The daily Alaskan., 1907-08-15
By JOANNA SINGLE.

1 watched the rain beat against the win ! dow. If she and Richard had not been caught In a sudden shower to the ut, ter ruin of her very preuiest dress she would never have been Irritable and | Quarreled with hlm about nothing at ! all. and she would not have expected ! him to take the fault upon himself l when she aloue-ufter the weather ! was to blame. And now 1t had rained l for nearly a week. and the macHOn was driving her wild She could only think. think and yamly try to over cuue her pride and send foI~him For the thouSaudth time she drew from her dress his last letter and re- 1 read i,:
 Dearest-we have been friends and ueierlnrs and sw-rthrurts all our lives and should uoL let anything come between us. I love you. and lf you wi- just send one word saying you waa- Lr ! VIII come at your call and forget tae nothing wc Quarreled about Should We let amy thing sy childish part uEe l look Gur word from you. Ir l- does not come l shall know that you really meant to break our engagement and shall of course not trou- bic you. But you couldn't have meant it, Ea.tng Fraterua,y yours.
 RICHARD COPELAND.
 That was all. but she had sent him DO 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 for refus- ing to be played with.
 So Shc was very wTetched aud blamed her own pride and the weather. The rain beat down warmly and inter muteutIy. and all nature expanded and throva under its moist influence. Edith looked across the fields ro tho south to Richards home. whEh one day was Co have been also hers. and saw him out in tue raIu on hIs horse. coming from the town a 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 her-uuIess she sent for him. Could she do ir? It was early in the after noon. and she might send her little brother over with note. She hcsi- tated: then she went to her room and sat down .o her desk It would be a relief to write to him. even fl she could not bring herself to send lt to him.
 Dear Richar5-Wnl you come to see mo ton.gh,2 ! was horrId. and ] am very sorry Lg I had not been wet and cross [ should not have thought ot caring be- cause you rode to town w.,H Fay. or course you could not help her overriding you She always was forward. Forgive me and come back. You know that-i love you-a.ways. EDITH
 She sat looking at it. Then her heart misgaye her. It had been two long months since they parted, and be 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 uuguarded. Sue could not tell him she loved him. S0 she carplrSsly 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 1t and would know that she fretred for Richard. She tried t0 read in her own room, but !t seemed like a prison.
 Along about 8 o'clock she felt as If the day had been years long. She could bear lt no longer. She put on some heavy shoes and an old water proof riding habit, wound her fair hair closely under a little cap and stood be fore the glass thinking what fright sine looked and rather rejoicing In the fact. What was the use of being beau tIful when Richard no longer loved herr
 She slipped out to the barn and sad dleL Ginger. her little mare, mounted and rode quickly out of the gate and norrhwayd. as she did not want to pass Richards house. Her mother saw her rILe or in the storm and wondered if the girl was going crazy. but was too ra.e to call after her. At first Ginger wheeled and refused to believe that she was expected to splash her dainty boars through such pools of mud and water. but after a few shorts of pro- test Edith convinced her with the luirt rlat this wind and rain were really to be faced, aud the little beast settled into u splteful trot.
 Edith rather reIoIced in bufletiug the storm. The rain and wind cooled her lo. cheeks. and the open air relieved tue unbcarable tension of her nervous ness. For the first time since the trOu- 1Ie with Richard she allowed herself Jle mresrained luxury of tears. Here ont lu the open. with the sting of rain Gions iu her face. she was free from nrvtug eyes. She did not need to keep up her pride, aud she could be as wretcued as she really felt She did not look about her. but rode mile after mile. letting the mare take her own cDurse.
 After riding an h0gr or so she mo- tjcul hat the storm abuted and, look In un saw that the clouds were less darr5. Here and there was a gleam of blue. though the warm wind still blew intermittent drops into her face. She drew her collar closely about her neck