Page:Elizabeth Jordan--Tales of the city room.djvu/166

 well-meaning young farmer had gone to the county fair and had there selected these things as beautiful and appropriate offerings for his Hebe. They 're just about what he would buy, I think, although he might have overlooked the crochet needle. What was the dear, queer woman thinking about? And who and what is she? And how shall I learn her address? I can't keep all these things. They must have cost a great deal of money—much more, perhaps, than she could afford to pay."

As she spoke she opened the cardcase and discovered a small card in one of the pockets. It bore the simple legend of its mate,—Miss Hope Abbott,—but on the reverse side there were a few lines pencilled in a fine, angular hand.

"To Miss Ruth Herrick," they read, "from one who has always respected and admired her and her work, and who has followed her illness with affectionate sympathy." And then, further down, there was a line which had evidently been added hastily, as an after-thought—"I did not mean to be cross that day."