The Press., 1908-01-22
By MAUDE LAMBERT.

| Myrtle so dOtor0uSIy that even the
 mother. intoierant of superstition. had to laugh.
 "It doesn't have Ito be your own we'll" explained old Mrs. Prentiss. with defiant glance at her daughter
 in-law Tt says that if you look into ! well at midnight on Halloween you will see reflected in the water the face
 of the, man you are to marry-f you
 are destined to be a bride within, the
 year." ., -..s-........,.. .,s..
 Now. mother, stop putting foolish
 notions into Myrfle's head" excIaim- ed Myrtles mother. 'I've tried all these years to keep such things away
 from her. and now you are filling her mind with arrant nonsense ng
 The grandmother. made gesture of dissent. ;; 7ssE .'.-. .ssS s<,
 We didn't call it nonsense in our
 day, Susie." she protested. We used
 to have lot of fnn 'bobbing for ap- pIes and an that sort of thing.
 guess Myrtle can be a good girl, even
 If, she does-g bother her pretty. head about the Halloween rites. It's high time she tried them. anyhow. We can't go back again when we grow up and find out what we've missed as chil- dren." fh The younger Mrs. Prentiss shrugged her shoulders. Her own youth had
 known no such foolish fancies. She had been brought up with Puritan rigidness and sought to mold Myrtle's mind, even as her own had been form ed, Tn" the rigidacast Of conventionality. At eighteen Myrtle had never had any of the childish diversions. and the advent of her paternal grandmother,
 with this new lore of Halloween, was
 like the visit of a fairy godmother. 1t was the first time she had seen her fa- ther's mother since. as child of four,
 she had been brought west, and al pletely won Myrtle's heart.
 The revelation of the Halloween mys- teries was the most important disclO- sure yet made. and Myrtle threw her self with interest into the idea. Her grandmother lamented+ that there was not time to prepare for Halloween party, but it was agreed that Myrtle should prove her fate by the we'll test.
 Wells were few, but in the orchard
 was welled spring, and this, it was decided, would answer the purpose.
 Myrtle had never had q sweetheart. Sweethearts for very young girls were frowned upoR as being frivolous. and talk of love had been rigidly discour aged At the time even her mother could not prevent Seth Haskin from blushing rediy under his tan when he chaneed ito encounter Myrtle. and, though he had: been refused permfs- sion to make. the, weekly call, which in that section was the preliminary. dec laratiOn of more serious intention, the. girl was more acutely conscious of his presence than of the few other men she met in town or on her weekly visit. to church. .7 ...- ..s.- ..s.s-zs ..
 HeTsgrandmOther, a bern matchmak-, CT, had already sensed the situation, and if Myrtle's mother had known that the old lady had found opportunity to drop a hint to Seth her passive ac quieseence in this frivohty would have become active opposition As 1t was. she argued that since NJ other Prenti&s' &~. ROE8S- ble to regain her lost ground after the old lady should have returned home
 In John Prentiss his mother found an able ally. He gleefully recalled his own Halloween celebrations and in sisted that he could still duck for ap pies with the best of them. :>
 'Nextsyear," he shouted, we'll have a regular party, mother. I haven't felt so young in years" He bent again over the tub to plunge his ruddy face after the elusive apple. and hls wife, grimly regarding the unseemIy per fOrmance. shook her head in disap- proval
 But PPentiss was too absorbed in his fun to notice the head shake, and he insisted upon trying all the tests he knew. Almost before they knew it the clock struck II and then half past, and Myrtle. shiyering deliciously over the adventure, stole softly through the orchard to the bubbling spring.
 There was no moon, but stars span gled the sky, and their light made it bright enough to see her reflection in the little pool, Obedient to instruc- lions, she leaned over the placid sur face and began to repeat the verse her grandmother had taught her. Her heart stood still as she heard the ap- proach of footsteps, but her blood froze in horror when two men took their stand on the other side of the hedge and began to talk of their plans.
 ''The train will be along in about thirty minutes" said the first. 'I bet she gets smashed up some this time."
 Best job ever did" was the re- sponse. "Jim's the engineer, and he won't see that the rail is out until they're right on it. They'll be in the gully before they know what struck lem. We'll lr~have tile safes an' away before they get hint"
 She needed to hear no more of the conversation to guess at the identity of at least one of the speakers. For near ly a year the southwest had suffered from the depredatiOns of a gang of train wreckers who operated only when heavy consignments of specie were being carried by the express com panies. s. Qss
 In place of the usual holdup they de- railed the train, often with heavy loss of life. and made away with the ex- press safes before the first excitement was over. Half a..mile beyond was a ravine bridged by a wooden trestle. It was evident that they had removed the spikes from one of the rails and that ;the train would pitch into the gulch. s-
 Even as she knelt over the spring wondering what it would be best to do the sound of q bell came floating down from the house-thtl signal that it was 12 o'clock. In the water of the pool a second face was reflected, and Myr- tie gave Q sigh.
 ''If 1t only was you. Seth,' she whis- l pered. Fl need you so."
 Tt is Seth,'' came the answer in 8 whisper What is it. dear?"