Riddle of the Prairie Bride

With this particular story, it might be useful to read the history part before you read the actual story. I didn't realize that there was a system where newspapers regularly ran ads for brides for men who were in the “west,” (which area varied depending upon how far the “civilized” border had been pushed west.)

There weren't many women in the actual “west”, so apparently lots of men took out ads in newspapers in the “east” to see if they could get a woman interested in coming out and marrying them. This was also fairly common, apparently; reference is made to one “shipment” of 41 women at a time.

This better sets the stage for Ida Kate's story. Her father was one of the men who took out a newspaper ad and it ended up being answered. They kept up writing each other and Ida Kate's father asked the woman to come out west and she agreed.

So her father and Ida Kate meet the woman, Caroline. At first everything seems ok, but as time goes on, Ida Kate finds more and more mysterious things about Caroline, indicating that she may not be who she claims to be at all. Then Ida Kate finds a dagger that belongs to the woman and she makes the assumption that Ida Kate may plan to kill her father and her.

“Caroline”, meanwhile, has adapted well to life on the prairie and Ida Kate's father really seems to like the woman (and the baby she has with her.) Things continue to build, though, and finally the woman is confronted with the evidence that Ida Kate has found and she confesses.

The story turned out to be more interesting than I thought that it would be, and it has a good ending.

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