The log cabin Democrat., 1916-01-22

| oh, Misfortune only adopts those
who need him." answered the girl,
| laughing.
| Il certainly needed him." murmured
| Ralph.
They were to be married in about
three months. In the wonder of the
engagement Ralph did not realize
what his first meeting with Dorothy
should have taught him-that his fan
| Gee combined certain inherited hot.
ness of temper with her sweetness.
Once or twice he had to humble him
self to get forgiveness for omissions;
he had kept her waiting, being un
avoidably detained; he had been un,
able to accompany her to the theater
one evening. He thought nothing of
this, for he knew Dorothy was the
dearest girl in the world. But some
thing happened which upset all his
calculations. The colonel fell dead in
the street.
After the funeral it was discovered
that the mortgage on the property had
to be met Immediately. The paper was
taken over by an old rival of Colonel
Sharpe, and Ralph's and Dorothy's fu-
ture left up in the air"
The girl hardened. Ralph's protests
fell unheeded on her ears 1T would
have killed my uncle, if he had
known" she said
but I was not to blame, dear"
oh, you should have been more
businesslike. What are you going to
do now?"
For the first time Ralph lost his tenn
per. Il am going to offer you your
freedom, If you only care for the bust
ness he said Indignantly.
He knew he had misjudged her. He
would have been at her feet the next
moment But Dorothy. Indignantly on
her part, too, flung the ring across
the table and walked out Of the room
with a high head and trembling lips.
Ralph left the house, crushed. A
penitent letter from him remained I'M
answered. He knew that he had lost
Dorothy forever.
She had adored her uncle. She
could never forgive the fact that Ralph
had let the paper fall into the hands
of the Old mans bitterest rival The
old Mirror-Advocate which had always
stood for the cleanest of clean poll
tics, had become the organ of the low
politician. Its circulation went up by
leaps and bounds. Ralph would rather
have had the prestige of the old sheet.
A desperate resolution that came to
him was stimulated by a discovery he
made. The new owners had no legal
right to the name. The Mirror-Advo-
cate had changed hands, and the title
was his, therefore the newcomers
bought the plant. Ralph found a
wealthy man to back him and resolved
to resuscitate the old paper under it's
own name.
After a lawyers interview Ralph,
refusing an offer of $4,000 for the title,
restarted the Mirror-Advocate on a
hand press pending the arrival of the
linotypes. He knew that would please
Dorothy-that and the revival of the
paper.
It's success was amazing. Before
the paper was anything more than a
four-page sheet it had circulation OF
seven thousand. Advertisers began
to come in. Ralph wrote to Dorothy
again. He asked her if she would for
give him when he had restored the old
prestige OF the paper. But no answer
came, and whenever they met the girl
hurried past him with high head and
flaming checks.
1t was about six months after the
paper had been re-establshed that
Misfortune suddenly reappeared.
Where he had been Ralph did not
know-certainly not with Dorothy. He
appeared as unconventionally as he
had gone away, and took up his abode
with Ralph in the boarding house.
This solitary reminder Of the old
days was grateful to the young man.
Once Dorothy saw him and the dog
together. That was the time she
passed with head bent low instead of
held high. That was the time when
Ralph almost dared to speak to her.
And then came the days when Ralph
knew very little about anything. Ty-
phoid was raging in the town. thanks
to the slackness Of the health board,
whose head was creature Of Rout-
ledge, the owner of the aforetime
Mirror-Advocate and now the Sentinel.
Ralph was one of the first victims.
He knew very little; he could not
even recall how he came to sicken.
1t was, in fact, at the beginning of
his convalescence. in the third week,
that he realized he was in the hospi-
tal attended by strange nurse, and
his heart filled with an aching empti-
ness that only one person could fill.
He almost wept in his weakness. He
lay back with closed eyes. He did not
care, he did not know that the door
had opened softly until-she stood be-
side him.
He looked at her DULY. 1t seemed
phantom come to torture him. But Dor