Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-02-23
good thing after she has reached

good thing after she has reached
thirty.
Seeing no chance to meet the doc.
tor socially. Miss Helen got up q sore
throat and drove into Roselands to
have the young M. D. examine and
prescribe for it. She was a patient.
but an agreeable one. The sore
throat, for which a gargle of hot
vinegar was prescribed, did not in
the least hinder her from being en-
PERTAINING. AS she drove homeward
she could almost flatter herself that
she had made an impression.
Old maids are credited with being
sharper than serpent's tooth, but
there are exceptions. This was one.
A quarter Of mile from the Flints
lived the Rowlands, and there was
Miss Kitty with her hazel eyes and
brown curls to chum with Miss
Helen. Young girls do chum with
old maids sometimes, and the two
talk romance together. AS soon as
Miss Helen reached home she few
over to her chum to tell her all about
the doctor. 1t was interesting. It
was palpitating It was romantic. 1t
never occurred to that young woman
Of over thirty that she might have q
rival In her chum She Just laid her
cards on the table, face up and gave
away her plans.
After all, 1t can't be said that. any
act Of Miss Kitty's brought about the
state OF despair and the desire for
revenge that finally ragged through
the old maids system. Miss Kitty
sprained her ankle while racins after
the family rooster over the snow, and
DR. Westover was sent for to apply
liniments and bandages.
That's the way he came to know
her and come to a certain decision.
The "chum talk was now \ on the
other side, and although. Miss Helen
smiled she had q feeling way down
in her heart of tomahawks and
butcher knives. And to maintain her
grip she got cinder in her eye and
drove in to have the doctor pick 1t
out. He found 1t and extracted it and
was very friendly, but at the same
time he praised Miss Kitty's eyes In
stead of those of the patient, also her
face and curls.
And now, what does an old maid do
when she swears by the beard of her
father and ! the. eyebrows of her
mother that she will have dire re-
venege on a good-looking girl han her
age? She doesn't send poisoned candy
or Turk in ambush with the bread
knife. Sc waits for Providence to
come along and help her.
Miss Helen waited. While waiting
she drove into the doctors to have
her right ear examined for little
deafness, and her left lung tested for
decay and the NJ D. was invited out
to the Flint mansion to dinner, and
found time to go. 1t was afterward
remembered that at brief intervals
he cast his eyes across the landscape
to the house of the Rowlands.
A week later came the day OF re-
venge. Miss Kitty was to be paid
cut for spraining that ankle and say
ing that the doctor was one OF the
incest men she ever met. She got up
one morning with toothache. She
was hardly up before she had ban
dage on her jaw. After picking away
at breakfast catnip poultice was
put on. 1t was while she was wear
ing this and shedding tears and her.
hair flying and her eyes red that Miss
Helen came in, Providence had placed
q club in her hands, That tooth must
come out at once or be filled. At any
rate, DR.. Westover must see it. There
was danger of lockjaw, blood poison
ing and several other serious things,
and delay might mean death.
No, the doctor must not be tele-
phoned for. He might be out and un-
able to come for hours, or have the
Office full of patients. Miss Kitty
must be bundled up and driven in
lust as she was. Miss Helen would
drive her. The snow was going, but
there was yet enough for the cutter.
And poor Kitty was scared and fius-
trated and went like lamb to the
slaughter. She had never; felt worse
or looked more dismal. Just let DR..
Westover get one good look at those
tousled curls, these red-rimmed hazel
eyes, those wan cheeks without !. the
slightest color, that human frame
with garments pinned or buttoned or
tied on most any old way, and pouf!
1T would be q positive rehef and
pleasure for him to turn to the other
face and form.
It was keen morning and the
air carried the pony back to other
days. He ambled and gamboled ana
minced He stood on his hind legs
and squealed. He stood on his fore
legs and kicked in the dashboard
with his heels. Then he ran away.
1t was Miss Helen's' rig and she was
the driver and she had a suffering
girl under her care, but, after the
pony had run half a mile out she
jumped. She was going to live to
marry DR.. Westcver. Then, with
the lines trailing and all the world
looking good to him, the pony
dashed onward and eventually
brought up at the door Of the doc
tors office. Miss Kitty had sat
tight and come through all right,
but mile or more back en- the high
way an old maid was picking herself
out of a snowbank and talking to
providence in most ungrateful way.
"Why-why, Miss Rowlands!" ex-
claimed the doctor as he rushed
from his Office.
UI,va oot-OOf tho fNOthachato she