Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1907-06-27
Thanks to the
Weather. (
By JOANNA SINGLE.
Copyright, 1907, by +. G. PARCELS.

watched the rain bcaC against the Win
| dow. If she and Richard had not been
caught in a sudden shower to the ut
| ter ruin of her very prettiest dress, she
would never have been irritable and
quarreled with him about nothing at
all. and she would not have expected
| him to take the fault upon himself
when she alone-after the weather
| was to blame. And now 1t had rained
| for nearly II week. and the inaction
was driving her wild. She could only
think. think and vainly try to over
come her pride and send for him.
For the thousandth time she drew
from her dress his last letter and re-
read IT.
| Dearest-We have been friends and
| neighbors and sweethearts all our lives
| and should not let anything come between
JUS |. love You, and II you will just send
| one word saying you want me | will come
at your call and forget the nothing we
! qulrrvled about. Should we let anything
| So childish part MS? I look for word
| from you If il does not come, | shall
| know that you really meant to break our
engagement and shall Of course not trou-
| Bile you. But YOU couldn't have meant II,
|
RICHARD COPELAND.
That was all. but she had sent him
| no word. thinking that in time he
would come anyhow. and then she
would let him coax her out OF her
anger. But he had not come, and she
could not fail to respect him Cor refus-
ing to he played with.
tll,n n
! bamed her own plide and the weather.
Tie rain beat down warmly and inter-
mittcntly. and all nature expanded and
| throve under its moist influence. Edith
looked across the fields to the south to
| Richards home. which che day was
to have been also hers, and saw him
out in the rain on his horse, coming
| from the town few miles away How
often they two had ridden about the
/ country together. And now It was all
over He would never come back to
hcr-unlcss she sent for him. Could
she do it? 1t WAS early in the after
noon, and she might send her little
brother over with note. She hest
| tated: then she went to her room and
sat down to hcr desk. 1t would be
relief to write to him. even il she
could not bring herself to send it to
him.
| Dear Richard-Wil -ou come to see me
tonight? | was horrd, and I am very
| sorry. If ! had not been wet and cross
| should not have thought OF caring be-
cause you rode 10 town with Fay. OF
| course you could not help her overtaking
you. She ALWAYS was forward. Forgive
me and come back, You know that-I
love you-always EDITH.
She sat looking at it. Then her heart
misgave her. 1t had been two long
months since they parted, and he might
no longer care for her. He might care
for Fay. The neighbors had said he
had been to see her. The letter was
altogether too unguarded. She could
not tell him she loved him. SO she
| carelessly thrust it into her dress with
the letter from him.
She tried TO busy herself about the
house, but somehow she could not
work. She was restless and felt as if
her mother and sister saw it and would
| know that she frcttcd for Richard. She
tried to read in her own room but it
seemed like Il prison.
| Along about 3 O'Clock she felt as if
the day had been years long. She
| could bear ii no longer She put on
some heavy shoes and an old water
proof riding habit. wound her fair hair
closely under n little cap and stood be-
fore the glass thinking what n fright
she looked and rather rejoicing in the
| fact What was the use of being beau
| tiful when Richard no longer loved
| her?
She slipped out to the barn and sad
| died Ginger, her little mare, mounted
| and rode quickly out of the gate and
northNard, as she did not want to pass
Richards house Her mother saw her
| ride off in the storm and wondered if
| the girl was going crazy, but was too
| late to call after her At first Ginger
wheeled ana refused TO believe that
| she was expected To splash her dainty
boots through such pools of mud and
water, but after u few snorts of pro-
re-, Edith convinced her with the quirt
that this wind and rain were really to
be faced, and the little beast settled
into Il spitcful trot
Edith rather reioicod in buifeting the
storm. The rain aud wind cooled her
not cheeks, aud the open mir relieved
the unbcarable tension of her nervous
ness For the first time since the trou-
Die with Richard she allowed herself
The unrestrained luxury Of tears. Here
out IN the open. with the sting Of rain
drops in her face, she was free from
prying eyes. She did not need to keep
up her pride, aud she could be as
wretched as she really felt She did
not look about her but rode mile after
mile, letting the mare take her own
course.
After riding an hour or SO she no
uced that -" storm abated and look
ing up, saw that the clouds were less
dark Here and there was IA CLEAN of
blue, though the warm wind still blew
intermittent drops into her face. She
drew her collar closely about her neck
ana pulled her cap over her eyes and
rode on with her own thoughts.
At last an idea came to her. WHY
NOT nhpnn 70 Dt,bn,I