The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1895-05-03

room hre, her eyes liked, with curl
osity and eagerness that was almost
painful, upon the bulky brown parcel
that lay on the sideboard, having been
brought home in the hanson with
Paul. IF it should be there" she said
to herself, breathlessly, and then the
color flashed into her interesting face
and her eyes grew soft and beautiful,
as she thought of a certain strip of vel
low paper hidden away in her old
jewel-case upstairs, which paper bore
an inscription that was to Flora the
most wonderful, the sweetest inscrip-
ton in the world 1t was only an ordi-
nary check, made payable to order, for
the sum of ten guineas, but it repre-
scented whole world of hope, of sue
cess-of future fame and fortune-to
the girl to whom it had come.
She began wondering, with thrill
of nervousness mingling in with her
delight, how she had better tell her
wonderful news to Paul. She had kept
the secret of her work from him with
the greatest difficulty; there had been
moments when she had been almost
suffocated with the pressure of this
secret; it was the first and the only one
she ever had, and when it is known
that she carried all the details of her
innocent little life to her husbands
ears each little joy and disappoint-
ment, each little light and shade-it
will be better understood what ire
mendous responsibility had lain upon
her heart when she had set herself the
task to try and help to earn few
pounds to go toward the household ex-
penses, and to say nothing of her at
tempt until it had proved itself a success!
1t had been one morning nearly year
be fore that the idea had come to her.
The parochial taxes came first. A little
deep and heartfelt swearing from Paul
had followed next, and then the idea
had burst suddenly into being.
1t was not born of a solitary thought
that idea-it was hedged about with
thoughts that were some of them sor-
rowful enough, for they recalled old
troubles, bitter words, breach be-
tween herself and her girlhood's home
and something more that had never
been definitely explained to Flora's
mind so subject as it was to her love
for her husband, which the world, at
the time of their marriage, had
summed up pretty correctly as disap-
pointment for Paul Meredith.
1t had been, perhaps, vague con-
seriousness that the comfort and luxury
that had surrounded her when Paul
had first met her had played not I'M
important part in the history Of their
love and marriage that had helped the
idea of work to formulate itself in the
girls mind. However this may be,
Flora had seized on the suggestion as
on a treasure, and had rushed off to
Margaret Lloyd as to the only one OF
her friends who could be able to help
her to turn the idea into action. She
had, of course, failed miserably in the
although Margaret spent
many an hour in putting the chaos of
the girls thoughts into some definite
and had also drudged away at
the question of mechanism, which is as
necessary to the work
of the pen as 1t is in every other profess
sion; but little by little she improved.
She had her heart in her brain and she
profted by her friends instructions.
When she had taken her first long
story to publisher, she had carried
letter Of recommendation from Marga-
ret also
''Do not expect anything brilliantly
good, strong, or original in the story"
Miss Lloyd had written. You will
find nothing of the sort; it is, however,
The work of an educated girl with
very fair idea of telling story and an
abundance of charming thoughts,
which, if trifie sentimental, cannot
tail to please large class of readers.
hope you will give the book chance
# you possibly can"
The strip of paper hidden away in
the jewel case had been the outcome OF
Ill this. Ten pounds was not much to
earn for story that had cost almost
Is many months to write, but to Flora
It represented, as we have seen, more
than wealth-it gave her sense OF
Importance, it brought her a little
nearer to Paul, intellectually speaking.
She had sometimes, frequently, indeed.
WINGED at little contempt that had
been mingled in with his affection for
whatever Disappointment there might
have been IN the mans mind when he
realized that his marriage without con-
,ent meant marriage without money.
too, there was no question of Paul Mer-
sdith's affection for his wife,. And now
this would be all changed.
"He has always loved me. Now he
will be proud of me, tool" the girl said
10 herself. and yet she shrank from
speaking out her secret, even to obtain
that measure Of appreciation from him