The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1909-03-31


morning it was all she could do to
rise and drag herself to the store. Her
eyes were heavy and her head ached.
She was pale and wan. The very
floorwalker to win whose admiration
she had stolen stopped and said:
Miss Lovejoy, are you ill.,"
And he looked so sympathetic that
Ida's chin quivered and her eyes filled
as she replied:
"Just little headache; that is ALL"
"You won't be able to dance tonight.
Hadn't l better get you excused to-
day? I will if you wish"
eff you please" she said weakly, |
while she thought, "What if he knew"
She looked very ill. The diamond
that was wrapped in a handkerchief
in her bosom seemed to weigh ton |
and to burn like redhot iron. She
leaned against the shelves with |
pinched features until he returned
with the desired permission.
''Shall l get cab for your! he asked
kindly
"I-think-I will walk. The air may
do me good. 1t is so warm in here.
Thank you very much
Ida had beautiful eyes. The floor
walker had often noticed this tall,
silent Girl with her heavy braids,
plainly Of her own hair. He was tired
of the ridiculous pompadours of the
other girls Her voice was low and
sweet and now it Quivered with the
emotion that shook her very soul.
She dared not look into his eyes for
fear lie would know she was a thief
She had not realized what she had
done fully until now, but now, know
ing it, she trembled.
No thought Of the ball entered her
mind. If she could only restore the
ring!
She crept back to her boarding house
and to her room. She heard the girls
come home and heard their gay chat
ter as they were preparing for the
fancy ball.
Dimly she remembered that she had
intended to pawn that ring and buy a
gown she had seen, all silver, like
moonlight on still water, and she was
going to get a veil of spangied tulle
and tinsel crown, let down her long
dark hair and call her costume
might" All was over now, and she
was a thief.
What if the sonora caused search
to be made? She must hide it until
she could replace it. The window was
closed now. Then the supper bell rang
She remembered that she had eaten
nothing all that day and went tre1n-
blingly down. To her joy the sonora
was not there, and the other girls were
all so full of the ball that her silence
passed without comment.
AT last all the other girls left the
house in gay spirits, leaving Ida alone
in her fear, shame and horror OF her
self.
The night the ring had been stolen
Sonora Valdez had sought for it every
where in her room. She knew where
she had left it. Nothing else had been
taken. She knew that she had put 1t
on the tree and that it was there when
she left. for all four CT the girls had
preceded her, and she had locked and
tried the door She was always very
methodical.
"Some one must have key that fits
nv door and came in while l was
downstairs" she thought.
The sonora did as the most of us do
and took all her other valuables to the
safe deposit vault, but she said no
word to any one Of her loss.
IF l call the police" she thought,
"and have a search made all the inno-
cent will hate me, and l may never
find it. If | keep absolute silence and
watch some day the one who took it
will say some word or do something
which will betray him and show me
the thief | wish that it had been any
other jewell
SO the sonora went to sleep. The
next day brought no proof That any
one could have reached the ring tree
from the bathroom window never en-
tered her head.
Scarcely had the merry party gone
to the ball when there was ring and
visitor for Miss Lovejoy. She felt
as though she must die then as the
handsome floorwalker came in.
81 heard you were not going to the
ball, so 1 thought l would come in and
See-if you-are better"
Eyes, but don't care very much for
parties or balls.'' All this while she
was wondering why he had come.
''No more do t. said he. II like
quiet better. l think / was cut out for
a home lover
II think l am, too," said Ida, with a
half sob as the memory of her crime
surged up in her mind, closing the door
of any home for her.
1T seems to me that things were
better when women didn't have to go
from home to work, and the men did
it all, and the women kept the homes"
"Yes," she replied weakly. "It seems
as if home of ones own, no matter
how small or poor, should be like