The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1935-10-10

| The locks broken on the window In
| the side room. I've climbed In through
that before now"
Like as not he'll put you In Jail for
| housebreaking," the old woman pre-
dicted. yet she let Jenny go.
1t was dusk before the girl came
home, tired and happy. tits done,
Granny" she said. "Every room swept,
and everything busted. and the kitchen
floor scrubbed. and the bed made. /
found the window curtains put away
in the bureau. They're kind of creased,
but I'm going to press them out to-
morrow"
"You've got smut on your face"
Marin Pierce retorted.
Jenny laughed softly. 81 cleaned out
the stove" she said. 1T was terrible
full of SCOT, SOS you couldn't make it
draw. And l aired the sheets and
blankets in the sun, and had fires GO
ing all day-there's plenty wood In the
shetland tomorrow I'm going to take
over some milk and eggs and biscuits
and doughnuts and butter and every
thing, and have supper ready for him."
want / should come over and help
your" the old woman offered; and
Jenny hesitated, uncomfortable, Ill at
ease.
sits long walk for you, Granny"
Marin Pierce chuckled. $50 along
with you, then. Like as not you'll stay
and clean up after supper, tool"
And Jenny nodded wisely, happily;
there was an audacious triumph in
her. Suddenly she Rugged the old
woman close.
II might" she said. 81 might not
ever come home at all. You wait and
see
She was, all next day, very busy and
completely happy in the home of this
man whom she loved. The question
whether VIII would arrive in the
morning or afternoon perplexed her;
but she prepared for either contin-
gency, by putting on the fowl to boil
till it was done, leaving it then In the
rich stew of its own fat so that It
might be warmed readily and served
quickly. Carrots, onions, potatoes,
dumplings fieecy as bright clouds. She
had brought pie made Of blueberries
which she herself had preserved the
year before, and she cooked doughnuts
all morning, and had biscuits ready to
pop into the oven; and she kept the
stove hot all day so that the oven
should be ready to receive them, the
minute Will appeared.
She ironed the lace curtains and
hung them again at the windows. They
needed washing, she decided; but that
must wait another day. And in the
afternoon, when everything was ready
and still Will had not appeared, she
wandered happily through the empty
rooms, familiar to her now; and she
moved picture on the mantel, lamp
upon the table, a fire iron on the hearth
with those little proprietary gestures
which woman likes to make in the
house she loves. Once in a sort of
panic she thought the blankets on his
bed might be still damp after all and
she brought them to hang while be-
fore the. stove and then made the bed
again and smoothed it snug. The kitch-
en- was baking hot, so she threw the
door wide. and opened windows, and
let the fresh cool air Of June blow
through the place. Then on a new in
spiration she went into the orchard
where the buds on the apple trees
were just bursting, and brought an
armful of sprays of bloom and ar
ranged them in a vase on the table.
She. was forever finding forgotten de-
tails, or doing over again things she
had done a dozen times before. She
tested the tenderness of the fowl a
dozen times; she wished to warm the
BURBERRY pie, and was in an agony of
indecision lest if his arrival be de-
layed it become too dry. She set the
table. and reset it, and thought the
butter was softening, and put it in
cold water until it was hard and firm.
And the sun crossed the Valley, and
began to slip down the western sky,
and still Will had not come. She
would not even entertain the thought
that he might not come at all tonight.
Yet since he was surely coming, then
he would soon be here; and impa-
possess her. Then suddenly the sun
was gone. and the Valley was a pool
of dusk which rose like a rising tide
to cloak the orchard, to touch the
foundations Of the house. She lighted
lamp, long since cleaned and trimmed
and freshly filled with oil; she tried
the lamp on the table, on the shelf
above the stove. There were still shad-
ows, and she wished no shadows here;
and in the end she lighted other lamps,
and set them in dining room as well
as kitchen.
She had not thought how Will would
come, whether afoot, or in a team;
when 1t was full dark outside, she be-
gan to wonder, and decided that he
would ride the stage to Liberty. and
come walking from there; and she be-
gan to guess whether the stage was
late and might be later. She left the
kitchen door open. so that he might
see his welcome waiting; she put the
stew on, and. took 1t off again, and
she put fresh wood on e fire till the
stove was red hot, with glowing spot
upon it's dark fresh-polished surface.
Then suddenly he was here.
Jenny did not at first realize that
Will had come, because she had not
imagined him as coming in this fash
ion. car drove into the yard and
stopped: and Jenny heard it almost
inattentively. saw its headlights fade
as the engine died. till it sat in dark
ness there. where the lamplight shone
through the open door in a widening
rectangle. And then suddenly she heard