Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1885-12-31

and babe her good by.
| Ida leaned back ana watched the
| slowly rcccding depot rather YEARLY.
She was not specially fond of travel.
ing --certainly not Of travelling alone.
She wished the day were dono with,
and she were at home.
She was not sure that she did not
/ wish she had never come. OF course,
she had had charming time. But
that had made the coming away all
the harder.
She had so hlted to leave it all! She
did not ask herself what, or whom
it was that she most regretted leav-
ing.
The conductors demand for her
ticket broke up these lugubrious rev.
cries. He gave it a glance and then
said, with solemnity betitting tho oc-
casion:
you're on the wrong road, miss
This ticket is for the B. L. & G..
Road"
Ida returned his half amused look
with gaze OF dismayed bewilder-
| ment.
"What shall doP" she said, faint
ly:
The conductor was young, and by
no mean proof against perfect face
and pleading gray eyes. He leaned
toward her alphabetically.
Your train" he said, won't leave
Crosby till 10:3) o'clock. You can
get off at the next station and take tho
10 O'Clock express back there in time
to get it. p"
He passed on with reassuring
nod.
How exactly like Uncle Harvey the
blunder had been! If she had been
alone, she would never had made the
mistake. She would have held fast to
the time table, and there would have
been no such dreadful balk, She felt
something of evaporation.
The conductor assisted her from the
car Mt the next station.
you've only half an hour to
wait he said, encouragingly.
Half an hOur-yes; but halt an hour
in a dreadful little station, with dusty
benches, splintery floor and grimy
windows, WAS not so amusing. go
Ida was the sole occupant of tho
,nmall room. She could hardly have
told afterward, how she passed the
time. ~.
She sat down in one OF the uncom-
Portable seats and counted tho boards
III the floor; she scratched her name
on the window with the small diamond
in her rng--a proceeding which. I'M
der any other circumstances. she
would have condemned as highly ill
bred; and she went out and paced up
and down the little platform.
A house Just visible down the road
reminded her family of Uncle Har-
vey's, and her thoughts roved back
over the past summer and naturally to
Arthur Clifford.
After all, she unused. he was rather
an odd person. Almost anybody else
would have made another attempt, in
spite of q first refusal She could
think of dozen girls who had mar,
ried the very persons they had at first
rejected.
Not that she should have accepted
Mr.. Clifford in any case; but it was
certainly queer--his never having
tired again. Perhaps he had not
wanted to. Yes, that was it. he had
not cared to. Probably he had been
glad, on second thoughts, that she had
refused him. Undoubtedly.
The passengers on the train which
stopped presently MOTEL u soft pen
siveness IN the pretty young lady who
entered.
A young husband whispered to his
wife that she must have suffered the
recent loss of near and dear relative;
but she responded that q brown dress,
hat in varying tints and saffron col
ored gloves, were hardly compatible
with that theory.
lda's depression remained a mys
terry.
Almost the first person she saw in
the bustling Crosby Depot was Unclo
Harvey, walking aimlessly up and
down He stared at her vaguely as
she placed her hand on his arm, with
a bewildered BLESS my soulr'
Ida explained the situation briefly,
and be t said to her cred t. with per-
feet good nature; but Uncle Harvey
was overcome with remorse.
What n blunder!" he calculated.
"Bless me! how could | have made
itPn
The idea fitted through his niece's
head that he was precisely the person
most likely to have made it, but she
merely smiled.
II musn' tmiss my train now, at any
rate" she said. alt must be very
nearly timo for TT
Eyes, yesr' rejoined Uncle Harvey.
Certainly I'll see about it right
away"
His near-sighted eyes, rowing about
the depot, caught sight of an old gen
tleman from breckenridge, a special
friend of his.
"Well, there's Chann'ng-haven't
seen him for a week. he calculated.
just wait till 1 speak to him a mo-
ment," and he darted off.
Ida waited five minutcs-ten. A
train moved slowly out. Could it have
been hersP Ida grew rather nervous.
She knit her brows, hesitated, and
and finally joined her uncle.
'Ah, your train, my dear" said
Uncle Harvey, briskly, as he perceiv-
ed her. I'm see about it,"
He started off with business like
air. but he came back slowly.
"It's goner' he announced, in a
dazed way. went just this min
ute, they say. don't see how it hap
pened-I never made such blunder
before"
Ida gasped, and stood staring at
her uncle in despairing helplessnes.-
Then, pulling herself together, She
turned to railroa s2Qlla-at standing
..ear, who said, glancing at her ticket,
in RESPONSE to her agitated inquiry,
that her next available train was due
at 1.
Two hours and half But there
was no help for it.
She should not feel safe, however,
till Uncle Harvey was well out OF the
way; she felt that he was quite capa-
BILE OF leading her into third blum.
der. She interrupted his food of
speculations as to how the mistake
could have occurred.
"You mustn't wait for me, YOU
know" she Said, with heroic sweet.
ness; "and you'd better take your train
now. SO rs to be sure of it. Its al
ready made up"
| She took his arm and fairly put him
aboard; she saw him select a seat in
! side aud open paper, and knew that