Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1906-12-26
A BIT OF DIPLOMACY.


YES. Mr.. Peters got a calico dress for
his wife,
Was it pretty, Ruth?" Mrs. Wing
asked anXiously.
Wen, should say. Do you remem-
Der that old purplish piece we have
had so long? He took that because Mr..
Spencer said 1 could let him have it
half cent cheaper on the yard"
"Oh, DEAR" Mrs. Wing murmured
sorrOwfully. 81 was so in hopes she'd
have something pretty once. Come,
dearie, supper's ready, and 1 know you
need it. l just don't see how you can
keep so bright"
Ruth blushed rather self-consciOusly,
and it was considerably later, almost at
the end of the cream toast and eggs,
before she made a little announcement.
4 had a letter from Mr.. Willard to-
day, mother. He is coming down on the
s o'clock train tonight"
Mrs. Wings mild, sweet face began
to look troubled
i don't mean to interfere, Ruthie,
dear, but 1 am dreadfully afraid he is
going to ask you to marry him. He's
been coming pretty nearly every week
lately"
WELL mother, if he did, would you
mind. Can't you like him?7 There was
note Of decided anxiety in Ruths in
terrogatiOns.
why, yes, l like him. 1 guess he's
real nice, as men 90, but / wouldn't, oh,
dear, no! Ruth, 1 wouldn't want you
to marry him."
But why, mother?"
Haven't just you and got along
together for twenty years, no trouble
to speak Of, or anything?" Mrs. Wings
voice was quite piteous. IF a man
comes in, you just can't tell how things
are going to 90. Anything is liable to
happen. l know clerking in the store is
hard, trying work, but it isn't a circum-
stance to what some married women
have to put up with"
Mother, dear, you married"
Mrs. Wings fingers twisted nervous
".
1T was such a little while, though,
Ruthie, and so long ago, that l don't
rightly consider by experience 1 know
anything about it. Only a year and
a-half but L have seen SO much since.
Don't talk about it, dear; 1 just can't
think of it, even"
Ruth sat and thought with trou-
bled face. This tender, timid little
mother had been her charge ever since
her sturdy babyhOOd. 1t was so. sell
dom she ever expressed a WISH or OBJ
jected to anything, and now, to object
to this, the one great light that had
come into her barren, monOtonous girl
hood! He had asked her in that letter
to marry him, and tonight he was com
ing for his answer.
Looking at it just from a worldly
standpoint, how it would life them from
their pinching life!
Every one knew Arthur Willard. and
how he had prospered from the time he
first came to LenOx, a beardless, open
faced boy, soliciting his first orders for
Belfast & Mayhem, paper manufacture
ers, until now he was head salesman Of
the firm.
She did not especially love clerking
in the general merchandise store of
/ Spencer & Spencer; but the Goldfish and
calico had been glorified a good many
times. when the big yellow grip, mark
ed A. W. Oh the ends, entered the store
door.
She knew very we'll what her answer
would be; it had sung itself in her
heart all day; but if her mother OBJ
jected so much, that settled it, for the
| time, anyway.
When she told Arthur that night, she
was indiscreet enough to give her opin-
ion first.
My dear little girl" he said, with
generous, masculine superiority, "she
will get over that and enjoy the city i'm
mensely; possibly your servant, too,
Mistress Ruth, when she knows how
nice I am. Let me talk with her"
The embarrassed, nervous little lady
in the next room certainly did not seem
very formidable; but she did look so
appealing that he said, very gently and
quite deprecatingly:
You must have known my feelings
toward Ruth for some time, Mrs. Wing.
| hope you are willing that should
marry her"
NO." Mrs. Wing answered desper-