Licking Valley courier., 1922-03-02

thing l did was to call you Mrs. Bull
lerton'. don't blame you for not be-
Ing able to forgive me, JeafiiE, fiti:
honestly, l don't"
ut was worse than a crime" she
averred solemnly; ut was a ktNndef.
What made you do itT
"Partly because l was a jealous
fool; but mostly because I Was sore
and sorry and disappointed. thought
Fullerton had beaten me to it"
NO. she said quite sobefJy; 1T
was Miss Randle who beat you to IT,"
} ! gasped. There were tremendous
possibilities In that cool answer of
hers; prodigious possibilities.
But say" l burst out; didn't T.
tell you that Lisette had pushed me
overheard long agoT'
y II know. She was sensible enough
to see that You and+siShe couldn't 'Iiys
on nothing a year. But now that you
are rich, or are going to be F. I'm
sure you are not going to be less gen.
erous than she was. What II she did
take your ring of In moment OF dis
.couragement, and knowing that you
couldn't buy her hatsi You can be
very sure she put 1t on again as soon
as your back was turned"
There we were; no sooner over one
hurdle before another and higher
one must jump up. I groaned ana
thrust my hands into my pockets. A
paper rustled and I drew 1t out. II
was the telegram Buddy Fuller had
handed me, still unread. l opened II
half absently, holding It down 80 that
the glow Of the nearest fare fell upon :
the writing. Then I gave little yelp,
swallowed hard two or three times
and nearly choked doing Il, and read
the thing again. After all Of which
said, as calmly as I could: =,
But, in spite Of all that had told
you about Lisette. you asked me once
to kiss you"
isis 1t quite nice of you to re-
mind me Of itf" she inquired reproaeh-
fully.
ut wouldn't be-in ordinary cir
cumstances; 1t would be beastly. But,
listen, Jeanie; haven't you been mad
clear through, sometimes, in reading
a story, to have coincidence rung In
on you when you knew perfectly well
that the thing couldn't possibly have
happened so pat in the nick Of timer
Il suppose 1 have; yes"
swell, don't. ever let It disturb you
again. Because the real thing IL . lot
more wonderful and unbelievable. you
know. Listen to this: it's a wire from
my cousin, Percy; the one who sent
me out into the wide. wide world to
look for a girl, horse and q dog. and
who Is the only human being outside
Of Colorado who knows where I am
likely to be reached by telegraph. He
Is In Boston. and this is what he says:
Recalled home when we reached
Honolulu, outbound. Lisette and I
were married today. Congratulate
u.s."
For minute there was q breathless
sort Of pause, and broke It.
"Jeanie, dear. was 1t Just common
honesty and good faith that made you
take all these chances. with the deed,
and with Bullertonf'
"Yea TN commonly honest,n said
the small voice at my shoulder.
"Bullerton Is a shrewd, smart fel-
low" went on. "I'll venture to Say
that he never made such bonehead
break as l did the morning you came
back. You must think something Of
him. or you wouldn't have asked me
not to prosecute him for trying to
murder your father and me-"
She looked down at her pretty feet,
which we're crossed,
II thlnk-a little something-of my
SELF" she said, with small breath
catchlRgs between the words. II owed
myself that much, don't you thinki II
! didn't deceive him outright, I'm
afraid l did let him deceive himself.
SoShat made me responsible, In q way,
anal couldn't let you send him to Jail,
could r.. -
"But what about mel Are you 20
Ing to send ms 70 worse place than
any Iahs=tor that IL what the whole
wide world Is going to be to me with.
autyou, Jeanie, DEAR"
Her answer was just like her: She
turned aud put up her face to me and
sald, kiss me again, Stannie." And
though all the carpenters on the Job
were looking on, as l suppose they
were, by this time, took her In my
arms.
II was a short spasm II sort Of had
10 be In the public circumstances.
When II was over. I folded Perey's
telegram, took out my pencil. and with
the dear girl loaking On. printed my
reply on what was left Of the message
blank, TAis 10 what I said:
~Xhe same to you. Have found the
G., the II. and the D.. and Miss Jeanle
Twombly and are 10 be married as
soon as we can find q minister. Incl
dent9lly, ! have learned how to work.
Hope II will be comfort to you, to
Grandfather Jasper-if he Is where he
can hear Of it-and 10 all concerned.
"STANNIR.