ily, nothing was ever done about it. 
 
 The droll conceit attracted Emma Jane to 
 the boy. " Perhaps some day he may be- 
 come an inventor of something more prac- 
 tical," she said, and ever after watched him 
 with increasing interest. 
 
 Lovey had had great trouble with his 
 arithmetic, and he had decided that a grand 
 labor-saving machine would be one which 
 would save a boy the trouble of studying. 
 He thought that it would be a good idea to 
 bore a hole in a boy's head when he was 
 Asleep, introduce the end of a funnel into the 
 opening, and then with a coffee-mill grind 
 up the usual text-books and stuff his brains. 
 He made a drawing of this machine also, 
 and Merry Twinkle and he came very near 
 trying it practically, but they never could 
 quite agree as to who should be the operator 
 and who should be operated upon. Lovey 
 had another brilliant inspiration. He noticed 
 that his rubber ball, which had a hole m it.
 
 2O2 
 
 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 had a remarkable power of suction, and that 
 if he held the orifice to his cheek and 
 squeezed the ball, when he let go it would 
 pucker his cheek in a way to remind one 
 distantly of a kiss. He imagined that if the 
 ball were drawn out into a tube, and that 
 tube continued indefinitely the action would 
 
 still be the same. Here was a discovery. 
 How many separated friends and lovers 
 would be glad to patronize a kissaphone, an 
 instrument by which kisses could be sent 
 and actually felt. He imagined the estab- 
 lishment of offices on both sides of the 
 Atlantic, and the laying of a submarine 
 tube.
 
 GUESTS OF THE ELDER BROTHER. 
 
 A young" physician, a friend of Mrs. Rose- 
 veldt's, was visiting the Home just as Lovey 
 completed this triumph. " Another inven- 
 tion of Lovey Dimple's," Emma Jane explain- 
 ed, as the child handed her the drawing. Dr. 
 Curtiss came oftener than the sanitary con- 
 dition of the Home really demanded, and he 
 was well acquainted with Lovey 's genius in 
 this direction. 
 
 " Yes, sir," promptly replied Lovey, " and 
 I have met a felt want now, sure," and then 
 he explained the kissaphone. 
 
 " Try it on me, Lovey, and let me see how 
 it feels," asked the doctor. 
 
 Lovey did so, and Dr. Curtiss made a wry 
 face. " It strikes me that is a very poor sub- 
 stitute for the genuine article," he said, " but 
 perhaps I am not qualified to judge. 
 
 "Now if you could have a nice looking 
 lady operator, and could attach your tubing 
 to the back of her head, and have her trans- 
 mit the kiss as the mouthpiece of the machine, 
 I should think your invention might be very 
 popular." 
 
 Lovey received this suggestion with entire 
 good faith. " Miss Anton," he said, beseech- 
 ingly, "won't you act as mouthpiece and let 
 me send a kiss to Dr. Curtiss ?" And he
 
 204 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 could never quite decide why Emma Jane, 
 who was usually so kind, declined in great 
 confusion to render him this trifling- service. 
 
 There was another little boy in the Home 
 who made remarkable drawings the one 
 already referred to as Merry Twinkle. All 
 of his family, even the female portion, were 
 sea-faring people ; his grandfather had been 
 a sailor, and was now an inmate of the 
 Sailors' Snug Harbor. His mother some- 
 times took Merry to visit him when she was 
 back from a voyage, for she was stewardess 
 on an ocean steamer. His father had been 
 engineer on the same boat, but had been 
 killed by a boiler explosion, and Merry had 
 been boarded hitherto with Mrs. Grogan. 
 
 One evening, after a visit to his grand- 
 father, Merry handed Emma Jane a series of 
 wonderful marines. 
 
 " Grandfather sang me a very old song 
 to-day," he said. " It went this way : 
 
 Two gallant ships from England sailed ; 
 
 Blow high, blow low, so sailed we : 
 One was the Princess Charlotte, the other Prince 
 of Wales, 
 
 Cruising down on the coast of Barbaree. 
 
 " This is a picture of the Princess Char- 
 lotte" handing Emma Jane his drawing.
 
 GUESTS OF THE ELDER BROTHER. 205 
 
 " It is night, and the captain is pacing the 
 lonely deck; he has set his lantern on a small 
 stand, and has put his hands in his pockets 
 to keep them warm. The second verse goes 
 this way : 
 
 " Up aloft! up aloft!" our gallant captain cried ; 
 
 Blow high, blow low, so sailed we. 
 " Look ahead, look astern, look aweather, look alee," 
 
 Cruising down on the coast of Barbaree. 
 
 " Oh, I've seen on ahead, and I've seen on astern," 
 
 Blow high, blow low, so sailed we; 
 " And I see a ragged wind and a lofty ship at sea," 
 
 Cruising down on the coast of Barbaree. 
 
 " Ahoy ! ship ahoy !" our gallant captain cried, 
 
 Blow high, blow low, so sailed we; 
 " Are you a man-of-war, or a privateer ?" says he ; 
 
 Cruising down on the coast of Barbaree. 
 
 " Oh ! I am no man-of-war or privateer," says he, 
 
 Blow high, blow low, so sailed we ; 
 " But I am a jolly pirate seeking for my fee," 
 
 Cruising down on the coast of Barbaree. 
 
 " This is the picture of the pirate ship and 
 the fight. Captain Kidd has cut off the 
 head of one of the men who boarded his 
 ship. One of his men is firing a cannon, 
 the rest of his crew may be seen between- 
 decks.
 
 206 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 'Twas broadside to broadside, so quickly then came we ; 
 
 Blow high, blow low, so sailed we ; 
 Until the Princess Charlotte shot her masts into the sea, 
 
 Cruising down on the coast of Barbaree. 
 
 Then " Quarter ! oh, quarter !" the pirate captain cried; 
 
 Blow high, blow low, so sailed we ; 
 
 But the quarters that we gave them were down beneath 
 the sea, 
 
 Cruising down on the coast of Barbaree. 
 
 " Grandfather called it the story of Captain 
 Kidd, because he thought he must have been 
 
 o 
 
 the pirate whose ship the Princess Charlotte 
 sunk. Captain Kidd was taken to London 
 and hanged in chains, and I've made a pict- 
 ture of that too." 
 
 Emma Jane hardly approved of the san- 
 guinary spirit displayed by these drawings, 
 but she could not expect that the boy's ante- 
 cedents and surroundings would produce an 
 angel. She endeavored to draw his atten- 
 tion to gentler subjects for his pencil, recited 
 tender and loving ballads, and changed the 
 current of the boy's thought and aspiration, 
 realizing that here was material which, in 
 the fostering atmosphere of Rickett's Court, 
 might easily develop into an anarchist a 
 menace to the state. 
 
 The Sandy girls were the last to be re-
 
 GUESTS OF THE ELDER BROTHER. 207 
 
 ceived from the court. The father had been 
 a truckman, but a heavy box had fallen upon 
 him, and he had lived in pain and misery fpr 
 a year and had then died. Mrs. Sandy, by 
 making" men's clothing, managed to keep the 
 wolf from the door no, only Snarling at the 
 door with fierce, hungry eyes. All of her 
 six children helped her. The oldest girl did 
 the ironing and finishing ; the next child, 
 a boy, carried the great bundles back and 
 forth in the intervals of his profession as a 
 bootblack ; the second girl did all of their 
 poor housework ; the twins sewed on but- 
 tons and pulled out basting threads, and the 
 youngest boy sold newspapers, while Mrs. 
 Sandy herself ran the sewing-machine ten 
 or twelve hours in the day. 
 
 When Mrs. Hetterman asked her why she 
 did not give up this desperate battle with 
 the point of the needle, and leave her vile 
 surroundings to take service in some good 
 family, she replied that she had often thought 
 of this, but she must keep a home, however 
 poor, for the children. " The two boys could 
 live at the Newsboys' Lodging-House, for 
 they earn enough to support themselves, but 
 what would I do with my four girls ? " 
 
 When Mrs. Hetterman assured her that
 
 2O8 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 there was a Home where they could all be 
 cared for in cleanliness, health, and comfort, 
 and have time for study and schooling and 
 industrial education, which would fit them 
 to earn their own living in future, and all 
 for a sum quite within the means of any 
 domestic, she brought her cramped hand 
 down with a heavy blow upon the sewing- 
 machine. 
 
 " I don't mind if I break every bone in yer 
 body, ye Satan's grindstone !" she said to the 
 machine ; " it's the last time that Mary 
 Sandy'll grind soul and body thin at ye, 
 praise be to a delivering Providence !" 
 
 Mrs. Hastings, one of the managers of the 
 Home, had had great trouble with incompe- 
 tent and ungrateful servants, and she gladly 
 took the faithful Scotch woman into her 
 family. 
 
 These, then, were the guests of the Elder 
 Brother, for that first summer, from Rickett's 
 Court : 
 
 * 
 
 1 Jim Halsey, American. 
 3 Hettermans, English. 
 
 3 Amatis, Italian. 
 
 4 Babies from Mrs. Grcgan's, Irish. 
 
 2 Carl and Gracie Rumple, German,
 
 GUESTS OF THE ELDER BROTHER. 209 
 
 I Lovey Dimple, American, 
 i Merry Twinkle, American. 
 4 Sandy Girls, Scotch. 
 
 In all, nineteen children transplanted from 
 the filth and vice, hunger and ignorance, of 
 the court, and six more from other locali- 
 ties as bad, to sweet, wholesome surround- 
 ings. It was thought best that those children 
 of school age should attend a public school 
 to avoid " institutionizing" them; and for 
 this end they wore no uniform, and mingled 
 freely with other well-behaved children in 
 the park under Mrs. Halsey's motherly super- 
 vision. Their birthdays were celebrated 
 with a little party, with cake and candles, 
 and everything was done to cultivate a home- 
 like feeling. They drew their books like 
 other children from the children's new free 
 circulating library, and were taught to 
 guard them carefully. They had a sewing 
 society in reality a sewing-class where 
 boys and girls were alike taught to mend 
 and darn, to sew on buttons, and to make but- 
 ton-holes all but the Sandy children, who, it 
 was judged, had served a long enough ap- 
 prenticeship in this department, and were 
 sent to Mrs. Hetterman to learn how to cook. 
 14
 
 2IO WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 Miss Prillwitz was anxious that the boys 
 should have industrial training, and brought 
 the matter before the board of managers, 
 who entirely agreed with her, and voted 
 that a subscription sent them by Mr. Arm- 
 strong be used to secure a suitable teacher. 
 
 It was just at this time that a letter was 
 received from Adelaide announcing that she 
 had fitted up the cottage which her father 
 had placed at her disposal, and would like 
 to have Mrs. Halsey occupy it with the 
 youngest children for the heated term. Miss 
 Prillwitz was delighted. Jim was already 
 at the Pier with the Roseveldts, and it 
 would be pleasant for his mother to be near 
 him, and a fine thing for the little girls and 
 the babies. This would leave the nursery 
 vacant, and it could be fitted up as a work- 
 shop for the boys, She had a chat with Mrs. 
 Halsey the day before she left, and asked 
 her if she knew of anyone who could teach 
 the boys carpentry. 
 
 " Mr. Trimble, Lovey's father, is a perfect 
 jack-of-all-trades," replied Mrs. Halsey. 
 
 Miss Prillwitz was doubtful. " Mr. Trim- 
 ble is a drunkard," she said. 
 
 " Not irreclaimable, I am sure," said Mrs. 
 Halsey. " He was a sober man when I
 
 GUESTS OF THE ELDER BROTHER. 2 I I 
 
 knew him. Despair alone could have driven 
 him to drink. I wish you would send and 
 ask him to call and see you." 
 
 So a letter was sent, and none too soon, for 
 affairs were now at their worst with Stephen 
 Trimble.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 X 
 
 WITH THE DYNAMITERS. 
 
 " While we range with Science, glorying in the time, 
 
 City children soak and blacken soul and sense in city slime ; 
 
 Where among the glooming alleys Progress halts on pal- 
 sied feet, 
 
 Crime and hunger cast out maidens by the thousand on 
 the street; 
 
 Where the master scrimps his haggard seamstress of her 
 daily bread, 
 
 And a single sordid attic holds the living and the dead." 
 
 Anon. 
 
 HE anarchist 
 of Rickett's 
 Court, under 
 whose influ- 
 ence the in- 
 ventor had 
 fallen, was a 
 tho roughly 
 bad man, 
 and the 
 writer has 
 no sympa- 
 thy to waste 
 upon him or 
 his methods, 
 but with his 
 
 deluded and desperate victim we should all 
 
 sympathize. 
 
 212
 
 WITH THE DYNAMITERS. 2 I 3 
 
 Stephen Trimble had brooded over his 
 troubles and wrongs until he was half crazed, 
 and the men for whom he worked added 
 fuel to the flame. 
 
 " Why should you be so precious careful 
 of the rich?" his employer said. "What have 
 the rich ever done for you ? They've murr 
 dered your wife, as I make out, insisting on 
 her standing all day long, when she was not 
 able to do so, and might have done her work 
 just as well sitting, They've sent your in- 
 nocent little boy to jail along with common 
 pickpockets. They've robbed you of your 
 money " 
 
 " Stop !" cried Stephen Trimble; "you've 
 said that over and over, until I believe it, 
 though I don't know why I should take 
 your word any quicker than that of any one 
 else. You've made much of your kindness 
 in telling me, though I don't see what <good 
 it does me, unless you are willing to go into 
 court and testify for me as to what you've 
 seen." 
 
 The men shook their heads. " No going 
 into court for us ! We want to keep as far 
 away from the law as possible." 
 
 " Then I don't see but you are as much 
 against me as the rest. I've worked with
 
 214 WITCH WINNIE, 
 
 you long enough to know what your aims 
 are ; your machine is now in working order, 
 ready to blow up the finest house, the larg- 
 est audience, in New York, church or arm- 
 ory, bank-vault or prison ; and if all you say 
 is true, you may blow away, for all I care, 
 and blow yourselves up with the rest, and 
 me too. If the world is the Sodom and 
 Gomorrah it seems to me, we have Bible 
 warrant for its destruction. My work for 
 you is done ; give me my money, and we 
 are through with each other." 
 
 " See here, Trimble," said the anarchist, 
 " we have already paid you fifteen dol- 
 lars, and you ought not to be too close 
 with us." 
 
 " You promised me a hundred ; do you 
 mean to say " 
 
 " Don't be so touchy ; what I mean to say 
 is this : We cannot help you by testifying in 
 court, as you suggested ; it wouldn't do you 
 any good if we did ; but find out the man 
 who has wronged you, and we will help you 
 to your revenge. In a few days our society 
 will begin its operations. We are out of 
 funds now, but there will be a new deal 
 soon. We begin with the banking-house of 
 Roseveldt, Gold & Co., and as soon as the
 
 WITH THE DYNAMITERS. 215 
 
 fireworks are over we will be rich enough, 
 and you shall have a fair share." 
 
 Stephen Trimble sprang to his feet. " I 
 thought you were anarchists ! do you ac- 
 knowledge that you are common burglars ?" 
 
 "No, my friend, we acknowledge nothing 
 of the kind. Be good enough to attend to 
 your own business." 
 
 " It is time that I did," replied the in- 
 ventor; " I have neglected it long enough." 
 
 Stephen Trimble walked out of the build- 
 ing. He had three things to do to discover 
 the landlord of Rickett's Court ; to see his 
 wife for the last time ; and to free his little 
 son, whom he believed to be still in prison. 
 
 There was quite a commotion in the 
 court ; some men were putting up a fire- 
 escape. " What ever put it into Solomon 
 Meyer's head to do that?" he asked. 
 
 " 'Tain't Solomon Meyer," a workman 
 replied ; " it's the landlord himself. He or- 
 dered it done some time ago, and was mad 
 as a hornet because Meyer hadn't attended 
 to it." 
 
 " See here, my friend," said Stephen 
 Trimble, " if you know who the landlord of 
 this tenement is, you will do me a favor 
 by directing me to him,"
 
 2 1 6 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 " Armstrong's the man Alexander Arm- 
 strong, President of the R. R. Co. ; 
 
 his office is over the banking-house of 
 
 Roseveldt & Gold, No. Broadway. He 
 
 rooms there too, when he's in town back 
 of his office." 
 
 Stephen Trimble stood very still for a 
 moment. The information which he thought 
 would be so difficult to obtain had come to his 
 door. The vengeance which he had fancied 
 might take long days and nights of plotting, 
 hung now over the man who had wronged 
 him. He need do absolutely nothing, and 
 Alexander Armstrong was doomed. He must 
 inevitably be killed in the explosion and con- 
 flagration which was planned to cover the 
 robbery of the bank beneath him. 
 
 They had changed places, and the land- 
 lord of Rickett's Court was his victim. One- 
 third of his task was accomplished. He 
 walked now in the direction of the hospital, 
 and asked to see his wife. He hardly ex- 
 pected to be admitted, but he would at least 
 make the attempt. To his surprise he was 
 shown into a cheerful parlor, and Mrs. Trim- 
 ble was sent for. She came down, looking 
 pale, but happy. 
 
 " O Stephen," she cried, " it has been so
 
 WITH THE DYNAMITERS. 2 I J 
 
 long since I have seen you ! but never mind, 
 I am almost well now, and we shall soon be 
 together again. The doctor tells me I may 
 leave next week. They have been so very 
 kind to me here, it has been like Heaven. 
 The rich are thoughtful and generous to pro- 
 vide such places for the poor. I am so grate- 
 ful ; and I have rested so that I shall be able 
 to take hold with new courage." 
 
 He listened in a stupefied way, and seeing 
 that he was not inclined to speak, she ran 
 on, "And isn't it beautiful about Lovey ? " 
 
 This stung him to speech. " Beautiful ? 
 To be arrested and sent to prison ?" 
 
 "Why, no, dear. Haven't you heard ? A 
 sweet, kind woman Miss Prillwitz called, 
 and told me that he is being cared for at a 
 little Home, for nothing, Stephen ; and they 
 will keep him there until we are on our feet 
 again. If that isn't brotherly love, I don't 
 know what is. It makes me believe that 
 there is such a thing as Christianity, after 
 all." 
 
 % 
 
 Still Stephen Trimble was silent. She 
 was happy, and he would not dispel her 
 illusion, at least not now. Evidently there 
 were some good people in New York, and 
 she had experienced their kindness. He had
 
 2 1 8 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 expected to find her suffering from neglect 
 and cruelty. He would not have been sur- 
 prised if she had died. He could hardly be- 
 lieve that a charity patient had received such 
 attention. That their little son had been 
 also tenderly cared for passed his belief, but 
 he would see for himself, and he took the 
 address of the Home. He bade his wife 
 good-bye gently. "I shall come back to 
 you very soon, Stephen," she said, " and 
 things will go better then." He could not tell 
 her of his deep despair. He tried to smile, 
 but only succeeded in giving her a pitiful, 
 longing look. He walked on toward the Home 
 of the Elder Brother, sure that its name was 
 a he, and that he would find Lovey abused. 
 But he was met at the door by Mrs. Halsey, 
 whom he had known at Rickett's Court, who 
 called his little son to come down and see 
 his papa, and who told him of the plan 
 of which she had just been speaking 
 to Miss Prillwitz. And a moment later 
 Lovey, well dressed, clean, fat, and jolly, 
 tumbled into his arms with a cry of rapture. 
 
 " Do you want to come home, Lovey ? " he 
 asked. 
 
 "No, daddy, I want you to come here. 
 Please, Mrs. Halsey, mayn't he come ? "
 
 WITH THE D YNAMITERS. 2 1 9 
 
 "We would like to have him very much 
 to teach our boys the use of tools for a few 
 hours every day. It is just what I have been 
 telling your father." 
 
 " A week ago," said Stephen Trimble, 
 " your offer would have been heaven to me ; 
 now I am afraid it is too late." 
 
 " Don't say so," urged Mrs. Halsey; and she 
 called Miss Prillwitz to talk the matter over 
 with him. Miss Prillwitz's first argument 
 was to ask him to luncheon. He ate the 
 nourishing food the first good meal that 
 had passed his lips for many days and he 
 said, as he bade them farewell, " I will come 
 to you if I can, and teach your boys mechan- 
 ics ; if I don't come it will be because some- 
 thing has happened to me, and if anything 
 happens to me I want to ask you to lend a 
 helping hand to my wife and may God bless 
 you." A new impulse stirred within his heart, 
 gratitude, which he had not felt toward any 
 human being for years. He was softened, 
 and tears stood in his eyes. He could al- 
 most forgive the landlord of Rickett's 
 Court now. 
 
 An impulse to see the man, though not 
 with any hope of gaining anything from 
 the interview, came over him. It was still
 
 22O WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 early, and he walked down Broadway to 
 the building designated, and looked into the 
 bank. How wealthy and strong it looked, 
 with the clerks busily at work calling off 
 fabulous sums to one another, and hand- 
 ling the piles of bills and coin ! The safe- 
 doors stood open, and he could see the 
 great bolts and bars, and complicated 
 combinations ; and he smiled scornfully 
 as he thought how easily the little machine 
 upon which he had been working would 
 open them all. 
 
 A policeman saw him staring in at the win- 
 dow, and asked him his business. 
 
 " I want to find Mr. Armstrong, the R. R. 
 president." 
 
 ''Then you must go up-stairs. There is the 
 door." 
 
 He walked up and saw another room, with 
 gentlemen sitting in easy attitudes in com- 
 fortable chairs. He asked a clerk for Mr. 
 Armstrong, and was told that he was in 
 Washington, on business. 
 
 " Business connected with a patent ? " 
 
 " Yes ; I believe so. What did you want 
 of him?" 
 
 " Nothing. Say only that Stephen Trim 
 ble called."
 
 WITH THE D YNAMITERS. 221 
 
 " What! is this Stephen Trimble ? " exclaim- 
 ed a hearty voice behind him ; and, turning, 
 the inventor saw an earnest but kindly look- 
 ing man, who had just entered carrying a 
 hand-bag. 
 
 " That is Mr. Armstrong," said the clerk, 
 and Stephen Trimble stared fascinated. 
 
 " Step into my private office," said the 
 financier, " I am glad you have come. It is 
 always better to transact business at first 
 hand, and I was sorry you could not 
 come when Mr. Meyer asked you to do 
 so." 
 
 " I do not know what you mean, sir." 
 
 " Did not Solomon Meyer tell you that I 
 wanted you to call, with reference to the 
 four thousand dollars still unpaid on our pat- 
 ent transaction ? " 
 
 " Solomon Meyer told me that I was too 
 late, and that you did not care for my inven- 
 tion." 
 
 Mr. Armstrong sprang from his chair. 
 " And he never gave you my check for a 
 thousand dollars ? " 
 
 "Never; though I heard that he had it;" 
 and Stephen Trimble related what the an- 
 archist had told him. 
 
 Mr. Armstrong unlocked a safe, and took
 
 222 WITCH WINNIE, 
 
 from it the contract in regard to the patent. 
 " Is not this your signature ? " he asked. 
 
