The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1915-04-23

her woman's life that preparations Tor
breakfast had ever greeted her ears
when she had not been an active par
ticipator In them.
She lay quite still for a quarter or
an hour. tired in body and mind. but
incredibly happy in spirit. marvellng
at the changes wrought in her during
the day preceding, the most
one in her history.
The image of Ivory had been all
through the night in the foreground or
her dreams and in her moments OF
w%akefulness. both made blissful by the
heaven of anticipation that dawned
upon her. Was ever man SO wise, so
tender and gentle, so strong, SO COM
pretending? What mattered the alb
sence of worldly goods, the presence of
care and anxiety, when a IN had
q steady hand to hold. a steadfast
heart to trust. a man who would love
her and stand by her, whate'er befell?
Then the face of Ivory's mother
would swim into the mental picture:
the pale face, as white as the pillow
it lay upon; the face with it's aureole
of ashen hair. and the wistful blue
eyes that begged Of God and her chill
dren some peace before they closed on
life.
The vision of her sister was a joyful
one, and her heart was at peace about
her, the plucky little princess who had
blazed the way out Of the ogre's castle.
She saw Patty clearly as a future
fine lady, in velvets and satins and
furs, bewitching everybody by her gay
spirits, her piquant vivacity. and the
loving heart that lay underneath all
the nonsense and gave it warmth and
color.
The remembrance of her father alone
on the hilltop did indeed trouble Wait
still. Self %reproach. in the true sense
Of the word. she did not. could not,
feel.
When she was thankfully eating her
breakfast with Mrs. Mason a little
later and waiting for Ivory to call for
them both and take them to the Boyn-
ton farm. she little knew what was
going on at her old home in these very
hours. when. to tell the truth. she
would have liked to slip in. had 1t been
possible. wash the morning dishes.
skim the cream, do the weeks churn-
ing, make her fathers bed and slip
out again into the dear shelter of love
that awaited her.
The deacon had passed a good part
of the night in scheming and contrfv-
ing, and when he drank his self made
cup Of muddy coffee at Z o'clock next
morning he had formed several plans
that were to be Immediately frustrat-
ed. had he known it, by the ~exasperat-
ing and suspicious nature of the ladies
involved in them.
At 8 he had left the house, started
Bill Morrill, at the store and was on
the road in search of vengeance and a
~housekeeper. Old Mrs. Atkins of Deer
wander shifted at the wages offered.
Miss Peters of Union Falls, an aged
spinster with weak lungs. had the i'm
pertinence to tell him that she feared
she couldn't stand the cold in his
house; she had heard he was very par
ticular about the amount of wood that
was burned. There was not another
free woman within eight miles, and
the deacon was chatting under the NOR
%tiication of being continually obliged
to state the reasons Of his needing a
housekeeper. The only hope, it SEEM
ed, lay in going to Saco and hiring a
stranger, a plan not at all to his lik-
ing, as it was ire to involve him in
extra expense.
Muttering threats against the uni
verse in general, he drove home by
way Of Milliken's mills. thinking Of
the unfed hens, the unmilked COW, the