Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1918-01-25
Found

By Horace Stanhope

s: By Horace Stanhope s.
c#::::*:::::
Copyright. 1917. Western Newspaper Union. j
II sayv'
Reeves Darlow, lolling against tree
trunk few feet beyond high stone
wall, his sketching outfit lying neglect
ed at his side, uttered the ejaculation
sharply and sat up.
His hand sought certain spot on
his forehead, with which suddenly, I'M
expectedly some flying object had come
in contact. The blow had been a sharp
one, broke the skin and evidenced the
possibility of rising lump. He WON
dered what had struck him, and why.
Then he recalled the sound Of merry
girlish voices beyond the wall.
"Something thrown--of course not
purposely," he soliloquized. "Ahl
there's the missile-a slipper"
AS he arose he observed the object
In question. It lay on the grass, white,
small, high-heeled, dainty. He turned
it over and over in his hand, somewhat
admiringly. Then he reused at the echo
of a rustling sound. Where a portion
Of the wall was gone and there was q
breach like a gateway, graceful femi-
nine figure had appeared. One foot
was slfpperless. Here was the owner
of the innocent missile.
About to advance and tender the
slipper, Darlow was a good deal disap-
pointed as its owner uttered a scream
and, turning, flashed back out Of view
like nimble sprite. A great hubbub
arose beyond the wall.
"What scared you Norma bear1'
cried out an animated voice.
"Worse than that"
"A horrid manT
"A man, but not particularly horrid.
Rather distinguished looking, I Judge,
from the fleeting glance got. But oh
me limping on my stockinged foot
Quick, Melba, grab>the ball and let us
vanish"
There were mock EXPLANATIONS Of
fright and dismay. Darlow reached
the wall and waved the slipper over it,
but, scurrying from the field, group
of half dozen girls paid not the
slightest attention, while with
shocked expression of face the denuded
one, she who had lost the slipper, ran
the fastest, her white silk-cOvered foot
cleaning in and out of the grass entire
ly fascinating in its nimbleness and
gracefulness of form.
"H'm!'' observed Darlow, "she must
have footgear galore to disdain the re-
turn Of the slipper. I see, a bevy Of
girls playing at football, wild kick,
and hence the slipper. And my bump!"
and barlow ruefully rubbed the
abraised spot. "As to the slipper, I'll
keep it as memento. It may suggest
a romantic pencil sketch, or story"
] He threw the pretty satin-bowed
trifle into his sketching case, closed it
and pursued his way. Reeves Darlow's
way just now was the way of an idle
stroller of on hit-or-miss jaunt. He
forgot about the slipper by morning.
Its owner ceased to fill his thoughts
before the close of the day following.
Meantime, she Of the lost slipper,
Norma Edgeworth, and her breathless
associates cleared the field and settled
down to rational progress.
tits pity to leave that slipper be-
hind, Norma" spoke one of her COM
panions.
"Oh, you know I'm bound with the
morning for an environment where sat-
In slippers and the like will be neg
ligible quantity"
"Surely you have got that foolish
scheme Of yours out Of your head,
dear?"
"Never!" dissented Norma with
vigor. 1T isn't scheme, it's test.''
"And you are bound to go through
with it?"
Barring the possibility Of some Of
you chatterers betraying the fiction"
"Oh, We'll be true blue, Norman pro-
claimed an urgent chorus.
All this would have been Greek to
the unadvised. All would have been
mystery for that same class, had they
seen Norma Edgeworth twenty-four
hours later. Whereas, she had borne
the presentment Of a fashionably
dressed young lady and surrounded by
companions suggesting the same order,
the next day Norma was installed in an
old-fashioned farmhouse ten miles dis
tant, as pretty as ever, though arrayed
in calico, but engaging in active house
work, and seeming to enjoy it.
It was lining hedge that marked
the farm limit on one side that Reeves