"Jis' take yore folks right on up, Mr Kamp," said Uncle Billy, pouncing money "Th' rooms is th' three right along th' hull front o' th' house I'll be up and make on fire in minute Jis' take th' Jonesville Banner an' th' Uticky Clarion along with ye "

swish of skirts marked the passage Van Kamps up the wide hall stairway, the other party swept room

The man wrote, in round flourish, "Edward Eastman Ellsworth, wife, and son "

"I'd like three choice rooms, en suite,"

"Gosh ! " said Uncle Billy, regretfully "That's what Mr Kamp wanted, fust off, an' he got it They hain't but th' little room over th' kitchen left I'll have you an' your wife , an' let your boy sleep with th' driver "

The consternation Ellsworth party was past calculating by any known standards of measurement The thing was an outrage ! not borne ! not submit !

Uncle Billy, however, secure mastery situation, calmly quartered them as he had said "An' let 'em splutter all to," he commented comfortably to himself

IV

The Ellsworths were holding family indignation meeting broad porch Van Ramps came contentedly down for walk, and brushed with unseeing eyes

"It makes perfectly fascinating suite," observed Mrs Van Kamp, in pleasantly conversational tone that easily overheard by anyone impolite enough to listen "That delightful old-fashioned fireplace middle apartment makes it an ideal sitting-room, beds are so roomy and comfortable "

"I just knew it like this ! " chirruped Miss Evelyn "I remarked passed the place, remember, how charming it to stop dear, quaint old inn over night All my wishes seem true this year "

These simple and, , entirely unpremeditated remarks were as vinegar and wormwood to Mrs Ellsworth, and she gazed retreating Van Kamps with glint in her eye make one understand Lucretia Borgia at last

Her son also gazed retreating Van Kamp She had an exquisite figure, and she carried herself with most delectable grace party drew away inn she dropped behind the elders and wandered off into side path to gather autumn leaves

Ralph, too, started off for walk, but naturally not same direction

"Edward ! " suddenly said Mrs Ellsworth " you those people out suite before night ! "

" ," he replied with sigh, and got up He had wrecked railroad and made one, and had operated successful corners in nutmegs and chicory No task seemed impossible He walked in the landlord

" the Van Kamps paying you three rooms ? " he asked

"Fifteen dollars," Uncle Billy informed him, smoking one of Mr Van Kamp's good cigars and twiddling his thumbs in huge content

"I'll thirty Just set their baggage outside and tell them the rooms are occupied "

"No sir-ree ! " rejoined Uncle Billy "A bargain's bargain, an' I allus stick to one I make "

Mr Ellsworth withdrew, but not defeated He had never supposed that such an absurd proposition accepted only feeler, and he had noticed wince of regret landlord He sat down porch and lit strong cigar His wife bother him She gazed complacently flaming foliage opposite, and allowed him Getting impossible things was his business in life, and she had confidence in him

" to rent your entire house for week," he announced to Uncle Billy later It had occurred to him flood might last longer than they anticipated

Uncle Billy's eyes twinkled

"I reckon it kin be did," he allowed "I reckon ho_-tel man's got right to rent his hull house ary minute "

" he has ? "

Uncle Billy had made one mistake in not asking this sort of folks enough, and he reflected in perplexity

"Make me offer," he proposed "Ef it hain't enough I'll tell ye to rent th' hull place, back lot an' all ? "

"No, just the mere house enough," answered the other with smile point of offering hundred dollars, when the little wrinkles about Mr Tutt's eyes, and seventy-five

"Sho, ye're jokin' ! " retorted Uncle Billy He considered fine horse-trader part country "Make it hundred and twenty-five, an' I'll go ye "

Mr Ellsworth counted out some bills

"Here's hundred," "That about right "

"Fifteen more," insisted Uncle Billy

With little frown of impatience the other counted off the extra money and handed it over Uncle Billy gravely handed it back

"Them's the fifteen dollars Mr Kamp ," he explained "You've got the hull house fer week, an' o' course all th' money that's tooken in is your'n You kin do as ye please about rentin' out rooms to other folks, I reckon bargain's bargain, an' I allus stick to one I make "

V

Ralph Ellsworth stalked trees, feverishly searching for squirrels, scarlet leaves, glint of brown walking-dress, this last not being so easy to locate in sunlit autumn woods Time after time he quickened his pace, only that he fooled by patch of dogwood, clump of haw bushes or even leaf-strewn knoll, but at last he unmistakably saw the dress, and then he slowed down to careless saunter

She was reaching up for some brilliantly colored maple leaves, and was entirely unconscious presence, especially after she had seen him Her pose showed her pretty figure to advantage, but, , she know that How should she ?

Ralph admired the picture The hat, the hair, the gown, the dainty shoes, even the narrow strip of silken hose that was revealed as she stood a-uptoe, were all of deep, rich brown that proved an exquisite foil pink and cream of her cheeks He remembered that her eyes were almost the same shade, and wondered how it women-folk happened on combinations in dress that set off their natural charms The fool !

about three trees away, now, and panic akin which hunters describe as "buck ague" seized him He decided that he really had no excuse for coming any nearer It do, either, seen staring at her if she should happen her head, so he veered off, intending to regain the road It impossible to without passing directly in her range of vision, and intend to avoid it He had fine, manly figure own

He had just passed the nearest radius to her circle and was proceeding along the tangent that he had laid out for himself, unwitting maid looked carefully down and saw tangle of roots at her very feet She was so unfortunate, second later, slip her foot very tangle and give her ankle ever so slight twist

"Oh ! " cried Miss Van Kamp, and Ralph Ellsworth flew rescue He noticing her at all, and yet he had started to her side before she had even cried out, strange She had very attractive voice

"May I be of assistance ? " he anxiously inquired

" not, ," she replied, compressing her lips back the intolerable pain, and half-closing her eyes to show the fine lashes Declining the proffered help, she extricated her foot, picked up her autumn branches, and turned away She was intensely averse to anything that construed as flirtation, even mildest, certainly see that She took step, swayed slightly, dropped the leaves, and clutched out her hand to him

" nothing," she assured him in moment, withdrawing the hand after he had held it quite long enough "Nothing whatever my foot slight wrench, and turned the least bit faint for moment "

" permit me to walk back, road, ," he insisted, gathering up her armload of branches "I couldn't think of leaving you here alone "

As he stooped to raise the gay woodland treasures he smiled to himself, ever so slightly not his first season out, either

"Delightful spot, isn't it ? " he observed regained the road and sauntered direction Tutt House

"Quite so," she reservedly answered She had noticed that smile as he stooped snubbed little It so good for him

"You don't happen Billy Evans, of Boston, ? " he asked

" not but very little acquainted in Boston "

"Too bad," he went on " rather in hopes Billy All sorts of splendid fellow, and knows everybody "

"Not quite, it seems," she reminded him, and he winced error sly smile that he had permitted to himself, unusually interested

He tried the weather, the flood, the accident, golf, books and three good, substantial, warranted jokes, but the conversation lagged of him Miss Van Kamp world have it understood unconventional meeting, made allowable by her wrenched ankle, could possibly fulfill the functions of formal introduction

"What ripping, queer old building ! " he exclaimed, making one more brave effort came in sight hotel

" , rather," she assented "The rooms are as quaint and delightful exterior, too "