Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1909-03-04

I u vLEI MUCH OBLIGED Q I RIDE
upper road, and drawing near the
veaue II ems that led to the great
house.
Wen" said the man gently. you
haven't answered yer, you know"
oh" said Miss Christina. with a
little start.
She had fallen into a sort Of dream
i1S.de the dream. in which she beheld
herself crossing and ~recross;ng the
polished floors Of the great house,
planning the dinners for the fat house
keeper, who now anne sometimes to
buy broilers from her; walking in the
woods everywhere without regard to
trespass signs: feeding beautiful white
O~rpingtons. at So the sitting. in q mod
e. chicken house behind the stables
and perhaps other choice varieties of
fowl as well.
Il forgot she said rather blankly.
She seemed to be waking from both
dreams at once. 4 sudden sense of
uneasiness stirred beneath her previ-
ously unbroken content. She realized
that the wind was chill and that it
was long past the time for feeding her
hens. y suspicion came to her that her
neighbor was making fun of her be-
cause she had talked so much and let
him see the poverty Of her life. She
wanted very much 10 get home.
II don't think there is any answer
she said hurriedly Il think I'd better
20 home"
NO answer" exclaimed the man
eagerly. With CONSERVATION in his one
In point Of fact. it had now grown
amazingly clear to him that an an
swer-the Il answer-to Ills hypo-
thetical question was quite the most
important thing in the whole world to
him.
"Dut. Miss Christina, surely you
can't Then be stopped short
He could not say TO her that just be-
posai it was incredible that she
shouldn't accept This one. yet that was
what be had been virtually OIL. the
point of doing
Dear Miss Christina" he urged.
there u be an answer. because il
means 50 tremendously much to me.
II love YOU" He was perfectly sure
of it now.
Not So Miss Christina.
"NonseGse." she said, with decision,
putting her hands out over the reins
and bringing the horse to a standstill.
"lou don't at all. I'm going to get
our here. It's only q few steps home
through Mouse lane. It's all shoveled
and good walking, and 'twould be a
good mile round TO drive. Yes, am"
She spoke rapidly. You only think
so just this minute because you took
me to ride. and I'm very much obliged,
and because I told you Id never had
a proposal. You'd be sorrier than
would if l said yes" Again Miss
her words might sound. Their mean
ing was clear TO herself.
She was standing in the snow and
lifting her Christmas greens carefully
from the bottom of the sleigh.
Pm very much obliged for the ride
she repeated. Il had a very nice time.
shan't ever forget it. I know how
'tis-you thought how 'twould seem to
be the first one, and I'm glad you
were. I never supposed I'd have ever
what you might call one, and now
have"
b gathered her skirts into one
hand and. looking back, smiled-yes,
smiled and nodded cheerfully to the
man in the sleigh.
Then she stepped lightly up and over
the wall beside the bars into Mouse
n From this elevation she could
see her hens not more than 300 yards
away wandering about the front door.
yard looking for her, and she did no,
give a single backward thought t the
s~leighbells as they slowly tinkled out
OF hearing.