The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1909-10-07
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By Fannie Heaslip Lea
Copyright, BY ]. B. Lippincott Co..

~ LlaC LQe CynlC came
suddenly upon Jaconetta n evening
when her lap and a portion Of the
hearth-rug upon which she sat, Turk
fashion, were white with letters-old
letters, some half-opened and some
but these lay in the grate-half-
charred.
"Hello!" he said cheerfully, pausing
in the doorway to reconnoiter. "Hav-
ing a holocaust?"
Jaccnetta looked up with a little
startled scowl that did not smooth
itself out at once.
How did you get in?" she inquired,
anything but politely. II told Mary
I was not at home"
$50 Mary told me-" admitted the
Cynic, unmoved. II said that I'd come
In and have a smoke with your ia
ther.'
"Father!" Jaconetta scrambled half
way to her feet with a protective
clutch on the letters, but she sank
back before the Cynic's soothing ges-
ture.
That's all right" he said, gently.
Go on with the wake. When I got to
the door I said: .Ah, Mary. I see Miss
Jaconetta is in, after all. You needn't
bother So here I am" He waived
conclusions with a genial smile, and,
selecting a large leather chair on the
opposite side of the fireplace, sank
into it with a sigh of content, and
reached for his cigarette case.
Jaconetta returned to the contem-
plation of the letters in an abstraction
that apparently left no room for con-
v%ersation.
"sick?" asked the Cynic pleasantly,
from behind a drift of blue smoke.
"H'm?" said Jaconetta, not looking
up.
i've noticed" he went on imperson.
ally, that when a woman becomes
reminiscent she is either sick of con.
templating a new victim"
Sometimes" said Jaconetta impish.
~, there is another ease Girls
read v their old letters, and burn
them, you know, when they are-go.
ing to be married"
eyes," assented the Cynic; Eyes"
His cigarette burned to an incredibly
long ash between needless fingers. 1t
is a cherished delusion of his that If
Jaconetta will not marry him, at least
she will marry no n else.
"Yes?" he repeated with a new in.
Election.
Jaconetta rested her cheek on the
little brown fingers of her left; hand
and looked at the fire with pensive
tenderness. The hand was ringless.
However," she announced al
length, "I am neither sick, tcontem
plating a new victim O going to be
married. I am blue-unhappy-deso
late" She leaned her chin on bott
hands and stared hard before her
$50 I got out my box of letters and
Ebegan to read them. 1t cheers me
up" she added hopefully, Ito see how
many people have loved me. It seems
to argue that I must be a very decent
sort after all, eh?"
The Cynic shrugged his big shout
ders with a smile that was both in
scrutable and adaptable. It nigh
have meant anything, from ardent de
votion to a dtsinterested consideration
of circumstances. pretty decent" hi
added, by way of parenthesis.
Presently Jaconetta looked up from
the earnest perusal of a volunminoui
epistle, closely written in a small
masculine hand.
every nan is a poet in hi
first love letters" she said sententi
:ously. Listen to this"
See here" began the Cynic.
I'm not going to tell you who /
is"
II don't want"
Don't be absurd" said Jaconett:
coldly. do you think I'd do it If i
weren't right?"
She read slowly and with a tota
lack of emphasis.
'"There is nothing I would not dare To-
you; nothing I could not be, that 70,
wanted me: nothing I would not give up
nothing I would not leave, nothing
would not change, at your wish. ex
cept-"
That's enough" cried the Cyni,
suddenly. what sort of a soul hav.
you got, anyhow? Don't read me tina
stuff. Is it nothing but black ant
white to youT" He broke off in rea
indignation.
Jaconetta selected another shee
from the loose heap in her lap.
II hope I know when to forget" she
said serenely. Calm yourself! He,
been married for two years, and b.
adores the very buckles on his wife,
slippers. What? No, he wasn't firt
ing with me when he wrote that; b,
meant it-at the time. Now listen tt
this''-and she read IN hastily, befor.
the Cynic could stop her:
you are the only girl in the world
so far as I am concerned. The rest o,
them will do for the general run of wive.
and mothers and sweethearts and hui
mainly; but you are different. You ar,
the reason for everything I shall evel
want"
"Ugh!" said J%aconetta unexpectedly
THAT was a heavy responsibility
wasn't it,"
"You are impossible" said the Gym