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A ROSELIT DOMANCE
By Jessie Ethel Sherwin
"Dear little girl," spoke Roland
Yorke almost tenderly, "what a com
fort you have been to me these long,
lonely weeks!"
"And what a friend you have been
to us, Mr. Yorke," quickly responded
the lissome, loyal maiden at his side,
"Why, if you hadn't come along
where would father and I be? He
had lost his position and he says,
now that you are going to leave us,
we will have to move out to Dakota
where his brother has a farm. And
you're nearly well, aren't you. Fath
er says it's the fresh clear air out
here."
"And the cooking, Rhoda," supple
mented Yorke with a smile. "Why,
you are a regular little housewife.
Between you and I, I have been
cured."
"I am so glad I could cry, almost!"
declared Rhoda. "And you're going
away," and her lips quivered, "and we
may never see you again, and you'll
forget us."
He. took the little brown hand in
his own and his kindly eyes expressed
a benison from a true man.
"Never that, Rhoda! This has been
the sweetest month in all my life. I
was ill, worn out. Now "
"You'll go back to the city and
paint beautiful pictures, and some
lovely princess will buy them, and
you'll get married and have a bride
all in silks and satins, and I hope
you do. Oh! I hope you are the hap
piest man in the world, just as you
are the very best!" And here, burst
ing into tears, the mountain madcap,
as this dear child of nature was popularly-designated,
ran for the nearest
thicket and vanished.
"I declare!" uttered Roland,
thoughtfully more than that, with
a sudden thrill. An unsuccessful art
ist in a money way, he had taken a
vacation of necessity. The Burton
home was small and rude. It had no
luxury, yet he blessed the hour he
discovered it. The roses everywhere',
the pine groves, the pleasant shade,
the home vegetables and cooking
seemed to sing health to him.
And Rhoda she was a breath of
vivacity. As though he were some
cherished elder brother she hovered
about him, guiding him to the rarest
beauties of the landscape, rowing
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There Were Nibbles and Catches,
him on the river, watching him in
silent rapture when he painted. She
even coaxed the soul-tempered Axel
Burton to a -smile with her winsome
ways and won him from brooding
over his loss of a position.
Just now Roland Yorke woke to
the realization of a salient fact He
had met a being who liked him fbr
himself alone. There was no mistake
that rapt little face of interest, that
i outburst of tears.
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