Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-01-18

ed trap from the stables of the long |
suffering Grinding, and drove over TO
the little village which nestled in the
cove of Portogarten- hiding some
few hundreds of yards round the rug
ged coast and out of sight of the
promontory of Rough Island, and the
cottage of the two veteran amateurs
in lighthouse science, pharoloey or
whatever might be the name given to
the common hobby of Billy and
Dick.
True, Vic had been ready early, and
there was no chance of seeing Janet
under any circumstan favorable
to private conversation before the aft
ernoon. Still. with all his desire for
secrecy, and his wish to arrive I'M
known in the village of Kirktown. it
was somewhat strange that he should
go all the way to Portogarten Cove
without having seen again the sap
phire eyes with the sparks in them.
about which he had written so much
and so often.
But Vic always had reason for ev-
erything, though it was but seldom
he troubled anybody else with that
reason. Still. it sometimes appeared
in the Intercourse of circumstances.
Yes, Mr.. Ludovic Morris was going
to call on Vida, He might have said
to his host that he was going over
to see the new lighthouse, and Wal
ter Grinding would have believed as
much of that as he liked. But it was
characteristic of Vic that he said
nothing at all. made no apologies, not
even to himself which is the rarest
thing of all, many men and most
women passing their time in nothing
else than explaining themselves to
themselves. Vic was less complicated.
He had something to say to Vida. He
therefore went and said it. To anyone
else it would have been difficult but
not to Vic Morris. He had never been
able to understand the gulf between
Willing and Doing that is, unless
the devil or the deep sea interviewed.
And he had just crossed the one and
did not much believe in the other
having completely threshed out that
subject with Mr. Fowler of the Valley
Kirk.
| Accordingly he put up Walter Grind
iling's spirited nag at the little Porto
garten, nm. and strolled round the
,.headlands to the house with the
cropped hedges, the white paths, the
green borders, the flower beds and
the pervading air of ship-shape neat
ness. He came upon tall Flagstaff
with a girl hauling at string of bunt-
ing which seemed almost part of the
outfit.
The young man came up behind the
girl with his soft, elastic tread, the
catlike wall, of hip men
Halo, Miss, - ah. Vida, I beg
your pardon can't get over the
new name let me help you! I sup
pose you are communicating with
Dick and MIR. Bryan on the lighthouse
which means that you are alone!
1t was not often that Vida blushed
1t was perhaps the first time that
such a thing Tin the memory of the
editor) is recorded in this history.
But at any rate she now blushed for
all the other times. RED as a rose
i was She red, indeed! Crimson!
From the first Vic regarded her
with anxious eyes. He was not blind
4 the girl. and how some secret hap
piness had caused her to open out
/ into a flower which babe fair to full
fill the budding promise of her youth
But what he said was certainly very
curious.
"Poor Janet"
That was all. To the ordinary mind
the exclamation conveyed but one
thing that he had come back with
a mind in strait betwixt two. and
that the very first sight of Vida in the
flesh had banished the memory Of
/ Janet Fowler's letters. They had
seemed treasures to him in far away
Spain, as he listened to the shouts
of the sailors rising up from the Ner
Won uuays. or the tinkle of the man
dolins, which, in summer. are never
silent in the sheltered paths o
Huevla All that. however, had beer
as dream of the night. The day
1 star had arisen Poor Janet indeed
j But it was not for the world t.
4 know Vic Morris. No ordinary rule:
of conduct bound him.
And as for the significance of tht
involuntary exclamation that il
still to seek.
They stood mutelv regarding on
another, Vida and Vic - each will
a secret in their hearts. But the man.
A gaze was calm and untroubled. HI
meant to carry through his program
y TO the letter. He was convinced of 1t
righteousness. of its necessity. There
fore. being the man he was, nothin
could move him from his intent.
The girl, on the other. hand, blush
ed and blushed- above all thing
conscious of the import of that chat
of colored flags above her. Vic ha.