 "No, sir : I never saw the paper. 
 
 " Then Solomon Meyer is a swindler." 
 
 " Very likely, sir." 
 
 " Go home ; say nothing, and I will have 
 him arrested. Stop a little money may not 
 come amiss to you just now. Here is fifty 
 dollars on our account. I will see you again 
 to-morrow, but I have an important appoint- 
 ment now." 
 
 " I don't know how to thank you, sir, or 
 what to say," said Stephen Trimble, utterly 
 confounded. 
 
 " There are no thanks due ; on the con- 
 trary, I owe you a small matter of five thou- 
 sand dollars perhaps more for it seems 
 you have not signed this paper, and perhaps 
 may not be willing to sell your invention for 
 so small a sum." 
 
 As he spoke, the confidential clerk tapped 
 at the door and remarked, " Dr. Carver, sir, 
 
 of Hospital, says you telegraphed to 
 
 him from Washington to meet you here." 
 
 Instantly Stephen Trimble saw that Mr. 
 Armstrong had forgotten his existence ; his 
 entire expression changed from kindly be- 
 nevolence to intense eagerness and anxiety.
 
 WITH THE DYNAMITERS. 22$ 
 
 '' What has he got to worry about, I won- 
 der ! " thought the inventor, as he gave place 
 to the physician, and descended the stairs. 
 Force of habit led his steps toward Rickett's 
 Court, but he walked like a different man, 
 and the workman who had seen his crin- 
 ging, crouching manner as he slouched out of 
 the court that morning, did not recognize 
 the man who entered with buoyant, deter- 
 mined step. The change had begun when 
 he left the door of the Home of the Elder 
 Brother. There his faith in his kind had 
 been restored. Had the good fortune of the 
 afternoon befallen him before that expe- 
 rience he could not have believed it, or the 
 stupendous change would have driven him 
 insane. But it had come upon him, merci- 
 fully, by degrees, and he was rapturously 
 happy, and clearer in mind than he had been 
 for months. It was as if a great and crush- 
 ing weight had been lifted from heart and 
 brain. Suddenly, as he crossed the thresh- 
 old, he remembered the infernal-machine. 
 The anarchists would probably use it that 
 night, and Alexander Armstrong, his bene- 
 factor, was doomed. He wondered how he 
 could ever have been so mad as to aid 
 them. There was only one thing to be done :
 
 224 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 he must undo his work, render the contriv- 
 ance harmless, and save his friend. He 
 knocked at the door ; there was no answer ; 
 the men were probably out. He tried to 
 open it, but it was locked. He could easily 
 have picked the lock, but people were com- 
 ing' and going. The new fire-escape sug- 
 gested itself to his mind, and he decided to 
 go to his room and, as it was already dark, 
 descend by it to the workroom. This res- 
 olution was quickly accomplished. He 
 lighted a candle and was just reaching tow- 
 ard the machine, when the door opened and 
 the anarchists entered. 
 
 " What are you doing ? I thought you had 
 finished your work," said his former employer. 
 
 " No, I have not finished," replied Stephen 
 Trimble, nervously taking up a tool and 
 beginning to remove a screw. 
 
 " You are tampering with the machine ; 
 put it down !" and the man seized it angrily. 
 
 " Let go!" shouted Stephen Trimble, " you 
 touch it at your peril ; the button is under 
 your hand ! " 
 
 The warning came too late there was a 
 blinding flash, then a crash as though the 
 heavens had fallen ; then blackness and si- 
 lence.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE KING S DAUGHTERS IN THE COUNTRY. 
 
 " Her father sent her in his land to dwell, 
 
 Giving to her a work that must be done ; 
 And since the king loves all his people well, 
 
 Therefore she, too, cares for them, every one. 
 And when she stoops to lift from want and sin, 
 The brighter shines her royalty therein. 
 u She walks erect through dangers manifold, 
 
 While many sink and fail on either hand ; 
 She dreads not summer's heat nor winter's cold, 
 
 For both are subject to the king's command. 
 She need not be afraid of anything, 
 Because she is the daughter of a king." Anon. 
 
 HILE all these 
 sad things 
 
 o 
 
 were happen- 
 ing Winnie 
 and I were en- 
 joy ing a happy 
 summer at my 
 beloved home 
 in the blessed 
 country. 
 
 It is not to be 
 imagined that 
 Winnie drop- 
 ped all her 
 wild ways and 
 became a saint 
 at once. She had been sobered by her sad 
 15 225
 
 226 WITCH WINNIE, 
 
 experience in plotting and scheming for the 
 little prince ; but since her full forgiveness 
 her elastic spirits rose to the surface, and her 
 cheerful disposition asserted itself in many 
 playful pranks and merry, tricksy ways. 
 
 We did not forget our promise to work 
 for the Elder Brother, but for a time we did 
 nothing but rest fully and completely. 
 
 She was delighted with the country. The 
 fresh air and free, wholesome life acted 
 upon her like wine. She climbed walls and 
 trees, leaped brooks, whistled, shouted, rode 
 on the hay-carts, helped in the kitchen and 
 in the garden, drove Dobbin about the 
 country roads, went berrying, and was a 
 prime favorite with all the boys, though I re- 
 gret to say that at first, perhaps on this very 
 account, the country girls were a little jeal- 
 ous and envious of her. But not a whit 
 cared Winnie for this. She tramped over 
 the fields and through marshes, with her 
 botanist's can swung across her shoulder by 
 a shawl-strap, searching for specimens. She 
 boated and bathed, taking like a duck to 
 the water, and learning to swim more 
 quickly than any other person I had ever 
 known. She loved to work in our old- 
 fashioned garden, pulled weeds diligently,
 
 KING' S DA UGHTERS IN THE COUNTR Y. 2 2 / 
 
 and seemed to love to feel the fresh earth 
 with her fingers. Our flowers were all such 
 as had grown there in my grandmother's 
 time. It seemed to me that she must have 
 modeled it on Mary Howitt's garden, for 
 we had the very flowers which she describes 
 in her poems. 
 
 " And there, before the little bench, 
 
 O'ershadowed by the bower, t 
 Grow southernwood and lemon thyme, 
 Sweet-pea and gillyflower ; 
 
 " And pinks and clove carnations, 
 
 Rich-scented, side by side ; 
 And at each end a holly-hock, 
 With an edge of London-pride. 
 
 "I had marigolds and columbines, 
 And pinks all pinks exceeding ; 
 I'd a noble root of love-in-a-mist, 
 And plenty of love-lies-bleeding." 
 
 There was a bed of herbs, too, which my 
 mother cherished sweet-marjoram and sum- 
 mer savory, sage, rue, and rosemary. 
 
 Winnie took a great interest in all of these 
 plants. The country girls thought it odd 
 that she should care for the wild plants 
 which were so common in our vicinity, not 
 knowing Winnie's enthusiasm for botany,
 
 228 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 and her desire to make a large collection to 
 show the princess. An unusually ignorant 
 girl met her on one of her botanizing ex- 
 peditions, and Winnie asked her if maiden- 
 hair grew in our region. " Of course it 
 does!" the girl replied, indignantly; "you 
 didn't s'pose we all wore wigs, did you?" 
 
 It was some time before Winnie could con- 
 trol herself and explain that the maiden-hair 
 of which she was in search was a kind of 
 fern. 
 
 "Do you want it for a charm?" the girl 
 asked. 
 
 " No," replied Winnnie ; "what will it do ?" 
 
 " If you put it in your shoe and say the 
 right kind of a charm, you will understand 
 the language of the birds." 
 
 "Then I shall certainly try it," said Win- 
 nie, " for that would be great fun." 
 
 Another day mother brought the same 
 girl into the garden, where Winnie was at 
 work, to give her some vegetables. 
 
 "Did you try the charm ?" the girl asked. 
 
 "Yes, indeed," Winnie replied. 
 
 " And did it work ? " 
 
 " Oh, famously ! There is a wood-pecker 
 in the old tree just outside of my window, 
 and he wakes me by his drumming every
 
 KING'S DAUGHTERS IN THE COUNTRY. 
 
 229 
 
 morning. This morning I understood for 
 the first time just what he has been saying". 
 It was ' Wake up, wake up ! little rascal, 
 little rascal, little rascal ! ' ' 
 
 The girl stared at Winnie in open-mouthed 
 astonishment. " You must be a witch," she 
 said. 
 
 " That's what they call me Witch Winnie." 
 
 They were standing beside mother's bed 
 of herbs, and the frightened girl pulled up 
 a stalk of rue and held it at arm's length, as 
 though -it were a protection. "Don't come 
 nigh me ! don't work any of your tricks on 
 me ! " she said. 
 
 Winnie explained that she was only in 
 sport, but the girl was only half reassured, 
 and still clung to the spray of rue. 
 
 Miss Prillwitz afterward explained that 
 rue, like vervain, was supposed to " hinder 
 witches of their will," probably from the 
 fact that it was once used in the Church of 
 Rome, bound in fagots, as a holy-water 
 sprinkler, and is spoken of in old writings 
 as the " Herb of Grace." 
 
 In this way Witch Winnie's name was 
 revived again, and was applied to her by her 
 new friends, even though they did not 
 believe in her uncanny powers.
 
 230 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 The princess came to us later in the sea 
 son for a visit of a month, and we came to 
 know her intimately and love her dearly. 
 She brought five of the boys from the Home 
 with her, for mother was pleased with the 
 enterprise, and father had said that he 
 guessed it wouldn't break him to give those 
 city children a taste of what the country 
 was like, and if we women folk could stand 
 them he supposed he could. 
 
 Winnie took the boys in charge and led 
 them off with her on her long tramps and to 
 row in the safe, flat-bottomed boat. They 
 had great sport, crabbing, bathing, swim- 
 ming, and fishing, and their vacation did 
 them a world of good. These were the 
 boys for whom the princess had planned the 
 industrial classes, but Mr. Trimble lay at the 
 hospital injured, it was thought, unto death 
 by the explosion at Rickett's Court, and that 
 plan was postponed for the present. 
 
 The boys attracted much attention in the 
 Sabbath-school and wherever they appeared. 
 Many questions were asked, and Miss Prill- 
 witz was requested to explain the plan of 
 the Home, in public and in private, at the 
 sewing society, and at the Fourth of July 
 picnic.
 
 KING'S DAUGHTERS IN THE COUNTRY. 23! 
 
 We were not all ignorant country bump- 
 kins at Scup Harbor, and we were not all 
 poor. There were plenty of farmers, who 
 dressed coarsely and fared plainly, who had 
 bank accounts that would have bought out 
 many a New Yorker of fashion. They were 
 not selfish either. I have heard somewhere 
 of a stingy deacon who, on hearing of a 
 case of heart-rending distress, prayed for it 
 in this wise: 
 
 " O Lord, ' giving doth not impoverish 
 Thee, neither doth withholding enrich Thee,' 
 but giving doth impoverish us, and with- 
 holding doth enrich us ; therefore do Thou 
 attend to this case, good Lord ; do Thou 
 attend to this case." 
 
 Now this story may not be exaggerated, 
 but I can only say that he did not live in 
 our section of the country. Our deacons 
 were soft-hearted, though horny-handed men, 
 and though they had the poor of their own 
 church and vicinity to look out for, and per- 
 formed that office well, they decided that 
 Scup Harbor was rich enough to extend a 
 helping hand to New York, since New 
 York was either too poor or too hard-hearted 
 to care for its own. 
 
 Accordingly a collection was taken up in
 
 23 2 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 church that made Miss Prillwitz's heart 
 sing" for joy ; and the Ladies' Benevo- 
 lent Sewing Society voted to have a box 
 of clothing ready for the JHIome by cold 
 weather. 
 
 The grown people were not the only ones 
 interested; there were girls among us of gen- 
 tle manners and hearts, and who were far 
 better educated than Milly Roseveldt. Some 
 of these heard of Miss Prillwitz's eminence 
 as a scientist, and helped me to organize a 
 class for her in Natural History, and the 
 remainder of the summer took on an aspect 
 of mental improvement as well as of phy- 
 sical recreation. Miss Prillwitz mapped out 
 a course of work and reading for each of us 
 to carry on after her return to the city, and 
 the circle arranged to meet at the homes of 
 the members, and read essays and discuss 
 different scientific subjects. 
 
 Winnie was surprised at the amount of 
 intelligence and information displayed, and 
 soon acquired a sincere respect for country 
 girls. It was at one of our meetings after 
 the princess had returned to New York that 
 she noticed that Ethel Stanley, the daughter 
 of a wealthy dairy farmer, wore a little sil- 
 ver cross with a purple ribbon knot.
 
 KING'S DAUGHTERS IN THE COUNTRY. 233 
 
 " Has it come here, too ?" she asked ; " are 
 you a King's Daughter ? " 
 
 " Oh yes," replied Ethel ; " I belong to the 
 Helpful Ten, and there is a Cheer-Up Ten 
 at the Corners. What do you call your 
 link ? " 
 
 " The Seek-and-to-Save Ten," Winnie re- 
 plied ; and she explained the mission of our 
 Circle, and how we hoped to help the Elder 
 Brother in his search for the little lost princes. 
 Ethel was delighted. " I think we might 
 help you," she said; "we are Methodists, but 
 we don't mind working for you if you will 
 let us. I suppose you are all Episcopalians 
 in New York?" 
 
 " Oh dear, no ! " exclaimed Winnie, " we 
 are everything ; Tib is a Congregationalist, 
 and Emma Jane is a Unitarian , Adelaide is 
 Presbyterian ; 'Trude Middleton is a Dutch 
 Reformer ; Rosario Ricos is Catholic ; 
 Puss Seligman is a Jewess ; Little Breeze 
 comes from Philadelphia Quaker stock, 
 though she is so gay you wouldn't think it ; 
 Cynthia Vaughn is a Baptist ; Milly Rose- 
 veldt is the only Episcopalian ; and I'm a 
 heathen." 
 
 "No you are not," I protested; "you are 
 a follower of the Elder Brother, Winnie, and
 
 234 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 that means you are a Christian." She gave 
 my hand a little squeeze, and Ethel ex- 
 claimed, " I should think your society 
 would go to pieces ; I don't see how you 
 can work together with such different 
 views." 
 
 " That depends," said Winnie, thoughtful- 
 ly, " whether in future we all pull in different 
 directions, and tear our charity to pieces be- 
 tween us, or whether each of us uses all her 
 force to bring in people from our different 
 church organizations to help in the work, 
 and make it widely and purely undenom- 
 inational. I mean to write a little parable 
 on that subject some day, for I feel full 
 of it." 
 
 " Do !" we all exclaimed; " write it for the 
 next meeting at Ethel's." 
 
 " I don't know; it would hardly be a sci- 
 entific essay, you know." 
 
 " I am not sure about that," replied Ethel; 
 " I think it might be called a scientific meth- 
 od of carrying on charitable enterprises. 
 Please write it, and I will invite our 
 Ten, and the Cheer-up Ten from the Cor- 
 ners, and the Loyal Legion, and the Mis- 
 sionary Society, and all the girls I know 
 generally."
 
 KING 1 S DA UGHTERS IN THE CO UNTR Y. 235 
 
 The plan was carried into effect, and at 
 the next meeting Winnie read us this fable, 
 which she called 
 
 A FISH STORY.* 
 
 Once upon a time the fishes and salt- 
 water animals down in the bay decided to 
 organize a Home for Sea-urchins. 
 
 o 
 
 The circumstances of the remarkable agi- 
 tation which suddenly spread among the 
 peaceful denizens of the deep became known 
 to me by my inadvertently getting a spray of 
 sea-fern in one of my bathing-sandals. I sud- 
 denly discovered that I could understand the 
 voices of the little creatures that I had so 
 often watched from Tib's father's dory, or 
 sported among when I took my sea-bath. I 
 lay in the dory one afternoon, looking down 
 into the clear depth of the water, watching 
 the tricks and manners of a sea-anemone, 
 and thinking how similar her behavior was to 
 that of a reigning belle at a popular watering- 
 place, when it dawned upon me that she was 
 the belle of the cove, surrounded by a circle 
 of obsequious masculine admirers, prominent 
 among whom were the hermit-crab, the oc- 
 
 NOTE. This allegory was first published in Good Company, of 1880.
 
 236 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 topus, the jelly-fish, the lobster, the conger- 
 eel, the king-iyo, and the stickleback 
 
 " Now, Winnie," I objected, " you never 
 saw an octopus or a king-iyo in our cove, and 
 you can't make me believe it !" 
 
 " My dear Tib," Winnie replied, "didn't I 
 tell you this was a fish story ? Pray do not 
 interrupt again. The animals that I have 
 mentioned were all aspirants to the hand 
 of the Sea- Anemone, and the first remarks 
 which I overheard and comprehended were 
 her confidences to her friend the Gold-Fish, 
 in which she intimated that she considered 
 the Jelly-Fish the most amiable, the Lobster 
 the richest, the King-iyo (a titled foreigner 
 from Japan) the most distingue, and the 
 Conger-Eel the most polite; but, after all, the 
 Hermit-Crab was really the best, and she 
 liked him more than any of the others, with 
 the exception of the Octopus, who was so fas- 
 cinatingly wicked. 
 
 The next time that I looked into the cove 
 was during a meeting of the managers of 
 the Sea-Urchins' Home. 
 
 The Sea-Anemone had just been unani- 
 mously elected to the presidency on account 
 of her popularity. 
 
 The Cuttle-Fish had been created secretary
 
 KING'S DAUGHTERS IN THE COUNTRY. 237 
 
 in recognition of his remarkable facility in 
 throwing ink, while all official documents 
 were stamped by the Seal. 
 
 The Electric-Eel was made visiting phy- 
 sician ; and the Shark, surgeon and lecturer 
 on vivisection. 
 
 The Hermit-Crab, who had been detailed to 
 make observations on the modus in which 
 such societies were carried on among human 
 beings, made the following report : 
 
 " Miss PRESIDENT AND FELLOW-FISHES : 
 
 " Your committee have made a careful 
 investigation of the subject assigned them, 
 and agree that while man's faculties have 
 not been cultivated to so high an extent as 
 those pertaining to fishes, he is still a moral 
 and intellectual animal. We believe that if 
 he were put in possession of the advantages 
 accorded to our race, and were submerged 
 in salt-water for several centuries, his brain 
 would undoubtedly become so pickled as 
 to reduce it in size and intensify its qual- 
 ity. Favorable conditions of brain-pickling 
 are all that is necessary, in our opinion, to 
 develop some of the most advanced speci- 
 mens of this genus into a low form of mol- 
 lusk. 
 
 " The opinions of the Hermit-Crab were
 
 238 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 considered a marvel of liberality and gener- 
 ous thinking. He proceeded to explain the 
 society-forming- instinct of the human race 
 as a professor of our own species might lec- 
 ture on the concretions of deep-sea corals, 
 and continued swimmingly, as fishes usually 
 do, until a white-whiskered Sea-Lion begged 
 leave to make a motion, in the language of 
 a motto of conduct which he had often 
 heard shouted to seamen by their command- 
 ers : * When you are in the navy, do as the 
 knaves do.' ' Let us/ he added, ' act 
 upon this principle of conformity, by doing 
 amongst men as the many do, and immedi- 
 ately organize a fair to meet the salaries of 
 our officers and pay the debt on the society 
 building.' 
 
 " ' But none of us need salaries,' objected 
 the Lobster, ' and we have no debt.' 
 
 " ' As to declining a salary because I do 
 not need it,' replied the Sea-Lion, ' I can only 
 say that I find no such example set by the 
 race whose customs we are following; and 
 without a debt, or at least a deficit in the ac- 
 counts of our treasurer, the respectability of 
 our society may well be questioned.' 
 
 "A committee of Codfish aristocrats was at 
 once authorized to secure a debt of magnif-
 
 KING'S DAUGHTERS IN THE COUNTRY. 239 
 
 icent proportions, at whatever cost, and the 
 salary of each member of the society was 
 set according to his own estimates. Fre- 
 quent meetings of the managers were ap- 
 pointed for the purpose of drawing the sala- 
 ries, and as the care of the Sea-Urchins could 
 with the utmost ingenuity be made to take 
 up but a small portion of the time, each of 
 the managers seized upon these meetings as 
 opportunities to air their own particular 
 opinions. The Lobster, who was something 
 of an autocrat, and had determined from the 
 outset to run the concern, took the entire 
 business management into his own claws, 
 greatly incensing the ladies on the debt 
 committee by intimating that they knew 
 nothing of business, and that his office-boy, 
 the Craw-Fish, could have devised a debt of 
 far nobler proportions. The King-iyo, or three- 
 tailed fish of Japan, trusted that the philoso- 
 phy of the Orient was to have its full recog- 
 nition in the principles of the society, and 
 that the Sea-Urchins would be instructed in 
 Buddhism. The Octopus, who had been one 
 of the most desperate characters in the bay, 
 carried his change of heart so far as to assert 
 that no one could be considered as religious, 
 or even respectable, who had not been ex-
 
 240 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 tremely wicked, and urged that only the 
 most depraved and hopeless young Sea-Ur- 
 chins be admitted into the Home. While the 
 Octopus raved over essential wickedness, 
 and the King-iyo of philosophy, the Jelly- 
 Fish dabbled in humanitarianism, and assert- 
 ed that brains were not to be tolerated, 
 thought was to be considered a crime, and a 
 heart the only organ necessary for the spirit- 
 ual body. All books on theology and philos- 
 ophy should be sold for old paper, and the 
 proceeds invested in charlotte russe for 
 tramps and criminals. Every measure in 
 the least savoring of logic or common sense 
 must be vetoed. 
 
 "The Stickleback, who luxuriated in contro- 
 versy, and in making himself generally dis- 
 agreeable, summed up the remarks of those 
 preceding him as the merest vaporing of 
 idiocy, and denounced every system of be- 
 lief held by his fellow - managers, before 
 hearing it, with the same impartiality. An- 
 tagonism, he asserted, was the only rational 
 attitude for any fish under all circumstances. 
 The Conger-Eel, managing to gain posses- 
 sion of the floor, endeavored to pour oil on 
 the troubled waters. He was sure that if the 
 heterogeneous, and even antipathetic, ideas
 
 KING'S DAUGHTERS IN THE COUNTRY. 241 
 
 held by the different managers were only 
 presented in writing, they would, properly 
 mingled, blend as sweetly as lemon juice 
 and loaf sugar in a cooling summer libation. 
 The Cuttle-Fish, was unanimously elected 
 chairman of a committee for eliciting and 
 reconciling the opinions of the mana- 
 gers in a printed constitution. He opened 
 the ball with a statement of his own views, 
 which he passed to e.ach member in turn, 
 asking them to add their several criticisms 
 
 o 
 
 and corrections. When the paper had gone 
 the rounds it was read in open session by 
 the Hermit-Crab, who summed up everything 
 that had gone before, in a paper entitled 
 ' A Historical Review of the Documents, be- 
 ginning with the King-iyo's criticism of Mr. 
 Snapping-Turtle's attack on Mr. Shrimp's 
 vindication of Mr. Jelly-Fish's Apology 
 of Mr. Conger-Eel's Deprecatory Answer to 
 Mr. Lobster's satire on Mr. Stickleback's Chal- 
 lenge to Mr. Octopus's Dogmatic Denuncia- 
 tion of Mr. Shark's strictures on Miss Sea- Ane- 
 mone's conciliatory explanation of Mr. Cuttle- 
 Fish's exposition of the views of the society.' 
 " Of course this paper satisfied no one, and 
 the meeting plunged at once into a whirl- 
 pool of ruinous discussion. 
 16
 
 242 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 " The Stickleback bristled his spines and 
 glared angrily about him, shrieking, 'Antag- 
 onism ! Nihilism !' 
 
