Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-11-07
surely as there is anything to tell
uo uas very happy lighter Of heart

surely as there is anything to tell
He was very happy, lighter Of heart
than for years. Jenny Glare was
enough to make any reasonable man
lighthearted: Sweet and twenty,
graceful as the wind dainty as q
flower, withal immensely well bred,
and sweetly human, she had swept
him off his feet at the very first en-
counter at the third he had pro-
posed Now, at the tenth, he was to
have his answer.
She was visiting her kinfolk, tho
Wilds-- his dear hope was that In
month at most, he might 60 and
fetch her from her fathers home,
hen ceforth to be the light OF his
heart She liked him 80 much was
certain. Full of fine coquetry though
she was, she had let him see that
much. Moreover, she had said non.
estly, there was nobody else the root
of her fencing and playing with him,
was merely a defensive instinct. He
had been very patient, as became a
man fifteen years her elder. NOW
he wondered family II he had not
been too patient. That last time she
had seemed almost to surrender
maybe If he had pressed her harder,
he might now have the bliss OF as
surance. -
Dismay fell on him as he rode into
the Wild gate. There upon the lawn,
the team embarrassed, rested the
Baker rockaway. Mrs Baker and
Kitty Terry had no doubt come to
spend the day. Len had seen. Kitty
onlv at distance since she came
back-through Miss Prudence, though,
he knew she was not reckoned 1ncon-
soIable. It was awkward-this find.
ing her in his path, still 1T need make
no difference He would take Jenny
to ride Just the same and before the
ride ended, know his fate.
Man proposes, woman disposes
otherwise. Kitty Terry met Len with
the air of a proprietor. She fairly forced
him to sit down by her on the piazza
bench. Mrs. Wild was INVISIBLE, Jenny
dutifully listening to old Nine Bakers
accounts Of her own youth and BELLE
ship. '"They call Kitty, there, flirt,'
she was saying; but lawsy me! she
never at her best came within a snlle
of me-" h.oa
itary," Kitty said, under breath, glanc-
ing at Len from beneath lowered Ids.
"You don't know how it has touched
me-to find you didn't forget, all these
years." she ran on. II know was cruel
but then I didn't really understand"
Len felt himself flush-a dull angry
red. But to an observer it might well
seem the hue Of aroused feeling. Nine:
Baker had got up. 1--WE must go ma
Linda Wild" she said over her shoul-
der. "Jenny'll show me where she Is
meantime Len don't YOU let that girl
get into mischief
poor Len! / do hope his constancy
is going to be rewarded. )" she purred
to- Jenny as they went down the long
hall. my dear, it's been simply heart
breaking-to know the boy was so lone
ly, OF course, it was pity for Joe Ter
nv to be taken, cut down like a cucum-
Der of the ground, but the ways OF
Providence are past finding out. Len
certainly deserves q good wite, and
Kitty's very well left-Joe's insurance
was very handsome:
Jenny murmured something mar
ticulate--one had only to make sounds
to keep Nine. Baker going.
Presently they came upon Mrs. Wild.
who said rather sharply You better
60 back, Granny Baker, don't like
company In my kitchen" SO the pro-
grcss back began. and at last, ended.
Before it ended though Jenny was fur
iously angry, more furiously unhappy.
Len had trifled with her. made love to
her In sport when his heart was all an
others. He had been cruel-but she
would show him she also could play the
game. Somehow she excused herself
and ran away to write a letter.
She was pale but very bright-eyed
as she came back to the piazza In rid