The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1895-09-28

had told him that he must take a
rest, and he was 10Y in pursuit Of the
recommended relaxation.
Ellinger was conscientious. That
means, in this case, that he really did
the things he appeared to do; he did
not lie to himself.
He did not control his actions with
arguments based on sophistry, per-
suading himself that he was doing
that which he was not doing. He vas
honestly taking the prescription as
given by his friend, the physician.
The combination of which all hui
mainly are parts, had made his des-
tination. for a week or SO at least, the
town of P~arkersburg, which was the
home Of Miss 1phegenia Spencer, the
young lady whose smile young Filing
er was now admiring.
He might be said to be staring at
her; but when she turned her head, as
if to look in his direction, he jerked
his gaze away and looked violently out
of the window. She might have seen
his bushes if she had looked closely
at him. She would have been very in
dignant if she had known that he was
watching her; the smiles were not for
him; and she would have resented his
impudence at appropriating them.
He wondered where she was going.
He wondered many things concerning
her, some of which he solved to his
own satisfaction.
She was a wonderfully bright girl,
that was plain enough. Fascinating,
cultured. charming, and so to the end
of the chapter of what the best young
womanhood should be.
He was greatly interested in the lit
tie figure nearly opposite him. And
he noticed that she was getting ready
to leave the train at Parkersburg,
which eliminated in a rushing of
blood to the head when he followed
her out Of the car to the platform Of
the depot-a hulking slave meekly fol-
lowing a mite of a queen-and heard
the jolly voice of a middle-aged man
saying to the dainty object of his adj
miration:
Hello, If, back again like a bad
penny"
And when the big man picked her up
and kissed her before the whole
crowd, Ellinger felt that he must
hurry away lest his feelings should
overcome him.
III.
Parkersburg is not much of a town.
Not to locate it too closely, it is in the
West. Specifying a little more ex-
actly, it is in the prairie country. And
when you know that it is on a river
hundreds Of miles long, a few feet
wide and only a few inches deep, you
may imagine that you know the coun-
try wherein it fiourishes.
Ellinger had some letters of intro
duction to some good people there, to
the Parkersburg doctor principally;
and he made haste, the next morning
after his arrival, to present his Gre
dcntials to that worthy citizen. who
received him cordially-because of the
letter, because he was a student OF
medicine, and because of the genial
nature of the good doctor himself.
The doctor is worthy of description;
but he does not belong In this story.
He shall be presented some time-but
not now.
Who was the young lady on the
train? This vas the question Ash
leigh Ellinger had set himself to solve
"a simple matter, one. would think.
He. had only to ask for. the informa-
ton to receive it; but a man Is q
curious mixture, and he could lot
bring himself to ask. and so suffered q
|. whole day by his neglect to do as all
| COMMONPLACE and commOn-sense pe0-
! pie seeking information should do.
l. The next day, however, he was lift
| ed from the mundane ball wherein he
| trod by meeting the young lady face
to face and being presented to her In
| due form, when he anne down and
| felt himself once more firmly on terra
| frma, and found himself in the very
presence of a young lady who did not
even notice his embarrassment. nor
his red cheeks.
They talked on Indifferent topics;
the young .ady's journey, how glad
| she was to get home again and after
a few minutes Of this small conversa-
| ton they fell apart again; and the
world, to Ashleigh Ellinger, was as
| black and sunless as ever the mind OF
poet had imagined.
But the gates of speech were open
60, ana ne Qdu Ill cACuSC W E4AA
| about her. To ask Indifferent ques-
| lions, with his whole arterial sys-
TEN neutrality-suspicious. a yawn Of in
difference, though he knew that he
| risked his heart flying out of his
open mouth. The answers proclaimed
| her name, her quality, mode Of life
and tshe usual details Of information
| which one gets from one young lady
about another.
Though eager for the Information,
| how. he hated this fippancy of, ex-
| preston to which he was compelled
to, listen. in order that he might re-
| ceive. the. news for which his heart
yearned. AS If the priests should
stand before the temple Of Diana. and
! speak Familiarity of her to those wor-
shippers standing .near!s AS If one
| should picture Burns Mary with her
hair frowzy-or digging potatoes, man.
like, for. supper. And yet Mary must
have had moments Of tumbled locks;
and. no doubt, moments, too, Of pota-
to-digging. But at the end Of 1t all,
after the facts had been gathered
from the rude lips of the unenchanted
neighbor, the mind Of Ashliegh reset
them in a frame. colored and gilded
with those ideas of divinity which his
mind possessed.
ITO BE coNTNuED) :
" 1ue" 81