 " ' Fanaticism, Sensationalism !' yelled the 
 Octopus. 
 
 " ' Dogmatism ! Absolutism !' replied the 
 Lobster, hurling clams about him in the 
 belief that they were works on combative 
 theology. 
 
 " ' Asceticism ! Monasticism !' groaned the 
 Hermit-Crab, retreating into a pipe bowl and 
 blocking the entrance with a pearl-oyster. 
 
 " ' Humanitarianism !' warbled the Jelly- 
 Fish, as he choked three sea-melons and a 
 quart of sea-mushrooms into the mouth of a 
 sick Grampus. 
 
 " ' Paganism ! Barbarianism !' retorted the 
 King-iyo, punching the Jelly-Fish. 
 
 " ' Optimism ! Universalism !' sweetly 
 chanted the Conger-Eel, but as he spoke the 
 entire convention broke up and floated away, 
 leaving the little Sea-Urchins crying for their 
 supper, and only a debt of colossal propor- 
 tions to mark the site of the proposed Home." 
 
 "And how do you propose to avoid the 
 fate of the Fish Society ?" Ethel asked, after 
 the storm of applause which followed Win- 
 nie's paper had subsided.
 
 KING'S DAUGHTERS IN THE COUNTRY. 243 
 
 " By recognizing, from the first, that we 
 unite only for this special purpose, and that 
 we all have very varied and contradictory 
 opinions, which we will make no attempt to 
 reconcile or ventilate. I think we can make 
 our very differences an element of strength, 
 if it is acknowledged from the outset that 
 we are to be different. As Corresponding 
 Secretary of our Ten I have received the 
 most encouraging reports from the girls. 
 They are all working hard for the Home, 
 and all working in different ways, and each 
 seems to think that the Home belongs to her 
 individually as it really does and that her 
 organization is responsible for its success. I 
 am sure that when we next meet, the girls 
 will accept Mrs. Middleton's proposition to 
 have the Home of the Elder Brother entered 
 as one of the Dutch Reformed charities, and 
 I hope that each of the other girls will take 
 measures to have it recognized as one of the 
 charities of her particular church organi- 
 zation. I have a letter from Little Breeze, 
 saying that the Friends' Meeting in Phil- 
 adelphia, of which her mother is a member, 
 propose to own a bed in the Home ; and 
 Puss Seligman writes that the Hebrew 
 
 o 
 
 Charitable Association, of which her brother
 
 244 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 is Vice-President, have voted to hold them- 
 selves responsible for every child of their 
 race whom we entertain. Cynthia Vaughn 
 reports that the Church of burgh, Penn- 
 sylvania, will keep us in coal on condition 
 that a delegation of the children go to the 
 Baptist Sunday-school. Miss Prillwitz has 
 already divided the Home into detachments, 
 sending the children, as far as possible, to 
 the churches which their mothers prefer, 
 and there is a strong division of Baptists." 
 
 " I think," said Ethel, " that our Methodist 
 Church would like to have a share in the 
 work. I am sure that father will be glad to 
 supply you with milk and butter as his own 
 private subscription." 
 
 The President of the Loyal Legion then 
 spoke up, and proposed that their organi- 
 zation furnish barrels and make the rounds 
 of the farms in procession, soliciting apples 
 and potatoes, which they would freight to 
 the Home, on condition that a Loyal Legion 
 Temperance Society be organized among 
 the children of the Elder Brother, to be 
 considered as a branch of the Scup Harbor 
 Legion. 
 
 The Cheer-up Ten from the Corners held 
 a brief meeting in the orchard, and returned
 
 KING^S DAUGHTERS IN THE COUNTRY. 245 
 
 to report that they had decided to adopt one 
 of our children to clothe. They desired 
 that the child of the poorest parents be 
 assigned them, and promised that if the 
 proper measurements were sent, they would 
 keep it respectably dressed in garments of 
 their own make. 
 
 I suggested little Georgie, a child rescued 
 from Mrs. Grogan, whose mother could only 
 furnish fifty cents a week from her scanty 
 earnings for his support; and our convention 
 broke up for that day, after partaking of 
 strawberries and cream, singing a good old 
 hymn, slightly altered for the occasion by 
 Winnie. 
 
 " Here we raise our Ebenezer, 
 
 Hither by God's grace we come; 
 And we hope, by His good pleasure, 
 Long we may remain a Home." 
 
 NOTE. The Messiah Home, 4 Rutherford Place, New York, a 
 charity founded for children by children, whose beautiful work sug- 
 gested to the author this simple story, has been greatly helped by 
 circles of the King's Daughters, several of whom have adopted chil- 
 dren to clothe after the manner of the Cheer-up Ten. The writer com- 
 mends this work to any other circles of the King's Daughters eager to 
 do the work of the Elder Brother.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 
 
 " When smale foules maken melodic, 
 That sleepen alle night with open eye, 
 Than longen folk to gon on pilgrimages." 
 
 Chaucer \ Prologrte to " Canterbury Tales." 
 
 T must not 
 be imagined 
 that our en- 
 tire summer 
 was giv- 
 en over 
 to works 
 of charity 
 and mercy. 
 There were times when we quite forgot 
 the Home of the Elder Brother in merry 
 romping and girlish enjoyment ; and one of 
 the pleasantest experiences of that season 
 was an excursion in two tin-peddler's carts, 
 or rather, in two carts belonging to one tin- 
 peddler; a pilgrimage which was undertaken 
 
 246
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 247 
 
 solely and simply as a lark, and most suc- 
 cessfully realized its aims. 
 
 Toward the end of June, while Miss Prill- 
 witz was still with us, father fell into a state 
 of body or mind which he called " the ma- 
 lary." It was the fashion for everyone in 
 our region to dub every disease with which 
 they might be afflicted, from indigestion to 
 inherited insanity, malaria ; and the prescrip- 
 tion given by our wise old physician for this 
 disease of many manifestations was always 
 the same. 
 
 "I don't know exactly what has caused 
 this trouble," he would say, " but I know 
 what will cure it. You need a change. If 
 you've been living high, diet. If you've been 
 starving yourself, have Thanksgiving dinner 
 every day. Take a change of air and a 
 change of scene, a change of occupation, and, 
 above all, a change of habits, and somewhere 
 we'll hit the nail on the head that has done 
 the mischief." 
 
 The prescription pleased my father. He 
 decided that he needed a change from the 
 coast to the interior, and from exercise to a 
 sedentary life. " Instead of tramping around 
 this farm," he said, " I would like to be driv- 
 ing over the western Massachusetts hills. I
 
 248 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 am as sick of this eternal pound, pound of 
 the surf on the shore as of the sea-fog in my 
 throat." 
 
 " Take the horses, father," said mother, 
 cheerfully, . " and drive through Connecticut 
 up to your brother Asahel's farm in Hawley. 
 I can run this household well enough with- 
 out you." 
 
 "It would be a rather lonesome drive," 
 father demurred, though his eyes shone with 
 longing. 
 
 " Zen why not to take us wiz you, Mr. 
 Smiss ?" asked Miss Prillwitz. " We would 
 each stand her share of ze expenses, and such 
 a tour of diligence would be most delightful." 
 
 Upon this the matter was thoroughly can- 
 vassed, and it was finally decided that 
 mother should remain at home with the five 
 little boys, whom Ethel Stanley and the Help- 
 ful Ten had agreed to amuse during our ab- 
 sence ; and that Miss Prillwitz, Miss Sar- 
 toris, Winnie, Mr. Stillman, and I should 
 accompany father. Mr. Stillman was a sum- 
 mer-boarder from New York, who came to 
 us every season to fish and hunt. Hearing 
 that Miss Prillwitz was fond of ornithology, 
 and that the lighthouse-keeper sent her dead 
 birds, he tried to please her by shooting
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 249 
 
 others and bringing them to her, but she soon 
 made him understand that she preferred 
 studying them alive and at liberty. 
 
 "Zese poor leetle tears zat haf cast zem- 
 self on ze lighthouse," she explained, " zey 
 have not been kill for me, zey could not else, 
 but I wish I could hinder zem of it." 
 
 " It is not much fun to shoot birds, after 
 all," Mr. Stillman admitted, "only the ex- 
 ultation in hitting a difficult mark. I hate 
 to pick them up afterward." 
 
 " If it is only ze chase and ze difficulty 
 which make you admiration," said Miss Prill- 
 witz, " why do you not buy to yourself a 
 camera of detective for ze instantaneousness, 
 whereby you can photograph ze bird on his 
 wing ? Zey tell me it shall be much more 
 difficult to do zat zan to shoot him dead." 
 
 And so Mr. Stillman had sent to New 
 York for an amateur photographer's outfit, 
 and had fitted up a dark-room in the old 
 smoke-house, where he developed his nega- 
 tives. He was a man to whom almost every- 
 thing he tried was easy, and he tried his 
 hand at many things. He had traveled 
 much, and assured us that wherever he 
 went he tried to learn some new accomplish- 
 ment. In China he had learned the art of
 
 250 
 
 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 making fireworks, and earlier in the season 
 the smoke-house had served as a chemical 
 laboratory for the manufacture of rockets. 
 Before Miss Prillwitz had suggested amateur 
 photography, Mr. Stillman had amused us 
 by setting off fireworks on the beach at 
 night, but the new craze seemed destined to 
 supersede every other ; pyrotechnics were 
 neglected, and the shot-gun and rifle rusted 
 from lack of use. 
 
 A tin-peddler lived not far from us an en- 
 terprising man, the proprietor of two carts, 
 one of which his wife was accustomed to 
 conduct, following him in caravan style on 
 his summer journeyings ; but this season the 
 man was sick, his wife busied in his care, and 
 the great carts, piled with wares, stood wait- 
 ing in the sheds. 
 
 " I've a notion," said father, " to buy Eben 
 Ware's stock and hire one of his carts. I 
 can hitch my span of horses to it, and I will 
 make enough selling tinware, as we go, to 
 pay the expenses of the whole trip." 
 
 This plan did not strike me pleasantly at 
 first, but before I had time to object Mr. 
 Stillman joined in enthusiastically. 
 
 " A capital idea, Mr. Smith, but you know 
 our board is to be paid regularly to Mrs.
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 2 5 I 
 
 Smith during our absence. Miss Sartoris, 
 Miss Prillwitz, and I all insist upon that. I 
 will take the peddler's horses and his second 
 cart, which I will load up with my photo- 
 graphic outfit, the ladies' baggage, camp sup- 
 plies, etc., and I will fill in any spare space 
 with fireworks, which I will offer for sale 
 along the route, all profits to be devoted to 
 the charity in which the ladies are interested. 
 The Fourth of July is so near that I fancy 
 the rockets will meet with a ready sale." 
 
 All joined in the plan with zest. Our 
 wardrobe was reduced to a minimum. It 
 was discovered that the two carts were ar- 
 ranged to turn into ambulances for camping 
 at night, and would furnish comfortable 
 accommodation for the feminine portion of 
 the party, while a small tent was provided 
 for father and Mr. Stillman. In reality we 
 camped but one night, preferring to stop at 
 wayside inns, but it was pleasant to know 
 that we could do so whenever we wished. 
 A roll of army blankets and comfortables, 
 a few kitchen utensils, and some canned 
 goods were stored away in Mr. Stillman's 
 cart, with Miss Prillwitz's botanizing equip- 
 ments, Miss Sartoris's sketching materials, his 
 own belongings, and all the fireworks which
 
 252 
 
 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 he could manufacture in time; and still there 
 was room in the capacious interior. The 
 rifle was added at Winnie's urgent request, 
 as a defense against wild beasts, though we 
 all joined in ridiculing her fears that bears 
 mio'lit be found in the Massachusetts woods, 
 
 o 
 
 little thinking that we should have a thrill- 
 ing adventure with a grizzly bear. At the last 
 moment Mr. Stillman added another camera 
 and more chemicals. 
 
 " This means," he replied, in answer to our 
 questions, " that I have rented a tintype outfit 
 of a photographer over at the Corners, and 
 propose to add to our resources by taking 
 tintypes as we go." 
 
 Mr. Stillman's ready invention, so fertile in 
 expedients, received hearty applause, and the 
 gypsy caravan set out in high feather. We 
 took the steamboat with the carts to New 
 Haven, and from that point struck into the 
 interior by turnpikes and country roads, 
 father leading the way with his jingling 
 coach, Miss Prillwitz and Winnie perched 
 high beside him, and Miss Sartoris, Mr. 
 Stillman, and I, who called ourselves the Art 
 Contingent, bringing up the rear. How 
 beautiful the roads were, shaded by willows 
 or arched by elms ! Often fascinating lanes
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 
 
 2 5. 
 
 led off from the highway toward comfortable 
 farm-houses, or grass-grown, deserted roads 
 mounted through shady gorges to the lonely 
 hills, tempting us from the beaten track. 
 But the highway was beautiful enough. 
 Sometimes it followed the curves of some 
 vagrant stream, or wound around gently 
 undulating hills. Miss Sartoris pointed out 
 the fact that it was most frequently a suc- 
 cession of curves, while French highways are 
 laid out as straight as the surveyor can make 
 them, and do not compose as well in land- 
 scape paintings. The Connecticut roads we 
 found easy to travel, well kept, and for the 
 most part level or of easy grade. It was not 
 until we reached western Massachusetts thaj: 
 we walked up the hills to lighten the load, 
 or that the driver pressed his foot hard on 
 the brake as the cart coasted down the steep 
 inclines like a toboggan. 
 
 Winnie was delighted with a bit of gorge 
 road which played at hide and seek with a 
 wayward brook. " It seems to me," she said, 
 " that the wood is a matter-of-fact business 
 man, and the brook is his sweet but willful 
 little wife. See how he tries to adapt himself 
 to her whims and pranks, keeping as close to 
 her as he can, while the side which she does
 
 254 
 
 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 not touch is stern with rock and shadow! 
 And she, coquettish little thing, wanders 
 away from him into the deepest part of the 
 ravine, where he cannot follow, and hides 
 herself in a tangle of fern and wild-flowers, 
 till, just as the lonely old road, quite in despair 
 at having lost her, crosses the ravine on a 
 bridge of logs, apparently for the sole purpose 
 of seeking her, the merry little brook flies 
 under the mossy bridge and is close beside 
 him on the side which he thought farthest 
 from her." 
 
 "That is a very good parable," said father. 
 " You've struck the nail pretty fairly. That's 
 the way it has always been with my wife 
 and me. My daughter, too, is one of the 
 brook kind, but you needn't conclude that 
 the old road doesn't enjoy all the company 
 of blackberry vines and laurel and ferns 
 that the brook attracts to itself, and which 
 never would have come near the road but 
 for the brook. I mean you and Miss Sartoris 
 and the rest." 
 
 " And sometimes," Winnie added, " the 
 road has its grains of corn or wheat dropped 
 from a passing cart, you know, to give to the 
 sparrows, and the brook likes that ever so 
 much."
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 
 
 2 55 
 
 Father always called the boys from the 
 Home " the sparrows," and he was pleased 
 by this allusion to his generosity. 
 
 We found ourselves following the circus 
 at one stage of our journey, and we pitched 
 our tent and made camp not far from the 
 fair-grounds. We chose for our camp a site 
 which had once been occupied by a house 
 that had been burned to the ground. The 
 only out - building which had escaped the 
 conflagration was a root-house, or cellar, ex- 
 cavated, cave-like, in the side of a hill. It 
 struck Mr. Stillman as a particularly good 
 " dark-room," and we at once pre-empted it. 
 Miss Sartoris painted a sign-board for the 
 photographic studio, and Winnie and I ar- 
 ranged a bower with a flowery background 
 for Mr. Stillman's sitters. We had a rich 
 harvest that day, Winnie acting as cashier, 
 and Miss Sartoris, as assistant, posing the 
 groups. Mr. Stillman was quite exhausted 
 when evening fell. He said he had never 
 done such a day's work in his life, and his 
 tintype material was nearly used up. We 
 were patronized not only by the country 
 people who came to see the show, sheepish 
 lovers who wished to have their portraits 
 taken together, and parties of merry young
 
 256 
 
 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 people, but also by the showmen them- 
 selves. The living skeleton and the fat lady, 
 the strong man supporting a great weight 
 by his teeth, the lion tamer with his pets, 
 and the snake charmer, were all among Mr. 
 Stillman's patrons. When it was under- 
 stood that he had an instantaneous camera 
 with him, the equestrienne desired him to 
 take a photograph of her w r hile performing 
 her famous feat of riding five horses at once, 
 and the acrobats challenged him to catch 
 their rapid evolutions. He surprised them 
 by his remarkable success in obtaining a 
 perfect negative. It was our most success- 
 ful day, from a financial point of view, for 
 we realized over twenty dollars. 
 
 Father had a rather annoying experience 
 which made him desire to avoid the circus 
 in the future. Among the articles which 
 the tin-peddler had given him was a solder- 
 ing furnace and irons, for mending old tin- 
 ware. Father made his first attempt to use 
 these tools on this afternoon. The door- 
 keeper of one of the tents brought him his 
 japanned tin strong-box to mend, and father 
 attacked the task laboriously, succeeding in 
 making it firm by a rather too plentiful ap- 
 plication of solder. He was so interested in
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 
 
 257 
 
 his task that he did not notice that an organ- 
 grinder, one of the followers of the circus, 
 had pressed quite near and was regarding 
 the coins, which the door-keeper had 
 temporarily turned into his handkerchief, 
 with hungry eyes. Suddenly the monkey, 
 which had been tied to the organ, became 
 loose, and springing straight to the little 
 furnace, seized and brandished the heated 
 soldering-iron. A great excitement ensued, 
 for no one dared to take the formidable 
 weapon from the mischievous creature. The 
 owner of the monkey seemed at his wits' 
 end. He raged, stamped, tore his hair, com- 
 manded and entreated the monkey to bring 
 back the iron, all to no avail. The monkey, 
 having burned himself, finally dropped it, 
 but, frightened by the pain or by his master's 
 threats, continued his flight into the woods, 
 followed by the organ-grinder. When the 
 excitement occasioned by this event had 
 subsided, a still greater one ensued on 
 the discovery that the door-keeper's hand- 
 kerchief and money had disappeared. The 
 man angrily charged father with its theft, 
 but Mr. Stillman came running from his 
 dark-room with a negative which he had 
 just developed. He had been standing at 
 17
 
 258 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 the door, with his detective camera in his 
 hand, and, quite unintentionally, had done 
 real detective work, for, intending- only to 
 catch the monkey with the soldering-iron, 
 he had focused upon it at the very first, and 
 the unerring eye of the camera had seen and 
 recorded what every one else had been too 
 preoccupied to discover the organ-grinder 
 snatching the gate-keeper's money. The 
 negative was a sufficient witness, and the 
 organ-grinder was at once sought for, but 
 the earth seemed to have swallowed him. 
 The monkey was found nursing his burned 
 paw in a tree, but his master and the money 
 were not to be found. There was such a 
 train of beggars and questionable characters 
 in the wake of the circus that it was decided 
 not to pursue our moneyed advantage by 
 following with them ; and the next day we 
 stood back from the road to let the heavy, 
 shambling elephants and long train of 
 gaudily decorated wagons pass by. Mr. 
 Stillman had his detective camera out, and 
 took some interesting views of the proces- 
 sion. Father had taken a dislike to the 
 soldering outfit, and congratulated himself 
 that the monkey had lost the iron, but the 
 last In the procession, a gypsy fortune-teller,
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 
 
 259 
 
 handed it to him, saying- that it was a lode- 
 stone, which would bring evil fortune to the 
 person who possessed it, and advising- him 
 to give it to his worst enemy. " I am a 
 witch," Winnie laughed, " and can reverse 
 all omens so we need not fear." Turning 
 from the highway, we now struck across the 
 country, through chestnut woods, where 
 Miss Prillwitz taught us to recognize the 
 song of the thrush, the sweetest of New 
 England songsters, and cousin of the mock- 
 ing-bird. Mr. Stillman was vexed that he 
 could not obtain a single photograph of a 
 thrush, but she is a shy bird, and keeps hid- 
 den in leafy thickets, and though we heard 
 her song frequently, we never saw her. Mr. 
 Stillman became very skillful in photograph- 
 ing other birds, even fixing the agile little 
 fly-catchers in their eccentric movements, 
 the watchful bobolink atilt on a mullein- 
 stalk, the swallows skimming the river's 
 surface, and the sagacious crows, who, hav- 
 ing proved that a very natural scarecrow 
 was harmless, were less suspicious of him. 
 The withered limbs on certain old apple- 
 trees were favorite perches for the birds, for 
 there was no foliage here to impede their 
 flight, and outlined against the sky they
 
 26O WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 were capital targets for the camera. Mr. 
 Stillman secured a gentlemanly king-bird 
 in such a position, his white breast and black 
 back and tail feathers reminding Winnie of 
 a dandy in full evening dress. 
 
 Miss Prillwitz remarked on the brilliant 
 plumage of the New England birds, and 
 said that it was a mistake to imagine that 
 those of the South were more beautiful. She 
 pointed out the black and gold orioles, the 
 lovely bluebird, the scarlet tanagers, as 
 brilliant as flamingoes, the beautiful rose- 
 breasted grosbeaks, with a rich crimson 
 heart upon their breasts, and the red-winged 
 blackbirds, with their scarlet epaulets, 
 reminding one of brisk artillerymen. It 
 \vas the last of June the most perfect of all 
 the months and as we rode we repeated all 
 of the poets' praises of the month that we 
 could remember. We agreed that Lowell had 
 sung the season best : 
 
 " The bobolink has come, and, like the soul 
 Of the sweet season vocal in a bird, 
 Gurgles in ecstasy we know not what, 
 Save June ! Dear June ! Now God be praised 
 for June." 
 
 But Margaret Deland pleased us nearly as 
 well in her homage to the queen month :
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 261 
 
 " The dark laburnum's chains of gold 
 
 She twists about her throat ; 
 Perched on her shoulder, blithe and bold, 
 The brown thrush sounds his note ! 
 
 " And blue of the far dappled sky, 
 
 That shows at warm, still noon, 
 Shines in her softly smiling eye 
 Oh who's so sweet as June ?" 
 
