The Springdale news., 1914-06-12
THE ONE GREAT THING
By GUY MARKHAM,


 l and the girl lifted the great armful of fragrant and beautiful flowers and crushed them almost roughly to her swelling bosom.
 oh why. why, cannot Will send ma 1 such things?" she whispered passion ately 10 herself "I like him so much better than any other man-yes yes, indeed 1 fear love him; but I cannot, no I cannot face l..e of love !G cot i sage' and know that I must always do without all the nice things of life"
 Then she smiled a wonderful smile the smile which had made her the most sought after girl in her set; and i she blushed rosy little flush and whispered still more softly to herself i But I'd rather live year with Will in a cottage than a lifetime tn a pal ace with any other man. Besides they say Will is bound to rise and all the men say he will some day be an ornament to the bar and-and all that 1 sort of thing. Even papa approves of 1 Will along with all the other nion."
 Then she shiyered a little shiver.
 But mamma does not take any stock in WILL" she thought soberly. and mamma Is the practical one in our family
 The girl buried her face in tho great bunch of roses-they cost the sender a cold twenty-five dollars-and looked up defiantly.
 Well. why should I not marry MT. Hadley?" she soliloquized. "He Is a man who has demonstrated his ability and is not an offensive person in any way
 Then, without apparent excuse she cried out, aloud: will never could have sent me these roses-and I love them, love them, I love them <"
 Then exercising her woman's pre- rogative, she sat down and had good cry Then she arose. glanced ct the bit of pasteboard which came w..h the roses and which bore only the words "Nell-from W. T. H. Wear them tomorrow night" and went to her dainty desk to acknowledge them. The note Hadley received at his office the next morning puzzled him not little, but delighted him a great | deal. He never had been able to pierce the reserve of the girl he de- sired so earnestly to marry, and being a keen judge of human nature he de- tected a warmer and more receptive ring to her words than there had been any others she ever had addressed to him.
 Roses" he exclaimed In puzzled way to himself There's a mistake somewhere, but inasmuch as 1t seems fn hou hnr I reckon the way is to say nothing"
 The incident so interested him that he lost all track of the market and made so many mistakes during the day that he came out considerable loser-an unheard of thing for Walter Hadley
 In the meantime the young man who had gone broke to send the roses to the fair Miss Nell, ate his heart away In disappointment at receiving no word of acknowledgement Before night he had decided that there was no use trying any longer and had planned a campaign in the Klondike. where he would acquire fortune or leave his bones to bleach.
 Miserable as he was, however he could not refrain from sliding into his evening clothes that night and at tending the ball at the Prices, where he was assured to see the idol of his dreams and his despair.
 Hadey appeared at the ball early. easy and confident and proceeded im- mediately to take possession of Miss Nellie Ross, whom he found as gra- cious as her note indicated. Hadley knew we'll how to avail himself of an opportunity and before he had talked to her five minutes she knew that the great question was to be asked and that her answer was to be demanded that night And she knew what the answer was to be- She was vaguely glad that Will was not there.
 It was about midnight, when, after walking through quadrille with her Hadley decided that the propitious moment had come and turned to lead her to the conservatory. Pale and trembling with excitement, for she. too, saw the moment had arrived, she turned to take his arm.
 At this particular time Will Hunter. who had pust come into the room, ap- peared before them in state of more or less suppressed excitement He had arrived late and with the instinct of love his eyes had rested at once upon the object of his devotion. With a start he observed that she wore the roses he had sent.
 "As you wear my colors I think I may claim a waltz" he said with easy assurance And before Miss Neil fair ly knew what was going she found herself swinging round and round in the clasp of strong arm.
 Did my roses bring any subtle message with them?" he whispered.
 Your rosesi" she repeated, pug zled
 Yes, I see you wear them." he re- her, flac.r