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Show if Heart Hunter By Izola Forrester Copyrlght, 19)3, hv Associated Literary Pres.) Itussell did not look up at the HRhoolhotise window when he drew relu. He knew that she could see him from her desk, and the outer door was wide open. It was well After four, and all the children had vanished down the four roads leading from the schoolhouse corner. They ere quite alone, If one excepted the Ted squirrel who was. tennnt for life 1n the elm that was king of the piny-ground. piny-ground. It was half a mile to the nearest farmhouse. All ahout lay June fields, rich In lush grass ready almoBt for mowing. The air was golden, warm, hazy, lazy, wooing one to forget duty and day's work. Russell was heavily heav-ily burdened with both at present. As superintendent of schools In l-n-Terne county. It devolved on his shoulders to let the teacher go at the little Flaxy Bend district, because of Inattention to duty and general laxity of conduct. That was exactly the wording of the charges In Mrs. Deacon Mnbry's ltter that reposed In his coat pocket. He didn't Intend to show It to the lrl. So simple It seemed, so hard It was to do. He had fought against It for nearly a week, remembering her upturned, up-turned, earnest face, bo warm and tender In Its brunette tinting, tbe big, brown eyes, and childish mouth that drooped wistfully at the cornors, the dark hair bound smoothly around the mall head, with a big, black velvet bow on one side. That bow had been an offense to the enemy even, at least on one side. "She ain't stlddy enough to teach," old Mrs. Mabry bad Insisted "I taught considerable after Myron and me were married, but I was stlddy. It's a known fact that she's settled folir of the boys this winter " "Settled them? You mean expelled them?" "No, I don't, Mr. Russell. I mean Just what I gay. She's carried on gtrl-fasblon with Nate Hosklns and Tm Afraid They Don't Like Me Very Well Do They?" Benny Everltt and Walter Ilennlngs, and o"en with Lonnle Murray, and they've every one of them lost their heads over her and proposed, and jibe's refused them all." "Well?" Russell trlod to Bpeak mildly, I'emeraberlng the various attractions at-tractions of the aforesaid four boys, "maybe she didn't Intend to have thorn take her seriously, Mrs. Mabry." "And If she didn't, then she's llght-nalnded, llght-nalnded, and a heart hunter, If 1 do say It myself, Mr. Russell. That's what we always used to call them, heart hunters, and their minds don't go any further than hunting them, and letting them go as soon as they'ro caught." RushoII remembered the whole conversation con-versation now as he stopped Into the little shadowy schoolroom, low-celled, oool, with fern boxes at the windows and bunches of June roses on the desks. Rose was her tin me, too, he remembered Roso Phillips. She turned her head now, a quick smile of welcome and surprise on hor faco. "Did you come to wish me good-by?" good-by?" she asked. Russell could not help but smllo back. He laid his cap on one of th first row desks and Bto:)d looking at her as be drew off his gloveB. She could not have been over eighteen. In spite of what the school commit tee had retried, he knew that th little school had made actual progress under her care and tuition during the, past term. Since her coming the whole place had been changed. The children had given little entertalnraonls and, earned money for a new stove, for new globes and window boxes, and little fresh muslin curtains at the windows. At the school examinations examina-tions they had led the other township schools, and before her days, Flaxy lleud district had been a problem In education. "Yes," said Russell, with almost a sigh, "I came to say good by." She waited a minute, chin raised, eyes questioning. "Where did you tell me your home was, Miss Phillips?" he aBked, leaning lean-ing over the top of the tall desk, and fingering a pink roso that was nearest to him. "Vermont. It's only a little bit of a place where the trains stop If they are flagged. We call It Phillips' Crossing " "I suppose you'll be glad to get home." "Not so very." She spoke reluctantly, reluc-tantly, with a little uplift of her shoulders. "You see, 1 have a stepfather, step-father, and I am the only child from the first marriage, and there are seven little ones now besides. They don't miss me a bit, unless It's a good miss." "Why did you come way down here In the country?" "Because I was In a hurry to go to work. The city schools won't take you unless you've been through Normal, Nor-mal, you know. I like It out here. The work was hard, but the victory was so much greater, and 1 do think the children love me." RuBsell caught the little wistful touch In her voice. "The old folks are peculiar, aren t they? Hard to get along with." "I'm afraid they don't like me very well do they?" "They say you're a good teacher, but" Rose waited and looked up at him quickly. Her brown hair was very near, with Its soft satiny braids Before Be-fore he really meant to, he had tucked the pink rose among them. "It looks much better there," he added, and wondered why Ills own pulses were racing suddenly, like brooks In April. "But what? Please please tell me?" she pleaded, drawing back, but not removing tbe rose. "What do they say?" "They Bay you're a heart hunter." She leaned back her head and sighed, her hands clasped back of Ihe roso, her eyes looking past htm out of the first open window. They mean the Doys. I suppose, Nate and the rest. Could I help It? Now, truly, could I, Mr. Russell? You know Just what boys are. They'd come here every day, and bring all sorts of things to me that 1 didn't want Why. Lonnle even UBed to bring me fox pelts for a cloak, of all things. Boys are always boys, and they get over It so quickly. I was Just as nice to them as I could be." "I am not blaming you nor them," sadl Russell a bit unsteadily. "Only I agree with the deacon's wife that you are a very dangerous and disturbing dis-turbing Influence to have around theRe peaceful parts." The tears glistened In her eyes. "Oh, you don't really mean that? she said pleadingly. "Are you trying try-ing to tell me I cannot teach here again 7" Russell stared awkwardly down at her head, bb she leaned It on folded arms, and her Bhoulders shook with sobs. "I've tried so hard, and the children all love me," she said brokenly. "I didn't want to go back home at all. I was going to board here all summer, sum-mer, and rest " Then suddenly It dawned on Nell Russell why he had driven ten miles that afternoon to make all fit and due explanations to the teacher Instead In-stead of writing. He knew Just why he had thought of nothing but her tender lips and dark eyes and low contralto voice for weeks past. He knew why he had saved every Bcrap of writing she had ever sent him, and why he carried In an Inner pocket pock-et a little tan auede glove he had found beside her chair after a board meeting one day. Oh, yes, he know now, and he Imprisoned both her hands In his and raised them to his lips. "Rose," he said. "Stop crying. I've brought you another heart, dear." She stoppod sobbing, but did not raise her head. "1 haven't any one In the world myself. I came up here from New York and got along well. There'B enough saved In the bank to buy ua a good homo In the fall. I think I could make you happy, Rose, If I may have you, dear." "What would you tell the deacon's wife and and all the rest?" she asked faintly. "That I had to dismiss you because I couldn't lot my wife work," b whispered. "Won't that do for good excuse?" |