The Red Cloud chief., 1922-01-19
Jessica Goes to
the City
BY BROWN


q
"Don't go, dear-we shall miss you,
oh, SO much!"
Kind, gentle Aunt Priscilla placed q
pleading hand on the fair golden head
OF her myorite niece, Jessica, as she
spoke. Jcsslca loved her as everybody
else did. She chung to her now, but
still she murmured pleadingly:
II shall miss you, too. dearest aunt,
but, oh | do so want to see what life
Is like away from this quiet, humdrum
village. Cousin Marcia has written me
80 much about the bright, brilliant life
she leads, They have asked me to
come so often. Marcia says that Uncle
and Aunt Willlston feel quite offended
at my constant refusal to accept their
Invitation. $3.50"
MY poor, wilful Child, my dear, In.
nocent lamb" murmured Aunt Pris.
ella indulgently. Il will not say an.
other word. I must not forget that
youth yearns for a change"
II must finish my packing IL | expect
10 catch the train, mustn't l, auntyf'
asked JessIca. "And there Ia dear
Robert 10 say good-by to"
"Robert had to 80 but into the coun-
try with his father" again interrupted
Aunt Priscilla. "He was here with
some flowers for you long before you
we're awake"
"How Kind he Is, the dear, dear fel.
Bowr I" murnured Jcsslca.
Robert Liston, the son or their near
est oelghbor. had been n true and
loyal knight Grant since the summer
before. lt was he who had built the
pretty y~ine-enclosed bower where Jes-
sica read and did fancy work On pleas
amt afternoons. II was Robert who
had marked out and cultivated a little
garden patch that was the delight Of
everybody who visited II.
II seemed that a day could not pass
but that Robert did some thoughtful
act In her behalf. They had been IA.
nous friends. Jessica actually shed
one or two tears as she thought OF
leaving Newton without an opportunity
to say gOQd-by TO the best friend she
had ever known.
Aunt Priscilla found the forgotten
box or flowers and sighed. She loved
the frank. handsome, l~lght-henrted
youth who had been the life OF the
place.
All through a month Aunt Priscilla
received letters from Jessica. They
bubbled over with all the evancsceDce
or a girl whose life had become one
constant round Of pleasures. Then they
became briefer and briefer.
Their there was u whole month dur.
Ing which 40 word came from the dis
tant niece. At It's end, however, there
arrived a brief note from Jessica. Il
read: There IL trouble. I am coming
home and two mornings later Jcssica
arrived at the pretty little cottage to
throw her arms around her aunt's neck
and sch cut her worries.
"Ob. Aunt Priscilla" she cried, II
never want 10, go away againl II was
grand at-frst. II was parties, natl
pasa,- autUmobile picnicS, but 1t all
ended In "A crash. A foreign count
MARGIN expected to marry turned out
to be All impostor. One night some
OF the men drank too much wine, were
offensive 20 the ladies', and It ended in
"a aisgraceful scene Then uncle lost
all he had on the stock exchange, the
creditors seized everything there was
for debt, 0nd-Oh, | must see Robert.
aod the gardenr
The dear old garden Every blush
Ing bud so carefully nurtured re-
preached JcsSica as she ran out from
fhe house. She buried her face into n
lump Of lilies and kissed them fer.
yently. like old dear friends. She went
nto the bower.
h quaint old cOnceit drew Jessica
10 step toward 1t, to fancy herself
back In the sunlit past. 1t seemed as
IL her city experience somehow had
clOuded the pure serenity Of those old
dear days. Fairly unconsciously she
placed her hand In the hollow. Her
fingers touched something. II was u
letter. The truth flashed across her
the one that Robert had written her
probably the morning she left home,
to. which her aunt had referred.
Her sweet face flushed crimson as
she read the manly avowal OF love of
her old true friend, the tears came to
her eyes us she realized how cruelty
she had neglected him.
"If I had found this that morning
long ago." she murmurcd, ~ am afraid
4 would have said, Wait. let me see
life before | answer Now"
She paused. She pressed her lips
to the damp widowed sheet that had
held its fond secret so close for so
many months.
Eyes, now, dear Jesslcaf" asked an
eager, radiant voice behind her, and
she turned to face the writer OF the
misslve.
"Oh, Robert F.! Roberts r. cried Jesslca
her hands extended like the winning
wllfui child she was, ~ have COM
back to home and peace and-lOvel"
"Blue Blood"
To belong to the caste OF We're d,