The Forrest City times., 1903-02-13

Jennie! Jennie," he cried.
The wretched girl was so GLAD TO
see him that she forgot all, and held
out her hand. He seized it and
dropped on his knees in the snow.
"oh, Jennie. Do you really love me
SOP"
The soft blush of welcome which
was dawning upon her cheek famed
into angry scarlet. which spread anu
deepened till brow and ears and
throat were all ablaze. Hot tears
streamed from her eyes. She
snatched away her hand, and fled
homeward. nor by his utmost effort
was he able To overtake her.
So he wandered along the village
streets, bewildered and disconsolate,
until the perversity of fate. and his
own stupid laundering, still again,
for the third time that day, BETRAYED
him. 1t was not usual to offer flow
ers for sale in Meadowville, but b.
cause it was Saint Valentines day
small stock had been ordered from
florist in the nearest city and os-
teh:atiously displayed in the front
window of one OF the stores. 1t was
now evening, and nothing remained
except few pink carnations; but IL
suddenly occurred to the woe-begone
DriXie that it might be a good idea
TO send these as Il peace offering ta
the offended maiden. The more lie
thought of it, the more the ingenu-
ity and delicate tact of the scheme
impressed him. So he bought the
flowers at price that was sheer rob
berry ON the dealers part, and sub
sidized the clerk 10 deliver them.
Upon the card which was to accom-
/ pany them he wrote: Dear Jennie,
| m so sorry. Please forgive me. and
don't take it SO hard. I'll call to-
morrow
Then he went home, feeling almost
elated.
Now it happened that Jennie had
| given considerable attention to the
language of flowers" and she knew
that pink carnations meant "woman's
love. Bitterly self-conscious and
burning with modification, she at
tributed to the unluclly Drixie a
minuteness of knowledge and a sub
tlety of purpose which were as far
| from being his as was the hardness
| of heart with which she also credited
| him.
He is returning me my love-" she
moaned. The unhappy worded note
fully confirmed her in this opinion.
1t seemed to the proud girl last
humiliation; and she passed the night
in fits of sobbing almost hys;erica
in their violence. When DriXie called
in the morning she would not see
him.
The months that followed were the
most miserable that Drixie had ever
known. II felt abominably i'll usei.
He abjured the society of all women,
dark or light, but found small COM
fort in it. He heard of Stella's de-
parture without a pang; but at the
thought of Jennie. and how he HAD
forever forfeited her love and even
her friendship, he felt as if his hear.
would break. So he tried to forget
his woes in close application to study
and in long and reckless bicycle
| rides across the country. Ii ne could
keep his heart pumping hard enough
it didn't seem to ache so cruelty.
One evening he was FASTING, in the
needless fashion that had become
habitual with him, down the steep
grade that winds like corkscrew
around the precipitous sides Of Sug-
arloaf HILL On the left was a per-
| pendicular cutting; on the right was
| sheer drop of several feet and be-
low it rugged slope obstructed by
trees and stumps. Suddenly, about
half way down, he perceived that the
repairers had been at work on the
side of the road next the cutting. and
had set up temporary fence to pre-
vent vehicles from driving into an ex-
cayation which they had opened
there, leaving narrow track on the
outer edge. And iii the middle of
| this track, riding toward him with
| uncertain movements ard obvious
cyclist-it was a girl-it was Jennie
Cross. All this flashed before him in
"A moment. His speed was beyond
control; there was not an instant for
deliberation-scarcely time to act.
He gave sharp wrench to the right,
his wheel leaped from the verge, he
felt himself hurled through the air
like a sling stone-then stunning
conclusion; and all was dark and 81
lent.
A few weeks later the young man
was lying on a cot in a darkenea
room, slowly convales cing. Jennie
had just been allowed to enter for
the first time since the accident. SlAe
was holding his hand; her eyes were
east down in deep humility; her face
was flushed, but sweetly resolute.
"Drixie," she said. in a voice that
hardly broke the silence, "Drixie,