Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1900-03-30

To. day he felt almost himself again,
but whistling, driving snowstorm, a
fierce blizzard, such as sometimes
strikes New York in the latter part Of
February, was raging, and forbade
him to venture out. Tired with the
unwonted inaction of the past two
days, the editors thoughts turned tt
his work, and he began to consider
the makeup of the number now in
preparation.
''I'm not quite satisfied with the
May number" he murmured. cts
a little heavy for May; there ought to
be more of the light and life and bios
soming of May in it. Now, those
'Pastelles haven't any really
good spring story in them"
The "Pastelles," new departing mt
of the magazine, were short sketches,
with hardly plot enough to be called
stories; sometimes a light character
study-a delicate word painting on
some aspect of nature.
Mr.. Ashcroft took an art calendar
from the wall by his side and turned
the leaves until he came to the May
page. The picture was an excellent
copy of water color painting. 1t
represented an orchard of apple trees,
covered with their pink and white
bloom. A young girl stood under one
of the trees, leaning gracefully against
the gnarled trunk, her hands clasped
loosely before her. The whole was
delicately tinted, and seemed almost
to carry with it faint fragrance of
the blossom, laden May.
ss His thoughts went back to the vii
lage of Raynor, where he had spent
few months years ago. Some college
prank had brought him into trouble
with the faculty, andhe had been sus-
pended for four months. His father
had sent him to the little Connecticut
village to spend the time with an old
college classmate.
One of the village girls, shy little
Faith Thorne, had from the first held
captive his boyish fancy. AS he came
to know her better her influence in
creased, and he said to himself that
he had found the pearl among women.
Brought up in Quaker household,
for Faith was an orphan and lived
with her grandparents, certain
quaintness, a childlike simplicity and
directness, made her seem unlike the
other merry, chattering country lasses.
Little by little he and Faith came
to be more and more to each other; the
wild rose flush in her cheeks deep
ened when he was by,a sweet shyness
made the blue eyes droop before his.
She would not let him bind himself
by any promise, they were both too
young, she had said. He must go
away now, finish his college course
with honor, and then, when he had
aiken the place waiting for him in his
ather's office, he might come again
% Raynor, and he would find her
Waiting for him.
= So, on this afternoon, with the
February storm raging without, Ford
Ishcroft's thoughts went back and
fingered on the springtime idyl of i
hose long ago years. Could it be '
welve years-Faith would be twenty /
inc now, but somehow he could not /
mink of her as looking much older C
nan the young girl he had left in the t
richard. Surely she had notlost that A
ure, childlike face-a little older, "
erhaps, a little sadder, but still with T
nose innocent, wistful eyes. Andh he b
-well--he was thirty-four; he had Il
we'd in the midst of the rush and a
hirl Of city life. d
"It would make O good 'Pastelle,'" b
o finally remarked, and turned to his /
esk, took up his pen and began to n
rite. Slowly at first, then, as the O
asst seemed to come nearer, his pen '
owed more rapidly over the page. il
a told of the college youth in the b
tile village, of the shy maiden who 81
on his boyish heart; he described 81
q old orchard with its glory OF apple tt
ooms: he seemed almost to inhale o.
cir delicate fragrance as he wrote. c.
DO whole pretty idyl was told III 81