Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-02-12

him, and was gazing fixedly at the hand
which held the fan. Could he believe
his eyes? 1t was half in shadow, yet
when she had held cut her hand in
greeting just now. the ring looked so
familiar it had taken his breath away.
Seeing her eyes follow the direction
which his had taken, he said, boldly:
''What curious ring.''
eyes: is it not? And the way it came
to me was so odd, must tell you about
it. You know to-day is-Oh-This morn
ing found, with the mail at my plate,
little box with this ring in it. There
was no card with it-nothing to tell
from whom it came. 1t is such queer
shape. There must be some story con-
nected with it. Was it not stranger"
Every strange. good luck offer
ing, l suppose. That is four-leaved
clover, is it not?''
eyes; but am not superstitious.
''Did the superscription give you no
clue? You have kept is, of course?'
Eyes; it is about here somewhere.
Oh. you lawyers!' she laughed, as she
rose, now quite self-possessed. 'sYou
would take the romance out of every
thing. l don't care to find out who
sent it, and have the whole thing be-
come commonplace Immediately. But
here is the paper, if you care to see it
The young man took the paper and
studied it with such deliberation that
she grew uneasy, and said at last:
''Well, what do you discover"
She would not have been nervous
could she have only known that the
letters were dancing such jig before
his eyes he could not tell one from an
other. What should he say? What
should he do? Dared he produce his
part of the ring and tell her the truth?
Or should he get himself away as
quickly as possible and try to think
this thing out? But her question
reused him.
yes" he said, slowly. not lifting his
eyes to hers. 81 have discovered some
thing. Will you let me take this paper
away with me?"
''No, no!' she said, and she i'm
pulsively seized the paper and threw it
into the fire. He looked at her with
such pure establishment that she began
to breathe more freely again. 81 don't
| want this spoiled by being turned into
a case. l shall not wear the ring after
tonight 1 will merely keep it as a
souvenir of ST. Valentine
''She suspects who it is FROM" he
thought to himself. 81 must find out -
mo, but it would be satisfaction to
me to find out, since it would explain
something which has been puzzling me
since last night
She looked at him interrogatively, but
he said, soothingiy:
81 have also had a valentine, and ]
should like to show it to YOU
She took the little roll of paper
which he passed to her, with trembling
fingers. He tried not to watch her face
as she read it, but how could he help it2
He saw her eyelids culver. How slow
she was. In fact she was reading each
line twice over, to gain time. He could
| wait no longer:
'sThis was with it, he said, holding
out something in his hand. Then she
had to raise her eyes, and as they met
his after glance at the ring, the
bushes that swept one after the other
over her cheek so enraptured him, that,
throwing caution to the winds, he broke
out:
''Can it be true? love you more than
any one else ever could-but I can't
speak unless you say that I may?"
A beautiful light came into the gray
eyes. With a trembling smile she held
out her hand