Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-07-02

u, s,urv Her home was on thrift
Her father was a hale, cEeery'
IA man Her mother was comfortaoh
and pIump and hospitable. They mad'
him stay to supper de thought lnes
had nectar and ambrosia. WHAT tnes
really had was coffee. ham ana plScuil'
and red raspberries submerged IN 1er-
CO., cream. There was such cheerfut
homelike atmosphere about the whoh
nlace that it made Dave homesick Ine'
made him promise to come again ana o.
did But in a month or so he said
himself that he must stop golrg there
Il made nina take less interest IN yer.
onica's letters. and that would not co
He was bound to De faithful to the gin
who was waiting at the hearthstone
but he wished she was waiting at
hearthstone like the Stariings, and that
she had a voice and little home waV
and some nice cooking aprons Ike
Georgia's. Georgia could make chicken
salad and corn bread and angel cake.
She was kind to old people and 20 dogs
and cats. She sewed things, too. and
it was a new experience Tor Dave 10
see girls sew. She was as new and alb
sorbing as the wilderness itself
ope day an event happened. Dave
received a letter from his grand-aunt
telling him TO came back and take
charge of the estate. 1t would be hls
some day. She was going TO set hi
second cousin ahoat upon the waves
of impecuniosity from which she had
taken him. He was not patterned to suit
her fancy. Jessie wrote about It, ana
Veronica wrote about 1t, rejoicing ana
triumphing. Veronica said she was stii!
waiting at the hearthstone. Dave pom
dered long and deeply Then he wroe
three letters. The first was to his grand
aunt. saying that he loved the wilder
ness to well to leave ii, 10 let the poor
second cousin still find a refuge from
the waves. He was grateful 20 ner, ous
happy in the wilderness. The secoho
letter was to Veronica. lie told her
he could never be happy in the CITY
again, and neither could she If she knew
the wilderness as he knew 1t. He would
come I'D for her, If she would marry
him and come and dwell in his Arcadia
He whistled theoretically While NJ
wrote It, to keep from thinking OF Geor'
gia The third letter was 10 Jessie, but
that one. he scrambled over hastily, and
then galloped off on his swift horse
to mail the three.
And sighted but amiable little Jessie
was the first one to respond-nay, the
only one to respond. She told him the
news about the others. Grand-aunt was
huffy, she said, and had sent for wild
ow niece with three boys and two par
rots to attend to the estate. And, (Jes-
sic said she hated to write this) since
Veronica had received his letter, and as
soon as she heard about the widowed
niece, and was at this minute wearing
the engagement ring of a rich elderly
hardware man named Schmidtmeyer.
Jessie felt like crying, tshe contin,
ued) when she thought Of Dave waiting
so patiently for a girl who would jill
him in that mean way, but she thought
she would better tell him just how II
was, and be done with it.
The laugh that Dave broke into whei
he reached the end of Jessie's letter did
not sound like that of broken-hearted
man. But he did not wish to be rash
He wrote to Jessie for further confir
nation of her news 1t came promptly
Veroncia's engagement had been an
nounced.
1t was moonrise in the wilderness
and the owls were hooting in sombra
shadows 1t seemed lonesome ride to
start forth upon; but Dave was settini
out to seek his fate-at the Starlin,
farm, and some intuition told him thai
there was girl there who was waiting
for him at the hearthstone, in deed and
in truth -.----
And that was so.