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Show ! LL FOR FIFTY CENTS. ! ! BY RITA KELLEY. ;,j (Copyright, 1905, by Rita Kelley.) jje W3S a- squat china piece with mer- I cenary eye-holes and a slit down his 1 back. It was a standing joke at Miss f Folke's boarding "home" that when V any one dropped a spot on the table l doth he had to drop a coin Into the j pic's hungry sides. Once a week, the I porker was slaughtered and the pro- ceeds used for flowers, f Miss Mattlc was dressing- for a walk one morning when the peaked landlady j who quarreled with' all her trades- n'ODle came to her door, pig In hand. t "Mls Mattle." she said, "would you l'ke to, buy BOmo flowers for tne Ila"Deilghted!" Miss Mattle finished, nlnnlng a huge bunch of violets on her era" coat. "What kind shall I get?" "Well," Miss Folke sat down on the jj'-jja of the divan and began shaking ,vl the pig; "there's carnations and roses 3 -and thev usually throw In some ferns or leaves. Just do as you please 1 about It I thought there was more '$ money In here." She thumped the I gs head on her knee until the laBt it coin fell ouu "Only sixty-five cents!" f Sis Folke had a way of making peo- 'pie conscious of their shortcomings 1 the pig looked glum. I "But nren't you glad you didn't get A your table cloth all spotted up?" -'j "Oh, that Isn't 1L But we shall have to save some money for Easter Sun-!l Sun-!l day and you can get ao few flowers $ for fifty cents." Miss Folke had a grlev-l grlev-l ance against her trades-people, and 1 Uiey retaliated by Invariably giving her LXV'fcort measure. "Well," she stacked up vjiii half dollar In pennies and nickels, ' f '1 cuess that will have to do." I "How many ought I to get for fifty f cents?" ' "They'll turn up their noses at you ; at a florist's and give you two or three I stale ilowers that will be all withered the Eecond day. You'd better go to the street booth over by the "L." sta-- sta-- tion and tell them If they give you good Ilowers you u kuiub uam. "Stick up their noses at me!" said Mis3 Mattle. Ignoring Miss Folke's sug-geJtlon. sug-geJtlon. "Don't ever worry, Miss ' Folke. I'll cet some flowers that will I make you gasp with surprise and pleasure. pleas-ure. I'd Just like to see them stick up i their noses at me," she threatened as she paused to smile bewlldcrlngly at ' i Miss Folke before closing the outside door. I ' She passed several exclusive florists' ! shops before she found one to her sat--, lsfactlon. It was by far the handsomest hand-somest of all. Gripping her fifty cents Inside her glove she swept In like a ' breath and stood In the midst of the most beautiful flowers she had ever seen. A remarkably handsome young ' man was standing In the rear beside a bank of palms, holding some smllax. "Some flowers,'' she said, smiling and nodding at him. He looked up surprised. Then, looking look-ing at some one behind the palms, he turned, spoke to one of the assistants, rl and came forward eagerly. V "Now, what would you like?" He ; Tvaved, his hand gracefully toward the I masses of roses and crimson carna-'. carna-'. tlons. . "Oh, beautiful!" breathed Miss Mat- i" tie in an ecstacy. "I should like " she clutched the coins stowed away In her trlove and smiled dazzllngly "a flower for a penny " "What1" For a moment It looked as ', though the young man was going to s prove disagreeable. Sites Mattle's smile became momen-j momen-j tarlly more bewitching, i "Yes," she continued, whirling her muff airily around her hand, "I just slaughtered the boarding-house pig bnd I want all the nice flowers you can ! 'Rive me for fifty cents. Aren't those ij " , lovely!" She pointed to some rare or-j or-j ! -chids. 4 , ! The young man was amused. Miss . ij, Mattle was good to look at and had I ian "mlstakable air of being accus-Pj accus-Pj weed to beautiful things. Yet, fifty cents for orchids which she distinctly seemed to favor! He coughed apologetically. apolo-getically. "Flowers are rather expensive," he ventured. "Yes, I know," laughed Miss Mattlc. "These must be terribly high." She touched the violets on her coat llnger-Ingly. llnger-Ingly. "Think of the money you extort ex-tort from rich young men! And I've only fifty cents. It was all the pig could spare. We had to save some for Eahter, you know, and no one got many spots on the table cloth this week." The florist answered her smile. "The pig gets the money for the spots," she explained. The young man looked as though he were Immensely Interested In the plr. "What would you like?" he asked again. "I want Just the most nice fresh flowers you can give me for a half dollar. It makes no difference what kind. They told me I couldn't get any foi so little money." Miss Mattlo smiled. The man bowed low. "I'll see what I can do for you," he said, and strode to the rear of the store. Miss Mattle watched him admiringly as he stopped to speak to one of the men before he entered the Iceroom. She hnd not known such nice young men kept florists' shops. She moved a step or two to the right of the palms In order or-der to see him more distinctly. He was taking down one crimson carnation after the other, a spray of narcissus, some roses, an orchid! Miss Mattle looked away, afraid to trust her own eyes. He seemed rather an easily embarrnssed young man or was he amused? Miss Mattlc did not dare to risk the doubt, for if he saw her observing ob-serving him he might stop adding to the bunch. Miss Mattle had reasons of her own for wishing as big a bouquet as possible. It signified, In a way, her sphere of Influence on the susceptibilities susceptibili-ties of the young man. When he emerged from the room Miss Mattle said. "Oh!" Miss Mat tle knew how to -say it, long and expressively. ex-pressively. The young man turned from the desk and looked at her. He flushed ever so slightly and smiled. "All those for fifty cents?" Miss Mat-tie Mat-tie had her muff under her chin; her eyes were wide with wonder. The young man laughed as he glanced from her to some one back of the palms. "I wouldn't do this for every one, you understand. But I felt sorry for the "But there are too many. Tou can t afford to do it." Miss Mattic was refusing re-fusing to take them from his hands. His tone was buslncss-llkc. "Yes, I can. The pig may demand some larger orders some day, and we shall be glad to fil them. Merely an advertisement, you know." "Yes, Indeed, wc get loads of flowers, flow-ers, and this Is the very prettiest shop on the street." She smiled. "Are you sure these are fresh? Because. If they are, I'm coming again Saturday." His face wore a broad smile as he turned, after bowing her out, and met an Irritable chap emerging from behind be-hind the palms. "You're a nice one," complnlncd the chap, "flirting with my lady." "Jack!" Innocently, "Is she, really?" "Of course. Didn't you see my violets vio-lets on her coat?" The young man laughed. "Just cancel that order for those other oth-er flowers for Miss Cromer," he called to one of the men. "And put these down to my account" Then he turned to Jock. "Simpleton!" he observed. "Why didn't you get Into the game?" Jack shrugged his shoulders. "You wanted to .see what she would do. You don't deserve her. Jack," "I suppose you think you do, palming palm-ing yourself off as a florist." They had passed out Into the street and stood looking after the girl with the huge package of flowers. The ex-florist ex-florist looked squarely Into the disagreeable dis-agreeable eyes of the man facing him. "Jealous!" he commented shortly. "Yes, jealous, If you like. Are you going to be here next Saturday?" The young man of the flowers brought his gaze back from the girl turning the corner. "I'll go you even to win her," he said. "And I'll win." |