Bluefield evening leader. [volume] (Bluefield, W. Va.) 1906-1911, 1910-10-19
DAILY SHORT STORIES

OF paper, winch ne 0tterWaru caretuuy
destroyed. irst blotting them with nd
mirable dlstinctness on the writing
pad IN his study?
That afternoon he gathered every
white violet In sight and. with some
thing akin to instinct. laid them loose
~ together In box with some maid
enlair fern instead Of arranging them
In tho inevitably depressing form OF
masculine bouquet Then he sat In
his study for full hour, pen In hand
and n sheet OF paper before him. bit
Ing his left thumb and staring ut the
parcel he had made Finally he wrote
seven words-"will you wear these AT
lecture tomorrow
Another half hour of meditation fol.
lowed. ut he end Of which time he
signed can Admircr'' TO his note. slip.
ped Il into the box. snatchcd UP his
hat and sailed forth. The cloc,;s were
striking as lie marched resolutely
up the steps OF the Ayres residence,
looked the servant who came Ia the
door sternly In the eye. said, with
steadiness he had not expected. For
Miss Natalie" and abruptly departed.
Three hours later he was In bed with
the covers In astonishing confusion.
staring at the ceiling and applying TO
the person Of one Matthew Bacon an
Infinite variety OF the most unflatter-
Ing cpithets imaginable.
He might have known 1t, The fol-
lowing morning In lecture. when I'm.
stinct rather than actual perception
told him that Miss Ayrcs had taken
,>1o IN \.
moned oil his resolution and looked at
her, full and fair. she was bending
over her notebook with an appearance
of complete unconccrn, and there was
not so much as the petal OF II violet
visible about her from top 10 toe.
That day was celebrated IN the an.
nails OF his class as that of "Bacons
Great Crouch" He wns. ~ his near
ost friends conceded. positively unit
for publication. For half the after.
noon, seated on one OF tho campus
benches, he replied with ncerbity That
too frequently merged into profanity
10 all remarks addressed TO him. lie
became in short order an object OF
derision. Groups gathered about him
and from safe distance boEbarded
'aAAA "Ahh oaieuHhit 10 Shihl DOsN tnTON
peanuts at Gagged lion--to nuke him
roar. The climax was reached when
the most irreverent OF his tormentors
exclaimed. who is she, MattY" and
all the Others echoed the inquiry with
extreme relish. Then Matthew gath
cred his books and himself together.
and took his way gloomiy to the H.
brary TO the supplementary reading
which the professor OF English VIII
had prescribed 1t was precisely seven
minutes later that he opened his eyes
to their fullest capacity, drew deep
breath and then said cad"
Intuition told Matthew the story I'm
word-she had kept Mt least one OF
his flowers! Her supplementary read:
Ing was naturally the same as his.
She had~been in the library that day
| reading that book and to keep her
place had left the violet between the
leaves. The spirit OF Matthew Bacon
goared instantaneously into the sew
enth heaven of delight. But she had
not worn the violets as he had asked.
She had rebuked him for the impertl-
hence OF his anonymous letter. He
was cad. And the spirit OF Matthew
Bacon plunged promptly into the meth
ermost abyss of despair.
For fifteen minutes, which seemed
Ike ms many years, he sat, with his
temples In his hands. gazing with nm
seeing eyes at the lines before him and
telling himself that there was nothing
left 10 make life worth the living
Through his preoccupation he heard
the voice OF one of the library pages
speaking to q reader opposite TO him
at the table
The librarian says he's sorry. miss,
but Purradize Lost is out. Here's the
other book you wanted"
in lightning fash or thought Mat
thew knew whit voice II was that he
would hear In reply.
ooh. dearw said Natalie Ayres.
"Wcll. never mind. This will do"
4 phrase from something he had
read was pounding in Matthew's enrs.
I'm fragments Mt first. finally i'm one
connected whole. There is tIde-in--
In the affairs-In the affairs 81 men
whlch-taken-taken at the food
leads on--leads on-leads OH 10 for
tuner
Hastily he tore n leaf from his note
book ana scrubbed message which
would have been n credit TO n boy OF
ton:
VIII you forgive my rudeness I'm send
inE YOU that nnanermous letter ! did u
without thinking. and Tni terribly repent
emit But I'm really ell right. indeed / nm.
ard my mother knows yours 1 was un-
der Kind OF spell.
MATTHEW BACON.
Slipping this epistle between the
|%avcs where lay the white violet he
Returned the book to the loan desk
and then went back 10 his seat and
spent nm apparent eternity upon rack
Of mental torture At the last moment