The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-06-29

old maids, as we still u~ngracIousIy
call our unmarried women who have
passed thirty, are naturally the sub
ject Of our conjectures.
Naturally, therefore, the tongues
started moving when Lee Enfield be-
gan calling ~ Miss Prue. You zee,
e was a ne'er-do-WeeI Of about Miss
Prue's age. Say leach was thirty-two,
and you don't do them any injustice,
Lee had tried his hand at. almost
everything before he came into his
uncle's money and settled down try
Ing to make a living out Of twenty
acres of poor soil that had never
raised much except goats and build
Ing lots which nobody wanted. 1~
And Prue Dennison, who kept house
for her bachelor uncle, was, expected
some day to come into his cool fifty
thousand dollars.
Bill Dennison was a skinfiint, but
every one knew that he had his pile
safely slowed away somewhere, though
-~ 0A~ hAS" "ALNAEs DAk YOU Sdl LGlk
q rich man by the look Of him. Bill
Dennfson had the money all right, and
folks said Prue was a lucky girl to
have been adopted by him when her
father died a pauper, especially since
a girl with her looks could hardly
expect any n to marry her for love.
We watched the counting, and it
certainly looked as if it were the real
thing. Perhaps Prue Dennison had
never had a sweetheart before.
Everybody feels kindly toward low
ers. And Prue Dennison seemed to
live for Lee; she grew quite pretty,
too, so that you would hardly have
known her for the same girl.
AS for Lee, nobody bothered much
about him. He was after the old
mans money sure enough. Did Prue
know it2 That's where the psychology
of the thing comes in. She knew it
and tried not to know it, and some
times the fear that it was her money
Lee wanted, and not her brought a
look to her face that no woman ought
to show. She certainly was crazy
about the fellow, and the speculation
was how soon Lee would put down
his cards, and whether he meant to
wait until old Bill Dennison died, in
stead Of risking everything.
Old Bill Dennison was my neighbor,
and naturally 1t was to me Prue came
when he had his stroke that morning.
She came running in, white as a sheet,
and begged me to come over. OF
purse I went. I was there most of
that day and the next until he died,
and Prue asked me if I wouldn't sleep
In the house for a night or two until
everything was ever.
That's how I came to be present at
the reading Of the will. Lee Enfield
was there, tool forgot how he hap
pened in; but I shall never forget his
expression and Prue's when the will
was being read.
You see, Bill Dennison left prac-
tically nothing. He had lost his fifty
thousand in worthless oil stocks the
year before and had just kept quiet
and said nothing about it, which was
the most sensible thing a man could
have done. The house was mortgaged
to the hilt, and all that was coming
to Prue was about three thousand dol
lars in government bonds.
When it was finished Prue rose up,
deathly white, but quite composed. She
went out without saying a word, and
presently, Lee got up and reached fol
his hat. I saw what he was thinking,
and 7 thought 1t was a mercy the
truth had come out before, and NOT
after they were married.
hadn't busted the room for two OF
three days, 30, being practical,
stayed behind and began to 60 over
the place, not emitting the corners.
That is how 1 overheard Prue and
Lee outside the window.
"You don't need to say anything,
Lee" I heard Prue saying. "rm a
pauper-it runs In the family, !
guess" she added bitterly. you've
wasted your time here, Lee, and you'd
-better-look for somebody else"
"Do you think that's fair, PrueY'
asked Lee, In a kind of shaky voice.
"You know it wasn't anything to do
with the-the money"
I seemed to feel Prue Strengthening
herself, and looking at him In that
funny dignifed way she had which
always came to n with a sort of
surprise.
DO you-mean that, Lee?" she said
in a low voice. "Oh, why don't you
60, before-before II can't bear it,
Leer
And then there was a sort of rustling
movement. I knew what that meant,
because John Elberfield used to- be
crazy about me, only he drank, and
so r had to let him 60.
"Did you think 1t al that, Pruer'
I heard him whisper. "Why. it was
that that was-keeping me away
!. Thank God that money will never
come between us again; sweetheart I"
Well, me may gossip in our village,
but I guess human nature hasn't