The Parker post., 1913-04-19
CIGAR BOX STORY
How Two Lovers Were Reunited
by a Label on a Box.
BY II. M. EGBERT.

1t was in the splendor of the Florida
sunset that Ned Murdoch told Dolores
of his love-
He was resting upon his oars, half
way between the mainland and Cy-
press Key. Under their boat the blue
tides ran swiftly; the rustling palmet-
tos filled the air with murmurs; the
scent of the blossoming orange trees
was borne out to them from the In
land groves. And from west to east
the sky was afiame with crimson.
Dolores" said the young planter,
will you stay here and marry me?"
She started and looked at him in
tently. A warm red colored her
cheeks, and the slanting, sidelong
glance of her eyes became direct. and
then her eyelids yelled it.
Your wife," she murmured, and
her fingers clutched the rowlocks con-
vulsively for a moment. "No!" she
continued hurriedly. you don't
know who l am or anything about
me-"
81 don't care" Murdoch cried. Il
know that love you. 1t isn't much
offer you-it's very different here
from what you have at home In
Tampa"
cat home in Tampa" she repeated
mechanically, in her quaint Spanish
accent
She had drifted into Big Cypress In
May, when the last of the tourists had
left Florida and the hotel was closed
She had come from Tampa, she ex
planned languidly; touch of fever,aa
need for rest for change. No, she
had never been so far north before, or
to so little place. She rented lit
tie cottage near the house.
Since then two weeks had passed,
and on the morrow she was to go
She would never come back, they
knew, that brilliant bird of passage
who had fingered there, talking with
the fishermen, petting the fat children
upon the wLaryes. or reclining lazily
in the shade of a palmetto tree, puff
ing at her vanilla cigarette-a habit
admired by the men but made the
subject of vicious comment by the
f1shermen's wives. Sometimes Ned
Murdoch would take her in his fiat
bOttOmed boat from key to key, tc
hunt for the elusive tarpon or to gath
er a catch of mackerel for the evening
meal at her cottage upon the shore
They had grown intimate, he and she,
and she had exercised her arts upon
him during those lonely sails, during
seeing the worship in his eyes, she
had made her conquest sure. Why
should he not succumb, this simple
countryman. rich. according to local
standards, but hopelessly ignorant OF
the world, gauche. rustic. and simple"
1t was thought at Big Cypress that
she must be the daughter of some one
of the Tampa cigar kings-men who
had built up the prosperity of the
town in a generation, and yet retained
their Spanish speech and customs
amid the ceaseless changes. the Amer
icanization of the old Spanish city.
NO." she answered Murdoch in agi
tation. Il must go home 1t is impos
sible''
Ned Murdoch rowed her back and
left her at the cottage door. He
raised his hat and went, turned at the
end of the beach and looked back to
see her standing there, watching him,
a slight and graceful figure framed in
the rustic door Next morning she
left for Tampa He did not see her
again.
She was gone, and Big Cypress
swiftly forgot her. The summer
passed; new tourists came ia October;
only Ned Murdoch remembered her
His loved increased with its hopeless
ness Often he would timidly inquire
concerning her from some Tampa Wis
itor, yelling his inquiries discreetly;
but none recognized his description
Then the event occurred which
changed his life. One evening, at the
hotel. a tourist offered him a cigar
from the box. He took one and then
snatched the box from the mans hand
and stood staring at it like a man
uypuOIlZSu. Vi there OH CQ0 inside
of the lid was Dolores. 1t was ilnpos.
sible to mistake those features: the
dark hair, the beautiful eyes, the
mouth. dropping a little wearily. halt
petulant, half sad
Il peg your pardon" he stammered.
handing back the box. Then be could
no longer restrain himself 81 know
her!" he cried. indicating the portrait
on the lid. She was here last sum
mer and-and-"
And you want to find her again?" in
quired the visitor in amusement
well, my boy why don't you go to
Tampa and inquire of the makers
Juan Desproches y Ca? There's the
name on the lid"
She must be his daughter, then"
said Murdoch eagerly
'WithoNt doubt" answered the
stranger drily. Take another cigar"
That cigar seemed the best that
Ned had ever smoked. All night he
paced the beach in an ecstacy of hap