Columbia courier. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1902-1905, 1904-03-11

Lave Tie green's Utell OIueleu'
Eyes, sir; they will he delivered to-
morrow"
"-And the church will be openT
"Yes, sir, 1 will open the side chancel
door at seven-thirty."
Good. And now will you be so
kind as to give me the names and ad-
dresses of Mr.. Pumpton, Mr.. Huddle,
Mr. Wringer and Mr.. Springer?
The sexton called them out from his
record book, and Van Story, armed
with the precious paper, hurried off to
the nearest hotel typewriter.
II want this dictated on plain pa
per-" he said to that imperturbable
young lady, and he gave the following
brief business note:
"Dear Sr-Owng to an unexpected
and important engagement Of the head
of the Trimming Committee l am re-
quested by Miss Pinkton to say that
the trimming of the church, which was
to have taken place tomorrow night,
is postponed. You will, therefore,
please not attend tomorrow night, but
come on the night following. Yours
truly, w. A. VAN STORY"
~ want that letter to be sent to each
Of these four addresses" he said, Eat
once" and as he hurried over to his
jeweler he exclaimed gleefully to him
self, AT last"
The next evening they walked over
to the CHURCH together.
ave must be early" she said, as she
sat down on the steps leading up to
the altar. The pulpit, tall and grim
and stately, lowered above her shapely
head almost like a benedction. Far
above them, the lights in the chande-
ller cleaned fitfully.
Surely, could there be better place
to love and be loved than in the sacred
sanctuary, set within the beating heart
of the sordid world and yet so far re-
moved from it? And as she looked I'D
at him, instinctively she felt that in
such place his words must ring true,
and that she might trust him. He
took her hand.
Dorothy" he said, II couldn't have
told you how much l loved you before.
I wanted your answer all to myself.
Somehow the sea of city life seemed to
shut out the sound of my voice.
longed for quiet country lane, or the
great silent ocean. But I could not
wait. And here at last we are safe"
He put his arm around her. do you
love meT he said.
Her head dropped silently down on
his shoulder. And then followed that
blissful moment, moment that stands
out in ones life forever after-the mo-
ment Of life when loves dream is re-
allied, and to these two it was as if
the chorus of unseen saints was chant
ing their happiness. Suddenly she rails
ed her head. There was a mischiev-
Gus twinkle in her eyes.
you have forgotten something"
she said.
mo, 1 haven't" he replied triumph
antly, misunderstanding her, II have it
here" He produced Il tiny object that
glittered in the dim light and sent out
tiny shafts of lambert fire. "Your
Christmas present." he said. "Two
days ahead, none but less real. /
didn't know what to give you, until /
thought of this"
He slipped it on her finger.
at is beautiful" she said at last,
beautiful"
There was moment of silence, in
terrupted by sound like the chirping
Of joyful birds. Then she spoke again.
when said you had forgotten
something" she said, the twinkle COM
ing back to her eyes, 81 wasn't think
ing of this" She held up the ring adj
miringly. II was thinking of the 9TH
ers-why, they may be here any min
ute"
Van Story caught her hand in his
once more.
NO" he said smilingly. you see,
dear, it was my only chance. just
had to do it. l sent word to all the
others-wrote them each n note. you
know, that this thing was postponed
until tomorrow night, on account Of
an important engagement. You didn't
mind, did you? 1t was the truth,
wasn't it? l wanted to be alone with
you. 1t was our only chance. Don't
you see it was?"
She dropped her hands by her side
suddenly. The color left her face and
then came back again.
You did thnt?" she said. Glow
could you? How dreadful. Oh, why
did you do It? What can l ever say
10 them? You wrote and tod them not
to come to-niiiht-did you do that?"
He caught her hands again in his.
Above. the stately old church bells in
thp SHIRE chauted ont the hour