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Show S HER WEDDING j j JOURNEY ! What She Most Wanted in Life, She Worked for Years to Get-But When the Chance Came ... $ S By ELEANOR PORTER f Author of " Pollyanna," " Just David," Etc X V A jj Copyrlsht by Elenor II. Portor. . T1IKKK win never u time that honeymoon (rips had not possessed pos-sessed a wonderful fascination for her. As a child, she had eagerly devoured de-voured every available bit of Information Informa-tion ('oncoming the wedding Journeys of the k-iitlre village, and In time It became a settled thing for each returning re-turning bride to subject herself to the admiring questions and worshipful homage of little Matilda Jones. When It was that the Idea of her own wedding trip first came to her, she could not tell, but It grew with her growth and strengthened with her strength, until It became the best part of her life. The supposedly necessary adjuncts of a man and a marriage never occurred to her To be sure, as she grew older, a village vil-lage youth would now and then shamble sham-ble dillidently up the garden walk on Sunday afternoon, or shyly offer his escort home from evening Fervlee at the little church. But all these things only frightened her, and by and by the young men ceased from troubling. Then one day her mother died, and she was left all alone in the little white cottage at the end of the lane. As time passed, the thin little face tire a look of placid contentment, and the faded blue eyes looked out serenely se-renely Matilda was about to take her wedding Journey. Away In the top of the tiny house, far back in n bureau drawer, lay a little pile of money. She could tell the history of almost every penny i there. J This was the dollar her pickled ! pears had brought, and that was the ,r "We Can't Take Any at All. Miss Matilda." quarter saved on the trimming for her black alpaca dress. All this little pile of nickels and dimes she had earned selling blackberries. She made daily pilgrimages to the shrine at the top of the house, and lovingly fingered her accumulated treasures. She thought she was almost al-most sure she had enough now. There were nearly twenty whole dollars! dol-lars! She caught her breath at the audacity of spending such a fortune. When people took wedding trips they wore new things. She looked doubtfully at her black alpaca; brushed It sponged It pressed it and regarded It with a dubious sigh. It would have to do she certainly could not afford a new dress. But in sorre trepidation she did invest In white cotton cloth and embroidered edging, and her cheeks grew pink with the excitement of making the unwonted un-wonted finery. Her evenings were especially delightful. de-lightful. She would go Into the rarlor and bring out the big atlas, and reverently rever-ently turn the pages until she came to the map of her own stnte. There her slim forefinger would find the black dot which stood for the little village, and her eyes would gloat over the unknown world before her. Just above that dot where all those black lines met was the Junction, and sometimes she held her breath as she carried her ringer away out along one of those lines, and stopped with a little gasp of delight at the extreme end of the map. Then she would draw- a long sigh and shake her head, and. giving a quick little hitch to her chair, would settle herself to the delightful de-lightful task s marking out her wedding wed-ding Journey She wouh. go to 'the Junction by stage. Then she would follow one of those black lines until siie came to ! that large round ring with a dot in I the middle. Such a bit of a way it looked to be i on the map. hut she knew it was forty miles from home, and a big city '. Her breath came fast and she trembled trem-bled a little when she thought of a hotel. Yes she should go to one '. She had never been to a hotel a real hotel- she thought, regarduiv 'he vil lage inn w llli line scorn. She was not quite sure she would know how to behave but she should certainly go. Who ever beard of a wedding trip wit limit a hotel ! She decided to stay three days, perhaps per-haps four, and she looked fondly at the little round ring on the map, which contained so many delightful possibilities. Then she would close the book and go to beil only to dream of wonderful electric-car rides to the moon. At last the great day came. It dawned clear and cloudless, and a very happy Matilda climbed the stairs for her treasure. Joyously she grasped the precious pile with eager hands, then looked ruefully at the empty spot in the drawer. She hesitated a moment, mo-ment, quickly found the dingy nickel, and smiled content as she placed It hack In Its old corner and closed the drawer. With trembling hands she arrayed herself In her wedding garments and seated herself on the doorstep to wait for the stazo. "Matilda Jones looked nlmost handsome hand-some this morning, with her cheeks so pink," said a pretty g'rl on the back seat to her companion, as the coach stopped for Its pascns:er. "Why, Nellie." said Matilda to this same pretty girl, as she clambered In, "am I going to have you to ride with? That will be nice. I'm sure!" "Yes, I am going up ti the junction to do some shopping you know I'm pretty busy these days," said she, with an adorable Mush, which suddenly reminded re-minded Matilda that it was nearins: Nellie's wedding day. This warmed her heart to her at once, for was she not on her own wedding trip? She beamed anew on Nellie as she settled herself comfortably for the two-mile drive. How the sun shone and the birds sang, and how good the air was to breathe. "Are you going away for long. Miss Matilda?" Inquired Nellie politely. "No only a little trip." she replied, trying to look unconcerned, as If trips were an everyday occurrence with her: but the red- deepened In her cheeks, and her voice trembled a little as she asked abruptly: "Where are you going to take your wedding trip dear?" The girl colored painfully. "We ean't take any nt all, Miss Matilda Ma-tilda Isn't it dreadful?" and tha young face looked pinched and drawn with woe. "You see, Jim's money, that he'd been saving up to go with, got all burned up in the fire, and and we're had- to give It up !" she finished fin-ished with a wail that clearly told her disappointment. Miss Matilda sat very still. She thought her heart had stopped beating beat-ing then it gare a b); thump, and there was a strange, tight feeling in her throat. She did not say anything, and by and by Nellie looked out at the scenery with a grieved expression on her pretty face. When they reaeneu tne junction, tne young gin turned her head, and said constrainedly, constrain-edly, as she Jumped lightly from the coach : "I hope you'll have a nice time. Miss Matilda." "Thank you," she murmured without with-out smiling, and clambered slowly down. Then she walked along the platform, and sat down on an old settee set-tee on the shady side of the building. By and by a train rumbled in shook itself of passengers gathered a new lot and rumbled out again. One two three trains did the same thing, and the forlorn little woman still sat on the old settee. "Didn't you want to take one o them trains?" good-naturedly asked the blue-coated man, v,ho had been curiously watching her. for some time. She looked at him with dull eyes, and shook her head. When the stage coach made Its evening trip to the village Nellie was surprised to find Miss Matilda on tha back seat. "Why, I didn't expect to see you so soon! Didn't yon go?" asked the young girl pleasantly. "No, I had I had a headache I mean a throatache," stammered Matilda Ma-tilda In confusion. The next night Nellie burst into her mother's room with an excited face, holding an open, letter and a pasteboard paste-board box In her hand. "Mother what do you think! 1 told Miss Matilda yesterday how we couldn't take any wedding trip, and she never said a word, and then I felt real cross, 'cause I thought she didn't care a bit : but Just see what that dear old maid has done!" My IV-ar Nellie: I think weddlnEr trips are the nicest th!n?3 In the world, and I don't want you to s've up yo'.irs. I had a little extra money that I did not know what to do with, so I send it to you for your wedding trip. I hope you will have a nice time Your friend. MATILDA JONES. And Nellie's tears dropped fast on the dimes and nickels that rolled out of the pasteboard box. Away at the top of a tiny bouse, in a bureau drawer, a lone nickel keeps guard over a dainty pile of wedding garments. |