Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1905-04-16
His listener laughed outright at this

Il III afraid l should thilln You were !
off your head. MIR Nugent," she re-
piled with the frankness of long ac-
quailItauce.
That's just what think of Maeter-
inek. replied Aer companion IrylX,
feeling that the writer must either he
conquered or crushed and leaning to-
ward the last named alternative.
Still he could not give up. 1t seem
cd to him itr"pe>tcrol!S that Il fellow
! Ike Merton should understand th.u.S
which he. \ug"nt, could not especial
/ " when Mertoll's diabolical kcenue>S
gave him the advantage of Nirgtnia'S :
"i'cn interest aIl.i appreciation. 1t WAS
| not Il thing 10 he borne quietly.
"E'crhaps Wr understand it more
clearly than You do" she acknowledg-
ed. .\ni that we" that put her and
! Merton te-"ther OH one side of the
que- jon rs oppo>ed to him OH :he 9th
er shook \ugent strangely.
Something of the diSmay that he felt
showed in his face. and. seeing it, Miss
DinSmere attempted once more 10 ex-
plain the methods of the new school of
writer's And her efforts We're reward
ed. for at last light seemed to break
upon him.
Il see. II. ejaeuated slowly. Il see
g. last The gentlemen write i'll cipher.
! lust rs We send secret mesSa ges in
! business. and il doesn't mean a thing
unless You understand the cipher. Dog
pigment chair doesn't sound very in
telligile To yoll. does it :"
He waited Il moment: then as Miss
! Dinsmore shook her head he went on:
And vet sent that very message to
firm ye>ierda, in a matter involving
the investment az thousands of dollars.
And they understood. lust AS you and
Merton understand your Maeterlinck
CODE he concluded airily. while Miss
! Din>more studied him with Il new in
tereSt. After all. she reflected. these
practical minds were keen enough once
they got the point of view.
Meanwhile Peter \ugent went his
way with q curious e1hlaration. 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 Nirsina'S head by aSkn. it
symbolieallv: 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 aa
automaton.
Gee whiz: he soliloauized as he
took in an azalea almost as large as
himself Miss Virginia must he de
whole ting. iudgin' by desc Easter
greetin $.
The very last offering to arrive caue
about 9 O'Clock in the evening, When
the Buttons. weared out. was doing
at his post and dreaming that he sent
Sadie Ilaherty bunch of American
Beauties With stems AS long as tele-
graph poles. 1t was therefore With q
somewhat bored and chaStened air that
he carried the package that WAS hand
ed in up to Miss Nirginias : room. where
i'll low chair she sat reading "Monna
Wanna
open it, Thomas she commanded
languidIy, laying her book face down
ward in her lap and watching him idly
. as he removed the cnwrappng tissue
paper But at sight of the object he
lifted out OF the box a moment later
all her lansuor disappeared. and She ut
tered an exclamation OF amazement
1t was huge nest. upon which a
bantam hen--soft. white and with ma
tronly, alert yellow eyes--sat with nou-
chalant grace Tucked under the edge
of one wing was an envelope.
Buttons did his best, but it was poor
With guffaw AS Involuntary as it
was hearty he deposited the nest and
its occupant upon a table and, holding
his hand OYER his mouth. fled from the
room. Miss Dinsmore approached her
latest possession and removed the note
saying Who under the sun
Having read it. she sank into chair
tears of merriment streaming from her
eyes. for this was what she read:
Dear yirginia-i call you that because
I know instinctive1y that syrnbolists have
10 use for forlnalty. The Easter gift
I that sending may at the first flash
seem bizarre. but when / explain that il
is symbolic offering YOU will under
stand. 1t is as symbolic As anything
} Maeterinck ever dared to do. and inter
T. | pret it TO you because in this partic liar
case | fancy that l can do better thar
Merton himself.
The nest-what is Il but the home tha,
: T would offer you? The egg therein
please notice that it's been made bea stil
ugly-stands for me and as with me, yoI
: will have to get beneath the she'll to fine
2 its real significance. The hen that is sit
1 ting upon the egg in the nest-I come
+, now to my lveliest bit of symbolism g
| Not 7 NV I1nOn-tEDif16t
my frightened expectation Of being "sa'
t upon when this simple effort of m,
. ina gina ton reaches you. Be merciful
, then. to +. ~,
. Weak with laughter, the recipient OF
o this extraordinary missive approached
. the table once more and gingerly re
moved the hen, half expecting an an
: CRY. clucking protest. There in the
t nest, sure enough. was an egg bearing
J. an ugly caricature Of Nugent. which