The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1904-03-11


"And the church will be Open?"
Eyes, 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.
IT want this dictated on plain pa
per-" he said to that imperturbable |
young lady, and he gave the following |
brief business note:
Dear Sir-Owing 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"
of these four addresses" he said. "at
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.
eve must be early" she said, as she
sat down on the steps leading up to
%ho oIf fon ~
and stately, lowered above her shapely
head almost like a benediction. Far
above them, the lights in the chande-
lier cleaned Gtfully.
Surely, could there be n 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 Sc
moved from it? And as she looked up
at him, instinctively she felt that in
such a 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.
1 wanted your answer all to myself.
Somehow the sea of city life seemed to
Sllul OuI Tic HOunO VI lily NOlCt. L
longed for a quiet country lane, or the
great silent ocean. But l could not
wait. And here at last we are safe"
He put his arm around her. do you
love me?" he said.
Her head dropped silently down on
his shoulder. And then followed that
blissful moment, moment that stands
| IN, osc
ment of life when loves dream is re-
allied, and to these two it was as if
the chorus of unseen saints was chant
fng their happiness. Suddenly she rails
ed her head. There was a mischiev-
Gus twinkle in her eyes.
you have forgotten something. "
she said.
"No, 1 haven't" he replied triumph
antly, misunderstanding her, Il have ii
here" He produced a tiny object that
glittered in the dim light and sent out
tiny shafts of lambent fire. 'Your
Christmas present" he said. "Twc
days ahead none but less real.
didn't know what to give you, until ]
thought of this"
He slipped it on her finger
ut is beautiful" she said at last
beautiful"
There was a moment of silence, in
terrupted by sound like the chirpinl
of joyful birds. Then she spoke again
when 1 said you had forgotten
something" she said, the twinkle com
ing back to her eyes, Il wasn't think
ing of this" She held up the ring ad
miringly. IT was thinking of the 9th
ers-why, they may be here any min
ute"
Van Story caught her hand in hi
once more.
mo" he said smiingly. "You see
dear, it was my only chance. 1 jus
had to do it. l sent word to all. thu
others-wrote them each a note, yol
know, that this thing was postpone,
until tomorrow night, on account o
an important engagement. You didn'
mind, did you? 1t was the truth
wasn't it? I wanted to be alone wit
you. 1t was our only chance. Don
you see it was?'
She dropped her hands by her sid
suddenly. The color left her face ant
then came back again.
,"You did that she said. "Hoy
could you? How DREADFUL Oh, VIII
did you do it? What can l ever sa
TO them? You wrote and told them nc
to come to-nifht-did you do that?"
He caught her hands again in hi
Above, the stately old church bells
the spire chanted out the hour.