Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1907-12-26
The Curl That Stayed


ney Crowthers until he shipped just
one tiny strand, feeling sure she would
never miss it, and striving to excuse
himself with the assurance that any
other fellow would have done the same
thing in his place.
The day had been tiresome one
because people could not choose their
own best company. The party had left
the hotel at Pasadena early in the
morning in automobiles and had stray
gIed I'D to the inn one by one around
noontime when the sun made havoc
with the roads and clouds of dust en-
veloped the suffering tourists.
Edna Brayton and Mrs. Peele, with a
Chauffeur and Mrs. Peeles young son,
were nearing the inn just as tire
burst. and at the same time a sicken-
ing odor and Il thick cloud of smoke
testified to trouble in the gasoline
tank. The women jumped from their
seats with terrified abruptness, the
boy following excitedly. 1t was all
over in a few moments, except that
Edna and her chaperon looked as If
they had been powdered with coal
dust
They decided to wait at the inn I'M
til the damage had been repaired.
Sidney Crowthers held up his auto to
wait for them, because his was the
only one not loaded. Because he could
not have Miss BraytOn with him on
this trip he had resolutely refused to
bore himself with any one else. Miss
BraytOn, aware of this fact, chuckled
to herself and felt that it was a good
thing for him not to have his own
way.
But fate said otherwise. While he
sat in the adjoining reception room
and read to while away the time, Edna
BraytOn was sitting close to an open
window trying to dry the long golden
hair that streamed over her shoulders,
for she wanted to keep her shirtwaist
fresh.
So an errant breeze played with it
and gave promise of a brisk drying,
when suddenly a little golden strand
Haunted itself past the window where
Sidney CrOwtherS sat impatiently
waiting. Taunting, reckoning, it came
fighting the temptation. Then he cut
the tiny lock, and what he did with
it before placing it in his pocket, no
one ever knew.
About an hour later Sidnew Crow
theirs received Il little note. which the
boy said called for no reply.
MY dear Mr.. Crowthers," it read.
Il thought you were a gentleman, but
l know now that you are a thief Do
not seek to question me, for your own
conscience should tell You why all pos
sible relations should cease from now
on"
1t was a pale gray shadow OF an
imp that had reluctantly penned that
note, for Edna Brayton had held her
breath while the rascal cut the tiny
golden curl, had felt the thrill go
straight to her heart from his hands,
and longed to feel it again. But she
sun1ptioh He had always been just
little too confident of his own charms
evidently he thought he had only to
desire a thing, and, by hook or crook,
it would be his.
So Sidney sat in glum thought and
whistled-the word possible ringing
in his brain with a knell of alternate
despair and hope. Then it might have
been possible. if he had bided his time
for her to care for him and tell him
SO. Heigho, but he was always put
ting his foot in it! What could he
possibly say to mend the breach and
restore himself to favor?
The ink bottle rested on the little
desk in the corner, quiescent, suggest
i've. Helpless. hopeless. with the tiny
golden curl burning its way to the
core of his heart and filing 1t with
longing for the unattainable, Sidney
Crowthers' shook his own black head
till the curls. thereon danced defiantly
and, bending his broail shoulders to
his unaccustOmed task, he wrote thus
MY Dear Miss Brayton-It takes a
thief to catch thief. You stole my
heart first, and now you have stolen
ali | had to live for-my last vestige
of hope Again, | say it takes a thief
to catch a thief, and you can't have
that blessed little curl until you give
me back my hope that you have SO
meanly taken away"
He dispatched the note and then
paced the floor like Gagged tiger. ANY
fellow would have done it if he had
any spunk,' he said to the imp in the
ink bottle.
Five, ten and fifteen minutes passed
while Edna Brayton puffed and pinned
the golden hair to semblance of or
der, and then threw down her travel
ing clothes and stole out of the door
to the room nearby where she heard
those heavy, impatient steps
She stepped inside the room slowly
and noiselessly. When she got quite
close she suddenly pinned his arms to
his sides with her little hands and
said, TREMENDOUSLY, 1--we come for my
curl. If you please"
But she never got 1t, and Sidney &C.
Quired title to all the rest of her gold
en- head-Grace r. Dwelley in Boston