The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-10-04
STORY OF THE LOVE OF A MAN FOR TWO YOUNG WOMEN

The words kept saying themselves
over and over to her, and she put her
hands up TO her ears as IL to shut out
a sound. How often John had laughed
at her for reading Browning. She
wished she had never seen those lines.
The rain fell in torrents as the night
wore on. Kath vaguely remembered
hearing some talk at the supper table
about the danger from the great dam
Just above the village. But she forgot
it in thinking of nearer troubles. One
OF her brothers had biurted out some
thing about John Hoyt being solid
with Miss Vane." and her mother had
looked at her with pity in her eyes.
She knew that John called at the great
white house. while he seldom came now
10 her study. She tried to face the life
that lay before her, life without John
Hoyt- She would give him up. She
loved him too well 10 stand ia his light
He must marry Miss Vane and enjoy
the life Of luxury which he craved.
For herself it did not much matter.
She would go on teaching and sitting
alone in the evening and try to hide
the wound in her heart. Perhaps it
would not be long before she would find
rest under the grass. Nature is kind.
She opened her desk and wrote note
Then she took from her finger the plain
gold band that John had given her. 1t
was to have served the double purpose
of wedding and an engagement ring.
BY and by, John had said. as he put it
on her finger-when he could afford it
he would give her solitaire. How long
ago that seemed, She put the ring in
an envelope with the note and sealed it.
AS she addressed the envelope she felt
that she had suddenly grown OLD. and
she put her hand against her heart as
if TO stop its aching.
Mechanically she began to sort the
letters in her desk. taking out the few
notes which John had sent her OF late
and the letters written from college.
She would not torture herself by read
ing them over. She would tie them up
and send them TO him with the ring
AT that moment she heard a sound
which made her drop the letters and
rush to the door. There was a tumult
in the street. and her father and broth
ers came rushing down the stairs, call
ing to one another that the great dam
had burst. Men who rushed past the
house called out that the lower end of
the town was under water already and
there would be rescue work to do.
Kath's first thought was for John.
down at the warehouse. Her father
and brothers ran down 10 the river, and
Kath knew that they had gone to get
their boat. A sudden resolve formed
itself in her mind. She caught up her
skirts and, bareheaded, rushed down
the hill to the river. The painter of
her own little boat was fastened
to a tall fir tree. Already the water
had risen three feet on the trunk
of the tree. Kath waded into the icy
water and CROPPED for the rope She
stepped into the boat and a moment
later she was rowing with all her
might She headed the boat across the
fields. for it was the shortest way Be
sides. she would not be obliged TO battle
with the strong current of the river all
the way Now and again the keel
scraped the top of a fence or she had
to avoid the lower branches of a tree.
But she went carefully, so she was not
in much danger of capsiZing. When
she turned into the river it was more
difficult. and she put UP more than one
prayer for strength to carry help to
John.
John was still sleeping, and he was
partially aroused by Kath's voice call