The Ekalaka eagle. [volume] (Ekalaka, Mont.) 1909-1920, 1916-05-19

INV ASoIil
There were tears in her ewes, and
her face looked flushed and wistful
What WAS the use of it all? she
thought bitterly as she filled the
tcakcttlc.
Had she not dressed obedicnt to
her mothers bidding these four Sat
urdav nights in succession in the
foolish hope that he might Gomez
She set the teakettlc on, stirred the
fire and went upstairs.
In the second drawer Of the bu-
rcau lay the pink albatross waist
folded in white tissue paper and
sprinklcd with rosc leaves gathered
the summer before from the La
France rosebush that grew in the
yard.
She had worn it four times vain
~ and twice not in vain-thosc two
precious evenings when he had real
ly come. She would not put it on
tonight, no matter what her mother
said. She could not bear to sit an
other evening in it waiting and lis
tenlng to every football with hope
and longing and ultimate despair.
A sob burst from her, and she
flung herself upon the bed, with her
hands w her face. But she did
not cry. She dared not. 1t would
not do for her mother to sec her
tears or to suspect that she cared
poignantly.
Why could not her mother see
hal he would not come again and
cease torturing her with expecta-
tons? Her little first romance was
over almost before it had begun.
and in her heart she knew what had
ended it.
It shamed her to think Of it; but,
after all, she could not blame him.
And she could not blame her moth
er either, foolishly ignorant Of the
ruin she had wrought
Dena was twenty-four years old,
and she had never had a lover. For
six years she had taught steadily
without anything happening. and
she was growing very tired when he
came. He was the son Of the pco-
plc with whom she boarded, and he
Lad been away a long time.
Dcna liked him i%nstinctivelv. She
lad never G any one she liked SO
Tell-so strong and thoroughly self
'oliant he looked in the week that
as left to her before her school
loscd. They became good friends,
nd he told her when she went
way that nc would come to see her.
The doctor told Dena when she
won't home that she must rest for
'hc remainder Of the winter. Her
mother grumbled openly. She did
not like to sec the girl idle, but she
became roconciled to it when she
discovered that Dcna had an adj
mirer.
1t was her belief that every girl
should marry before she was TWEEN
.y-tiyc. and in Dcna's case there was
little time to lose. She set about
hurrying up this possible match.
The first evening Nick came it
was she and not Dcna who enter
aimed him. Her nimblc tongue
scarcely paused. She gave him
Dcna's exact history from her first
tooth to that day. Dena sat bv and
heard with Nick in an embarrass-
Lert of silence that she could hard
y have broken had she been per-
mitted.
Never had her mother been so
voluble with that destructive volu-
bility which wearics and sickens.
ut intervals Dcna glanced at Nick's
puzzled, amused face and clasped
,1cr hands harder to keep from cry
ing out.
All that week her mother discuss
ed her prospects and gave the adj
Tlce bor own experiences warranted.
Once Dcna cried in agony, "But
can't You Sec that he may not even
think of marrying me-" and fell
thereafter into fearful silence.
But the following Saturday even
:ng he came again, and again Mrs.
Nanghton sat in tho room and talk
d every minute. Nick and Dcna
parted without having said half Il
dozen words to each other.
But this time Nick looked neither
puzzled nor amused. His ewes mar
rowcd speculativc1y as he watched
Mrs. Naughton.
When at last he went away Dena
knew to a certainty that he would
never come again. But each Satur-
day evening her mother made her
take up her role and play it through.
She had to dress and sit and wait.
Tonight she would not-shc
would not. For once in her life she