Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1905-03-31
AN OLD VALENTINES MISSION.


could not see well, and her limbs were
trembling. She gathered herself up IN
a moment however, and went down the
hall to her room.
Harold was waiting for her In the par
lor and she and Harold had quarreled.
They had known and loved each other
since they could remember, and in the
coming April they were to have been
married. She had felt. for two dreary
days, that this trouble must come unless
Harold would give up his way to hers.
1t seemed to her a vital point and she had
fully determined not to yield. Anyway 1t
was his place to do so. They had quar-
relied before, and had made up with joy;
but this was different-this could never
be made up; and so. after the fashion OF
young and untrled mortals, they created
for themselves a great deal of trouble.
That afternoon Cynthia had gathered
together all the things that Harold had
ever given her-that is, all the things that
were left. for II the persisted flowers. and
the candy, the saucers of Ice cream and
the tickets to entertainments could have
been collected, there would have been
goodly pile to add to the list.
The girl had made up her mind that
every existing gift from her lover must be
returned to him, from the diamond upon
her finger to the little pink silk book mark
I'm her Bible, and she had come up stairs
now to get them.
1t had been painful task to gather them
up that afternoon, from their places about
the house. The sight of every article
with the many memories that 1t invoked
had been like knife in her heart, and she
had nearly lost her courage when she had
come to a little Japanese vase on the
piano. Harold had given her that on her
tenth birthday. when she had been re-
covering from measles. He had brought
the vase to her that spring morning, be-
fore going to school, and with IL bunch
of English violets. The card attached to
them had borne, written I'm a boyish hand,
the inscription
"A happy Birthday to my dear Gym
thla, and many glad returns of the day.
Harold"
She had not dared TO read over the
letters. tied together in five separate
packages. One package was marked
Miscellaneous" and the post marks were
of many different places and widely sep
arated dates, but the other packages
each represented a year at college and
were labelled; Freshman" Sophomore I"
Junior" and Senior" She had taken
of the blue ribbons that tied them,
gathered them up Unfortunately. and
fastened them together with severe sub
Der bands.
There had been such a heap Of the
various things, when Cynthia had them
all collected on the bed In her room, that
through the tragedy Of II. she had seen
the righteousness Of giving them all to
Harold when he should come that even
ing, so she had packed them in a box
all but the letters and the ring.
She rang the bell now as soon as she
entered the room. and to Annie, the maid
who answered the summons, she said
briefly Send William up to get this
IN n dol 20 he
address at once" Then, when the maid
went, she gathered up the letters and
went down stairs.
AS she passed through the door a small
envelope slipped. unnoticed. from one Of
the packages of letters and futtered to
the floor. 1t lay half-concealed under the
edge OF the dresser. and IL was not until
two evenings later that Cynthia dis
covered IL.
She was a pale. hollow-eyed young wo-
man that evening. in spite OF all her
brave efforts to keep up, and her hand
trembled as she picked up the envelope
yellowed by age, and held IL to the light
II contained a valentine that Harold had
sent her years before, and there was a
culver about her strained mouth, and a
mist before her eyes as she drew it from
its covering
The valentine was fiimsy little lace
paper AFFAIR, with cupids and pink rose
buds on the face of 1t, and behind them
a verse was cunningy hidden, after the
manner of valentines. Cynthia lifted the
cupids and the rosebuds. holding the lace
like vel before the printed words. and
read:
You are my sweetheart, dear one,
The joy of my life,
And sometime, when we're older
You shall be my cherished wife"
The hot blood rushed to her face as
she read the words now. When she had
received the valentine she had not been
surprised or shocked at its daring decla-
ration, for she could not remember the
time when she and Harold had not
planned to be married when they should
be old enough Now they had quarreled
and had separated with the understand
ing that henceforth they were to be to
each other only as mere acquaintances
Harold was already on his way to Eng
land, and it would be many months be-
fore they would meet again.
When the firm of which Harold was
Junior partner had first offered him this
opportunity to go abroad, he had refused
because 1t would take him so long AVA
from her; but now 1t did not matter where
he went, and when they had offered the
opportunity again he had accepted II
gladly enough. Accordingly he had gone
to New York the day after she had given
back his. ring and the letters and the
cherished gifts
As she lay there sobbing among the
pillows on her bed, with the silly LITTLE
valentine crushed against her heart II
might have comforted Cynthia somewhat
II she could have been granted the vision
OF tall young man in a gray ulster
leaning over the rail of a great steamer
and watching the shores of his native
land recede from sight, with a look of
such grim despair upon his face that n
sailor passing him, wondered II he had
come out with the purpose of committing
suicide at sea.
1t was Cynthia's first thought to send
the valentine to Harold's address in Eng
land but she soon decided that such an
act would look childish. and as though
she were trying to attract his thongbts
to her. In all probability he would, never
look over the gifts and letters, and II he
should, he surely would not miss this
little thing.
Her next thought was to burn the
valentine, and two days before she might
nave done so, but today, with grief and
loneliness at her heart growing every hour
more poignant and hard to bear ana
Harold far away upon the sea, she could
not destroy this last frail relic of their
love He would never know that she had
Kept 1t, and II could do no harm. Anv-
way II pertained to their childhood ana
II was not like keeping something he had
given her after they had grown to man
hood and womanhood.
So the cupids and roses, and the
crumpled lace, and the sentimental
rhyme, all wet with a woman's agonized
tears and kisses, were smoothed care
fully out and put back in the envelope