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Show I A RISE IN I 1 VALUES Castleloh held her Invitation crushed in his hand. It brought back vividly to his mind a plcturo of' long ago tho lonely country lane, tho rustic rus-tic figure of that sweetheart of old, the.glrl to whom he had scarcely given n thought for years. Now a guilty feeling came over him as ho thought of tho promises fnndo, of tho good-by kiss, of tho correspondence that followed fol-lowed and thon died a flickering death. Poor llttlo thing! And she must hnvo been wnltlng for him all theso years. And ho ho had como to tho city, and In tho mad rush to mako his own way had burled hor memory. Now, out of tho past, camo this Invitation In-vitation asking him to como tip nnd renew tho friendship of tho past. Poor llttlo girl! Sho had been mourning for him all these years, and guilty wretch that ho was, ho had been tho moans of making mlserablo n llfo all too restricted, anyway, On account of Its environment. Den, dear! It was all too bad I But now tho chlvnlrlc thing to do wns to mako somo nine ml b, ovon If they necessarily neces-sarily had to bo fleeting. lio would run up on tho Hrst train. It would glvo him a chanco to seo his native place onco more. Not that ho relished that. Tho chocrful graveyard, tho awful aw-ful hotel, tho familiarities of old schoolmates did not appeal to his municipal mu-nicipal sensibilities. But tho girl. Cortalnly nfter all theso years sho wns ontltled to have hor heart eoothed. Ho looked up tho tlmo tnblo, found tho truln loft in two hours, nnd thon sent a telegram. After ft had boon sent It suddenly occurred to him that It was a foolish thing to do. Pcoplo in remoto country districts wero not used to such things. It would doubtless frighten hor, but It was too lato to romedy that. Ho gathered In a box of candy on his way uptown nnd n bunch of violets. Certainly no two things were calculated calcu-lated to go any stralghter to tho heart of tho demure llttlo country lass whom ho could now seo In his mind's oyo stnndlng wistfully in the gatoway as ho waved to her down tho road. As tho train moved Into tho station sta-tion nnd slowed down ho Jumped off, fairly bowlldored. Tho old station had been torn down. The smart looking nffnlr in Its place soemed almost an nnomaly on the landscape. But he had no tlmo to think. "Hello, Jack! Awfully good of you to como Jump .'right In. You're a dear thing." x Tho girl who squeezed his hnnd so frankly, and, Indeed, so athlotlcnlly could It bo sho? It did not seem possible! pos-sible! Beforo ho know it sho had tossod him Into hor motor car, with all his belongings, and thoy woro off down tho road at 30 miles nn hour. "Nelllo, Is it yours?" ho exclaimed. ex-claimed. "Stiro! But say, Jack, why didn't you tolephono Instoad of wiring? You know I hnvo a long-dlstanco right In my room. Dear mo, It would hare saved nearly two hours, and I can toll you I'vo hnd to scurry around to get somo decent people In to dinner. But, they nro coming, although somo havo 40 miles to como. Horo we aro! Old homestead rather decent placo slnco It was mado ovor, eh? By tho way, did you bring n Wall street edition with you? I'vo been so busy nil duo to you that I havon't oven had tlmo to ask about tho market. Candy! And flowers! Oh, thnnks " tossing them ou tho tnblo. "Lovely of you, but why didn't you got Mnlllard's? Novor mind, Sit down and hnvo a smoko. If you don't like theso cigarettes I havo another an-other nssortmont In tho other room." 'Boforo ho know It sho had drngged him Into tho modern looking country houso nnd deposited him In n chnlr. "Will you excuse mo n fow mini utes?" sho cnllod, half-way out of tho room. "I want to wigwag a neighbor." neigh-bor." But ho ran aftor hor and held hor back. "Good heavens, Nelllo," ho gasped, "what is the meaning of nil this? Why didn't you lot mo know? I'vo boon thinking of you oil tlioso years as u domuro llttlo country( girl with n brokon heart. Am I In a dream? Everything has changed. Can this bo really you? What has happonod?" "Nothing but n real ostato boom, my dear. I've been so busy giving woQk-onds nnd going to Europe nnd pluylng bridge and motoring that really I will you forglvo mo? I act-ually act-ually haven't had tlmo to call you up." Ho gavo ono (looting, bewildering gazo at tho smart establishment, nt tho charming glint of landscapo through tho window, flanked by tho box hedge, nnd thon camo swiftly back to tho girl, "But, Nelllo," ho protested, "you might havo takon tho tlmo you might hnvo sent for mo long beforo this, eyon for old time's sake." And sho smiled back. "PomapH I nhould. Jnok, old boy, -but you know I was afraid that somo of tho old-tlmo(lovo might como back to mo, nnd If It did well, I wanted to i havo a bit of a fling flrst, for you .know, old chap, (hat you peoplo from "tho city aro somotlmes awfully slow!" |