The Southern herald., 1911-05-26
THE NATURALIST
b LAWRENCE ALFRED CLAY


returned with a reply fer the awful
man It read:
sir: I reiterats that yOu are a
villainl4
That was all. No "sincerely,--no
-respectfully"-no your very obt
servant" Even the initials C. A.
were lacking.
Mr. Ainsley was away from home.
and when the mother learned what
had happened she said:
You were always that way from
child, and you can't help II, / sup
pose. but I hope you won't carry it
too far In this case. Calling a man a
villain is slandeF. unless he is vii
I lain"
But Of course he is!" was the re-
ply. Would any one but q villain
hire a boy to murder a poor rabbit?
II he catches a robin. blue-bird or
a quail Tll-Ill-,"
Miss Gertrude elenehed her hands
and breathed hard and left it to be
understood that something very ter
rible would happen TO the cross-eyed
and red-headed man. Next morning
she went up to the woods again. She
went in the forenoon because she sus-
peeted that boy would set snares over
night and visit them early. She walked
the paths and found four, and the
wires were thrown far away. They
had shared no victims.
As she was on her way home she
met the young man Of the day before.
She looked at him more closely this
time, and she liked his appearance.
Surely he was a gentleman. The boy
was not seen until mid-afternoon. Then
he brought another note, and as he de-
livered 1t be said:
Il was lying up there in a brush
heap this forenoon when you destroyed
the snares, and oh, wasn't the awful
man awful mad when l told him Of
it,"
And the note read:
Miss Ainsley: must again politely
request that you cease to meddle with
my affairs"
The same name was signed as to
the other, but the sincerely" was
lacking. Carroll Denton was no longer
sincere. He was grumpy
A reply was sent as promptly as be-
fore. 1t consisted Of few stirring
words:
And l must repeat that you are a
villain!"
1t was afternoon Of the next day
when Miss Gertrude went up to the
woods again. Almost at once she be-
held a robin with a broken wing fut-
tering about. She had picked It up
and seated herself on a log and was
crying over it when soft voice at her
elbow said:
please give it to me. thing I can
do something for It."
II was the young man. He took the
bird, made a brief examination and
said
"The wing is broken, but l can use
splints and make 1t sound again after
a bit. Nature is very kind to animals
and birds. Hope that old maid won't
hear of this. She'll say l used a club
on the bird and call me more villains"
What old maid?" was asked, forget.
ting that she was facing a stranger
"A Miss Ainsley. She's close on my
trail"
"Why-why, I am the only Miss
Ainsley, and l am not an old maid.
You can't be the-the villain!"
Then Of course It came out. The
boy had lied for revenge. There was
no old maid and there was no cross
eyed, red-headed man. Mr.. Denton
was naturalist, and he wanted his
specimens alive and sound that he
might study their habits. He was
merciful to a degree. Miss Gertrude
heard his explanations with blushing
cheeks and downcast eyes, and at the
end she was generous enough to re,
ply:
We'll, that makes a difference"
And 1t did, The naturalist found his
way to the house to tell her how the
robin was getting along, and the day
the bird flew away on the restored
wing he said to himself that he had
discovered Specimen" worth all
others put together.