The Press., 1910-03-30
John W7inSlOW' Surrender How a Young Man Saved a Fortune and Got
 the Girl. Rx HELOISE RR AYTnN
By HELoIsE BRAYToN


 l private office was handed telegram which he read eagerly, and his eye sparkled with joy. He had been bid. ding against the Eureka Bridge com. pany for the building of large sec. tion of western railroad, and the message was m announcement that his bid had been accepted. He expect. ed through this contract to double his fortune.
 His first thought was to commuui. cate the good news to the person he loved best--the only one he loved in the world. Mir. Winslow was n wid. over with one child. q daughter.
 'Kennedy!" called MT. Winslow, toss. ing the telegram on his desk.
 4 young man responded to the call to find his employer scratching n note. 1 When finished Mir, Winslow handed 1t to him, telling him to send 1t to his daughter at once. Kennedy " ept out side and looked for an office boy to carry the Sote. Not finding one, he put on his hat and went with 1t him. self. His ring was answered by a maid. who told him when he said he had note for Miss Winslow that he would find her in the drawing room. She was practicing at her harp.
 A pretty girl sitting at a harp Is an attractive sight Ned Kennedy was at an age to be affected by such a sight and possibly magnified its beauty. At any rate, he saw the vision of his life. Years have passed since then, but to this day he treasures it in his heart-- the heart that in a twinkling passed | to the girl at the instrument,
 And she? Before her stood a young ster few years her senior, with a bright honest face, pair of ruddy boyish cheeks and smile that seemed to her entrancing He was holding out note to her. She arose, took the note, recognized her fathers writing, opened 1t and read his announcement that he had secured the contract on which he had spent most of his time for the better part of a year, "Oh. Pm SD glad!" she exclaimed. "But pardon me. Won't you be seat ed?"
 ''No, thank you. I must get right back to the offlce.''
 "Did papa tell you he'd got the con tract?'
 "Oh, no; he doesn't tell me things Pm only his employee. But I'm very much pleased to hear that he has sue ceeded. I've done lot of figuring for l him on that contract"
 ''Are you ali engineer?" "Yes. I was graduated last year in the scientific school Your father ap- piled for one of cur class, and was assigned to him."
 The young man looked happy, and the girl looked happy and tried to think of some mere pleasant things that her father had said about him. Though he declined to be seated, he asked her If she would not play just one piece on her harp, and she did, or, rather, she sang "Annie Laurie," ac- companying herself on her instrument. Any one who has heard that song ac- cOmpanied by harp knows of the depth of feeling there is in 1t. From that moment to Ned Kennedy "Annie Laurie" was none other than Elsie Winslow,
 When the engineer got back to the office he discovered that he had been with the young lady an hour, thinking he had been with her ten minutes, and his chief was impatiently awaiting him. MT. Winslow asked him where he had been so long, and he replied that he had carried the note himself since none of the boys was at hand. Then he threw out danger signal in a blush, but his employer failed to un- derstand it.
 Three months was the time specified for the beginning of the contract work During this period WinsloW & Gu spent fortune in materials and other preparation. While this was going on Ned Kennedy and Elsie Winslow were making all sorts of excuses to meet and within six weeks mutual coD- fession had been made and the lovers were in terror lest Elsie's father should discover the extent to which matters had gone, for Elsie knew that she would not be permitted to marry ahy one, especially poor young engineer earning 1925 a week.
 Such cases alWays run the same course, The lovers think they are en- during no end of excruciating torture. but they are not, When love tortures end prosaic marriage begins, and as husband and wife the couple take in- finite pleasure ill reading of other cou- ples' love tortures, The denouemeur came in time. Ned Kennedy sent q note to his ladylove. not knowing that her father was at home. MT. Winslow received 1t and took 1t to his daughter This time tke danger signal was in terpreted. Then Elsie threw herself into her fathers arms and confessed all.
 No one likes to be deceived. The fa- ther should have realized that stolen fruit is the sweetest and had compas- sion. Instead he blamed his employee for what he termed dishonorable cop duct and blamed his daughter for keep ing from him such an important mat. ter. She tried to excuse herself on the ground that she was afraid to tell, j She really thought this was true. 1t was not. She did not tell of her love because she took pleasure in 1t, ln- dulged clandestinely.
 MT. WlnSlOW was so 1rr1tated with Kennedy that he paid him his salary and discharged him. He supposed his action to be based on the young man winning his daughters love without permission. He forgot that he had won the girls mother in the same way. The true reason was that he was irritated because he had been stupidly ignorant of what was going on.
 The day when a commencement on the contract must be made drew near. One morning MT. Winslow while per- fecting his plans to make sure of the smallest details had all his formula spread out before him on table. The weather was cold and blustery, and a fire of logs blazed on a hearth near