The Bolivar County Democrat., 1920-12-25
dinerent from a romp round the pas
ture-teld, so / said l was afraid not.

uiHerent from rOmp round the pas
ture-deld, so said was afraid not.
'Arthurs is coming down with the
buckboard,' remarked the other man.
passed him on the trail as / came
in
Sure enough, a little later Arthurs
himself drew up at the hotel
wouldn't have known him, but one of
the young Iuan pointed him out. and
1t would have done you good to see
how he received me- And YOU are
Jack and Mary's daughter he said.
taking both my hands in his and
holding me at arms length for a mo-
ment Then. before I knew ii, he had
drawn me up and kissed me. But l
didn't care. All of sudden it
seemed TO me that I had found real
father. 1t seems hard to say it, but
that is how | felt
well. he just couldn't keep away
from me all evening He showered
me with questions about you and fa-
ther. which | answered as well as I
could, but I soon found I couldn't
keep my secret, so l just up and told
him all. He was very grave, but not
cross. You need time to think things
over, and to get right perspective
he said, and our home will be yours
until you do
eve drove home the next day, up a
wonderful river valley, deep into the
heart of the foothills, with the blue
mountains always beckoning and re-
ceding before us. Mrs. Arthurs was
as surprised and delighted as he had
been, and l won't try to tell you all
the things she said to me. She cried
little, too, and I'm afraid | came
near helping her bit. You know the
Arthurs lost their little girl before
they left Manitoba, and they have had
no other children. They both seemed
! just hungry.
There's nothing so very fine about
their home, except the spirit that's in
| side it. | can't describe it, but it's
there a-certain leisurely way of do
ing things. sense that they have
| made work their servant instead OF
their master. And still they're GER
tainly not lazy. and they've accom-
plished more than we have. When
| they left Manitoba in the early days,
| discouraged with successive fr0sts,
they came right out here into the foot
hills with their few head of stock.
| Now their cattle are numbered in
thousands. and they have about a
township of land. And still they seem
to live for the pure happiness they
| find in life. and only to think of their
property as a secondary considera-
ton.
| "Now ! really must close. Mrs. Ar
thurs sends note, and I'm quite sure
it's an invitation. Oh, mother, what
could be lovelier. Now. don't say you
can't. Father has plenty of money ;
let him hire a housekeeper for a
while. The change will do him good.
"Love to you. dearest. and to Allan,
if he still thinks of me.
! ,"BEULAH.
"P. 81 forgot to mention that jim
Travers left Plainville on the same
train as | did. He could hardly be-
lieve his eyes when he saw me there.
told him | was going west on a
visit, but don't know how much he
! guessed. Said he was going west him.
self TO take up land, but he wanted to
call on some friends first and he goi
off a few stations from Plainvlle. Be
tween YOU and me, believe he
changed his plan so that the incident
our being on the train together, YOU
know-could, not be misunderstood il
the neighbors got to know of it. II
would be just like Jim to do that"
With Beulah's letter was short but
earnest note from Lillian Arthurs. as
s,lring the mother of her daughter
welfare. and pressing an invitation tC
spend the autumn in the glorious
scenery and weather of the foafhi.'
country. Mary Harris read bot, let
ters over again. with frequent rub
hing of her glasses. Love for her
daughter. desire to see her old friend
once more. and growing dissatlsfac-
tion with conditions at home. all com
bined to give weight to the invitation
so earnestly extended. ''If I My
could! But it would cost so much"
fTO BE CONTINUED