The Prescott daily news., 1909-05-03
A RISE IN VALUES


 crushed in his hand. It brought back vividly to his mind a picture of long ago-the lonely country lane, the rus tic figure of that sweetheart of old, the girl to whom he had scarcely given thought for years. Now a guilty feeling came over him as he thought Of the promises made, of the good-by kiss. of the correspondence that fol lowed and then died a 1ickering death
 Poor little thing! And she must have been waiting for him all these years And he-he had come to the city, and in the mad rush to make his own way had buried her memory
 Now, out of the past, came this in vitation asking him to come up and renew the friendship of the past
 Poor little girl, She had been mourning for him all these years, and guilty wretch that he was, he had been the means of making miserable life all too restricted anyway, on account of it's environment
 Dea, dear! It was all too bad! But now the chivalric thing to do was to make some amends, even if they neces- sarily had to be fleeting He would run up on the first train. It would give him chance to see his native place once more. Not that he relished that. The cheerful graveyard, the aw- ful hotel, the familiarities of old schoolmates did not appeal to his mu- nicipal sensibilities.
 But the girl. Certainly after all these years she was entitled to have her heart soothed
 He looked up the time table, found the train left in two hours, and then sent telegram.
 After it had been sent it suddenly occurred to him that it was foolish thing to do. People in remote country districts were not used to such things. It would doubtless frighten her, but it was too late to remedy that.
 He gathered in box of candy on his way uptown and a bunch of violets. Certainly no two things were calcu- lated to go any straighter to the heart of the demure little country lass whom he could now see in his minds eye standing wistfully in the gateway as he waved to her down the road.
 AS the train moved into the sta tion and slowed down he jumped off, fairly bewildered. The old station had been torn down. The smart looking affair in it's place seemed almost an anomaly on the landscape. But he had no time to think
 Hello, Jack. Awfully good of you to come. Jump right in You're a dear thing"
 The girl who squeezed his hand so frankly, and, indeed, so athletically- could 1t be she? It did not seem pos sible!
 Before he knew it she had tossed him into her motor car, with all his belongings, and they were off down the road at 30 miles an hour.
 Nellie, is it yours?" he ex- claimed
 Sure! But say Jack, why didn't you telephone instead of wiring? You know l have a long-distance right in my room Dear me, it would have saved nearly two hours, and l can tell you I've had to scurry around to get some decent people in to dinner. But they are coming, although some have 40 miles to come. Here we arel Old homestead rather decent place since it was made over, eh? By the way, did you bring a Wall street edition with you? I've been so busy-all due to you-that l haven't even had time to ask about the market. Candy. And flowers, Oh thanks" tossing them on the table. Lovely of you, but why didn't you get Maillards? Never mind. Sit down and have a smoke. If you don't like these cigarettes I have an other assortment in the other room" Before he knew it she had dragged him into the modern looking country house and deposited him in chair.
 Will you excuse me a few min utes?' she called, halfway out of the room. Il want to wigwag a neigh bor"
 But he ran after her and held her back.
 Good heavens, Nellie,' he gasped. what is the meaning of all this? Why didn't you let me know? I've been thinking of you all these years as demure little country girl with broken heart. Am 1 in dream? Everything has changed. Can this be really you? What has happened?"
 Nothing but a real estate boom my dear. I've been so busv oivino