Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1919-02-27
CHAPTER III--continued.

@G-
Mr.. Gassett smiled. "Not old Wes-
ley Kip's grip
81 believe 1 did hear Miss Kip call
her father Wesley"
swell, I'd like to help Yves out. I
suppose 1 might take a chance. Do
Eou think you can pay for the ring in
ninety days?"
"Easilyl"
Wimburn would have promised to
tear down the world and rebuild it in
ninety days.
II shall have to add a little to the
price for the risk and the accommoda-
ton"
Anything you like" said Clay mag
efficiently.
"Call it two hundred dollars"
Certainly" One could hardly
haggle over an engagement ring.
'Tll ask you to sign a little docu-
ment."
"Witb pleasure"
He would have signed an agreement
TO surrender a pound Of his flesh.
Clay hurried out to find Daphne and
fasten on her the glittering give.
He might have taken further alarm
from the immense and greedy rapture
Daphne revealed at the sight Of the
petrified dewdrop set in the golden
circlet. Women are all miserS when
It comes to diamonds.
Wimburn noted only the Joy the
bauble gave to Daphne, and the pretty
submissiveness with which she poked
out her slender finger and slid it into
the fetter. He felt that the kiss of
alliance was worth years of hard labor.
1t was hard and bitter to rend their
cemented hearts in twain, but he had
to go at last. She floated him to the
station in the little car and waved him
through the iron paling. She was I'M
tmaginably precious and pitiful as she
stood there, and he wanted to blubber
when the vestibule was slammed shut
and the train slid out of the station
like a merciless snake.
He vowed that he would work with
the strength of ten and pile up a for
tune in the bank for her. But first
ne must pile up enough to pay for that
solitaire.
Clay wrote Daphne a fat letter ev-
cry day. He usually sneaked it in
among his business correspondence
and took great pains that it should
never miss the Lake Shore limited at
fve-thirty in the afternoon. A spe-
cial-delivery stamp put the letter iii
Daphne's hands every next forenoon.
But after the letter had gone he
usually remembered that he had omit
ted to include some message Of fright.
fully important urgence. So he had
to send her every night a night letter,
and frequently of mornings he must
fire off a day letter. These cost only
sixty cents apiece, but often he had
to send them in double or triple
length.
For occasions where time was YET
more uncomfortable there was the tele'
phone-a p~ittance of three dollars ant
twenty-five cents for the first three
minutes, and a dollar and five cents
for each additional minute or fraction
thereof would bring his lips to Daph
mes ear
From the little rubber mouth Of the
receiver her voice came to him a:
from a distant star by interplanetarJ
communication. The sense of remote
ness was unbearable. She seemed tx
be dead and wailing across eternity
Clay Wimburn was In complete dis
tress. His health wavered and his of
fee work suffered till it won rebuke'
and threats from his chiefs and com
ment ever from Bayard Kip, wh'
never suspected and was I've told o
Wimburn's %infatuation for his sister
With lovers logic Wimburn per
suaded himself that the only one VIII
could save him from destruction wa
Daphne. With her married and all
and ensconced In a little nest In New
York, he could take up his Office task
with a whole heart. So he began t
write, and to telegraph, and to groal
across the living wire wilder an
wilder cries for help.
Daphne wept back and repaid hi
longings In kind and suffered heart
rending ecstasies of yearning. An
finally she promised frantically {
marry him without further delay.
NM {.
With a desire to economic in pal
she broke the double news to her tw
parents at the same time. telling ther
both that she was engaged aud tha
she was about to wed.
They were stunned. They had neve
experienced a suspicion Of the acut
state Of Daphne's heart affairs. 1t
really astounding how blind parent
are to their children's activities an
how much can go on under their nose
without catching their heavy eyes.
Daphne easily browbeat her fathe
- n4ntkaw fnfe an~ruklAA - =.