The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-12-04
The Fair One With
the Golden Locks
b. RYLAND BELL

X0alW was MISS ~Oc0eSte sue wore
It as loose as any hair can be dressed.
Indeed. it resembled a balloon In it,
shape.
Having fallen In love with the young
Ady's hair. l proceeded to fall in love
with the girl herself. We boarded In
the same house: consequently ! saw
her often. but she kept very much
to herself. and none Of US became IA.
miliar with her. Sometimes she would
sit with me after dinner for a short
while. but none Of the other boarders
was 20 honored. At such times. es-
pecially when we sat side by side. l
noticed q dampness In the air which
seemed to cOme from my companion
! once asked her how she made each
individual hair stand out by itself. and
she said that she washed It very often
There was q great deal Of dust floating
about. and it got into her hair. This
was the cause Of the frequent wash
tngA.
After giving her a number Of Invita-
lions finally succeeded in inducing
Miss Winchester to go to the theater
with me. When at the raising Of the
curtain she took Of her hat and dis.
played her wealth Of hair many per-
sons turned their eyes upon 1t admir-
ingly. 1t seemed to me that not only
its hue was golden. but that In one
or two places it had a golden sparkle.
l asked her II she eve used a gold
powder. She looked at me In q star.
tied way and said:
mo. What makes you think soT"
Because there is q place in your hair
which sparkles as though you had put
gold powder on It"
She put her hand up and asked me
where was the spot l referred to and
was not satisfied till I directed her
to It.
Miss Winchester held a position Of
some sort but she told none OF us
where or what 1t was. She went out
about 8 o'clock in the morning and re.
turned at 4. On her return she went
into Der room and locked the door. l
understood that she wished to rest till
dinner. could not understand why.
II she needed rest, she took the trouble
to wash her hair SO often. Women
usually make a great ado about wash.
ing their hair. and when they do arc
usually to be SEE sitting about with
It hanging loose. Miss Winchester
would wash her hair between 4 and 5
o'clock and come down to dinner with
It done up at half past 6. once asked
her how she dried it so rapidly and she
said by tanning 1t. This added to my
wonder that she should take SO much
trouble after a days work.
l asked the young lady on several
occasions to give me a lock of her beau.
tiful hair. but she always declined.
One evening when We were sitting to-
gether a lock came loose. My business
requires me to carry a small pair Of
scissors in my vest pocket. and l sur
reptitiously cut of the strand without
her being aware of what ! had done.
When I went to my room l held the
strand near the gas jet to examine it.
On it l noticed a particle of a substance
that reflected the light. Among my
k~nickknacks l kept a magnifying glass
mot a scientific instrument. but such
as could be carried in the pocket.
brought it to bear on the particle and
saw that it was either stone or metal.
I judged that it vas metal. since M
of tts minute faces reflected the light
Moreovor, moving the light about on
the lock ! detected other particles.
though most Of them were much small
er than the first.
I don't know what prompted me to
do so-idle curiosity. l suppose-but |
put the lock in a glass Of water and
stirred it to separate the particles.
They settled to the bottom Of the glass
I poured most of the water of. and the
rest Of it. including the particles.
poured on to u sheet of white paper.
This l held over the gas jet till the
water had evaporated and the particles
stood u on the white paper inf
nitely small bits Of yellow sand or
metal. Fishing a little horseshoe mag.
net out from among my other trinkets.
I picked n of the particles up with
it. l then knew that it vas metal.
said nothing to any n about the
matter. Indeed, l thought very little
Of it till one afternoon. being in q
building. l saw Miss Winchester CON.
ing out Of an Office on the door of
which. under the frm name. was the
word "Assayers." Assayers may be
expected to handle gold dust, and q
suspicion at once came to me that the
particles I had found in Miss Winches.
ter's hair were golden. l had preserv.
ed them and made a further examina.
don to find that my surmise was right
l ceased my attentions to Miss Win.
chester. but I dreaded to have it dis.
covered that she was carrying away
gold dust that did not belong to her
IN her hair and, asked for q private In.
terview with her. told her what I had
teen and how it had revealed what she
had stolen.