nce a loving husband, a kind father, a
good neighbor, an honest man and respected. Tilling a small farm and
mingling with that more or less attention to his trade of a builder, he
earned a good livelihood. A reader of the best books and a thinker as
well, he was firm in his convictions, terse in his criticism, and yet
charitable toward all. His daughter inherited her father's keen
intellect and her mother's fair face and complexion, it is needless to
say, was the pride of his heart and loved by all.

Of Liddy herself, since she is the central figure in this narrative, a
more explicit description must be given. To begin with, she was at the
age of seventeen, a typical New England girl of ordinary
accomplishments, home loving and filial in disposition, with a nature as
sweet as the daisies that grew in the green meadows about her home, and
a mind as clear as the brook that rippled through them. Fond of pretty
things in the house, a daintily set table, tidy rooms, and loving
neatness and order, she was a good cook, a capable housekeeper and a
charming hostess as well. She loved the flowers that bloomed each summer
in the wide dooryard, and had enough romance to enjoy nature's moods at
all times. She cared but little for dress and abhorred loud or
conspicuous garments of any kind. While fond of music, she never had had
an opportunity to cultivate that taste, and her sole accomplishment in
that respect was to play upon the cottage organ that stood in her
parlor, and sing a few simple ballads or Sabbath-school hymns. She was
of medium height, with a charmingly rounded figure, and blessed with a
pair of blue eyes that could change from grave to gay, from mirth to
tenderness, as easily as clouds cross the sun. With the crowning glory
of her sunny hair, a sweet and sympathetic mouth, modest and unassuming
ways, tender heart and affectionate manner, she was an unusually
attractive girl.

Of her feelings toward the boy little need be said; and since he has now
reached eighteen and a moustache, he deserves and shall have an
introduction by his name of Mr. Charles Manson. He was tall, had honest
brown eyes, an earnest manner; was unsophisticated and believed all the
world like himself, good and true. He was of cheerful temper and
generous disposition; hated shams and small conceits, and--next to
Liddy--loved the fields, the woods, and the brooks that had been his
companions since boyhood. She had known him when, at the district
sc