The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1893-06-16

morse Of conscience when I saw Susie
and Tom together and noticed her alb
solutc faith in him. l saw then that
Toms diversion. as he called IL. would
have lasting results 10 far as Susie was
concerned. She loved Tom. That night
| cautioned Tom of the seriousness OF
his position and advised him 10 give
il mp.
II thought il was very funny, like
you." said 10 him. but with Susie 1t
is frightfully real You'd better stop.
Tom"
"Pshaw.- laughed Tom; ''you are
foolish; she will soon forget when am
gone. Women are auick to forget
anyway, you suggested the joke, and
since have begun it Am going to car
ry it through"
told him il would bc sad thing 70
break a girls heart just for idle paa-
time, and painted a very graphic pic
ture Of Susie all alone. weeping her
very eyes out for him. His face grew .
shade more serious.
1T would be bad mean, wicked to
really break her heart" he said.
Susie is good little girl She's not
like the rest of them up hrre-she's
different II ! thought she really cared
would leave here tomorrow. But l
will wait and hope that she will get
over it all right
| A day or so later he repeated to me .
conversation he had had with Susie.
She told him that her friends feared
that he was only fooling her and did
not intend to marry her At all. Il
don't think that at ALL" she said. II
never doubted you. Tom. But wanted
TO ask you since we've set day for our
wedding and all has been fixed. that
you buy the marriage license so can
tell them and they won't doubt you
any more"
..Like fool to humor her bought
the license. There can't be any harm,
can there?" Tom went on. People
are not obliged to use licenses. when
they buy them. are they?'
The joke had indeed grown serious.
Tom had not only appointed day for
the wedding, but had purchased the
license. and we had not yet been in the
mountains five weeks. And the worst
Of it was that the wedding was to oc-
cur on the following Wednesday even
ing at seven o'clock. 1t took but little
argument from me to convince Tom
that he would have to leave the noun
tains before that time. 'Of course, we IL
slip out quietly on that very day. Susie
will soon forget"
Toms wedding day came around re-
lnarkably quick. it appeared to me. l
made all the arrangements with Hank
Hester for our baggage to be carried to
the station late that afternoon and eau
toned him to say nothing OF our in
tended departure. Tom went over to
see Susie the last time, while l was
} packing the trunks.
phil" said he, coming in just at
. twilight, Its tougher than had any
idea it could be. Susie is thinking OF
l nothing else but the--to-night- She
E has all her things ready and would put
on her dress for me to see. II gave me
the cold chills kissed the little CIR
: and left with something like tear il
4 INV eve. Poor little thing she didn
e think it was the last kiss"
e Darkness settled over the mountain
n and the vicinity Of Hauuts Bend wa
n wrapped in . dreamy stiffness. Gu
A train passed the station at q quarter be
S fore eight o'clock. Hester had gon'
e ahead with our trunks and we followed
4 on foot. We walked very rapidly alonl
the mountain road, talking rs we wen
. Of the novel experiences OF our fiv'
n weeks stay in the mountains.
e just off the road bit was the hom'
! of Susie Ricketts,. Its dim outline wa
| al. ko a
G from its two windows CLEANED cheerful
/. lights. A pathetic silence born OF soil
!, tude and night brooded about the littl
d mountain homo. The lights shon
: brighter than usual tonight Ton
Il stopped and gazed mutely through tn
y shadowy trees. Hiseyes were fixed upol
/, the lights and / could see that his fac
& had grown very serious There was tina
y rcgrctfiL look upon his face that re
Y mebcred having seen when boy whe
: sorry for somcthing he had done.
r While he looked a shadow that
fanced must have been Susie's crosse
s. the light. The figure stood an instan
4 at the window silhouetted against tn
st brilliance behind, anxiously watchin
n for Tom, l fancied. and then disai
" pcared. !,
Ii "po YOU sec that" asked Tom. hush
re ilv. do YOU see that? That was Susie
r and she is wondering why l am lat
It's just past seven now. Poor girl,
he am very sorry did it. Icould kill M
c. self for it."
al lie stopped an instant and then wer
ld on:
n 1T was cowardly and mean. 1t wa
IL contemplate. She never once doubte
!, me. and went on dcceiving her like
O. villain. Phil. never did anything ha
re- 50 mean in all my life before"
n His voice had grown tremulous- \
pressed his hand to his forehead as IL
"a. ease pain. 1t was growing late.
be "Tom." I said, Its bad enough,
= know. but let's not stand here holdir
~ funeral exercises or we'll miss OF
train. Come along"
no Just as spoke the shadow-it WI
10 Susie's--again appeared at the vii
in dow. She was lcaning out listenir
=, for his footsteps She had new
y, dreamed the truth and was waiting 4