The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1903-01-08


face, the sound of u familiar voice.
Sometimes she caught herself woluler-
Ing What was going on iii Franks
store. whether he had saved the piece
OF red henrietta. cloth for Mrs. Nor
fSol, who cama to town only once 4
month. She was almost tempted 10
write and remind him OF it. but she did
not
/ Jennie and the demonstration drifted
! apart The latter during her brief so
! Joufns in town Was busy laying in
fresh supplies Of clothes. Fine raiment
palled upon Jennie, and when the volu-
Die demonstration took her departure
/ Jennie turned to her maMaznes. ma
pers and home letters with a feeling
+. of yalief
i IheA ealpe her promotion at the
store and With it a friendship worth
haa%-.a friendship which represents
OF i#Seae ifaa tle 3es@b5iga OF n lilll
beiQQn ale the horfuts ol cheap
oo.fa3li@ house fare. Eoi' the trio Of
girls took furnished rooms and cooked
those things Which were a Least whole
selne and OF GOOD gualitg i not elabo-
/ fate.A prepared. Her sslleSp00ll each
/ Cay showed q steady advance Placed
i now n regular department. she had
/ ilei' regular customers. Dim visions of
/ being head of Il department doomed up
i before her, and Yet
They had been TO a Fashionable thea
/ ter. ihey had worn their very best
! these three busy women, and had treat
ed themselves to seats i'll the front row
OF the balcony. Between the acts from
This point OF Vantage Jennie had leaned
over 10 watch the gay assenblage.
/ When she reached her room. she
turned the gas on full head. ana. fitting
] her mirror. she studied her face. 1t
/ Was not an unpleasant task Indeed
the foorwaker in her department had
remarked to one of his friends that the
! little country girl was "devilish pretty,
by .jove She shuddered as she re-
called his words and his foppish APP
pe:ltlnce even TO the plated fob which
swung from his silk embroidered vest.
! Then, strangely enough, her thoughts
strong, resoiute face. his square deter
mined shoulders. his keen blue eyes,
which could be wonderfully friendly
without Il CLEAN OF inpertinence III
their clear depths. She brushed her hair
vigorously rs she Derated herself thus:
Jennie Holmes, You're Il goose You
thought that when you came to town
you'd actually be II part OF the life of
this great, bustling clty--a part of the
gay World you saw at the theater to-
night And pretty figure you cut,
working i'll a store With hundreds of
other girls at $40 week You're get
ting pale and ugly, too, and l have a
good mind to send you back home to
Grafton"
Then she thought of Thanksgiving
day, only two weeks off, and her aunt's
little front room with the organ, never
opened now, and-the store Oh, dear,
the ribbon boxes must be in a shocking
mess by this time! And she cried her
self to sleep.
The next morning she was late at the
store for the first time. The girls left
her writing. 1t was meek little let
ter telling Frank that she did not like
her work and asking very prettily for
her old position if the opening. could be
made.
The reply came by Wire:
Position open. Will expect you Monday.
The trio in the furnished rooms re-
solved itself into Il duet. The other
girls were sorry to lose their bright
faced companion and secretly enyied
her the Deatiiic expression with which
she made her preparations for depal-
tufe. They received one postal card an
nouncing her safe arrival at Grafton.
Then ensGed II long silence.
Il guess She found the store i'll as
bad shape as she anticipated ! can
just picture hei' Strengthening up ribbon
boxes and sorting Trimmings laughed
and went back to such realities as bar
gain hunters and cash
i And the next day came tie letter:
4 did not take my old position but /
think l will like the new one Just as
( well, perhaps even better Frank and I
will be married Christmas day. Can't
J gu SoiiS up! II VIII be IL very quiet al
far, but I'd love to have you. If you
can't come, of course I'll send you some
of the cake Give my love to the girls |
liked You know which ones l mean
am too busy to write more now, but
come ii you can. JENNIE.
The two girls looked al each other
and pushed back their untasted lunch.
Said one:
eve might have known it, She
never was meant for business life
Come on. We've just fifteen minutes
left but we can get q set of that hem
stitched table linen wonder which
express company goes to Grafton
The other girl stopped to kiss pho
tog"aph ON the mantel.