The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1925-01-09
Peter
By cRITTENDEN MARRIOTT

| for the tinkle of the door bell that
would herald the coming of Peter
Smith-the coming that would con-
denim her to a life of secret misery.
1t must be secret. she told herself. If
she had to make the sacrifice. she
would make 1t brayely. The world
should never know what 1t cost her.
She would flaunt her chains until the
world envied her, believing her happy.
Happy Happy!
The bell tinkled; she ran to the
glass to powder her face, lest the fame
In 1t should betray to Peter how she
| loathed him.
Then. abruptly, for the first time
since she had promised her brother
Fred that she would save him and had
| telephoned to Peter to come to her at
once, she remembered that she had TO
| do more than merely to accept Peters
| proposal. She had to ask him Toto
Heavensl How could she ask him such
thing?
| Peter might guess that she was sell
| ing herself and might refuse.-Oh!
No! No. He would never refuse for
such a cause as that If he refused at
| all it would be because he was too
stingy to-
Abruptly the stairs seemed to fly up
and repel her, stumblingly she took a
step forward, then Peter caught her.
and she realized that she had reached
the bottom of the stairs.
"Tha-thank your she gasped.
But Peter ignored this. you're not
hurt?" he gasped.
"NoI Not Thanks to you'll You're
awfully kind" she went on.
"Kind! I'd spend my life in being
kind to you If you'd only let me! Say
you will. Say you will. Oh. say you
will I"
Promptly she twisted in Peters arms
and looked up rougishly into his face
LET you be kind TO me?" she dubbed.
"Of course / WILL Please lend me five
hundred dollars"
| Peter laughed back. Five hundred?
Sure thing" he promised. How'll you
have tit In gold? Right away?"
His tone frightened Alice Abruptly
she stiffened. I'm not joking" she
said, coldly.
mot joking?" The smile vanished
from Peters lips. The clutch of his
arms slackened.
mol I'm not joking" she replied.
'T'm in earnest What's five hundred
| dollars? I'm worth lot more than
that. I'm worth all you've got"
Peters face cleared slightly; from
his pocket he took checkbook and a
pen.
MAKE It to your" he inquired. pois-
ing the pen
"Yes! Please!" The words came
family. Alice had won, but she was
not happy.
Peter filed in the name slowly. Then
suddenly he looked up. His puzzlement
had vanished
"Who is this money really for?" he
asked quietly. 'Of course it's not for
yourself. Is 1t perhaps for that broth
er of yours?"
NO! Nci"
Evidently II is" Deliberately Peter
| put checkbook and pen back into his
! pocket. "You gave me a bad scare"
| he went on, In tones that Alice had
never heard him use before. What's
Fred been doing? / wouldn't have be-
leived him capable of putting you up
to this. What's he done? Robbed the
bank?" Peters voice was kindly but
compelling.
Somehow Alice knew that she was
seeing the real Peter for the first time
and that he was very different from
what she had thought. Slowly she
nodded.
They've found him out?-given him
a chance to pay back the money! de-
manded Peter. "They would of course !
Well! Don't trouble yourself about it
any more. I'll straighten things out at
the bank Send Fred to my Office to-
morrow morning. and I'll see that he
gets chance to earn and pay back
the money. He'll want to do that. Of
course" Peter bowed "Good eve
ming" he said.
Alice's eyes widened and her lips
parted. "You-you're not going?" she
quavered. Il" uncertainty she
stepped toward him.
But he held up his hand. ut isn't
necessary, DEAR" he said. with smile
that was just little bit twisted.
There's nothing for you TO pay! Fred's
worth saving for his own sake"
''But-but-"
Nhn lie hot
and me. SO far as you are concerned,
it's over. Put the whole thing out of
your thoughts?"
.Ve-very WE'LL" Alice's voice was
barely audible
Then then-if what you said wasn't
all pnetense-"
The front door few open and Fred
Dorrance bounded in. ITS all right"
he gasped. THE bank has-Oh! Welt
You-dont need Toto" He saw
Peter and broke off. Then ''Oh,
Alice! You haven't promised to marry
him yet. have your"
Alice smiled. mo. Fred, :" she said.
gently. II haven't promised to marry
him yet And I'm not going to promise.
I'm going to ask him to marry me-"
She turned to Peter. cit really was
all pretense. Perer." she said. But 1t
isn't pretense any more. / know you
at last. Peter. and love you. Pl-please
forgive me and-and--t-take me in
your arms and-and marry me. Peter,
dear"
For the love of Mike!" Fred was
A.