Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1895-09-21


Meta.
Because they are Marguerltes, anC
| am Margaret she asked.
''If YOU like Or because they ar,
fair and white. and tall and stately
and beautiful" said Mr.. Lindsay.
Shall find them and YOU still here
when l come back, / wonderP vii
the daisies bloom year after year, IN
spite of fogS and smoke? And you,
Margaret, will you be here, in spite OF
all the Suitors who will try tc win and
wear the Marguerite that is the one
flower in the world for meP She did
not answer for Il moment, She was
only seventeen, and with Robin Lind.
say, at least, She was curiously shy.
And then, before she could speak, he
caught her hands in his. don't an
swer, DEAR he said; II had no right
to ask. | will not bind you by a
single word. Only give me flower
for old loves sake. 1t pledges you to
nothing, but may be glad to nave it
if | come back some day and find no
daisies here.
''One daisy will be here, " said Meta
seftly-s softly that perhaps he did
not hear; or perhaps he would not.
Robin Lindsay had no fortune but his
4 profession, but he was Scots
man, and as proud as he was
4 poor. Ii seemed to him baseness to
try to win pledge from this fair
! young cousin of his, whose mother
looked so much higher for her, and to
whom an engagement to himself
could only bring years of indefinite
waiting.
The waiting and the burden of sep
aration and doubt and anxiety should
be his, and not hers, he told himself;
and so he went away and left her free.
/ not understanding that her freedom
was heavier burden than them all.
tie only wrote once, Il formal letter
to Lady Mary, acknowledging her
hospitality, that somehow found its
way among Metals treasures; but
every year there came a Christmas
card adorned with white Marguerite
daisies, and bearing an Indian post :
mark and the initials X. l..
That was all; just such Christmas
cards rs any one might have sent,
pretty tokens OF cousinly remembrance
that might be the emptiest Of compli-
ments; but Meta flushed into tremb-
ling celight over them, and hid them
away as Il mser hides his gold.
And Lady Mary, looking kindly at
her daughter, with the unexpected
acumen which otherw ise foolish wo-
men sometimes display in matters Of
the heart, thought to herself that ii
Meta had not been such child when
Robin Lindsay went away, she might
have fancied there had been some
''nonesensen between the cousins
when they wandered so long in the
garden those soft June evenings five
long years ago.
Il was only passing thought, dis 1
missed the next instant as too unlikely /.
for serious reflection. but il came back .
to Lady Mary with startling Vividness .
this fair June morning as she went in 4
to the garden in search Of Meta, aud K
found her standing BIS the daisies with I
eyes that were luminous and tender
and sad. The golden bosses, surround
ed with pearly shafts of white. sud
denly recalled the Christmas cards
that had borne them in every variety
OF dainty devices. And when Lady
Mary looked at her daughter with un-
conscious appeal and questioning, She
knew, with thrill Of unwelcome con.
viction, that the girl eyes fell before
her own. Was this it--ths- that Meta,
her proud, uuapproachable Meta, was
only proud and unapprOachable be-
cause she was already won, and won
either clandestinely or unwooed2
Either supposition seemed desc
Grafton TO Metals mother, with Meta
standing before her in her proud Young
beauty; only the daisies made back
ground to her thoughts. an unackuowl-
edged arrlere pensee thai had its share
IN determining her speech.
DO you know that Lord Castleman
IS coming for his answer this morn
lng? she asked with an attempt At
severity OF demeanor that was not too
successful. What are you gong to
say 70 him, my dear?'
Won you see him, mammal You
VIII say No so much more graciously
than should. =
But need it be No, MetaP"
What else can it be?n said Meta.
rather drearily.
The daisies were an unconscious
background to her thoughts also. inc
daisies that had brought only happy
memories and golden dreams 10 the
girl in her teens, had come 10 have
quite other meanings for the woman Of
twenty-five.
Five years! Was it likely that the
Llve-years-old story could scen any-
hing but a boy and girl romance 10
Robin Lindsay now? That was the
question that the daisies had been ask
ng Margaret Hazlewood this mornino.
hat they mad already asked her more
nan once as the empty years went by,
INA ROBIN Lindsay gave no sign Of
.laiming "thc one flower in the world I
or him" I
Need il be no, Meta?" said her
mother once more. Lord CastIeman ]
5 well born, distinguished, polished !
Gentleman, and an upright man.
nat fault can You find in him?'' I
None, +" said Meta, YEARLY. She !
bought that life would have been :
.asler to her if her suitors had been 4 =
title less uncxceptionable. y
Then, my dear, why do Won not ac. 7
ept him? Do you know, Meta. what
the natural conclusion when n Girl 7
AZ Vou 6opfj D. II