80 The Illumination of Joseph Keeler, Esq. 



tent and will let you come back to what is not, at least for us, a 

 dreary country." 



Ernest, who had been silent during the conversation, could 

 no longer keep silent, and so started: 



"Jack, you old brick, it is just too jolly for you to stay and 

 take care of the farm for me when I am at college. Remember 

 Fan is always going to be my housekeeper here, and she can 

 only stay in town at Christmas for I am coming back here for 

 the holidays. Besides I want you to get busy and have the men 

 cut and clear an acre up in the pines there for I am going to have 

 a good cottage built there for her where she can start next spring 

 her own real garden, that, when the March winds blow, she will 

 be warm and cosy; and amidst 



" 'The murmuring pines and hemlocks,' 



be sheltered wherever the breezes blow. 



"You know I shall sure be back at Easter for the sugar-mak- 

 ing and Fan will put on long rubber boots and there'll be some- 

 thing of a tune, you bet." 



"All right, my deah bhoy," said Jack, with a wink at his 

 sister, "I shall immediately proceed to carry your lordship's 

 orders into effect. I shall clear the lot and build the sugar- 

 house; Fan may put on the long boots and carry sap, but I shall 

 be in at the sugar-off!" 



