Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1879-07-11

last pebble, he came back and stood be-
hind her, winding the ribbon round his
| 6nger to its evident detriment.
$50 you will not wear it, Meg?" he
said at last.
"No, l will not" she answered, with
out turning her head. ''Why do you
vex mep There's no more to be said
about it."
but why, MegP" and !he laid his
hand on her shoulder as with an at
tempt at reconciliation. Tell me why.
| Surely you can do no less"
Because because | can't abide blue,
Matt Erickson. It's hateful to me-"
but like it, Meg! and if you cared
for me you would be glad to wear blue
ribbon to the fair when l ask it."
"Why did you buy it?" she asked
shortly, turning toward him bya hairs
breadth. Not to please me, that's sure"
Yes, to please you and to please
myself. Jenny wears ribbons as blue as
ier own eyes, and am sure you cannot
say they are not pretty. You. are just
stubborn, Meg"
Poor Matt! In his uneducated. mas
culine blindness he could not see that
the delicate color that harmonized so
well with his pretty cousins pink and
white cheeks and sunny curls was utterly
Mnsuited to his brown Meg, who needed
rich dark hues and warm reds to
brighten her somewhat swarthy COM
! pleXiOn.
And poor Meg! She had an instructive
sense of fitness that taught her this, but
she was not wise enough to know how
to explain it to her somewhat imperious
lover. She could not say she 'hated
him!"
Besides, Meg had carried sore spot
in her heart for two months; ever
since this same cousin Jenny of Matt's
came on a. visit to Rysdyk. She was
dimpled, delicate little creature from the
south-from near London, in fact
where, as Meg was very certain, every
thing was nicer and finer than in Lanca-
shire. Jenny had sweet little coaxing
ways with her, and she was always pur-
ring around her cousin Matt like a kit
ten; and-aEd she wore blue ribbons! !!
Meg would none of them.
She sat for moment as if turned to
stone Then she blazed out:
'Jennyn 'Jennyn | am tired of
Jennyr She has turned your head
with her flirting ways like a butterfly,
and her yellow hair and her finery
Give your blue ribbon to her, and take
her to the fair-for I'll not wear it,"
And you'll not go to the fair, eitherP"
said Matt, in tones suppressed passion.
Is that what you mean?"
"I'll not go with you," she answered,
growing cool herself as she grew angry
Yet it's likely enough that | may go.
There are plenty of lads who would be
glad to take me with no ribbons at all.
With a strong effort the young man
put the curb upon his tongue, but his
face darkened. "You will go with me
or no one, Meg" he said. "This is all
nOnsense-and we to be married next
Michaelmas? But come" and he put
out his hand to raise her from the stone;
if grows darl, "
Meg, still angry but willing to be
pacitied if she must, allowed him to
assist her, and stood beside her stalwart
lover with burning cheeks and down.
cast eyes. She rather liked, on the
whole, his tacit refusal to defend him
self and his masterful way of telling her
it was all nonsense" But Just at this
moment, rs ill-luck would have it, a
small brown-paper parcel dropped from
the folds of her shawl. Matt stopped to
pick it up. 1t burst open and q yard or
two of scarlet ribbon rippled over his
| fingers.
Now our poor Meg, not to be outdone
by the fair Jenny, had bought this rib
bon herself that very evening, meaning
to wear it to the fair next week. But it
50 happened that when Matt went to
Mother Marley's shop to buy his own
blue loye~token he had found Dan Willis
there--the onl ly man in Rysdyk whose
rivalship he had ever feared. And Dan
was buying ribbon precisely like this.
Mother Marley had wrapped it in this
very piece of paper, Matt was sure, and
he had seen Dan put it in his pocket
and walk off with it.
And now, here it was! His gift was
spurned, then, and his rivals accepted;
and all Megs talk about Jenny was
mere subterfuge-an excuse for quar-
rel.
Yet if she would not wear his love
token she certainly should not wear
Dams. He hardly meant to do it; he
was sorry the next minute. But what
he did, as the tide of passion swept him
off his feet for an instant, was to wind
the two ribbons into knot and throw
them vehemently into the sea.
"Therer' he cried, that's settled
once for all"
"And something else is settled to, Matt
Erickson" retorted Meg, in a white
heat. There'll be no marriage for us
next Michaelmas, no marriage then or
ever! You would strike me some day.
for aught / know, if | should choose to
wear II red knot rather than blue. I'll
not run the. risk. rllhavenothing more
to say to you while the stars shine, i" and
darting round the cliff, she was half way
down to the beach before he ever thought
of stopping her.
The next day Erickson, magnani-
nous, great-hearted fellow that he was.
after all, having gotten over his quarrel
from Megs standpoint, it occurred to
him that he might have drawn uncalled-
for inferences. Dan Willis might have
dozen sweethearts who all liked red
ribbons for aught he knew. And how
like fool he had behaved, losing his
temper like a hot-headed boy and throw
ing Meg's poor little trinkets over the
cliff No wonder she was afraid to
trust him. More than one husband in
Rysdyk was in the habit of beating his
wife on as slight provocation as the hue
of a ribbon; and it was not strange that
a high-spirited girl like Meg should de-
cline to run the risk after she had once
seen him in fury.
AS for Jenny, she had rcame in be-
tween him and Meg. He could see it
now. But she was going home the day
after the fair, and he would see Meg that
very night and tell her so. For he did
not dream that all was indeed over be-
tween them. He could hardly wait for
the hour to leave the mine
He changed his soiled clothes, ate his
supper hulriedly, and was soon on his
way to Meg, stopping as he went to buy
another ribbon-red this time. and