 Father was not a very successful tin-ped- 
 dter. The thrifty New England housewives 
 were not pleased because he was unwilling 
 to exchange his wares for rags, after the 
 manner of other itinerant venders. He was 
 uncertain as to the prices which he ought to 
 charge; asking so little for his brooms that 
 one patron purchased all his stock, at a 
 decided loss to himself, as he afterwards 
 learned, and demanding so much for nut- 
 meg graters that a sagacious purchaser 
 showed him the door with scorn. The sol- 
 dering outfit, too, caused him much woe. It 
 seemed that the original peddler was a clqver 
 tinker; and all sorts of broken articles, from 
 clocks to umbrellas,were brought out for fath- 
 er to mend. At first father good humoredly 
 tried his best, but having burned holes in his 
 clothing, as well as blistered his hands, and 
 succeeding in no instance in satisfying his
 
 262 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 patrons, he was tempted to throw the lit- 
 tle furnace away, but his sense of economy 
 would not allow him to do this, and he 
 stowed it away vindictively in the depths of 
 his cart. 
 
 Shortly after this we spent two very inter- 
 esting days in visiting" Mt. Holyoke and 
 Smith colleges. They gave both to Winnie 
 and me a desire for a higher education than 
 that which we were receiving at Madame's. 
 Miss Sartoris wandered slowly through the 
 Art Building of Smith, looking longingly at 
 its superb equipment. The college is charm- 
 ingly situated in the old town of Northamp- 
 ton. We were told that the students had 
 just acted a Greek play, the "Electra" of 
 Sophocles, very successfully, and we looked 
 at one another in envy as we thought how 
 impossible it would have been to present 
 such a drama at Madame's. 
 
 We passed the Holyoke range on July i. 
 This barrier marks as distinct a climatic 
 change as Cape Cod in the Atlantic cur- 
 rents, for, just as, south of the Cape, and 
 apparently threatened by her bent arm, the 
 Gulf Stream sweeps to the north the tropic 
 sea-weeds, and north of it, and gathered close 
 in its embrace, the Arctic mosses cling to the
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 263 
 
 cold heart of New England ; so, south of 
 the Holyoke range the air may be tepid 
 and lifeless, while beyond it invigorating 
 breezes from the Northland are dancing 
 cheerily. 
 
 We had eaten the last native Connecticut 
 strawberries, but they were just in their glory 
 north of the barrier, and though the almanac 
 said July, it was June weather still. 
 
 Mount Tom and Mount Holyoke stand as 
 sentinels at the entrance of a lovely region, 
 through whose elm-covered villages we 
 drove at leisurely pace, resting over a Sab- 
 bath at old Hadley, one of the most charm- 
 ing places, with its principal street a dou- 
 ble cloister of elms and maples, and 
 where a Sabbath peace and stillness brooded 
 even on week-days. Mr. Stillman found, 
 for the next few days, a ready sale for his 
 fireworks, exhausting his stock and adding 
 twenty-five dollars to the treasury. About 
 twelve miles north of Mount Holyoke rises 
 Mount Toby, a noble mountain, which as- 
 sumes, from certain directions, the shape of a 
 crouching camel. The resemblance is even 
 more marked than that of the Rock of Gibral- 
 tar to a lion. It dominates the country round 
 about, and from its summit nearly a score
 
 264 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 of nestling towns and villages are visible. 
 Among these Mr. Stillman sold his rockets, 
 and proposed that we should spend Fourth 
 of July night on its summit, and there watch 
 the little fire-fountains on the plain below. 
 It was an attractive plan, but Mr. Stillman 
 had not counted the weather into his reck- 
 oning. It had been a sultry day. As we 
 stopped at a farm-house on our way from 
 Sunderland to Mount Toby, the good woman 
 told us to look out for rain. " The grass 
 has been waiting two days to be cut," she 
 said, " but it looks kinder lowry, and the 
 men-folks daresn't begin haying." 
 
 There were two superb cumulus clouds in 
 the west, shaped like elm -trees, or wine- 
 glasses touching rims, and there was a blue 
 rain-cloud in the southeast, with fringes 
 trailing the landscape, and blurring it from 
 our view. 
 
 " The rain may not reach Mount Toby at 
 all," father said; "showers travel about among 
 those hills in a curious fashion. I have seen 
 it raining hard on one side of Sugar-Loaf, 
 while the other was dry and dusty. There is 
 a deserted railway station at the foot of 
 Toby, where we can spend the night. There 
 were picnic grounds laid out on the moun-
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 265 
 
 tain at one time, but the enterprise failed, 
 and trains no longer stop there." 
 
 A view of the station, which we reached 
 early in the afternoon, confirmed father's 
 recommendation of it. The roof was weather 
 tight, and it was a roomy, comfortable build- 
 ing, a good refuge should a shower overtake 
 us. We picnicked beside a beautiful cascade, 
 and leaving the horses picketed beside the 
 carts, proceeded to climb the mountain on 
 foot. It was glorious with masses of white 
 and pink laurel, which I had never before seen 
 in its perfection, and Miss Prillwitz intro- 
 duced me to many other plants and flowers 
 new to me. The Amherst basket-fern, shaped 
 like a Corinthian capital, grew in perfection, 
 the Columbine blew her flame-colored trump- 
 ets, and the harebell rang her inaudible 
 chimes from mossy clefts in the gray rocks. 
 Miss Prillwitz said she had last picked hare- 
 bells in Austria. 
 
 " You know," said Miss Sartoris, " that 
 Mary Howitt calls the harebell 
 
 ' The very flower to take 
 Into the heart, and make 
 
 The cherished memory of all pleasant places; 
 Name but the light harebell, 
 And straight is pictured well 
 
 Where'er of fallen state lie lonely traces.
 
 266 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 Old slopes of pasture ground, 
 
 Old fosse and moat and mound, 
 Where the mailed warrior and crusader came; 
 
 Old walls of crumbling stone 
 
 With ivy overgrown, 
 Rise at the mention of the harebell's name.' " 
 
 Miss Prillwitz pointed out more obscure 
 plants, and gave us interesting bits of in- 
 formation in regard to them. Some had 
 strangely human characteristics. The cassia, 
 a shrinking sensitive-plant with yellow blos- 
 soms, was one of these, while the poison-ivy 
 in its unctuous growth had an evil and malig- 
 nant appearance which seemed to hint at its 
 inimical nature. She told us how to tell the 
 poisonous sumac from the harmless variety, 
 the poisonous kind being the only one that 
 has pendant fruit. She gave us also a little 
 chat about parasitic plants, suggested by a 
 gerardia, a little thief which draws its nutri- 
 ment from the roots of huckleberry. 
 
 " I did not know that plants had so little 
 conscience," said Winnie. "It reminds me 
 of a guest a Southern gentleman had, who 
 remained- twelve years, and after the death 
 of the host married his widow." 
 
 " Plants seem also to be cruel," said Miss 
 Prilhvitz. " Zere is ze apocynum, a car-
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 267 
 
 nivorous plant which eat ze insect. You 
 should read of him by Darwin. He set a 
 trap for ze fly wiz some honey, and when 
 Mr. Fly tickle ze plant, quick he is caught, 
 and Mr. Apocynum he eat him, and digest 
 him at his leisures." 
 
 " Miss Prillwitz, you should write a book 
 for young- people, and call it ' Near Nature's 
 Heart/ " I suggested. 
 
 " I would so like," replied Miss Prillwitz, 
 " but if I waste my time to write, how should 
 I earn my lifes ? I have know many author, 
 and very few do make their wealths by by 
 their authority." 
 
 Miss Prillwitz brought out the last word 
 triumphantly, quite sure that she had achiev- 
 ed a success in our difficult language. I 
 turned aside to Mr. Stillman, that she might 
 not see my smile. " How interesting she 
 makes our climb," I said, " and all these way- 
 side weeds ! ' She illustrates the landscape.' " 
 
 " In my humble opinion it is Miss Sartoris 
 who ' illustrates the landscape,' " he replied. 
 " See what a picture she makes reaching 
 after those sweet-briar blossoms ! I wish I 
 had not left my detective at the station." 
 
 Miss Sartoris was indeed very pretty. It 
 seemed to me that sh grew younger and
 
 268 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 more bewitching with every day of our trip. 
 Each changing" pose as she leisurely picked 
 the wild roses was full of grace, but I could 
 hardly understand why Mr. Stillman should 
 greatly regret not securing this particular 
 view, when she had figured in at least half of 
 the photographs which he had taken. 
 
 We reached the top of the mountain 
 just at sunset. The west glowed with a 
 yellow -green color. The strange clouds, 
 which had been as white as curds in the 
 afternoon, were now dark blue, lighted by 
 flashes of heat lightning. They moved for- 
 ward like the pillar which led the Israelites, 
 great billowy masses piled one on the other 
 and toppling at the summit, while they melted 
 at the base into a mist of rain. Behind them 
 was the background of the sunset, like a 
 plate of hammered gold dashed with that 
 sinister green. There were threatening 
 rumblings in the east also, and Amherst and 
 its college buildings were blotted out by the 
 rain clouds, which resembled the petals of a 
 fringed gentian, and seemed to be traveling 
 rapidly in our direction. 
 
 Father took a rapid view of the horizon. 
 " There will be no fireworks display for us 
 to-night," he said. "There are two showers
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 269 
 
 which will meet in an hour's time, and Toby 
 will be just about in the centre of the fracas. 
 We had better hurry down the mountain if 
 we want to escape a wetting." 
 
 Miss Sartoris gave a longing look at the 
 beautiful panorama of nestling villages, 
 forest and winding river (a view unsur- 
 passed in Massachusetts), and now glori- 
 fied by the magnificent cloud effects. 
 " Can we not rest for half an hour ? " she 
 asked. 
 
 " I think not," father replied, and we reluc- 
 tantly retraced our steps. When half-way 
 down the mountain the wind, which pre- 
 ceded the march of the cloud battalion, 
 caught up with us. The chestnuts crouched 
 low and moaned, the poplars shivered and 
 shook their white palms, and the hemlocks 
 writhed and tossed their gaunt arms as 
 though in agony. Then there was a hush, 
 when they seemed to stand still from very fear, 
 and a minute later the storm burst upon us. 
 We were but a short distance from the station 
 when this occurred, and the foliage which 
 roofed the road was so dense that we were 
 not very wet when we reached our shelter. 
 There was an invigorating scent of ozone in 
 the air, and a certain exhilaration in being
 
 2 70 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 out in a storm, and in hearing 1 the crash of 
 falling" limbs far back in the woods. We 
 noticed the gentleness of the rain, which, 
 though apparently fierce, did not break a 
 single fragile wild-flower. Each leaf, sponged 
 free from dust, brightened as though freshly 
 varnished, and each blade of grass threaded 
 its necklace of crystal beads. The cascade, 
 swollen and turbid, roared angrily at our 
 side, and a shallower rivulet made the path 
 slippery as we hurried on; but a few moments 
 of laughing scramble brought us panting 
 into the dry station, safely housed for the 
 night from the storm. 
 
 Father and Mr. Stillman arranged shelter 
 for the horses by spreading the tent between 
 the two carts, and we ate our supper at what 
 had formerly been a refreshment counter. 
 Then the ticket-office was assigned to the 
 gentlemen as their dormitory, and ham- 
 mocks were hung for the rest of us in the 
 ladies' waiting-room. We told ghost stories 
 for a time by the light of a spirit-lamp and 
 a few candles, but retired early, as we were 
 thoroughly tired from our long walk, and 
 were soon asleep, lulled by the monotone of 
 the falling rain. We were not destined, 
 however, to enjoy a night of undisturbed
 
 VER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 
 
 repose, for the principal adventure of our 
 journey occurred that night. 
 
 I do not know how long we had slept 
 when we were all suddenly awakened by a 
 startling scream. 
 
 " What is it ? Oh, what is it ?" gasped 
 Winnie. 
 
 " Is it a catamount ?" asked Miss Sartoris. 
 
 I thought of the railroad track, which ran 
 close beside us, and suggested that it might 
 be the shriek of a passing engine, when sud- 
 denly it came again on the side of the sta- 
 tion opposite to the track. Father sprang 
 up, exclaiming, " Something is the matter 
 with the horses !" 
 
 The rain was still pouring, and a dim light 
 from the swinging lantern illumined the 
 room. As father spoke, one of the windows, 
 which had been left open for ventilation, 
 was suddenly filled by an uncouth form, 
 which, with much scrambling and snorting, 
 was proceeding to force an entrance. 
 
 "It is a bear !" shrieked Winnie; and so it 
 was. Mr. Stillman rushed forward with his 
 rifle. There was a loud report, and a heavy 
 fall on the outside. 
 
 " Horses can scent bears at a distance," 
 said father, as he took down the lantern;
 
 272 WITCH WINNIE, 
 
 " but who would have thought there were 
 any such creatures in these woods ?" 
 
 " Perhaps it has broken away from the 
 circus," suggested Mr. Stillman, reloading 
 his rifle; for there was an ominous growling 
 outside. Human voices were presently heard 
 whose intonations were almost as harsh as 
 those of the brute. Father unbarred the 
 door, and we saw two men bending over the 
 wounded bear, which he now saw was muz- 
 zled, and the property of the men, who had 
 evidently heard of the old station, and 
 had thought to take refuge in it from the 
 storm. 
 
 " Here's a pretty state of things!" father 
 exclaimed, with a whistle. " You have shot 
 a performing bear, Stillman, and these show- 
 men will probably make us pay dearly for 
 the mistake." 
 
 We had all been terribly frightened; but 
 we recovered instantly on this announce- 
 ment, and hurriedly dressing, we peered 
 out at the men as they stood about the 
 wounded animal and discussed the situ- 
 ation. One of the showmen was a foreigner, 
 who swore and grumbled in some strange 
 language, which Miss Prillwitz afterward 
 told us was Russian, The other was unmis-
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 
 
 2 73 
 
 takably a Jew, and he took a Jewish advan- 
 tage of the accident. 
 
 o 
 
 " You haf ruined our pizness dot bear he 
 wort one, two hundert dollar !" 
 
 " Nonsense!" replied father, as confidently 
 as if he were accustomed to trade in that 
 species of live-stock ; " he's dear at fifty. 
 Besides, he isn't dead, nor anything like it. 
 Hold him with this halter, you two, and I'll 
 examine him. There ! I told you so; it's only 
 a flesh wound in the right foreleg. There 
 are no bones broken. He will be ready for 
 travel in a week. . All you've got to do is to 
 stay here for a few days and where could 
 you be better off ? We leave in the morn- 
 ing, and no one will dispute your possession 
 of this house. I will leave you enough pro- 
 visions to keep you until you are ready for 
 the road again." 
 
 The men talked it over in Russian, and 
 seemed far from satisfied, though Mr. Still- 
 man offered to give them twenty dollars as 
 an equivalent for what they would have 
 gained during the next week, and father 
 added his remaining stock of small tinware, 
 which, he explained, they could easily sell 
 from door to door at the farm-houses and 
 villages in the vicinity. He was tired of his 
 
 18
 
 274 
 
 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 occupation as a tin-peddler, and glad to get 
 rid of the obnoxious soldering furnace, as 
 well as the patty-pans and muffin-rings. A 
 settlement was finally effected when, in ad- 
 dition to this, Mr. Stillman agreed to their 
 demand for fifty dollars cash indemnity. 
 
 There was no more sleep for us that night, 
 and it was with rueful countenances that we 
 discussed the adventure among ourselves. 
 
 " To think," lamented Winnie, " that, just 
 as we were congratulating ourselves on gain- 
 ing so much money for the Home, we should 
 be obliged to pay it all out, and more besides, 
 to these wretched men, and all for noth- 
 ing too !" 
 
 " Yes," replied Mr. Stillman, " that is the 
 provoking part. If I had only killed the 
 creature we might have bear-steak for break- 
 fast (though it would have been pretty ex- 
 pensive meat), and I could have had his hide 
 mounted as a rug, and have exhibited it to 
 my friends with truthful braggadocio as one 
 of my hunting trophies." 
 
 I sympathized with Winnie in regard to 
 the depleted condition of our treasury; but 
 Miss Prillwitz remarked, enigmatically, that 
 the adventure might not prove to be such a 
 losing one as we imagined. We begged her
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 2 75 
 
 to explain; but she bade us wait until we 
 were at least ten miles from our encamp- 
 ment. 
 
 We relinquished the station to the show- 
 men after a very early breakfast, and drove 
 away with lightened carts and subdued 
 spirits. 
 
 The rain had ceased, but was likely to 
 begin again at any moment, for the sky was 
 thickly overcast, and father suggested that, 
 as this was a famous trout region, we might 
 do well to spend the morning in fishing. 
 This plan pleased all but Miss Prillwitz, who 
 whispered to father that she had particular 
 reasons for reaching a telegraph station as 
 soon as possible, and we accordingly direct- 
 ed our course at a rattling pace toward the 
 shire town of Greenfield. On the way Miss 
 Prillwitz confided to us her suspicions; and in 
 order that the reader may understand them, 
 I must anticipate the events which are to be 
 related in the next chapter, and explain that, 
 after the explosion at Rickett's Court, Solo- 
 mon Meyer and one of the anarchists had 
 disappeared from New York, and Mr. Arm- 
 strong had offered a reward for their appre- 
 hension. 
 
 The anarchist was known to be a Russian,
 
 2/6 WITCH WINNIE, 
 
 and though Miss Prillwitz had never seen 
 Solomon Meyer, she felt sure, from Lovey 
 Trimble's description of him, that he had de- 
 cided to avoid the ordinary routes of travel, 
 and to journey toward Canada on foot, dis- 
 guised as an itinerant showman. She had 
 more proofs of his identity than these sus- 
 picions. The men had conversed very freely 
 with each other in Russian, never dream- 
 ing that there was any one present who 
 could understand the language. The Rus- 
 sian had complained bitterly that this acci- 
 dent would delay their journey to Canada, 
 and the Jew had replied that it might be as 
 well to lie hidden until the search was over. 
 
 Arrived at Greenfield, Miss Prillwitz tele- 
 graphed to Mr. Armstrong, and in two hours 
 received the following reply : " Have the 
 local authorities arrest the parties and detain 
 them until I can reach Greenfield." 
 
 Accordingly Mr. Still man and father, 
 with a sheriff and a constable, drove back 
 toward Mount Toby in a sort of picnic 
 wagon. Father advised us to await him at 
 Deerfield, one of the most interesting 
 villages in the Connecticut Valley both 
 from its intrinsic beauty and its historic 
 associations. We engaged lodgings at the
 
 OVER THE HfLLS AN~D FAR AWAY. 
 
 small hotel, where we found but one other 
 traveler, a dejected book - agent. It was 
 nearly dinner-time, and the landlord looked 
 rather alarmed by the unexpected arrival of 
 so many hungry-looking guests, but he soon 
 set before us a capital dinner of broiled 
 chicken, and after a little rest we took a 
 stroll through the beautiful old town. We 
 were informed that the Memorial Hall, a 
 museum of antique furniture, books, cos- 
 tumes, and other curiosities, was well worth 
 visiting; and so, indeed, we found it. One 
 object which greatly interested me was an 
 old spinnet, with a quaint collection of 
 music, both sacred and secular. Here was 
 a great bass-viol which formerely groaned 
 out an accompaniment to the male voices of 
 the choir as they took their part in such 
 strange, metrical arrangements as 
 
 " Come, my beloved, haste away, 
 Cut short the hours of thy delay; 
 Fly like a youthful hart or roe, 
 Over the hills where spices grow." 
 
 The Library, too, a collection of " the (lit- 
 erary) remains " of many celebrated doctors 
 of divinity, was a fascinating room, and one 
 in which we would have enjoyed prowling
 
 278 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 for a long time. Hawthorne has given such 
 an admirable description, in his " Old 
 Manse," of just such a library, that I cannot 
 forbear quoting it here. 
 
 " The old books would (for the most 
 part) have been worth nothing at an auction. 
 They possessed an interest quite" apart from 
 their literary value ; many of them had been 
 transmitted down through a series of conse- 
 crated hands from the days of the mighty 
 Puritan divines. A few of the books were 
 Latin folios written by Catholic authors ; 
 others demolished papistry as with a sledge- 
 hammer, in plain English. A dissertation 
 on the book of Job, which only Job himself 
 could have had the patience to read, filled 
 at least a score of small, thick-set quartos, 
 at the rate of two or three volumes to a 
 chapter. Then there was a vast folio " Body 
 of Divinity." Volumes of this form dated 
 back two hundred years and more, and were 
 generally bound in black leather, exhibiting 
 precisely such an appearance as we should 
 attribute to books of enchantment. Others 
 equally antique were of a size proper to be 
 carried in the large waistcoat pockets of old 
 times : diminutive, but as black as their 
 bulkier brethren. These little old volumes
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR A WAY. 279 
 
 impressed me as if they had been intended 
 for very large ones, but had been, unfortu- 
 nately, blighted at an early stage of their 
 growth. Then there were old newspapers, 
 and still older almanacs, which reproduced 
 the epochs when they had issued from the 
 press with a distinctness that was altogether 
 unaccountable. It was as if I had found bits 
 of magic looking-glass among the books, 
 with the images of a vanished century in 
 them." 
 
 We lingered long in the Library, and in the 
 Indian Room, where stands an old door 
 gashed by the tomahawks of the Indians 
 who, with a company of French, in 1704, 
 surprised Deerfield, massacred a great part 
 of the inhabitants, and carried a hun- 
 dred and twelve as prisoners to Canada. 
 Yellow and crumbling letters, uncertainly 
 spelled and quaintly phrased, hung around 
 the room, telling how perilous such a driv- 
 ing-tour as we had just taken would have 
 been in those pioneer days. One, dated 
 1756 and written to Captain John Burt in 
 the Crown Point Army, read as follows : 
 
 " Dear Husband. 
 
 " It is a Crasie time in 
 this place. There is but little Traviling by
 
 28O WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 the Massachusetts Fort which makes it more 
 difficult to send letters. Capt. Chapin and 
 Chidester and his Son were killed and scalpt 
 by the Enemy near the new foort at Hoo- 
 sack." 
 
 Sarah Williams, of Roxbury, in 1714 
 announces to her friends at Deerfield the 
 expected return of many of their friends 
 who had been carried off in different raids 
 " We have had news that Unkel is Coming 
 with one hundred and fifty Captives." 
 
 The number dwindled, and many who . 
 were carried away on that dreary march 
 through the winter snow never returned, but 
 among the relics preserved in the archives of 
 Memorial Hall is a pathetic little red shoe 
 which walked all the way from Hatfield to 
 Canada and back, on the foot of little Sally 
 Colman. It is hardly more than a tiny sole, 
 with a rag of the scarlet upper clinging to it, 
 but it tells the story of the cruel march, and 
 the heroic efforts of the noble men who 
 effected the rescue of their friends, better 
 than many a page of print. 
 
