The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-08-05

They were bivouacking, you know. Sc
the captain made him put the log on
the fire. Said he'd be asking for a
warming pan next. It's a very in
structive story"
Yes" said the girl, smiling quietly.
And it's true. The log was a fence
post"
"Oh, then you've heard it before?''
I've heard il a dozen times"
Then perhaps you know my friend,
Major Bodley."
I've heard of Major Bodley. He is
an Did comrade of my fathers"
Then my father must have been an
old comrade OF your fathers, too"
said Scarlet. May / introduce my
SELF? I'm Jack Scarlet, Junior"
Son OF Jack Scarlet, Senior?' the
| girl asked smiling. I'm really very
glad to meet you. 1t will be some
thing to write TO mother when l get
to the end Of my journey. Father died
a year ago. I'm going TO Mobile now"
DC you live in Mobile?"
II teach music there during the
winter and spring"
Scarlet fell to thinking over the L.
NJ. in white. The NJ, of course, stood
for Myer. Now what did the L. stand
for? He had seen this young woman
for the first time about fifteen min
utes ago, and he was no Romeo to
fall in love at first sight. Neverthe-
less, he was puzzling himself over
that l., as if il were the unknown
quantity in an a~lgebraic problem. 1t
might be Lucy, or Louise, orLaura, or
Lisbeth, or Lily.
There was a long silence, while
Scarlet mentally ran through a list Of
feminine names beginning with L.
Suddenly, he thought that it would be
a good thing to keep the conversation
brisk, on the chance of eliciting some
excuse for asking the value of that L.
The question had certainly grown
very rapidly in importaice in his
mind.
Il suppose you are an enthusiastic
musician. Miss Myer?" he ventured.
Il beg your pardon? Oh, yes, I am
very FOND of music"
She seemed amused at something.
Scarlet was now wondering what he
had said that might have truck her
as funny.
Il don't call myself an enthusiast,
though, as they are enthusiasts in
Germany, for instance"
You nave lived in Germany"
Yes, 1 studied three or four years
ped and began again. Pardon me,
Mr.. Scarlet, but what was that you
called me just now?"
81? I understood you to say you
name was Myer, didn't II"
Not Myer; MacIntire, I said. Or,
rather, I don't think 1 toll you my
name at all. What made you hit on
Mver?'
That story of the fence post. The
father, wasn't he?"
MY father was the tyrant who Or
dered the poor man to throw the log
the pillow-into the fire. Was the
mans name Myer?"
After the laugh that came Of this
piece of Jacks laundering, the two
were as old friends. And then-and
then Jacks curiosity about the letter
! L.. became almost ungovernable.
Something in the girls kept
him from begging her outright to tell
him her first name, and yet he could
not help letting fall hints about wo-
mems names.
At last, when they had lunched to-
gether out Of the wicker basket, she
asked him, Are o trying to guess
those initials on the tin box?"
Il know n Of them now" he said,
laughing at her shrewdness. Il IN
fess the l.. puzzles me. Won't you
tell me what it stands for?"
Certainly. 1t and for Lewis"
Louise? Pretty name."
Not Louise. Lewis"
Then I'm at sea again"
"The box belongs to one Lewis Mad
dox, if you care to know"
Now all his fun, while it served
very we'll to pass the time until Scar
lett had to get off the train, was not
at all what the major had intended to
bring about by his parable. And yet
it was the direct outcome of that
piece of "anecdotage'' of his.
An the sequel was that when these
two young people parted Scarlet had
determined to find out two things
first, who this fellow Maddox was,
who a the impudence to lend Miss
MacIntyre tin boxes; and, secondly,
what Miss MacIntyre's first name
was. He felt resentful against Mad
dOx as we'll as inquisitive about Miss
MacIntyre's first name. Later on, he
took a journey to Mobile on purpose
to be resolved of these questions.
Maddox turned out a mere ~brother-in-
law, and the first name proved to be
Ada.
And still later on, the major, hold
ing g letter in his hand, walked into
tn office Of his friend, Jack Scarlet,
Sr., and said, testify: "Lok here, Jack,
that boy of yours has the impudence
to thank me for getting him married.
Now all I said to him was, to advise
him to let we'll enough alone-at his
age, you know. What Ices the fell
low mean?"
us hat so, major? Well, some fell
lows are like pigs, you know. Go the
opposite way to where you try to pull
them"