Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1898-10-01

was disguised With her he wondered
why. Was it because she had excited
conjecture in him and allowed it to
lead to nothing?
He found himself comparing her with
Jane and wondering if Jane had ever
oh. no; Jane had acQuiesced to every
thing her father had proposed. as had ben
fiance also
And here came Polly, marching along,
straight as an arrow. rs proudly as a
princess lie did not speak, nor did she.
She caught the COW and led her to the
usual spot in the paddock. When the
pail was bubbling and frothing nearly
to the brirn, she put it on her arm and
took her way to the house.
All at once she wheeled around and
faced Marshall
You think I'm no sort of a woman,
don't you?'' she asked.
81 think you are one sort Of a WON
an, be answered
She seemed to weigh his words and
then to comprehend them, for shrug-
| ging her thin shoulders and laughing,
she walked aside from him
Next day she went about her work
almost CHEEKY.
Women is queer" remarked hen
grandfather. They're happy and un-
happy, and it's all a-one-"
But Marshall had no eyes or ears for
| grandfather or lover. Hecould not keep
| farof Jane out of his mind, though be-
| fore this it had not been an insuperably
difficult matter. How easily had Jane
acQuiesced with her father wishes and
the wishes of Marshall's father.
Polly frightened day by day. Day by
day Marshall came across her wherever
| he CHANGED to be. He began to think il
strange that he should meet her so Of
ten, especially as he desired to be alone
and think out the maze of doubts she
had awakened in him regarding James
state of mind and affections
All of July Polly was the cheerfulesi
of women, Marshall slowly growing tc
be the gloomiest of men. On the first
day of August, a hot. sultry, enervating
day, Marshall came upon her in the
paddock She was intently porting over
a newspaper. She started when she saw
him and slipped the paper under some
leaves She milked the cow and went
away. Marshall found the paper She
had folded the sheet to small size at
a glowing account of the ravages of vel
| low fever in Memphis.
''She read that because that lout of a
miller spoke of the fever when he came
| home in June. He is more to her than
she will acknowledge, even to herself
l suppose women grow to love the men
| they've engaged themselves to after all
I'll write to Jane tomorrow. said he.
That night Marshall was robbed He
was di1nly conscious of whisking gar.
ments in his room, of a face held close
to his, and, half awake, determined to
| open his eyes and see what it meant
Instead he went soundly to sleep.
In the morning he found his wallet
ON the table, a part of its contents gone.
AS he stood there recalling his hazy
night experience he heard loud scream
In the room below. Running thither he
found the old netmaker in frenzy,
tearing at a sheet of paper in his hand
He caught hold of Marshall
Read it to mep' he cried "But ]
know what it means-Polly's went
She's nowheres around, aud she's left
this letter. Read it to mei Read it to
meP'
Marshall took the paper. IL told her
grandfather that she had gone to Mem
phis to nurse. In the midst of the stSvm
of explosives raised by the note Mar
shall escaped.