The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1885-08-07

| Vopc tudt WAS 10 save uor from uFOWn-
ing. BY supreme effort Of will she
had recovered from the shock the men,
ton OF that name had given her. and
now her brain was reeling with doubt.
uncertainty and longing. What ought
she to do? Should she reply and tell
who she really was, or notp 1t was
evident that there was something
wrong with the wires and that Mr..
Dean imagined himself to be talking to
his aunt. What claim had the "little
Miss Myers" upon him now, after all
these years? Very likely he was hap
PLY maSried and-thereiore was it not
Miss Myers plain and simple duty to
say that she was not Aunt Jane" and
20 back 10 her WORK?
But one sentence respecting q clue
he was following up held her fast.
Could it be herself he was looking forp
not open her lips and declare that she
was here in New York waiting for him
to come to herr Yet what II she should
be wrong and the ''cIue" should turn
out to refer to something else, u mat
ter of business? At this instant a Pc
culiar clicking in the instrument
warned her that the wire might be
switched off any moment and her OPP
portunity be lost.
Harry" she called out softly.
1t was the name he had asked her to
give him twenty years ago, and it now
came to her lips and passed from them
into the instrument almost before she
realized 1t was spoken.
Agnes! Is 1t youp Where are your
Street and number instantly before the
onnectiOns-"
She heard no more, but gasp called
out the Runkels' address, then hung
up the ear piece and dropped into her
Yet even now the instinct to work was
strong within her, and not many min.
utes had elapsed before her feet were
again on the treadle, and the whirr Of
the machine once more filled the room.
Now, however, its accompanying
rhymth in her brain was not all in the
past tense. for, "Did he hear mep Will
he Gomez" kept up its ceaseless throb
till it seemed as II the words must be
stitched to every seam of the shirt she
was hemming.
But as time went by the little dress.
maker tried to prepare her heart for
disappointment.
II may have dreamed it all while
listening to the playing of March
Through Georgia. SO many blocks
away" she said to herself. "lt's
twenty years since we parted. and he
was twenty then and 1 sixteen. Alb
sonce, they say, is the tomb of love,
and though of course with mo"
Here Miss Myers sprang up with the
second little scream she had given that
morning.
This time. however. it was not the
telephone, but the front door bell that
had started her.
II must open it myself-there's no.
body else," and she hurried out to the
stairs. II dare say it's only the millin-
er's boy with Miss Helen's bonnet.
But was 1t for the sake of the millin-
er's boy that little Miss Myers paused
TO give her hair smoothing before tho
hat-rack mirror in the hallp And
surely no milliner's boy was ever SO re-
ceived on his business rounds as this
one, when the door was opened and
| closed-nobody remembered how or by
| whom-on tableau that would have
delighted the soul of gossipy Miss
Rickett over the way could she but
have seen it.
Yes. it was Harry" twenty years
| older, to be sure, but handsomer, il
possible. than ever, with not a gray
hair In his head nor wrinkle on his
face, and with such passion of love
in his deep blue eyes that little Miss
Myers was fain to hide her own from
the dazzle of it and nestle close in
those strong. protecting arms.
"And have you really been looking
for me ever SINGER" asks Agnes pres
| emily.
"Yes, ever since came back from
Europe ten years ago." is the reply.
II was sent there by the doctors to re-
cover from the effects of wound, and
wrote you nearly q dozen letters
then. know, though, 1t was because
you never received them that they
| were not answered. But when ! came
back and found all traces Of you lost,
| l sometimes thought you had hidden
yourself purposely because. because 7
had done my duty to my country.
Yet never abandoned the resolve to
| find you and have the truth from your
own lips and now, thanks to the gale,
have done so, and learned how bless
| eddy was mistaken"
"The galep" repeats Agnes. ques-
tioningly, and then he goes on to ex-
plain how the wind had entangled the
telephone wires, and that 1t was by the
merest chance they had been enabled
to speak to one another.
"Am have interrupted your trip"
says Agnes few moments later, look
ing up with smile.
''Not for long" responds he, adding
land when 1t is resumed it must be q
wedding Journey"
OF course there was great excitement
when the family returned and heard of
the romantic happenings during their
| absence.
Mrs Runkel was most hearty in her
congratulations. and Belle Immediate
~ christened that May windstorm ''the
lovers gale"
L I'm cTnsls Tynva