The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1907-07-17

Emma she decided. There amt d
soul in Blo3mville knows her address.
Dick says she don't look within a
dozen years as old as ! do. and she's a
year older. She always was real tasty
Maybe / can pick up a few hints from
her. Looks and dresses and general
up-to-dateness makes lots of difference
to man.
All the next day she toiled steadily
setting her house in order. And Tues
day morning while waiting for the ex-
pressman she penned note to her
recreant lover.
Dearest JOSIAH write to inform you
that am well and expect to spend this
winter in the city. 1 leave today. so
shall not have the pleasure of seeing you
before I go. But you will be constantly
In my thoughts. and your ring. as always,
will be my reminder of our engagement
Yours until death, WIN1FRED
at will show him that I'm holdin'
him fast" meditated Miss Lane as the
train sped cityward "And as 1 didn't
give any address, he won't know where
to write. He isn't one to go very far
with that Searles girl until he breaks
with me- And he can't break with me
until he finds out where to send let
ter"
Bloomville was golden with dande-
lions and white with apple blossoms
when Winifred Lane came home to her
own Not a soul knows I've come, !"
she reflected as she unpacked the new
trunk. She sighed suddenly We'll,
/ by tomorrow | shall know He's had
the winter to consider in, and if he's
still set upon it I'll give him up"
Josiah Dent came up the church steps
with a look of discomfort upon his
comely face. In the months that had
passed since Winifred's disappearance
he had nursed a growing sense of in
jury.
"'Tain't fair" he complained keep
ing fellow on the fence so. Her best
years have been spent for Dick any
how, and a woman ages Eastern q
man. If she'd given me her address,
I'd have settled it months ago
!. Josiah went up the aisle to his own
pew Above the high back of the min
| listers pew there arose white sailor
/ hat swathed with an airy muslin scarf.
Beneath it soft waves of curling hair
! rippled across a brow from which all
1 traces of care had been resolutely
/ smoothed away
Josiah, watching with some curiosity
until she turned her head slightly,
caught the clear profile and noted the
fred! All at once there dawned upon
| him the truth that immortal youth is
not at the mercy of added years and
that better than the passing beauty of
/ girlhood is that womanliness which
shall outlast the ages.
I'm glad I didn't know where to
/ write thought Josiah, with a sense of
narrow escape and growing feeling of
anxiety
Winifred was unaware of his pres
ence until she heard his voice in the
closing hymn AS the last notes ceased
she turned to him, smiling straight up
! into his anxious face.
/ well, Josiah" she said.
/ And Josiah wondered why he had not
known before that raiment, whether it
be the unbecoming gray Of past years
or the crisp muslin that seemed to give
back to him the love of his early years,
was not worthy of a passing thought.
| It was the old Winifred who smiled up
1 at him out Of those clear eyes. Nettie
Searles and the throng about them
were alike forgotten. He only thought
of the woman before him-the only wo-
man in the world for him-and all
Bloomvilie had its answer to a long
winter of speculation and comment as
he stopped to kiss her in the crowded
church. Winifred Lanes best years
were yet to come.