Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1918-12-19
e syNoPsIs.

Hazel Weir Is employed as a stenographer
" me o ddS OF Harrla ton and Bush. She
estate agent. and the wedding day Is set.
While walking with him one Sunday thew
meet nee MT mt: Bush. Mazel's employer, who for
s sns hrsa slm sho seaws att to n0tice j. her sEs at at
quest. she becomes his private stenog-
Eapner. After three. months Mr.. Bush
proposes marriage, which Hazel declines,
Hazel leaves. her employment, Mr.. Bush
%Fefusinngg HIM. ne "0ulo make her sorry for
CHAPTER I1-Bush makes an effort, by
f. gllt OF mowers, to compromise Hazel in
+ = MINDS mhs Of her friends; She returns
bis horse and fatally hurt. He sends for
Hazel, who refuses to see him before he
1 1o,srce Three 4Sa+ days Ia 1a afteTward it j. Is an.
Hazel, Gin reparation for any wrong T
may have done her." Hazel recognizes at
nhce what construction will be put upon
the words. Bush had his revenge.
AT nfghtfalI she went up to her room
and threw herself wearily on the bed.
She was tired, body and spirit, and
lonely. Her brief experience in Carl
boo Meadows had not led her to look
kindly on 'teaching as a mean of live
1l1hood. And ,stenographers seemed to
be In demand. Wherefore, she rea-
soned that wages would be high. With
the list in her purse, she went down on
!Hastings-which runs like a huge ar
terry through the heart of the city,
with: lesser streets crossing and diverg-
ing.
But she made no application for m
ployment. For on the corner of Has
tings and Seymour, as she gathered
her skirt in her hands to cross the
street, someone caught her by the arm
and cried:
"Well ,foreverlnore, if it isn't Hazel
IWeir!"
And she Surned to find herself facing
Lorraine Marsha Granville school
,chum-and Loraine's mother. Back Of
them, with wide and startled y
doomed Jack Barrow.
He pressed forward while the two
women overwhelmed Hazel with a
flood -tof ordinations and questions,
and extended his hand. Hazel accept
ed the overture. She had long since
gotten over her resentment against
him. She was furthermore amazed to
find shat she could meet his eye and
take his hand without a single flutter
of her pulse. 1t seemed strange, but
:she was glad of it.
They stood a few minutes on the
CORNER (; then Mrs. Marsh proposed that
:they go to the hotel, where they could
stalk at their leisure and in comfort.
Lorraine and her mother took the lead.
Barrow naturally fell into step with
Hazel.
GIVE been wearing sackcloth and
ashes, Hazel" he said humbly. "Short-
ly after you left, somebody on one Of
the papers ferreted out the truth Of
that Bush affair, and the vindictive old
hounds reasons for that compromising
legacy were. set forth. Bush appears
to have kept a diary-and kept it post
ed up to the day of his death-poured
out all his feelings on paper, and re-
peatedly asserted that he would win
you or ruin you. And it seems that
that night, after you refused to come
to him when he was hurt, he called in
his lawyer and made that codicil-and
spent the rest Of the time till he died
gloating over the chances of it be-
smirching your character"
tive grown rather Indifferent about
It," Hazel replied impersonally. "But
he succeeded rather easily. Even you,
who should have known me better,
were ready to believe the very worst"
"I've paid for it," Barrow pleaded.
"You don't know how I've hated myself
for being such a cad. But it taught
me a lesson-if you'll not hold a
grudge against me. I've wondered and
worried about you, disappearing the
way you did. Where have you been,
and how have you been getting on?
You surely look WELL" He bent an
admiring glance on her.
ooh, I've been every place, and I
can't complain about not getting on"
she answered carelessly.
For the life of her, she could not
help making comparisons between the
man beside her and another who she
guessed would by now be bearing up
the crest of the divide that overlooked
LAC SlCVA ~ RSdSSluA VASlu VI " COZ
and lake, with the Babine range lying
purple beyond. She wondered If Roar
Ing Bill Wagstaff would ever, under
any circumstances, have looked on her
with the scornful, angry distrust that
Barrow had once betrayed. Barrow's
attitude was that Of q little boy who
had broken some plaything in a At Of
anger and was now woefully trying to
put the pieces together again. 1t
amused her. Indeed, 1t afforded her q
distinctly n-Christian satisfaction,
since she was not by nature of a meek
or forgiving spirit.
Hazel visited with the three Of them
in the hotel parlor for a matter Of two
hours, went to luncheon with them
and at luncheon Lorraine Marsh
brought up the subject of her coming
home to Granville with them. The
Bush incident was discussed end dis,