Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1919-07-10

that was the erfu of their romance.
He did not even write to her. but
when little later he went to Burton
town to work he was filed one mo-
ment with the fear that he might see
that h. did not. But to have her see
him sitting there in the cobblers car
pet slippers was agonizlng. Then
came the light. She too had her shoes
repaired while she waited. Then she
was blufling, too No doubt she too
had been spending her extrayagant two
weeks vacationpthe same way that
he had. That was only a possibility,
still 1t gave Nathaniel courage and he
peered out of the side of his onag-
aZine.
But Ruth, though she peered over
at him when hewas not looking, re-
fused to permit her eyes to meet his.
This Nathaniel felt sure was because
she had felt offended because he new
or had written to'her. Wen, that was
but natural, especially if she had real
ly cared for him. So when his shoes
were repaired he put them on and
left the shop and Ruth, determined
to write to her that very evening ask
ing permission to come mt once to see
her.
It might be even that she worked
as stenographer or something in his
'plant" Perhaps she was daily under
the same roof For there We're thou
sands of employees there whom he
did not know.
He walked along convincing himself
that this was true until after walking
toward his lodging house for two or
three blocks he felt distinctly con-
scious that someone was following a
few PAGES behind him. He glanced
over his shoulder, saw it was Ruth
and then turned abruptly about and
faced her
Hello Ruth" he said, and Ruth,
though somewhat surprised, said
Hello Nahaniel," just as they had
greeted each other on the beach during
those wonderful two weeks OF vaca-
ton.
81 followed you" said Ruth, "be-
cause | realized that you must live In
Burtontown now and I at least wanted
to know where. I did not think you
would turn and catch me-"
"Now you know" said Nathaniel.
eager first of all to explain himself,
you know why / didn't write to you.
l thought you had all sorts of money,
You know, and-well, | had put up n
bluff there at the shore. and l knew
a poor fellow like me couldn't marry
you because you see | thought you
had all sorts OF money"
Marry you" echoed Ruth with
funny little grimace So you wanted
TO marry me?'
wanted to-" argued Nathaniel "you
know ! did. Only of course when |
was thinking You had all sorts OF mon
ey | couldn't think of It, Really It
never occurred TO me till | saw you
there getting your shoes heeled that
you could possibly he anything but
awfully rich. Pretty good joke all
around, Ell? | suppose you took me
for young bondholder, too"
"Would it make so much dIfference?"
faltered Ruth as they walked on
through the main street OF Burtontown.
"You see-well. father owns the ma
jorlty stock OF the plant. and-well,
I'm his only daughter. but he has told
me I could marry just whoever |
pleased so long as | loved him"
"He married for love- and he wants
me to, too. And truly love you. Nat,
dear. When | saw you this morning |
just left the car and told the chauffeur
to go back home, and | trailed YOU 10
the shoe shop and got the strings just
to be sure 1t was you. And | was
afraid you'd feel silly and sef-con-
scious sitting there in the old slippers,
SO | made an excuse 10 sit there too
In the other slippers so you wouldn't
mind And It was so funny | Just
wanted to laugh out loud. And YOU
wouldn't speak to me, so then I got
a little peeved at first, and then
thought maybe il was because YOU
were so fused, so | decided | wouldn't
speak to you, either-so as to spare
your embarrassment But I followed
you MS soon as | could get my shoes
on"
And It was remarkable how readily
after that Nathaniel's rare ability was
discovered ut the plant. His salary
took sudden leap upward, and moth
er ana the girls down state never
guessed that Ruth had anything to do
with it.
Clock That Is Never Wrong.
Ii IN. H. -,.,-.. I'm - tI,.. NiuL,l-