Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-07-21
DAILY SHORT STORY
Bleeding Hearts and Heartsease

The name seemed to fall on her like
n blessing.
The brown nun!
Why was she so called?
Perhaps because of the quiet, rest
full little figure. Again, it may have
been the shadowy. brown eyes, the
smooth silk OF her hair under its white
cap or the serenity breathing from the
broad forehead. Be that as it may,
the name had taken her for its own,
the little brown nun, not of the con-
vent, but of the world.
The lonesome little girl who lived
across the street, whose mamma had
said goodby one day and had never
come back, would hang on the iron
fence and look at the brown nun with
her distrustful eyes, would watch her
enviously as she worked among her
cheerful flowers.
But she met the sweet, shadowy eyes
one day divine with unspoken pity.
and lump rose in the rebellious throat
as the brown nun rested tender hand
on the uncared for curls and asked:
Are you lOnesomeT
'Yes'm." ~
so am l.
Thus was the bond established be-
tween them.
Another day the brown nun gathered
a flower from her garden and put it in
the hot palm of the child.
This is heartseasc." she murmured.
That night the child took it with her
to her lonely bed and laid it on her
breast 'She said it was heartsease,"
she whispered. And afterward the
small, grave lips smiled as she slept.
The lonesome little girl played by
herself in small park at the end of
the block. A pale, youngish man, whose
hair was streaked with gray. nearly
always came there OF an evening. He
was so quiet the child minded him no
more than the trees. He looked lonely,
too, and she was never afraid of lonely
folks.
And when lie called her to him one
day in his grave voice she did not feel
timid, but came unhesitatingly.
"You always play alone" he said
kindly. Don't you have any one to
play with?"
She shook her tangled head.
'"Then you are lonely?" -.
81 was till she loved me-"
"Who?
1.-The little brown num-" she said soft
ly.
Then the blood tinged the white face.
and the light in his eyes drew the child
nearer. ,,.-...
The little brown num- he iterated,
then added: "She is good TO you. Where
10 voIIr In0flar my chiI1Sv
'She went away" answered the lone
" child, and two tears fell on the thin
cheeks.
IL she ever saw any one in the park,
man.
els he aloneT
'Yes'm"
docs he look happy"
'No'm. He JUS sits there an he
stares, an he's all Witty" she eX
planned lueidly.
The next evening the young man call
ed the child TO him again as she played
tag by herself.
He had a beautiful dropping spray Of
pink flowers in his hand, and he gave
it 10 the little girl.
"Will YOU do something for meT he
asked. and she nodded her head.
Take this to the little brown nun,
and she will understand" And the lit
tie one ran till she came to where the
brown nun was tending her flowers.
"He said give it to you. He said
you'd understand"
'Who said it? Who gave it to you?"
GsITfr, ~, tIa RI
The flower was bleeding heart.
Then the brown nun put it in her
bosom and plucked n tiny flower and
pressed it into the soiled palm of the
little one.
''This is n flower for the lonesome
young man." she faltered, and her
cheeks grew roster than her roses.
The flower was heartsease.
The child played about the pale
young man a long time, unable to APP
proach him. She was jealous and
dozen times was tempted to throw the
flower away. 1t was crushed, withered
and dirty.
Finally he sighed and rose to leave.
Then she pressed her hot little hand
into his, leaving the flower in his palm.
''She sent it. She said it was hearts
ease''
"Who sent it,"
Herr She flung her head toward
the brown nun, then darted away.
And the pale young man looked at
the token, his face flushing as he muir
INJURED:
'She has sent me heartsease by the
child. Can 1t be she has forgiven"
That night the lonesome little girl
could not sleep in her lonely bed. She
looked longingly at the brown nuns
garden under the moonlight. Then she
slipped over TO the gate, and the next
moment the little brown nun, the
shadows in her eyes fed away before