 We were so much interested in Memorial 
 Hall that it was long past supper-time before 
 we thought of leaving. The book-agent ad- 
 vised us to visit the old burying-ground, and,
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 281 
 
 after supper, offered to show us the way. 
 We found it grass-grown and neglected ; in 
 some portions, a thicket of climbing vines 
 and tangling briers. Indeed, the entire God's 
 acre was so given over to nature that the 
 birds built undismayed, while the squirrel 
 frisked impudently on the headstones, and 
 the woodchuck burrowed beside the tombs. 
 It had not been used for many years ; a 
 newer cemetery raised its white monuments 
 on the hillside, while here lichens nearly fill- 
 ed the carving, and the stones leaned at 
 tipsy angles, proving that grief for any 
 buried here had been long assuaged, that the 
 very mourners had passed away, and it was 
 doubtful whether a single aged man still 
 lingered in the town of whom it could be 
 said that 
 
 " These mossy marbles rest 
 On the lips which he has pressed 
 
 In their bloom. 
 
 And the names he loved to hear 
 Have been carved for many a year 
 
 On the tomb." 
 
 As Miss Sartoris remarked, the place did 
 not suggest sadness, but gentle retrospection, 
 while curiosity provoked the fancy to fill out 
 the histories so provokingly suggested in the
 
 282 WITCH WIKNIE. 
 
 inscriptions. Here was buried Mrs. Williams, 
 whom her epitaph declares to be "the virtuous 
 and desirable consort of Mr. John Williams," 
 and Mr. Mehuman Hinsdale, who was "twice 
 captivated by the barbarous salvages." 
 
 The book-agent read us another epitaph, 
 copied in Vernon, Vt., which suggested a 
 three-volume novel in the history which it 
 gave of early Indian times. Our imagina- 
 tions sank exhausted as we attempted to fol- 
 low the heroine through all her matrimonial 
 complications, I give it as it was dictated 
 to me: 
 
 MRS. JEMIMA TUTE, 
 SUCCESSIVELY RELICT OF MESSRS. WILLIAM PHIPS, 
 
 CALEB HOWE, AND AMOS TUTE. 
 THE TWO FIRST WERE KILLED BY THE INDIANS, 
 
 PHIPS, JULY 5, 1743; HOWE, JUNE 27, 1755. 
 WHEN HOWE WAS KILLED, SHE AND HER CHILDREN, 
 THEN SEVEN IN NUMBER, WERE CARRIED INTO CAPTIVITY. 
 THE OLDEST DAUGHTER WENT TO FRANCE, AND WAS 
 MARRIED TO A FRENCH GENTLEMAN. THE YOUNGEST WAS 
 TORN FROM HER BREAST, AND PERISHED WITH HUNGER. 
 BY THE AID OF SOME BENEVOLENT GENTLEMEN, AND HER 
 OWN PERSONAL HEROISM, SHE RECOVERED THE REST. 
 SHE DIED MARCH 7, 1805, HAVING PASSED THROUGH 
 MORE VICISSITUDES AND ENDURED MORE HARDSHIPS THAN 
 ANY OF HER CONTEMPORARIES. 
 
 " ' No more can savage foe annoy, 
 
 Nor aught her widespread fame destroy.' "
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 283 
 
 It was dark when we wandered back to 
 the hotel, past the old manse built for the 
 Reverend John Williams by his parishioners 
 after his return from captivity. We were 
 told that some one residing in the house of 
 late had occasion to move a tall piece of 
 furniture in one of the chambers, and dis- 
 covered a door. Opening this, a secret stair- 
 case was found leading from the cellar to 
 the attic. No one living had known of its 
 existence, and many were the wild guesses 
 made as to its object. 
 
 When we returned to the hotel we found 
 that father and Mr. Stillman had not yet 
 arrived. Miss Sartoris seemed very anxious, 
 and feared that there might have been 
 trouble in arresting the tramps. Winnie 
 cheered us by suggesting the trout fishing, 
 which Mr. Stillman had reluctantly aban- 
 doned when we left Mt. Toby. It would be 
 a good night for fishing, the landlord said ; 
 perhaps they had remained for it, since the 
 distance to Toby was too long to be comfort- 
 ably made three times in one day. After 
 breakfast the next morning, as our travelers 
 were still absent, Miss Sartoris and I unpacked 
 our sketch-boxes and began to make a study 
 of the street from the north end, just at the
 
 284 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 point where the French and Indians, " swarm- 
 ing over the palisades on the drifted snow, 
 surprised and sacked the sleeping town." 
 
 Miss Prillwitz and Winnie, with their 
 botanists' cans, followed a little brook that 
 ran at the back of the hotel, and came back 
 laden with blue German forget-me-nots. 
 Father and Mr. Stillman arrived just before 
 dinner, Mr. Stillman carrying in one hand a 
 string of beautiful speckled trout, and in the 
 other something which looked like a buffalo- 
 robe. He looked very triumphant and happy, 
 while father followed, carrying in a rather 
 sheepish manner what but the old soldering 
 furnace ! We greeted them with so much 
 laughter and so many questions that it was 
 some time before they could give an account 
 of their adventures. 
 
 Arrived at the Mount Toby railroad 
 station, they had found it deserted. The 
 men having evidently decided that it was 
 not safe to await the recovery of the bear, 
 had accordingly killed it, and secreted 
 it in a cave at the foot of the mountain. 
 The sheriff knew of this cave, and in ex- 
 amining it in search of the men, found the 
 carcass of the bear. 
 
 " And so," exclaimed Mr. Stillman, exhib-
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 285 
 
 iting the skin, " I secured my rug, after all, 
 but we concluded that the meat looked rather 
 tough, and we would not take it. I shall 
 express this skin straight to a taxidermist 
 that I know, and have it handsomely 
 mounted." 
 
 " But the men!" I asked; " you don't mean 
 to tell me that they escaped ? " 
 
 " No," replied father ; " but if you can't 
 keep quiet I shall not be able to tell you how 
 they were caught. It was this very ill-luck- 
 bringing soldering outfit that did it. When 
 we found that they had left, I suspected 
 that they had taken the morning train for 
 Canada at the Montague station, for no trains 
 stopped at Toby ; and in case they had done 
 that, there was hardly a chance of our reach- 
 ing the station and ascertaining the fact in 
 time to telegraph and effect their arrest be- 
 fore they could leave the country. We 
 had driven from Greenfield pretty rapidly, 
 and our horses were tired ; then we took a 
 wrong turning, and got off into Leverett, or 
 some other unhappy wilderness ; but after 
 a while we found a farmer who provided us 
 with fresh beasts, and we reached the Monta- 
 gue station toward evening. It was shut up, 
 and the station-master had gone home, but
 
 2 86 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 after another half-hour we found him. Yes, 
 our men had bought tickets for Montreal 
 that morning. Then you should have seen 
 our hurry to telegraph ; but the station- 
 master advised us to keep cool, and wait a 
 little. ' They bought their tickets,' he said, 
 ' but they didn't go there.' So that was a 
 feint, I thought, to throw us off the track. 
 But no ; on their way from Toby they had 
 decided that they would have a cup of coffee, 
 and they had sat down behind a barn to 
 make it on my soldering furnace, and as 
 they were doubtless as tired of carrying the 
 old thing as I was, they left it there. The 
 wind blew the coals into the hay, and in a 
 few minutes the barn was on fire. Someone 
 had seen them leave the yard, and before 
 the train came along for which they were 
 waiting, they were arrested as incendiaries, 
 and taken to the Greenfield jail. As this 
 was precisely where the sheriff wished to 
 take them, there was nothing for him to do 
 but to return and notify the authorities that 
 the men would be wanted soon on more seri- 
 ous charges. And as the station-master in- 
 formed us that there was some good trout- 
 fishing nearby, we decided to spend the night 
 in Montague. So we let the sheriff and con-
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 287 
 
 stable drive back to Greenfield without us, 
 and telegraphed Mr. Armstrong that his 
 birds were caught." 
 
 " If they only turn out to be his birds ! " 
 said Winnie. 
 
 " I haf no doubtfuls of zat," said Miss 
 Prillwitz. 
 
 " But why did you bring back that wretched 
 little furnace and iron ? " I asked. 
 
 "Why, the curious part of it is that the 
 farmer who drove us over this morning had 
 found them in the ruins of his barn, and he 
 brought them along, thinking that we might 
 like them to help in identifying the rascals. 
 I couldn't refuse his kindness, but I certainly 
 shall not carry them away from this place. 
 I don't believe in such nonsense, but the 
 gypsy's prediction has come true so far, and 
 they brought bad fortune to the gentlemen 
 to whom I presented them." 
 
 Mr. Armstrong, who had been telegraphed 
 for, arrived with a police officer that night ; 
 and Miss Prillwitz, father, and Mr. Stillman 
 were absent all the next morning making 
 depositions to aid in the identification of the 
 prisoners. 
 
 It was finally decided to remove them to 
 New York to await trial on Mr. Armstrong's
 
 288 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 charges. We set out that afternoon for Ash- 
 field, our route leading us over beautiful hills, 
 and affording us views of rare loveliness. 
 Ashfield is a village loved by literary men as 
 Deerfield is by artists. Deerfield nestles in a 
 valley, while Ashfield lies on the breezy hill- 
 top ; George William Curtis is the centre of 
 the coterie of rare minds who make Ashfield 
 their summer home. Mr. Curtis gives a lec- 
 ture here once a year for the benefit of the 
 Sanderson Academy. At this time every man- 
 ner of vehicle brings the country-people over 
 the winding roads, which converge in Ash- 
 field like the spokes of a wheel in their hub. 
 We were not fortunate enough to light on 
 this red-letter day, and we accordingly rested 
 over night at the long low inn, and started 
 early the next morning for uncle's home in 
 Hawley. The distance was short, as the crow 
 flies, but it seemed to be all up-hill. The last 
 mile was through one of those gorges so com- 
 mon in this region, where the fissure between 
 the hills is so narrow that the sun only looks in 
 for two or three hours. Slowly climbing the 
 long, green-vaulted stairway, the dusky tap- 
 estry was at length looped back for us, and 
 the road, emerging from the wooded ravine, 
 gleamed yellow-white between the grassy
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 289 
 
 mounds. Crowning one of these knolls stood 
 a long, white farm-house, spreading out 
 wing after wing in hospitable effort to shelter 
 the entire hill-top. Beside the road stood a 
 post with a letter-box affixed, for the recep- 
 tion of the mail left by the daily stage. We 
 passed a huddle of old barns and out-build- 
 ings, among which I recognized a carpenter's 
 shop, a carriage-shed, a sugar-house in con- 
 venient proximity to a grove of maples, a 
 dairy through which ran the brook, keeping 
 cool and solid the eighty pounds of butter 
 which my cousins made each week, a cider- 
 mill, and behind it an orchard of russet apple- 
 trees, and a long row of bee-hives fronting the 
 flower-garden. 
 
 Uncle expected us, and it was delightful 
 to see the meeting between the two brothers, 
 who had not seen each other in twelve years. 
 There were plenty of airy bedrooms, hung 
 with pure white dimity, and after our gypsy 
 life it seemed very pleasant to find once 
 more the comforts of a home. We spent 
 several days at the Maples, attending service 
 in the dear old-fashioned church with its. 
 high, square pews. 
 
 Aunt Prue had all of our travel-soiled 
 clothing neatly washed, and refilled the
 
 2QO 
 
 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 emptied hampers and lunch-baskets with 
 abundant supplies from the products of the 
 farm and her own good cookery. 
 
 Uncle was a large, easy man, who dearly 
 loved to tell a story to match his own ample 
 proportions, only the twinkle in his eye re- 
 deeming him from the charge of deception. 
 Aunt Prue's rigid conscience revolted at 
 uncle's romances. " Asahel Smith !" she would 
 exclaim, "how can you lie like that ; and 
 you a church-member ? " 
 
 " Now, Prudence," Uncle Asahel would re- 
 ply, " the catechism says a lie is a story told 
 with intention to deceive, and when I told 
 these girls that I drove the oxen home with 
 the last load of hay so fast that I got it into 
 the barn before a drop of water fell, while it 
 was raining so hard behind me that Watch, 
 who was following the wagon, actually swam 
 all the way up from the medder when I told 
 'em that, I cal'late I didn't deceive 'em ; I 
 was only cultivating their imaginations." 
 
 Aunt Prue groaned in spirit, and began to 
 sing, in a high, cracked voice. 
 
 " False are the men of high degree, 
 The baser sort are vanity; 
 Weighed in the balance, both appear 
 Light as a puff of empty air."
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 
 
 29! 
 
 While at The Maples we made an excur- 
 sion to Cummington, formerly Bryant's 
 home. We sat in the library, shut in by a 
 thick grove, where he composed his transla- 
 tions of the Odyssey and Iliad, and we 
 played with a little pet dog of which he had 
 been very fond. Not far from the estate is 
 a fine library, Bryant's gift to the little town. 
 " Bryant's River " is a brawling little stream 
 which flows through a very picturesque 
 region. We amused ourselves by fancying 
 that we recognized spots described in sev- 
 eral of his poems. 
 
 There was a grand old oak upon the place 
 which might have inspired his lines 
 
 " This mighty oak 
 
 By whose immovable stem I stand, and seem 
 Almost annihilated not a prince 
 In all that proud Old World beyond the deep 
 E'er wore his crown as loftily as he 
 Wears the green coronal of leaves with which 
 Thy hand has graced him." 
 
 The scenery about Cummington and Haw- 
 ley tempted us to a frequent use of our 
 sketching-materials. Mr. Stillman, too, found 
 several birds new to him, and took some beau- 
 tiful landscape photographs. Miss Sartoris 
 gave him new ideas about choosing views
 
 292 
 
 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 where mountain and cloud, trees and reflec- 
 tions, composed well, and his photographs be- 
 came much more artistic. He began to talk 
 about the importance of placing his darkest 
 dark here, and his highest light there, of bal- 
 ancing a steeple in this part of his picture by 
 a human interest in the foreground, of mass- 
 ing his shadows, of angular composition, of 
 tone and harmony, and the rest of the cant 
 of the studio. Nor was it all cant ; Miss 
 Sartoris had taught him to see more in na- 
 ture than he had ever seen before, and while 
 his ambition had hitherto been to secure 
 sharp photographs of instantaneous effects 
 mere feats of mechanical skill his aim was 
 now to produce pictures satisfying to highly 
 cultivated tastes. He acknowledged that 
 all this was due to Miss Sartoris, \vho had 
 opened a new world to him, though it seem- 
 ed to me that he really owed quite as much 
 to Miss Prillwitz, but for whose influence he 
 would never have taken up photography. 
 I was a little jealous for our princess, and 
 felt that, though Miss Sartoris was young 
 and fair, and Miss Prillwitz old and wrinkled, 
 this was no reason why honor should not be 
 rendered where honor was due. 
 There was a pond with a bit of swamp
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 
 
 2 93 
 
 land on uncle's farm, which he considered 
 the blot on the place, but which Miss Sartoris 
 declared was a real treasure-trove for a pic- 
 ture. One end was covered with lily-pads, 
 and great waxy pond-lilies were opening 
 their alabaster lamps here and there on the 
 surface, while the yellow cow-lilies dotted 
 the other end with their butter-pats. Cat-tails 
 and rushes grew in the shallower portions, 
 and here was to be found the rare moccasin- 
 flower, a pink and white orchid of exquisite 
 shape. Miss Sartoris painted a beautiful 
 picture here. She said it reminded her of 
 the pond which Ruskin describes with an 
 artist's insight and enthusiasm. 
 
 " A great painter sees beneath and behind 
 the brown surface what will take him a day's 
 work to follow ; and he follows it, cost what 
 it will. He sees it is not the dull, dirty, 
 blank thing which he supposes it to be ; it 
 has a heart as well as ourselves, and in the 
 bottom of that there are the boughs of the 
 tall trees and their quivering leaves, and all 
 the hazy passages of sunshine, the blades of 
 the shaking grass, with all manner of hues of 
 variable, pleasant light out of the sky ; and 
 the bottom seen in the clear little bits at the 
 edge, and the stones of it, and all the sky.
 
 294 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 For the ugly gutter that stagnates over the 
 drain-bars in the heart of the foul city is not 
 altogether base. It is at your will that you 
 see in that despised stream either the refuse 
 of the street or the image of the sky ; so 
 it is with many other things which we 
 unkindly despise." 
 
 We all regretted when our short visit at 
 The Maples came to an end, but Miss Prill- 
 witz felt that she must be hastening back to 
 the Home, and we had already transgressed 
 the bounds which we had set to our outing. 
 We decided to vary our journey by return- 
 ing through Berkshire. We drove, the first 
 day, to Pittsfield, a flourishing little city, and 
 now for the first time we felt ourselves out 
 of place in the peddler's carts. Nowhere 
 else had we attracted any special attention. 
 It was a common thing for tin-peddlers to 
 take their feminine relatives with them on 
 their jaunts, and as we dressed very plainly, 
 and conducted ourselves with gravity, no 
 one gave us a second look. 
 
 At Pittsfield, however, we came in con- 
 tact once more with "society," and the 
 loungers on the hotel veranda gave us a 
 broadside of astonished looks as we alighted. 
 " It is very disagreeable to be stared at in
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 
 
 2 95 
 
 this way," Winnie remarked to Miss Prill- 
 witz as we entered. 
 
 " My tear," replied the good lady, " it takes 
 four eyes to make a stare."* 
 
 Winnie colored deeply, for she knew that if 
 she had been less self-conscious she would 
 not have felt the curious and impertinent 
 gaze. We left Pittsfield so early the next 
 morning that none of the hotel loungers were 
 on the piazza to comment on our appearance. 
 
 We drove, that day, over the lovely Lenox 
 hills, once covered by stony pastures, dotted 
 here and there by lonely farm-houses, but 
 now a succession of beautiful parks and 
 aristocratic villas and mansions. Mr. Still- 
 man had his camera out, and photographed 
 a number of the handsome residences as we 
 passed, and one of the gay little village-carts 
 driven by a young woman dressed in the 
 height of fashion, and presided over by a 
 footman in livery. 
 
 "That does not seem to me a sensible way 
 of going into the country," said Winnie. 
 " I don't believe she has half the fun that we 
 have in this old caravan." 
 
 * A remark once made by Professor Maria Mitchell to 
 a student of Vassar College who had made a similar com- 
 plaint.
 
 296 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 "Perhaps not," I replied, "but I presume 
 that Adelaide and Milly are driving about in 
 much the same style ; and we know that 
 better-hearted girls never lived." 
 
 r** 
 
 We picnicked near " Stockbridge Bowl," a 
 lovely lake, blue as Geneva and encircled by 
 beautiful hills. As father brought out the 
 lunch-hamper I noticed a queer expression 
 on his face. " What do you suppose I have 
 found stowed away in the back part of the 
 cart ? " he asked. 
 
 " Not the soldering furnace ? " we all re- 
 plied, in unison. 
 
 He smiled grimly, and, instead of replying, 
 placed it before us. " That Deerfield land- 
 lord must have packed it up without your 
 knowledge," said Miss Sartoris. " Its reap- 
 pearance is becoming really amusing ; let us 
 make one grand final effort to get rid of it by 
 sinking it in the middle of the lake." 
 
 "Will you do it?" 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 Miss Sartoris took the furnace and ran 
 down to the lake, whence she presently 
 returned empty-handed. 
 
 " Did you drown the creature ? " 
 
 " Not exactly, but I gave an ancient fisher- 
 man whom I found there a quarter to com-
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 297 
 
 mit the crime for me." I told him that it 
 was something which we were tired of, and 
 never wished to see again, and he promised 
 me, in rather a mixed manner, that ' hu- 
 man hand should never find hide nor hair 
 of it, nor human eye set foot on it 
 again.' " 
 
 A general laugh followed this announce- 
 ment. How should we know that the man's 
 suspicions were excited by Miss Sartoris's 
 anxiety to get rid of the object, and that in- 
 stead of sinking it in the middle of " the 
 Bowl " he wrapped it carefully in brown 
 paper, and labeling it "To be kept till called 
 for," hid it under the bank ! " Somebody 
 will come for that object," he said to himself ; 
 " shouldn't wonder if it was wanted at court 
 as circumstantial evidence of somethin' or 
 'nother." 
 
 Another event occurred while we were 
 resting at " the Bowl." Miss Sartoris re- 
 marked that a view which she had obtained 
 as she returned from the lake was the most 
 enchanting that she had seen on the trip. 
 " How I wish that I had time to sketch it ! " 
 she said. 
 
 " I will photograph it for you," Mr. Still- 
 man exclaimed, with alacrity, "if you will
 
 298 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 kindly show me just where you would like 
 to have the view taken." 
 
 They walked back together, a turn in the 
 road hiding them from our view. We waited 
 
 *j 
 
 for them a long time, and at length father 
 became impatient and drove on, leaving me 
 to hold Mr. Stillman's horses. When they 
 came back there was an expression on their 
 faces which told everything. I should have 
 known it even if Mr. Stillman had been able 
 to keep the words back, but he was too 
 happy to be silent. " You were lamenting, 
 this morning," he said to me as he took the 
 reins, " that we had only two more days to 
 journey together." 
 
 " That is all," I replied, " unless Miss Sar- 
 toris and you have decided to make a longer 
 trip." 
 
 "Yes," he replied, "you have guessed it 
 exactly : Miss Sartoris has just consented to 
 journey on through life with me." 
 
 I was surprised, and yet, when I came to 
 think of it, I saw that I ought to have sus- 
 pected it from the time they first met; and, 
 all things considered, they were admirably 
 suited to each other. So I could only re- 
 joice in their happiness, though I wondered, 
 a little selfishly, what Madame's would be
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 299 
 
 without Miss Sartoris, and whether I should 
 ever have a teacher whom I should love as 
 well. 
 
 When we caught up with the other cart 
 father asked whether he got a successful 
 negative. 
 
 " No," replied Mr. Stillman, " I didn't get 
 a very decided negative, and I confess I 
 didn't want one." 
 
 There was a look of blank astonishment 
 on all their faces, and then a peal of laughter 
 as his meaning dawned upon them. After 
 the storm of congratulations and exclama- 
 tions had ceased, Miss Sartoris suddenly ex- 
 claimed, " You left your detective camera !" 
 
 ''That is so," Mr. Stillman replied, " Shall 
 we drive back after it ?" 
 
 "Not unless you want to catch that 
 shower," father remarked, pointing to a 
 threatening cloud. 
 
 " I'll get you ladies under shelter first, and 
 then I really think I must look it up," said 
 Mr. Stillman. But before we reached Stock- 
 bridge we met a coaching-party conducted 
 by a nattily dressed young man of slender 
 build, who managed his spirited four-in-hand 
 with considerable skill, and who reined them 
 in as we approached, exclaiming, " Stillman !
 
 C>OO WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 o 
 
 by all that's odd !" Mr. Stillman introduced 
 the gentleman as a Mr. Van Silver, an old 
 friend from the city, and mutual explana- 
 tions followed. He was now on his way to 
 Lenox, and agreed to stop at the spot which 
 Air. Stillman indicated, and if he could find 
 the camera express it to Mr. Stillman at 
 Scup Harbor. 
 
