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Show j THEIR SCARLET THREAD. fjj i BY KEITH GORDON. 1 1 (Copyright, 1&05. by T. C. McClurc.) tfi? ijj In his heart of hearts the handsome young principal of tho high school i?ome-lf3 i?ome-lf3 times characterized tho young people un- fder his charge In highly unprofessional 'language, as "little beasts." Teaching 55 cas by no means his vocation, but simply S J compulsory grace by which ho hoped to I 'obtain two coveted years of study :s.t iHcidolbcrg. t He did so now with a'vlelousnosss that iWould have horrified their parents, for as and -Miss Comyng entered one of the B amnller recitation rooms to look at a slobe 'fl tliev wero confronted by their own names, tl Scrawled upon tho blackboard and brls-l brls-l lllng with the canceled letters common ill to both By counting flr3t the Jcancelcd tm bwI then the remaining letters to tho formula, "Friendship, love. Indifference, rate,' the youthful tormentors had dls- covered and duly published to the world M ' that Miss ComynK's feeling for him was M ..!.,. ..1..V.1., c,ilnr.. a COmiiuumi ui iiiviiiioni. .inn iiiiiiii-i- I Jtncc while Ills own for her was unadul-I unadul-I iteraicd love IS I But this was not all. Lost the Inscrlp-w Inscrlp-w ffion should by any means escapo the nt-3 nt-3 tentlon of Its objects, warnkigly scrawled S 'ibcncalh It was the admonition: "Change j the namo and not tho letter, and you ? change for worse and not for better." E Cartrlght glanced at Ills companion iiviftly JI? devoutly hoped she was not jonc of tiles mawkishly sentimental 'At young women who blushed and quivered Ijat occurrences of this sort, thereby giving him an uncomfortable feeling that possibilities possi-bilities hovered In her mind, Si But this time he need have had no fear. ;Jllss Comyng took tho matter much more .coolly than her predecessor had done tin's tin-'s der similar circumstances. She faced the .Fcrawl a moment with puckering brows, TSltaSii transferred her gazo openly to his ViV and laughed outright at the dawning rlM of relief she surprised there, and JUVifc sho spoko It was with a great dc-fv&arenc-ss I "1 don t feel a bit embarrassed," she I remarked. "No one. I'm sure, need fcol I nshnmed of feeling 'friendship and Indlf-I Indlf-I fcrence for a colleague. But candidly" 1 hcr tone changed nnd became frank and 'mailer of fact "Isn't It amazing that In "nil those young heads from which tho ipigtalls are still dangling, as well as the clipped and rumpled ones on the other "flldo of the room, the romantic Idea should , be dominant? You and I, being neither very old nor very ugly" her lips twitched "will play tho leading roles in a living drama for tho next few months One hundred and twenty pairs of keen eyes liWlll bo watching us dally, awaiting somo slgn of our admiration for each other. ;It's It's simply appalling!" "Appalling?' he echoed. "I should say It was and somo of them are still In tho stage whore they spell future with a 'ch nnd uusj with an 'I!' But I don't mind If you don't," lie added, magnanimously. .? She was sitting on the arm of one of Jhc chairs in a thoroughly girlish but irathcr undignified attitude. Cnrtright no-'.'ileed no-'.'ileed with satisfaction that her teaching ;'had not "sunk In"' as yet. if "Mind1 Not I. Why. It's as good as a - ipltiy Now. if you come Into my room to neal- to me during a recitation, cspcclal- Jy If you should happen to smile at me, I the air becomes electric with meaning. I -Jllnnlo telegraphs Jennie a swift "Did 1 you see that?' and even the hulking, ovcr-Ij ovcr-Ij Bror,-n boys who have been sitting like I i.buraps upon logs arouse to something like I ;1 'I've half a mind to show you somc-i somc-i .thing I found on tho floor today." ohe re-1 re-1 riarkc-d slowly and from tho bag at her I ;lde she took n slip of paper and held It J out to him. "It's cxtrcmelv flattering to J you, anyway." I ' He looked at the slip. "I bot she's In fl lovp with hfm ' was written In a wobbling, itmformcd hand ' I don't see how she can I help It, he has such fearful llrcs In his oark eyes. They're Just like Rochester's." I 4 i hero was a moment's silence; and then ytne two young instructors broke into a iroar of laughter that wiped out the last . sonsp of strangeness between them. It i ow lhal you ,:now that I know, and l Know that you know," was Cartrlght's isoni'what Involved explanation. "I don't ivu."1' rcnpon why we can't bo friends. 