The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1906-05-11

k7e AQAunI k0OW No loved 1er AZ QISt.,
The whole sweep OF his life was away.
from women. But this g. girl was %
lonely, SO pathetic somehow. that he
found himself writing these letters to
her almost before he knew IT He had
an idea, a theory he was great chap
for theories-and he kept himself in,
the background. He asked nothing Of
the girl. He -. <5sz .zs:
HE blundered!" she cried. Sup
pose the woman had never had a
lover; suppose the sweep Of her life
had been away from men, that she
had been SO busy that she had never
thought of one until. she got those
letters" u - @' ~ ~
Child" The doctor, spoke sharply.
> Suppose through the whole long
wonderful summer-time she had reared
her Joy castle, at first afraid It. would
vanish like the bubbles she had blown
In childhood. until she had come to
believe in the writer Of. those letters
with the same terrible, childlike faith
she gave to her Cod"
"Child, child" the doctor implored
her.
With a little unsteady laugh Miss
Carleton got to her feet How that
big moon. stares," she said. Wouldn't
you like to climb on its chin and sail
to your Hearts Desire? Haven't you
land Of Hearts Desire, doctor?"
She leaned and looked deep into the
moon-filled. sleeping valleys as she
spoke. -: - x'... e
The doctor tried to answer. 81 He
drew back into the shadows as she
said goodnight. He had seen q wo-
mans soul, and the sight had shaken
him.
Not many days later a fairy-tale
happening came to Mary Carleton in
the shape of a telegram that told her
of the death of al old great-aunt and
the arrival of fortune, all in breath.
The doctor came back from the
valley settlement. where he had been
visiting patient, to hear the story
and slip away from everybody In
the quiet of his den, with the little
fire on the hearth fighting the grow
ing dusk, he tried to realize what life
would be with the glory gone out of it.
A log broke and fell, shattering his
reverie. The fire leaped, and she
came swiftly down the room to dror
into chair beside him and nestle
there as if she meant to stay indefi-
nftely. =
wi %jv,ss
for that fortune she said cheerfully.
"Many's the time I've defied fate with
it when I've been SO hungry. Cocoon
and toast for breakfast, toast and
cocoa for lunch and my great-aunt'a
fortune for dinner. How the money
has changed things" in sudden gaiety.
"I'm not goingzto ride on the moons
chin. It wouldn't be dignified for az
heiress."
Don't you ever mean to grow up?'
The doctors lips twitched in a way
that would have gone straight to a
woman's: heart if she had loved him.
*'I'm grown up, +" contentedly. "I,n,
s'And I'm not less than Is more."
miserably.
care you?" politely. II could neve=
DO arithmetic" The laughing shaft OF
Ter dark eyes struck straight into tho
middle of heart that. wasn't aging.
and the blood that wasn't jaded,
although the doctor had tried so hard
to think so, pounded and leaped, hot
and strong. 49,
The doctor caught her hand in u
grasp that hurt her. 1884,
''I've been b1ute,' he cried. "I
saw that fellow leave the violets there,
and it came to me to try the expert
ment. l believed to interest you in
anything, anybody, was to save you.
There was no other way to WOO you
back to life I saw no other way.
Child, child, I never meant to hurt
you! That first little letter--heart-
broken that you'd had to let go and
come away from your work-touchcd
me. You know the rest. I've tried to
tell you-a hundred times. AS it was
I felt that I hai struck you-had
struck little. trusting child" =. q
He flung OFT his hands in tortured
helplessness. Say something! Com
fort me-if comfort is, left in the
world" =. K.
But there was silence in. the room
the twilight had claimed.
The Doctors head went down. He
had new strange sense of utter
desolation.
Don't you understand yet? There's
no, man in the valley. There never
was. I wrote those letters.2,I sent
those violets. To save your very
life" -, -. -
A low little laugh had shattered the
rooms tense stiffness and rippled over
him. ::S< = h
But" her voice, very small and
shamed and y golden with content,
whispered, las she came close, close;
till the marvellous softness of i her
cheek brushed his, .'but since yester-
day I've known-.here's one--on the
mountain-top.' -y,-,.. 49,; !, = s.E.: s.:
~ Not All Dead. s5 s
'sDaad little town Won We qr1t hare