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Show , : TWO BUTTERFLIES. 1 BY LOWELL 0. REESE. vjjf I ; ant would have bcon driven fran-itel' fran-itel' L'iiv the 1 -threw up my hands, Ir :i-atlvelv, groaned literally and with ftf o'rcletlve not at nil In harmony with ! tesl ethics of polite society, de- . tA to my tortured soul that she had i&Sphinx bc":iten ,l mlle- , i The eamo not beir.gr an elegant thing ! i excuse U only on the ground nt I wax worried to the point of ir-ir-on"ibIlit'. 1 swore by all the godf, ,m the little mud god of the Digger ivilan io lIU war god of Tnor "ever a. We anything more to say to her. ft- '(n minutes later I was back on the ty. T.Ii veranda watching that tantallz-fl tantallz-fl inEvrutable glint In her eye. For ijj I" vas human and sho was veo dear Bi' 1 Ard the worst of it was-she knew it. m feci I1 a ghi -know that you love her I iiJ you we lost. ... I ..And you don t with me to go out ft HthMr Blakeslee?" she said with pro- J? fflklEK mildness. "And why, please?" m "Fl'tU" 1 broke out, "because you're IJrctig to marry me; and that In itself ff'"ndeed' And will you kindly tell K r.P iut when I promised to marry you, ivy? jick Weston?" M'lWio wasn't angry. I hadn't even IfjHCU sntlyfactlon. But I was both an-'Vf an-'Vf and in love. iJTTou well, you know it's as good as Jy'' bcGan' but she interrupted Wc-good a. settled!" she mur-f mur-f 4ired dreamily. "Watch me onw!" u 3t cs!d- She lifted her hand toward fi villiant butterfly which had alight-I alight-I rf'upon a rose at the edge of the 4 . rorch. Her finger." opened. "See!'.' she id breathlessly. "I reach my hand f fingers ncarlJ touch him. Hav T I Mthlm. though? It seems all 1 have I l-odo is to elope my fingers so ah! " I jaudy creature eluded her Just as I h: finger's brushed his striped wings, f I dldn't get him!" she sighed. "And ! I cis eo sure of him!" I : he Jumped up, gave mc a teasing f -ralle and ran down the steps. Pres-i Pres-i iUy' I saw ncr' "vv,tl1 Blakeslee, go-tJ go-tJ 'jictowaro the boat landing. A little ; 'uttrthey were moving briskly up the ' .rriTr-and then I saw ' i it made my neart stop. Blakeslee. i'piMblj. was the rawest dub in a ca-' ca-' And a c.noe with an unskillful on the paddle Is about as danger- f 's as a powaiT mill with a llvecoal ti 1 backing about In It. fi I started involuntarily toward the J hist landing whro my own canoe Jijr Thn I turned on my heel and A ). stamped back. Not to save a thousand thou-sand lives my own Included would I be seen following them. They and all the rest of the world would attribute It to jealousy; and- And deep down in my poor, aching, bedeviled heart I knew it would bo the truth. 1 dug up my pipe and polluted the sweet summer air for rods around. I determined to be a pessimist and a cynic and spend the rest of my life sneering at everything 1 used to like. I Jeered at the- idea of human felicity and wished I had never been born. I had what is technically known as the mollygrubs. And then Suddenly a great light broke over me, and I saw where I had been playing play-ing the fool instead of the wise general. gen-eral. I had been giving her all the advantage; ad-vantage; and as I reviewed my case I grew utterly and thoroughly ashamed of myself. The spectacle of a, great uix-foot grown-up nuui toddling around, beseeching a small girl to lovo him! How could she. when I was so devoid of stamina as that? And then I determined that, come what might, I would do so no more-It more-It might break my heart, but I was determined. Then, too, my heart was all crushed to frazzles anyway; fo a little more breaking would be a mere incident not worth considering. A matter of thunder in the west and I glanced up In apprehension. A black cloud was rolling up through the pines and already the wind was beginning to sw ay the tree tops. I ros and "looked up the river. No canoe was in sight. Filled with alarm 1 climbed Into my canoe a tiny thing and paddled furiously furi-ously up the stream ahead of the rising ris-ing wind. Half a mile up the river and