Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1910-05-19


when she cuddles. any more than /
can resist pink. dimpled baby.
Don't you worry about him. Fe-
licia," / said. Charlie Van Zandt is
presumptuous little weed, and de-
served pulling up from the roots"
at isn't Charlie at ALL" she sobbed.
IT'S Rolfe Carson"
In my excitement / pushed her from
me. Rolfe Carson! | had forgotten
about him. This was too good. Could
1t be that Felicia had met and reduced
to his lowest terms the flirt par excel
lence of all fiirts of whom / 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 fiirt. had vowed to get
even and here was my chance.
Felicia" | said, II am your friend
for life, and l 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. II am in love
with him." 1t was positive wall
little cry of helplessness, 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 it 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, that he used to know
you, and that was why came. have
just come from the beach-he was
there--and ] feel terribly-as if | had
been wicked all my life. Suppose
he finds out what a flirt / have been.
Suppose that nasty little Van Zandt
beast tells hint"
Felicia was astounded at the reali-
cation of her own sins. l thought a
moment.
"How long have you known him."
l asked.
1.-TWO months-he's been in South
America, you know"
/ drew long breath of relief. And
then I saw a sudden light There is
no flirt who marries, willingly and to
his or her knowledge, another f1irt
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 come to me, he
never would have told you he knew
me--for l 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, 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.
But she took 1t all so queerly. !
had expected tears, stormy denials-
anything but this calm, dry accept
ance. And l suddenly realized that
she did care for the man, terribly, and
l wished that had not told her. Real
love comes to no one twice. 1t 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, l tiptoed into
the bedroom, / found that Felicia had
departed, leaving this note on the
dresser: "Of course ! believe you
but can never forgive you. Some
day you will understand why"
And then l smiled with a positive
relief / knew that she was already
recuperating and told myself that
had done good work. Within a 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
knew Felicia well enough to under
STAND tndJ Sne would InlSn WenQell
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
found Rolfe Carson doing the same
thing, and incidentally teaching the
art of Irritation to an apple-cheeked
young cousin of mine.
When l 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
marriage. he confded in me. too, sure
of my safety, even as the others.
He told me, and for the life of me
could not help believing in his SINGER
ity as he told it, that at last he was
really in love, with the most innocent,
sweet-hearted little girl in Massachu-
sets. And her name was Felicia. /
listened with a Joy that was deep and
far-reaching; but somewhere l felt
vaguely sick too And then / did the
only thing there seemed for me to do;