Hopkinsville Kentuckian., 1910-03-01
A RISE IN
VALUES

Castleton held her invitation
crushed in his hand It brought back
yividly to his mind a 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
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 hickering
death
Poor little thing! And she must
have been waiting for him all these
years. And he-he had come to the
city, and in the mad rush to make
his own way had buried her memory.
Now, out 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
a life all too restricted anyway, on
account of its environment.
Dea, dear! 1t was all too bad! But
now the chigalric thing to do was to
make some amends. even if they neces-
sarily had to be fleeting 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-
full 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
He 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 a foolish
thing to do. People in remote country
districts were not used to such things.
1t would doubtless frighten her, but it
was too late to remedy that.
He gathered in a box of candy on
his way uptown and bunch OF violets
Certainly no two things were calcu-
lated to go any straighter to the
heart of the demure little country lass
whom he could now see in his mind's S
eye standing wistfully in the gateway
as he waved to her down the road.
AS the train moved into the sta
tion 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 q
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 were off down
the road at 80 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 me, 1t 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
40 miles to come. Here we are! Old
homestead rather decent place since it
was made over, eh? BY the way did
you bring a Wall street edition with
you? I've been so busy-al due to
you-that l 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 M6illard's? Never mind,
Sit down and have smoke. If you
don't Like these cigarettes l have an
other assortment in the other room"
Before he knew it 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
bor."
But he ran after her and held her
back
Good heavens, Nellie" he gasped,
what is the meaning of all this? Why
didn't you let me know? I've been
thinking of you all these years as
demure little country girl with a
broken heart. Am | in a dream?
Everything has changed Can this be
really you? What has happened2"
Nothing but a real estate boom,
my dear. I've been so busy giving
week-ends and going 10 Europe and
playing bridge and motoring that
really will you forgive me?-I act
ually haven't had time to call you up"
He gave one feeting, bewildering
gaze at the smart establishment, at