Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1900-08-25
XXI.

Mamma, mamma, wake up! John
is here. | hear his v~oice!"
Mrs. Hall awoke with a start to find
Aodie standing by her bedside, shak.
ing her and making that preposterous
statement in a suppressed but excited
voice.
Nonsense, child. You've got a
nightmare. Go back to bed and lie
straight on your right side"
mo, no. He is outside there this
minute paying a hackman."
"What?"
The old lady scrambled out of bed
with undignified haste, reached the
window in two strides, peered out at
the edge of the blind and gave vent
to her establishment i'm the exclama.
ton:
For the lands sake!"
John was unquestionably there and
engaged as Addie had said. The girls
quick ears had caught the sound OF
the hating of the carriage before the
door, followed Immediately by the
voice that more readily than any
other commanded her recognition,
and, upon the impulse of the moment,
leaping from her bed she had crossed
the little room at a bound to her
mothers side with that startling an
nouncement.
What on earth brings him here at
a time like this?" gasped Mrs. Hall.
"A hack, mamma" responded Addie,
with demure roguishness. She was
very angry with John, but strangely
happy at seeing him.
"Ilan't ha N fool A1Iia 20 no., mao
in love-"
81 amt"
They heard the hack rumbling away
and John opening the gate. Just as
he raised his hand to the small brass
knocker on the door Il window above
his head, almost within reach, was
lifted an inch OF two and he heard the
widow saying:
Wait; I'll be down in a minute"
And he had not much longer to
wait. A lady who is confessedly past
middle age can o occasion dress very
quickly TO receive n gentleman upon
whom h has no matrimonial de-
signs. She may even dispense with a
mirror in the process If her curiosity
is much excited. Mrs. Hall simply put
on a warm wrapper, threw a thick
shawl over her head and, with very
little more preparation, descended TO
the hall door. OF course Addie might
just as well have gone back to bed,
for she did not intend to see John or
permit him to see her. She had said
emphatically. Nevertheless she
dressed herself and in doing so took
care that she should look her
best. The mirror could not have been
spared from hat toilet.
II am quite aware, Mrs. Hall that
the hour is rather late for an evening
call and somewhat early for n morn
ing visit, but ! hope my errand will be
my excuse"
$50 should suppose, Mr.. Latham"
replied the widow, leading the way
into the little parlor and opening the
hampers of the stove, but | can tell
better when hear il. You certainly
have surprised me most nightly"
Il presume" said John in an inter
rogative tone when they were COM
fortably seated, "that you are in
formed of the sudden death of Mr..
Willmarth ?"
Yes. | saw it announced in the
""oPoPCi'
The man of whose treachery and
dishonesty you have cherished so keen
a remembrance these many years?"
She looked at him with surprise,
but replied simply:
Yes. l do not know how you found
t out, but he was the man."
With her hands crossed in her lap
md her eyes fixed on the reddening
MICA in the stove door, she went on,
speaking in a meditative way:
1T isn't what / had hoped for, and,
suppose, puts an end definitely to
he hopes l had entertained so long.
But 1T winds the affair up somehow,
nd that's some consolation. There's
iothing i despise more than being
lept in suspense for eighteen years.
md l can take some satisfaction from