The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1923-12-07
Bl JANET A. FAIRBANK
Copyright by The Bobbs-Merrill Co.

shop out there when the war began.
Got It paid for, too-and was just
beginning to make little money OF
my own. -. Kind of hard luck.
/. But can pick up my business
when / go back. I've managed to keep
the rent up out of my army pay
'What does one do In machine
shop, Peter?"
Peter laughed. "a little OF every
thing Mending things, mostly. used
to do that before I left Milton Center.
I worked for while In the blacksmith
shop there, and l kept that sewing
machine you sent Mrs. Allen the first
Christmas after you went, In order.
I suppose If I fixed 1t once fixed 1t
hundred times" he added reflective
ly.
That's funny Understanding"
swell, 1 make things, too-invent
'em"
"You had better talk to uncle about
that Sometimes he buys inventions"
"He won't buy minei I'm goin' to
have the fun of developing my own
ideas. I'd be further along now, ex-
cept I've had responsibilities. My
mother was sick for years, an then my
sisters husband turned out wrong, an
I've had her and her little girl, hut
he was killed at Missionary Ridge, an
left her with life insurance-not much,
but enough. My mother died last year,
and I'm free for the first time In my
life, free, and in a growing town."
sit sounds exciting. If l had stayed
in Milton Center 1 should have been
sorry wasn't man, so that l might
have worked with YOU"
eff you had stayed In Milton Center
should probably be sorry you weren't
a man, too. I've got no time to fall
in love-"
Ann laughed, but she flushed under
this back-handed compliment.
you have never been back?" Peter
asked.
ITO Milton Center? No"
"Kind of mean of you" Ann looked
at him questioningly. "Mrs. Allen
thought sight Of you and your moth
err"
81 suppose she did"
"Of course everybody knows that
you, or your rich relations, sent her
money every month, but she'd have
enjoyed sight of you before she died
She used to talk about you sometimes
to me; 1 liked to hear about the way
you lived. This man Cortlandt is the
kind Of man I'm going to be, some
day."
Ann laughed involuntarily. Like
Uncle Hendricks?" she cried incredu
lously.
A dull red burned on Peters hollow
cheeks. You wait and see," was all
he said.
Peter remained almost month In
the Washington square house, as Mrs
COrtlandt refused to let him go until
he was entirely recovered. She made
great fuss over him, processing that
he had saved, not merely Ann, but also
her own Fanny, and, incidentally, the
entire Cortlandt house and possessions
from the violence of the mob. She
had his leg attended to by the bes
doctor In New York, and she fed hin
up with dainties until his lean cheek.
took on softer outline.
She sat for hours by his bedside
talking condescendingly to him abou
things Of which he knew nothing, ant
at dinner she would say to the tive
girls, 1.-THE most amazing thing abou
the war Is the way it makes peOpl,
democratic She was, nevertheless
inclined to keep rather rigid chaper
onage over Fanny's and AIMS inter
views with the invalid. You neve
can tell" she said wisely to them
with people like that"
For the first few days Peter was il
the house, Ann slept most Of the time
Gettysburg left her exhausted; all sh
wanted to do was to lie, placid, happ,
and utterly relaxed, between her coo
} linen sheets. When she was abou
again, the riots were a thing of tn
!. past, and Hendricks had returned t
his regiment. Her life~was suddenl
. drained of excitement. The famil
doctor, who had advised week in bee
4 now insisted on vacation from he
S work in the hospitals, and for one
e Ann was willing to obey. She had lii
orally nothing to do, and was glad O
t it, as she felt strangely languid an
4 foolishly content. She liked to tai
/, to Peter; she had an extraordinar
o sense Of kinship with him. Perhap
e it was because of their bond of earl
association-no one else knew the SUI
r roundings from which she had sprun
: -or possibly it was deeper thin
/ than that, a mutual recognition {
d fundamental qualities in each othe
e She found that she was able to tai
b to him of her work in the hospital
e and of all that CHASTITY week at &c
tysburg, with freedom she had befOi
|. known only when with her guardian
In return he told her all about I'll
e war from private soldiers viewpoir
"a vastly different war, Ann foun
l. than it was when seen through tn
y eyes of an officer. !. They talke
e Of her mother, too. 1t seemed tn;
/. Peter retained the clearest memory {
her sweet perfection; that she ha
d been a sort Of fairy princess to hir
e in his little boyhood.
o "The day we heard her boat ha
sunk" he told Ann, II hid up in IL
e, hayloft, and cried. -. It's the la
Is time ever did such thing"
Ie 81 wish l had known that, dow
I here in New York. 1t would hay
8 helped lot"
;" Its good thing you left Milto
t. Center" Peter assured her. There
II nothing there for any one with scra
; Of ambition. 1t isn't big enough. +