Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1917-07-05

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He arose and reached behind a door.
leather strap that had been the rod of
justice in Eldred's boyhood days.
"You don't mean it,. he began.
'Take off your coat" ordered the ia
Their grimly. You're a man now, but
the principle holds.'
dad, you come here" invited
E1dred and he led his father outside.
Then he lifted the package he had left
tilted up against the clapboards.
know what's in that?'
81 don't"
"A pane of glass and some putty.
Nine by fourteen-say, all through the
years I've remembered the measure
| ments of that unlucky window pane /
1 even snooped around the old Sloan
place before I came here. Bless me
If that shiftless old Jediah Sloan
hasn't let that shed window stay out
all of these years. I'm going over
| there now and set it. I'm finally able
to obey you, dad. Surely that settles
| the score, hey?"
you're the same Quick-witted rascal
you was as a boy, hain't you?" almost
chuckled his father. Eyes, call it
quits" and taking out his pocket knife
/ he slowly cut the leather strap into
bits and threw them aside.
Il say, dad" broke in Eldred afresh,
''how's Miriam?"
''Oh, she's grown to be a likely girl"
responded the old man.
mot married yet?''
"Oh, no; she don't seem to care any
thing for fellers."
| A bland, satisfied smile covered the
face of the returned wanderer. He
| tucked the package under his arm and
crossed lots to the Sloan place, whis-
Ting thoughtfully, but with his usual
innate heartSomeneSS.
| Eldred came to the Sloan home by
the rear. There was the old shed used
as a kitchen as of yore, there was the
unglaZed gaping sash. Eldred sat down
beside a sheltering lilac bush and re-
moved the covering from the pane of
glass and the putty, placed these handy
for his meditated operations and drew
a putty knife from his pocket.
A keen mental retrospection held
him within it's thrall for a few vivid
moment. His thoughts ran back twelve
years and the picture was dominated
by a vision of sweet Miriam Sloan, a
child of his own age. How tenderly
had they exchanged love tokens She
had given him a cheap metal ring,
which time had worn and furnished
and the luster of the glass imitation
ruby was dfmmed. He had used his
small savings to buy Miriam a tawdry
neck chain and this was one of the
reasons that he had run away from
home, for the discovery of this quasi
embezzlement would have certainly
n cfit
'And the further reason was Miriam,
dear little MiriamI" now soliloquized
Eldred and his eye frightened at the
memory of her bewitching beauty.
1t was Miriam who had carelessly
flung the ball that had shattered the
shed window, and she had run alright
ed as she heard her father come
around the house, and Eldred had
darted homewardS. Mr.. Sloan had
held Eldred the guilty one and had so
appraised his father.
Il wonder if Miriam is as sweet and
bewitching as ever" murmured Eldred,
and proceeded to the denuded window
sash. All the lights were gone, but he
set the one in place the destruction OF
which had sent him wandering over
the globe. He had just finished when
a merry thrilling voice echoed through
the house. 1t approached nearer and
nearer. Miriam Sloan, headed for a
clothesline where hung some laces and
kerchiefs, paused with a shock
"Oh, Eldredl'' she cried, and stood
stock still and trembled.
He advanced and clasped her willing
hand between his own. She was fiut-
tering like frightened dove.
1.-The window he said all a-smile-
81 came back to fix it-after twelve
years."
"Then you did not forget"
you? See," and Eldred dangled the
cherished ring before her gaze. You,
1 suppose. have never thought of me
since that day in the long ago."
"Waiti'' she said, her face flushed,
her eyes dancing.
She sped away like deer. She re-
turned breathless. Miriam removed
the cover from a little pasteboard box
in her hand.
"Look J" she breathed, and he saw in
side a faded rose, nesting in a downy
mat of cotton, the tinSel neck chain he
had given her in the far past.
"And I broke the window, and you
took all the blame - she chided herself
mournfully. 'tHave you come back to
stay?"
THAT rests with you, Miriam" said
Eldred Davis simply.
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