Show GERTIE REAL NE D it was true love which came in due time BY JOANNA SINGLE it came at tile tho last lait mall d delivery el ivery when the girl was closing the desk and wishing she ebe were dead stevens the bookkeeper handed banded it to her aud went out with a so long ion g hid lie he had been asked to call her miss king but the boss had bad gone aldeo andeo lie he suited butted himself As she elio opened her letter the young fellow came caino back his hard face softened a little as lie ho addressed her come on out and eat cat with me gertle gertie but she shook her bead ead and with a shrug lie ho was off she knew she could take po no favors from this man and she also reflected that tho the man who was writing her was little better and greatly older she had forbidden him to write orto or to give her things she glanced down the letter and folded it almost guiltily into her bag put on oil her hat and slipped front from tho the hot office into the hotter street her intention was to get a little supper and rest a bit before she decided what to do a decision that would have been easier but for the memory of a thin boyish face and haunting brown eyes she did not know where hoyd boyd was waa and wondered wistfully what lack ho he had found in her why ho had dropped out of sight without a word to her the girl mechanically turned to a cheap eating place but the noise and smell of it sickened her and she ahe retraced her steps stepa to a clean little cafe where she would have to pay more than she could afford something made her reckless oVer overwork misery about boyd and the he p I 1 n k C il sk in that letter from john ping which check of course she elie would send back as she always had returned his checks 1 she ordered food and when it came ate it all but hardly tasting it for an N adea idea thit that had come to her an idea that had never touched her before it was to give up the struggle and let this kindly old man marry her supply her real need to be cared for why was she working to keep from starvation what was wait there in it she drained her coffee cup and then read the letter carefully through dear gertrudes gertrude for the last time I 1 am going to ask you to marry me and let me talie take decent care of you ive known you since you were a little child and you know I 1 love you I 1 wont talk about abou that I 1 know you have nothing against me twenty years between us seems big to you now but it will not when you once see gee how happy I 1 can make inake you try me why wont you go to california with me ma next week the mountains this his summer and the south nex next winter I 1 ath am inclosing a check which I 1 want you to use pay y your our bills this will reach you saturday give up your work and buy to funson telegraph me and my alster will meet you and we will be married right away de be sensible and do it JOHN she left the tho cafe and went to her stuffy room threw herself on the bed face down after the ancient manner of women in trouble lo and fought it out with herself tearless and halt half numbed slig she had never been taken care cara of she had never neve r had a real home boyd sho she did not know that he ever had really cared certainly she unasked had not shown him her heart but she had thought that tha t lie ho loved her but for this her struggle would have been short to marry meant she must forget farget him As it was it was midnight when she ehe arose lit her lamp bathed and very calmly went to bed she slept far into the forenoon and waked in a sort eort of peace the landlady thin anxious slatternly but not unkind knocked and came in with towels the girl sat up and smiled at af her mrs afro queries hand me ine my purse and I 1 will pay my rent I 1 am going away monday morning I 1 know till last night or I 1 would havo have warned you sooner the woman looked at her curiously goin to git married she guessed tho the girl nodded well I 1 liked the looks of tho young feller spose its that one with the brown eyes that come to see you last winter aint seen him lately he h been away again gertude nodded her heart ow dwelling elling somehow she ho could bot say that it was not boyd that a sort cort ot 0 reluctant esteem was the nearest shed eha was coining to love suddenly she aha hneil line A she was waa wicked todo to do what she BUG intended but her mouth set and her e yes eyes hardened after a little talk s she 11 e got rid of the woman and began to pick up her things her belongings wore were few but always well kept and orderly and it did not take long to get them into her trunk A few notes from boyd ni a keep heep sako or two from him she eho slip slipped P ed into her handbag she would burn them some day or drop them into the lake before she elie was married she mentally burned the bridges behind hor her promising herself that at least she would be a faithful wife to john spaulding ho he should not regret marrying her As sho she dressed to go out for dinner sho stood before tho the dingy old mirror and saw how pretty she was with a halt half distaste for her beauty thy tho gray eyed fair haired type she wondered how it would feel to be a second wife and it the first wife had given this big gray haired man a real love along in the blazing heat of tho lato late afternoon when she had como come in again finished each detail of packing and had looked up ho trains to F funson ull soll she sat flat listlessly on tho the edge of the narrow little bed and tried not to think there would be a train at seven that would get her to the town at nine the next morning she could telegraph from tho the station finally she remembered that sho she had less than two dollars in e cash ash and that it was sunday and it would be hard to cash john dings check she went downstairs found that tho the landlady could not help her but would re endorse the paper so BO that a druggist of her acquaintance would take lt it and went out on her quest she was uns successful it seemed an omen to her and all at once her spirits rose a little with tile tho banks and business houses closed it was waa impossible oven even tor for people who anew new i her to 6 give her so much cash I 1 31 it meant that she could not start for another day and the delay gave her a strange relief As she walked slowly back to her room now no longer in haste baste a sort of peace came to her and she know knew I 1 that she s he would not do this thing slie sho would go back to work in tho the morn ing and struggle along again hoping against hope sho she would marry with real love tho the only real need or she would fight on by herself sho she would not compromise the Ihn landlady diady was waa a casual and unconventional person and had bad com pany of her own in tile the parlor thus thua it was that sho she did not even trouble to tell gertrdue duc that she had sent rent a caller up and opened her door sho she went in and as she way closing it she thought she must to insane for boyd case came toward her his eyes shining his hands held out to her not for her life could she have said more than she did say oh oh she said eald in a weak little voice as sho she stood motionless but the young roan man must have seen how it was with her tor for lie he presently took her into his arms do you love me ine do you say that you dol do I 1 have a right to ask you now I 1 before so when I 1 know I 1 cared all I 1 could stand I 1 went away ive been out west and the doctors say eay im all right they thought it was my lungs and I 1 have asked you to share that with me dut but I 1 found real work and have a little money ahead enough to take you back with me will you go then she drew away little a and nd looked at him as it if she would never lot let litin him go from her sight she nodded happily while he scolded her and mourned over her and wondered lover like what would have happened had he not come just then she sat eat down and wrote a little note to funson and a u check she was sorry site she had indorsed endorsed Indor sed it but she could not use it and she was sorry and he had bad been kind but she could marry no one but boyd she wrote this to john spaulding and as she did so her first real tenderness for or him came to her lie he was alone and she would have bo boyd d always copyright 1912 by associated literary press presa |