Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1886-03-06

at is late when the letters come
round" meditated George, looking
down the quiet street, whilethe church
bells rang for service, "and | shall be
watching and waiting and fdgeting
unreasonably. Yesterday George was
to see him, he said in Lena's letter,
and so to-day we might hear, ard
there might be-there just might be-
a message from him to-us; but |
ought not to be expecting it., so | will
go. Little one" she said, aloud, turn
ing suddenly from the window, II am
going to church. What saints day is
it?"
"All-Saints'," replied Lena, smll-
ing.
Yes, SO it is; the very day we were
10 have made our fitting. Why, yes.
terday was Hallowe'en, and we never
threw any apple-peel over our shout
ders; how careless of us!'
THAT hardly accords with your idea
of going to church to-day" said Lena,
laughing in spite of herself.
II don't know why not" replied
George, demurely, when one does
not pretend to be going to be a clergy
mans wife,
II will come with YOU"
mo, pet, you will not. You will be
wondering the whole time whether
there is a letter from anybody awaiting
you here; and, as my drawing-master
used to say, when l sketched highly
imaginative scenes on the margins of
my copies, "A divided attention is no
attention at ALL"
"No, / will not wonder anything
about letters. l am not quite SO silly
as that, Georgia"
"Not quite. pet" said Georgia, bend
ing lovingly to kiss her; ''but l have a
real reason, which you must respect
for my sake, now George is away.
That church, on a weekday, is a per-
feet labyrinth Of draughts Of the most
penetrating kind, and l cannot risk
them for you on a November day.
never can think argued George,
pensively, "why draughts should be so
plentiful in a church on weekdays. l
hope you will be able to explain it to
me when you arc yourself connected
with one."
If the draughts are bad for me,
they must be bad for you, too,
Georgia." pleaded Lena.
81 should like to feel the draught
that would injure me. 1 mean, OF
course, the aerial draught. Goodbye,
pet"
George ran down stairs and out into
the street, pushing back, as it were,
the one engrossing thought. and peril
%naciously fixing her eyes on q distant
object a she passed the p~ostofiice.
There we're plenty Of %draughts, Ger
tainly, and not at all a warm corgre-
CATION. but the service was very sweet
and soothing to the anxious girl. and
she tried to bring away with her-that
they might ill her heart-all the full
assurances that had been given her OF
an everlasting love that could not fail
nor change. Yet for all TINS she could
no' p-eveat her heart beating as she
mounted the stairs. Should she Geo the
letter on the table, or would Lena be
re&1lAA1 VT vo-,d i. sey? What
a funny thing that speculation about
letters is where we hesitate and guess
and wonder. when we could set al
doubts at rest in II moment, if we
chose.
George stood with the handle of the
door in her hand till she was literally
ashamed of herself. Then she opened
it with an unnatural expression of un'
concern. No letter on the table; nc
letter in Lena's hand; no Lena there a,
all! The room all bare and empty, and
dull and cherries, George thought, as
she turned shivering away. and de
scended the stairs again. Miss Purke
was crossing the hall.
lis my sister out, de you know. Miss
| Purkep" she asked, the thought jus,
seeming to strike her.
"Yes, miss, she went out with Mr.