The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1915-04-09

yard till he came to the bed the chn-
dren had been planting. Covering the
light 80 that 1t could not be seen from
the house. he ran 1t over the places
scratched. Without any difficulty be
read letters composing a sentence OF
three words. followed by the letters
H. r."
When Arnold went back to his home
be was %chuckling as though greatly
amused. but what he had discovered
he kept to himself. The next day be
e out into his yard and with biz
W bands prepared n little bed In
which he planted some seeds. But he
tool care not to plant the seeds while
the children next door were about.
1t was 70 two weeks before st.
Valentines day. Bates. who was I'M
proving in health. seemed also to be In
a state Of pleasant expectation. Every
day be examined with a pair Of binoc-
ulars the bed the children had planted.
Meanwhile there were various meet
ings between the parties, but Mis-
Farnsworth for some . best
known to herself ignored Mr.. Bates
entirely. and Mr.. Bates externally t.
nored Miss ~Farnsworth. But when
ever he me Bob he looked at the boy
with an amused expression He felt
sure that Bob had been teasing his Sis
had been leased was Arnold Bates.
A week passed after sowing the seed.
but neither bed showed any effect Of
the planting, though Arnold Bates by
close examination saw a slight swell
ing Of the earth where the seed had
been planted in his own bed. His
binoculars refused to disclose any sign
whatever of q terminating force in the
bed in the next yard. He had sown
crocuses In his bed. for he preferred
that they should come up sO%on-sooner
than whatever might be in the next bed
On the 18th Of February his re
ruses appeared above the surface far
enough to show the word GLADLY"
though they were not plain enough to
be read by one in the next house. On
the 18th Bates could discern In the
bed in the next yard parts Of letters.
On the morning of the l4th. st. Val
entine's day. after a rain in the night.
the plants in both beds stood out plain
ly in green letters, the one BE My
Valentine" and the other "Gladly."
What vas going on next door Oh
that St Valentines morning was not
known to Arnold Bates. If Bob was
in trouble ut having perpetrated what
he intended for a very good joke the
fact was not permitted to reach the
gentleman for whom he had raised out
of the ground a valentine from his sis
ter. for nothing could be palmer than
that such was his intent The shades
on the near side of the house were
down and kept down all day.
The mex morning no signs of the
valentine next door appeared. 1t had
been removed in the night. Bates had
believed that this would be the case.
At any rate. he removed his reply. and
on the 18th Of February not a sign OF
either message was to be
Helen FarnSworth the morning be-
fore st. Valentines day had noticed
the parts Of letters that had appeared
in the bed under her window. but had
failed to make them out. The next
morning. however. she not only read
them plainly. but read the reply. She
judged ut nee that Bob was the per-
petrator and accused him. He admit
ted the Impeachment with shouts Of
merriment. which were turned to moan
ings on being shut up by his mother
in Il dark room. No notice was taken
Of the valentine during the day. but as
O 0 as night fell Helen went ont with
a hoe and destroyed it.
The Farnsworth family were much
%disgruntled ut Bob's performances. and
Helen was at first troubled lest the
handsome invalid. suppOsiDg that she
had planted the valentine. should cOn
slider her bold in the extreme. But
how had he been enabled to grow the
reply in such short order! There was
hut n explanation he must have
q the planting Of the seed Bob ad-
mitted that he had done the work in
daylight. which settled the matter
Ine oDiOuuE niFllS DePn TeulOVeu.
Helen gradually came to attach less
unpleaSantneSs to the matter. and one
day while standing before her mirror
dressing her hair she saw the frown
m her face disappear before n smile.
rben she laughed She was shDcked at
herself for laughing ut such an out
rageOus proceeding. but. after all. 1t
was rather funny. Besides. the hand
some invalid had been so gallant as to
make a favorable response.
One morning when Mr. Bates was
feeling quite recovered he walked out
into the yard. Miss Farnswortb came
out and walked in her yard. Presently
she tripped mp to the hedge separating
the two places. Mr.. Bates advanced
toward her. removing bis hat as he
did 80.
II owe you an explanation" said the
girl. "for the joke my brother perpe-
trated. BE planted those flowers
that