Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1908-09-30
A TABLOID
NOVEL
A Lovers Quarrel and the REQ
onclllatIon.
/ am broke" he sighed.

he had caused her.
You mean broken" she corrected
softly. He groaned audibly
Il don't" he contradicted. Il mean
busted"
She buried her face IN her hands
and her frame shook with sobs.
4 Burst" she faltered.
(, Again the brave youth groaned as
only strong man can when in mortal
agony.
Il fear we shall never learn to I'M
ders,and one another" he said at last.
Then it is all over between us?'
she S ghed, trying not to let her voice
tremble.
He flaShed one stern glance at her
from his bloodsho eyes, and, taking
his hat, went out iato the darkness
and the storm.
The maiden buried her face in the
! sofa cushions and soaked them with
her tears. Fortunately, they were fast
4 aClors.
Tcmpus fugited.
/ At least, that WIS what happened
to the youth.
To the maiden time dragged its
wery fight from sun to sun and Ian
guid nights trailed slowly on the track
of weary days.
She sorrowed in secret and he
pitied himself as publicly as his
friends would tolerate, She confessed
to herself that she loved Him il spite
OF everything. He bemoaEcd to all his
acquaintance The fact that he was
still stuck on the girl and couldn't
help it.
Meanwhile, his uncle died unexpect-
| eddy. Thus do human sorrows multi
J ply. He wept scalding tears of dis
: appointment and chagrin when he
heard the will read But the next day
he bought an automobile.
Il might as we'll make the pittance
go as far as it will" he argued in JUS
tification.
An automobile certainly can make
a rittalce go fast, if not far.
But the JOY had gone out of his
life
Hers, too.
There are some beartaches that
even an automobile will not cure.
There are others which the sight Of
an automobile only %ygravates. Such
were the kind she suffered.
1t may have been accident, it may
have been design, but just so sure as
she would get into her best afternoon
dress and sit down on the veranda
with her sewing that new automobile
would go honking by.
1t was maddening.
One evening after the dishes were
washed and put away and they were
all seated beneath the woodbine that
| sheltered their near-palace her grand
sire, an old man, was telling of Rookie
Teller and Morgan and how in ancient
times a little roll of greenbacks, on
the right side of the corner, might pile
know what Wall street was, but her
cheeks burned she knew not why, and
she gazed into the faded eyeballs Of
that venerable man even as Spartacus
faced the fierce Numidian lion.
Grandfather" she whispered, in
low determined voice, what does it
mean to be broker"
The old man patted her silken tress-
es lovingly
May you never know, my child"
he answered, kindly.
Crimson bushes suffused her deli
cate complexion and she drew herself
up until her statuesque figure was
stretched to its full attitude
And is it equally improper that !
should know the meaning of busted
and raising the Dough-" she demand
ed, catching her breath a little.
Not improper, but very painful"
answered her grandfather, soothingly.
Honk! Honk! went the automobile,
and with a scream of anguish and
despair she turned and fled into the
house.
They sent for her to visit him in the
hospital, where he lay at deaths door.
His broken jaw, tightly bandaged,
prevented him from talking. His eyes
were too blackened and swollen to
speak Of love to eyes that spoke again,
and his right arm was in a plaster
cast.
She knelt beside his humble cot and
clasped her hands, while her eyes
searched beseechingly for the sad
relics of his once noble countenance
Darling" she whispered, ARE you
hurt?"
The day before he would have
turned upon her with whitening sar-
casm and asked her if he looked it.
But pain and suffering had softened
his proud spirit. He merely wiggled
the little finger of his left hand. 1t
was the only movement he could make
without agony. She understood and
the glad tears welled from her limpid
eyes.
Darling, you must not die!" she
exclaimed.
At another time he might have dis
puted her, but his stubbornness was
gone. He had become as meek as
though he were already married. He
recognized something in her voice
which told him he would have to