St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1907-08-31
MISS TLMMONS' ANSWER
By ANNA DEFINING
Copyright, by Joseph B. Bowles.)

s"ph B. BoWles.)
silence that there was 30 hope for him
but while he lived he must think OF
her and be her friend.
And so two years went by.
Miss Timmons, in her quiet Ken
lucky home, lived as she had lived be-
fore John Newman came into her life.
Her days were full of usefulness, and
she had but little time to indulge in
| idle dreams Of what life might have
been.
| Sometimes she would think of John
Newman with half sigh, which she
was scarcely conscious of herself.
The letter, she had never gotten,
| and so life went on, with little to
| break the monotony for two years,
and then a great event occurred, the
greatest the town had ever known.
Miss Thompson was married; that,
in itself, was not wonderful, for she
was a very pretty and very attractive
girl; but she married man much
older than herself, and there were
The wedding was the grandest af-
fair that the county had ever known,
and the happy husband invited the
wedding party to accompany them on
their journey to Santa Fe and back.
Mrs Thompson was not very we'll
pleased with this arrangement, as
both Alice and Jack were in the
party; in fact, she only consented on
the one condition that Miss Timmons
could be induced to join them.
Miss Timmons was invited, persuad-
ed against her judgment to accept,
and almost before she knew it, found
herself one of gay and happy party,
being whirled over scenes so new and
beautiful to her, that each day seemed
too short to enjoy all the pleasure
that it brought.
The dining room of the Las Vegas
hotel was nearly full, but one table,
almost in the center of the room, still
waited, with tipped chairs and an ex.
pectant expression, from the stiff nap.
kins and snowy cloth, to the big bowl
of roses in the middle.
Johns head was turned and so he
did not see the party till they were
seated but there could be no mistake,
he knew. them at once. His heart beat
so rapidly that he knew almost the
cross man next must hear it.
Miss Timmons sat with her back to
him, but he knew that slender, grace
full form, in it's quiet dress of brown
cloth.
Miss Thompson sat on the other
side, then two young people he did
not know, then Jack and Alice. What
a gay time they were having. He
could see her face now and then, as
she spoke to the groom. Surely he had
forgotten what a sweet and noble face
it was.
Then Jack saw him, and he knew
that his plan to slip out unobserved
by them must be given up; he must
go through an introduction. Well, it
was best to have it over after all.
Then the party rose and John rose
also and Joined them as in a dream,
and still in dream he felt Jack grasp
his hand and heard him say:
$50 glad to see you, mighty for
tunate-want you to meet my new
brother-in-law"
Then he was being introduced and
had shaken hands all around, and
walked out on the broad veranda with
them, and it was only then, when the
sweet morning air touched his face.
that he came out of the daze and knew
that Miss Thompson was the bride!
He had not even thought of that!
He found himself presently at the
farther end of the wide veranda with
Miss Timmons, where he had taken
her to show her a better view of the
mountains, against which the hotel
rests, but now that they were in full
command of that good view," he
seemed to have forgotten it.
Il hoped you would write,' he said,
looking at her with sad eyes.
Her heart futtered strangely; she
looked up wonderingly.
Il said for you not to answer the
letter unless you could answer as I
wiShed-but 1 hoped you could, Miss
Timmons"
Her gaze was full of wonder now.
Il don't understand" she said, 81 never
had a letter from you in my life, Mr..
Newman"
Then he told her eagerly of the let. |
ter he had written her, and finished nv |
saying: IF you had gotten it, would
you have answered."
He dared not take her hand, for
there were dozen people walking the
veranda before them.
She looked away from him at the
purple peaks, lit up by the brilliant
sunlight, and at the gay throng of
happy people about them, then back
to Johns grave, waiting face, before
she answered: Il think perhaps-I
might"