Love stories; Poor -- Fiction; Violinists -- Fiction; Young women -- Fiction
"Ain't time," replied Peg. And of course it was she who gave Jinnie
some money taken from a small bag around her neck and ordered her to
the shop for shoes.
"She ought to have a fiddle box," Lafe suggested.
"There ain't 'nough money in the house for that," replied Peg--"but
I'll give her a piece of the curtains to wrap it up in."
"That'll look better'n a box," smiled Lafe. "I'm a happy cobbler, I
am."
When Jinnie returned with a pair of low black slippers, no one noticed
that they weren't quite what should have been worn with a lace frock.
Contentment reigned supreme in the Grandoken home that day.
* * * * *
Sunday evening at seven Jinnie displayed herself to Lafe. The cobbler
gave a contented nod.
"You and the dress're beautiful," he ruminated. "Wonderful!... Kiss
me, Jinnie!"
She not only kissed Lafe, but Bobbie, Happy Pete, and Milly Ann, too,
came in for their share. Peg looked so sour, so forbidding, that
Jinnie only faltered,
"Much obliged, Peggy darling.... Oh, I'm so happy!" She stood directly
in front of Mrs. Grandoken. "Aren't you, dear?" she besought.
"We're all glad, lass," put in the cobbler.
Jinnie's blue, blue eyes were seeking approbation from the gaunt,
frowning woman.
"None of you've got the sense of my bedpost," snapped Peg, sniffing
the air. "Get along. They're waitin' for you."
Jinnie arrived in great excitement at Theodore King's door. She
stumbled up the stone steps of the mansion with the fiddle carefully
wrapped under her arm.
"Is Mr. King here?" she asked of the maid, hesitatingly.
She stood very still, scarcely breathing, until they called the master
of the house, and as Theodore's eyes fell upon the lace dress, with
its red and yellow roses and green vines running the length of the
slim young figure, he smoothed away a smile that forced itself to his
lips.
Out of gratitude to Peggy, Jinnie felt she ought to speak of the
frock, so with an admiring glance downward, she confided:
"Peggy made my dress out of her dead mother's curtains, and gave me
this piece for my fiddle.... Wasn't it lovely of her?"
The pleading, soulful, violet eyes stirred Theodore King with a new
sensation. He had passed unscathed through the fires of imploring,
inviting glances and sweet, tempting lips, nor yet realized that some
day this black-haired girl would call him to a reckoning.
"It's very pretty, very pretty," he affirmed hurriedly. "I'm glad
you're here.... Just wait for a moment. I'll come back for you."
There was a fixed line between his handsome eyes as he faced his
guests. Theodore couldn't analyze his feelings toward Jinnie, but he
was determined none should make sport of her.
"I've prepared a great treat for you," he stated, smiling, "but I want
to ask you to overlook anything that may seem incongruous, for the
musician is very sensitive."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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