 Very little more of interest to the reader 
 occurred until we reached home. We fol- 
 lowed the Housatonic for the greater part 
 of our way, and when we had nearly reached 
 its mouth, drove across to New Haven, from 
 which port, having completed our round- 
 trip, we took the steamer for home. Father 
 found a letter from Mr. Armstrong in rela- 
 tion to the thieves taken in Montague, who 
 were proved to be the criminals of Rickett's 
 Court, whose retribution shall be related 
 in the next chapter. The little boys left in 
 mother's care had conducted themselves in 
 as exemplary a manner as could be expected, 
 there having been no cases of really bad 
 conduct, and only two slight accidents. 
 
 Miss Prillwitz took them under her wing 
 and left with them for the -Home, all looking 
 happier, browner, and rounder for their stay 
 in the country. Winnie regretted that our
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. ^OI 
 
 \J 
 
 scheme for filling the treasury of the Home 
 had not been a success, since the aggregate 
 of money, made by peddling tinware and 
 rockets, and by taking tintypes, did not meet 
 the expenses of the trip. Mr. Stillman, how- 
 ever, insisted on presenting the institution 
 with a handsome check, " as an inadequate 
 thank-offering," so he said, for the great 
 blessing which had come to him in our 
 journeying " over the hills and far away." 
 
 Miss Sartoris left almost immediately for 
 her own home, and Mr. Stillman followed 
 her soon after. Two express packages came 
 to him before he left us. One was the bear- 
 skin, handsomely mounted, the other was 
 preceded by a note from his friend Mr. 
 Van Silver, which said that he had over- 
 taken a venerable fisherman walking off with 
 his camera, and that it required considerable 
 persuasion of a " sterling quality " to rescue 
 it from him. Mr. Stillman opened the pack- 
 age with grateful anticipation, and found 
 the soldering furnace !
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE ESTATES DEL PARADISO. 
 
 ** I have been here before, 
 
 But when, or how, I cannot tell; 
 I know the grass beyond the door, 
 
 The sweet, keen smell, 
 The sighing sound, the lights around the shore. 
 
 You have been mine before, 
 
 How long ago I may not know; 
 
 But just when, at that swallow's soar, 
 Your neck turned so, 
 
 Some veil did fall I knew it all of yore." 
 
 Rossetti, 
 
 E must now return 
 to Mr. Armstrong^ 
 whom we left in 
 chapter XII. in 
 conference with 
 Dr. Carver over 
 the Doctor's ad- 
 vertisement of the 
 case of lost iden- 
 tity inserted i n 
 the daily papers 
 ten years before. 
 The physician 
 listened gravely 
 to Mr. A r m- 
 strong's account 
 
 of the loss of his wife and infant son, the wild 
 
 302
 
 THE ESTATES DEL PARAD1SO. 303 
 
 hopes which were now awakened, and to his 
 request for the address of the lady referred 
 to, and gave him a pitying glance as ' he 
 replied: 
 
 " So many bereaved persons have come 
 to me fancying that they recognized a loved 
 one in that notice, only to be cruelly dis- 
 appointed; and Mrs. Halsey has in the past 
 been subjected to so many trying interviews 
 of this description, that I hesitate to encour- 
 age your visiting her, unless you have posi- 
 tive proof of what you hope. A photograph 
 would give this proof." 
 
 " And, unfortunately, I have none of Mrs. 
 Armstrong." 
 
 " But I had one taken of Mrs. Halsey, 
 which I have kept in the hope that it might 
 be identified some day;" and the Doctor 
 drew from his pocket-book a thumbed and 
 discolored photograph, which he placed in 
 Mr. Armstrong's hand. 
 
 The effect was unmistakable. The strong 
 man rose to his feet, staggered, and fainted, 
 for he had recognized his wife. The physi- 
 cian quickly restored him to consciousness, 
 and after waiting until the effect of the shock 
 had partially passed away, he said : 
 
 " I see that there is no danger of any mis-
 
 304 
 
 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 take, and that I may direct you where to 
 find Mrs. Halsey I beg pardon, Mrs. Arm- 
 strong. Her address, when I last saw her, 
 was No. i Rickett's Court." 
 
 "Rickett's Court!" exclaimed Mr. Arm- 
 strong, in horror. 
 
 " Yes, sir ; it is not the best quarter of the 
 city, but many of the respectable poor live 
 there ; and you must remember, sir, that 
 your wife must necessarily have had a hard 
 struggle to support herself and your little 
 son, alone and friendless, in this great city." 
 
 Mr. Armstrong groaned aloud. Rickett's 
 Court had not seemed so bad to him for 
 other men's children and wives, but that his 
 child, his wife, should live in such vile sur- 
 roundings was horrible. He sprang to his 
 feet, seized his hat, and with a hasty " I will 
 see you again, Doctor," hurried in the same 
 direction which Stephen Trimble had taken 
 not a half-hour before. It was only a short 
 distance, but it seemed miles to him. Just 
 as he came in sight of the building every 
 window in its front was illuminated with a 
 sudden flash, and a heavy detonation shook 
 the earth. Then smoke poured from the 
 broken panes, and the air was filled with 
 flying splinters and debris, while shrieks
 
 THE ESTATES DEL PARADTSO. 
 
 305 
 
 from within, and shouts of " Fire ! fire ! " 
 from without, added to the confusion. 
 
 The smoke cleared in a moment, and peo- 
 ple were seen at the windows dropping 
 down the fire-escape. Only a few minutes 
 later a fire - engine came tearing around 
 the corner, and the hoarse voice of a fireman 
 was heard dominating the tumult and giving 
 orders, but before this Alexander Arm- 
 strong, possessed of but one idea that his 
 wife and child were somewhere within had 
 rushed into the burning building. One 
 glance showed him that this was hopeless. 
 The staircase had been torn out by the ex- 
 plosion, and the flames were roaring up the 
 space which it had occupied, as through a 
 chimney. He was dragged back to the 
 court by the fireman, who exclaimed, " Man 
 alive ! can't you see that the staircase has 
 gone, and that they are coming down the 
 fire-escape ? There wouldn't have been the 
 ghost of a chance for them but for that. 
 Bless the man who had it put there '" 
 
 The words gave him a little heart, and he 
 stood at the foot, helping the women and 
 catching the children handed to him, hop- 
 ing in vain to recognize his wife. They 
 stopped coming. "Are all out ?" he shouted. 
 
 20
 
 306 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 "There's some one in the fourth story," said 
 a woman, and before the fireman could lay 
 his hand on the fire-escape Mr. Armstrong 
 was half-way up. The facade still stood, 
 but the entire interior of the building was in 
 flames, and blinding smoke and scorching 
 sparks poured from the windows. At the 
 fourth story a man had staggered to the 
 window and lay w*ith his arm outside, hold- 
 ing on to the sill. Mr. Armstrong uttered a 
 cry when he saw that it was a man, but, none 
 the less, he lifted him tenderly out, and into 
 the arms of the fireman following close behind 
 
 o 
 
 them. Then drawing his coat over his mouth 
 and nostrils, he entered the room. Another 
 man lay at a little distance, or a body that 
 had been a man, terribly torn and shattered 
 by the explosion. It was the anarchist who 
 had been the principal in the plot ; the other 
 had escaped. Mr. Armstrong descended, 
 looking into every apartment as he came 
 down to be sure no living thing was left in- 
 side that furnace. 
 
 " You are a hero, sir ! will you give me 
 
 your name ? I represent " It was the 
 
 omnipresent reporter on hand for an item. 
 Mr. Armstrong turned from him, without re- 
 ply, to the man w r hom he had rescued, Stephen
 
 THE ESTATES DEL PARADISO 307 
 
 Trimble, who lay with a foot torn from 
 the ankle, and a broken arm. A hospital 
 surgeon knelt at his side bandaging deftly. 
 A policeman had sent the call when Mr. 
 Armstrong started up the fire-escape, and 
 the ambulance, a more conclusive " Evidence 
 of Christianity " than that dear old Dr. Hop- 
 kins or any other theologian ever wrote; 
 nobler exponent of civilization than the fire 
 department even, since that is the rich man's 
 provision for saving his own property, while 
 the ambulance is the rich man's provision 
 for saving the poor man's life the am- 
 bulance, with surgeon on the back seat coolly 
 feeling for his instruments, and bare-headed 
 driver clanging the gong, and lashing his al- 
 ready galloping horses, had torn like mad 
 down Broadway. And as it came, aristocratic 
 carriages hurrying with ladies just a little late 
 for a grand dinner, and an expectant bride- 
 groom on his way to Grace Church, halted 
 and waited for it to pass ; express and tele- 
 graph agents, and rushing men of business, 
 gave it the right of way as it bounded on its 
 errand of mercy. 
 
 Alexander Armstrong spoke for a moment 
 with the surgeon, long enough to learn that 
 Stephen Trimble's injuries were probably not
 
 308 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 mortal, and to urge every attention possible. 
 Then he caught sight of Solomon Meyer 
 bowing and cringing at a little distance, and 
 he sprang upon him like a panther on his 
 prey. Solomon, greatly surprised, could only 
 imagine that the loss of the property had 
 driven him insane, and gasped, " Ze insurance 
 bolicy is all right," whereat the ex-landlord 
 gave his agent such a shaking that his teeth 
 rattled in his head, only pausing to inquire 
 if he knew anything of a tenant by the name 
 of Mrs. Halsey. Solomon Meyer assured 
 him that Mrs. Halsey had long since quitted 
 the building, but this only partially reas- 
 sured him, for he placed very little reliance 
 on the man's word. His wife, almost found, 
 was lost to him again. He could not be- 
 lieve that she perished in the burning build- 
 ing ; still, there was this horrible possibility. 
 There was no one to tell him that she 
 had just gone to Narragansett Pier at his 
 daughter's bidding, and was occupying the 
 very cottage where so many of her happier 
 years were passed ; and he threw himself 
 more unreservedly into his business projects, 
 not, however, forgetting the poor inventor 
 at the hospital, whom he visited frequently, 
 and cared for as tenderly as though he had
 
 THE ESTA TES DEL PARADISO. 
 
 39 
 
 been his brother. After the excitement of 
 the fire was over, he remembered that the 
 law had an account to settle with Solomon 
 Meyer, but he was not then to be found. His 
 guilty conscience had taken the alarm, and 
 the subtle magnetism which draws bad 
 people together had caused him to form a 
 partnership with the anarchist who had 
 escaped the explosion, and but for Miss 
 Prillwitz's timely recognition they would 
 have fled to Canada. Mr. Armstrong found 
 them, as we know, in the Greenfield jail, and 
 had no difficulty in identifying them, and 
 in having them brought to justice. 
 
 As the time approached for the trial of 
 Solomon Meyer and the Russian anarchist, 
 Mr. Armstrong was troubled with the fear 
 that Stephen Trimble might not be able to 
 testify in court. He visited him frequently 
 at the hospital, and whenever he approached 
 the subject of his dealings with the anar- 
 chists he became excited and confused. 
 
 His little son, Lovey Dimple, was seated 
 beside him during one of Mr. Armstrong's 
 calls. He was allowed to visit his father, 
 and waited upon him day by day, some- 
 times telling him of the pleasant times he 
 had had at the seashore, and at others watch-
 
 3IO WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 ing him quietly. His presence seemed to do 
 his father good ; and on this visit Mr. Arm- 
 strong was able to obtain much more infor- 
 mation from Stephen Trimble than upon any 
 previous occasion. 
 
 " You are quite sure," Mr. Armstrong 
 asked, "that you never saw this check, which 
 someone has cashed at the bank, and which is 
 indorsed with your name ? " 
 
 " Never, never ! " replied the wounded 
 man. 
 
 " I see it, though," Lovey Dimple spoke up, 
 promptly. "Jim had come down to the 
 court to see me, and I wanted to show him 
 the machine in the Rooshans' room, and we 
 follered him in there. Mr. Meyer dropped a 
 piece of paper which looked like that, and 
 Jim picked it up. He could tell you what 
 was written on it." 
 
 " I must have Jim as a link in our chain of 
 testimony," Mr. Armstrong replied. "Is he 
 at the Home of the Elder Brother ? " 
 
 " No, sir ; Jim used to be there, but he had 
 the luck to be adopted. He went away just 
 for to be a tiger for some swells, and they 
 liked him so much they permoted him. He's 
 Jim Roservelt now." 
 
 So this was the lad of whom Adelaide had
 
 THE ESTA TES DEL PAR ADI SO. -\ I I 
 
 \J 
 
 spoken to him. Mr. Armstrong wrcte to his 
 friend Mr. Roseveldt, requesting that Jim 
 should be sent to the city. His testimony at 
 the trial was so clear and concise, and his 
 entire appearance so manly, that Mr. Arm- 
 strong was greatly drawn to him. 
 
 " If my own boy had lived," he said to Mr. 
 Roseveldt, who had come to the city with 
 Jim, " he would have been about the age of 
 this little fellow. I am about to make a 
 western trip of six or seven weeks, and would 
 like to take him with me. Should the liking 
 which I have taken to him grow upon 
 acquaintance, I beg of you to relinquish him 
 to me ; I need him, for I am a stricken man, 
 and you are a fortunate one, or I would not 
 ask it." 
 
 Mr. Roseveldt replied that, though he was 
 fond of Jim, he would willingly give him up 
 to Mr. Armstrong for adoption after his 
 return from the West, provided the boy's 
 mother would consent to the transfer. Singu- 
 larly enough, the name of that mother was 
 not mentioned, and Mr. Armstrong took Jim 
 with him to Colorado, little dreaming that 
 the boy was his own son. 
 
 He had said that he needed Jim ; and he 
 needed him in more ways than he knew. He
 
 3 I 2 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 had grown world-soiled, as well as world- 
 weary, and the companionship of a soul 
 white and young was destined to exert upon 
 him a purifying as well as rejuvenating 
 influence. Before the grand mountain scen- 
 ery Jim's fresh enthusiasm stimulated Mr. 
 Armstrong's sated admiration, and the child's 
 naive ideas of right and wrong were a rebuke 
 to the man's sophistries. They journeyed 
 together through the wild and beautiful 
 canons of the Rocky Mountains, and the boy 
 was deeply impressed by the stupendous 
 cliffs rising on each side walls that were 
 sometimes two thousand feet in height, and 
 so close together that the narrow river, which 
 had cut its way down from the surface, some- 
 times filled the entire space at the bottom of 
 the gorge. But even here the ingenuity of 
 man had surmounted the barriers of nature, 
 and the observation-car on which they rode 
 dashed along upon a shelf cut in the solid 
 rock, with a sheer wall on one hand, and a 
 dizzy precipice on the other. Such a canon 
 was the Royal Gorge of the Arkansas ; in 
 one portion an iron bridge hangs suspended 
 from strong supports fixed in the solid walls, 
 and the train glides along it, swaying as in 
 a hammock, over the brawling river.
 
 THE ESTA TES DEL PARADISO. 313 
 
 The climax of their tour was reached in the 
 Black Canon. The scenes here are awful, 
 even in broad daylight, for the sombre crags 
 tower to the height of several thousand feet. 
 Our travelers passed through the chasm at 
 night. Far overhead the stars were shining 
 in the little rift of sky, which was all that 
 they could see between the walls ; and in the 
 mysterious half-lights of the illumined por- 
 tions, and the utter blackness of the shadows, 
 the grotesque shapes of the crags took on 
 strange forms and awful suggestions. At 
 times it seemed as if the train was about to 
 dash itself against a wall of solid masonry, 
 which opened, as though thrown back by 
 genii, as they approached. At one point, 
 catching the moonlight, a silvery cascade 
 swept over the rocks like a bow of crystal ; 
 and at another, a mighty monument of rosy 
 stone, the Curricanti Needle, towered far 
 above the cliffs, like the sky-piercing spire of 
 some grand cathedral. 
 
 " The people who live here must be very 
 good," Jim gasped, as they emerged from the 
 valley of enchantment, " one is so much 
 nearer to God out here !" 
 
 " Nobody lives in the canon now," Mr. 
 Armstrong replied ; '* Indians lived here not
 
 314 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 very long ago. They used to hold their 
 councils on that shelf of rock where the 
 pines grow, the last accessible spot on the 
 Curricanti pinnacle, but the settlers in the 
 neighborhood did not have your idea about 
 their being such very good men, and as the 
 canon was the best pathway through the 
 mountains for the railroad, they were driven 
 out." 
 
 " I am sorry for the Indians," Jim said, 
 simply. " If I had owned that canon I 
 wouldn't have liked to have given it up, 
 would you ?" 
 
 Mr. Amstrong evaded the question. "You 
 will not have so much pity for them when 
 you know them better," he replied. " They 
 are a low lot, and if they do not know 
 enough to improve the advantages which 
 they possess, it is only fair that they should 
 be appropriated by those who will make a 
 better use of them." 
 
 Jim did not quite understand what Mr. 
 Armstrong meant by appropriating the 
 Indians' advantages, but he was to learn 
 more in relation to that word before the 
 journey was over. Returning to Denver, 
 Mr. Armstrong took the boy with him on a 
 tour through some of the pueblos of New
 
 THE ESTA TES DEL PARADISO. -> I c 
 
 v7 \J 
 
 Mexico. The word " pueblo" signifies town, 
 and the Pueblo Indians are those who build 
 houses instead of tents and wigwams, and 
 live from generation to generation in towns 
 and cities, instead of wandering about the 
 plains and mountains like the other tribes. 
 There are twenty-six of these communities 
 in New Mexico, and some of the cities were 
 old when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. 
 
 When New Mexico was ceded to the 
 United States by Mexico, the right of the 
 Pueblo Indians to their towns and to certain 
 tracts of land surrounding them was con- 
 firmed by treaty, so that these Indians are 
 better off in many ways than any others. 
 Mr. Armstrong had a special reason for visit- 
 ing the Pueblos. He had purchased several 
 large herds of cattle, and wished to rent land 
 of the Indians for pasturage. A man by the 
 name of Sanchez, who traded among the 
 Pueblos, could speak the language, and had 
 gained the confidence of the Indians, hap- 
 pened to be on the train, and recognizing 
 Mr. Armstrong as a wealthy capitalist, who 
 had large interests in cattle, as well as in 
 railroads, at once guessed pretty nearly the 
 nature of his errand in the Indian country. 
 
 He introduced himself, and, learning that
 
 3 1 6 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 Mr. Armstrong 1 intended to visit the pueblo 
 of Taos, to witness the celebration of the 
 Festival of San Geronimo, offered his services 
 as interpreter and courier. These Mr. Arm- 
 strong was very glad to accept, for he had 
 heard of the man, and knew that he had con- 
 siderable influence among" the Indians. 
 There was something repellent, however, in 
 his insinuating, cringing manner which made 
 one feel that here was a man who was not to 
 be trusted. The party was increased by an 
 army officer and a Catholic priest, who were 
 also going to Taos to witness the festival. 
 The pueblo lies at a distance of twenty miles 
 from the railroad station, but an Indian was 
 found waiting for Mr. Sanchez with a rough 
 wagon, and that gentleman invited the 
 others to ride with him. They crossed the 
 Rio Grande River and drove along beside it 
 in a northeasterly direction, through a not 
 very interesting country. The coloring was 
 all yellowish brown the sandy earth, the 
 crisp parched grass, the distant hills, even the 
 water when taken from the turbid river, were 
 all of a like monotonous tint. Now and then 
 they met or passed an Indian, wrapped in a 
 striped blanket and mounted on a small 
 shaggy pony. Toward evening they came
 
 THE ESTA TES DEL PARADISO. 
 
 in sight of the pueblo. The first view was 
 very picturesque. The houses of adobe, or 
 sun-dried brick, were built in ranges one 
 above the other, like a great stairway, the 
 roof of the lower house serving as the door- 
 yard for the one above. Ladders were 
 placed against the walls, and up and down 
 these, nearly naked Indian children scram- 
 bled like young monkeys. They parted their 
 long elf-locks with their hands, and stared at 
 the strangers with wild, black eyes. Mr. 
 Sanchez conducted them to an unoccupied 
 house, which he said would be at their ser- 
 vice during the festival for quite a good 
 sum. There was no hotel, and this seemed 
 the best thing to be done. It had evidently 
 been suddenly cleared for the unexpected 
 guests, and some of the utensils and furni- 
 ture remained. The priest pointed out with 
 pleasure a gaudy print of the Virgin. There 
 were strings of red peppers drying on the 
 outer wall, and a great olha, or decorated 
 water-pot, within, but there was no bedding 
 or food. The gentlemen, however, had each 
 brought with them army blankets, and Mr. 
 Sanchez offered to act as their commissary 
 and skirmish for provisions. He presently 
 returned, followed by a woman carrying a
 
 318 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 bowl of stewed beef and onions, and a boy 
 driving a donkey, whose panniers were filled 
 with melons. This, with some coffee, which 
 the officer made over a spirit-lamp, and some 
 crackers contributed by Mr. Armstrong, 
 constituted their supper, which hunger made 
 palatable. 
 
 After this refreshment they mounted to 
 their roof and watched the preparations for 
 the festivities of the next day. Mr. Sanchez 
 pointed out the entrance to the estufa, or 
 underground council-chamber, into which 
 the young men of the tribe were disappear- 
 ing for the celebration of mysterious pagan 
 rites. 
 
 " I thought the Pueblos were Roman 
 Catholics," Mr. Armstrong remarked. 
 
 The Catholic priest shook his head sadly. 
 " Our converts have always remained half 
 pagan," he said ; " the early missionaries 
 were content to engraft as much Christianity 
 as they could on the old customs, thinking 
 that the better faith would gradually sup- 
 plant the old, but the old rites and cere- 
 monies have remained. Still we must hesi- 
 tate to say that the Fathers did wrong, since 
 it was the only way to win the savages to 
 the holy faith."
 
 THE ESTA TES DEL PARADISO. 1 9 
 
 The priest strolled away to visit the church 
 and to find a Mexican brother who was to 
 celebrate Mass on the next day. The church 
 was a ruinous building which stood apart 
 from the others. The army officer told of 
 the siege which it sustained during the 
 Mexican War, and pointed to the indenta- 
 tions made in its walls by cannon-balls. 
 
 The situation was such a strange one that 
 Jim slept but little. All night long he could 
 hear the dull beat of the tom-toms in the 
 estufa, and as soon as the first streak of 
 dawn illumined the sky the pueblo was 
 awake and all excitement. Indians from 
 neighboring towns poured in, some on foot, 
 and others mounted on ponies or donkeys. 
 
