The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1900-04-12

l Will Scuu JONI Out 10 mdhe III
quiries."
ooh, no, no." protested Miss Nelson.
Il shall nave to give up trying to find
my friends, / think. 1t is evidently a
mistake. 1t is sometimes hard to To-
cate ones friends in a city like this"
1T is, indeed, / suppose. Unfor-
tunately, I have no friends here"
MOP"
mo; l have recently come here. l
have always lived in a little town,
but l thought l would like to see what
life in the city was like"
yes"
II nave built this house. Won't you
step in a moment and look at it? l
take great pleasure out of it. The post
man kindly stepped in the other day
and looked at it. and he admired 1t
much"
Miss Nelson hesitated between pru-
dence n a%miability, and then, cast
ing selfish caution to the winds, she
went in. A prim, expensive, exqnis-
itely neat, and altogether unhomelike
interior met her view.
II had to do it quite alone" ex-
planned Mr.. Rumford. II dare say a
lady can discover many deficiencies in
it, and l should be glad of sugges-
tons"
You must find it pleasant living on
the boulevard" said Miss Nelson.
ooh, very, very! So many people
go by. | would like to ask some of
them in, at times, but they might think
it strange. I'm much obliged to you
for coming in. 1t has made a very
agreeable break in the day. I'm a lit
tie solitary, you know. If it were not
for John | should be quite dull"
Miss Nelson was moved to shake
hands in saying farewell, and the hand
that took hers was unexpectedly hard
with ancient callouses. She could not
make the man out. He was more Of a
mystery than ever.
She, got in the way, after this, OF
adding some little word over the
phone, after the daily test of the wires,
and finally she. confessed that it was
she who lac called. Mr.. George
Whitman Rumford was greatly pleased
at this. He laughed and chatted about
it till Miss Nelson was obliged to ring
off. He wanted to send her a little
gift, but she ~refused-very gently-to
receive it. He asked to take her to
church Sunday evening, but she felt 1t
to be best to refuse that courtesy, too.
! He inquired whether he might not call
! for her and escort her home. But she
did not accord him the permission. HI
! took these rebuffs sadly. One morn
ing there was no response when she
rang the bell, and after many trials
she made out that John was making
futile attempts to be heard. 1t was
John who mumbled over the wires fol
four successive mornings.
Miss Nelson grew anxious, and called
personally at the house. John came tt
the door, weeping.
"Mistah Rumfo'd he pass way dii
moh'nin', ma'am. He ask me oval
and ovah las night, did you tes' thu
wiahs yet. He mighty fon' OBJ answer
ing the phone, Mistah Rumfo'd."
Ida Nelson suffered a pang such a
she had never felt before. 1t was re
morse.
She went into the room where tn,
undertaken and his assistants were
having just finished their sorry task
and she looked with penitence at tn
white face of the loneliest man she ha'
ever known.
Il ought to have had less prophet,
and more humanity" she said to her
self.
1t was Miss Nelson, John, two o
three Of the ~neighbors, and Mr.. Rum
ford's man of business who follows
the black coffin to the place of tn
dead.
And the next week Miss Nelson ha
all the mystery solved. The man @
business brought her a manuscript. !
was written for her by the dead mar
: and it contained a simple story of
= man whose money had brought hir
only isolation. With the manuscript
= was a gift.
. when you receive this the dono
n had written, Il shall be where 20
n cannot return it to me-"
It "My contemplate. selfish propriety!
sobbed Ida Nelson. my coward
discretion! It's the biggest chance
t, ever had for giving happiness. and
missed it. l let it CO."
re She was glad when her circuit wa
lie changed, so that she would have n
= C.-