The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1910-05-26

egW3 q Mettervlllo aWOke to the
@S1lt6tS lint John Haywood was
lnslove thsits tongues waIged indus
ttaously: The very fact that sober.
ptGetacel' :BsehSIdf John so:called to
diidi6visk him from q cousin of the
seahf WHIT hnd. been long since
maFfisd-ihould presume. at IS. to
fa1 81 love At AL. was, in itself. pre-.
.pp9t1le6s. u But, when It became
known that Il was 1s-year.old Eliza
6sehs esaSdon; 5utt home from school.
from whose eyeAs had flashed the
shanN thft hHd penetrated this hither.
TO tmpervious heart. then torrent of
dtsappr6vSi swept from neighbor to
sntithbor. until the very limits Of the
village had been reached, That the
gtrl was extraordinarily pretty. all
the men avowed. and the women
gtudEtuyiy' admitted: but even this
did not sufiice to exonerate poor
Bachelor John from their censure.
AT the death Of his father, rs years
before. Haywood. though little more
than boy had taken ON himself the
burden Of the general dry goods and
grocery store OF which his father had
been proprietor. AZ a child. he had
displayed a remarkably serious turn
OF mind. All through his youth, he
had seldom been known to indulge
IN any sort Of frolic. It was not
strange. then. that. with the assump-
ton. Of the oversight of the store. he
had settled into a premature man
hood from which he had never
emerged.
Only two women had played any
important part In his life. One was
his mother. about whom all his power
Of loving had centered. After she,
like the father. had gone out ON the
last long Journey. 1t had been the sup.
position Of many persons that John
Haywood would marry: but. as the
years had gone on, their conjectures
had changed into doubts. which, in
turn. had merged into the popular
conviction that It would be Bachelor
John with him to theeend of time.
The other woman was one with
whom his interests were perforce az
sociated. This was Elizabeth Cong.
don's maiden sister. Mary, who, II
years before. had gone into Heywood's
store @ bookkeeper and cashier. but
Who had become virtually his business
partner. Asa commercial asset. she
vas ihdfsp4nsable7 to her employer.
and was fully appreciated by him as
such. She was slim. timid little
woman Of 49,, whose sweet, plain face,
bending faithfully over her accounts.
had never. through all the years, re-.
vealsd = trace Of the homage that her
heart iifveiuntafily rendered to Bache.
lor John: J
AZ TO winning him. she had hardly
thought Of that; but. II she had, it
would have seemed, the natural thing
that she should relinQuish all claim in
hltsabeth's- favor. IL that young lady
wanted him. For. 10 years she had
beeh Ifvfng UP things to Elizabeth.
and was entirely reconcileI to doing
80. Consequently. when she observed.
With the others. Heywood's infatua.
don, fofs her pretty sister, she felt no
bitttrnS6s. no thsartache, no unwilling.
ness. It was merely another link i'm
the chain that bound her to the realm
Of unconscious 'seff- sacrifice.
With the advent Of Elizabeth into
Westervfl1e society. Bachelor John be-
gan Z: warfare against the encroach.
ments Of the advancing years-a war.
fare that furnished endless amusement
to his fellow townsmen;' for the; 7nb.
yiousness Of his motive made even the
most charitable SMILE The mustache
that he had worn for 30 long that It
had come to seem q part of his per.
sonality. disappeared over night. His
old.fashioned spectacles were rep,aced
By pair Of fimleGS nose glasses. held
In phce BY a-gold chain. The interest
that he was observed to be displa wing
In collars and cravats was maryeious
i began to be whispered about that
hs viz bsGfnhing to dye his hair. and
ct that, someone remarked maliciousIv
that soon 20 would be going up to the
city to: get his wrinkles rubbed out
Aafy ConSd0n. puzzled but Iowa,
studied her employer in the light Of a
prospective. brother-in-law and WAS
troubled sIta the apparent incompati.
bilttX How could the business nros.
per- without the grave, steady Hev.
Noea q former days at the helm ,
YET, Il this reversion on his part To
the wiys, d youth should be only tran.
story l1asy nov eanM h. proye = fitting