Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 76, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 March 1920 — FIFTY-EIGHT FIFTY [ARTICLE]

FIFTY-EIGHT FIFTY

By R. RAY BAKER

McClure Newspaper Syndicate.) It- did not look like a good investment that Hilda Caruthers had, made. No, Hilda had not taken-a flier la copper, oil or motor*. She had simply bought a dress. >u '5 Clothes being a necessity, the purchase of a dress when one Is heeded Is an Investment. But Hilda was fairly well supplied with wearing apparel that was pretty enough, but suited only to, everyday wear. The reason the dress in question did not look like a good investment was that she wanted it for one special occasion, and It, cost $58.50 of the S6O she had in the bank. — It seemed like downright foolishness but she just had to go to Anne’s wedding, and as Anne’s wedding was to be dn event of stellhr social importance common clothes would be out of place. > ' Anne was the best girl friend Hilda ever had. They had been chums In school and had been together so much they were taken for sisters, and even began to feel that way themselves. In their senior year at high school the two girls became separated when Anne’s parents moved with her to a near-by city. However, the two girls corresponded regularly and were as good friends as ever, spending most of their vacation periods together. Hilda was graduated from high school, took a business course and be came a bookkeeper in a- department store. Anne took a position as stenographer In a broker's office. Three years later came the surprising news from Anne: ‘Tm going to marry a millionaire!” It seemed that Anne’s employer fell in love with her and she with him, and could be only one natural result. In the midst of preparations for the wedding the Moorehouse home burned to the ground, and plans were upset for a short time. — Then Anne got the Idea she would like to he married in the little church she used to attend in her old home town; so the two families most concerned motored thither. It was to be an elaborate function, and consequently when Hilda received an invitation she knew It behooved her to adorn herself suitably for the occasion. x

The wedding was set for eleven o’clock in the morning, and at nine Hilda set ou| afoot for the church. It had been raining hard, but had cleared off, and the sun was shining brightly. Two blocks from the church she stopped a!t a corner to let a big coupe roll past. The machine was closer to her than she had calculated as she stood on the walk, and the rear wheel churned up a sea of mud and hurled a tidal wave at Hilda. As the auto vanished round a cornet a block away the girl stood and with her fists rubbed wet dirt out of her eyes and looked down at her dress to see that it was ruined. Hilda realized that as far as her presence was concerned the wedding might have been on Mars. She simply could not attend in that mud-bespat-tered costume. There was only one thing to do—retrace her steps, take off the $58.50 worth of ruined goods and spend the day in misery' in her room. As she walked dolefully toward her. home, trying vainly to brush the clinging mud from "her, a feeling of rage gradually rose within her. She remembered how she had seen a young man driving the coupe, and she recalled that he had smiled at her as he drenched her with mud. For a moment the smiling face had attracted her and she had wished that she might know the/ young man. Now she had the same longing, but for a different reason. She won,ld like to present him with a slice of her mind.

Fretting and fuming, Hilda wended her way homeward, while the wedding guests crowded the church, and the bride-to-be, with the assistance of a maid, got into her gown iri her room at the hotel, and the groom-to-be sat In his room with his father and smoked black cigars to steady his nerves. In the midst of these preparations the telephone in Anne’s room summoned her, and when.she turned from the Instrument she displayed excitement • “Get mother," she ordered the maid. “Gwendolln has had . a nervous collapse and can’t act as bridesmaid. Anybody would think she was going to be married, Instead of her cousin. I was afraid she’d do something like that, she’s so hlgh-strting. Mother Insisted on having her, though. Now maybe she’ll consent to Hilda Caruthers, if it’s possible to get word to Hilda this late, and if she’ll consent to playing second fiddle.” ■ So Mrs. Moorehouse fluttered onto the scene, and when'she had been made acquainted with the situation she fluttered to the young man who was about to become her son-in-law. JThe latter’s brother, who waq to act . as best man, bad just driven up in his machine. . “Fred;” directed the prospective groom, “take a run up to the ehurch -and yank Hilda Caruthers out of the audience and. bring her here. She can wear one of Anne’s dresses.” “I don’t know her," Fred objected. Mrs. Moorehouse fluttered back to her daughter and returned with a picture of Hilda. Fred’s face took on a queer, elated expression as he studied it v ; r Z-That’s funny," he remarked. -I

passed that girl just a little while ago on a corner a. few blocks, from here.” He went away, muttering. “The real funny part of it is, though, that she struck my eye and I dearly ran over an ice wagon, because I was looking back at her.” .Fred was unable to find Hilda among the guests assembled at the fhugch. He asked the church ushers and they stated positively that Miss Caruthers had not arrived. So he got her- address and went to her home. Hilda had entered her room was on the point of taking off the mudruined dress when her aunt called her. Hilda’s parents had died within a year of each other shortly, after Anne moved from the city, and she was living with her uncle and aunt< “There’s a young man here to see you on important business,” said .the aunt. “He wants you for bridesmaid at the wedding. He’s the brother of the groom.” Hilda began to unfasten her dress. “I won’t change,” she decided suddenly. “I’ll just show them that I did have a good dress, even if it is ruined now.” When she saw Fred her feeling of anger returned, but the smile with which he greeted her made it impossible for her to harbor her wrath. So she smiled in return and said: “You’re to blame for this mud. Your old car did it, and that’s the reason I’m not at the Church now.” “Never mind,” he returned. “Come along in the car, and Fil apologize on the way. They’ll fix you up at the hotel.” But Fred did not take the shortest way. Instead he drove several blocks in the wrong direction. The truth is he was captivated by Hilda —well, you can’t get around it. There is such a thing as love at first sight, and mud can’t alter it. At the hotel the bridal party waited in vain for the bridesmaid and best man. Mrs. Moorehouse was all aflutter and was for telephoning the police and the hospitals to ascertain whether there had been an accident. The mother of the prospective groom was little more composed, While the two fathers held an excited conference and the young man who was to become a husband smoked black cigars and dug his finger nails into the palms of his hands.

For half an hour the bridal party waited, and the assemblage at the church grew restless, ayd some of It left. The tension at the hotel ended when Anne was called to the phone. “This is Fred,” said the voice on the wire. “Say, I forgot all about your wedding, I was so interested in your friend Hilda. You’ll pardon me, but I couldn’t help taking her for a ride, and we had a mishap. Oh, we didn’t get hurt, but we got pretty acquainted. We’ll be right up to the hotel. Better get those clothes ready for Hilda, because she’s going to be your attendant, all right; but what’s more interesting to me—there’s going to be a double wedding.”