Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1905-05-04

q see!" he calculated slowly. 81 see
at last! The gentlemen write in cipher,
just as we send secret messages in
business, and it doesn't mean a thing
unless you understand the cipher. Dog
pigment chair doesn't sound very in
telligible to you, does itF'
He waited a moment; then as Miss
Dinsmore shook her head he went on:
"And yet | sent that very message to
firm yesterday in a matter involving
the investment of thousands of dollars.
And they understood, Just as you and
Merton understand your Maeterlinck
code" ne concluded airily, while Miss
Dinsmore studied him with a new in
terest After all, she reflected, these
practical minds were keen enough once
they got the point of view
Meanwhile Peter Nugent went his
way with a curious eXhilaration. At
last. he felt, he was catching up with
Merton Since he had the important
question to ask, why not heap Goals of
fire on Virginia's head by asking it
symbolically? But how?
1t was the Saturday before Easter.
All the afternoon the bell of the Dins
more mansion had been ringing with
monotonous regularity, which kept the
Buttons at the door at work like an
automaton.
Gee whiZr' he soliloquiZed as he
took in an azalea almost as large as
himself Miss Virginia must be de
whole ting, judgin by desc Easter
greetins."
The very last Offering to arrive came
about . o'clock in the evening, when
the Buttons, wearied out, was doing
at his post and dreaming that he sent
Sadie Flaherty IA bunch of American
Beauties with stems as long as tele-
graph poles. 1t was therefore with a
somewhat bored and chastened air that
he carried the package that was hand
ed in up to Miss Virginia's room, where
in low chair she sat reading "MOnna
Wanna"
"Open it, Thomas" she commanded
languidly, laying her book face down
ward in her lap and watching him idly
as he removed the enwrapping tissue
paper. But at sight of the object he
lifted out of the box a moment later
all her languOr disappeared, and she ut
tered an exclamation of amaZement.
1t was a huge nest, upon which Il
bantam hen-soft, white and with ma
tronly. alert yellow eyes-sat with non
chalant grace. Tucked under the edge
of one wing was an envelope
Buttons did his best, but it was poor.
With a guffaw as involuntary as it
was hearty he deposited the nest and
its occupant upon table and, holding
his hand over his mouth, fed from the
room. Miss Dinsmore approached her
latest possession and removed the note,
saying, who under the sum
Having read it, she sank into a chair,
tears of merriment streaming from her
eyes, for this was what she read:
Dear Virginia-I call you that because
/ know instinctively that symbolists have
no use for formality. The Easter gift
that / am sending may at the first flash
seem bizarre, but when | explain that it
is a symbolic Offering you will under
stand. 1t is as symbolic as anything
Maeterlinck ever dared to do and | inter
pret it to you because in this particular
case l fancy that ! can do better than
Merton himself.
The nest-what is it but the home that
1 would offer you? The egg therein
please notice that it's been made beastly
.
will have to get beneath the shell TO find
its real significance. The hen that is sit
ting upon the egg In the nest-I come
now to my liveliest bit of symbolism. a
touch that l pride myself upon-typities
my frightened expectation of being sat
upon when this simple effort Of my
imagination reaches you! Be merciful.
then, to T. n
Weak with laughter, the recipient of
this extraordinary missive approached
the table once more and gingerly re
moved the hen, half expecting an an
cry, clucking protest There in the
nest, sure enough, was an egg bearing
an ugly caricature of Nugent, which
crumbled in her fingers as she clutched
it, releasing scrap of paper that fiut-
tered back into the nest
1t contained but a few words, but in
them all the poetry of Nugent's strong,
sane nature had been compressed, and
with a little catch Of the breath Miss
Dinsmore pressed the slip of paper to
her lips.
The book that she had been reading
had fallen to the floor With the tip of
her toe she gave it Il disdainful little
kick as she fiuttered across the room to
her writing desk.