Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1909-10-28

Asnton's face greF, very red under
the keen scrutiny of the old man
Yes, he stanmeIed. pretending to
examine the too familiar ring which
sr. Packard held our to him. II
lost it,
I Huhlp calculated the jeweler
Looks more like theft 1t came to
us by mail | knew In minute 1t was
yours, for we never made another one
like it," and he pointed to The pc
culiar setting
|. Ashton groaned inwardly at the poor
memory which had caused h - 10 for
get that he had had the III. made to
order from a special design Of his own,
at this very place
Outwardly, nov ever. he made the
best OF the matter and took posses
sion Of the property which refused to
be lost.
He resolved to make Just one more
attempt to dispose Of the opal If that
proved as great q failure as his previ-
Gus efforts had been, he would keep
the ring come what might
All two O'Clock that afternoon he
made his way to the Shirley theater
Where there was to be a popular priced
matinee for children AS he had ex-
pected there was large crowd collect
| ed before the entrance Into this
seething, pushing mass OF humanity
Ashton forced his way by slow de
grees.
1t seemed an ideal place to lose any
thing, whether one wanted to or not.
When he could advance no farther,
Ashton slipped the ring from his fin
ger, and without so much as glancing
at those about him, slyly let it fall;
then he backed out of the crowd as
rapidly as he could, and hurried from
the scene.
EARLY that evening as he was smok-
ing a lonely pipe. and congratulatjng
himself upon the fact of his having
at last lost his unlucky opal, the door
was flung open and Ted, the curly
headed young brother of Marion HUI
bert, entered
Door was open down stairs SO just
came right up said Ted nonchalantly.
Got note from Sis and, making a
sudden dive into the depths of his
trousers pocket, he drew forth
crumpled note, which he tossed to Ash
ton.
Ashton opened it with trembling fin
gers and read:
please come to me this evening. /
wish TO restore to you something of
value which you have lost Marion"
He got rid of Ted in short order, and
then struggled into evening clothes.
Poor little girl" he thought COM
miseratingly as he FASTENED his prep
arations, she's had as hard time Of
it as ! have had, and now she's given
in and sent for me to tell me that
she wishes to make up and restore
herself to me. It's tough for her
to have to own up that she's been in
the wrong, so III make things as easy
for her as can, by acting as if moth
ing had come between us"
So, when he entered the Hulberts
parlor, Ashton, not noticing or heed
ing Marion's embarrassed demeanor,
sprang forward and clasped her unre-
sisting form in his arms. The quarrel
was speedily thing of the past.
1t was not until triumphant Ash
ton was bidding blushing Marion
goodnight, that that young person re-
membered to say: There, l came near
forgetting to give you your lost prop
erty"
Il supposed that you had already
returned it, Ashton replied with
meaning smile.
"Of course not Marion pouted 81
wanted to give you your opal ring"
Where on earth did you get it?' de-
manded the amazed Ashton.
Il took my small niece to the thea
ter and when | reached home | found
it caught in the pleats of my skirt
recognized it as yours and sent for
you OF course | saw you near me at
the entrance though you didn't condo
scend to notice me-"
Now his opal is Ashton's most treas
ured piece of jewelry, and when any
one says anything about an opaPs
bringing bad luck to the wearer he af,
firms stoutly that his has brought him
the best possible luck a man could
have; but he has never thought it nee
essary to explain to his wife just how
he happened to lose the opal that day
at the theater entrance when She
found it,