Smyrna times., 1904-12-28
BY FREEZES
BLOWN
BY k0fe NJ. CTeary
Copyright, 1904. by Kate NJ. Cleary

uneu sun nat was very white. Her
lips quivered a little The hands that
held the vagrant sheet trembled.
1T isn't that l care"' she told her
self. Il hadn't begun to care-in that
way. l was only becoming attracted.
But the shOck-the disillusiOn"-
When she had started out an hour
ago for her usual brisk morning walk
along the crisp, shelving sands, she
had been one of the most Indifferent.
light hearted of girls. She was done
with college, and the two years of for
eign travel had succeeded school as a
sort of polishing process She had per-
feet health and misty dreams of all
the yelled future held in its keeping.
She had aesthetic tastes, and her skill
in athletic sports was the admiration
of her less vigorous girl friends. She
had been having beautiful time down
ut this gay, unconventional resort on
the Michigan coast. And nOw-wen,
temporarily it seemed that her pleas
ure was spoiled.
And in her heart she knew that she
must have been beg inning to think too
much of the man whose attentions to
her had been so marked or else this
discovery would not so affect her Sit
ting to rest and watch the white crest
ed waves come curling up to break ON
the border of the lake like threads of
rarest lace, her attention had been
caught by a small, white, whirling oh
ject that at first sight she had taken
for a bird. 1t had whisked lower and
nearer. Then it floated so close she
could put out her hand and grasp it,
and she found it was a sheet .of note
paper covered with diminutive chirog-
raphy. 1t was written on the station
cry of the fashionable hotel looming
up on the dunes behind her. At first
she had been about to crumple it up
and cast it aside, but in the very act
of doing so a name-her own name
met her eye.
Even then she hesitated. But the
three words were 50 significant she
must know their writer's full mean
ing. The page was the continuation
of a letter, and the first three words
at the top of the page were 'love
Ivy Lyle" Impulsively, giving her
self no chance to weigh the niceties Of
honor in the balance, she scanned the
page. AS she read it slowly again the
fresh, soft color went tiding out of
her cheek.
Love Ivy Lyle I've fought against
it, for l can't afford to marry her, as
a.. =
me off my feet. old chap. At first l
was taken with her innocent beauty.
There was no one at this big hOstelry
to compare with her for looks. So
let myself drift. | thought she was
just a dear little country girl and that
it would be easy to say sentimental
farewell when the summer was over.
You know what these warm weather
firtatiOns amount to- SO I've been go
Ing to see her steadily and taking her
everywhere. We've gone dancing and
swimming and boating and all the rest
of it. and. by Jove, for all she's
mighty quiet. I've come to find out
she's not the typical little country girl
at all. She's we'll read and Travelled
though she seemed rather aghast wheI
she let that fact out And she looks al
a fellow in a cool, apprising sort OF
way that makes him feel pretty cheaI
if his spoken thoughts are not quite vi
TO her white standard. But she's no
really in the social swim. She's ma
tive. | take it, It's been hard to piI
her down to any confidence about her
self. She lives with a very dragon o
an aunt at a farmhouse on the edge o
town. She wears her cotton dresse
and shade hats in a way that take
the shine out of the women up at tn
hotel but I've never seen her spOr
any of the swell clothes they wear L
the hops here. Oh, cOnfound 1t, what
the use of my incoming away to yo'
at this rate? I've got to go away an'
try to forget her before it's too late.
"Damaris Chase and her father ar
to be here this week, they tell me
And she's the girl the heads of bot
our houses expect me to marry Sh
may have the good taste to refuse m'
AID | almost hope she will. Shes
great heiress, and the consolidation Q
the business interests would be cal
itaI thing: but. oh, hang me if though
1t would be so hard to get that htti
girls sweet face out Of my heart.
must do the sensible thing and go
for the $4,000 a year. Lord but II
sorry for those poor devils OF kine
who have to wed for reasons OF stat
l feel dlsgustingly like one OF then
I'm sleepy. Good night III hnls
this in the morning. Ten to one
dream of Ivy Lyle!
1t needed no signature. The wrlt'
was easily recognized. She crumplt
the paper tightly in her hand an
thrust it into the blouse of herrgoW
as rapid, heavy step came crunchiI
down the beach. That step had D
come too pleasantly familiar. Cou
he. have known she sheet had De,
wGisked out Of his roomT hau
se8n II blown down to the beacDE