The Cairo bulletin., 1910-10-16
of paper. which he afterwari carefully
destroyed, first blotting them with ad-

y
mirable distinctness on the writing
pad in his study?
That afternoon he gathered every
white violet In sight and with some
thing ukin to instinct, laid them loose
ly together in box with some maid
enhair fern instead of arranging them
Ia the inc ita5iy depressing form OF a
masculine bouquet. Then he sat in
his study for full hour, pen III hand
| and a sheet Of paper before him, bit
ing his left thumb and staring ut the
parcel he had made Finally he wrote
seven words Twin you wear these at
lecture tomorrow"
Another half hour OF meditation fol-
Lowed, at be end of which time he
signed AN AGmirer' to his note, slip
ped 1t into the box. snatched up his
hat and sailed forth. The clocks were
striking 8 as he marched resolutely
up the steps Of the Ayres residence,
looked the servant who came TO the
door sternly In the eye, said, with a
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 untlatter-
ing epithets imaginable.
He might have known It! The fol
vi,,y ~. H.,
stinct rather than actual perception
told him that Miss Ayrcs had taken
! her place across the aisle, he sum-
moned all his resolution and looked at
her, full and fair. She was bending
, over her notebook with an appearance
of complete unconcern, and there was
not so much as the petal of violet
visible about her from top to toe.
That day was celebrated in the an
mails OF his class as that Of "Bacon's
Great Crouch He was, as his neur-
est friends conceded. positively unfit
for publication. For half the after
noon, seated on one Of the campus
benches, he replied with ucerbity that
too frequently merged into profanity
to all remarks addressed to him. He
became In short order an object Of
derlsion. Groups gathered about him
and from safe distance bombarded
him with sarcasm, as small boys throw
peanuts at Gagged lion-to make him
roar. The climax was reached when
the most irraverent OF his tormentors
exclaimed "Who is she, Matte" and
all the others echoed the inquiry with
extreme relish. Then Matthew gath.
cred his books and himself together,
and took his way gloomily to the IL
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 aud then said Cad"
Intuition told Matthew the story In
word she had kept at 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
scared instantaneously into the sew
enth heaven Of delight. But she had
not worn TIE yiolets as he lad asked
she had raluked him for the imperti-
nencc OF his an0ny nous letter lie
was u cad. And the spirit Of Matthew
Bacon plunged promptly into the Meth
ermost abyss Of despair
For fifteen minutes. which seemed
like as many years, he sat with his
temples In his hands. gazing with UNI
seeing eyes at the lines before himand
telling himself that there was nothing
left TO mako life worth the living.
Through lis Ireoccupation he heard
the voice OF one of the library pages
speaking to a reader opposite to him
at the table.
THE librarian says he's sorry. miss,
but 'Purradize Lost Is out. Here's the
other book yon wanted"
In lightning fash Of thought Mat
thew knew what voice It was that he
would hear In reply.
"Oh, dear" said Natalie Ayres.
"Well, never mind. This Will do"
A phrase from something he had
read was pounding In Matthew'S ears,
In fragments at first, finally In one
connected whole, There IL tide-in--
In the affairsin the affairs Of mem