The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-02-22

he took Miss Stella out DIR. ing as often
as she would consent to go; and for a
time she found the brown country
roads winding amid wooded hills aglow
with the rich fruit tints Of the ripening
leaves, exceedingly alluring, and often
thrilled Dixie's heart with her exclam-
atoms Of delight. After the snow came
they had a sleigh ride or two: but
now, although she found keen pleasure
in the crisp music OF the runners and
the CLEAN of the featE.ery crystals that
floated down through the air and filled
the fields, Ste1la's manner was growing
as cold as the winter air, and Drixie's
sensitive heart got a hill. He contin-
ued, nevertheless, to jangle the door
bell of her uncle's dwelling with una
bated persistency, more and more fire.
Quently finding the young lady out.
Finally. he took advantage Of Saint
Valentines day-yery cleyerly, as he
fancied-to sen her a present, a trim
ket Of considerable value, along with
one Of those deliberately inartistic senti-
mental valentines which are exposed
for sale side by side with revolving
caricatures in village shops. His pres
ent was promptly returned. Then he
called. Stella was not at home-off on
a sleigh ride with one of mis- rivals, he
suspected-and h caught sight OF his
carefully selected valentine lying, face
downward, on the floor in the hall. He
re.urned to his home in bitter wrath,
and ground the discarded jewel under
his boot heel. For an hour he paced up
and down his room, suffering torments
Of disappointment, rage and jealousy.
At last there came a sudden revulsion
Of feeling. He burst into tears, and his
, whole heart turned back with a passion
ate throb to Jennie. He longed, as h
had never longed for anything in the
! whole world before, for her gentle SYM
pathy-her comforting love.
! He hastened to her home. She, too.
was OUT; gone for a short walk, they
told him, rather coldly. He ascertained
the direction she had taken, however,
and fairly ran along the road to over
take her.
Presently he observed tracks, which
some instinct told him were hers, lead
ing aside into a little grove. II 1oun-
dered through a snow-drift, and soon
found her standing beside a maple tree
On its bark, obscured by years OF
growth and rusty with weathering, he
saw his own boyish symbol-the big
heart with the little cross cut deeply
within it-one of the first he had ever
carved.
Jennie! Jennie!" he cried.
) The wretched girl was so glad to see
him that she forgot all, and held out
her hand. He seized it and dropped on
his knees in the snow.
ooh, Jennie! Do you really loveme
SOP"
The soft blush Of welcome which was
dawning upon her cheek famed into
angry scarlet, which spread and deep
ened till brow and ears and throat
were all ablaze. Hot tears streamed
fr0ro how a1yac Che cnotohp6 AWAY her
hand, and fled homeward, nor by his
utmost effort was he able to overtake
her.
SO he wandered along the village
streets, bewildered and disconsolate, un-
til the perversity of fate, and his own
marvellous aptitude for laundering,
still again, for the third time that day,
betrayed him. 1t was not usual to of
fer flowers for sale in Meadowvile, but
because it was Saint Valentines day
a small stock had been ordered from a
florist in the nearest city and Ostenta-
tiously displayed in the front window
of one of the stores. 1t was now even
ing, and nothing remained except a few
pink carnations, but 1t suddenly occurr-
ed to the woe-begone DriXie that 1t
might be a good idea to sen these as a
peace offering to the offended maiden,
ME more he thought of it, the more the
ingenuity and delicate tact of the
scheme impressed him. So he bought
the flowers at a price that was sheer
robbery on the dealers part, and sub
sidized the clerk to deliver them. Upon
the card which was to accompany them
he wrote: Dear Jennie, I'm so sor-
ry. Please forgive me, and don't take
it so hard. I'l call tomorrow"
Then he went home, feeling almost
elate.
Now it happened that Jennie had
given considerable attention to. the
Language of flowers and she knew
that pink carnations meant "woman's
love-" Bitterly self-conscious anG
burning with modification, he attrib.
uted to the unlucky Drixie a minute
ness of knowledge and a subtlety OF
purpose which were as far from being
his as was the hardness Of heart with
which she also credited him.
HE is returning me~my love-" she
moaned. The unhappy worded note
fully confirmed her in his opinion. i
seemed to the proud girl a last humil-
iation; and she passed the night in fits
of sobbing almost hysterial in their VIC
lence. When Drixie called in the morn
ing she would not see him.
The months that followed were the
most miserable that Drixie had ever
Known. He felt aDOmlnaDIy Ill uSeO
He abjured the society Of all women
dark or light, but found small comfort
in it. He heard of Stella's departure
without a pang; but at the thought Oh
Jennie, and how he had forever for
feited her love and even her friendship
he felt as If his heart would break. Sc
he tried to forget his woes in close ap-
plication to study-he was pretending
to read law-and in long and reckless
bicycle rides across the country. If he
. could keep his heart pumping hard
enough 1t didn't seem to ache sc
cruelty.
One evening he was coasting, in the
needless fashion that had become ha-
bitual with him, down the steep grade
that winds like a cork-screw around
the precipitous sides Of Sugarloaf Hill
On the left was a perpendicular cutting
on the right was a sheer drop of sew.
eral feet and below If a rugged S1ODf