The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1910-09-03

Lucille watched It in fascinated
wonder. Something was burning a
barn, perhaps. She wondered whose
barn it could be. In the distance she
heard the bells that would bring out
the only fire engine in the town.
Philip was member of the fire
brigade. She knew just how strong
and active he would be in trying to
save the property OF their neighbors.
People began to hurry by the house,
and scraps of their talk floated up to
her through the open window.
It's Philip Arnold's cottage" some
one said. and Lucile's hand went to
her heart. It was their cottage
hers and Philip's-that was burning,
the home that was to have been hers,
that she had planned from the begin
ming She flung on her clothes, Sob
bling little under her breath. It
seemed to her that if that cottage
burned. all Of her happiness would
burn with it. She ran out into the
street and followed the crowd The
people who saw her whispered among
themselves. She was to marry him
and live in the cottage" At last she
came to the gate through which she
had passed that day with Philip.
There was dense crowd in the yard,
tramping the tender grass, crushing
the life out of the crocuses and tulips
that she and Philip had planted in
the garden beds. For a moment she
shut her eyes. afraid to look When
she opened them she saw that the
little house was intact. Behind it
the flames shot up, making that
dreadful glow against the sky that
she had seen from her window. The
one fire engine was busy, with it's
hose playing on the burning heap.
Lucille turned to the man nearest
her Then it was not our cottage?''
she gasped.
NO. he answered, sit was just the
little stable and the leftover building
material back of it. But the cottage
would have gone if Philip had not
worked SO hard to save it,"
Then out of the crowd Lucille saw
some one coming toward her. 1t was
Marguerite fur wrap thrown over
the whiteness of her evening gown
"Oh, Lucille" she said, what a
dreadful thing it would have been
If your cottage had burned If you
only knew how l have envied you!
Our house is so big that Donald and
l are always saying that it comes
between us and our love. l wish
sometimes that there were no serv-
ants, no one to do anything for him
but me. Money separates people SO,
Lucille"
| oil hot Oh
Philip at once and tell him that there
was no place in the whole world like
the little house.
It seemed to her that there had
never been anything as beautiful as
the cheap rugs and the muslin hang
tngs and the prints on the wall But
1t was not until the crowd had gone
that she had a chance to tell him.
| He came to her blackened with
smoke
II saved it," he said, but 1 sup
pose might as well have let it burn
for all the good it will do me-"
| She chung to him, crying a little
| ITS the most bes 1ciful cottage III
the world" she said
She told him then how precious It
had seemed to her when she thought
she was to lose it; and presently they
went in together. The smoke had
blackened the snowy hangings, but
otherwise nothing was hurt Mar
guerita had left them. and gradually
the crowd had turned away They
stood together at the window, the
sky rosy in the east.
It's new world, and a new day,
and a new kind of love" Lucille whis-
pered, and her lover smiled at her
as together they faced the dawn.