 In the plaza stood a great pole resem- 
 bling a flag-staff, but instead of a banner 
 there dangled from the top a live sheep 
 and a basket of bread and grain, with a gar- 
 land of fruits and vegetables. The church 
 bell was clanging for Mass, and Jim fol- 
 lowed the others. An old Mexican priest was 
 the celebrant, and a few young Indians in red 
 cotton petticoats and coarse lace overskirts 
 waited upon him awkwardly as altar-boys. 
 When the Host was elevated, an Indian at 
 the door beat the tom-tom, and four musket-
 
 320 WITCH WINNIE 
 
 shots were fired. The priest then marched 
 down the centre of the church, followed by 
 the altar-boys, one of whom bore a hideous 
 painting", which Mr. Sanchez assured them 
 was painted in Spain by the great Murillo, 
 and might be had, through him, for a trifling 
 sum. The congregation joined in the pro- 
 cession and followed to the race-track, where 
 games, races, and dances were participated 
 in by fifty young men of Taos against 
 fifty from other pueblos. The sports were 
 witnessed by fully two thousand spectators, 
 who swarmed along the terraces, and formed 
 a packed mass of men, women, children, 
 horses, and donkeys around the race-track. 
 There was a group of visitors standing near 
 our travelers, who regarded the races with 
 intense interest. It consisted of an old man 
 dressed in white linen blouse and trousers, 
 with a red handkerchief knotted about his 
 gray locks, an obese and not over cleanly 
 old lady in full Indian toggery, and a young 
 girl in a pink calico dress, with a black shawl 
 over her head and shoulders. They watched 
 one of the runners with the most intense 
 excitement, and when he came off victor 
 in several of the contests, their enthusiasm 
 knew no bounds. " That old man is the Gov-
 
 THE ESTATES DEL PARADISO. 
 
 321 
 
 ernor of the pueblo of ," said Mr. Sanchez. 
 
 " It is his son who has just stepped out to 
 lead the corn-dance. The daughter, little 
 Rosaria, is pretty, is she not?" He ap- 
 proached her as he spoke, with easy assur- 
 ance, and taking her by the chin, made some 
 remarks in the Pueblo language intended to 
 be complimentary ; but the girl twisted her- 
 self from his grasp with hot indignation ; and 
 Sanchez returned, grumbling that since she 
 had been to the Ramona School at Santa Fe 
 she was too much of a lady to speak to any- 
 one. Jim was standing beside her; and sure, 
 from her manner, that she understood Eng- 
 lish, he asked her to explain the corn-dance 
 to him. She did so, very kindly, and the 
 hunt - dance which followed, when the 
 painted clowns brought out grotesque clay 
 images, and after adoring them fired at them, 
 and shattered them in fragments, the crowd 
 scrambling for the pieces. The young man 
 who had been pointed out as the Governor's 
 son 'secured a piece, and brought it to the 
 girl in triumph. " That is the ear of a wolf," 
 she said. " It means that he will have suc- 
 cess in the south ; we, who have been 
 taught better, do not believe these old 
 charms any more." 
 
 21
 
 T.22 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 \J 
 
 The last thing on the programme was 
 the climbing of the pole for the sheep, 
 which was finally won by a young brave of 
 Taos. 
 
 There was racing on ponies afterward by 
 young Indians and Mexicans, but this was 
 informal, and not included in the rites of 
 the day. The young girl looked at the races 
 enviously. " My brother ought to win 
 there," she said, "for we had the swiftest 
 ponies of any of the Pueblos, and ought to 
 have them, for our pasture lands are the 
 best, but we have sold nearly all our live- 
 stock, and the pastures are no longer of any 
 use to us." 
 
 Mr. Armstrong overheard this remark, 
 and asked Rosaria if her people would be 
 willing to rent their lands. She conferred 
 with her father in the Pueblo language, 
 and Mr. Sanchez immediately joined in the 
 conversation, talking volubly to the old man, 
 and translating to Mr. Armstrong. " He 
 says you are welcome to return to his pueblo 
 with him," explained Mr. Sanchez, " and he 
 will call a council of his townspeople to 
 deliberate on your proposition." 
 
 There was more conversation, and it was 
 decided to accept the Governor's invitation.
 
 THE ESTA TES DEL PARADISO. 
 
 323 
 
 Mr, Armstrong' engaging Mr. Sanchez to go 
 with them and help him in the transaction. 
 This seemed to him the only thing which he 
 could do, since he did not understand the 
 language, and the Governor seemed to place 
 confidence in the trader. The party set out 
 
 the next morning 1 for San , Mr. 
 
 Armstrong and Jim in Mr. Sanchez's wagon, 
 and the Governor and his children following 
 on diminutive donkeys. Several days elap- 
 sed before the bargain could be made. The 
 Indians were very suspicious of being 
 entrapped into some fraud, and it needed 
 all of Mr. Sanchez's eloquence to per- 
 suade them that the arrangement would 
 be to their advantage. Mr. Armstrong 
 had told Mr. Sanchez that he was will- 
 ing to pay fifteen hundred dollars for the 
 rental of the land for three years, and that 
 he (Sanchez) might deduct his fee for ser- 
 vices from this sum. " Then if I can per- 
 suade them to let you have the land for 
 twelve hundred,'' asked Mr. Sanchez, " I may 
 claim three hundred for my assistance in the 
 matter?" 
 
 " That is a pretty round fee," replied Mr. 
 Armstrong, " but it does not matter to me 
 who has the money. The land is worth fif-
 
 324 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 teen hundred dollars to me, and if you can 
 persuade the Indians to take less, so much 
 the better for you." 
 
 Jim was much interested in the negotia- 
 tions. He sat beside Mr. Armstrong 1 in the 
 council-chamber, trying to make out from 
 the expressive gestures what it was that the 
 Indians were saying, and sometimes it seem- 
 ed to him that Mr. Sanchez did not translate 
 correctly. At such times he went out to 
 where Rosaria stood by the open door list- 
 ening, with other children. She translated 
 for him the treaty as Mr. Sanchez read it, 
 and he was astonished to find that it offered 
 the Indians only three hundred dollars as 
 rent for their land, the wily Sanchez having 
 reserved twelve hundred as his own share. 
 
 " But Mr. Armstrong is willing to pay your 
 people fifteen hundred," Jim protested to 
 Rosaria, and the girl slipped into the coun- 
 cil-chamber just as the Governor was about 
 to sign the paper, and snatched it from his 
 hand. 
 
 " Is it true," she asked of Mr. Armstrong, 
 " that you are willing to pay more for our 
 land ? Mr. Sanchez offers us but three 
 hundred dollars !" 
 
 Mr. Armstrong, surprised at the man's
 
 THE ESTATES DEL PARADISO 
 
 '325 
 
 effrontery, acknowledged that he was ready 
 to pay more, while Sanchez, furious at 
 seeing his opportunity slipping from him, 
 poured upon Rosaria all manner of abuse, 
 and threatened Mr. Armstrong that unless 
 he held to his bargain to allow him what- 
 ever margin he could make he would spoil 
 the trade for him. 
 
 " Here's a pretty affair ! " said Mr. Arm- 
 strong to Jim. " You had better have kept 
 quiet and let the old swindler feather his. 
 nest. Now I fear that I shall not be able 
 to make any bargain with the Indians." 
 
 " But it was not right, was it," asked Jim, 
 " that the Indians should have so little and 
 Mr. Sanchez so much?" 
 
 ''The proportion does seem unfair," Mr. 
 Armstrong admitted to Jim; but he added, to 
 Sanchez, " I hold to my part of the bargain. 
 I will give you whatever margin you can 
 make between their demands and fifteen 
 hundred dollars." 
 
 Sanchez attempted to regain his lost ad- 
 vantage, but all this time Rosaria had been 
 talking excitedly, explaining to one after 
 another of the Indians, now pointing to the 
 figures in the treaty, now scornfully at San- 
 chez, arguing, entreating, scolding, and when
 
 ^26 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 \J 
 
 the trader began his defense of her charges, 
 laughing him to scorn. The Governor put 
 an end to the altercation by tearing the 
 treaty in pieces and ordering two stout 
 Indians to lead Sanchez from the room. He 
 then bade Rosaria tell Mr. Armstrong that 
 fifteen hundred dollars was the very least 
 that they were willing to take for their land. 
 Mr. Armstrong bowed, and replied that he 
 would think over the matter. He expected 
 to have an opportunity to discuss it with his 
 agent, but when he left the council-chamber 
 he saw his wagon on the road to Sante Fe, 
 at a long distance from the pueblo, and was 
 handed the label from a peach can, on the 
 back of which was scribbled : 
 
 " That boy of yours is too smart to live; 
 the plaguey Indians have given me an hour 
 to leave their reservation. Manage your 
 own concerns without the help of 
 
 Sanchez." 
 
 The bargain was accordingly struck with- 
 out the aid of a middle-man, and Mr. Arm- 
 strong was conceded the right to pasture his 
 cattle for three years in consideration of the 
 sum of five hundred dollars, to be paid in 
 advance at the beginning of each season.
 
 THE ESTA TES DEL PARADISO. 327 
 
 Mr. Armstrong was much amused. " It has 
 turned out all right," he said to Jim, " but 
 you must acknowledge that it was really 
 none of your business, and I would advise 
 you, in future, not to meddle in matters which 
 do not concern you." 
 
 " I will try," Jim replied, much abashed. 
 " I ought to have told you instead of Rosaria, 
 and you would have fixed it all right," he 
 added, cheerfully. "I ought to have known 
 that you wouldn't have let the Indians be 
 cheated." 
 
 Mr. Armstrong felt the reproach in the 
 undeserved confidence. Here was a com- 
 panion who was a sort of embodied con- 
 science. It was not always profitable to have 
 a conscience in business, and yet there was 
 something satisfactory and refreshing in the 
 way in which this affair had terminated. 
 " They say ' honesty is the best policy,' " he 
 said to himself ; " I wonder if this little fellow 
 would not be a Mascot to bring me good 
 luck. I have a notion to make him my 
 partner in some of my risky ventures ; Provi- 
 dence seems to smile upon him and his 
 principles ; perhaps if I make my good-fort- 
 une his as well, it will smile upon me." 
 What he said to Jim was this : " You seem
 
 328 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 fond of a wild western life, Jim, and of the 
 Indians. Our business among 1 the Pueblos 
 is ended. We are going back to Colorado. 
 I have a notion to show you what the Colo- 
 rado Indians are like. They are Utes, and 
 they do not live in houses, like the Pueblos, 
 but rove about in a perfectly savage man- 
 ner; they are not peaceful and industrious, 
 like the Pueblos, but lazy and ugly. I do 
 not think that they are susceptible of civili- 
 zation. I would as soon think of educating 
 a coyote as a Ute. 
 
 "Now the Utes possess some of the best 
 mining lands in Colorado, but will never 
 develop them ; so it seems to me better that 
 they should be removed to the desert lands, 
 which are worthless for purposes of civiliza- 
 tion, and let the whites have their opportunity. 
 I have my eye on a gulch which I discovered 
 while hunting in the San Juan Mountains 
 four years ago, and which I mean to pre-empt 
 just as soon as we get the Utes to give up 
 their present reservation and pack off to 
 Utah. We shall go back that way, and I will 
 show you the spot." 
 
 Jim opened his eyes very wide. He did 
 not quite comprehend what Mr. Armstrong 
 had said. Surely he could not mean to de-
 
 THE ES TA TES DEL PARADISO. 329 
 
 fraud the Indians in any way ! He would 
 doubtless pay them the worth of their mine, 
 and if they liked the ready money better 
 than the trouble of mining the silver for 
 themselves it would be all fair. 
 
 At Antonito Mr. Armstrong left the rail- 
 road, provided himself with a span of horses, 
 a wagon, camping outfit, and a brace of 
 greyhounds, and struck out through the Ute 
 reservation for the mountains. He told 
 some gentleman whom he met at Antonito 
 that he proposed to enjoy a little coursing 
 for antelope; but there was a set of survey- 
 ors' instruments in the wagon, which proved 
 that he intended to locate the mine which 
 he had come across during his previous visit. 
 His acquaintance attempted to discourage 
 his making the trip alone, saying that the 
 Utes had been restless of late, owing to a 
 failure in receiving their supplies from Gov- 
 ernment, and it was hardly safe to approach 
 their reservation.. 
 
 " You need not be afraid of the Utes," 
 another gentleman replied. " I knew their 
 old chief, Ouray, and was entertained once 
 in his house a neater farm-house than many 
 a white settler can show, and I was hospitably 
 waited upon by his wife, Chipeta, who gave
 
 330 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 me peaches from their own orchard, and 
 saleratus biscuit, and when I saw the familiar 
 yellow streaks in them, and tasted the old 
 chief's whisky, I had to confess that the Indian 
 was capable of civilization." 
 
 Mr. Armstrong laughed, but the first 
 speaker bade him be careful, for all the Utes 
 were not like Ouray, who had so well earned 
 his title of the White Man's Friend. 
 
 "Now," exclaimed Mr. Armstrong, after 
 he had driven out of sight of the last human 
 habitation l< now at last we can breathe ! 
 What do you think of it, Jim ? " 
 
 " I didn't know the world was so big," the 
 boy replied ; " these must be the Estates 
 del Paradiso which Miss Prillwitz talks 
 about. Why, there's room for all New 
 York to spread itself out, and every child to 
 have a yard to play in. It seems a little bit 
 lonely," he added, after a pause. " I should 
 think you would have liked to have had some 
 of those gentlemen go with you." 
 
 "Why, you see, Jim," Mr. Armstrong re- 
 plied, " I am going to hunt up that silver mine, 
 and I had a little rather not share the secret 
 with any one but you. Besides, I like the 
 loneliness. I grow very tired of people 
 sometimes, Jim, and it seems good to
 
 THE ESTA TES DEL PARADISO. -^ i 
 
 \j O 
 
 get away from them. Don't you ever 
 feel so ? " 
 
 " Mother did," Jim said. " She likes help- 
 ing at the Home very much, but she got a 
 little tired just before the young ladies sent 
 for her to go to the seashore, and she came 
 across one verse in the Bible which sounded 
 so beautiful. It was, ' Come ye yourselves 
 apart into a desert place and rest awhile, for 
 there were many coming and going, and they 
 had no leisure so much as to eat.' " 
 
 " I didn't know they had such hurrying 
 times down in Galilee," Mr. Armstrong 
 replied, lightly. He was in good spirits, and 
 they drove a long distance that day, camp- 
 ing at night by a small stream, in which he 
 caught some fine trout. As Jim curled up 
 close to him under the army blanket, Mr. 
 Armstrong felt a slight' tremor run through 
 the boy's frame. 
 
 " What is the matter ? " he asked. " Are 
 you afraid ? We are still miles away from 
 the Indians." 
 
 " It isn't the Indians," Jim replied, " but it's 
 all so still ! I don't hear horse-cars, nor the 
 Elevated, nor people passing, nor nothing. 
 Down at the Pier it was something like this, 
 but there was always the sea ; and at the
 
 232 WITCH WJNN1E. 
 
 pueblo there were the dogs; while here it 
 seems as if something had stopped." 
 
 " ' All the roaring looms of time/ " Mr. 
 Armstrong replied, quoting from Tennyson, 
 "have stopped for a little while for us, my 
 boy, and that's the beauty of it. But the old 
 machines will have us in their grip again 
 very soon." 
 
 The next day Mr. Armstrong enjoyed a 
 rabbit hunt. Jim, though he took part in 
 the sport, could hardly be said to enjoy it. 
 " It seems such a pity to kill the pretty 
 things !" he said. But this did not keep him 
 from making a hearty meal of broiled labbit, 
 or from hoping that they might find antelope 
 before the trip was over. The loneliness 
 which he had felt the niofht before came on 
 
 +j 
 
 again toward evening, and Jim was not sorry, 
 on their third day out, to see that they were 
 approaching a new frame house. 
 
 " An old half-breed guide used to have a 
 tepee here," said Mr. Armstrong; " I shall 
 engage his. services for our trip. He is a 
 good cook, a good hunter, faithful to his 
 employers, and he knows every rock and 
 clump of sage-brush in all the region. His 
 only fault is that he will get drunk. He 
 was with me when I found the silver ore,
 
 THE ESTA TES DEL PARADISO. *'>'> 
 
 \J \J \J 
 
 and I need him to guide me to the spot 
 again." 
 
 As they came nearer, Mr.- Armstrong 
 seemed greatly surprised to see a large field 
 of waving corn in front of the house, while 
 some cows were being driven toward an 
 out-building by a young Indian in checked 
 shirt and brown overalls. 
 
 " What can have come over old Charley ! " 
 exclaimed Mr. Armstrong. " When I was 
 here before, nothing would induce him to 
 degrade himself by farm labor. Some boomer 
 must have established himself here. It's 
 illegal, for the land still belongs to the 
 Indians." 
 
 They drove up to the front door, and were 
 met by the same young man whom they had 
 seen driving the cows, but the overalls were 
 replaced by a faded pair of army trousers, 
 and a paper collar had been hastily added 
 to the checked shirt. He bade them enter, 
 in good English, and the interior of the house 
 was clean and inviting. The walls were 
 papered with newspapers, a bright patch- 
 work quilt was spread upon the bed, and a 
 pleasant-faced girl was frying ham and eggs 
 over the stove; while there was a shelf of 
 books over the table. An Indian woman
 
 334 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 emerged from a shadowy corner and express- 
 ed a welcome by pantomine. 
 
 " Is not this Charley's wife ? " Mr. Arm- 
 strong asked, and the woman smiled and 
 nodded her recognition. 
 
 "Where is your husband? "was the next 
 question. " Charley no good," was the wife's 
 frank reply ; " gone hunting with white men." 
 
 This was a disappointment that Mr. Arm- 
 strong had not anticipated ; he was not sure 
 that he could find his way to the silver mine 
 without Charley's help, but it was worth try- 
 ing. The odor of the frying ham was appe- 
 tizing, and the invitation to supper was 
 promptly accepted. 
 
 "Are you Charley's son?" Mr. Armstrong 
 asked of the young man, who presently 
 brought in a foaming pail of milk, and 
 assisted his mother and sister in waiting on 
 their guests. 
 
 " Yes, sir," was the prompt reply, " and my 
 name is Charley too Charles Sumner." 
 
 Mr. Armstrong stared in astonishment. 
 " Where did you learn to speak English so 
 well ? " he asked. 
 
 " At the Indian Industrial School at Car- 
 lisle, Pennsylvania." 
 
 " Then you are one of Captain Pratt's boys ?"
 
 THE ESTATES DEL PARADISO. 335 
 
 "Yes, sir," and a smile lightened the 
 somewhat stolid features. Mr. Armstrong 
 did not believe in Eastern schools for 
 Indians, and he asked, rather sarcastically, 
 " And what did you learn when you were 
 in the East Latin and Theology ? " 
 
 The boy shook his head. " I learned to 
 work on the farm," he said, " and to read 
 and write, and do a little arithmetic; and I 
 learned some carpentry enough to build 
 this house, and make that table, and the 
 cupboard and things." 
 
 " Very creditable, I am sure," Mr. Arm- 
 strong replied, half incredulously, " but how 
 did you come into the fortune necessary to 
 set you up in this flourishing style ? " 
 
 " I helped build the new depot at S , 
 
 and they paid me off with the lumber that 
 was left, and I built the house out of that. 
 Then I had some money which I had put in 
 the savings-bank from my earnings every 
 vacation in the East, and I bought the cows 
 with that ; and then I made a churn, and 
 we've been making butter the way I saw 
 them do it in Pennsylvania, and I sell it for 
 a good price at the Springs." 
 
 " Well, you have more stuff in you than I 
 ever thought it possible for an Indian to
 
 336 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 have," Mr. Armstrong 1 replied, fairly won, in 
 spite of himself, to admiration. " I always 
 supposed that those Carlisle students, as soon 
 as they returned to old surroundings, went 
 back to savagery." 
 
 " It is pretty hard for us," the boy replied. 
 " Last year I planted about three times as 
 much corn as you see here. I had taken a 
 contract to supply the quartermaster at Fort 
 
 , and I thought I should make a good 
 
 deal of money ; but just as it was green, all 
 of our relations came to see us. There were 
 ten families. They camped there by the 
 creek, and they stayed until they had eaten 
 every roasting ear. They said they had come 
 to celebrate my home-coming, and father 
 made them welcome, and gave a dance, and 
 killed one of our cows for them. They would 
 have killed them all, but I drove them off 
 into the mountains, and hid them. That is 
 the reason I have planted so little corn here 
 this season. I have another field over in a 
 little valley in the mountains which I hope 
 they will not find, and I drive the cattle up 
 the canon every morning, for they may be 
 here any day." 
 
 " You poor fellow !" said Mr. Armstrong. 
 " I have heard the proverb, ' Save us from
 
 THE ESTA TES DEL PARADISO. 
 
 337 
 
 our friends !' but I never understood the full 
 force of it before." 
 
 After the hearty meal the little house was 
 put at the service of the travelers, the fam- 
 ily camping outside, and, much to Mr. Arm- 
 strong's contentment, they passed a com- 
 fortable and restful night. The next morn- 
 ing Mr. Armstrong asked Charles Sumner if 
 he was familiar with the mountains, and 
 could guide him to a certain valley, which he 
 indicated as having a chimney-like forma- 
 tion at one end. 
 
 " Why, certainly," the young man replied ; 
 " don't you remember I was with father 
 when he took you hunting four years ago ? 
 He killed an eagle that had her nest on a 
 ledge high up on the chimney, and I climbed 
 up for the young ones." 
 
 " Ah yes, I remember now, but you were 
 such a little fellow then that I could not 
 realize the change." 
 
 & 
 
 " I grew more at Carlisle," said the young 
 man, significantly, than at any other time of 
 my life. We all grew at Carlisle." 
 
 "Then you will take us to the chimney," 
 Mr. Armstrong asked, " and cook for us 
 while we are out ? What will you charge ? " 
 
 " I don't think I ought to ask you any-
 
 338 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 thing 1 , sir, for there is good pasturage there- 
 about, and I can drive my cows along, and 
 herd them there until after the visit of our 
 
 relatives. My sister is going to B with 
 
 all the green-corn that the ponies can carry, 
 so when they come they will find mother, 
 and very little else. The valley in which 
 my other corn is planted is in that direction, 
 and perhaps you will let me bring some of 
 it in your wagon when we come back ?" 
 
 Charles Sumner rode cheerily beside them 
 on a diminutive pony, driving his cows and 
 the pack pony, and chatting freely of many 
 things. Sometimes Jim sprang from his 
 seat to make him change places and rest 
 awhile. The pony had a fascination for Jim, 
 and he speedily learned from Charles Sum- 
 ner how to manage it, and to " round up " 
 the herd of cows and calves. The young- 
 Indian taught him, also, how to make arrows, 
 and to shoot with them, to picket the 
 horses, and to use the lasso, to make camp 
 coffee, and to set up and take down the tepee, 
 or tent of buffalo hide, which the pack-pony 
 dragged between long poles. 
 
