Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1915-07-21

IAN EANHZ
II hate everything in the world" as
serted the girl. s%weepingly and d%efiantly,
everything and everybody, except, Of
course. you. Hester"
Kitty, dear, don't ak so wickedly."
replied a voice so feeble and tired. though
sweet, that there was no need to be told
Aunt Hester was Ill.
II can't help not being patient like you.
Auntie, and If it is wicked to hate things,
why, then, I must be wicked"
The girl stopped and the elder woman
sighed but said nothing. She knew how
hard the poverty Of their lives was to the
pretty girl of Is who had youths natural
desire for pleasure and pretty things. She
understood how trksome 1t was to Kitty
to teach dull children for five hours daily
for the munificent sum of 500 a year,
which money, with the addition of a very
small annuity of hers, was all they had to
live on. She knew, too, better than her
niece, better ever than the doctor, that so
far as she was concerned. 1t would soon
be over, hat not even the visit to Florida.
so easily advised, so impossible to obtain,
would make very much difference or very
AAld III Gig SAlCAi AAS AoSo AAS
would be left to fight the battle Of life
alone.
But Kitty thought otherwise; she be-
lieved that complete change of air would
work wonders for her aunt. Sometimes,
however, the utter hopelessness OF her
ever being able to do anything but trudge
on In the dreary gray path where their
lives had fallen. struck her so forcibly
that she felt compelled, as now, to give
vent to the misery and longing in a fierce
invective against the world at large.
"Only $780," she went on bitterly. III
have worked 1t all out. For $3.50 we could
both go to Tampa for ten weeks. You
would take the two of us for SIS a week;
that would leave plenty for the journey.
Two hundred and fifty dollars! Less than
heaps of women spend on one Dress"
But the gentle words only added fuel to
Kitty's wrath.
Then Kitty ounce from the room n
went for a walk in the hope Of cooling
feelings.
She made for the park, and as she was
walking along one of its most. deserted
paths her foot knocked against q stone,
which she kicked impatiently away. The
softness of the stone struck her, and she
looked down to find she was kicking a
purse. She picked 1t UP and examined 1t
SdA IL Woo tOoAky ASW, " ASS
leather, curiously worked with black and
the IA. X" stamped in gold
in one corner.
ut is so light there can be nothing in
It," she said to herself, n opened 1t. A
half dollar and four pennies fell into her
hand, and then some pieces of folded pa
per, five bills for 500 EACH. There was no
one near. Kitty's head swan, her eyes
grew misty, she felt sick and faint as the
temptation unfolded itself to her. Here
was the sum needed to restore u Hes
ter to health; there was no name in the
purse, no clew to the owner. surely since
1t had come to her at that moment when
she SO much needed 1t, it must nave been
sent by providence. Surely 1t would be
only right for her to keep it. Thus she
reasoned, knowing the weakness Of her
arguments, realizing, but refusing to con-
slider, that she contemplated committing
a theft.
II will keep it till tomorrow and decide
then" thought Kitty, and went home. All
that evening she was so quiet that her
aunt thought she was %repenting of her
angry outburst, and was so particularly
sweet and gentle to her that more than
once Kitty was tempted to confide in her.
II Miss Ormond had not been the most
simple-minded and unsuspecting Of women
she would never nave believed that Mrs.
Harper, the by-no-means rich mother of
.AS ~ Il NO0AA oAVS AS " ASS-
ent of $500, for this was the very feeble
lie by which Kitty accounted for her pos
session Of the money. Miss Ormond was
anxious to write and thank the lady, but
Kitty averred that Mrs. Harper had made
a condition she should receive no thanks
for her gift, and Miss Ormond, into who's
guileless mind no shadow of suspicion
entered. obeyed, though a little unwill-
ingly.
A week later and the dingy lodgings
were left and aunt and niece started for
Florida.
Kitty endured many a prick of con-
science. She feared she might see an in
Quiry for the lost purse, and SO resolutely
refused to ook at a newspape 81 have
gone SO far I can't go back now" she as
sured herself over and over again, but
often when her aunt made some happy
little remark about the beauty Of her sur
roundings, or said: I'VE can never be
grateful enough to Mrs. Harper. Kitty.
dear. for giving US this delightful treat"
Kitty's heart smote her and she had hard
work not to max full confession then
and there. But 1t would only make her
unhappy" she told herself. '.she would
leave here at once, I know. and then
pinch to repay what we have already
spent. I am sure 1t belonged to some rich
person who could well spare It," All her
~reasonings. however. left her unsatisfied,
and she sometimes felt absolutely Ill with
shame and misery when the fact presented
itself to her badly and barely-'I am a
thief"
Then suddenly one day when they had
been In Florida for six weeks. n Kitty
congratulated herself that her aunt was
30 much better she had not sinned In vain.
the end came. Aunt Hester returned from
q walk, felt tired and went to lie down.
In TIVE hours q suave little doctor was as
surfing the almost frantic Kitty that noth-
Ing could have saved Miss Ornnond. ssIf