The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1909-03-04

morning Oh May !. VOIIicu iiIuuie
class housewives wrangled with i'm
pertinent van and storage men. and
humber families carried their belong
ings or showed them from old homes
to new in a borrowed pushcart.
Eleanor Carey's town house was as
serene as If the entire establishment.
retinue of servants. canarieS. Angora
kittens, mistress and all We're not to he
removed that very afternoon to Craig
mere.
The mistress of the menase. In bill
lowy masses of lace. awaited her morn
ing mail aad her coffee. When the
latter had been served the maid re-
entered the room laden with letters aud
parcels.
There were violets and lilies of the
valley from DR.. Dalton, II cors;,gc bou-
quet large enough to hide the front of
Mrs. Carey's travelling coat From
Jimmy Darnton there were pink rose.
long stemmed, perfectly tinted and
crystalline with dew showered by the
florists rubber sprayer. There We're
bulky envelopes from her lawyers and
doffodils from girlish admirer. There
were whines from individual mendi-
cants and carefully phrased appeals
from charity organizations.
And, last the maid. with correctly
blank expression on her face. handed
her mistress curious floral offering,
basket made of soft willow twigs
interviewer and lined with damp moss.
which overlooked with the most com
monplace fowers-violets with only a
faint woodland odor, a few sprigs of
late arbutus, many, many family tinted
hepaticas and some dainty Quaker la
dies. Silently she sat lingering the
fragile blossoms while her deft fin
gered maid arranged the pink roses
and the dollhouse violets. At last. with
long drawn sigh, Eleanor Carey
opened the envelope tied to the May
basket by blade of stout grass.
"My dear little sweetheart Of long
| ago." 1t ran. do you suppose for one
| instant that l intend to wait for yo,
to bid me come to Craigmere? will
be there to bid you welcome-nnt CT
the stately terrace of your italian villa.
but down in the woods where l gath
cred these And, what Is more. want
you to come to me with clean hands
and-an empty purse. Send for yo;lr
lawyers. Tell them to take what they
want and give the rest to the hounds
who are fighting you. Turn your back
on it all-the CHASTITY skeletons of the
past, the scandal, the publicity. the bit
terness Of 1t all. You have never had
a happy day since your purse was lined
with his gold. Come. love: tits May
day, and the world is still young for
you and me. Be the queen of my May
today and for every May day to come.
l am waiting"
For almost an hour Eleanor Carey
sat there, the spring blossoms fading
under her hot clasped hands. Her
breakfast turned cold Her maid slip
ped in and out Of the room, silent and
apparently unobserving. Then her
mistress turned to her suddenly.
"Adeline, call my lawyers; you know
the number, - Broad Tell jenkins
we will take the 40 instead of the
$40 train for Craigmere. That is all. I"
At O'clock that afternoon Donald
Gregory waited on q moss grown log
in the wood adjoining Craigmere. All
around him blOomed the unfragrant
exquisitely tinted wild flowers, while
dogwood petals fell in a snowy shower
on thick moss and modest blooms alike
His Partisan friends would hardly
recognize him. Gone was the Van.
dyck beard, gone the shabby cordu
roys, the flowing tie. In their stead
Gregory was clean shaven as in the
old days when he had made and filled
Eleanor's May basket year. after year
For the cordurOys he wore light gray
suit, soft madras outing shirt. a soft
gray silk tie. He looked the boyisll
lover, not the successful artist.
And toward him, treading the path
way among the dogwood petals. came
the lady of his heart, clad In simple
frock of blue and white wash stuff and
a low Hat hat wreathed with flowers
She held out her hands. He took them
and the smiling woman to his heart.
Dear GIRL" he murmured in her ear
lit is good to be young in May"
And the woman raised her eyes tt
his, eyes from which had passed every
trace of bitterness and anxiety and dis
appointment. as she answered stead
tasty, Eyes. Donald; 1t is good"'