The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1915-01-19
her GOLDENROD DYE
BY MURIEL CHANCE.

ence that Nancy had ever had. For a
long time after it happened she could
not make herself believe that it was
true.
She was weaving in the attic, max
ing the homespun rugs which had be-
come a village industry in the little
Pennsylvania town. Her winters work
brought in enough money to buy a few
luxuries for her bedridden mother and
clothes for Monte, at school. Suddenly
a knock came below and, when Nancy
went down, she saw young man, a
stranger, standing at the.door
1 am told that you make the best
rugs in the village, Miss McLane," he
said. MAY see some of your work?"
She showed him some. Certainly the
contours were straight, and not higgle-
dy-piggledy like those of most of the
village rugs. However, the young man
was interested in other details than
that.
My name is Cyrus Brown, and /
am from the rug factory at Altoona"
he said. 1--WE want to buy the secret
of your vegetable dye-the yellow
one"
Nancy laughed. There isn't any Sc
cret about that" she answered
Everybody here knows that It's
goldenrod You steep the flowers in
hot water and add a little alcohol and
=" And Nancy gave him the secret
MAY come another day when you
are making the extract?" asked the
young man.
Eyes, reckon I'll be making some
this day next week." Nancy answered.
Seems to me, Nancy" grumbled her
mother, when he had gone, you might
have got hold of young fellow like
that instead of that good-for-nothing
Jim Penny"
Nancy said nothing. But she sighed
a little that night when Jim, out of
work as usual, sat glumly at her side
and asked, for the tenth time that year,
when she would marry him.
Nancy and Jim had been engaged
for years. But he had never held a po-
sition more than week or two, and,
while the girl felt the bond of old as
ISOLATION, she had begun to think seri-
ously of the future.
When Mr.. Brown called, week Ia
ter, Nancy had steaming pot of gold
enrod extract upon the table, and he
was quickly initiated into the mystery
OF dyeing the fabrics.
eft cporOC too 0ond 70 ho fr,,o cofd
the young man 1--WE thought those
vegetable dyes had been forgotten long
ago. l am authorized to pay you this
in remuneration" And he handed her
a crisp bundle of bills.
Nancy drew back. why, Mr..
Brown" she said, everybody knows
how to make goldenrod dye. 1t isn't
worth anything-really.'
But he left the bills upon the table
and. declining to stay for supper this
time, departed. When he had gone
Nancy looked at the money. There
were five hundred dollars!
Breathless, she ran after the visitor,
but he was out of sight. And so she
came back and wrote a letter to the
rug factory explaining that mistake
had been made.
Her mother, though inclined to agree
with this view, was strongly against
Nancy's posting the letter.
That evening Nancy, radiant, ran to
Jim with a cry of pleasure and told
him what had occurred, showing him
the bills.
To her amazement Jim became al
most inarticulate with anger.
Five hundred dollars for a trade
secret he shouted. why, it's worth
five thousand at the least"
But, Jim, everybody knows how to
make goldenrod dye" Nancy protest
ed.
We'll tell them that we stipulated
for five thousand he said, "and I'll
take this lot, Nancy, to make a first
payment on that cottage I spoke
about"
A few days later the young man
called again.
I'VE have received a letter from a
Mr.. Penny, threatening to bring suit
on your behalf for five thousand dol
lars" he began. "The company sent
me to investigate. Do you really make
such a claim, Miss McLane?"
"Mr Brown, / don't want to take a
penny" she cried. Why, IL gave
you the secret and"
She brought the money and thrust
1t into his hands. THAT shows you
what / feel about it," she cried.
And it took the whole afternoon,
until supper time, before Mr.. Brown
could convince Nancy of the value Of
commercial secret. In fact, it took
SO long that Jim came in upon the
couple unawares as Mr. Brown was ex-
planning to Nancy after supper was
over.
Hum! / guess I see where the mig
ger lay" remarked the young man, sur
veying the couple with a cool stare
Nan, if you're going to let yourself be
cheated out of your money by a swim
dler like that, all l say is, l wash my
hands of you
Nancy got up with dignity "Per-
haps you would like to talk to Mr..
Brown alone" she said meaningly.
But Jim Penny beat hasty retreat.
Writing letters was more to his taste.
He wrote Nancy long one after the
engagement was announced. 1t con-
tanned a request for money. But the
girl never knew that, because she put
it in the fire unopened. She had left