Celia's Moth.

" On the contrary , Uncle Jacob , I ' ve just waked up , " answered Eory , with a side glance at Celia . "And quite time , too . I must see something of the world , you know ; of course I can ' t be always hanging round here doing nothing . " Considering that , at that time yesterday

, Eory had not appeared to find the sli ghtest difficulty in such a mode of life , it was no wonder if Uncle Jacob was somewhat surprised by the decided way in which this statement was advanced . But , as his nephew stuck to this planthe old man

, , too , was soon brought round to regard it as , on the whole , an excellent idea . So the thing was settled , and Eory , with an eager energy which Uncle Jacob declared he had not thought was in the boy , sot about his preparations forthwith , and gave no rest to

himself or anybody else till all was ready . " Good-bye , Celia , " he said , as ho hold his cousin ' s hand at the moment of departure . " The moth ' s going whore he won't trouble yon again for one while , at any rate ! The Lord knows if I'll ever

come back , but , whatever happens , whether I live or die , you slia ' n't call me a shirk again . " Then he looked at her with his great , pleading , deep-blue eyes , which said all that pride tied his tongue from saying , kissed her thrice passionately , and was

gone . Celia , perhaps , if she could have ordered all exactly to her liking , would not have had her moth fly quite so far off , but she was not one to look back , her hand once put to the plough ; she had spoken for Eory ' s goodcome what miht of itif ho

, g ; was thereby lost to her , at least lie was gained to himself , as she believed , and she was not going to regret her work because it had worked out beyond her anticipation . So she kept on cheeril y along the round of her daily duties , those multifarious cares

known oidy to farmers' wives and daughters , who , whatever happens , must be prepared for seed-time and harvest . Celia was as capable a little mistress as ever lived , and her quick eye and step pervaded the house like a spring breeze ; she was

here , there and everywhere , providing for the men , overseeing the maids , scolding them , too , sometimes , no doubt , all through the week , and then on Sundays read y In her place hi the choir , with a voice and face as fresh as her go-to-meeting best , laid up in lavender and rose-leaves ;

leading , in short , the good , old-fashioned , orthodox village life , including , perhaps , the " sparkling" who knows 1 for she was not only the prettiest girl in town , but an only child , whose father possessed substantial charms of another sort .

Eory , meanwhile , was doing well over there , " as they called the great , far-away tropical country , whose distance in crossing lie seemed somehow to have bridged over for those left behind in the red house under the Northern pines and maples . Ho had been very luckyhe wrotein the

, , partnership into which he had entered ; was not making money with a rush exactly , but was certainly not losing it ; was getting very rich in experience if not in gold . His letters were assuredly prosaic enoughthey dealt less with

, description than with facts , and with sentiment least of all ; the wildest stretch of imagination could not have made them into love-letters : they might have been read aloud on town-meeting day without raising a blush on Celia ' s cheek . Yet still

there was always some allusion which nobody but herself could understand , something which , without any direct appeal , was meant to refresh old memories which might yet be alive in her heart . So at least the girl fancied , until she remarked

certain other allusions , more frequent of late , to the cousin he had found over there , the cousin Juanita , who owned miles of vineyard , who had the largest eyes and the smallest feet , and was the best lolerodanccr of all the senoritas in that whole region . Then a doubt gradually formed

itself in Celia ' s mind , a doubt strengthened by the innocent comment of Uncle Jacob , who had no more notion of any special tenderness between his daughter and his nephew than if they had been a pair of lovers in the moon instead of right under

his silver-bowed spectacles . " The boy ' s following in his father ' s track , " chuckled the worthy man , and in her heart Celia believed that her father was right . Then , over her knitting , she would try to make a picture for herself of Juanita , as she looked

dancing that outlandish but no doubt bewitching dance , the bolero , and the Spanish girl ' s black eyes would flash and her little feet twinkle curiously all through the staid New-England conversation , till , finally , when Mark Wilson , or young Dr . Heath , or Lewis Saunderland from over the hill ,