The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1910-01-28

llol cure 10 renew our past relations.
And here comes in the second val
entine. l was offered my new position
the LIST Of January, and in six weeks
st. Valentines day came round. l
sent Efie, who was now twenty-five
years old, a valentine. l was aware
that the custom had even at that day
fallen largely into the hands of chill
dren. ] didn't intend to declare my
love iii verses that had now come to
seem cheap to me. I used the valen-
tine as a starter for a clandestine cor
respondence. I wrote a message on it
in lemon juice. then indited in a dis
guised hand this couplet:
If to know me you aspire
Read my name before the fire.
You see letters written in lemon
juice, though invisible before. when
heated come out a brown color. Eff.
fe would apply the necessary heat.
l only feared that she would throw
the valentine in the wastebasket with
out reading the couplet.
That all turned out right was ap-
parent in Il letter l received from my
valentine, for which I had given her an
address. Efie was delighted at my
success and said that she was very
proud Of me. She added, however,
that, so far rs obtaining her mothers.
consent to our marriage or even an en-
gagement was concerned, it would be
more difficult than ever. Her mothers
figures for the fortune Efie's husband
should possess We're rising every day.
Efie and | after this continued to
correspond clandestinely, she not
knowing exactly what to do. She
loved her mother, and she loved me.
She had yielded to her mothers wish
es so long as I was unable to support
her, and, now that l was in a position
to do so. she felt that something was
due both to me and to herself. Mat
tiers We're brought to a crisis by Mrs.
Winston discovering our correspond
ence. A letter Ellie had written Inc
fell into her mothers hands.
1t seems that Mrs. Winston had been
on the watch for such a procedure and
could not imagine how my first letter
could have got into the house without
her knowing it. Edie declined to en-
tighten her. That made the old lady
very angry, and there was a great com
motion in the Winston family. OF
course our correspondence was stop
ped. Efie was forbidden to write to
or receive letters from me under pain
Of being run off to Europe. In addi-
ton to the command Mrs. Winston set
spies upon Ef1ie, and she dared not
post me a single note.
Matters went on in this way for
nearly a year. One day a letter came
/ to the Winston house that excited Eff
fie's suspicious. 1t was now her turn
to pry. The letter bore the business
stamp Of an agent Of a steamship com
pany. Efie steamed the envelope,
| opened it and read that her mother
had engaged passage for two for Ge-
noa, the vessel to sail on the 18th of
February. or in about a week.
Here was q revelation. Something
must he done, Something was done.
And this is the way it was done.
Il GLuC d WSth UClOIC ols dlOAk4uC .
day went out and bought a supply Of
valentines for the children. The same
evening she addressed a number Of
them, her mother asking why she was
sending them SO early, and she reply
ing that they were going to distant
places. She addressed and stamped
them, managing to retain n which
she addressed to me. This she gave,
with the others, to a maid to post.
who mailed them without looking at
the addresses.
This was the third and last valen-
tine. I received it and read that Ef1e
was ready to walk away with me to
church before. the sailing of the vessel
that was to take her to foreign parts.
She appointed a place Of meeting and
an hour. Indeed. she arranged every
thing to my satisfaction.
But there was very little time. The
steamer was to leave ut / p. m. on
Feb. IA. and the appointment made
by Ellie to meet me was at dawn the
same morning. Before any d in the
house was awake she was up and
dressed and stealing downstairs. Then
she went. out by a rear door. was
at the corner with a carriage. and
when I saw her scudding toward me
I opened the carriage door. we got In
and were driven away.
I had arranged my part Of the elope-
ment and engaged a clergyman to be
M and ready t perform a wedding