Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1910-06-02

DonL. you worry about him, Fe-
| llcia. ! said. Charlie Van Zandt is
a pTesumptuous little weed, and de-
served pulling UP from the roots"
1T isn't Charlie at ALL" she sobped
It's Rofe Carson"
In my excitement pushed her from
| me. Rolfe Carson! I had forgotten
about him, This was too good. Could
1t be that Felicia had met and reduced
to his lowest terms the f1irt par excel
| lence of al f1irts of whom l had ever
heard? And with my amazement a
great JOY came to me. For. years be-
fore, Rolfe Carson had played with
my little sister, and she-well, she
wasn't a flirt. l had vowed to get
even and here was my chance.
Felicia" said, 81 am your friend
for life, and | tell you on my honor
that you need not weep over this
piece Of work. The biter's bitten,'"
! quoted.
Felicia began to sob. "You don't
understand" she said 81 am in love
with him" It was positive wall, a
little cry of belplessness, and it was
genuine and turned me sick For.
often as l had wished for Felicia's
punishment, hated to see her suffer
in this way. But 1t was fine to know
that Felicia really had had heart hid
den away all this time.
HE. said he knew you" she went
on, sobbingly, chat he used to know
you, and that was why came have
Just come from the beach-he was
there--and l feel terribly-as If had
been wicked all my life Suppose
he finds out what a firt l have been.
beast tells him!"
Felicia was astounded at the reali-
cation of her own sins. l thought
moment
"How long have you known him?"
asked.
1.-TWO months-hes been in South
America. you know"
] drew long breath of relief And
then | saw sudden light. There Is
no f1irt who marries, willingly and to
his or her knowledge, another flirt.
might still save Felicia.
Dear" | said. and there must have
been something queer In my voice, for
! could feel her jewel eyes fix them
selves on my face, you never did
wiser thing in your life than to come
to me. But if Rolfe Carson had ever
thought you would como to me, he
never would have told you he knew
me--for know him, too"
DO you mean he was ever in love
with you?"
My dear, I'm ten years older than
Rolfe-and always was Also, I have
always been an old maid. But there
have been other girls"
And then for hours and hours told
her about all the other girls spared
no details which would make my story
more convincing, and found that she
knew some Of the girls mentioned,
though she had not known that the
man involved was Rolfe Carson. And
she could not do otherwise than be-
lieve me. ~ "a {
But she took 1t all so queerly. 7
had expected tears, stormy dehials--
anything but this calm, dry accept
ance. And / suddenly realized that
she did care for the man, terribly, and
wished that had not told her. Real
love comes to no one twice It wasn't
any Of my real business, anyway.
At daybreak went to my couch in
the sitting-room, where slept the
sleep of the exhausted. And when,
late in the forenoon, tiptoed into
the bedroom. found that Felicia had
departed, leaving this note on the
dresser: "Of course i believe you
but can never forgive you Some
day you will understand Why
And then smiled with a positive
relief. I knew that she was already
recuperating and told myself that l
had done good work. Within week
Wendell Hall was tagging her around,
to the great distress of Carrie Worth
ington, who came to me and sobbed
out the tale Of his faithlessness.
was sorry for the child, too, for l
knew Felicia well enough to under
sta:ld that she would finish Wendell
Hall before she let him go.
The rest of the tale came to me five
weeks later, away out in Iowa. where
l had gone to visit relatives and where
l found Rolfe Carson doing the same
thing. and incidentally teaching the
art Of Irritation to an apple-cheeked
young cousin Of mine.
i When I had renewed my acquaint-
ance. with him and had had the salts
faction of impressing upon his vanity.
the facts Of my: sisters very happy
he confided in Eme,stoo. sure;
81 my safety, even as the Others.
B He told me, and for the life OF me
could not help believing in his SINGER
ity as he told It Ut HAT at last he was
really In love, with the most innocent,
sweet-hearted little girl in Massacht-
sets. And her name was Felicia. i
listened with q JOY that was deep and
far-reaching: but somewhere felt
vaguely sick. too. And then n did the
only thing there seemed for me to do;