Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1916-05-25

patience aW1ullV." y faint flush ting
cd her clear complexion. II just came,
really, to get some news of Dan"
He's perfectly we'll and happy, and
you'll see him in a few days"
Miss Appleton nodded. $50 he wrote,
but | couldn't wait. Now, won't you
tell me all about him-not anything
about his looks and his health, but lit
tie unimportant things that will mean
something: You see, I'm his mother
and his sister and his sweetheart"
ONcil did as he was directed and
before long found himself reciting the
details of that trying trip up the Salm-
on river. He told her how he had
sent the young engineer out to run the
preliminary survey for the new rail
road and added: He is in IL fair way
to realize his ambition of having you
with him all the time. Pm sure that
will please YOU"
And it is my ambition to make
enough money to have him With me-"
she announced. With an air Of some
Importance she continucd; I'll tell you
a secret. Pm writing for the maya
Zlnes-StorieS." She sat back await
ing his enthusiasm. When she saw
that it was not forthcoming she eN-
claimed, MY, how you do rave over
the idea"
II congratulate you, Of course, but
Now. don't tell me that you tried it
once, or course you did. l know it's
a harmless disease, like the measles,
and that everybody has it when they're
young. Above all. don't volunteer the
information that your own life is full
of romance and would make IL splen-
did novel. They all say that"
Murray O'Neil felt the glow Of per-
sonal interest that results from the dis
covery in another of Il congenial sense
of humor.
81 didn't suppose you had to write"
he said. Dan told me you had in
vested our fortune and were on Easy
street.
THAT was poetic license. fiction
lied slightly in my report to him be-
cause knew he was doing so Well"
Then your investment didn't turn
out fortunately"
Miss Appleton hesitated. You seem
to be a kindly, trusting person. Pm
tempted to destroy your faith in hui
man nature"
please don't"
Yes, l shall. My experience may
help you to avoid the pitfalls OF high
finance. Well, then, it was a very sad
little fortune, to begin with, like a boy
in grammar school-just big enough to
be Of no assistance. But eve a boys
size fortune looked big to me. 1 want
ed to invest it in something sure-no
national bank stock, subject to the dan
ger of Al absconding cashier, mind you;
no government bonds with the POSSIBLE
ity of wal to depreciate them, but
something stable and agricultural, with
the ~incXhaustible of nature
back Of it. This isn't my w Ian
guage. l cribbed it from the apple
man."
apple man?'
Eyes. lie had brown eyes and a
gilky mustache and q big irrigation plan
over east Of the mountains. You gave
him your money and he gave you a
perfectly good receipt. Then he plant
ed little apple trees. He nursed them
tenderly for five years, after which he
turned them over to you With his bless
ing and you lived happily for evermorc.
At least that was the idea. You could
not fail to grow rich, for the water al
ways dubbed through his little ditch,
and it never froze nor rained to spoil
things. l used to love apples. And
then there was my name, which seem
ed a good omen. But lately I've con
sidered changing Appleton to Berry
or 'Plummer' or some other kind of
fruit"
II infer that the scheme failed
O'Neil's eyes were half closed with
amusement.
Yes. 1t was a good scheme, too, eX-
cept for the fact that the irrigation
ditca ran uphill and that there wasn't
any water where it started from and
that apples never had been made to
grow in that locality because Of some
thing in the soil and that brown eyed
Betty's title to the land wouldn't hold
water any more than the ditch. Other
wise Pm sure he'd have made Il sue
cess and I'd have spent my declining
years in a rocking chair under the fall
ing apple blossoms, eating pippins and
Jonathans and Northern Spies. 1 can't
bear to touch them now. Life at my
boarding house is one long battle
against apple pies, apple buildings, ap-
pie tapioca. Ugh. l hate the very
word"
Il can understand your aversion
laughed O'Neil. 81 wonder if you
would let me order dinner for both Of
us, provided l taboo fruit. Perhaps
I'll think of something more t . tell you
about Dan. I'm sure he wouldn't OBJ
ject'-
"Oh, my card is all the chaperon i
need! 1t takes me everywhere and
renders me superior to the smaller con.