The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1922-06-09
FOR BETTYS SAKE
BY H. LOUIS RAYRoLD

"Well-well-well! Bruce Eliot, Of
all men Back from the frozen North
and looking as fit as anythingI"
Stephen Hastings had risen and
grasped both outstretched hands of
the tall, well-knit fellow who had
burst unceremoniously into his office,
and now stood before him.
Eyes, I'm home at last. Steve, and
you're the first old friend I've looked
up and, believe me, you certainly do
my eyes goodw Bruce threw his long
frame, spare but husky from long
months of canoe and sledge travel in
the wilderness of the copper mine, into
the chair Steve drew for him and
fairly beamed at his host. Tell me
all that has happened during the two
years l have been away. I've had no
news to amount to anything and I'm
as gossip-hungry as an old woman at
her sewing circle. Fire!"
So Steve tipped back in his swivel
desk chair and did the best to comply
with his listeners demand, while
Bruce occasionally broke in with an
eager question or startled exclamation
of wonder or dismay. So the Carter
girl had eloped in the end! A big
fire had Quilted the business district !
Old Caleb Rich was dead!
At length, after Steve had all but
exhausted his supply of news, Bruce
tentatively put the question which had
! been on his lips since he entered the
room. Yet he endeavored to endow it
with the utmost casualness.
81 say, Steve, by the way, how-how
is your ward, Betty Griswold?"
Betty" repeated Steve. ''Why, I
expect, Bruce, you'll find Betty much
as you left her-sweet, winsome,
keyed to the joy of living"
'Not-not married, then, or en-
gaged?" Bruce didn't realize the
awful anxiety in his eyes as he hung
on Steve's answer, but the most in
different observer could not have
failed to notice the infinite relief which
leaped to them at the others reply.
"No, indeed-neither, Bruce"
There was a moments silence in the
moved by some hidden impulse,
Stephen leaned forward. I've half a
mind to tell you something, Bruce,
which concerns Betty. Being her
guardian, I know her affairs pretty
we'll. And if am, in a way, breaking
confidence, / am doing it for Betty's
sake"
Bruce was frowning, uncertain
whether he wished Steve to continue,
but the other allowed him no choice.
II said that Betty is not engaged.
That is true. She is not-but she
has been. Wait. The fact was known
only to few, was never publicly an
nounced. The breaking of it caused
no comment.
swell, to cut the story short, the
days went by with Betty growing
quieter, more subdued than was nat
ural, almost as if she were suffering
from some inner malady. Then one
afternoon, so I understand, he sur
prised her sitting before her fireplace,
her face white and drawn, newspa-
per crushed in her hand.
questioned. she reluctantly showed
him an account of the reported loss
of your expedition, with you declared
to be missing, swept away on an ice
foe, if remember"
Stephen paused and Bruce gripped
the arms of his chair until his knuckles
whitened.
stephen nodded slowly. "Yes. I can
see what you are wildly surmising.
And you are right. Betty's err
fiance-knew her emotions could be
interpreted in but one way. He COM
forted her as much as he could then,
and when the report came through of
your safety released her from the en-.
gagement. Betty loves you, Bruce"
Bruce sprang to his feet and grasped
Stephens hand. "Steve, II didn't
dare hope But now, if what you say
is true, must see her Immediately"
An hour later Bruce entered the
Griswold library, where he had been
told he would find "Miss Betty" And
there, in front of the fireplace where
she had first read of his possible
death, he found her-the girl of whom
he had dreamed through the long arc
tic nights, whose fair face had been
with him across so many miles of bar
rem wastes.
At his entrance she rose, paled and
steadied herself at the table as one
who is not certain she has not seen a
ghost. Bruce stood for a moment,
drinking the sight of her in.
"Betty-oh, Betty! After all these
months-Betty
And then, before either realized just
how it had come about, she was in
his arms.
"Bruce, why didn't you tell me be-
fore you left? 1 felt so desperately
alone that I let myself think cared
for some one else. But II didn't love
him. He"
''Hushi" commanded Bruce. "That
IS over and as deeply buried in the
past as if it had never been. All that
matters is our happy future"
Two weeks after Bruce and Betty
were married Bruce looked across the
supper table at Betty. Heard today,
dear, that old Steve Hastings is slated
for consulship abroad funny he
never mentioned it."
Betty looked thoughtful and toyed
with her fork Then, with eyes full of
love and loyalty, she looked over at
her husband. stephen is a splendid
man. Bruce He is the man to whom
was engaged
Must Be Single.