The Cooperstown courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., N.D.) 1902-1913, 1905-02-02
! Returning the Presents.
90: 900: 1000
( By ARNOLD GOLDSWORTHY.

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COPHIE MEADOWS sat in the little
y parlor at the back of her mothers
shop and gazed dismally out into the
garden where the last brown leaves
we're falling from the limbs to the
soggy footpath below.
The scene was not altogether an I'M
sympathetic one for Sophie, since she
was sad at heart that dull, misty after
noon. Indeed, there were signs that
she had been crying; and when Sophie
cried. her nose grew very red indeed,
and woman will not incur a risk of
that sort without the most acute
provocation.
In the spring it had all been SO diff
ferent. David Trotter. who managed
the village flour mill for his father,
and who was beside a most eligible
young man in every way, had asked
Sophie to be his wife. and the earth
had seemed so fair to her then.
Summer had been spring intensified;
and the brightness of her life had
seemed quite dazzling. And now
everything was cheerless and damp,
the sun was cold and the fire Of true
and only love had spluttered out and
left Sophie with q bruised heart and q
red nose.
Everybody knew It was David's-
that Is, Mr.. Trotter's-fault; or, at
least, everybody to whom Sophie had
mentioned the matter.
Sophie's mother had perhaps not
Qlite grasped the full meaning of the
awful crisis in her daughters bright
young life. The good soul had even
spoken lightly of it. affecting to treat
It % q mere lovers quarrel, and that
at time when Sophie had been seri-
ously considering whether she ought
to go into a nunnery or just pine away
and die in the back parlor of home.
Sophie knew for a fact that David
or. rather, Mr.. Trotter-had been seen
flirting with Faith Duker, the creature
who set her cap at everybody. The
thing had been seen in the village;
and after likely bit of scandal had
gone the round of a village like Dun
stead its own mother would not have
recognized it at the finish.
David had gone so far as to meet the
creature a second time. by appoint
. lnent, and that, of course, capped his
tntqufty. Everybody knows that no
,self-respecting girl can put up with
goings-oa like that.
It would not have mattered so much
1t he had admitted his error, and had
endeavored to earn forgiveness by a
fitting display Of contrition. But David
had had the effrontery to deny the
charge, and had actually punched
young Harper about dreadfully for Just
casually mentioning the matter to a
circle Of friends at the Blue Anchor.
Which just shows you the true char
acter of people like David should
say. Mr.. Trotter.
And yesterday Sophie had taken her
pen In hand, and after laboriously
studying the dictionary SO as to be
sure that she had got the long words
right, had intimated to Mr.. Trotter in
cold and dignifed terms that all was
now over between them, and he would
receive per bearer the presents he had
made her, and henceforth they sgere
strangers forevermore. Amen.
On other days Sophie would have
been helping her mother in the shop;
but to-day she could do nothing but
sit and watch the leaves fall. AS it
grew dusk she got up and lit the lamp.
There was her knitting on the table.
The woolly squares hanging from the
needles were the foundations of q pair
Of socks that had been intended for
him. Now, of course, they would &c
to the heather via the parish churtt
and the missionary society. No doub.
the heather would be more apprecia-
tive, though perhaps woollen socks
I'm the tropics might be little trying
to- the untutored savage mind. Ant
then
"Sophie!"
It was the voice of Mrs. Meadows
calling from the shop. And momen
later the good soul put her head int
the parlor and added:
Sophie! It's David. He's come t,
see you"
@Teil him don't want to see him
mother" she said. "After what's 'ap
pened don't want to speak to hin
again."
Mrs. Meadows turned back to he
shop, but before she could repeat tn
portentous message, David was alread
at the parlor door. Mrs. Meadows wa