The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1921-12-02


much about her to remine me Of the
time when she called me- a savaje
person. she said | am delited you came
elizabeth and | cride a little l couldent
help 1t when | jest half to cry ! jest
half to cry and nothing else don't help
a bit. Because she kissed me bin.
we'll bill yore father he wired the
athorties In gainesville and found out
that Gale Moreland had confessed TO
the shooting of black adam and you
was free and 1t has set his mind at
rest. but 1t diddent set my mind at rest
for because | no the mountain hart. !
know Gale Moreland is jest takeing
yore place In Jail until the day of the
trial for that is the way OF the More
lands. pore Gale is a good boy. 1 am
doing fine hear bill but | often wish
l could have old Doe River hear to sing
me to sleep like it used to. yore moth
err Is teaching me how to read and rite
and spell like pat did and | am learn
ing fast. you can see by this letter
1 can rite an spell fine can 1.
well bill kind friend jimmy fayne
has jes sent yore mothers made up
hear to ask If he can see me and |
Will half to go down stares and see
what he wants.
yores respectively.
Bill Dale folded the bulky letter
and put it slowly back into the envel-
ope. Then his gaze wandered through
q window and to where a golden
winged high-holer was hammering In
dustriously at the top branch Of a
dead tree. He smiled to himself, BY
Heck and nearly all of the rest of
the world for the moment forgotten,
and muttered aloud:
"'Yores respectively, Babe"
"Haw, haw, haw!" laughed the keen
cared and watchful hillman In the
straight-back chair behind him.
"'Yores respectively, Babev Haw,
haw, haw! Well. Bill, dadsling 1t, 1t
shOrely to goodness amt nothin' to
turn all that red about When the
nights gone the day comes, don't 1t?
Bill, old boy, it's the same thing!"
You get out Of here, By" Dale
stormed In mock severity. go and
help the commissary clerk with the
new goods; ehT"
Heck laughed another horselaugh,
rose and went out.
When he had gone, Dale began to
thlnk-Of the spoiled, charming
after-a-fashion, wealthy, young, high
night devotee, Jimmy Fayne. And he
wondered, and wondered, what would
come Of Fayne's quick liking for Babe
LittIeford.
After he had viewed the matter from
above and below and all sides around,
he frowned like a berserker.
Here is what came Of Jimmy Fayne's
quick liking for Babe Littleford-
,
The days had passed swiftly, and III
tumn was far advanced. Save for a
few chrysanthemums and asters that
grew in places sheltered from the
frosts, the flowers were all gone; the
naples were shedding their leaves Of
brown, crimson and gold.
Ben Littleford's daughter had
changed much in many ways. She had
tried as hard as ever mortal tried to
learn the correct use of words; and
Mrs. Dale had beer patient, painstak-
ing and efficient In her teachings. Not
that Elizabeth was educated, in n
real sense Of the word. Far from it.
But her improvement was, In all truth,
quite remarkable. She wore more or
less costly gowns now, and a few
wherever she went she attracted ad-
miring glances.
Jimmy Fayne had been coming to
see her when Mrs. Dale would per-
nit It, which was not very often. Jim.
my Fayne. as Patricia McLaurin had
once been moved to say, was a far
seeing young man for all his weak
nesses; he had known in advance that
the laurel bloom would change t. q
rose, and then to a white hyacinth.
Perhaps he even considered the fact
that she would make a better wife for
him. and a better mother for his chill
| dren, than some fragile and Over-cul-
tured woman Of a patrician house that
had about run out. AT any rate. jim
my Fayne, the ultra-spOiled, had de-
cided hat he would marry her.
During those weeks that had been
made happy by an occasional hour at
the home Of the Dales, Fayne had not
once mentioned marriage. He figured,
and wisely enough, that to be too
quick with his proposal would be to
lose everything.
But now he meant to propose, for he
knew that Miss Littleford intended go
Ing home for a visit-and he knew that
when she went home she would see
Carlyle Dale. The truth was, OF
course, that Miss Lit.leford was go
ing to Tennessee to attend the Oc-
tober term of court at Gainesville.
1t was a little after the middle of a
bright afternoon. He found her sit
ting on an iron settee In q secluded