The Butler weekly times., 1905-10-05

make an end Of an escapads which was
just beginning to Cloy.
As he grew serious be reflected up
on the fOlly-"fOlly? Perhaps ii was
mcan of me" lie thought. and this last
idea held him so that he went home
and wrote an honest, manly letter l.
the girl. i'm which ht. Stroye to exOner-
ate himself. He knew she would for
ciee him for returning her photograph.
Ire said. and for asking her TO forget
the whole episode, which. he hoped,
had given her as much harmless merrl-
ment as 1t had given him. The tone Of
this letter WIS SO modest, 50 sensible
so self-deprecating. and SO completely
disillusioning that Dan thought rs he
dropped II IN the mali box:
lad would have liked that letter. l
would never have written the Others If
he had been with ma"
That was Monday. Thursday was
Thanksgiving Day, and as Dan Kent
was TO be the guest ut banquet that
evening, he resolved to get a bite In
his favorite cafe. The place was crowd
ed with diners, and he looked in vain
for a familiar face. The head waiter
found place for him at a table at
which sat n woman alone. She was
modestly, but quite fashionably, at
tired, young-perhaps twenty-at ease.
with an odd mixture of confidence and
shyness. Her black eyes shone with
the light of n brave and quick intelli-
gence. Her swart hair dropped about
her small ears In smooth glistening
tresses. Her red mouth
Dan had got thus far In his sub
conscious cataloguing OF the beautiful
woman opposite him when she darted
one angry glance at him in which
there was an unanswerable reproof for
his fascinated stare. 1t vanished as
quickly as It came. She drew from her
reticule parcel of papers, read q clip
ping, and then uafolded his letter to
Kate Colvin with the same photograph
of the 0ldsburg school teacher that he
had mailed on Monday! lie started,
looked again, stood up, and betrayed
his curiosity by leaning forward.
She glared at him. looked frightened
for an instant, and then flushed with
anger.
"IIow dare you!" was all she said,
but the emphasis of her low voice
helped him.
IL bog your pardon, madam" he an
swered, sitting down. " wrote that
letter myself to the girl whose picture
you have there, and 1t startled me to
see 1t in your hand. am the Dan
Of that letter, Daniel Kent"
Tie stopped short. Her face was
wrcathed in smiles.
"Why, Dan," she commenced, in that
same swectly singing voice. "No! Are
you Daniel Kcnty The picture? Any
how, II you're Daniel Kent, or just n
friend of his who helped him try to-
make fool of a country girl, you're
both mistaken. I'm Kate Colvin."
She began the sentence with a COO
and ended 1t with a rasp.
Dan was dumhfounded, but he got
out his card and gave 1t to her.
"Wcll. you might have known |
wasn't the kind to borrow money from
a man / had never scen," she said,
smiling, and her bruno cheeks red. |
You might have known wasn't fool
enough to write driycl to an utter
stranger. AS for You, thought you
were a downright idiot until got that
last letter. That rang true. l came
down to Chicago to pay you the s.
owe you, and to"
"But, Kate" asked the delighted
Daniel, "what prompted yon to start
he-foolishness?"
"Oh. l didn't like your sending that
money, and-well. didn't want to be
piticd. either. | imagined you were
one of those Chicago smarties, and
well. it was dull in Oldsburg; it's al
ways dull there"
"And now we've met and found each
other out, Kate"
They laughed like children, looking
frankly into one anothcr's happy faces.
ITS Thanksgiving. Dam" she said.
"I'll give thanks that this (holding
out the picture of the pudgy blond)
ISN'T YOU" he laughed.
"And I'll give thanks that you
couldn't look like this!" And she held
,ut the picture of the dashing barber.
.,nd they dined so mcrrily together
hat Dan forgot everything but Kate.
md Kate nearly forgot to pay back the