Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1890-02-13
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I'd try my dear,
To make you one short call, Miss.
"But now I'm going out to dine
And 1 can only stop to sign
Myself your former Valentine"
.'1lere," exclaimed Jack, cycling his
fair copy with proud satisfaction. Now
that's something like what fellow
would write Any body'd know t'other
one was a girls doin's. Now for the
seal; it must be done up before Nell
gets back And with much care and
pains, after various experiments, a 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 il
for SAM she inquired, angrily; u
wanted to see how it looked
We'll. supposin' you did; you couldn't
have told Laura t 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 Nells 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 SC
| 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 it's degrading influence sent heI
this disgusting. cruel set of rhymess
| Lauras face famed with anger; then
| she threw herself on her little bed and
cried bitter, hot tears; cried for heI
past and her future. She went down tc
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 he1
forget-me-not ring months ago; il
dropped off her finger while she was
pulling water-lilies ont of Swan lake.
and she had cried over the loss sadly
| but now she reiOiced in it; she could
| have sent that back in a 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 it's square-fgured she'll to contain
her few trinkets, She could not send
these to Rome. She put them all into
an old starchbox and hid them fal
away under the caves of the garnet; q
| tiny grave in the house!
Sam Damon. whistling along the
streets of Traverse, little knew what he
had done. Nelly waited in vain fol
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 US
was but mole grubbing in the dark
he brought about results far from hi:
own expectation, above his own under
standing even, though he went all hi:
days in ignorance thereof; consciou:
only of slight veXation, whenever he
| thought of the matter, as he did once il
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 beer
lost, and when news came two year:
after of Jenny Dauvrays marriage t.
Jack Davenport she was glad she haG
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 briefes
and stiffest fashion, for even then she
| was becoming dDSOEDtu LII
But the obnoxious valentine did ;
good work for Laura; had it never come
she might have gone on bemoaning hel
recreant lover hoping against hope fol-
his return. till the news of his marriage
would have smitten her to the heart.
| Now she was as much Disguised a!
grieyed: she could not cherish as al
idol a man so coarse, so cruel, so com
mon-place as to write her verse:
worthy only of a mere school-boy. (ot
SamY so. like 4 sensible girl, she set tt
work to forget him; she went to New
York and made her aunt visit, came
home with new accomplishment, ant
took a small class in embroidery tina
helped occupy her time; she had alst
taken course of lessons in cooking
school, and henceforth old Hannah wa:
superseded in half her work, and the
nudge 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 a
her past folly, her fleeting' anguish; She
was so young that she could recover
and be thankful.
And the recovery was confirmed b,
the appearance in Swanfeld of a new
minister not too vOunr hut GOOD kind