The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1890-02-13

fair copy with proud satisfaction. NOW
that's something like what . fellow
would write. Any body'd know t'other
one was q girls doin's. Now Tor the
seal; it must be done up before Nell
gets back" And with much care and
pains, after various experiments, neat
round patch of azure wax was impressed
with the big d.
Nelly was much Disguised when she
came back to find her valentine irremedi-
ably fastened. what did you seal it
for, Sam?" she inquired, angrily; IL
wanted to see how it looked"
"Well, supposin' you did; you couldn't
have told Laura It you'd never seen the
thing, and now you can"
''That's So" answered Modified Nelly,
and Sam chuckled to think how true
such an answer would be, in spirit as
we'll as letter. At Nell's direction he
wrote the address and inclosed the note
to Jenny Dauvray, asking her to post it
from Rome, where she would be when
the double epistle reached her.
| In due time the verses returned to
Laura; her heart beat wildly as she per-
ceived the foreign stamp, the Roman
postmark; she was heartily thankful
that she had gone to the village post
Office herself, for her father would have
been sure to comment on the letter.
She took it at once to her room and,
locking her door, sat down by the win
dow and carefully slit the envelope.
Judge of her CONSERVATION! She turned
to the envelope and inspected that once
more; the postmark was distinct; so was
the great D, that filled the azure round
of the seal. What could this mean?
was it deliberate insult? or had he so
lost his manners, his feeling, by asso-
ciating with rough herd of artists
that he took this way to let her know
he cared for her no longer?
There was another and worse alterna.
tive; she had read in novels, often, how
young men coming into the possession
of money became dissipated; could Jack,
her Jack, have taken too much wine and
under its degrading influence sent her
this disgusting, cruel set Of rhymes?
Laura's face famed with anger; then
she threw herself on her little bed and
cried bitter, hot tears; cried for her
past and her future. She went down to
dinner with very red eyes indeed, and
told her father that she had headache.
| Indeed she had; and heartache too!
She was glad now that she had lost her
| forget-me-not ring months ago; it
dropped off her finger while she was
pulling water-lilies out of Swan lake,
! and she had cried over the loss sadly;
but now she rejoiced in it; she could
have sent that back in letter, she
would have been obliged to return it,;
but the little books, the bits of bric-a-
brac, the bronze frog that held stamps
on her pretty desk; the china turtle that
lifted its square-figured shell to contain
her few trinkets, she could not send
these to Rome! She put them all into
an old starch-box and hid them far
away under the caves of the garrett; a
tiny grave in the housed
Sam Damon, whistling along the
streets of Traverse, little knew what he
had done. Nelly waited in vain for
Laura's confidence with regard to that
sweet, sweet valentine, from you know
who?" as she had fully expected the let
ter to run; but Laura gave no sign.
Sam grinned to himself after hearing
Nelly express her Impotence at this I'M
heard-of silence and muttered to him
self:
Il guess not! That amt the sort of a
valentine to tell of; not much!"
Yet, after all, Sam, like the rest OF lis,
was but mole grubbing in the dark;
he brought about results far from his
own expectation, above his own under
standing even, though he went all his
days in ignorance thereof; conscious
only of a slight vexation, whenever he
thought of the matter, as he did once in
awhile for the next year, that his pre-
cious bit of. mischief had come to naught.
Nellie said nothing to Laura, ever; she
thought the letter had no doubt been
lost, and when news came two years
after of Jenny Dauvray's marriage to
Jack Davenport she was glad she had
never questioned Jenny as to the mat
ter; really Miss Dauvray had forgotten
all about the thing after it was mailed,
and did not answer Nelly's letter for three
months, and then only in the briefest
and stiffest fashion, for even then she
was becoming absorbed in Jack.
But the obnoxious valentine, did a
good work for Laura; had it never come
she might have gone on bemoaning her
recreant lover, hoping against hope for
his return, till the news of his marriage
would have smitten her to the heart.
Now she was as much disguised as
grieved; she could not cherish as an
idol a man so coarse, so cruel, so COM
mon-place as to write her verses
worthy only of a mere school-boy! {oh
SamD so, like sensible girl, she set to
work to forget him; she went to New
York and made her aunt visit, came
home with new accomplishment, and
took small class in embroidery that
taken a course of lessons in a cooking
school, and henceforth old Hannah was
superseded in half her work, and the
Judge RECALLED with such dainty dishes
that he waxed fat and smiling as never
before.
Laura's pale roses blushed warmly
again; she began to laugh inwardly at
her past folly, her deeting anguish; she
was so young that she could recover.
and be thankful.
And the recovery was confirmed by
the appearance in Swanfield of a new
minister, not too young, but good, kind
ly and thorough gentleman. The first
time Mr.. Vernon saw Laura Lamb he
was struck by her likeness to the wife
he had lost three years before; this is an
infallible symptom in widowers; it
seems to point out their duty, if not
their pleasure. And Laura liked Mr..
Vernon at first sight; she liked him bet
ter every time, and when he really put to
her the question. having fully made up
his own mind, she acknowledged that
she loved him! So she did, and discov-
cred that after all she had not really
loved Jack Davenport certainly not
enough to have married him. She be-
came mistress of the Swanfield rectory
before she heard of Jacks marriage, and
with q careless, steady voice read out
the announcement to her husband.