Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1896-12-13

DeeN thinking VI SlllSC AOuAN
Down at Denver l can get a pass for
salt Lake. My Denver friends don
know yet how disreputable l hFYe
grown" he added, bitterly.
oh, Mr.. Bowles, please don't talk
that way"
"One of these will keep me going un-.
til can get hold of pick in some Oh
the mines over there. I'm going 10 see
if can't shovel ore just as well as
can drink whiskey-I'ye made bloom
in success of that lately. Now, won 1
dispute about who puts these on my
bureau while l slept off my last spree.
But I've got a favor TO ask. Promise
me you'll grant it,"
4 will if 1 can, " very timidly, indeed,
she replied.
Il want you to keep these four gold
pieces Tor me until | come back for
lem" lie put them carefully into her
hand. This one I'm going to keep
not for a present-but for a grub stake.
II | sell my patent you get half the
proceeds. That will be my Christmas
present to you"
Her eyes filled again"
Tell me how I've made you feel bad
Kittie?"
If you won't take a present from
me how can you eXpect-me to-take
one-from you?"
He hung his head for a moment;
when he looked at her something burr
ed his sight.
There is a present I'm going to ask
from vou-when I'm worthy of it. VIII
you wait. Kittie, till | am"
But she couldn't answer for tears.
III.
In the spring things looked bluer
than ever around San Pablo. Silver
kept declining; mines kept shutting
down and business got very bad with
Kittie at the boarding house. Board
ers would come for a few weeks and
then skip cut without paying their bills.
She used to get discouraged sometimes,
but the hope of what might happen In
Salt Lake sustained her.
She got a letter from Norris in the
spring. inclosing a bank dra.t for sou.
1T was pretty fought getting start
ed" he wrote, but that twenty Kept
me in grub till | got to shoveling ore
ND at Mercur. Times are very hard
there and work irregular, but l Lave
saved fifty and sent it herewith. | Will
send more Just as soon as | can. Don't
work too hard and remember Morris.
Every night for a month, when hlttle
got to her room, no matter how tired
She was. she got out that letter and
read and reread it. She hated to part
with the draft. and it was a blessing
she didn't-for while she hung onto 1t
the bank where she kept her savings
failed and she lost every cent she had
in the world, except that $50. Poor
Kittie was in desperate state OF mind.
Hot weather was always the hardest on
her in the boarding house and what
with her work, the loss of her savings
and the suspense of waiting for news
from Salt Lake she grew so careworn
that Morris wouldn't have known her
1t was fall when she heard from him.
Oh, the days were so long and the heart
so sick waiting for that letter-but
when it came she forgot all about the
care. the worry and the dull pain in
her side-it was there all the time
now.
lie sent her draft for SO in that letter.
Il only got to steady work a month ago.
but 7 am foreman now in the bsg M1ercur
but l am foreman now in the big Mercur
mine. and l shall get along a good deal
since / got up here and l never felt so well
in my life"
She had a quiet little cry over the letter,
but when she wrote she never breathed
word about how poorly matters were go
ing with her: she was afraid it might dis
courage him-and he had had such hard
time. she said to herself.
The So went the same day that the $50
did. She was running behind on the
boarding house right along, and paint
tortured her all day now, and she never
slept more than half the night. When
she went to see the doctor he told her she
would have to quit work right away and
20 to the hospital. She asked him what
it was-he called it nervous prostration;
overwork is another name for it; hope de-
ferred, still another; but not so profess
sional.
From the sale of her furniture she got
little money. but she knew it wouldn't
pay hospital bills very long, and then she
worried about that-whether the money
would last until she heard from Morris
again.
"Ilittie."
1t was a December afternoon. Who
was whispering her name Waking out
of sweet sleep she feebly turned her
head.
"Kittie."
81 was dreaming" she murmered to her
self.
"KitHe."
a quick start; sharp cry-Morris was
bending over her. Hair a little grayer,
culver around the generous mouth; new
light in the big gray eyes, but-surely-
Morris.
"Oh. Mr.. Bowles."
There. she had said it in spite of her
self, and for weeks she had been practic-
ing to say. "Oh. Norris
He dropped on his knees and bent over
her
Thinner, whittier. sweeter than he had
ever seen her. lying there on the little
iron bed with a wild look in her eyes, as
he smiled over her.
NO; Morris. he whispered, and the
crimson flooded her cheeks as she closed
her eyes for pure joy.
"Why; why didn't YOU le- me know you
were sick?' ne asked ,reproachfully. II
I'd known you were here. Good Godr' his
face reflected the shock and the grief. I've
been on the rack. Eittie, for three months,
but. oh. Lord, Little girl it's come. It's
come at last"
Scarcely seeming to hear she was FUN
bling at her neck under the spread. sud
denly she took out METER purse, he knew
it.
There are your gold pieces Morris,
She said. family as she handed it to him.