River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1904-07-07

y
use to you"
''You-you do rot understand eirls!"
she retorted, desperately, cor else"--
NO." he meekly acknowledged. "I'm
afraid IT have had very little expert.
epce with--with girls. But'.--he glanced
at the young lady a little appealingly--
Il should like to try and-and under
stand, if you would tell me"-
"Oh can't you guess?" exclaimed Miss
| Poppet, impatiently Cant you see,
Mr.. Morland? / wanted to tell you my
difficulty, and ask you to help me-to
try and cure it, for / thought you must
have found it out, too! A girl can't tell
a man that she''
The lecturer drew deep breath.
'Iell him-what?" he inquired, slow.
ly. "That 'she"---
"That she-loves him!" Poppet replied,
in low voice. "She can't tell him that
in so many words, Mr.. Morland2 ~
SIN so many words-Do, 1 suppose
not" answered the lecturer, in the tone
of q man confronted suddenly by some
weighty philosophic proposition.
'Then what can she do?" demanded
Poppet, helplessly.
Miss Dewdrop," reioiped the lecturer,
looking down. "I'm afraid it's hardly a
subject in which am competent to ad
wise you. Why do you ask me?"
Because you are wise and clever and
know things" was her ready reply.
Because moral philosophy should EN-
brace all subjects connected with the
problems of human emotion. Because
You are the-the''- She stopped
| abruptly
The lecturer looked up, and his pale
face flushed with a new emotion, hitherto
unconsidered in the researches of moral
philosophers.
Because 1 am the His voice
shook with some wild, suppressed hope
"Ihe proper person too ask!" ex-
planned Poppet
The lecturer shook his head sadly.
eff | We're" he responded, ''be sure you
| should not ask in vain. But how can
| tell? ! am not the man to whom girls
come, as rule, Miss Dewdrop, either for
| advice or-or companionship. / am, l
| fear, an awkward, clumsy fellow, with
none of those graces and social embel-
| ishments that make men attractive to
women, and so IL have lived my life
much alone, you see, and know little of
| the softer, gentler sides of woman's ma
ture. | cannot advise you, alas; but, be-
| iieve me, | can sympathize. And, if
| could, would do more'
The disappointment in his voice and
in his face was too obvious to escape the
notice of his fair young listener True
| to the part she had set herself to play,
she continued to stimulate the hopes AMI
yearnings of the man before her with q
pitiless persistency.
"You can do more," she said quickly.
"Why do you call yourself clumsy and
| unattractive? 1t is not true. You are
| clever-oh, so clever land girls love
cleverness. You are good-looking, too"
| she added, with reckless audacity. "But
| YOU can't see things straight in front of
| you, Mr.. Morlandl You can't see when
| q girl isis in love with you, though she
| cannot tell you so--in so many words
| Poppet hung her head as if abashed.
| The lecturer Strengthened himself and
a light leaped into his eyes.
what do you meant" he asked, in a
| strange voice "You can't mean that
| you-that you"--
| Poppet nodded her head slowly.
"Yes," she murmured. eyes. Couldn't
| you guess it-before
The lecturer fell back in his chair. A
wave of bewildering, confused happiness
seemed to sweep over his brain. For an
| instant, in the consciousness of the new
| glory that had come upon him like q
| lightning flash, the room itself swan
round and the earth trembled. She-the
| sweetest, fairest creature in the world,
| the beautiful young angel of his dreams
| she loved him! 1t did not for q mo-
ment occur to the lecturer to doubt the
| truth of this stupendous admission. In
| the simplicity of his nature, the single
ness of his heart, he believed.
The cloud cleared from his eyes and
he saw her still standing there, demure
and penitent, as though she had COM
1nitted some great fault Only an in
| finite shyness, an infinite modesty, re-
strained him from leaping to his feet and
clasping her in his arms. But angels are
| to be worshiped, not clasped-and she
was an angel, for had she not opened the
gates of Paradise to him--a lonely, love-
less, unloved man?
Miss Dewdrop," he said at length
"can it be possible-is it true-that you
love mel" He whispered the last words
in tone of subdued awe.
Surely, Mr.. Morland, you cannot
doubt it,"
There came from behind the door a
sudden sound of suppressed tittering.
The lecturer started and half turned his
head. The tittering ceased.
miss Dewdrop," he went on, "it seems
too great a thing for me to believed But,
oh, If it is true, may God bless you'll"
Poppet stirred uneasily. "Once," con-
tinued the lecturer, dreamily, II had
little sister-much, very much, younger
than myself; she was all the world to
me, Miss Dewdrop, and-she died. Had
she lived she would have been about the
same age as you are, and just the same
sweet, gracious girl, though not so beau
titul Since then / have never known
what it meant to hear girls voice
speak to me in kind and gentle accents
till-till today; and Miss Dewdrop, for
what you have just said, may heay en-
forever bless you, dear. But you are
young, and I cannot-dare not-talze you
at your word. You say you love mef
All but not as l love You, and shall ever
love you-now! You will forget-but
shall remember. You viii love ard
marry some-other man, more suitable
to glorious young thing like you than
p lie paused and Miss Poppet
raised to him face of flame.
stop, Mr. Morlandl" she cried. "STop:
Oh, / have been a wicked-brutei l do
no. love your
There came again sudden peal If
merry laughter loudly this time) from
outside the door.
EDO you not see" went on Poppet,
hurriedly, "it's all a ioke2 The whole
Al. =. .1Ir La .r1l III ~