The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-01-29
out the footprints that might otherwise have

My aunt even went to the expense of en-
gaging London detective in the search but
all to no purpose and she began to despair Of
ever regaining her lost treasures and her
temper suffered in consequence.
On the whole, those were very grey and
gloomy days indeed and the remembrance of
them is not pleasant.
The one event that stands out brightly in
my recollection of the general gloom, an
unexpected present that I received on Christ
mas morning-a box of exquisite Christmas
roses and delicious-scented violets-addressed
to me in entirely unknown hand, which
puzzled me exceedingly.
Not word of explanation came with them
only the sweet, vague message Of the flow
ers themselves; but even that, somehow, was
sufficient to bring tears of gratitude to my
eyes, as I stopped to kiss their pure, fresh
petals.
The box bore a London postmark besides
the local one of Melverton; but even that did
not help me TO form any likely guess at the
sender.
who can have sent them. auntie?" said
once on Christmas Day, when, for few brief
moments, she seemed to have forgotten to
lament her loss.
who? Why. Harold, of course child she
answered, rather impatiently. who else do
you suppose?"
But this is not his writing, auntie.''
Then he must have got them packed and
addressed at a shop
''Harodi' I repeated, blan1ly and a distinct
feeling of disappointment struck me, until l
reflected the impossibility of aSsociatins
thu gift Of flowers with the hard headed, prac-
teal and strictly economical Harold.
No, decidedly, it not he who had sent
them.
But said nothing more about them. and
the affair remained as great a mystery as the
of the theft. even when. nearly two
months later, a second box arrived-ths time
from Nice-addressed by the same hand, and
containing the most delicious narcssi and
lovely Parma violets.
"At least these gre not from Harold!'' I
exclaimed in triumph to Aunt Lucy, "since
we know that he is in London"
And auntie looked puzzled, and a little
shocked
MY dear, I am not at all sure that you
ought to accept those flowers, under the cir
cumstances,' she said, gravey
Perhaps not l replied, with a smile;
but, since don't in the least know where to
seturn them, 1 can't very we'll do otherwise, y
snd the matter dropped.
Poor Aunt Lucy had never really recovered
from the shock of the robbery
Her nervous fears at last resulted in a
strong dislike of the house and the whole sur
rcundings, and sudden resolve to yield to the
suggestions of her cousln-Harold's mother
and go to live near them in London.
We were lucky enough to secure rooms
quite near our relatives in Bayswater, and I
was pleased to see that their society, and the
occupation of experimenting the bestowal of
our furniture in our home, had a very
good effect on Aunt Lucy, who grew more
cheerful; though she never ceased to bewaiI
the loss of her jewels; indeed, one reason of
her coming to London was her desire to be
near Harold who had promised to give the
affair his best attention, and to help her if 1t
should be in his power.
Harold was a lawyer, who by dint of hard
study strict economy and logged determ-
nation to succeed, had risen already above the
heads of older men, and Aunt Lucy had a
great admiration for, and a profound belief
in him.
One of the few points which dis
agreed was my. unaccountabe refusal to see
her faVorite with her eyes, and a wicked tend
ency had to treat him like very ordinary
mortal indeed, instead of with the respect due
to such great abilities and success.
There had been a sort of tacit understand
ing between my aunt and Her cousin, almost
as far back as I remember, that Harold and
l should marry, and the idea, perhaps from
its very familiarity. had hitherto seemed to
q very natural one; but lately it had
grown quite repugnant to me. and the little
intercourse I had with Harold himself con-
WINGED me, that to yield to their wishes was
out of the question
The months glided by, and at last Christmas
was once again near at hand.
Harold allowed himself what he called a
half holiday, one bright, frosty day, for the
purpose of taking me-, for an hour two, to
the Serpentine, to enjoy the skating, which
had been going on merYfly there for the last
four days.
We had had an hour of delicious exercise.
when vague rumor reached US of an acct
3,snt at the opposite side of the ice, and we
joined the. eager crowd who started off to see
what was the matter.
We soon learnt that the ice had given way,
that girl had fallen in, and that her brother
had tried to rescue her, but had gone under
himself in the attempt.
The crowd grew every moment thicker and
more excited, in the struggle. to get near the
scene of the accident.
We were pushed on to the bank, and sud
denly Harold said