7Aoth ns that those young cubs do can jpoisllily make us shy. We'll show them ,jnat tho thread of romance doesn't run through every friendship between a man i(and woman " 'LVAs. thc c-irlet thread through every -jplt of rope used by the British navy. ' -if "e supplemented, saucily, and then tho V J, .reerl to school matters. Ill :i ut the pupils of tho Central high school .11 yffore not slow to discover that there was Ulllvl" e:iH0 and understanding between Vmcomlng teacher of algebra and T-K'sTT aiul tnp principal, whom every t'Vn tlie room accrolly raved over. .'. 0" Jennie Bascom met them walking h iiiii tho park, and notwithstanding thc fact I !.i ,?n 1S occasion they Avore deep In I i'ie "Iscusslon of pidagogy, she described I Wj meeting to Minnie Brown, her chum. "J ;no,.,noxt 'noralng somewhat after this 1 la6hIon, I ' Ju ey dldn,t cveivsec mo till I was close ly Wf?.tncm: tey wero so Interested In each i .-tOtlicr. H.r ehks vere nil pink; vou ! KmY "ow lovoll" -"he Jooka with tho color t r"'"' through that down on her face, ,atni he was looking at her and his eyes j iero shining with a great hupplness." 1 Jc'milc dropped dreamily Into the S r;r. of ner Intest novel. "And words J. n-Jt how do vou know yon didn't hear ;Gom, did you''" demanded the practical ,1 ."""Imaginative Minnie. '5 7 r them!" was Jennie scornful rc- iT 'i . '1'nere some things vou don't jfi v.c,10 hear to know them. I'll bet vou j ju-.nt he was proposing to her. Just wait 0 ;iwnd,,V''atCl" lho lhlrd ,lnBer of ,lcr le" ILmUt lno5h they waited and watched m 1,uJil Patience that deserved reward, 0 i. Inperlitg lingers of Ruth Comvng's Si r.v1 h'ind remained unadorned. Had 1 tfn y S,,,,0wn ny sign of a mlsunderstand-II mlsunderstand-II Vn5 .u" mlht have been forgiven; but. "I lti . :0,l"ary. they wero apparently V "fcl Ssl of fronds, and Minnie Brown g ,u n,p'ln habit, twitting Jennie Just W ralm h- V-YcM' L,,;it 'PPPn Just S y Comyng-s loft hand!" And poor I Jennie was forced lo listen in silence, for had she not asserted positively that words of love were falll-.g from hfa lips? Sho was conscious of a fearful disappointment .with life, and she watched this unaccountable unaccount-able hro and heroine with bitter, resentful resent-ful eyes Meanwhile, the school year drew toward Its close, and Cnrtright. with a dancing heart, saw his dream of two vuars at Heidelberg about to materialize Into a real experience. "Think of It," he said to Miss Comvng, as they rowed upon the llttlo lake In tho park ono dusky spring evening, "after Juno1!5 I'm free. Then, ho! for the Vater-land! Vater-land! No more refractory boys, no more pert, half-llcdged girls, no more tinkling of lMlls. no more wasting of life, nnd energy on a life I'm utterly unfit for no more chalk, no more Latin" He pniis-d abruptly, as If some unexpected unex-pected thought had arrested him, and. tralllmr his oars he looked curiously at her, Sho, too, appeared abstracted, but i-he aroused hcrsMf and smiled. ''Well?" "I've had an awful thought," he resumed, re-sumed, soberly. "It never occurred to me until this moment, but don't you see there'll be no moro of you, either. And I've got soflo accustomed to you, you know." Ills face showed a puzzled amazement that this should be so; nnd the girl opposite, oppo-site, seeing It. smiled Involuntarily She. too. was a trifle bewildered at a certain quick constriction of tho heart thnt his talk about going abroad had given her Thev bail been the very best of friends nnd "companions, but was that any reason whv she should feel a quick, overwhelming" overwhelm-ing" sense of desolation at tho m&re mention men-tion of his g.ilng away" Cartrlght rowed on absently mcchnnl-cnlly. mcchnnl-cnlly. Thn. as tire dusk melted aoftly into darkness lio made lor the shore. The girl opposite hhn was tt mere blurred shadow. shad-ow. The boat poked Its noso into tho shore and ho jumped out. Tho action seemed to shako off thej benumbing amazement amaze-ment that had fallen upon him. and In Its place came a great, glad certainty. He held out a hand two hands, in ract --to help MJss Com.vng ashore, nnd as sho jut hers Into them ho murmured; "My dear, my dear It's the scarlet thread, after af-ter all " 4 |