The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-02-03

"Oh, reckon he was only Toxin.
about that" Rob said, UNFOLDING the
missive. Next minute her hand felI
She was laughing aloud in real and mn
controlled merriment
$50 he wants the pleasure of nv com
pany for the whole big meeting. - she
said, eying the sheet with disdainfrI
amusement. what a monopolist no
must think I ami And, oh, what ioLo
on Mrs. Winfield it is that he has askoS
mel have great mind to 90 with
him, once, just to sec how green she
will turn
A quick thought shot through her and
brought the red to her face. Somethino
whispered that thus she could show
Jack how little she cared for his treacb.
cry. 1t was treachery of the blacklist
sort. Alice Winfold was truthful. She
would never have come to Rob with bor
tale had there not been fact behind il
No doubt Jack had hoped she would
come. Perhaps even now he was Bnt
she would think no worse Of him tLan
she could possibly help. He had Loen
her friend, perhaps was still her friend
He was impulsive. 1t might be his
compassion had carried him too far
Yet she had not willfully appealed to
his sympathies. No, she could not ac.
quit him of deliberate trihing. How
glad she was to remember that she had
spoken as she did! Yet how her cheeks
burned, remembering his warm clasp
and the quick, delicious tremor it had
sent through her.
II, too, can amuse myself, p" Rob said
very low. Then she said to Peter: "Goon
to the kitchen while write my note. 1t
will not take long, just long enough for
you to eat watermelon. Nam Liza
will give you one. Do you think you
care about it?'
Peter vanished like shadow. Some.
how the note took long time, though
when finished it was but line. Rob
scrawled it upon scrap of paper, fold.
ed it narrowly and tied it in a cooked
hat.
'Teddy Barton will likely say that
is true love knot" she said, with
low laugh. Then she sat holding it fast,
thinking, thinking over all the week
had brought Jack-Jack did love her
after cowardly fashion. He had fallen
away from her because his mother did
not like her. She did like Alice Win.
fold best of all the world. Anyway
nothing concerning him could touch her
any more. She was grieved, half heart
broken indeed, but it was at finding
l. Lose .,nhln al lot han
she had thought, not through any feel
ing personal to herself.
She had lost her friend, the friend
who had made SO large part Of life.
That was harder than losing "a hundred
lovers. But she did not Sigh over it.
| She seemed indeed to herself to stand
above and outside herself, looking curl.
ously at the turmoil within an alien
soul. With senses tensely alert, she
noted the dips and wheelings of the
humming birds about the honeysuckles
and how delicately the red of the wood
bine trumpets melted into the gold OF
their tips. The vines had but sparse
flowers. Rob broke "a near cluster and
thrust it in her hair, then walked light
| ly down the long hall and paused III the
back door to hear Nam Liza say:
my Lawd, liz Peter, pear lex ter
me you all at de sto' gut metty heap er
business dis yere way i'll snort. Whut
took an fetched lou yere, rugged up DAT
erway, wusser'l er skeercrowg
bill mule, ko fetched me ober 90
groun, but l spec it's Miss Rob whar
at de bottom er my COMM" Peter sald'
with grin. 81 spec dat err Tub letter
Marse Ben Topmark took an sont her
by me. Lordy. hopes de answer gwlne
TEX long ernough fer me ter eat nodder
watermillion.
"Peter, you can go now. Inc no'e
is ready" Rob called from the piazza
The lad jumped as though he had been
shot, took strangling last gulp OF red'
juicy melon, then darted away, as gro
tesque messenger as ever bore the de-
cree Of human fate.