They are
certificates of the marriage of Arthur with Gretchen, and of Jerrie's
birth. I hope you don't mind if we read them,' he answered, briskly.
'Not at all--not in the least. Arthur and Gretchen! I thought so. Where
is Tom? He must hear the papers.'
He found his son under the true where he had been sitting the morning
when Jerrie came near fainting there, and in his hand was a curious bit
of pine finished like a grave-stone--the same he had whittled under the
pines, and on which he was now carving, 'Euchred, August --, 18--.'
'This is the monument to our downfall,' he said, as his father came up
to him with something so pitiful in his face and voice that Frank gave
way suddenly, and, sitting down beside him, laid his hand upon his tall
son's head and cried for a moment like a child, while Tom's chin
quivered, and he was mortally afraid there was something like tears in
his own eyes, and he meant to be so brave and not show that he was hurt.
'I am sorry for you, my boy,' Frank said at last, 'but glad for
Jerrie--so glad--and she will not be hard on us.'
'I shall ask no favors of her. I can stand it if you can, though money
is a good thing to have.'
And then, without in the least knowing why, he thought of Ann Eliza, and
wondered how her ankle was getting along, and if he ought not to have
called upon her again.
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