no rfgn of the canoeists'. The wind swept down and almost instantly the water was beaten into whitecaps, and the little lit-tle shell bobbed like a cork, but I held It straight ahead and watched It with the Instinct of one trained to the paddle. And then the rain came! As I rounded a bend In the channel, I saw them. They were huddled under un-der a heavy pine near the water'a edge. The waves were trying to drag the canoe ca-noe away from the bank and Blakeslco. the picture of woe, was struggling to get it ashore. I ran my canoe close, in and sprang upon the bank before they saw me. It was growing dark, what with the storm and the lateness of the hour. Miss Mllwood turned and gave a glad cry. "Oh. Jack1'" she said, plteously. "I'm fo glad. We've been unable to get home' Our canoe was beaten bacJc by the storm and It upset and we were thrown Into the water, and it was a mercy It was near the rhore, else we'd have drowned!" "How did you escape?" I asked very stiffly. "We we waded! And I'm chilling to death, Jack!" Her Hps were blue, with cold, and she shivered miserably. Poor Blakeslee was in no better plight I hastened to right the other canoe, with Blakeslee's help. Then r put the lucklem boatman aboard, paddled him acrOBB to the mainland and bado him Miss Mllwood, strangely quiet, huddled in the bottom of the ennoo and said no word. sprint for the hotel and got a roaring tire ready. I then recrossed the river, lifted the terrified girl Into the large canoe, ca-noe, tied the other behind and set out in tho teeth of the storm. Doggedly and steadily, keeping as much as possible pos-sible in the lea. of the shore, we crept down the angry sheet of water. Miss Mllwood, strangely quiet, huddled in the bottom of the canoe and said not a word. But I could hear her teeth chattering chat-tering and I felt love and pity struggling strug-gling hard, with my new resolution to be grimly firm and uncompromising. My muscles were achjng and my heart throbbing as though it would burst When at last we drew into the shelter of the boat houHc. I fastened the canoes and lifted tho wet figure ashore. "Oh, Jack!" she quavered, "I should have died If-you hadn't " ' J'f -eg -you won't mention -it, Miss Mllwcpd;'' I. said with' exaggerated .politeness. 'It was a mean thing to say I, realized It at the time; but It was necessary if I waft i to crush the fierce longing to take her' In my arms. I hurried her up to tho hotel. From time to tlmo she pushed, back her wet hair and gazed at me with a pathetic wistfulness which I affected not to see. The storm had blown swiftly away and the big white moon was sailing through the sky dotted with scudding cloud drift. I resigned her to the care of the solicitous Mrs. Kerens, who was all sympathy and bustling motherliness. Blakeslee was there, In an agony of contrition. I went away, changed my wet clothing and sat down within the half-lighted library, gloomily watching tho pine logs in the- wide fireplace. After about an hour a timid hand parted the curtains and I knew without with-out turning my head who It was. She came in slowly. "Jack." sho said, tremulously. I sprang to my feet and offered her a chair. She refused to notice iu She held out her hands.' I in turn refused to notice them- "Jack," she whispered, "are you an-Ty an-Ty ?" to "Not at all. Miss Mllwood!" I rejoined, re-joined, still excessively polit6 and proper. prop-er. "I am merely going to reform." She knew. For a moment -she- stood silent with her head bent down. I stood gazing over her head with eyes which dared not look for a moment nt hers, else all were lost. Then I heard her sob. "It was n, bad day for bulterllles!" 1 muttered huskily. Sho glanced up nnd I saw her eyes filled with tea-s. "This bulterlly is tired. Jack dear Jack!' she whispered. "It doesn't want to fly!" "Never for always?" "Never for always!" It was good all that wretchedness and anxiety .of long months, when she lay tight against my breast and I kissed the preverso red lips meek now, and sweetly submissive for the butterfly was caught! |
