Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1909-04-22
A RISE IN
VALU E S

(t'SsiStoii
crushed in his hand. 1t brought back
wildly to his mind 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
a 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 pickering
death
Poor little thing, And she must
have been waiting for him all these
years. And he-he had come to the
city, and III the mad rush to make
his own way had buried her memory.
Now, cut 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 its environment
Dea, dear 1t was all too bad. But
now the chivalrc thing to do was to
make some amends, even if they neces-
sarlly had to be aeeting. He would
run up on the first train. 1t would
give him a 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.
lie looked up the time table, found
the train left in two hours, and then
sent a 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
1t would doubtless brighten 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 We're calcu-
lated to go any straighter TO the
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
ton and slowed down he jumped off,
fairly bewildered. The old station had
been torn down The smart looking
affair in its 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 it be she? 1t did not seem pos
sible
Before he knew it She had tossed
him into her motor car. with all his
belongings, and they We're off down
the road at so miles an hour.
Nellie, is it yours . he ex-
claimed.
"sure But say. Jack, why didn't
you telephone instead of wiring? You
know | have a long-distance right in
my room Dear ne, it would have
saved nearly two hours. and | can tell
| YOU I've had TO scurry around to get
some decent people in to dinner. But,
they are coming, although some have
10 miles to come. Here We are. Old
homestead rather decent place since it
was made over Ell? BY the way, did
YOU bring a Wall street edition with
you? I've been SO busy-all due to
you-that | 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 Maillard's Never mind
Sit down and have a smoke Ii YOU
don't like these cigarettes / have an
other assortment in the other room. "
Before he knew ii 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
Dor
But he ran after her and held hel
back
Good heavens, Nellie, he gasped
what is the meaning of all this? VIII,
didn't you let me kaow? I've beef
thinking of you all these years as ;
demure little country girl with
broken heart. Am in a dream
Everything has changed Can this b,
really YOU? What has happened?"
Nothing but a real estate boom
my dear. I've been so busy givin,
weekends and going to Europe an,
playing bridge and motoring tina
really Twill you <orgive mel act
ually haven't had time to call YOU up
He gave one fleeing, bewilderin.
gaze at the smart establishment a
the charming CLINT of landscap,
through the window, fanked by tn
box hedge, and then came swiftly bacl
to the girl.
But, Nellie he protested. yo
might have taken the time - yo
might have sent for me long befor
this, even for old times sake"