Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1906-07-14


infatuation?" frowned the old man.
mo, sir; won't give up that infat-
uation."
Miss Cornelia Thlmpleton@"
81 don't want to hear anything about
Miss Cornelia Thimpleton," said How
ard; and his father wisely abandoned
the subject of the homely village heir
ess who was supposed to be fond Of his
tall son. He only shrugged his Shout
ders and began to read the Weekly
Farmer, while Howard sat down to cal
culate how soon, if crops were good and
the price Of hay kept up, he could af'
ford to marry.
The red leaves Of the sugar-maple
grove behind the old Indian burying
ground were futtering down in the Oc-
tober gales, when one day Deacon OAR
ley knocked at the door O.: the little
house, which Isabella bad made quite
habitable by this time.
She came quietly forward, with her
sewing in her hand. No princess could
have been more dignified or more com
posed.
Isabella" said the deacon, looking
ineffably foolish, "I-L bsgin to find
out I've made a mistake. Howard, he
amt easy 'thout he can have you for
his wife-an' Towards like the rest
Of the Darleys, he's dreadful sot In
his ways. My wife, she ways liked
you-and-and-"
Isabella stood there, looking him
straight in the face. By no single word
or gesture would she help him out Of
| the labarynth Of apologies, and the
faintest gleam of an amused smile how
cred around her lips, and sparkled be-
meath her eyelashes as she gazed.
-"And," went on the deacon, sud
denly squirting himself up, 1--WE come
tc. ask you to let by-gones be by-gones,
| and to marry Howard 1t seems kind
O. forlorn for you to live here alone In
this haunted spot, where dead Injuns
was buried once, and to work for your
living, when you've got relations who'd
be glad to give you home"
ooh, certainly, of course" demurely
answered Isabella. "But didn't know,
you see, that you were SO anxious to
| give me home"
"Well, l be-" stoutly asserted the
deacon; and Isabella Ilford was wise
enough not to remind him o. the very
different testimony be had borne not
so very long ago.
And 1t was not until Isabella had
come a bride, to the old barley farm
house, that her mother-!n-law hustled
in one day full of news.
'SThe Orangebrook Railroads comm
right slam through the place" said she.
Il heerd it down to Doctor Cullen's.
It'll make a deal O. difference to us
all, and they say the stat on's to be
built just where you used to live, Isa-
bellar, on the old Indian burying
| ground"
EYES," said Isabella, the directors
were here to see Howard about it this
morning. They are to pay ne five thou
sand dollars for It."
ou-sand-dolla1s! And
didn't you never suspicion nothin'
about it?'
NO." said Isabella, quietly; "why
should I?'
81 did, said the deacon, folding the
Weekly Farmer, with a complacent
twinkle in his eyes. Il heerd three
months ago that the line was projected
right through the buryin' ground"
"And that was the reason" thought
Isabella, "that he was so anxious to
! receive me as a daughter-ir-law And
neither nor Howard suspected"
Again she smiled and made no COM
ment But a little while afterward
when her husband said to her:
This Is the good luck that came
through you, dear Isabella" she an
swered, softly:
"No, dearest; the good luck was your
| true and steadfast love r'-The House
wife.