 " You would like to be a cow - boy, 
 wouldn't you, Jim ? " Mr. Armstrong- asked, 
 but Charles Sumner shook his head. " Cow-
 
 THE ESTATES DEL PARADISO. 339 
 
 boys are no good," he said, emphatically ; 
 " they shoot Indians as if they were wild 
 beasts. Better stay in the East, where the 
 white people are good. I wish I could, but 
 the Government insists that as soon as^we 
 are educated w_ must go back to our 
 reservations. I wish it would let us stay 
 and earn our living in the East, where it is 
 so much easier to stay civilized." 
 
 Jim, on the other hand, was delighted with 
 everything he saw. " If all the boys in 
 Rickett's Court could only come out here ! " 
 he exclaimed, " and ride, and herd cows, 
 and hunt, and camp out, and all the Indian 
 boys could only go East, and go to school, 
 and work at trades how nice it would be ! " 
 
 Mr. Armstrong admitted that the change 
 might be good for both, but while speaking 
 they came in sight of the chimney-shaped 
 pinnacle, and he hastily unpacked his 
 theodolite and other instruments, and 
 began to take angles, and to jot down 
 memoranda. 
 
 " This is the first time that I have ever 
 seen a surveyor on the Ute reservation," said 
 Charles Sumner, " and I think that our troub- 
 les will be ended sometime by that little 
 machine. Just as soon as the Government
 
 340 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 divides up our land and gives each Indian 
 his own share, then each good Indian will 
 cultivate his own farm, and will have some 
 heart to work. How can he now, when the 
 land belongs as much to every lazy Indian 
 in the tribe as to himself ? O sir, is it possi- 
 ble that the Government has sent you to 
 begin this division ?" 
 
 Mr. Armstrong confessed that his obser- 
 vations were made only for his own amuse- 
 ment. He was surprised to find that the 
 young man had such advanced vie\vs on the 
 " land in severalty " question, and he asked 
 w r hether any of the other Indians of the tribe 
 shared his opinions. 
 
 "There are a good many who have staked 
 out farms and are cultivating them, just as I 
 have," he replied, " but we know that we 
 have no right to the land, and may be turned 
 out any day, whenever bad white men 
 persuade our chiefs to give up this reserva- 
 tion and move away to the bad lands in the 
 West." 
 
 Mr. Armstrong winced a little under the 
 earnest, questioning look with which Jim 
 regarded him. To turn his train of thought 
 he said, "There is the old eagle's nest on the 
 ledge still, Charles Sumner. Can you climb
 
 THE ESTA TEX DEL PARADISO. 34 j 
 
 up there to-day as nimbly as you did four 
 years ago ?" 
 
 For answer, the young man threw himself 
 from his pony and began to ascend the cliff. 
 It was very steep, but he chose his way cau- 
 tiously, Seizing each point of vantage in 
 the way of a crevice or projection. He had 
 almost reached the nest when he paused, 
 looked away to the southward, and began 
 rapidly to descend. " There is a band of 
 Utes coming over the divide," he said; " I 
 think it would be as well for us to go a little 
 further up the valley." He hurriedly col- 
 lected his herd, and drove them before him 
 through a pass into a long, shady gorge. 
 Mr. Armstrong followed with the team. 
 " This is the place !" he exclaimed, excitedly, 
 as they entered the ravine. " It was in this 
 little canon that I found the silver. A vein 
 cropped right out to the surface, and I filled 
 my pockets with the ore. I set up a buffalo 
 skull to mark the spot. There it is at the 
 foot of that pine. It must have rolled down, 
 for I placed it higher. Hold the reins, Jim, 
 while I scramble up the bank and see if I see 
 any signs of the vein." With the agility of 
 a younger man, Mr. Armstrong climbed the 
 steep bank, and came down with his hands
 
 342 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 filled with crumbled ore. " It is there, fast 
 enough," he said, triumphantly; "if it were 
 not on the Indian reservation I would be the 
 owner of that mine now. They cannot 
 hold the lands long, and when they are 
 opened to settlement this canon shall be ours, 
 Jim. You say you would like to live a 
 western life. If your mother, of whom you 
 seem so fond, is of the same opinion, you 
 shall pre-empt a claim here, and I will take 
 one just beside you, and between us we will 
 own the mine. You don't understand it, my 
 boy; but I have taken a fancy to you, and I 
 mean to make your fortune." 
 
 " And will this ravine be my very own ?" 
 Jim asked " mother's and mine ?" 
 
 " Yes, my boy; and I am curious to see 
 what you will make of it, and what you 
 will make of yourself while you are waiting 
 to come into your possessions. I mean to 
 put you in the way of getting a good prac- 
 tical education, which shall be of use to you 
 out here." 
 
 "And can I learn surveying?" 
 
 "Yes ; and mining engineering and assay- 
 ing and mechanics, and all that." 
 
 "That is what Lovey Dimple would like 
 to learn too. Can he come with me ? He'd
 
 THE ESTATES DEL PARADISO. 343 
 
 invent a machine right off to dig the silver 
 just as easy." 
 
 " We will see, Jim. I would like to give 
 him a good turn for his father's sake ; but 
 don't take too many into our company, or 
 we shall have to water the stock too freely." 
 
 They had nearly reached the head of the 
 gorge, and they found that Charles Sumner 
 had paused, and had corraled his cows in a 
 little natural amphitheatre, where they were 
 resting contentedly. 
 
 " I must watch them pretty sharply," the 
 Indian explained, " for the corn I told you 
 about is in the next valley, and if they should 
 get into that, they would be as bad as our 
 relations. Just walk to the top of the hill, 
 Mr. Armstrong, and see what a nice field of 
 it I have over there." Mr. Armstrong re- 
 turned bringing an armful of fine roasting 
 ears, but Charles Sumner thought it best not 
 to build a fire until the party of Utes had 
 passed, and they sat down to a cold supper 
 of canned baked beans. After supper Jim 
 had a long talk with Charles Sumner, and 
 ascertained that the young man had fixed 
 his heart upon making this particular section 
 his home farm as soon as the reservation 
 should be divided in severalty among the
 
 344 
 
 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 Indians, which he hoped would happen be- 
 fore many years. 
 
 "Then," said Jim, "you think that the 
 white people will never have a chance to 
 come in here and take up land ?" 
 
 " Do you think they ought to be allowed 
 to do so, when the land is ours ? " Charles 
 Sumner asked. 
 
 " No, I don't," Jim replied, promptly. " I 
 think it is really yours, and you ought to 
 keep it ; and I'll just tell you a secret about 
 this canon. It is worth a great deal more 
 than you know. There is a silver mine in it, 
 and I'll show you where, and you had just 
 better go back East and study the best way 
 to mine silver, and then when you get your 
 claim you will know how to work it. I 
 wish you would take me in as your partner, 
 for Mr. Armstrong is going to have me 
 taught all about mining. He thought he 
 might pre-empt this mine for me, but, of 
 course, when he sees that it really belongs to 
 you, he will not want to, unless, perhaps, you 
 would like to sell out your right in it." 
 
 Jim had spoken so rapidly that he did not 
 notice that Mr. Armstrong had approached, 
 and was listening with an astonished expres- 
 sion to what he was saying.
 
 THE ESTATES DEL PARADISO. 345 
 
 " Jim, are you crazy ?" Mr. Armstrong ex- 
 claimed, as soon as he could recover himself. 
 Don't you see that you are throwing away 
 your chances ?" 
 
 "Oh no," Jim replied, with a smile, "I 
 hadn't any chance at all. You didn't know, 
 but it all belongs to Charles Sumner." 
 
 Their conversation was interrupted by a 
 whoop in the valley below. The band of 
 Utes had discovered the traces of their last 
 camp, and had followed their trail into the 
 canon. 
 
 " Drive over into the next ravine !" said 
 Charles Sumner ; " they will camp here when 
 they find my cows. Walt for me just below 
 the corn-field, and I will join you as soon as 
 I can. They will not hurt you if they 
 find you, but they will beg and steal 
 everything." 
 
 Mr. Armstrong hurriedly followed Charles 
 Sumner's advice, and was joined about mid- 
 night by the young Indian, who drove be- 
 fore him three cows, all he had been able to 
 rescue from a herd of twelve. 
 
 The young man wiped his brow with a 
 despairing gesture. "They were ugly," he 
 said. " Some Durango cow-boys have been 
 pasturing their cattle on the reservation, and
 
 346 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 they insisted that my cows were a part of 
 the herd, and that the owners were some- 
 where near. If they had found you, they 
 might have treated you roughly. I think we 
 had better get away while they are feasting." 
 
 It occurred to Mr. Armstrong that it 
 looked very much as if Charles Sumner had 
 saved their lives at the sacrifice of his prop- 
 erty, and a feeling of gratitude and liking 
 sprang up in his heart for the young man. 
 
 " I don't know what I shall do," the Indian 
 continued, dejectedly. " It doesn't seem to 
 be any use to try to be civilized in this 
 country." 
 
 " No, my poor fellow !" replied Mr Arm- 
 strong, " it really does not. In your place, I 
 think I should go back to the blanket and be 
 a savage with the rest. I will tell you what 
 to do : come East again with your mother 
 and sister. I will let you try farming on a 
 piece of land which I have taken a fancy to 
 in Massachusetts, where you will not have 
 these discouragements. When the land 
 question is settled, you and Jim shall come 
 back here and form a partnership. If it 
 is divided in severalty to the Utes, then I will 
 establish your right to the canon, and you 
 shall take Jim in as your partner; and if it is
 
 THE ESTATES DEL PARADISO. 347 
 
 opened to the whites for settlement, he 
 will take up the land and give you a share 
 in it." 
 
 This proposition was accepted by Charles 
 Sumner and his sister, the mother preferring 
 to remain with her husband. After estab- 
 lishing the young Indians in Massachusetts, 
 Mr. Armstrong brought Jim with him to 
 Narragansett Pier. 
 
 A short space must now be given to Milly 
 and Adelaide, who, though mingling in 
 a very different class of society, had an ex- 
 perience that summer not unlike our own. 
 Mrs. Roseveldt gave a lawn-party at the 
 beginning of the season to organize -a 
 tennis club. Tennis was the rage that sea- 
 son. Many of the cottages had tennis 
 courts, and the different players wished to 
 plan for a grand tournament at the end of 
 the season. A pretty uniform was designed 
 of white flannel, the skirt embroidered with a 
 deep Greek fret in gold thread, and laid in 
 accordion pleats. A little jacket lined with 
 gold-colored silk, and embroidered in the 
 same pattern, was to be worn over the shirt 
 waist, and a gold-colored sash ending in a 
 tassel, with a white Tarn o' Shanter, com- 
 pleted the costume. Milly had planned that
 
 348 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 Mrs. Halsey should have the making of 
 these costumes while at the Pier. 
 
 A fund was contributed with which to 
 purchase a trophy for the prize player. It 
 rose quickly to a hundred and fifty dollars, 
 and a meeting was held to decide what the 
 trophy should be. Most of the members 
 thought that a gold pin in the shape of a 
 racket, with a pearl ball, manufactured by 
 Tiffany, would be the correct thing, and this 
 idea would certainly have been adopted if 
 Milly had not turned the current by a neat 
 little speech. 
 
 "I am sure," she said, "that we do not 
 want to vulgarize our club by making it pro- 
 fessional, and a prize of any great money 
 value would certainly do this. So I move that 
 the prize be a simple wreath of laurel tied 
 with a white ribbon, on which the date of the 
 tournament and name of the club be printed." 
 The members all agreed that this would 
 be in better form, but asked what was to be 
 done with the money already contributed. 
 Then Milly rose to the occasion, and flung 
 out the banner of the Home. ' 
 
 " It seems as if we had no right to be romp- 
 ing in this delicious fresh air while poor chil- 
 dren are gasping in the vile smells of the city."
 
 THE ESTATES DEL PARADISO. 
 
 549 
 
 The Fresh- Air Fund and the Working Girls' 
 Vacation Society were both popular charities, 
 and were proposed by different members as 
 proper recipients of our funds. Milly was 
 ready to agree to this, but one young man, 
 supposed until that day to be a mere gilded 
 youth, without an idea above his neckties, 
 suggested that it was always pleasanter to 
 be the distributer of one's own benefits, and 
 moved that the club get up a little Fresh- Air 
 Fund of its own. " We might rent a cottage 
 down here and send for a dozen or so young 
 beggars, and take turns in caring for them." 
 
 A general laugh followed this remark. 
 "What would you do, personally, Mr. Van 
 Silver ? " asked one of the girls. 
 
 <( I would put my coach and four-in-hand 
 at the service of the enterprise," he said, 
 " and make myself expressman and 'bus 
 driver. I'd take the children out to drive 
 every day, for one thing." 
 
 Everyone insisted that they would like to 
 see him do it, but he persisted until they 
 were convinced of his sincerity. Mr. Van 
 Silver's patronage had given an aristocratic 
 stamp to the enterprise, and some one now 
 proposed that they rent a cottage for the 
 children for the season.
 
 35O WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 Milly then explained that Adelaide had 
 already fitted up her cottage for the purpose, 
 and was expecting- an invoice of children by 
 the next day. Adelaide invited the party to 
 visit the cottage that afternoon, and the entire 
 club climbed to the top and interior of Mr. 
 Van Silver's coach; Mr. Stacy Fitz-Sim- 
 mons, the whilom drum-major of the Cadet 
 band, blowing the coach horn for all he was 
 worth. 
 
 They found a park overgrown into a 
 forest, in the depth of which stood a 
 pleasant cottage, with broad verandas, which 
 once commanded a beautiful view of the 
 glistening bay, with Newport in the dis- 
 tance. 
 
 " I intend to have some of these trees cut 
 away, so as to leave a vista through to the 
 water," Adelaide explained. 
 
 They entered the house, and found it 
 renovated from the mold and decay with 
 which ten years had encumbered it, sweet 
 and fresh with new paint, and papering of 
 pretty design. Light and graceful ratan 
 furniture and chintz hangings added to the 
 beauty of the room, simple straw mattings 
 covered the floor. It was as lovely a home 
 as heart could wish.
 
 THE ESTA TES DEL PARADISO. 
 
 351 
 
 " I have done all I can afford," Adelaide 
 said, simply, " and if the club would like to 
 use this cottage for their city children it is 
 at their service, but first Milly wants to 
 entertain the younger children of the Home 
 of the Elder Brother here for a couple of 
 weeks." 
 
 " And we will each of us take his or her 
 turn for a week," said Mr. Van Silver; and so 
 the " Paradise Seaside Home" was provided 
 for. 
 
 Mrs. Halsey came with the children. 
 From the moment that she left the station 
 she seemed to be in a dream. 
 
 " It all looks so familiar !" she exclaimed ; 
 " I am sure I have been here before ! There 
 is something caressing in the feeling of the 
 damp air, as though it kissed my cheek 
 like an old friend. And the scent of the 
 salt-water ! I remember it so well ; and 
 shall we hear the surf ? Oh, when was 
 it, where was it, that I knew it all ? " 
 
 When they drove into the grounds she 
 shook her head. " No, it was not this 
 place," she said, with a wistful look in her 
 eyes; " there were no trees." But at the first 
 glimpse of the house a trembling seized her, 
 and she could hardly mount the steps.
 
 352 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 Within doors a puzzled expression came into 
 her face. 
 
 " It is familiar, yet unfamiliar," she said. 
 " I cannot be sure. If I could only see 
 some face that I had known before, then I 
 could tell." 
 
 " Perhaps the face will come," Adelaide 
 said; and it came. 
 
 A few weeks later Mr. Armstrong re- 
 turned with Jim from the western trip, and 
 came down to the Pier to make the visit 
 which his daughter so greatly desired. Ade- 
 laide had driven to the station f r them in 
 Milly's pony carriage, Jim mounted to his 
 old place on the rumble, Mr. Armstrong 
 settled himself for the drive, and Adelaide 
 took the reins. 
 
 " I am going to take you around by the 
 cottage, papa," she said. " I want to show 
 you what I have done there, and how happy 
 the Home children are." 
 
 Mr. Armstrong drew himself up, as 
 though wincing from some sudden pain. " I 
 did not intend to go there again, daughter," 
 he said ; " I shall miss a face at the window." 
 
 "I know, papa the cameo; but she would 
 have been glad to see the cottage used as 
 it is."
 
 THE ESTATES DEL PARADfSO. 
 
 353 
 
 They turned into the drive, and Mr. Arm- 
 strong nerved himself for the sight of his 
 old home. Suddenly he cried out, and 
 caught his daughter's arm. "Is it only 
 memory, or have I lost my senses ? The face 
 is there ! " 
 
 Adelaide laughed reassuringly. " I don't 
 wonder that it gave you a turn, papa ; it did 
 me, too, when I saw the same sight in Miss 
 Prillwitz's window last winter, but it is only 
 dear Mrs. Halsey looking out for us.'* 
 
 " Then thank God ! " . exclaimed Mr. Arm- 
 strong, leaping from the vehicle and hurry- 
 ing forward. " Do you not remember me ? 
 my own ! my wife ! " 
 
 His wife remembered: the veil which had 
 blinded her for years fell at the sight of her 
 husband's face. 
 
 Happily the shock had not been as sud- 
 den as it seemed; during the time which she 
 had spent in the cottage the conviction had 
 grown upon her that this had been her 
 home. She had asked Adelaide its history, 
 and learning that it had been built for her 
 mother, who had been drowned in the great 
 steamboat disaster, a hope had sprung up in 
 her heart, which she dared not express to 
 any one, that she had found her own again. 
 23
 
 354 
 
 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 Adelaide had said that she expected her 
 father, and Mrs. Halsey waited only to see 
 his face to be assured of the truth. 
 
 Adelaide's delight at finding that Mrs. 
 Halsey was her lost mother, and Jim her 
 brother, was genuine and intense. " I knew, 
 all the time, that Jim was somebody's child," 
 she exclaimed, incoherently. " It is all too 
 good to be true ! too good to be true !" 
 
 " Jim deserves a better father than he has 
 found," said Mr. Armstrong, " and by Jod's 
 grace he shall have a better. 
 
 " It is too bad to break up this nice little 
 arrangement of a summer home for the poor 
 children," he added, "and I will allow 
 the cottage to be used for this purpose 
 just so long as the tennis club desire to 
 maintain it ; but I must have my wife. Please 
 remember that we have been parted from 
 each other a very long time. I am going 
 West next week, and I must take her with 
 me; and it.will not do Adelaide any harm to 
 have a glimpse of the great West before we 
 send her to school in the fall. Jim has had 
 as much of the West as he can stand at pres- 
 ent, and we will leave him in the best school 
 that we can find." 
 
 what shall we do for a housekeeper
 
 THE ESTA TES DEL PARADISO. 
 
 355 
 
 for the cottage ? " Adelaide asked, in dismay. 
 
 " Mrs. Trimble has just left the hospital, 
 fully recovered, but I have no doubt she 
 would prefer to run your little enterprise 
 rather than to return to the store ; and as I 
 have deprived you of your housekeeper I 
 don't mind paying Mrs. Trimble to supply 
 her place for the remainder of the summer. 
 It will do Mr. Trimble good, too, to complete 
 his convalescence here, and perhaps in the 
 winter they will accept the janitorship of 
 your tenement." 
 
 " My tenement ! " Adelaide replied, in sur- 
 prise. 
 
 " Yes, I intend to give you the manage- 
 ment of this property, which I have always 
 considered your own. You have a matter of 
 twenty thousand dollars insurance money, 
 which, with the ten thousand which I have 
 deposited to your name in the savings bank, 
 you may use in erecting a model tenement 
 on the site of the old Rickett's Court building. 
 I think I shall have some more money for 
 you to put into the enterprise if the patent 
 works well. I shall give Mr. Trimble a share 
 in the profits of that invention over and above 
 the five thousand dollars already paid him, 
 but I think that he would like one of your
 
 356 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 suites of rooms in return for acting as janitor 
 and agent of the building, and it will not 
 interfere with his teaching mechanics to the 
 boys at the Home." 
 
 " If you please, papa," said Adelaide, " I 
 like the plan of engaging Mr. Trimble as 
 janitor, but I would rather be my own agent 
 and collect the rents myself; then I can see 
 just what improvements are needed, and be 
 sure that my tenants are all comfortable." 
 
 For the remainder of their stay in the 
 East the Armstrongs busied themselves 
 with architects' plans and specifications. 
 Adelaide enjoyed planning the bathrooms 
 and conveniences of different kinds. " And 
 the paving-stones must be taken up in the 
 court," she said, " and a nice grass-plot laid 
 out in their place, and we will have pretty 
 iron balconies before every window, and a 
 fire-escape." 
 
 "Yes, daughter," replied her father, " I will 
 make you a present of that, outside the 
 other matters the very best kind of fire- 
 escape to be found in the city; and, while we 
 are about it, I will send one to the Home of 
 the Elder Brother." 
 
 Adelaide's interest in her tenement did 
 not wean her away from the Home, and
 
 THE ESTA TES DEL PARADISO. 
 
 357 
 
 I have since observed that it is always those 
 who, seemingly, are already doing as much 
 as they can in the way of charity who are 
 always ready to lend a helping hand to other 
 enterprises, and that it is the earnest workers 
 of little means, as well as the wealthy philan- 
 thropists, who 
 
 " To the ages 
 Fair bequests, and costly, make." 
 
 The Armstrongs went West, and Adelaide 
 created an interest for the Home in her new 
 surroundings, while Milly kept up the en- 
 thusiasm of the tennis club at the Pier. That 
 club flourished in a manner unheard of, here- 
 tofore, in a place where everyone was so 
 busy doing nothing that even the exertion 
 of tennis had been voted a bore. It was not 
 tennis, however, that kept them together, or 
 gave the members their bright, jolly looks, 
 but the Paradise Cottage. 
 
 " For we may find a zest 
 
 In any true employ 
 Which, like a whetstone in the breast, 
 Shall give an edge to joy." 
 
 But while we all worked in our different 
 ways, it was our corresponding secretary 
 who was the clasp to the necklace, or rather,
 
 358 WITCH WINNIE. 
 
 the central battery which sent currents of 
 life pulsating through the connecting wires. 
 The scapegrace who plotted and schemed 
 mischief, she who had erstwhile reveled in 
 the name of " the malicious, seditious, insub- 
 ordinate, disreputable, skeptical Queen of 
 the Hornets," had become a wise and enter- 
 prising central manager of a helpful charity. 
 
 The summer vacation is over, and we have 
 all met again for another winter at Madame's; 
 Amen Corner and Hornets all filled with a 
 fine enthusiasm for our work, and a deep, 
 true affection for one another. 
 
 The Home rests, we are told, on very slen- 
 der foundations. There is no financier as a 
 backer, no estate, no great endowment, 
 nothing to ensure its existence from year to 
 year but the hearts and hands of ten young 
 girls. Nothing else ? They forget that we 
 have behind us and with us the Elder 
 Brother, with all the estates del Paradise. 
 
 " By each saving word unspoken, 
 By Thy will, yet poorly done, 
 
 Hear us, hear us, 
 Thou Almighty ! help us on." 
 
 THE END.
 
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