The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-08-27

II "No. I'm not joking at all! II it 4
500. 600 have that much in such shap'
that could use it. and you could b,
my sole editor. Will you?''
mo. Mrs. Warmer. won't
would not be . wise investment. 1
pays well, and all that. but a news
paper is such ticklish property-st
easily destroycd-that it ought not t.
be owned by any one who doesn't rur
it. One months laundering w0ult
take fifty per cent of the value of tn
journal.
But you are not . blunderer. Lister
to me, Dick. l am not doing this fol-
you; would really like to own news
paper. There is something grand about
it. 1 would not buy it if you were moi
here te run it for me. But l know il
will pay me better than any investmen,
have now; and If I don't make al
much out of it as MIR. Cushman is max.
ing, l know, Dick, that you would keeT
it clean. wouldn't youp Will You helI
me try the experiment? We will see il
a daily newspaper can not pay without
publishing picked advertisements.
have heard you talk. Dick, and know
what you would do. There should be
no blackmail, no illiteracy, nothing that
would not be proud OF. Help me,
Dick!"
"Mrs. Warner, l would give ten years
of my life to have such chance.
would work for 81 day to do it, and
live on it. WASN'T getting much more
when l first knew you. But l can't do
it. am nothing toyou that you should
do SO much for me-"
mo one would know, Dick. Mr..
Jardin would buy it, and no one would
know whom he was acting for. And
surely no one would be jealous of an
old woman like me doing you a good
turn. Is there any one who might be
jealous, Dick?"
mo, indeed. But shouldn't feel
| right about it. don't see how could
do it. Unless-dO You like me very
much. Mrs. Warner? You have been
so kind to me, but then your heart is so
kig. DO you like me personality
.'Of course do. You know that"
linen. will you be my wife?'
Mrs. Warner blushed as she had not
blushed for years.
.sOh. Dickr'
'Will you?" and Headley took her
hand-nOt in lover-like fashion, but
very affcctionatcly.
allow could !, Dick? I'm old enough
to be your mother. People would call
me the Baroness Burdett-C outts; and
l wouldn't mind that, but they'd call
YOU Ashmead Burdett-Coutts, Bartlett
Burdett- COutts, or whatever it is"
You're only seven years older than
"But am widow. You wouldn't
feel comfortable, Dick-yoLr friends
would chaff you.
81 don't think they would: men don't
chatf me very much. l don't pretend
to be in any Romeo condition. but am
very, very fond of you. don't say that
if you had no money l would ask YOU
to marry ME, for am not in position
to marry any woman: l may be looking
for work a week from now. But if my
position on the Journal were an assured
one, l don't know any woman in the
world whom I'd rather make my wife.
You see feel good deal older than l
am, and can't bear the society girls;
the bread and butter kind bore me to
death, and the others l remember my
mother too well to marry"
"Oh, Dick! Dick! don't know what
to say. love you as well as love any
thing in the world. But it must be only
mother love after all. I'm such an old
woman, Dick. such a very old woman.
I'll marry you on three conditiOns-that
you take the editorship of the Journal;
that we are to be engaged for a year;
and that no one is to know any thing
about it till a month before we are mar
ried. know we shall be laughed at,
Dick. but l shall be as proud of you as
proud can be. and perhaps We shall be
happy. No. don't kiss me, Dick; there
must be none of that nonsense between
us, dear Dick.
Il will make you happy if it is in me
to do it, and know l can make the
Journal such a paper as You would like
to own"
Ten months later the Warner palace
was again the scene of unlimited fcs-
tivity, and Richard Headley and Mrs.
Warner again sat on tctc-a-tctc sofa
under the great red camelia.
well, Dick" said Mrs. Warner,
''and how is every thing down town to-
day?'
'.Very much as usual. have finally
committed myself to the irrigation
scheme. 1t is such big money for us
that was q little afraid of being preju-
diced. But on the whole think it is
right. But there's another scheme
which We must talk about before the
end of the month, and that is our mar
rage"
ut isn't the end of the month for a
long while yet, Dick, and You must 60
and dance with Nellie, now. Isn't she
a dear girl, Dick? She grows more
and more like my poor little sister
every day. You must be very nice to
her, Dick. 1t has been dull work for
her at the Sacre Occur; l want her to
brighten up now that We have got
her"
Dick obeyed like dutiful fiance. and
more than one of the guests remarked
how fine 4 couple he and the tall and
slender Nellie Keane made. Dur
ing the next night he tried to talk several
times with Mrs. Warner about the an
nouncemcnt of their coming marriage,
but she put him off with the merry dec
laration that she was too young and too
pretty woman to tie herself down day
before the necessary time.
a think, at any rate" said Dick one
night, THAT you ought to tell Nine. Lu-
que and Nellie, they ought to know a
II q.