The Holbrook news., 1921-01-21

It was the girl of the pOol-the Wild Rose.
 The woods had hid them; the woods had nursed them; the woods had set them face to face-the Pearlhunter {; the Wild ROse-a man; a woman. Strip away from life every nonessen- tial; bare it of every husk of sham and convention; pare it right down to the red, quick core, beyond which 1t is not possible to reduce 1t further, and you come at last to a man and a woman. Six million years the AL mighty Artist practiced on such sec ondary studies as stars and suns, and peopling them with inconceivably di- verse and curious forms of life, before trusting his hand on his final master piece-a man woman.
 They stood staring, as at that other meeting at the pool. And that was the thought uppermOst in the mind of the Pearlhunter-tha other meeting. And. he had looked Somehow he wished he hadn't; and yet he wasn't his eyes to her feet. Shifting the basket. his hand slowly stole up and dragged off his battered hat
 The blue eyes under the sunbon- net livened. The girl drew a step nearer. The bushes she had been bending aside sprang back into place. She drew another step nearer. As she moved. an overhanging limb caught the sunbonnet and dragged It off, displaying a very soft and glossy mass of yellow curls. She turned, disengaged the bonnet from the limb, and was shaking the curls into shape to replace 1t when the Pearlhunter made a quick step toward her with hand upraised.
 Don't" he cried Don't"
 A man of slow speech, with eyes hard to wake, he wouldn't have be lieved such words were in him.
 The girl stood fumbling the bonnet He watched one stray curl lose it's place and come slowly tumbIing down, little by little, till it fell over her shoulder and lay upon the softly ris- ing and falling bosom. From the curl. he raised his eyes to her face. He saw a smile steal across 1t. It was only little smile, but 1t grew under his gaze till it reached up to her eyes. and pinched the lids together, and squeezed out a tiny ripple of merri- ment that ran out over her face and settled fin two round dlmples that teasingly uptilted the corners of her mOuth-a good, winsome mouth, fringed with full red lips and set with wholesome teeth. The smile grew until it quite passed beyond her control. She threw up her head; the smile became laugh.
 It was the only thing that could have broken the restraint. The laugh the slow smile that answered it- their introduction. She tied the bon net strings, while he watched her fin gers as they formed the knot.
 "That song" he said, ''it was the most wonderful thing ever heard"
 The girl laughed again-a laugh like water tinkling over pebbles.
 "The birds are my playmateV," she answered simply. "They fly down all over me. had to learn their Ian- guage."
 You live in these woods?"
 The Pearlhunter was a long time asking that question.
 "Not far from the pool"
 And you're not afraid?"
 He glanced up the road toward the village.
 "Oh, live with Daddy" A shade crossed her face. Never before" she added, as if the first statement had not quite satisfied his question. Daddy Is not very we'll and I have 10 go to the store. Every time I've gone in the last few days that man has tried to talk to me. I was fright -ened to death today when he followed me. He never did that before. I'm so glad you happened along; and I thank you over and Overi"
 'It was nothing" he said simply, twisting his hat in his hand. He didn't tell her 1t wasn't a matter of hap pening.
 She shook the curl off her bosom and back over her shoulder. He was sorry for that.
 "He is a gambler; at least so the grocery man told me today-and a. a-man killer" M
 The. Pearlhunter could have added quite startlingly to the information imparted by the grocery man, but he only said:
 Hes all that-and more"
 She glanced across the fence and up the road, He fancied a slight shiver lifted her shoulders.
 "Aliss-AIiss-I don't know your 
 Two rOguish little points pinched up the girls eyes. The two dimples played hide-and-seek with the corners of her mOuth-artless as the fiicking wings of Lady Cardinal
 "A little bit ago you called me"
 '"rhe Wild Rose" he finished.
 "I like-that!" she stammered, lever so much better than any-other 
 Again that slow smile broke across the face of the Pearlhunter. He knew he ought to say something-but what?
 'Well. Miss-Wild Rose" he final ly ventured, with no idea of what else he was going to say.
 Leave off the Miss, please" It zsas a timely rescue. Miss seems. for the woods. And you are-T
 He shifted the basket to the other |
 ,,D