“Dr. Snyder was so kind that he went out West and searched for Dannie until he found him and told him all and Dannie forgave everything. He had invested some of his money in the oil lands there and we will have plenty of money now, for they turned out well. He was coming to me on the first train, but the doctor prevailed upon him to stay and finish up his affairs first, so that he would not lose anything. “Just think! only three days more until we are reunited.” TALE NINE. WHAT HAPPENED TO A GIRL WHO FLIRTED. “The thorns which I have reap’d are of the tree I planted,—they have torn me and I bleed: I should have known what fruit would spring from such a seed.” “If all girls had as bitter an experience as I had, and all brought about by their first venture at flirting, I am sure there would be less of it. “I had lived in Chicago a number of years, but had been so carefully reared that I knew absolutely nothing of the snares set for the feet of the unsophisticated. “My parents died within a few weeks of each other and I was left all alone, so far as near relatives were concerned. After the estate was settled up and I had recovered from the shock of their death, I was left to my own devices, and while I had many invitations to make my home with relatives I decided I should like to be alone for awhile, so I went to live with a widow and her daughter. I enjoyed my Bohemian life very much, for it was such a change from the old way of living and I was bent on making the most of it. I was engaged to a young man from the South at this time. He was a young man of the highest principles and unimpeachable honor, and one of whom my parents thoroughly approved. I think mamma felt quite happy and resigned when she took Will’s hand and placed mine in it and said: ‘Will, you will take good care of my baby after I am gone, for I shall leave you all very soon now. I shall die happy if I have your promise,’ she said faintly. “He leaned over her and said: ‘Mother, dear, I promise. Agneta shall always have my tenderest love and devotion.’ “Well, as I was saying, I went to live with this kind family and they granted me every privilege that I could have had in my own home. Will was an ideal lover and caretaker; in fact, he was too good, and I was not sensible enough to appreciate it then. Ah, if I could only live over the old days once more, things might have been different. One needs to live three score and ten years before one knows how to live. “One day I dressed myself with unusual care, entirely in black, of course, but it was quite as becoming as any color. I could not have told why I was so painstaking in making my toilet; it must have been an unkind fate at work while the angel guardian of my peace and happiness, slept.